Shake Those Haters Off!

Hater: A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person. Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesn't really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock someone else down a notch. (Source: Urban Dictionary)

By show of (virtual) hands, how many of you are sitting on what you believe to be a million-dollar idea, because your critics have silenced you? Come on now, be honest. They said one bad thing about you or your idea, and you took it to heart.

While doing research online for a project today, I came across a book review that inspired this post. The reviewer gave the book two stars out of five, and then proceeded to cut the author down at the knees because he used the people he knew to make his book a bestseller, and then used the book as a springboard to create a multimillion dollar internet business. Ummm, what's wrong with that?

It was clear that the review had more to do with someone hating on the author than it did the book's content. The reviewer also has a a print book and several ebooks, but the author of the book he was reviewing has used his as an in to his profession, making millions of dollars training people to change. And when I visited the reviewer's website (of course I went there), I saw that he has a program that is very similar to the author's. So that got me to thinking. Did he give this book a poor rating because his hasn't experienced the same level of success? I can't say for sure, but it's possible.

At the same time that I was doing my research, I was listening to a discussion about Tyler Perry's latest Hollywood project, For Colored Girls. And then it came to me like an epiphany. While we're sitting here chatting it up about all the reasons we do or don't like Tyler Perry's body of work, he has already shaken his haters off, and is somewhere working on his next multimillion dollar project. And I was like, dang girl, get a clue. Let these people have this discussion, and get back to work securing another contract for yourself. It's not like this is Siskel and Ebert, where anyone in this discussion is getting paid to give this movie a thumbs up or down.

As I sit here writing this, I can hear Venus Williams on the TV behind me promoting her new EA SPORTS game. Imagine where she would be if she had allowed the people who criticized her because of her hair and her braces to cause her to not become the tennis phenom that she is today. She certainly wouldn't be promoting a video game.

So, go ahead and shake those haters off. Otherwise, you may never develop that million-dollar idea.