Is it Aaron Calafato or Tony Robbins? Either way, enjoy this special message for our 7MS listeners.
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Story created & performed by: Aaron Calafato
Senior Audio Engineer: Ken Wendt
Additional vocals: Cori Birce
Art: Pete Whitehead
Original Music: thomas j. duke
Transcript
Take Your Damn Space!
Aaron Calafato:
Hey, everybody out there. Listen. I had a story planned today, but I'm making a switch. I'm going rogue. My audio engineer, Ken, is in Ireland. Look, I'll push the story that I was gonna do today till next week, which will be our Season 4 finale, which is crazy. But for today, if you don't feel like being inspired right now, or you don't need a little bit of inspiration, this is not the episode for you. Seriously, just turn it off. Wait till next week to be moderately inspired.
But this one, look, I'm not Tony Robbins, but I'm gonna try to take that mantle today through my prism because, actually, a review that came in for this podcast kind of sparked things for me. I'll read it to you. It was an anonymous review, and it said, "This is a pretty cool podcast. It's just not my thing. Let me put it this way. This would be a podcast I would listen to if I were a good person." That's exactly the kind of podcast I want this to be. So that got me thinking about you and all the good people, good people listening to this right now. And so many of you good people have a dream, a passion that you're currently pursuing, that you're in the process of pursuing something that you've been putting off for a long time. Whatever it is, I just gotta tell you this:
Do not be afraid to take your space. Doesn't mean take other people's spaces. Doesn't mean violate other people's space or appropriate their talents and their dreams. Don't be afraid to take yours. See, a lot of good people, the thing about good people is many of them are humble by nature. And because of that, sometimes there's a cautious nature to claim what's theirs, to put their talent out there, to pursue their dreams publicly and openly. Because they don't want to offend others around them. They don't want to be perceived as braggadocious or arrogant or as an egomaniac. I get that. Trust me. I mean, I might come off like an egomaniac, but it took a while for me to push past that to go, "Wait a second. I have a story to tell." It may not be for everybody, but I know the people that hear it that are listening right now, we have a connection here that's authentic and real. And they're better off because of it and so am I. That's what it's all about.
Okay. For anybody still listening right now, let me share a couple of stories that I think might resonate with you. Ten plus years ago, I'm at the end of my road. I am getting eviction notices. I didn't have a job, was fired from my employer. On the verge of a divorce, my daughter was just born a year before. I had to support her. I wanted to be at home with her. I didn't know what to do, but I had this story, this monologue that I wanted and felt I needed to share with the world about the corrupt nature of the for-profit educational industry in America. Here's the thing: nobody cared. Who cares about some dude in Ohio wanting to tell his story about this? This was my perception. Because initially, no one did. No agent, no manager, no one responded to my emails, no theaters wanting me to come in and do the monologue. Nobody.
But I kept pushing and kept pushing and kept pushing. And finally, I convinced the local NPR affiliate to let me do a radio interview, and I promoted the debut of my monologue. It was titled "For Profit," and it was to premiere at an abandoned mall. This is where it's at. An abandoned mall in Euclid, Ohio. Luckily, some creatives partnered with me, let me use their space. Thank God for them. I partnered with a local artist, an amazing theater artist, Nina Domingue. She directed it, and I performed the monologue. Sixty people came out. Thirty were my family and friends. Thirty, I didn't know. But I performed this like I was at Madison Square Garden. You think I'm messing around? You think I wasn't messing around?
But because of that, I had a friend in New York who heard about it, who ran a theater and said, "Hey, can you do the monologue and debut it in New York City?" I thought, absolutely. So I go out to New York City and I did a bunch of press and was on a bunch of different lists and stuff like that for people to come out. But listen, New York City is so competitive. There are so many artists, so many plays, so many theaters. And here's the thing: you gotta compete for every eyeball, every set of ears, to be in your theater. So here's what I did. I'm on 42nd Street passing out flyers to the debut of my monologue at this theater. "Wanna see a theater show? Wanna see a theater show? You like comedy? Wanna see a theater show?" I'm passing them out. I run back before the monologue starts. I'm sweating, getting ready in the dressing room. I come out to the stage and half the people in there are holding the flyer they're looking at me. They're going, "Isn't this the dude who was passing out flyers? For this show? Was he passing out flyers? For his own show?" You're damn right, I did.
In all seriousness, you know what happened because of that? The Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an article that went around the country, and I toured that monologue for three years, the first time monetizing my art, my storytelling. You know what happened because of that? I built an independent national audience who then, when I started this podcast, "7 Minute Stories," jumped on board and some of them became my core listeners. And if you're one of those people right now, yeah, you. Holy crap. Look how far we've come. Thank you.
Why am I telling you this? Why am I doing my best Tony Robbins impression? It's because I sincerely want to share with you what I said from the very beginning, how important it is for good people with good things in them and for good things that they can share with the world, share with their community, share with their families, to take your damn space. You deserve it, and you're gonna have all the naysayers. This is the narrative. We know this narrative. Rocky Balboa, man. You're gonna have all the naysayers telling you why you shouldn't do it or it's not possible or this or this or you need to do it this way or you need to sign up for this course or any blah blah blah blah blah. Take your space. Keep swinging. I didn't get a couple of these hits because I'm a good hitter. Every single day for 15 years, I go up to the plate and I swing away. Do that for yourself. You owe it to yourself.
If you're one of those people listening right now that needs to hear this. Okay? Alright. Promise. Next week, we're back to regular old storytelling, which is an amazing experience. But I just had to do this, man, because I felt so compelled and so moved to do it just for today. Tune in next week for the Season 4 finale. Let's just say it's a good one having to do with mistaken identity. I'll talk to you then.
Cori Birce:
"7 Minute Stories" is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Our senior audio engineer is Ken Wendt. Our resident artist is Pete Whitehead. Original music by TJ Duke. If you or your company needs help starting a podcast, Aaron and Ken's company Valley View does just that. Reach out to them at ValleyView.fm. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts, and I'm Cori Birce. Make sure to tune in next week for another story.
