When it comes to putting stuff out in the world, I am constantly investigating what it is that will strike people. Even more so, I’m often wondering if I’m striking people at all.
Two years ago when I started DJing full time, in addition to regularly DJing weddings and events, I wanted to create helpful content to share with others. Online content was one of the main reasons I took the latest path into entrepreneurship. It was the video tutorials, the inspiring Instagram posts and the Ted Talks. It was that content that made me think, “hey I too can follow my passion,” and later “I want to be able to talk about how I did it.”
While the actual DJing part of what I was doing has been going well, I struggled on the content sharing and social media growth. I was not finding my niche and was frustrated with the minimal growth. Of course, I always preach about patience and putting in the work and that by doing those things, the rewards will come.
But still, it was frustrating. There were also the excuses to really diving into content creation.
“I don’t have the …. right camera; right lighting; proper sound set-up; proper editing tools; a large enough audience to deliver content to ...” and so on.
But it really was that that I didn’t have the guts. Who am I to try and become an authority in a crowded space? I became pre-occupied with thinking about what others would think.
“Is he really trying to be Gary Vaynerchuk?”
“Why am I going to follow and listen to someone who’s only been doing this full time for two years?”
And then I said “whatevs, I’m doing this.” I also stopped thinking I needed to be declared an authority figure within my niche to start doing anything, because that's not what I am trying to become. I just want to pass along my knowledge and help others and the way to do that is to just start putting it out there.
I reminded myself that all it takes is one good piece of content being found by someone else.
It’s like the letter I wrote to Lululemon with zero intention or agenda. Yet that resulted in me DJing for the company for an entire week at their home base in Vancouver.
It’s like the aforementioned Vaynerchuk who says this speech is what put him on the map.
It’s Linda Raynier, a fellow colleague in the YouTube for Bosses seminar, who went from practically zero subscribers to 40k plus and counting, likely because of this valuable video about how to answer the “tell me about yourself interview question.”
And for better worse, it was “one good piece of content” that brought us the Biebs.
Great strides are being made on the business side of DJing and it made me a bit emotional.
In between DJing, adulting, parental, spousal and other life duties I’ve slowly picked away at creating content on multiple social media platforms to assist and inspire. And it’s been genuinely hard work, mostly all on my own. There is always a certain fervor I have when creating content. But nothing compares to the feeling of seeing it make an impact.
And now it I’m seeing that.
Recently I created a Facebook group, Business Coaching For DJs, and have been slowly growing its membership (like real slow; a rate of one new member per day). But it was one of those new members that reminded me why I’m putting in all that work.
He found the group because he watched a video I had produced just a few days earlier, where in the description I had a link to the group. He said “since that video I have been studying your social media tactics.”
He was one person that found me because he was searching for an online review of a storage case that I created a video for. One person that actually answered the call to action to “like, subscribe and also check me out on Facebook and Instagram.”
Once I realized that it was this crazy shot of emotion. All of my work … actually worked. And I ugly cried and started rolling my camera.
It was honest emotion, right at the exact moment. This can be verified if you look closely at the video because I didn’t even bother to clean up behind me or properly frame the shot (sorry my head takes up 90% of your screen).
It was one person that has reinvigorated me.
There’s an inspiring script that was made famous in the decades old “Think Different" Apple campaign.
It says, in part, “Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things … Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
This is my rewritten version.
Here’s to the difference makers. The Instagram users with 10 likes on a photo. The YouTube users with 12 subscribers. The Facebook Group creators with 22 members. You can be discouraged by your minuscule numbers, quit before even getting started or make up another excuse.
Or, you can listen to the yearning inside you. Because you are a difference maker, “crazy enough to think (you) can change the world.”