"THANK YOU FOR FIRING ME!"

“One door closes, another door opens....but it’s Hell in the Hallway!”
Chapter 1: "Thank you for firing me!"

I entered the hallway, after a 30-year career and 20-year marriage ended, in September of 2001. It was like the end of the Sopranos. At the time it sure felt like hell, but I learned, wrapped inside of every adversity is a great gift. Surviving the ‘unsurviveable’, starting over at any age, (I will be 64 next month), seemed impossible. This was not the life I would have ever scripted for myself and it is a life beyond anything I could have imagined. I was my business card for 30 years, paradoxically, when I lost it…..I found myself.

I’m thinking of calling my next book, “Thank You For Firing Me!” When people tell me they’ve been fired, they must think I’m nuts cause I always give them a big grin and say, “Congratulations!”

Then I ask the most important question you can ask anyone......

“What would you do if you didn’t have to work?”

But how can you tell what that is? Because when you’re doing it, time disappears and the hair on the back of your neck stands on end and it is usually accompanied by a lot of laughter.

Here are some unconventional steps I took, I can’t explain why, but it works and what do you have to lose…. but your fear?

1. Begin where you are…. and breathe
2. I bought one of those waitress “Guest Check” pads and started writing down my “order”, how much money I would make, (never use the word ‘want’), who I would meet, what concerts I would produce, I was specific and dated them.
3. Write down everyone and everything you know
4. I bought a camera and asked musicians if I could shoot their performances for free, next thing you know I was filming Diana Ross
5. I keep a daily running “business plan” of how much I will bill and what projects I will to do in a word document
6. Write down your fears everyday on a piece of paper and then burn it
7. Invest in a good web designer. Buy a domain name and trademark it. Be sure and get your name. www.sandibachom.com
8. Tell everybody you’re getting a book published, producing a concert, meeting a particular person (Mel Brooks is next on my list.) Two years before my first book was published I told everyone I was having my first book published.
9. Pay attention to coincidences, they are messages propelling you toward your destiny
10.Smile when you pick up the phone
11.If you have an important meeting, “create backwards”, imagine the end, how it felt to be successful
12.The Universe only has one answer to any question and that is, ‘Yes’. So, if you say, “I can’t get a job, I’m too old, I’m broke, I’ll never get out of debt.” The Universe replies with a resounding, “yes.”

For three decades I was an award winning producer of television commercials, now I’m award winning producer, director, editor and actor in my own short films. I like to say I used to produce $2 million soft drink commercials and now I make my Schlockumentaries® for $10….cost of the tape.

Begin where you are. But begin!

“Like the story of the man who was jailed for many years, counting the days on the wall of his cell till his release, every waking moment spent in plans for the day he would be free. And on that joyous day, he went to the door of the cell, heart pounding with anticipation and behold, it was unlocked.

We are all prisoners of our own making. My will and ego and pride kept me locked in the hallway for 6 years, but I could have come out at any time. This book is some of what I learned and hopefully will shorten your inevitable stay. With love and laughter, Sandi”

~from “Hell In The Hallway”