I am writing this late late late Friday night/early early early Saturday morning sitting in front of a TV screen in my office watching the results as we dry-run our TXT-TV concept.
Frequent readers of this blog have known about TXT-TV for a while. In a nutshell, it's one of those "new new things," an interactive cable TV network which viewers control by texting from their cellphones. As the slogan goes, it's "The Only TV Network Where YOU Are The Star!"
There's still a lot to be done, but for more info you can check out works-in-progress-nearing-completion like our website at www.txttv.ca, our behind-the-scenes blog, as well as the perfunctory Facebook Fan Page and Twitter feed.
Better still, check us out on Channel 178 as of Wednesday if you're a Rogers Cable sub.
Anyway, as I stand on the precipice of launching this very, very ambitious project, I've been asked many questions. The one that really hit home this week was:
"ARE YOU SCARED?"
The answer?
Damn right I am.
We're about to launch a TV network. A real one. There's so much that can go wrong. There's so much that needs to be improved. Given budget and time and manpower and other limitations, so many hard "Sophie's Choice" decisions have to be made on a daily basis. Make the wrong one and it could be the haunting finger-point of blame for years.
So yeah, I'm a little scared.
But I'm also happier than I've been in a long while.
There's nothing wrong with being scared. It's a natural entrepreneurial state. One may hide it well, but every true entrepreneur goes off their cliff with butterflies--or tapeworms, or worse--in his or her gut.
Being scared means that you're alive.
It means that your heart is pumping fast, that adrenaline is flowing, that your eyes are wide and your breathing is rapid.
It means you believe in what you're doing, but know that your project--whatever it may be--is up against the fickle whims of the public who ultimately decide whether it lives or dies.
It means that you've done all your homework, your grunt work, but know it's all moot if just one of the millions of uncontrollable variables out there plays against your grain.
So what did I learn this most stressful of weeks?
I learned that I'd much rather be scared than be bored.A heart attack is more fun than a yawn. Charge up the defibrillators!
Yup, there's a big one coming on St. Paddy's Day when we launch. I'm probably gonna need a drink or two that day.
And the next. And the next...
And I know that even with all the work so far, over the next few months, TXT-TV is going to morph into something that I couldn't even fathom today and won't recognize tomorrow. I saw that process first-hand when I was one of the founding partners of the Comedy Network way back when, and I suspect I'll be seeing it again. TXT-TV ain't gonna explode, or implode, overnight. Patience, patience, patience. React, remodel, restart.
So to close, here's a little treat--a couple of short video snippets behind the scenes at the first-ever all-nighter at the TXT-TV network. Part of broadcast history, or just two more videos on the YouTube compost heap?
I'm taking a deep breath...