The Death of the Gatekeepers

“You aren’t tall enough.”

Thank you very much for your time, but I believe someone is going to hire me anyway.

“You don’t have the right education. You aren’t Ivy League.”

Thanks so much for your time. I believe you are wrong, and I believe someone, likely someone across the street, is going to recognize my value and give me a job. See you soon.

“We don’t think your book is good enough to publish.”

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my manuscript and for your opinion. I am going to go ahead and publish it anyway.

“We don’t think you have a good enough voice. Come back and try again next year.”

I so much appreciate you taking the time to hear me. But I am a singer, and I am going to go ahead and share my voice with the world all the same. See you at the Grammys, bitches.

The Gatekeeper’s Demise

There are no more gatekeepers. There is no one with the right or the ability to stand between you and your sharing your gift with the world.

If you want to be a model, no one can stand between you and the people who believe you are exactly right for their campaign. You can watch the television shows where aspiring models are told they’re not good enough, but know that those models can work with or without anyone’s permission.

If someone doesn’t believe you are good enough to hire, for whatever reason, there is someone across the street waiting for someone just like you. Even without the Ivy League education. Even without the sheepskin. The person who believes you aren’t good enough has their own opinion, and that opinion belongs to them alone.

Maybe you have written the great American novel only to be turned down by every major publisher. There is no one that can stop you from publishing your book, promoting it yourself, and building and serving your own community, the community of people who love your stories and the way you tell them.

You are singer? Your voice isn’t anything like those people you hear on American Idol or The Voice? Neither is Bob Dylan’s, Neil Young’s, Brian Johnson’s, or Bruce Springsteen’s. The tools to record are cheap and ubiquitous. So are the tools to reach your community.

There are no more gatekeepers. The only thing standing between you sharing who and what you are with the world is your willingness to put yourself out there. All you need is confidence.