Why Not You?

Shut up, and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey, rock stars, Reggie Dawson, host of Being On Stage podcast, welcome back, thanks for tuning in, and all that other good introductory stuff. Listen, yesterday I was a little doom and gloom, my apologies, I was going through a rough time. We put down my mom's dog on Saturday, August 16th, um, 17th? And, uh, it was a rough weekend, but listen, I'm back today. Mr. Positivity is back on your trail. In the midst of everything this weekend, though, I was talking to my daughter, and, um, those of you that don't know, we homeschool my 14-year-old. She just started high school, and, uh, we switched to full homeschool, which means we're in charge of her curriculum, and teaching her, and making sure she moves forward in her learning. And, so far, so good. It's only been a week, though. Uh, so far, so good. And, uh, we were talking this weekend, and she really, she likes to sing. And, uh. She doesn't like to admit that she likes to sing, but she does like to sing. And her friends think she's pretty good at singing and everything, and, um. She doesn't really want to work on it, though. And I told her, I said, listen, you know, just because you don't think you're good enough, and, you know, Mr. Performance Coach coming out, I said, just because you don't think you're good enough does not mean you're not good enough. Your thoughts don't dictate, you know, truth. Automatically. You know, you are good enough. And I ended up saying, like, listen, you know, music lessons, singing lessons, they're not in the cards right now. Um, we just put, like, we just put out a whole bunch of money for curriculum and, uh, art supplies, because she also wants to paint. And, actually, she said that, uh, when she grows up, she wants to, um, restore paintings. Which I think is really cool, really admirable. Um, and so we spent some money on some art supplies and stuff, and getting ready for school. And homeschooling. School is just as expensive as public school, by the way. For public school, you've got to buy clothes and, uh, notebooks and pens and pencils. And we still got to buy notebooks and pens and pencils. Um, but we also have to buy, you know, all the supplies that you use in your science lab and your art class. We have to buy all those for home use. Uh, so, singing lessons, just, it's not, it's not able to happen right now, this semester, this year. Um, but it's not to, not to say we can't do it in the future, but she likes to sing. And, and I told her, I said, you know. Why not you? You know? All, all the greats. All the greats. You know, all the great singers. And she's really into Billie Eilish right now. I said, they've had lessons. They've, they've gotten help. They've, they've had singing lessons. They've had vocal lessons. And I think that's, like, the same thing. It may not be. Um, they've had performance lessons. Just like I do. Like, I told her, I was like, I, I coach people to perform. You know? So that they can become the, the performer and the singer or the, you know, or, you know, I coach dancers. And, uh. Other, like, circus-type, style acts and comedians and speakers and magicians. You know, I coach everybody. But, I told her, I'm like, you know, everybody gets help. So you can, you can download an app. You can watch YouTube videos. You can still work on singing. Just because we can't do singing lessons. Just because, you know, I'm not, I can't afford to pay somebody $100 an hour to help you sing better right now. Uh, it doesn't mean you can't work at it yourself. I said, you know, lessons are one thing. And, and it's kind of like. She doesn't, she doesn't want to work at it. And, so I'm trying to communicate to her that, like, it's not just going to happen for you. If this is something you want, like, it can happen. But you can't just wake up and start singing and, and be famous. Like, that's not how it's going to happen. You're, you're going to have to put in some work and, you know, take some lessons. And I, and, like, I kind of got the sense that she was in the mindset of, like, what's the point? And I, so I told her, I said, why not you? And I communicate the same thing to you, the podcast listener, you know? Why not you? So you're, so you may not be Beyonce, but you are John the guitar player. Or you are Stacey, this amazing singer that plays an oboe. I mean, I, I don't know. Whatever it is you do, you're you. So, why not you? You think that all the people, think of, just think of somebody. Any performer that you look up to that you, maybe you feel like you just can't measure up. Okay? Where do you think they started? And, like, I always use Beyonce as an example just because I think she's a universal icon. But we can use Madonna, Cher. I mean, I can use anybody. I can use the Beatles, whatever. Let's, let's switch it up a little bit. Let's, let's go Madonna. Why not? Okay? So Madonna started, you know, Madonna came out, you know, in the 80s or 70s. I don't even know when it was. I don't know my Madonna history very well. But it wasn't just, like, she woke up one day and became. Madonna. It's not like Beyonce woke up one day and was Beyonce, world-famous singer. It's not like Cher woke up one day and was Cher, you know? They, they had to take the time to learn and develop and hone their skills and, you know, play in front of empty audiences and play in front of five people and, and sing on the streets and sing in the shower. Like, they, they had to start at the same place that you're at right now. You know? You're, you're not. You're not different than them. You just haven't put in the work yet. You haven't set yourself on that path to get where you want to be, to get where you deserve to be, honestly. And every time you doubt yourself, like, it's, it's kind of like. I always, I always think of, like, Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. You know, Tinkerbell tells Peter Pan, I think, I think this is how it works, that. And I'm thinking the movie Hook, like, with Robin Williams. So this, this is how it went down. She says, Every time that someone says, I don't believe in fairies, somewhere there's a fairy that drops dead. So Robin Williams, I don't believe in fairies! Like, Tinkerbell fakes her death and everything, makes them clap. So I feel like whenever someone stops believing themselves, a fairy, like, loses their wings or something. It's, it's gut-wrenching when someone doesn't believe that they can do something. Especially, like, for me, it's my own kid. It's gut-wrenching. It's like, why don't you believe in yourself? And it's, she's a teenager, you know? She's got influences coming from all over the place. And as much as you, as much as you tell teenagers, like, don't take it to heart and don't think about what other people think, it's, it's, like, impossible for them not to think about what people are going to think of them. So I, I support her and her dreams. And I'll, you know, keep pushing her to do better and to develop herself. But ultimately, I mean, she's got to come to it on her own terms, you know, in her own time. And you have to also, but I'm still going to continue, to push you, I'm still going to continue to tell you to believe in yourself and to tell you to stay motivated and stay driven, stay after it, you know? That's, that's what I'm here for. I'll give you the stiff kick in the pants you need if you, if that's what it takes. You, if, if that's what it takes, I mean, hell, hop on my calendar. You can go to beingonstage.com slash calendar. Hop on my calendar, pick a date, pick a time, put in your email, I'll confirm, and then I'll call you on that date and time. It's as simple as that. No charge. I'm not off. I'm not looking for money here. What I'm looking for is I'm looking to help you get one step further. Even if, two step, three step, whatever, wherever, however far you want to go with this, I can help get you there. The, the question is, is why not you? Why, like, that, that is the ultimate question. And that's the title of the podcast. I can't repeat it over and over and over again. No matter what excuse you have, my response is going to be, but why not you? But why not you? Why not you? Why can't it be you? Why can't you be that performer? Why can't you be there? And keep the excuses coming, honestly. I don't sing well enough. Learn. I don't have time. That is bull. I work a 50 hour a week plus job. I have a teenager that is, I'm half helping to homeschool and I'm running two or three businesses while, yeah. So no, you have time. And I still have time want to watch Netflix, mind you. So boom, you have time that I don't buy the, I don't have time. I don't have the skill. We're back to learn. I don't know how to work a computer and we're back to learn. I don't have a big social media following and we're back to learn. You can learn to build a social media following. It's easy. Ready? Ready? Post often. That's it. Build your social media following. Do as I say. Not as I do. Cause I'm still working on the social media thing. I know the path to get there and I can, I can tell it to you and I can coach it to you and I can help get you there. I'm, I'm struggling with my own self because I don't know. I don't like social. I like podcasting and I like talking to people. I don't like just posting out there and hoping it hits home. I'm working on it though. And you need to work on it too. Let's work on it together. What other excuses? What other excuses that we have? Oh, I'll never be as good as, uh, not if you have that excuse. with that attitude, you won't. yeah, I said it. I, I, listen, I'm one of those dads that has an answer for everything. I'm one of those people that has an answer for everything. People at work even tell me that it's like, man, you got an answer for everything. It's true. I do. So bring on the excuses, bring them on. I will crush every single one of them because the only excuse that it comes down to is you don't want it. That's, that's what it comes down to. If you're not taking these steps and you're not battling these excuses yourself and figuring out a ways around ways around them, you don't want it bad enough. And you need to want it bad enough. If you really want, if you're going to get there, if you're going to get to where you want to be, even if you're going to come close to where you envision yourself, you have to actually want this. You have to want it bad enough to pull yourself out of bed. To do something every day. Yeah. You're going to miss a day. Yeah. Life's going to happen. You know, your, your dog's going to get put down. Someone's going to go into the hospital. You're just going to be beat tired. You're going to have obligations to your family. Things are going to happen, but you need to make a commitment to yourself to do something every day. A commitment to yourself is sacred. And if you're going to get to be that performer and that artist that you envision in your head, the one that you know, deep, deep down. And I know that you are fully capable of becoming, if you're going to get there, you got to want it. You got to be hungry, hungry. I have to say it like that. Hungry. You got to be hungry and you got to want it. And when you, when you're that, when you're at the point and you want it, hop on my calendar, beingonstage.com slash calendar, and let's get you having it. If you're hungry, I got the ticket to your meal keep on shining