Make Content Creation A Career | Marty O’Neil & Thomas “Dope As Yola” Araujo | TEDxRoxburyPark

[Applause] what's up what's up what's up what's up your qualities matter in the digital age when you're starting from scratch The Hustler in context of a mentality is the core root of this question as we know growing up the Hustler was simply somebody that could just go outside with nothing and come back with something be it money connections opportunities more than he left with being a hustler can take on many different meanings depending on what we're talking about but no matter the context the Hustler's rare on the grander scale in his most purest form the hustlers in ambitious entrepreneur a self-starter who knows he's going to have to go harder than everybody out there to get what he wants because his goals are that big he knows it's going to take endurance he expects that other people think his goals are impossible in the mind of the Hustler he's willing to sacrifice a normal life and the comfortability is associated with that for the chance to have an amazing life he prefers one in a million odds because that's what he expects out of himself yeah so Society the hustler because their ability and or their ambition to go get what they want we respect him for their ability to bounce back in the face of adversity and keep pushing we expect their ability to keep leveling up over time The Hustler signs up for an unorthodox life that requires dedication self-motivation and the willingness to adapt to the world around them the Hustler's confident persistent in your face he's hands on planning building moving connecting anything anything to get toward the final goal whatever it may be The Hustler stands out because they're willing to put in the footwork that no one else is or even think to do now that was and is still the mindset of many immigrants coming to this country get ahead with hard work by any means necessary no Thomas and I and everybody born in the late 80s and early 90s are part of the last generation to have our childhood not be affected by the internet and we're also lucky enough to be a part of the first generation of people that are living our passions and making our careers through the digital media and the internet nobody had to tell pre-internet kids to go out and hustle it was just inherently in us we just knew it the internet changed the Hustler being a father of three I can definitely attest to this you can barely get him to go outside it's not so inherently built in like it was for our grandparents that were immigrants and their parents and their grandparents the qualities of the Hustler remain the same to be successful today but the analog skills have gone digital so my Grandma and Grandpa are some of the hardest working people I have ever met in my entire life when I was six years old my grandpa Greg told me a story that I will never forget he grew up in the jungle slash streets of Mexico when he was four years old he told me his mom kicked him out of the house she couldn't afford it she had too many kids he's on his own his hustle started early he told me how he would survive he would go around town killing snakes sell to a man in town that would make boots wallets and hats out of it now if that's not the epitome of coming outside and getting nothing and coming back with something I have no idea what it is all I asked my grandpa for was some candy and he dropped that bomb of a story on me by the way I didn't ask but years later as a young man my grandpa became one of the first Mexican citizens in America with the legal work visa his work ethic and mentality took him from a place of hopelessness to a place of endless opportunity now my parents grew up in a completely different jungle this jungle is here in America but we were filled with gangs drugs and generational depression welcome to Merced California [Applause] [Music] yes my parents had my sister and I were they were still in high school so growing up we were poor really poor by American Standards but my mom and my dad showed me firsthand what hard work was especially my mom she raised us on her own single mother trying to go to college working multiple jobs it inspired me it molded me and it shaped me to who I am it screamed out at me never give up even when you have nothing so I knew I needed my own hustle if I was going to do anything with my life I was just tired of being the kid on school trips that had no money to buy anything no money to buy food I was just done so in high school I decided to start my own business so from ages 14 to 22 I sold weed in my entire town and let me tell you that business took off fast oh but what I can't tell you is how many nerve-wracking nail-biting trips I've taken on the I 500 pounds in my trunk ten and two on the steering wheel just scanning for Highway Patrol praying that I make it back home or if not I was at home praying that my door did not get kicked in by task force a constant state of paranoia and for what for a couple thousand dollars at the time it was all worth it for a kid that grew up wanting something and expecting nothing those few Stacks in my pocket that was the security me feeling security for the very first time in my life but after years of just going through the motion sell this sell that I was introduced to a wonderful thing called Instagram and it was there that I found something I'll forever be grateful for and that was the online cannabis Community until that time I used my phone to make sales I do not play on the internet I'm not posting pictures but there I found my calling making funny pictures and videos making people laugh making people smile and it involves weed you count me in but after a while guys my following got so massive I had to make a really hard decision I had to change my hustle I had to evolve I knew I wouldn't get lucky Forever on the road making those trips I knew one day I'm gonna get popped so what I decided to do was stop the easy money that I've been so accustomed to and I bet on myself in this uncertain and Uncharted world of content creation so there me and my girlfriend Rosie went broke no more easy money coming in but the bills keep coming in and we noticed right away that we're fighting an uphill battle with censorship from YouTube and other platforms YouTube top creators generate hundreds of millions of dollars in Revenue every single year although I'm one of the more watched creators on the channel I do not get money I don't get monetization and that's just due to the explicit nature of what I do I do unreal challenges high production weed reviews in-depth dives into the world of cannabis despite being in the red for years on end for production costs for editing and filming I knew I was still going to pump this content out because one I love it and two I knew there was a real long-term value in building an authentic dedicated following a falling somewhere where somebody can come and feel safe feel comfortable not feel looked down upon and I knew if I stayed true to myself I skipped my community actual you know this talking to them I actually respond I go the extra mile and giving content that adds value to their lives giving them content that keeps them company when they have nobody there basically being a virtual friend yeah thank you so so I knew in my heart that I was on the right path to fulfilling my purpose in life spread positivity and happiness but despite all the views on all these channels all this stuff I still was very uncertain if I could actually make it a career now I'm not sure if they put this on the actual advertisement for tonight but you're looking here right in front of you the highest three-point percentage shooter in NCAA D2 college basketball history right here one shot one make one shot one mate a thousand percent from Beyond The Ark that's how I like to put it all right after my freshman season of college basketball during spring training after I had dedicated literally every day of my life since seventh grade to basketball there's a little voice inside of my head that kind of crept in it said you know you're not going to the NBA right no no matter how hard you practice it's not going to happen basketball can't save you I had saw all the seniors from the season before who had graduated and went on and their basketball careers just were over so at 18 I went from being on the Dean's List getting College money scholarship to go play basketball to dropping out of school Quentin basketball forever and essentially living out the plot of the movie Eight Mile my cousin had given me my first computer I taught myself how to record and make little promo Photoshop graphics and it was over the hustle began for the next 10 years day in and day out I've dedicated all of myself to music we're talking about eight hour trips both ways to New York City just for a little meeting with a guy going to pick up mixtapes and coming back spending thousands of dollars on studio time thousands of dollars on production when we were just flat broke the epitome of the Hustler taking on himself for one in a million opportunity yeah yeah it's the only way that I could see out of a mediocre life even at that young age I knew I had to set my mind what my Finish Line was and I did and it was simple I had to be my own boss I couldn't wake up worried about money I had to be able to do what I want with my time I realized early on that it benefited me to benefit other people in my space meaning I could trade Engineers for graphics for studio time I could shoot people little music videos and then I eventually started working with businesses I became from that point I morphed into a real real deal freelance graphic designer going by Jurassic Graphics from the mixtape covers and the flyers I started to Parlay into small businesses locally and then once I figured out how to hustle online everybody was game all across the world in every industry I went out and took on every project I could all over and all the different styles to get my experience under my belt now in 2013 I realized the biggest dream of my life moving my family from Buffalo New York here at a beautiful SoCal it was a lifetime dream I had a record deal going and by all accounts I was about to finish my whole mission I had started out when I had quit college and decided to become an artist and that's one I realized I had to start from scratch and go in a totally different direction after a year of being out in California I had got something that the whole time I was grinding doing music I was hoping for which was an opportunity to put my artistic skill to use drastic Graphics about my side hustle up to that point but finally I had real opportunity swallowing my pride put the brakes on the music totally and for the next 10 years went full address to Graphics mode I paved a lane behind the scenes in the world of stand-up comedy and podcasting and built a reputation for myself based on the principles of the Hustler I had long ago giving up my nine to fives my miserable cubicle jobs that I hated I had leveled up to a loyal roster of clients my own beautiful office in studio in Orange County and an awesome team by all accounts again I was feeling like I had made it the Finish Line was in sight everything that I've been grinding for was paying off and that's when I realized again I had to scale it all back and start from scratch I had been watching Thomas's videos ever since I met him way back when I first moved to California and held this camera for him for one of his early Vine videos I was watching him on YouTube and he mentioned he wanted to start a podcast and instantly I could look into the future so fast forward three years later it's just me and Marty between our our few YouTube channels we've been able to amass over 2.5 billion watch time minutes thank you guys over 200 million views in less than 500 videos thank you guys and more importantly with the dope as usual podcast it has allowed us to transform and transition into the mainstream parlay our fan base into different business ventures this is the goal of the modern Hustler today you can look at our individual stories and you can see it took nearly a decade for all these pieces to come in a line for just the right moment for something great to happen so when you think of what is powerful what is important to a creator online watch time is King it's one thing to pique someone's interest into watching your latest work it's another thing to keeping their interest while watching your latest work and then leaving them wanting more massive corporations spend millions of dollars every single year on Pilots ads commercials shows whatever they want just to try to achieve what we've been able to achieve in our warehouse having fun how do you do this there are two very very valuable personality types when it comes to being an online creative and when combined with the Hustler mentality this can be completely Unstoppable two powerful personality types that allow you to survive when starting from scratch in the digital era I like to consider myself digital Swiss army knife now what does that Encompass video recording video editing photography photo editing brand Design Graphic Design audio recording and mixing set design and lighting web design and SEO social media management targeted advertising traditionally most people would specialize in any one of these things go get a degree in graphic design go become a camera operator have that be your career but what I've found in digital media it's most important to understand is that it's one big creative muscle for me I specialize in graphic design I went back and got my degree in it I built my business in it and my whole career around it but had I not added on all those other skills year after year that I just mentioned I was short of myself and missed out on some of the best opportunities in my life stunning my growth as an entrepreneur and missed out on my Finish Line it's great to be a specialist but by studying and immersing yourself in each of these different skills year after year one by one after you're already up and rolling after a while you become an asset to everyone around you and that's how you build relationships business and overall leverage in this digital world having hustled each of these skills individually seeking out projects getting paid getting referred making money doing these different skills developing a system to manage it I always knew that I had something to fall back on there's so many different niches that these skills apply to be a local real estate industry Auto industry restaurants and cafes Fitness remote online these skills apply to everything so no matter what happens you always have something to fall back on and I can always look into these different niches and dig out different clients think of powerful personalities if this is in line with you you have to create from a place of what do you love what are you good at and how do you add value to others this can come in many different forms this could be something inspiring something funny something for just the people to take their mind off the normal pace of their lives it can be really fun being the star of your own show but you have to be resilient I've been deleted off Instagram 27 times 3.9 million followers all together the night I was set to hit a million subscribers on YouTube after years of posting no warnings no strikes YouTube deletes my entire Channel but in that moment I realized it doesn't matter the connection that I had made with the fans was so deep I could have this falling back like that but in that moment I also realized what it was like to start from scratch how I would react I didn't panic I didn't freak out I just said I'm gonna come back even stronger so for years fighting against the grain I realized I need to change my hustle I have to generate Revenue in order to keep my content going so in 2013 I started our clothing company push trees thank you 2021 we started alternative Canada one company called the doba shop [Music] [Applause] see you guys both of these companies are well-oiled machines they run and stand on their own they are they're booming all right but that is all because of the community and the strong connection that we have with those fans and right now I'm going to give you three steps that I would take to solidifying the connection with your fan base and remember this is something you can't buy step one listen to your audience truly care talk to them commenting back is free dming back is free it may take you a few minutes but it may make that person's entire day just remember always remember you represent each other step two be transparent the worst thing you could possibly do is lose your audience's trust not everything's a win you can't slam dunk every day if you mess up own up to it we're all human it takes years to build the trust of your audience and a couple seconds to lose it step three something I call the 50 50 rule 50 of your of your content should be what the fans request what are they asking for it could be something trendy or fun as long as you're staying true to your style of content while trying to cater to your fans it could be a perfect combination and the other fifty percent of your content should be what you want that's why you started doing this that's why you have an audience I'm weird other weird people found my channel and they came somewhere where they can feel normal thank you guys right when it comes down to it staying authentic staying true to yourself that will ensure that you have fans for life thank you guys but then once you do reach that level and you have the ability to have Financial Freedom for yourself and for your loved ones once you cross that Chasm once you climb that rope to the top of the mountain you get to the top and look around and you realize there's just another mountain with another rope once you reach that Finish Line a whole new Marathon begins with a whole new set of goals that are more in line with where you're at at that point even bigger and better now because once you conquer that first Mountain you know for sure it can be done and you can set out to do what the rest of the world thinks is impossible thank you all right so no matter what unique path you choose to go down keep the Hustler mentality alive in yourself don't let it get diluted down by the comfortability of your lifestyle don't get too soft push yourself out of your comfort zone every year add a new skill that progresses you in your in your field or your career whatever it may be always create from a place of giving back to your community and trust that with hard work and dedication your road and your path to success will unveil itself to you when we started this individual Journeys podcasting wasn't even a thing yet but we kept the passion we kept the faith we followed everything through and we kept on pushing [Music] thank you so much foreign [Applause]