Quotes About Self-reliance

When you're your own producer, you do the most ridiculous, insane things.

I didn't want to have people open doors for me. My dad never made a call on my behalf to anyone - not to a producer, a director, or a casting agent.

If you're always waiting for a producer to hire you... your chances are really, really small. I've been knocking on doors and asking for a job for many years, and my career really changed when I decided to create my own material.

On my 'Mickey' video, I was the director, producer, choreographer, editor, singer - everything.

I didn't knock on any producers' doors for work.

I think the days of working with producers in the conventional sense are over for me.

I did a record with a producer, and the good producers eat up the budget, so I didn't have any budget left to produce this record. I had to produce it myself.

I tell my students based on my experiences in Hollywood, sure, you can always move to L.A. and try to work with the system, and people do that, but chances are if you want your story in film with characters of color, you will have to make that movie yourself. Find a way to make it yourself. Not just screenwriters, but also producers.

Once I accumulated a bunch of sounds and learned how to use Logic, I was like, 'Wait a second, I don't need to work with any producers. I can do this on my own.'

I can't be bullied by producers.

I'm so not interested in producing, other than doing my own work, producing my own films. I only do it as favors, for other people to get their films made.

I think if I produced a show I would not want to be part of that production. That's not... I'm not... I mean, I couldn't even sell Boy Scout chocolate bars when I was a kid!

When I first started, there really was no beauty guru community. I didn't have the right production resources. I had to learn how to edit. I didn't even have beauty products. I had to go out and buy them myself because beauty brands didn't even know what a beauty guru was.

There's a duality of a guy calling on God: 'Where are you when I need you?' and then, at the same time, 'God helps those who help themselves.' I think that contradiction does exist in all of us, those of faith and those who profess to have no faith.

Meek wifehood is no part of my profession; I am your friend, but never your possession.

I had difficulty working for other people.

Sometimes I think the most difficult moments in life were actually good because they made me strong. I was a child labourer. From this, I learned to stand on my own feet. So I don't want to forget the difficulty of my life.

I understand the dignity that comes from work and caring for one's family.

I write 100% of my material by myself. That's really important to me because I don't want what I'm trying to say to be diluted by anyone that might not know my circumstance or who I am as a person.

I used to take five or six books away and bring five or six books back. Nobody gave me direction or advice and I read much in the way that a boy might watch television.

I'm not confused about what's happening in fashion, because I follow my own direction and go.

I've never been able to accept any kind of discipline.

I discover a lot of things on my own.

Comparison is a disease. I never felt any competition, since I never compared myself to others. I only focus on my work. I never feel pressurised and do films in my style. Also, I'm very active since childhood, and that gives me the edge to always put my best.