BYOB Generation How to Be Your Own Boss
the rules of the game
have changed in this moment we are
witnessing
a shift in the american dream
in the generations of our parents and
grandparents a successful career was
defined by job security
a reliable salary and a strong
benefits package however today
more and more people are having
conversations
about escaping the nine to five
not because they don’t want to work but
because
these individuals want to construct
their own jobs
in which they can not only showcase
their creativity
but also be their own boss
when we look at the meteoric rise of
social media influencers
who start as young as age five or the
influx of young people learning to make
additional income by trading in the
stock market
it’s easy to see that this generation
is redefining the term career
if you’re like me you may even express
your creativity by starting a company
hundreds of thousands of people around
the world
are pursuing a greater degree of freedom
creativity and influence over their work
i want to illustrate how you can be
a part of the movement
unfortunately because the promise of a
career with more creative freedom is so
enticing
online platforms have become saturated
with an overwhelming number of people
doing the same things
you know exactly what i mean now as you
go to start your youtube channel you
find it nearly impossible
to differentiate yourself from thousands
of similar channels
you start your clothing line but it
seems like every time you open social
media
you’re seeing dozens and dozens of ads
for similar brands you start your
photography business
but it seems like every potential
customer has already booked
with someone else so the challenge
becomes if we want to stand out in an
era that’s
driven by creativity how do we
make creations that captivate
how do we become rock stars
now when i use the term rock star i
don’t necessarily mean
a famous musician reed hastings one of
the founders of netflix
describes a rock star as somebody who is
10 to 20 times better than the average
person
in a creative field rock stars are the
youtubers and the tick talkers that
everyone wants to watch
rockstars are the designers behind the
brands that
everyone wants to wear rock stars make
the choice
to stand out when everyone else makes
the choice
to stick to the status quo
now don’t get me wrong i’ll be the first
person to admit
that standing out in a creative field
isn’t easy
by any means but if you want
your vision to reach people
if you want your ideas to impact the
lives of others then you cannot
afford to get lost in the crowd
that’s why i want to give you my
four-step blueprint
to becoming a rock star
step one in becoming a rock star is to
hone
your craft one of the founders of pixar
ed catmull describes the differences
between craft
and art where craft is a collection of
skills that a person needs
to do their job well a musician learning
skills or an accountant learning excel
formulas
are both examples of craft
however catmull asserts that art appears
only when we use
our craft to create something
unexpected let me give you a few
examples
craft is a writer understanding how to
structure their story with an exposition
a climax and a resolution
but art art is shonda rhimes leveraging
that structure to create the captivating
show bridgerton
which made millions of views as it broke
streaming records for netflix
kraft is a software engineer
understanding how to write logical code
and test for errors but art
art is mark zuckerberg using that
knowledge to create
facebook the largest social network
in the world as a recent college
graduate
i can sympathize with those of you who
roll your eyes
at the thought of homework assignments
projects
or exams i was the exact same way
however after graduating i can clearly
see that the fundamentals that i learned
in school
became the building blocks for me to
start my tech company
grapevine how could i program a fully
functional application
if i never sat through programming
fundamentals
how could i debug problems on the
platform
if i couldn’t debug problems in my
college projects
now i’m not saying that your
fundamentals have to come through
college courses
but as you continue to hone your craft
you’ll be able to use your creativity to
its fullest
and turn your ideas into a reality
step two in becoming a rock star
is to lean into your uniqueness
one of the most common mistakes that
people make when starting a new creative
endeavor
is sticking too closely to what other
people are doing
but think about it how do you expect to
stand out
when you’re using the same canva
templates
the same wix websites or the same video
ideas
as everyone else the mission of my tech
company grapevine
involves helping college students from
all walks of life
feel like they belong on their campus
that mission and the ideas surrounding
the app came directly
as a result of the feelings and
experiences that i had
while i was in college in a similar way
i want you to let your story influence
your art if you are a first generation
engineering major who happens to love
fiction
write about an engineer finding their
way through college
if you’re an advertising major who
happens to love to cook
create content that helps chefs market
their food in more engaging ways
rock stars understand that if they want
to put a picture of their future on a
canvas
they cannot use someone else’s passion
as
the paint painting with someone else’s
passion
doesn’t look right to the audience and
it will not feel right to you
rock stars understand that when they
combine their unique passion
with their unique purpose they can
create
masterpieces that could come from no one
but themselves
aside from external factors we often
hold internal beliefs
that can prevent us from standing out
the way
that we want to the third step in
becoming a rock star is
overcoming the fear of rejection
what if i create a youtube video and
nobody watches it
what if i spend my time making a whole
line
of outfits but nobody wants to wear them
you see the fear of potential rejection
is often enough to stop
a lot of us from ever even getting
started
in his book rejection proof zha zhang
mentions that every rejection
has a number after which the person
getting rejected
will ultimately succeed
however the amount of no’s that we’re
willing to push through to get to that
yes
is directly correlated with how
passionate we are
about our goal i want you to take a
second and imagine
that there are two situations in which
you need to raise money
quickly in the first scenario
you’re raising money for a brand new car
but in scenario two in scenario
two you’re raising money for a family
member’s
life saving surgery
think about how your mentality your
efforts
and your results might differ for each
situation
if you’re like most of us even though a
new car is exciting you’ll put a lot
more effort in
when there is a life on the line
i use that example to illustrate that
when our goals have purpose
fear fades into the background
so if you’re creating a youtube channel
for the purpose of
making a little extra money on the side
that may not be a strong enough reason
to push you through the early months
when each of your videos is averaging
less than 10 views but if you’re
creating a youtube channel to inspire
the next generation of children to
change the world
a single comment a single like
even a single view on a video could
provide you with enough encouragement to
keep creating content
for years the fourth
and final step in becoming a rock star
is to persevere most of us
aren’t going to get things right on the
first try
you’re going to post things on social
media that don’t get much engagement
you’re going to create a website that
doesn’t get much traffic at first
in the early days of my company
grapevine we went through periods of
time where we averaged just
one user per day
and guess who that user was but we
persevered
it’s extremely difficult to guess what’s
going to resonate with your audience
which means that it’s even more
important to continue creating
in an authentic way until something
sticks so whether your major is creative
technical or something in between
continue to hone your craft so that when
the time
comes you can create a masterpiece
that could come from nobody but you
at a time when more and more people are
refusing
to separate their passions from their
purpose
we can look to creative careers with
technical foundations
to bring us the fulfillment that we’re
looking for
if you want to have it all that is okay
i’m here to tell you that you don’t have
to choose between your passion
and your purpose i’m here to tell you
that you can be a rock star
thank you