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See this blog first so that what follows will make sense (I hope). Justin Kownacki writes about social media gatekeeping.
Justin, you remind me of myself some 7 or 8 years back, when in my little backwater niche of ‘Make Money Online – Internet Marketing’, I fretted and fumed in silence and ‘isolation’ about how events and rockstars were passing me by!
Ego hurting, pride punctured and experiencing intense frustration related to the folks who ignored the ‘part time IM’er from far-off India’, I chose to focus on my clients alone… and did it well.
Fast forward to today, and I’m in the ‘enviable’ (?) position of being on the ‘other side’ of the glass fence – where people wonder what it takes to get MY attention!
All this to get to my point, which is that you do NOT need to be a rockstar living in Rockville to change the world. At least, YOUR world.
What you need is to be REAL. To be yourself, to your people, who will cherish and value you in direct proportion to the value you add to their lives.
I harp on this ad nauseum, in a niche where the guy (or gal) with the biggest list is considered a winner – “You do NOT need big lists. You need RESPONSIVE lists.”
Small is the new big. Seth Godin is right – in many ways!
In a sense, it is the ‘gooroo worshippers’ who are responsible for the problem in the first place – by wanting to be noticed by the gooroo. Which, by default, designates some of us as ‘gooroos’ or ‘rockstars’… when the reality is that every single one of us is!
The Web is indeed democratic. Some of its denizens are however caught up in a monarchical (or even dictatorial) paradigm – and fight invisible barriers to find their own ‘freedom’. Once they find it, they will realize the ‘glass fence’ isn’t quite there – it’s an ILLUSION.
Thence stems my dislike of ‘leaderboards’ I tweeted about once some time back.
Finally, ask yourself what you really want – and if you really want it badly. Remember, life isn’t quite as much fun when YOU are the goldfish in the bowl – with everyone gawking AT you!
Incidentally, the Left Thumb Blogger (thanks, Chris Brogan) is a classic example of just this ‘rockstar syndrome’. She’s been one to her crowd for ever so long – and in time, others WILL notice.
As you say: “in the end, the message was served, and that’s the important part.”
Subjugating personal ego to a message, cause or mission is the hardest thing I’ve had to learn. And I’m not yet fully done learning 
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I’m not too worried about the rockstars. I know several of them, and enjoy their company, but I’m not so sure it’s a lifestyle I’d want. The perks are great, but it’s all a wash in the end.
I’m also not so sure we can operate without hierarchies. Democratized as the web is supposed to be, we still see that the real-life resources are grouped in the same high-population areas, where “things get done.” Plus, without a wall to scale, how can one tell if they’re “succeeding” or not?
Oh… Try gauging my success against my OWN criteria, rather than the at-large benchmarks? But… how would anyone else know I was fulfilled?
> how would anyone else know I was fulfilled?
Do they need to?
Why?
Dr.Mani
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