As I was rabbit-holing on TikTok this morning, I saw dozens of creators posting about Kim Kardashian’s recent advice to women in business — and it starts with the same ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ advice that is often heard from people in privileged places. More precisely, Kim’s message was “work hard,” followed by she and other relatives bemoaning how nobody wants to work anymore.
Lots of folks need focus and direction and guidance. But given a good vision and some encouragement, most everybody is willing to work hard. In fact, I try not to assign bad intentions to anybody.
So, in the spirit of doing what creators should, reacting to whatever is in the temporary social zeitgeist, I posted my reaction to the video along with my advice:
When I achieve success here and there, I absolutely take into account privilege and luck. I wasn’t born on second- or third-base but by account of being a white male, I was definitely born on first at minimum. Luck isn’t merely dumb luck. Preparation and timing go into it as does a willingness to say yes to every reasonable opportunity.
- Acknowledge the help you had. If you’ve achieved success, you’ve had help from colleagues, employees, bosses, clients and vendors. Show gratitude, and acknowledge that you had help with those bootstraps.
- Pay it forward, and offer help. Don’t hoard your expertise.
- Develop a spirit of grit and perseverance. Whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll never get there if you bail after six months or even two years. My eBay store has been struggling something fierce the past 3-4 months, but instead of shutting it down, I’m going to tweak the process and keep at it.
That’s my advice. What’s yours? Put it in the comments below!
