Jeff Hiller’s Emmy Win & the Art of Persistence

Last week our friend — and longtime Capes Coaching alum — Jeff Hiller stood on the Emmy stage, golden statue in hand.

If you’ve read Jeff’s brilliant memoir, you know this win didn’t appear overnight.

Decades of auditions, side gigs, small triumphs, and quiet disappointments paved the way to his breakout in Somebody Somewhere (one of my all-time favorite shows). An Emmy nomination — and then an actual win — was never guaranteed. Jeff could have been appreciated and still never honored on that scale.

Years ago, Jeff and I sat down to craft a cover letter that helped him land a meeting with his first agent. Quite a lot has happened since then. And now here he is, reminding the world how much persistence, heart, and humor it takes to make it in this business. To have been a small part of that journey? Deeply meaningful.

Back when we worked together, Jeff summed up the process this way: 

“Capes Coaching helps you break down the steps so wisely and take away a lot of the fear and mystery that prevent us from going after our goals… Capes Coaching helped me SO SO SO much — and I am eternally grateful.”

I treasure those words, but what I treasure more is watching someone embody them. Over all these years, Jeff continued breaking down the steps, showing up through the daily muck — the rejections, the near-misses, the endless waiting. That is the real story.

Because here’s the truth: even for the most gifted artists, moments like this are rare. And yet so many of my clients are out there, day after day, putting in the work with no Emmy Night on the calendar.

Some of you are in the thick of it right now.

So as we celebrate Jeff’s milestone, I’m thinking about you.

What do you need to hear to keep going — or to pause and breathe — while you walk your own creative path?

This is the heart of our work with creatives: coaching you through whatever you are facing today in your life and career, and helping you design the next steps that let you know you’re on your Path.

Because whether there’s gold at the end of the tunnel or not, showing up for your art — through the messy, unglamorous, daily work — is already the victory.

Cheering you on,
Betsy