It took me a while to reach this point in the decision and become somewhat comfortable with what I want to do and how I want to approach it.
It's important not to trap yourself in a box too early. It's okay if you don’t have it all figured out; do many things if that's what your heart is telling you.
Many missions can serve one purpose. It's okay to stay curious, try things; some things will break, a lot of things will fail, but from my experience, following the broken pieces leaves many clues to success if you pay attention and accept the failures as steps going up rather than stumbling blocks that get in your way.
Changing your perspective changes how you react, and emotional intelligence taught me it’s not what happens to us but how we respond. Changing the frame re-adjusts your focus and offers you a better view for the greater good.
Where I am now is very interesting. I used to think I am into too many things and have to pick one and just master it. I felt like I am falling behind everyone else in each field, and that's because I am carrying too many things around. But slowly, I started to realize we are not just in different lanes; we are on a completely different street, so I will make turns that no one else is going to make, and that's why when I show up, I am going to be different from anyone else, and that's what makes a person unique.
When we try to chase someone to pass them, all we are doing is creating copies. Then it's just a bunch of “copy and paste” people showing up at the same event. Imagine how you feel when someone shows up in the same outfit as you to a party; it makes you feel like going back home. This is how you should feel when you enter the marketplace or any aspect of life.
The scary part is it often feels like you are going the wrong way. You take roads that feel longer, so you think that you are at a standstill. That is the part where you are no longer walking, running, or driving; that's where you fly. When you are sitting in an aircraft, you don’t feel how fast you are going. You will never feel it at the speed it appears to someone who is seeing it from below looking up. But while you are up there, it may seem like you are at a slow pace, but that's the opportunity for you to look around while it offers you a different point of view, a view that you never will have being down on the ground and constantly in the grind. Some see this period as a slow period; look at it this way: you are the one going so fast in this season it’s actually the rest of the world that's slowed down.
So I no longer fear competition in my industry or allow others to dim my light. I just keep repeating this in my head - "we may be playing in the same room, but we are sitting at different tables.”
The biggest reality pill I had to swallow is: you have to do to discover. You can’t do this by spectating, nor can you just sit there and think your way to clarity.
I spent a lot of time doing and learning technical skills, producing music, audio engineering, video editing, camera operation, cinematography, etc., and I used to be like “bro, just stick to one area and master that” because my emotions at the time were like I am good at this stuff, but is it good enough to leave a mark? I don’t want to be good; I want to be great, and the only way I can accomplish this is to spend 10,000 hours at one of these disciplines so I can become a master.
Well, let’s say living in the Caribbean can be a gift or a curse; again, it’s how you frame it. But being in the creative industry and “sticking to one thing” can make you suffer. Well, the suffering is relative because I know the lifestyle I want - I like nice things, and I love to travel and have different experiences. And those creative technical skills weren’t cutting it. You are either not getting enough work, or you get a lot, but you have to spend so much time to make something decent, but then you are now trading way too much time - I don’t know, it’s just not the space for me.
Beneath the creative skills calling, I was hearing another call, and that was pointing more in the direction of soft skills.
All the roads I was turning through, this thing kept following me. It was almost haunting me; it was showing up everywhere, and it was somehow always a part of what I was into, events, managing artists, and making videos.
And that thing was BRANDING. What was different about this was it wasn’t just another tool in the box; it WAS the box. It was the cornerstone for everything. And there is something about all the different pieces of skill sets that I gathered all beginning to complete the bigger picture, and every area lights up and starts to make more sense.
What pulled me more about branding is it’s not like tangible art, like what we achieve in the technical creative field, but it's something deeper. In branding, we get to analyze and understand (Brand Assessment) an energy, a vibe; we get to harvest it (Strategy), groom it (brand identity), and present it (Content Creation and Distribution) and connect it to the people who need it the most (Targeting).
Becoming a “Branding Person” gives everything else more meaning and a deeper purpose, which allows me to connect all the dots of who I am and what I want to give to the world on the surface, below, and above. And maybe more passions will come up, and I will keep adding more titles to my name. But if you want to put me in a frame, I will say “I solve problems in the creative industry. All those other experiences are what make me unique; it's what gives me that special touch, that one singular fingerprint.
I'm not just a technical creative; I am a thinker.
One thing for sure, I am never going to get in a fight with myself or anyone when it comes to Specialist vs. Generalist. I am just going to settle for being a generalist, and that's my specialty.
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Where the conversation continues, and we will have a deeper dive into these types of conversations.
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