How to Become an Overnight Sensation: 1000 Online Comments

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Years ago, when I was getting married, I struggled to decide whether or not I should change my name. So I asked my dad.

{::::thick Hungarian accent:::} “ Terezkem – the sooner you lose the name the better. You are American.”

Then I asked my mom. ::::rolling Czech accent::::} “ Hele, Terezko – dat is hard. No one remembers our name….but no one forgets it.”

They were immigrants, political refugees from the CSSR -- the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republics. When they left, they had almost nothing.

And they also couldn’t go back. So there really wasn’t a choice but to make it work. They were outsiders at a time when not many people were immigrated here. This immigrant experience was at the core of my identity.

So I never minded when people asked me where my name came from. Or why I had to take piano lessons, why my dad was overly intellectual…and overprotective, and why my mom had so much hustle. Together, we worked my way through great schools, I got into a great career. And eventually, I got married, and my mother was thrilled at the arrival of her first grandchild.

But the joy was short-lived. Dad had been sick and died shortly after. And it turned out Mom had an explosive growth tumor, and she died too. I buried them at the same time. My sister left the country.

I felt very alone. I felt I needed to radically reboot my life, by pursuing a dream I’d long put off. I wanted to enter the web tech sector, to be in on the front lines of innovation. How would I get started? Well, I knew Internet people go to a LOT of events. So I decided I would attend an event. And I did.

Well, I looked different and was older than everyone there. Not a single person talked to me. It didn’t matter that I’d previously had a great career. No one cared. I felt awful. Irrelevant. Invisible. I went home.

And I thought about my parents. About dad….um…nope. He was prone to mild depression and would have hid in the garage. And then I thought about Mom, Marta. This is a woman with little formal education, who, with few options, started out as a Mary Kay Lady. I witnessed her many a time stopping strangers in the Supermarket if they wanted a free facial. And I knew exactly what she’d tell me. “ You go back, Terezko. And you go back again and again and again. Go until everybody knows you.”

So, with mom’s imaginary advice in hand, I decided I to attend 100 events. I would just keep showing up.

It didn’t take long before I’d be guaranteed to know somebody in the room. I took note of who I thought was good, and who I wanted a longer-term relationship with. I drank a LOT of coffee.

I also committed to learning this new language and its common tools.

But I also started to get a little tired of attending events. I had to schlep pretty far. And it wasn’t lost on me that time at events was time NOT with my new family. I started paying attending to online forums, especially the key venture capital ones. There was a lot of discussion, but no one like me. And practically no women. I wasn’t sure I was welcome. At one event, I met venture capitalist Fred Wilson. I asked him, “Why don’t more women comment on your blog?” Fred said, “I wish they would. I’ve tried. But for some reason, they just don’t show up.”

So I decided to leave 1000 comments online. Just one a day, to start. Then someone upvoted one of my comments. I was elated. Then another. And another. To my surprise, a lot of people looked forward to what I had to say. At events, people I didn’t know started to come up to me – “Hey, are you Tereza? I really love reading your comments!” Wow.

All this independent work needed some structure. I needed to feel good as I journeyed into the unknown. And I also wanted to feel grounded in where I came from. So, I decided to do something special about Mondays.

Online, you start leaving comments, and you work out your persona. And people start following you. Eventually, you create your own virtual playground. And from there, you really start being discovered by new people.

When you set forth, you need to do it with attitude. You need to: Be bold. Aim high Use great data. By authentic. Use the social tools. And above all, SHOW UP.

Well, it really built from there. One of my comments was reblogged, went viral, and I got it published in Reuters. By this time I’d founded my own company. I got funding! I even got on a Forbes Top Ten list. I do have a confession. The business itself didn’t work out exactly as I’d hoped. But does it mean I shouldn’t have set out on the journey? Of course not! I’m just trying to decide how many startups I have in me – 2? 3? 10? The fact is, it’s created a whole new world of opportunity. And yet, it was really doable.

Here’s the thing. You can do anything – by showing up. 100 events 1000 comments Learn the language Make Mondays special Manage a consistent presence

How to Become an Overnight Sensation: 1000 Online Comments

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How to Become an Overnight Sensation: 1000 Online Comments