Stop Waiting for a Seat at the Table

There’s a moment every creative entrepreneur faces.

You look around the room — or the industry — and it feels like everyone else is more experienced, more successful, more qualified. Like there’s a table somewhere where all the “real professionals” sit… and you’re still waiting for someone to invite you.

But here’s the truth:

No one is sending the invitation.

In this episode of Life Unfolded, I’m sharing a lesson that hit me while getting ready to attend a community business event — and it’s something every musician, artist, photographer, filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur needs to hear.

You can’t build a business hiding behind your phone, your laptop, your camera, your guitar, or your canvas.

At some point, you have to step out from behind the work, walk into the room, and pull up a chair.

We’ll talk about:

• Why creatives often feel like outsiders in business spaces

• The intimidation of walking into rooms where you think you don’t belong

• Why community involvement matters more than you think

• And the mindset shift that helps you stop waiting for permission

Because the people at the table?

They all started exactly where you are.

You don’t need an invitation.

Just pull up a chair.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hey everyone, welcome back to Life Unfolded. I wanted to share something today that's been on my mind because I'm heading to a community event tonight. It's Celebrate Corvallis. It's an event put on every year by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, their community awards banquet. And I'm really looking forward to being there. It's been a few years since I've been to this event, and I missed the Lebanon one earlier this year, like last week, because I was at my daughter's school carnival, which was super fun, but I am excited to attend the Corvallis Awards ceremony tonight. And while I was thinking about going, something occurred to me that I think is really important for creatives and entrepreneurs in general to hear. The I was thinking about how it's this big event space, and there's going to be round tables with tablecloths and place settings and all these chairs. And you can buy a whole table if you have like a company and you want some of your team to go, or you can just buy a single ticket and who knows where you're gonna end up sitting. You could be sitting with people you've never met, or you know, maybe you and a friend buy a couple tickets and then you're seated with other folks at a table. But like this idea of pulling up a chair at the table, because if you're a creative entrepreneur, whether you're a musician, a photographer, a filmmaker, an artist, a designer, a writer, whatever it is that you create, there's often this feeling that the business world is happening somewhere else. Like there's a table somewhere where all the real professionals are sitting, the successful people, the experienced people, the ones with storefronts and offices and big teams and fancy titles. And it can feel like you're standing outside the room wondering if you even belong there. And this is something that I have felt, like I know that feeling really well. I mean, honestly, I still feel it sometimes. I've been running MJ Media Productions for a little over three years now, and one thing I've learned very quickly is that being involved in your community is absolutely crucial. Not just posting online, not just building your portfolio behind a screen, not just making great art in your studio. All of those things matter, of course, and social media is great for connecting. I love it for that. But if you really want to build a business, especially a creative business, doing something you love, you cannot hide behind your phone. You can't hide behind your computer, you can't hide behind your camera, your canvas, or your instrument. At some point, you have to actually go out into the world and meet people. You have to show up, shake hands, have conversations, rub elbows with people in your community. And for a lot of creatives, that's kind of scary. Walking into a room full of business owners can feel incredibly intimidating. You look around and think everyone here is more qualified than me, they're more successful than I am, they have real jobs, I'm just an artist, they're further ahead, they know more than I do. And you may even wonder like if you even belong there. Like, I don't have a storefront, I'm just starting out, I'm still figuring things out. But here's the truth: every single person in that room started somewhere. Every business owner, every leader, every successful entrepreneur, at some point, they were the new person in the room too. They were nervous, they felt out of place, and they wondered if they belonged. And the people who built something meaningful didn't wait until they felt ready. They didn't wait for an invitation, they pulled up a chair, they walked into the room, they introduced themselves, and they started building relationships. And that's really the message that I wanted to share today, especially for creative entrepreneurs. Stop waiting for someone to invite you to the table. Stop waiting until you feel successful enough. Stop waiting until you feel like you belong. Because if you wait for that moment, you might be waiting forever. The reality is that confidence is built in action. And you can't belong somewhere if you never show up. You don't need a brick and mortar to be part of your business community. You don't need a huge following, and you don't need a decade of experience. If you're a photographer, videographer, musician, a painter, a designer, a maker, you are part of your local community, of your local economy. You're part of the creative ecosystem of your town, and your voice matters, and what you do matters, and your presence does matter. So sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for your business is to simply walk into a room and say, Hi, I'm Melody. I run MJ Media, or hey, I'm a musician, or hi, I'm a photographer, or hi, I'm a mural artist. That's it. Just show up because business, especially creative business, is built on relationships where people hire people they know, people hire people they trust, people hire people they've met, and those relationships almost always start with just simple human connection, a conversation, a handshake, a shared laugh. I've had people ask me before, like, how did you meet that person? And I said, I just walked up and said, Hi, that's it, that's all you have to do. Sometimes you just have to have the courage to pull up a chair at the table. So if you're a creative listening to this and you've been feeling like you're on the outside looking in, here's your reminder: you don't need permission, you don't need an invitation, and you don't need someone else to tell you that you belong. Show up, pull up a chair, and start building the life in the business that you want. Because everyone at that table started exactly where you are. Thanks for listening to Life Unfolded. If this episode resonated with you, share it with another creative who might need to hear this today. And if you're building something, a business, a creative project, a dream, just remember that you don't have to wait for a seat. Pull up a chair.