Don't become a content creator, become an artist

a bit of context and why you should give me any sort of your time and energy so I've been creating editing and uploading videos on social media since I was 10 years old I built an audience on Tik Tok of nearly half a million people we're getting closer and I've done that by only uploading a few times a year I say that like it's a cool thing it's not it's pretty sad and disappointing but there you go and on this YouTube channel where you're watching this now we're almost at a million views most of those

being generated by my younger hip squeak self talking about movies so with that being said let's proceed with this conversation you're no longer unique by simply being good with a camera or knowing how to color grade there are far more bridges to cross to enter the land of success via content creation that's just an objective fact look at your algorithm right now go on any social media platform Instagram Tik Tok YouTube look at anything that's performing that's getting actual numbers and you'll see everything's essentially delivered in the same manner like you have Vlogs all of

them kind of follow the same structure you have advice videos they all follow this caption technique and borders with whatever's you know hitting the algorithm in that given moment keep scrolling and ask yourself are there any videos that I see that are actually performing that are different that are entirely unique and the answer is no there might be like a crazy video of a dolphin getting eaten by a whale or something it's like W okay like that has to get numbers cuz it was just too while not to but that's not sustainable and it's not

going to be something that actually can build an audience for your given brand or your given personality everything follows a particular mold Vlogs self-help videos how to build a business how to get bigger how to look better all of these things are delivered in very similar manners you're never going to have someone in this Niche that just does it entirely differently and has all this success do you need to change it up absolutely but if you go too far from that mold no one will know how to actually digest your content so winning the game

isn't about being completely different this is a myth and always has been these celebrities artists and Poets who preached about Paving your own path are all on the same path as the people before them we were never meant to be Black Sheep just sheep grazing different grass so instead of pave your own path it's Veer off the universal path just enough to where you can get enough space to move forward so what this actually realistically looks like and what that protocol needs to be is one cleaning up your consumption only follow artists and creators that

you admire objectively analyze what has worked for them and what hasn't two sharpening your creative sword by practice create for the sake of creating don't seek attention just yet but enjoy the obsession of making art that is yours you're unattached to the outcome here you don't need to see anything just yet you are doing it to get better three now that you have the ability to operate a camera or just your iPhone or make something look decently good and you can speak to the camera you can speak on the mic you can write your thoughts

you can do XYZ whatever it is that you want to actually Implement and create with if that's your voice if that's your face if that's video if that's audio whatever it is you can now tell a story now that the skill is established simply emulate what you've analyzed from those select few creators that you studied four you're going off a blueprint that has proven to work therefore your time is well spent and you're not just putting out content for the sake of it inevitably here you will inject your own unique perspective because you have to

it's your footage it's your voice it's your color that you're putting on video whatever it is that makes it your own it has to be there because you're creating it so a major issue I see in the creative world is blind Pursuit creators have no issue being carbon copies of others if it means more followers the echo chambers of social media are louder than ever before everyone is essentially saying the exact same thing over and over and over again eat better get good sleep focus on your mental health run it's all the same stuff it's

just delivered in a different manner anyone can do this this is not the hard part scream loud enough you will get attention I promise you the hard part is creating beautiful inspired and aligned key word there aligned art art that actually means something to you like you feel something when you create it doing this while also being able to earn a living doing what you enjoy this is the blueprint to make that hard part a bit easier first you want to create your mood board curate a simple onepage mood SL reference Board of content that

you genuinely love this is content that made an impression on you in some form or fashion we all have this ability as creators to consume and do so selectively do so intentionally where something speaks to us we can save that and make a note of it oh that was very well put together that was beautiful that made me feel something and I want to emulate something within that to also kind of continue that ripple effect and reach someone else because whatever you see that made you feel something was emulated by someone else I promise you

that on that same regard of nothing is this Black Sheep thing like everyone is everyone else if that makes sense not to get to woo woo here but that's just how the world Works nothing's original we're going to get more into that a bit later but red any recycled for the masses content from this board stay away from Trends stay away from the stuff that everyone saw everyone liked it has a million plus likes all that stuff will just pull you further into copycat territory and just get rid of any uniqueness to your artistic skill

set this board will be what you eventually emulate this is your pre-production phase I recommend just creating a blink page in notion and just tossing in links photos and videos you can see an example of one of mine in the description below you can also duplicate that as your own template and add it to your notion and create it as you will looking over your mood board you should feel excited beyond belief I cannot stress that factor enough your only threshold for what is allowed into your pre-production phase your storyboard to you this should feel

like poetry emotion going off like fireworks as you scroll through this board this is your Museum your place of solitude and inspiration find your secret ingredient so now that you have your references you know what you want to create you must configure the ingredient that you're going to add to the recipe to make it yours you can't just copy and paste what has worked for others if you do so you're going to be right back in that arena with everyone inless fighting and trying to get attention and you're blend right into everyone else so how

I found on my secret ingredient was I realized I was underutilizing my most unique asset which was me I was emulating stuff that spoke to me I was doing a decent job at that but I was just videoing like travel stuff and stuff on my iPhone and doing like Photo dumps and this and this when I realized I can keep doing that I can keep trying to grow that way and I was very slowly or I can inject more of my personality more of what makes me me and reach those people who see the world

similarly to how I do so that's what I did I began writing out my thoughts cleaning them up and then voicing them directly to the camera like I am now this is the exact same process I still continue to do and after editing for close to two decades I applied my own style to that footage to further make it mine to further make that secret ingredient as potent as possible and just like that I had a fresh plate of food to offer the starving algorithm I wasn't Reinventing the wheel here this was nothing new I

framed my Approach based on similar content that I knew already worked but it had a fresh feel to it now it was no longer stale and repetitive again the only thing that makes it fresh and new is adding you to it like you can't you can't work around that in any way all it needs is your voice your personality the way you see the world the way you perceive it is injected into what has already worked making it fresh even though it has already been vetted it's already been received well by the algorithm it just

needs that ingredient that is you so within days of having this Revelation my account blew up I was gaining 20K plus followers a day consistently this doesn't mean you need to start writing the same content I do or speaking to the camera how I do again this puts you right back into the copycat territory where you're not going to get any attention you're not going to get any success that way one you're just not even an artist because you're not putting anything new into the world and two it won't perform the same way because the

algorithm again has already seen this exact same thing this was my secret sauce it won't pack the same punch for you just like everyone else has their own secret ingredient you have to find yours find what gives you that edge your writing your storytelling your color grading your humor whatever it may be sprinkle that on top of what you've curated in your mood board and what has already been vetted by the algorithm I want to see you the world wants to see you not recycled emotionless faceless work 95% of creators aka the people who are

endlessly blindly fighting each other in these Arenas view consense as an analytical game in which clicks conversions and attention are the only metrics perceiving it this way will put you right back into copycat monkey SE monkey do territory and negate the entire purpose of creating in the first place art is only present when what you are creating is yours emulation is inevitable I said it before every single piece of art that has ever been created was emulated but copying and pasting is a choice nothing is original still from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels

your imagination devour old films new films music books paintings photographs poems dreams random conversations architecture Bridges street signs trees clouds bodies of water light and shadows select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul if you do this your work and your theft will be authentic authenticity is invaluable originality is non-existent don't bother concealing your thievery celebrate it if you feel like it in any case always remember what jean Luke Goddard said it's not where you take things from it's where you take them to Jim jarmush jish I'm not sure how to

say that make it real make it real make it real so important it needs to be said three times post whatever it is you made once it's out there once someone has perceived it it is real it has validity you're now a creator you're now an artist and a quick Pro tip here so many people will sit there on New Year's Eve and be writing their resolutions and just decide you know what I'm going full steam ahead I'm going to be a content creator now I'm going to be a influencer I'm going to be an

artist I'm going to commit to this process and just create every single day five Vlogs a week it's going to be incredible and then a year goes by they sit there on the same New Year's Eve the next year and they're like shoot I ended up posting two times and didn't do anything in that regard and a lot of times this happens because there's this barrier of not wanting to receive or see any of the flak that you may get from friends from Family from past teachers colleagues whoever it may be who are following you

and who have been for a while I've seen this so many times with friends that I follow or past people in my life that I follow and all of a sudden they'll just start posting a ton of content and tell the world this is me trying to be a Creator trying to be an influencer and then weeks will go by and then all of a sudden it just stops like you you'll never see them post again and it's unfortunate because you almost build this higher barrier this thicker barrier that you have to get across the

first phase of growth in this world of content will be annoying to your followers your friends your family your past teachers your colleagues Etc it just will be it is inevitable you're not going to post one time and immediately be this success story like you're going to post for the first time the first few months the first year and get close to no engagement close to no views it's different for everyone but you're not immediately going to be this clout heavy celebrity it will be a lot of average content at a very high rate so

if you can't swallow that pill then create a random account create an account that no one will ever see and then just like that that worry and that preoccupation you had is just gone that barrier is gone you can now create freely if you're someone who just does not care even better start posting but if you notice a barrier there then you're going to inevitably not post as much as you need to you're going to inevitably not stay with the process that you need to stay with and it will massively extend that learning curve that

you could have gotten over far quicker just like snowboarding for the first time you're going to look like an absolute goofball falling again and again and again and that's just part of it that's the learning curve and if you don't want people to see that create a random account if you don't don't care Keep Falling on your face even better so now that you have content now that you have a proof of concept that is constantly evolving if it's been over a few months and you're getting close to zero views and no engagement there is

a problem that's not good it's just not working and the market is not responding that's okay Walt Disney's first production company went completely bankrupt he cut his losses moved to Hollywood and kept pushing pivot listen to the market don't just let them bury you and make sad listen to them they're telling you something re observe your mood board and emulate even closer to those references that worked if you're not getting views if you're not getting attention that's usually the first issue is you're not following that mold that needs to be followed again for people to

digest that content and keep searching keep allowing yourself to further see that secret sauce more clearly as you slowly grow it took me over a year to have the Revelation that I had I was posting content day after day after day slowly slowly growing slowly seeing more numbers until I finally realized oh I can just pivot this way a little bit and change this up a little bit and just like that I went from Gaining dozens of followers a day to tens of thousands of followers a day give this time find the thing that sticks

you've been throwing a lot of things at a wall eventually you'll turn your discouraged head and notice something finally stuck and this will usually be revealed 3 to four months in it could be later it could be earlier again in my situation it took over a year and just to clarify something that sticks is defined as actual views actual engagement actual views are 5,000 plus and actual engagement is 100 plus likes this means you actually have people routinely consuming your content there's something there there's a solid foundation you'll be surprised at how quickly you can

go from 100 likes to 100,000 likes just by finding that secret sauce and pivoting just slightly you have the secret ingredient you have your recipe figured out it's right there ready to go it is time to systemize you have to find the most optimal process that can churn your new found recipe three times a week this needs to be low barrier to inury but exceptional quality what I mean by this is that you can't overthink this process overthinking will kill the flow state of production I only grew at the rate that I did because I

was able to write film edit and upload content at a very efficient rate and I could keep the quality of my content Rising as opposed to declining with that efficiency rate Rising as well it's not this McDonald's corporate approach where you lower quality so you can be more efficient in delivering food to people although the barrier is low it's easy to create it's easy to replicate success that doesn't come at the cost of quality this is where you edge out the competition if anything the quality of your work is getting better again you're not sacrificing

that as you grow it's only getting better and a good measurement for an exceptional repeatable content system is your reaction to creating this is simple observe your mind when you wake up does the thought of writing a new video exhaust you do you find yourself ambivalent to sitting down and working if so as much as you try to force yourself to you will not repeat this I promise you just like habits our brain repeats what makes it feel good it does not repeat what makes it feel bad tired and repeatedly discouraged your process should excite

you it's not always going to be easy but that's the point we innately love and crave Challenge and competition that's just how we're bred that's what's in our DNA so with that being said this is the blueprint that your system should follow it should one be easy to repeat two difficult to master and three you should have evidence of growth let's look at that first step the production process is easy to repeat meaning it's fun it doesn't exhaust you you love the process it's low barrier and you have no issues with trainning out unique inspired

work second step difficult to master just like a video game that keeps you coming back the difficulty is dialed up just enough to keep you entertained we' never play a video game again if you could just beat the final boss and master it in 5 minutes like no Successful video game has ever had a structure in that way three evidence of growth lastly we have consistent evidence that people enjoy our content we all have heard the definition of insanity doing the same thing again and again and again expect expecting different results only an insane person

would keep going at something with nothing to show for it whether we like it or not we are driven by growth by results by metrics of more more money more attention followers more status so with this final step in place your platform growing steadily the first step becomes easier the second more challenging AKA more enjoyable and the third continues to generate increasing results thus creating this flywheel of creator autonomy you're producing more unique art because the process becomes increasingly enjoyable the Mastery itself continues to be rewarding and you're no longer forced to trade your creative

freedom for financial stability instead both flow together growing in Tandem and that flywheel does just what a flywheel does and is meant to do and it gets faster and faster and faster and faster as the process gets easier as you see more results as you see more evidence of your growth and that's when you start to enter this Flow State and life gets pretty fun to conclude we need more distinct subtle art now more than ever I said it before and I'll say it one more time I want to see you the world wants to

see you not recycled faceless emotionless work follow this framework that I just laid out for you to avoid the consistent discouragement and the inevitable withdrawal from your purpose I look forward to seeing and viewing these stories that you have the ability to tell more on this topic later take care Landon [Music]