The fastest route to becoming a celebrity speaker.

A few days ago I was reading a blog post about what it takes to become an international speaker by Maria Franzoni.

In my view what it takes to reach success is achieving that one goal that you have always desired. However too often before we achieve that goal, most probably, we all experience some hurdles and obstacles.

That certainly has been my case and I say most because I can’t speak for others. I can only generalize from what I have read and observed in those who have achieved their dreams and not. From friends, celebrities, and the quiet unknowns.

All these people, I can almost say without exception, met many obstacles along their way. Yet they pushed past them and focused on their vision. For some success was within months, for some it took years, and for others decades.

A lot of these people never envisaged becoming a celebrity speaker and this was not their aim. They became a celebrity speaker and sought-after personas because of what they had achieved.

Today. I want to share the story of one of these people with you.

Shervin Hajipour is a 25-year-old Iranian young man, who studied economics at the University of Mazandaran (Iran). Until a month ago, he was unknown to the Iranians outside of Iran and no foreigner had heard of his name or listened to his music.

According to information available on Wikipedia. He took up music at the age of eight when he entered a violin class and graduated from several musical classes later. When in secondary school, he started to compose professionally. When at university, he was composing music for theatre performances and editing. Only later he began to sing himself.

I have watched some of his earlier work and what was available on youtube, but they were not something I personally would listen to.

Yet on the 28th of September 2022, after the death of Mahsa Amini and the start of the protests, he released a 2-minute song “Baraye” that in less than a month reached many corners of the world, had millions of views on Youtube, and has been translated into numerous languages. Hajipour became an instant hit, a national and international hero with just a 2-minute song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0th9_v-BbUI&list=RD0th9_v-BbUI&start_radio=1

Hajipour wrote the song based on the Internet meme that was spread through social media (and Twitter in particular), by which (through phrases starting with the word “for”) the users explained their personal reasons for protesting and wishing for regime change in Iran.

Trying to capture the essence of these sentiments, Hajipour wrote each verse of the lyrics based on a separate tweet. The resulting text touches upon several topics in need of change, including: low life satisfaction, women’s rights, children’s rights, the rights of refugees, animals rights, environmental concerns, recession and poverty, theocracy, and outdated social and religious taboos, militarism and political corruption, local corruption, freedom of speech, and the government’s hostility against other countries.

In my view, the song has one essence. It was from his heart. It was made with love. He captured everyone’s feelings and become their voice. He sang the song from what looks like to be his bedroom. His objectives were not fame and money, but rather expressing his view, and concern, capturing what was happening in Iran.

My conclusion. He followed his heart and passion. This song was not made with the aim of earning money and fame. He just did it to pour out his feelings in view of what was happening in Iran.

The song went viral the same day. It has been the national anthem against the Iranian regime. While Shervin was arrested the day after he wrote and published the song, he is by far the most celebrated personality in the fight against this revolution. Whether he will be able to speak out loud immediately or not is unknown but what’s for sure, he will be remembered in history for this song.

Too often we leave our passion in pursuit of the wrong outcome. Boy, have I done that. I would be lying if I didn’t admit it, yet I have now come to see that each time I succeeded and took a step forward was when I worked towards my goals irrespective of that outcome.

Following your passion is easier than you think. It may take a juggle, but the less juggling you put into it, the easier it becomes.

My passion, mentoring startups and in particular early stage startups doesn’t pay half as much as my last job. In fact, it sometimes is a financial struggle but if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be happy. I am at my happiest and most productive when I do mentoring, when I help startups, when I review pitch decks, and when I am helpinh other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.