What Jerry Springer taught me about business today

In 2012 a person very close to me took their own life after becoming a guru in the alternative medicine scene. Preaching wellness as a distraction from deteriorating mental health; hiding in plain sight.⁠⁠ I had put them on a pedestal like everyone else so it was a heartbreaking lesson.
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These days I prefer to learn about life from people with more earth-bound job titles. Yesterday it was from the comedian⁠ Stewart Lee on the Adam Buxton podcast. He talked about how he went into a professional low after his job as the writer on ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’ left him skint even though the work got Olivier awards. ⁠
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Lee described making a calculation, that if he just did gigs in pubs and 5000 people a year paid £10 to watch him and he got 50% of the door he could be ok. This consolidation and the commitment to doing the thing that made him happy (performing live) was the beginning of a period considerable success, it was the turning point and it is a brilliant business lesson, especially in times like this.⁠⁠
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I tuned in for his view of the world and to laugh and got this sound business advice thrown in for good measure: when in doubt simplify and come back to your original intention. ⁠⁠
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The thing I like most about this is that I don’t need Stewart Lee to be morally inscrutable like a guru, I just take the lesson and say ‘thanks’ and pass it on.⁠⁠

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