From simple to successful

INSPIRED BY: VITALY POTSELUEV

So you live in a small town, where everybody knows everybody and nobody gets away with nothin' (hey, you gotta love that small town talk!). You work at a small town job, drive a small town car, shop and eat in the same small town places. Problem? You want to go Billy Joel on everyone and become an "Uptown Girl" (apologies to all you handsome men out there).

But how do you become successful in a town full of people who just go about their small town business? Good question. And a good challenge indeed.

Your first step should be to ask yourself what you're good at and how that talent makes you marketable. If your fashion sense is on fi-yaaaaaaaaa (that's "fire," for those small town folk, hehe), consider starting a local business in which you help high schoolers pick out outfits for the first day of school, dances, and other special events. If you have an 80gb iPod full of music, consider reaching out to people who need music recommendations and become a human version of Pandora. If you are a pro at creating encaustic artwork, try to sell your pieces to people in the newspaper who just got married or celebrated an anniversary. Nothing says "Congratulations!" like encaustic paint, which is one of the longest-lasting mediums in the history of art. If you cleverly make the connection between encaustic paint and love "standing the test of time," people are going to bite that bait and swallow hard.

My advice: As long as you know what you're doing, do it. Just don't make up a talent or try to make your living by becoming an impersonator, okay? I'm sorry, but there will never be another Michael Jackson.

Your small town essentially matches a rather cliche phrase: "Start small." Use that to your advantage. Learn how to work on a small scale so that when you begin to make a name for yourself, the big scale doesn't seem intimidating. If need be, find a piece of notebook paper and make a list of everything you want to achieve, and give yourself a reasonable deadline so that you are that much more inclined to make things happen.

The more you begin to accomplish, the more confident you'll become. That confidence is just what you need to help conquer the fear that may be lingering in the back of your mind. If it makes you feel any better, I have that fear, too; I wonder if a small town girl like me can become a well-known writer who gets recognized in a big city.

The answer, by the way, is yes. And do you want to know why? Because we're all from small towns. Some small towns are just smaller than others, really. We're all born and raised in communities wherein many people know our names, but an hour outside that community, you can bet that you're just another person walking alongside the street.

Join me in changing that.

Oh, and make sure that you never trash talk that small town of yours if things end up working out for you. That town will always be the place you called home before you became well-known. ;)

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Vitaly's original writing prompt: "I want you to express your mind about how to become
sucessfully and widely know  being a simple person from small town. It doesn't matter who you are and where do you live."