Blogging is Dead. Publishing is Dead. TV is Dead.

The most depressing thing a person with a dream, an entrepreneur or an artist can hear is that the future that they aspire to is gone. “You’re too late.”  “You should have started earlier.”  “You don’t have what it takes.”

Lies. All lies.

Nine years ago, I was wandering around a bookstore and began daydreaming about writing a book. A year later, I logged on with a horrible dial-up internet connection and googled “How do you publish a book?” The results were depressing. I remember learning that if I wasn’t famous, infamous or well-networked, it was a long shot.

As I kept searching, I read that another way to publish a book was to build a popular blog and show publishers that you have an audience. That same day, my next search was, “What is a Blog?“

Can you imagine in 2006, years before blogs blew up,  how impossible that must have seemed to me?  Just like some things today may seem impossible to you.

But guess what? Nothing is impossible if you’re willing to do what it takes to accomplish it.

I never listened to the naysayers and neither should you. Earlier this month, my book proposal went out to publishers to review. It’s been a long road online, one that has come full circle, right back to the place I started. It’s exciting and terrifying and wonderful, and it is a continuation of me doing what I do- sharing what I’ve learned (just all packaged up in a new way).

In the meantime, I’ve read approximately a gazillion articles on the death of blogging, the death of traditional publishing and the death of TV. The only things these articles have in common is a very limited (and dare I say asinine) view of the future.

You have the world at your fingertips. You have the chance to learn what you need to know. You have the opportunity to create your own road. Nothing is dead; no time periods for success have expired, no one needs to give you permission to succeed.

Can you tell I feel passionately about this?

What do you dream of doing with your life? Go find people who have done it and learn from them. Read their words, listen to their advice and arm yourself with information.

Learning from people who have been there and are doing what you dream to do is crucial. That was the vision behind BlissDom:  gathering together, learning from each other, sharing wisdom, building new opportunities.  And it remains the vision that drives everything I work on now.

Don’t listen to the naysayers who announce certain things are dead, and who casually announce you are too late to the game. There is no expiration date on your ability to be successful; there are continual invitations for people who see opportunity and embrace change. Blogs, Video, Publishing, Radio, TV aren’t going anywhere. They are evolving, and that is a great thing, because you can grow with it.

Keep hustling, keep gathering, keep building, keep creating, keep learning.

You aren’t late to the game, you are right on time.  You don’t need permission, you need a game plan.