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