Goalkeepers Vs. Gatekeepers

When you're trying to succeed – in business, in your career, or even in relationships – there's this critical distinction you need to understand. It's about figuring out who represents a gatekeeper and who represents a goalkeeper in your story.

Let's break this down with a scene from the music industry.

Picture this: You're making music you know in your bones is good, but nobody seems to notice. The local critic "everybody" supposedly listens to is too busy fawning over has-beens, the other artists in your town are playing middle-school popularity games, and apart from your ride-or-die friend group and a small but growing cluster of less-than-influential kids, nobody else seems to be paying attention to what you're creating.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Gatekeepers seem to hold the keys to who's "in" or "out." They're the local taste-makers and trendsetters, at least on paper. And yeah, part of you desperately wants their approval. You're not entirely wrong to feel that pull – but you can't forget about the other group that actually matters.

Goalkeepers? They're the ones with the shopping carts. They're the ones who vote with their feet and their wallets. They're your friends, your friends' friends, and even if the fans you're gaining don't have much "influence" yet, if they're showing up for your art and supporting what you do – they are absolutely who matters.

"Wait," you might be thinking, "the supposed losers are who actually matters?"

Yes. Because here's the thing about critical mass – when you gather enough of it, even the most entrenched gatekeepers can't ignore your goalkeepers anymore.

It's so easy to get twisted up trying to seek the gatekeepers' approval first. They seem to have all the power, right? But ask yourself: What do they actually make? What do they create? What do they do besides ride the coattails of other people who have already won over some audience of their own?

Nothing.

The gatekeepers don't matter.

The goalkeepers – and yes, you are really, really, really going to need to work to win them over – are ALL THAT MATTERS.

Real ballers put numbers on the board. They don't lose sleep over what the critics think. They let the results speak for themselves.

And that leads us right back to where we started.

Are you making something that you know is actually good?

Because that's all that matters. The best way to get people talking about your art is to make art worthy of the conversation.

h/t to Mark Ecko's fantastic book, Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out.

And an extra h/t to Jason Buck who hit me with, "What do you mean you haven't read Marc Ecko's book?!" and convinced me to buy and devour it right away. Smart guy, that Jason Buck.

ps. in the words of Pusha T, “If you fly, do it to death.”