A Cleaned Clock

Wednesday October 17th, 2007 - Madison, WI

Back to hitting the bricks today. I need to keep working hard and not let up. I am in the prime years of my career and they’re winding down quickly so I need to make my move. It doesn’t matter that I got ripped off. Nobody cares. I need to find a way to get past all the inconvenience and start over again. It actually came at the perfect time and I’ll take it as a wake up call to learn about other parts of my business - mainly money and finances and all that goes with it. I never liked that kind of stuff and only focused on the comedy part of it.

How wrong I was. Getting my clock cleaned like this was a good lesson. I had a lack of trust for most people anyway but this really took me by surprise. I didn’t see it coming but looking back on it all the signs were there. It’s like a cheating spouse situation. I guess the one cheated on is always the last to know. Now I know and I am going to get through this without doing anything stupid. I can guarantee you it won’t happen like this again though.

Life is cruel. Life is hard. When I was about nine my grandfather told me ‘You’ve got a giving heart, kid. You’re going to get SCREWED. Get used to it.’ He was right. I have an inner soft spot and I really do try to give as much as I can and always have. I’ve had a few bad experiences but for the most part it’s been very positive. When somebody who is in an obvious situation of need gets help there is no greater feeling than being the one helping.

That doesn’t mean I have to be stupid and naïve to the fact that some people aren’t very nice. What hurt me in this situation was that it was someone I really trusted and have been working with for years. THAT really hurts but again it’s a chance to learn and I will use it as exactly that. I’ve got too many good things going on right now to let this kill my vibe.

I had a lunch with Marc Schultz and gave him a press kit to send to another booker over in Pennsylvania who likes comedians. He saw my video and loved it and has a few shows a year that pay pretty well. They’re mostly for an older corporate crowd and I am now at an age where I’ll be the baby of those kinds of shows but they pay well. I’ll take the money.

I also met with my friend Brian Seery who is a great entrepreneur. He’s always got a lot of things going and his most recent business is a franchise of El Famous Burrito which is a local Mexican restaurant chain. He’s also got a tanning salon and works as a technician for a heating and air conditioning company. Not only that he’s a part time airline mechanic for Northwest Airlines. He’s married and has a couple of kids and he also coaches hockey.

Now THAT’S a work ethic. Brian and I have been friends for years and he’s always one to not hold back what he thinks as am I. We give honest opinions to each other on all our ideas and I told him my business idea and he sat there and thought about it for a while.

He is not one to blow smoke if he doesn’t believe in it and he came back with a few very smart ideas and we bantered it around a while. He is busy and asked if I wanted to work at the restaurant part time. That wasn’t an insult and I didn’t take it that way. He trusts me. I told him my problem and he said ‘That’s why I asked you. You wouldn’t do that to me.’