text by tfunk

read my poem in pop serial issue 4!

(via liefplus)

earth day gif, words by catalina @gnarshark

thank u nebula dog

we can change the world

when i was in high school i wanted to play in a band for a living. in college i switched my focus to poetry and later i expanded to video, but esentialy i kept the same goal: i wanted to “make a living” from my art, so i can spend my #rare time alive on what i believe in and what makes me hapy. for the past two years i’ve worked particularly hard at making that hapen. i’ve been sucessful by my definition (yayy!), and one of my bigest guides along the way has been gary vaynerchuk

if you’ve seen many of my videos at all, u have probaly seen clips of gary (here, here, here, here, here). gary’s message is rooted in a strong awareness of YOLO: you only live once, so do what you love. much of gary’s work is teaching specific ways to make it possible to do what u love, he talks about how to build a folowing and community around your work online. much of my aproach to social media community building—how i run my twitter, livestreams, etc—has been adapted from gary’s ideas

the core of gary’s marketing philosophy is to CARE—to be there for your folowers, actualy respond to them, say thanks when people share your work, check out their work in return, make friends and be part of the comunity. this works because when you give back (or give first) so generously, your folowers tend to get more enthusiastic and help share your work. equally simple is gary’s philosophy of personal brand, which is basicaly be yourself.. gary says “there are no damn tactics: be who you are, talk about shit you love”

today i got to interview gary! often gary addresses the concerns of big brands, but this interview is directed at young artists who are trying to build a folowing and eventualy make money from what they love

(back-up mp3 link if the player isn’t working: click here!)

take-away points (SPOLIER ALERT)

• if you’re considering pursuing your art/passion, dont focus on concerns about whether you’ll have success or security within 5-10 years—focus on whether you’ll be 70 years old and have regrets that you never tried!!
  
  
• when you eventualy release a book/album/etc and you need your community to actualy follow thru and support you, you should just ask them for what you want, don’t fear rejection.
  
  
• when you do IRL events like shows or readings, make the most of any turn-out by giving your full heart and soul to the attendees. connect personaly w/ each person there. then those few ppl wil be the ones to help u get many more ppl out next time
  
  
• don’t beat yourself up for sucking at 99.9% of things, just go super hard at the 0.1% you are realy good at!! build around what u are good at
  
  

if you like this interview i recomend gary’s book CRUSH IT, and this video of him click here!! his upcoming book this fall is called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook! u can also follow him on twitter and facebook, and look thru his website garyvaynerchuk.com