What Could You Do With Your Own Talk Show?
If the Oprah Winfrey Network contacted you today and told you they wanted you to host your own talk show, would you jump at the opportunity?
Would you embrace the chance to inspire others who look like you or who share your plight?
What would you do with your own talk show, if you were presented with that opportunity?
Take a look at this interview with marketing strategist Cherice Williams to give you an idea of what you can accomplish when you decide to control your own narrative.
This Is About Representation
There's a lot more at stake here than just having fun with a talk show.
Are you happy with how you see yourself represented in the world?
Do you even see yourself represented at all?
Women Over 50
You all pretty much don't exist in television and movies...not in any flattering or empowering way, at least. You can get to be somebody's sweet, elderly grandma, but not much else.
Does that reflect your reality? Is that what your life looks like?
You can complain about lack of representation, or you can do something about it and represent yourself.
We can all be the change we want to see in the world. Most people just talk about it. Others do it.
Are you a complainer or a change agent?
Oprah Didn’t Complain
Oprah went out and created what she wanted to see.
You are empowered to do the same.
In this day and age, you have unlimited opportunity to create the imagery you want the world to see and tell your story the way you want it told.
Or you can just let others continue to tell your story how they want to tell it and depict you however they see fit.
Look At What Oprah Did With Her Opportunity
Oprah actually just got lucky. Although, by comparison, you’re much more lucky.
Oprah’s luck came in the form of her birthday.
She was born in a rural Mississippi town in 1954, a time when segregation was still the law of the land.
But the tides were changing. Not on their own, but through activism. Through change agents.
Here’s Where Oprah Got Lucky
It was also in Oprah’s birth year of 1954 that Thurgood Marshall successfully argued before the Supreme Court that segregation was unconstitutional.
Despite all the obstacles that her skin color AND being born in the Deep South would place in front of Oprah, that little bit of luck that came in the form of her birth year was all the luck she would need.
Oprah’s birthday put her on Earth in time for her to ride the tide of change that was sweeping the country through the ever-growing Civil Rights Movement.
Although Oprah was born into a segregated education system, by the time it was time for her to enter high school, desegregation had been in effect for more than a decade.
Oprah was able to get an education that she might not have been able to get if she had been born just a few years earlier.
From the exhibit placard:
“Winfrey benefited from new educational opportunities created by the Civil Rights Movement, attending desegregated schools in Milwaukee and Nashville. She also attended Tennessee State University, a historically black college.”
Creating Opportunity
Oprah didn’t wait for an opportunity to have her own show, she created her own opportunity.
We’re all familiar with the Oprah Winfrey Show, but here’s some of the statistics.
Oprah did this during a time when she had three shots at having her own show on TV: slim (ABC), none (NBC), and not happening (CBS).
And being born black and female meant those three shots were essentially all the “not happening” shot.
Yet Oprah did what many women who look like her have done for generations as far back as time goes: she found a way to make a way.
Now, Oprah is a media mogul known to the entire world.
But she got her lucky start in this world born black in a rural town in the Deep South in 1954.
Do you think you’ve been a little more lucky than that? What are you doing with that luck?
What Are You Doing With Your Opportunity?
Look at your life and ask yourself if you’re honoring the opportunity you have by making the most of it.
What could you do with your own talk show, IF you had the opportunity to create one?
Oh wait. You do!
There’s this thing called social media and there are no gatekeepers!
Instead of three long shots at getting your own show, you have unlimited opportunity.
There’s nobody to stand in your way because you’re black or because you’re a woman or because you’re too old for their liking or because of anything else.
The only thing standing between you and any level of success you want to achieve is your willingness to put in the work necessary to make it happen.
Look At The Mountains That Oprah Had To Climb
To be seen around the country and around the world at the time when Oprah did it, it was essentially an impossible feat for all but a precious few people in the world.
Nowadays, all you have to do is create your show and upload it to social media.
Take Advantage of the Opportunity In Front of You
If the Oprah Winfrey Network contacted you today and told you they wanted you to host your own talk show, would you jump at the opportunity?
Would you jump at the opportunity to educate and inspire and uplift people around the world the way Oprah has?
Well why not jump at the opportunity that each day presents?
Rather than dream about a call that’s never going to come, why not commit yourself to building your own stage, like Oprah and Tyler Perry have done?
That opportunity is in front of you every single day.
Educate | Entertain | Inspire | Empower
What Could You Contribute, If You Tried?
If you think you have it in you to deliver value to the world by sharing your voice, what are you waiting for to get started?
We have a small window to do what we’re going to do on this Earth, and then we’re gone.
Waiting for others to deliver opportunities is a great way to waste the opportunity that each and every day presents.
Check Out A Couple Of My Shows
I want to help small business owners make their contribution to the world and I’ve created a few shows to pursue that objective.
Green Panther Chef
Chef Jazz wants to help people heal themselves with healthy cooking.
I created a cooking show with her after interviewing her as a part of another video series I’d created (more on that below).
In this video, Chef Jazz is serving up a recipe for the best vegetable soup I’ve ever had in my life!
District Family
I created District Family to help parents of young children in the Washington, DC area find family-focused small businesses.
It helps the families and it supports local small businesses.
Small Business Spotlight
I created my Small Business Spotlight series to showcase small businesses that more people should know about.
It’s through this series that I met Cherice Williams, who you saw in the video at the beginning of this post.
It’s also through this series that I interviewed Chef Jazz and heard her incredible story of how she saved her own life by learning how to cook with cannabis to treat her Crohn’s disease.
Chef Jazz went down to 84 pounds on traditional medications and knew she had to find another way.
She shares her story in this interview:
In this next interview, you’ll hear how a little boy battling cancer inspired a mom on the other side of the country to start a business to make it easy for you to provide your friends and family with exactly the kind of support they need when money isn’t the right answer.
My Small Business Spotlight series is actually a spinoff of my Women’s History Month series below.
Women’s History Month 2018
In March of 2018, I set out to create one interview with a woman business owner for each day of the month.
Below are some of the stories that series allowed me to share with the world.
In this first video, you’ll see the ripples produced when a woman with a second-grade education decided to go into business for herself.
This next video is an interview that any high-achieving woman won’t want to miss. Christy really gets candid about the hidden toll of success on many professional women.
AND she offers solutions!
In the video below, a personal finance expert breaks down the money mistakes people commonly make in each decade of their lives, from 20s on up. Check it out to make sure you’re not making those mistakes.
Breast Cancer Awareness
When I saw an opportunity to be part of the solution regarding breast cancer awareness, I took full advantage and created a video series.
Here’s some episodes that are an example of the kind of meaningful show that we all have the opportunity to create.
The first two videos are a companion set. The first video is an interview with a breast cancer survivor and the second interview is with her partner who had to become her caregiver.
In these two interviews, you’ll hear Bonita’s breast cancer journey from both their perspectives, starting at the moment she first discovered a lump.
In this next interview, you’ll meet Felicia Biles who founded Goodie Girl Bags to help homeless women in need of feminine hygiene products.
As the 2019 government shutdown dragged on, the need for Goodie Girl Bags expanded beyond just the homeless community and Cherry Blossom Intimates partnered with Goodie Girl Bags to help meet that need.
What Could You Do?
What could you do with your own talk show?
Who could you help?
Who could you represent?
What stories could you tell?
You can start telling those stories today. And you don’t have to climb the mountains that Oprah did.
How Would It Work?
In one day, you could record six to eight interviews like this one:
You would have plenty of time to sit down for anywhere from ten to thirty minutes with multiple interviewees and have time for outfit changes in between.
Now, in one day, you’ve created six to eight weeks of your show.
And once you’ve put in the effort to build your show into something, you can actually generate significant income through your show. Just like Oprah did.
Look At Your Existing Marketing
If you run a business, look at your existing marketing activities and ask yourself what are you currently doing in one day that produces several weeks worth of evergreen marketing content?
That’s an example of the power that video has to give you back your time. You can reach way more people with video and it takes a lot less of your time.
A popular show could allow you to stop doing a bunch of your other marketing activities that are taking up your time, money, and energy, but aren’t producing the results you’re looking for.
And your videos don’t expire. A great video will just keep racking up views indefinitely as more people discover it.
As your video library grows, you’ll get a compound interest effect, just like Oprah with her 4500+ shows.
Oprah’s Favorite Things didn’t become a thing until she made it a thing.
You can do the same.
Don’t Waste Your Chance
You only get one life. You can either go for it with this one life you’re given, or you can spend the rest of your life living with the regret that comes with not trying.
“What could I have accomplished IF I had tried?” is a terrible question to have to grow old with.
Be An Agent Of Change
Oprah is where she is because people like Thurgood Marshall created a smoother path for her than the one they traveled.
And Oprah has, in turn, created a smoother path for so many others.
You have it in you to do the same, since you’re a change agent, not a complainer, right?
