Dear Writer Director Letter #93
Thomas Edison never would have invented the lightbulb if he didn’t have faith that he would figure it out.
3.25.25.
Dear Writer Director,
Thomas Edison never would have invented the lightbulb if he didn’t have faith that he would figure it out.
On Monday of this week, a majority of my funding fell through for my move and my road trip down to New Orleans. I had a feeling that everything came together a bit too easily the week prior. I had secured the van. My friend had what she needed to fly to Chicago from Glasgow. I had signed the lease on the apartment. The moment I read the rejection letter from the bank, my heart sank, and I wanted to break down, but I thought about my time. I was planning to go to the DMV to get my Driver’s License Renewed, so I did just that. I decided to use my time in line to think over my options. I also texted several of my closest friends who all know how it goes in the business and fundraising worlds to also be thinking about solutions to my problem. More heads are better than one. Right as I got out of the line, one of them drops a lead. We have a phone call. They ask me questions, and I realize I’m operating from a space of fight or flight.
Their response was perfect. They were kind and clear in what was going to be needed of me to apply for this opportunity, and most importantly, I clocked it myself.
Thomas Edison never would have invented the lightbulb if he didn’t have faith that he would figure it out. When I got home, I got to work on that application, and I texted my interview guest that I needed an extra hour to get this done. In those moments while I typed, my faith had shrunk to zero that I would pull this off. I completely forgot myself. I was starving. I had an extra taco from a few days ago in the fridge. Finally, I grabbed it and sat there packing up my equipment. The road was a total blank, and I felt so much shame for feeling anxious about that. Part of being an entrepreneur is finding funding when you need it to keep going. A fellow Social Media Influencer friend knocked me over the head with that truth later on that night.
Before Vanessa and I sat and stared at each other in that Zoom room while we ate our midnight snacks feverishly, I interviewed one of my greatest thought partners in the whole of my artistic life. I used to call Stefan Brun a mentor, but now we’re peers. We kind of always were, but like Stefan said, when younger people look up at older people, there’s always this kind of imagined distance that’s not really there. The interview was absolutely a slam dunk. It was the most coherent and translated conversation to others that Stefan and I had probably ever had. By the time we had wrapped and we were just chatting, I had calmed down, and then Stefan said something I will never forget. He told me to start a GoFund me, and then he said, ‘people want to see you succeed.’ I could hardly believe it, believe it or not. After my whole birthday ‘pay me’ campaign, I honestly felt so ashamed. I thought of it all as stooping. Then I realized that Stefan was telling me that I needed to allow others to help me. When I got home, I got to work. I wrote the copy. I did the thing. Then I slept on it, wrote more at 5am, and published it.
Thomas Edison never would have invented the lightbulb if he didn’t have faith that he would figure it out. That shit popped off, and I had $725 by the end of the day, plus a solution for my high credit limit on my cards, an interested investor, pledges from 4 additional friends, heartfelt, breakthrough conversations with friends about their current situations, and meaningful exchanges from people I would like to be closer to. I wrapped up the first day of the campaign sweating my ass off in a fellow baby entrepreneur’s sauna business, came home, and prepared to launch tomorrow’s new episodes.
If I didn’t have faith in the face of every unsavory moment’s I experienced today in addition to that, I wouldn’t have anything to stand on. Faith has seen me through everything, and faith is what this world has completely lost. Thanks to my friends and fans and friends/fans, I was able to transform a difficult situation very quickly into something far more abundant and expansive. I’m finding funding, but I’m also finding a reflection of my own impact. I never really stop and take stock of what I’ve accomplished. Even though this is a wild five last days in Chicago, I’m sitting here, and I’m seeing myself, who I really am, how I show up, how I fight like hell to build the world we deserve.
Dear Writer Director, sometimes things happen. Don’t panic. Just get yourself calm, talk to friends, be discerning of who you want to listen to, and carry on. When you hear the negative voices, don’t listen to them. They’ll just keep you in a holding pattern. The world isn’t as dire as you think it is.
Thomas Edison never would have invented the lightbulb if he didn’t have faith that he would figure it out. Imagine if he threw in the towel, and we never had light.
Love,
Olivia