TAKING YOUR CREATIVITY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Are you stuck? 

Feel like you’ve arrived at a wall? 

You don’t know what to do next? 

That means it's time for you to level up. 

The realest always been there so it’s normal to feel that way. It takes time and it may take money if you don’t have connects which is fine. I’m actually in the middle of something really cool that will take things to the next level for me and will start at the beginning of 2018. It’s all a process and it’s very very necessary. 

So if you’re just creating, creating, creating then good don’t stop! You’re on the right path! To get to that next level though you have to do some things outside of just creating and the thought of it may make you sick because you don’t like it. Trust me I’m the same way. If I could just create all day and not worry about the shit outside of it I’d be a happy ass artist but we gotta do things that aren’t always enjoyable to us to reach our goals. 

Here some things to help take your creativity to the next level. 

HOW MUCH CONTENT? 

This is the most obvious. How much content are you putting out there? Are you like me and drop things weekly 3-5 times a week. Do you drop content monthly? Every other week? What is your output? If you blog I don’t expect you to put out at the volume I do. I put out at a volume a fully staffed blog site with multiple writers do. I’m not human. I do think if you blog, at least one article a week is good. Please post frequently. Once a month is cool but if you do that you better be showing face a lot and doing something that generates interest. If you do graphic art I think a piece or two a month is great. If you do events I think 1 or 2 events per quarter is doable. If make things like hair and skin products you should release 1 thing per quarter.

Don’t fall into the over saturation myth either. If what you do is quality then there’s no such thing as over saturation. Who says “Aw man their shit is too good but they give us too much of it and I’m tired of it.” 

No one…… ever.

DOCUMENT 

Document what you do. All of it. Vlog your fucking lives away. Show us the process of what you do. Vlogging will cover so much ground that my blogging can’t. If all you do is go to meetings then document going to meetings. If all you do is paint all day well set up a camera, talk and paint like Bob Ross. If you rap record a session. If you create things like candles, soap, beauty products, show us the process of how you create those things. Do an interview. Show us who you are and why you do what you do. Record a show. Document and show us how you got to this point and show us the work. I like what Louis Quatorze is doing with his “the 314” series just to give you an example of what I mean of documenting or a bigger example would be Wiz Khalifa’s classic “DayToday” series.

I’m lacking in this department MAJORLY I just released my first vlog after a year and a half of blogging which was the LawrenceHive video but this is part of my rebuild that I’m currently in and there will be A LOT more vlogging and documenting coming. 

WEBSITE 

A simple website will do. Nothing crazy because people don’t give a fuck about that shit. I’m serious. Buy a domain. Go to Wordpress or Squarespace and build that shit. Do not ball out on a extravagant website. Just some simple shit where people can easily find your content. People don’t care they just want what entertains them on it. 

PICTURES 

Find a photographer and get to work. Immediately. I may sound crazy but I think you need different photos for every social media you have. So that would be 

YouTube (A dope banner cover and profile pic) 
Twitter (The Same As Youtube) 
Instagram (Dope Head Shot) 
Facebook (Same as youtube)
Soundcloud (Same as YouTube)
Your Personal Website (Pictures of you all over that bitch) 

Spend the money and do different shoots for each social media site you’re on. It’ll show people you serious as fuck about what you’re doing. Plus your face will be seen and people can put a face with the content/art you create. This is also something I was bad at so we can work on this together. No one knows who I am. They know my work but they don’t know who creates it and that’s not really good even though my introverted-ness would prefer it that way but I’m not Banksy so I am working on that and it will be fixed. 

SOCIAL MEDIA USE & INTERACTION 

Please interact with people who talk about or praise your creativity. Just reply thank you or speak to people. Show gratitude and humbleness. I’ve started to interact with people more. I still suck at responding to DM’s but as far as people complimenting my work I tend to respond back. Interaction is so important. Show you’re a good person. Don’t try to act hollywood. 

You know what I respect about my brother Adrian? When him and the MadeMonarchs had shit cracking here he talked to EVERYONE. He responded to everyone. Every event they threw he was in the crowd thanking everyone for coming and trying to meet everyone he didn’t know. Meeting the people you don’t know is SUPER important. Why? Social Currency that’s why. If you speak to the people who paid for your service then they’ll likely reward you with the greatest social currency which is “Word of Mouth” meaning they’ll tell somebody about your event and how good you are then that somebody will tell somebody else and the so on and so on. He never tried to stunt on niggas. Never had V.I.P’s. He wanted everybody to be regular including himself. He wanted to show you that he was no different than you were. That’s why he respected here. He made himself accessible. He interacted with you on and off social media. 

Stop trying to be Sting and please interact with people. 

These other niggas barely profit off shit and think they Jay-Z now. Shit weird. 

As far as use goes you really need to make your rounds on every platform. Instagram has the most eyes on it right now so you can document on your Instagram stories. Go to Facebook and document on there and throw up a status or post of some work on there. Go to Twitter and make your rounds on there. Get on Snapchat and make a few snaps. Just keep posting about your creative endeavors. 

Don’t be that person who try that fake “Ghost” shit. Pretending like you don’t post on social media and try to keep your shit scarce is silly. Shit stupid. Just post quality and you good.  

MERCH

It’s getting to the point if you don’t have merch you might go unnoticed. It’s basically the new business card. Getting shirts made is pretty easy. Link up with a dope artist and come up with a great hat, shirt, hoodie, whatever. Get some business cards too. There’s certain events and random moments where them shits come in handy. If you feel like getting buttons and stickers go ahead and get em they can’t hurt. People outside of the internet need to see your brand and merch is the best way to accomplish that. 

Put your creativity into these things and keep working.