I Spent 60 Minutes with Julian Smith

If you spent anytime on YouTube during in the 2010’s, you know who I’m talking about. If not, that’s okay.

My wife, Jenny, had no idea either.

Julian Smith, most known for his iconic “Malk” video was a STAPLE in my everyday vocabulary. Riddled with funny quotes and and a ridiculous concept, his videos seeped its way into my subconscious high school brain. I loved it.

Since then, he has pulled back from YouTube and continued to work in a more traditional production role. You can find more info about him on his website.

Needless to say, he was famous in my book. So when I saw he was offering discounted 1 on 1 sessions, I booked immediately. At this point, it’s been about two weeks since that meeting and I wanted to document three lessons that stood out to me. Hopefully these help you as well in some shape or form.

Gratitude > Grit

For the last four years, I’ve been able to make a living by doing “Creative” work. Video editing, writing, social media strategy, audio production, etc. Although this is my “sweet spot” I’ve entertained some negative thoughts around the idea of being paid for your creativity.

A lot of advice I’ve heard consistently is to “be wary of turning your hobbies into your job.” Obviously when we do something for free, it’s because we love doing it. But when a hobby becomes a job, external situations seep into what used to bring us joy and we let it become work.

I mirrored this thought to Julian.

“I barely get to do what I love anymore because I’m stuck doing all the menial tasks that come with running a creative business… it’s hard.”

He was very quick to shut me down.

“Farming is hard. But thank God I am not having to rely on my farming acumen to survive. We get the opportunity to do creative work for a living. If you look at it through a grateful lens, it will become fun again.”

You ever listen to white noise? It’s a very distinct and loud sound that you KNOW is there, but since it’s continuous, you start to zone out and forget about it. Only when you remember the white noise is ON do you remember to hear it.

That’s how this one felt. I smacked my forehead and let out an internal “duh.” American culture loves to highlight Grit and Hard Work. Push through the hard times because the good stuff is on the other side!

While there is some truth to that, I’m reminded that pushing through hardship isn’t solved by “toughing it out” but rather being filled with gratitude for the trials you’re facing. We are lucky to have our struggles in front of us because there is always a worse situation we could be in.

Longevity is Birthed From Belief

“You Have to LOVE What You Make” he said about 30 minutes into our conversation. I nodded with a nice little “mmm!” to let him know I agreed.

About 10 min later, he stops.

“I actually want to change what I said earlier… You don’t need to love what you make, you have to BELIEVE in it.”

Instantly I knew this was the final draft of the previous statement. Love is subjective. There’s plenty of pieces of work I’ve made in the past that I love. But usually what I LOVE is the final product, not the work itself to get there. Belief, not love, is what gives you the energy for longevity.

Last fall I KNEW I wanted to create a weekly vlog documenting Jenny and I’s pregnancy leading up to the birth of our first son. I would set them to release daily as soon as our son was born. It was digital time capsule for Jenny and I to enjoy together. It had to exist.

This would add about 10-15 hours a week editing each video at night when Jenny would go to bed. Late nights and early mornings editing a video while trying to capture footage throughout the week was rough. Always thinking of the next vid while trying to finish up the previous one. It was hard, and at some points was definitely not “fun”

But I believed in the final product. And it got me through to the end (well, almost. tbh I haven’t finished the last vlog yet… but it’s almost done).

Artistic work is funny. Because sometimes the stuff we BELIEVE in might bomb, and the “throwaway” thing that took us 5 minutes blows up in popularity.

Do the work you believe in anyway, because that’s what’s going to help you outlast everyone else.

Treat Skills Like Riding a Bike

I would argue that most of us reading this have a basic understanding of riding a bike. It comes so natural to us now. But at some point we had to devote time and energy to riding a bike. We had NO idea how to ride a bike. All of us either skinned our knee, fell over and scratched our elbow, or even knocked our head (I remember when I was 5ish I thought the hood of my hoodie was good enough one time and I was so wrong).

But now, years later, we can pick it up whenever. It’s literally like riding a bike.

Treat your life experiences and the skill(s) you wanna pursue in the same way.

“You have enough time in your life for everything you might want to do, just not during the week”

Wow that hit me like the driveway of my childhood home after falling off my bike. Essentially, a different way of saying “if you try to catch two rabbits, you’ll catch none”

This is obviously common knowledge and considered “wisdom.” Yet sometimes I get so wrapped up in all the options I WANT to pursue that I get stuck doing nothing, and so then I just spend all my time wishing I could do anything other than what I’m doing right now.

The Weirdest Piece of Advice

was probably when I mentioned dealing with internet hate. Julian just cut me off and told me to “never look at comments.”

He was INSISTENT on this. I’m not sure if I necessarily agree, but from an artists perspective I can see his point. Art is not something to look for feedback on. Art comes from within and the second you start letting external opinions get in the way, you will lose.

After hearing this, I definitely wish I had heeded a bit more of this advice last year when the entire internet ganged up on me about Mr. Beast. Feel free to read more about that here:

H.A.G.S.

Dino, Jr.