Meet Adam Street

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adam Street a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adam, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
That’s a good question because I didn’t have much in the beginning. At first I used 100% will. This is what I wanted and I was going to persevere until I got it. I had a certain naïveté and doggedness that kept me moving forward. That’s not to say that I didn’t quit. I quit many times along my path. I eventually learned two important things.

First was meeting my mentor Chance Wolf. Chance was the inker of Curse of the Spawn for Todd McFarlane Productions. Todd McFarlane was super famous in the comic world back then but he was also known for his Spawn comics (and movie), and purchasing Mark McGwire’s #70 home run baseball for $3 million.

Chance was brilliant in his own right but he also had Todd’s influence so he picked up wisdom from him too. Chance told me it’s not IF you get in, it’s WHEN. Todd would say you can get in (hired as a comic book artist) as long as you don’t quit. It was so simple I think most artists wouldn’t believe it, but for me, that became the secret sauce. I didn’t think I was that talented or skilled to make it in comics but I knew I could NOT quit. And at some point I would get better and a door would open. And that’s what happened.

The second thing that put me on my path was meeting Brian Ferrara of Terminal Press. I colored some comics he published back then but Brian knew I wanted to be a pinup artist. So he gave me the green light to paint movie posters for five of the projects he was working on. I was scared but he knew I could do it. So even though I didn’t believe in myself I believed in Brian. I call this “borrowing belief”. This is why having a good inner circle is so important. I believed in Brian and that was enough.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Most of what I do is draw caricatures at live events. My company name is Sketch My Wedding and as you’d imagine, I do A LOT of weddings. But honestly my events are like 33% weddings, 33% corporate parties, and 33% everything else. I love drawing live because I can connect with people and give them a unique experience.

My service is more on the boutique side so when someone wants just “quick sketches” I often recommend another company. I focus on the experience by drawing out a higher expression of you and your hopes and dreams. And when I do this 20, 30, 40, or 50 times in a night, there is a mountain of fun and goodwill in the room that can’t be matched. It’s amazing.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Now that I do events and meet hundreds of people every month. I meet lots of folks who wanted to be an artist or do something creative when they were younger but they never did. The only thing that every one of those people had in common is that they gave up. The number one skill I developed that helped me get here was not quitting. It sounds over simplistic but I assure it is not. And even after you “make it” into your field doing what you love, somedays you’ll still want to quit. Life doesn’t stop being life just case you paint for a living.

The second thing that I used on my path get here and staying is framing. Framing is a master skill and it never stops being vital. Napoleon Hill said, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” So when your #1 clients leaves you, your car breaks down right before a gig, or your relationship is in shambles, you have to frame how that’s good for you. And move on.

The third most important skill I learned was working on my inner game. It’s easy to work on the outside game (working out, learning marketing and business skills). There’s always something you can buy to help you be a better you. But after a while I saw I kept making the same mistakes and I could never consistently hit my goals. I started studying top entertainers and they all talked about following their gut, instincts, intuition, god, spirituality, etc. So, instead of being focused on the market, studies, and all that noise on the outside I focused on getting quiet (meditation) and listening to what my heart says to do. Oprah calls these “whispers”. When you’re quiet you can hear them. If not your thoughts will drown them out.

By the way, “meditation” can take many forms. For me meditation can be, well, meditating but it can also be walking or lifting weights. For you it may be cooking, gardening, or swimming.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
I mentioned before that the “secret” to my success was not giving up. I love Jim Rohn’s work and he said, “success is a numbers game.” Rohn was talking more about a ratio of how many people you need to talk to in order to get a new customer. I eventually read Perry Marshall’s 80/20 Sales and Marketing which took the numbers to whole new level.

This book blew my mind because it shows you how the Pareto principle (80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes.) is like a law, like gravity. Marshall made a case that about 20% of your clients would spend multiples more with you if you offered them more value. And 20% of those those people (about 4% of the original number could spend 10x more than that. And 20% of those people could spend 10x more than that. Marshall calls this the Principle of the $2700 Espresso Machine, it’s based on Power Laws.

I am NOT a math person and Marshall’s book gets a little technical in some places but my advice is to buy the audiobook and listen to it at least 3 times. It will change your business. You’ll make better products, your clients will love you for it, and you will make a lot more money.

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