The difference between being a creator and being an artist is about presumption. Being an artist is having something going on in here. And you wanna have that abstract, sacred communication with the audience where you’re translating and capturing this energy or this combination of energies within you want to get it out of, you put it into something and you could never presume how that’s going to be received by other complex people with all different combinations of energies that you know and you don’t know, that you’ve encountered and you haven’t encountered the creator has an audience and is presuming that, okay, I’m gonna make something around this audience. I am, I know 75% or more of this audience is gonna react in this way, or I can easily predict that. So I’m gonna make something to target that audience. I think if you’re making something around, this is how people are gonna see it. So I’m gonna make something, then it’s automatically commercialized. Even if you’re still doing something that’s creative. And I feel really qualified to talk about this because I’m in marketing too. So it’s, there’s nothing wrong with, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with commercializing something. I think commercial things still need stunning creative concepts. They still need something that has the potential to touch people, but it’s being made around trying to do that. It’s being made around assuming what how people are gonna receive something versus just your end, like for as an artist, I’m just doing my end. I’m taking something that’s inside and whether it’s appealing or not, I’m putting it out there and I hope people like it. I hope you resonate with it. But I can’t presume that. You know, I can only do my end of it. And I think that’s like a true love for people in your audience. I think that’s an authentic respect for people in your audience of my audience has so much more to add to a concept in how they’re receiving it then I have just make it because I’m just touching on these energies in a certain way to bring it to us a sort of piece. And to me, that’s like the ultimate respect of your audience, which is why when I do brand products, I try to drag it from the commercial end of a scale more towards that authentic expression end of a scale. Because I think in the end, that will also end up hitting whatever KPIs you’re trying to hit for a campaign because people are complex and deep. And I think commercializing a page just to get the numbers gloss is over that a lot. And I think that’s why we see so much content that is super contrived. And it’s annoying because once you get to a certain size, there is a lot of pressure and it feels irresponsible not to try to commercialize something or to try to capitalize something or to expand, keep something going, keep your momentum going.
And I’ve been lucky where the kind of things that I make can fall on both ends of the spectrum, but if I’m doing a personal project, like I’m gonna post my flops, things that I’m pretty sure could flop this with the same competence that I’m gonna post something that I’m pretty sure is gonna perform well. Just putting on my marketing hat because my marketing hats not on when I make it. I’m just making something. I’m making something for that kind of communication.
And I don’t, I could never know how it’s going to be received because there’s just energies inside of me and they might not be appealing. Once they’re out, they might not be appealing. It might not be something that people want to look at or want to go back to or want to ponder on or that resonates with people, it, the combination of energies in something might not be what people want to see.
And I just wouldn’t presume like how it’s gonna be received until you put on a marketing hat, you know, and I’ve been lucky that the things that I make can fall on that spectrum, at least to share on my page, because there are some things that it is a commercial opportunity, there is an opportunity to hit a larger audience of something. There is an opportunity to tailor something to a brand and add those other factors onto that artistic concept and incorporate it in, and use the fact that there’s an abstract concept there to have something get seen and have something hit a wider audience. But those are two very different hats. And I think a lot of creatives have fully lost the plot on one end of that spectrum and are just fully commercializing things, which I don’t think I could ever do because I was an artist before I was a creator.
So for me, that process when I’m doing just my own personal projects can’t change. Nothing about that can change. And I think that’s also where I just get the ability to post things flop and not care because it’s the same process that’s always been the same process. And I’m aware when I’m making something from that place, this is the most authentic place I’m making something from.
For me, for our personal projects. And it’s not about marketing, it’s not about commercializing. That’s not what it’s about. It is about the audience. It is actually about the audience and about what people are going to take from something. It’s not trying to manipulate or presume what people are gonna take from something. And that’s exactly what marketing is. And that’s an put in a negative way, but it can be in a positive way, too. Usually it is to sell something, but it can be in a positive way of you want something to impact people. You want people to feel good when they use something. You know, there’s a lot of things about marketing that can be really positive and a lot of things about commercializing something that can also be meaningful. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just when you get annoyed with content or something seems so contrive or if a creator seems annoying or if something that’s supposed to be creative doesn’t seem that creative. It is because it’s like slid so far the commercial end of things. Like you would not believe how much creators monitor every tiny little thing about their performance. And if you’re running a business, especially if you’re running a small business with your page and you want a career based off of your page and your business, that is the responsible thing to do. And I would never knock somebody for doing that, for making it as entrepreneur, for having a career and capitalizing on a creative talent in this world, in this economy.
Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just not exactly the same thing as creating directly from a space of wanting to communicate with people and wanting to connect with people with nothing else considered. And I think that’s how I defend my flops. That’s always how I’ll defend my flops. And you’ll see me flopping for the next hundred years.