How hustle culture hijacked our brains — and how rest might just be your next superpower.

I used to believe that if I wasn’t grinding, I was failing.

Sleep was for the weak. Rest was something you “earned.” And taking a day off? That was for people who didn’t want it badly enough.

Sound familiar?

That’s hustle culture talking — and chances are, it’s been yelling in your ear for a while.

I bought in hard. For most of my 20s and 30s, I worked full-time in entertainment while also auditioning, writing, producing, training in MMA, helping care for family, and trying to outwork my imposter syndrome one unpaid gig at a time.

I wore my exhaustion like a badge of honor.

I confused being busy with being valuable.

And I confused ego with self-worth.

Spoiler alert: That’s not sustainable.

“Rest” Isn’t Laziness — It’s Brain Fuel.

In the latest episode of my YouTube show SillyGooseEQ, I unpack how hustle culture distorted our understanding of rest — and why doing nothing is actually crucial for emotional, creative, and neurological health.

We talk:

🧠 Cognitive overload and the science of burnout

⚙️ How the industrial revolution + Wall Street + Instagram broke your relationship with rest

🔥 Why your brain solves problems better when you’re not actively working

🛑 How to stop equating your self-worth with your to-do list

🧘🏽‍♂️ And my own (deeply awkward) attempts at intentional rest, including sauna-based meditation and reorganizing closets “for fun”

What This Is (and What It’s Not)

This episode isn’t a productivity hack. It’s not about quitting your job to become a #vanlife influencer with a passive income side hustle.

It’s a reset.

A reframing of how we relate to our energy, our guilt, our nervous systems — and our worth.

Because sometimes the most revolutionary thing you can do is sit your ass down… on purpose.

The Challenge:

Take 15 minutes today to rest intentionally.

No phone. No inbox. Just… stillness.

Stare at the wall. Watch a squirrel. Let your brain breathe.

Then ask yourself: What does it feel like to rest without guilt?

If that idea resonates, check out the full episode:

🎥 Watch it on YouTube → here

🎧 Or listen wherever you get your podcasts: SillyGooseEQ

New episodes every two weeks for men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who want to get emotionally fit — and still laugh at fart jokes.

Want to Support This Work?

If you love what SillyGooseEQ stands for — emotional intelligence with a side of dad jokes — consider becoming part of the Founding Flock over on Patreon. We have levels that start at FREE!

You’ll help me keep making heartfelt, hilarious, hopefully healing content for the dudes who need it most.

Plus… you’ll officially be a Silly Goose.

Which, let’s be honest, is the highest honor I can bestow.

Thanks for being here.

— Zeke Rodrigues Thomas

(emotional support bro, creative workaholic in recovery, proud member of Team Nap)

Here’s how I stopped guessing and started showing up for the people I care about.

I used to think love languages were just for romantic relationships. Some soft-focus couples therapy stuff. But then I realized I was showing love to my friends the way I liked to receive it — and they weren’t picking up what I was putting down.

Worse? I was missing how they were showing love to me.

Because “I brought you a burrito” is basically a bro’s way of saying “I love you.”

Today, we’re tackling the five love languages, but not for romance — for friendship. Because, let’s be real, bro love is real love.

Think of this like learning your friend’s preferred protein shake flavor — only instead of bulking up their biceps, you’re bulking up their heart.”

Here’s how I reinterpret Chapman’s five categories for male friendships — without sounding like I’m trying to date my friends:

• Words of Affirmation: “Nice beard, bro.”
• Acts of Service: “I helped you move your couch.”
• Gifts: “I saw this and thought of you. It’s a bobblehead of you.”
• Quality Time: “We hang. No phones.”
• Physical Touch: The bro hug/back pat combo.

But let’s back up..

What are love languages?

If you’ve heard of them on social media or IRL there is a good chance you’re talking to someone who is referencing Gary Chapman’s 1992 book, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. It outlines five general ways that romantic partners express and experience love, which Chapman calls “love languages”. specifically: words of affirmation ( wow, you are the best cake baker of all time!), quality time (Wanna get together and eat a piece of cake?), receiving gifts (I bought you a new cookbook full of cake recipes!), acts of service (I baked you a birthday cake from scratch!, or physical touch (I wanna have sex with this cake. Okay maybe not that…. How about, I’ll sensually feed you this piece of cake?).

Chapman argues that, while each of these languages is enjoyed to some degree by all people, a person will usually speak one primary language. He argues that all five are important, but that they can be individually ranked (after answering the love language profile questions he designed for this purpose).

Chapman suggests that to discover another person’s love language, one must observe the way they express love to others, and analyze what they complain about most often and what they request from their significant other most often. He theorizes that people tend to naturally give love in the way that they prefer to receive love, and better communication between couples can be accomplished when one can demonstrate caring to the other person in the love language the recipient understands.

This was the first of many books promoting the above concept was The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, first published in 1992.[4] The book has sold over 11 million copies in English; having been translated into 49 other languages and the 2015 edition consistently ranks in the top 100 sellers on Amazon.com, ranking in the top 50 as of February, 2007. It also consistently ranks in the top five books on the New York Times bestsellers list, claiming the #1 spot at times. It has also resulted in numerous spin offs titles including ones for teens, kids, apologies, and appreciation in the workplace.

But how did he come up with this system? Dr Gary Chapman as he is now known had been a pastor and marriage counselor for over 30 years before he wrote the FLL and he took his learnings and turned them into this bestselling book. This is all to say he’s created quite the cottage industry on relationships based on his learnings that have led him to become a celebrated speaker and radio host.

But his theories on love and romantic relationships are not without their detractors. Chapman’s theories are based on a very narrow set of guidelines. Mainly heteronormative, christian couples, in North Carolina who he spoke to between the years of roughly 1960 through 1990. And if I had to guess… those would skew predominantly white but that’s me.

I listened to the audio book and race and socio economics were never mentioned but then again it was ’92 when he wrote it and he was trying to cast the widest aspirational net at the time.

But aside from his narrow data set and point of view there is a lack of scientific research to back up any of his claims.

There have been several research studies trying to evaluate Chapman’s love languages framework, with mixed results. A 2022 study provided some evidence in favor of the love languages framework, while summarizing past empirical support for it as “equivocal.”[8] A recent article emphasized “a paucity of empirical work” and criticized the invalidity of the construct in several dimensions — wikipedia

But this is all background to say feel free to explore at your own risk. Your mileage may vary.

But let’s dive into the FLL system so we can figure out how to have better relationships with your friends!

WORDS OF AFFIRMATION

This is a flowery way of saying giving your friend compliments. One of the things I like to do when I greet someone is pay them a compliment. Usually on an article of clothing or an accessory. “Sweet gold chain, bro! Is that new?” or if they are closer friends I know I have permission to compliment their physique cause who doesn’t want their friends to see the gainz they’ve been working hard to achieve.

If they cooked a meal, I tell them how much i love it. If effort was put in, I know my friends want me to acknowledge it.

Other examples I use for my male friends, “Beard is looking glorious today, my guy”, or “ That drop fade is looking tight.” or way to rock that crop top as a dude in his 40’s!

The key is to make it sound natural. If it feels like you’re reciting a yelp review. You’ve missed the mark

Again dudes even with your close lady friends I can’t begin to explain how important it is to stay out of the creep zone. If you don’t know what the creep zone is … it probably means you’ve hung out there a bit too long. Ugh you might be in it right now!

That means keep it non-sexual compliments. Appreciation based on skills versus appearance are a helpful guideline. It’s not foolproof but it’s usually safe harbor.

Side note: I use compliments or words of affirmation as part of my navigating of life. And if I even get stuck and don’t have a compliment for someone I’ve just met I almost always compliment their shoes. Easy. gender non-specific works and 10 out of 10 times.

If your friend loves compliments and words of affirmation don’t hold back. Do not ignore their big efforts, avoid saying mean shit to them, only lightly roast on a rare occasion, do not ignore them when they reach out, And most importantly tell your friends you love them. They are under no obligation to say it back but I can tell you in the last 10 years I’ve made it a practice to tell my friends I love them every time I see them. There is a chance I was the only person to say I love you to them that day so I go for it. Normalize telling your friends you love them cause you do. If that’s too much for you… add a bro at the end to take the “seriousness” out of it.

Or lean into sincerity! It’s fun!

ACTS OF SERVICE

The “Acts of service” love language means showing love through actions, essentially doing thoughtful things for your friends that make their life easier or more enjoyable, like running errands, cooking meals, or helping with chores, essentially where actions speak louder than words. I equate this to showing up for people. Whether its saying yes to helping them move a couch, get coffee with them, or sometimes its just as basic as showing up to a time and place when you say you are. I know its weird but I think I’m friends with a lot of my friends simply because we agree to meet up and then we do … repeatedly. Flaky folks tend to weed themselves out in my life.

Sometimes picking up food or even picking out a place to eat in an equidistant part of town is an act of service. Other times just showing up with tacos is enough to say I love you.

Side note if you show up to my place with mexican food I’ll know you love me. It doesn’t take much. Or italian food. Or chinese. Or japanese… okay I guess if you show up with food we’re basically besties.

One of my close friends loves to host people at her house and cook for them and because I know this is how she shows and receives love I make it a priority to show up for our monthly family dinners.

For me acts of service are a little lower on the list but I know that’s not the case for a lot of other folks. Maybe it’s the 12 step program in me but I try to show up for people when things are rough. Like physically hang out with them. Social media allows us to send condolences and thoughts and prayers and those are nice but the real ones show up and call and check in when things aren’t okay.

If your friend receives love through acts of service avoid going back on promises to hang out together or disregarding their requests for help, or flake on existing plans. Again, basic stuff here but I promise you your friends will appreciate it.

RECEIVING GIFTS

It sounds so simple. Some people love to receive gifts and give gifts as a way of showing love and appreciation. But it’s trickier than you think. This one is not about spending cash and bribing someone into liking you. This one is all about thoughtfulness. Did you notice Tony’s shaker cup broke last week? Get him a new one. Boom — friendship leveled up. Plus now they have a physical item of your friendship that they just might use on a daily basis.

Just choose your gifts with care even if you mostly just lightly roast each other.

For me, I’ve had the best luck in finding something that they use regularly in their daily life or a hobby that they like and then try to find the most niche joke about that thing possible.

QUALITY TIME

This is one of my favorites and ranks number two on my list if you’re keeping score at home.

Quality time is just like it sounds undivided attention with your friend ideally in a distraction-free environment. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be rolling bjj together, going to the range together, surfing, eating (again with the food, do I have a problem?), a movie night. These are all level one activities that build trust BUT are focused on something external.

But if you wanna go deep with your friend consider an activity that forces you to face each other rather than away. I know…. Its revolutionary stuff but as I’m gotten into my mid 40’s I’ve realized its more about depth with my friends than it is about breadth.

(really zeke again with the food references)

But for real I get to ask deep questions of my friends on out of town trips, dinners, or sometimes even after super tough workouts.

If Quality Time is important to your friend, be sure to invite them to things, avoid canceling plans, and for the love of god, just stay off of your phone and please don’t text someone else while you are together. Again sounds super basic but Nothing is more disrespectful than someone else taking priority over us physically making time for one another. I don’t care how bad your ADHD is. Try and be present.

PHYSICAL TOUCH

Yes, even among friends. These are the dudes who thrive on high-fives, fist bumps, or even that one awkward bro hug where you slap each other’s back like you’re trying to start an engine.

This one is number one for me in my romantic life and is near the top of my list for my platonic friendships as well. This is a great example of knowing how your love language differs from your friends. I’m very touchy with my friends in my life. Maybe it’s my Brazilian cultural heritage or maybe it’s just how I grew up but that doesn’t mean everyone around me is the same. In fact, one of my best friends is not a physical touch person at all so I let her lead all physical interactions. I’m available for hugs but don’t initiate, I release early and never linger. But then I have other friends who battle to see who can hug longer.

Know your friends and check in with them. Its pure and simple.

Also sidenote: If you need more non-romantic physical touch in your life, consider brazilian jiu jitsu. Not only is it a great martial art and a lot of fun but it also puts you in direct contact with another living breathing human being. The only caveat is that you’re consensually trying to extinguish each other’s life… for sport. Plus you get exposed to a bit of warm brazilian culture.

Summary

Okay so there you have it. The 5 love languages for friendship as interpreted by your favorite half-brazilian middle-aged bro. Is it scientific? No. Is this list complete? Absolutely not. But it is a groundwork for figuring out how to be a better friend.

In summary, how do you figure out your friend’s love language? Observe. What do they do for you? If they always give you snacks, guess what — they’re a gift guy. If they won’t stop telling you how awesome you are, their love language is Words of Affirmation. It’s like solving a mystery, but instead of Sherlock, you’re Bro-lock Holmes.

If you suck at observation or are pressed for time…Just ask. Like this: ‘Hey man, do you feel more appreciated when I say nice things, hang out, or, like, bring you snacks?’ It’s not rocket science — it’s friendship maintenance.

Your Challenge Of the Week

Crack the love language code of at least one friend. Just one. Start small. If you’re wrong, hey, free tacos for them. If you’re right, you just got yourself some bonus friendship points. Either way — you win and you get tacos!

And if you’re really committed to the challenge, drop their love language in the comments and how you found out. Who knows, maybe your bff is reading this, too.

Remember: Your friends are like plants — water them with the right kind of love, and they’ll grow…emotionally.

The Limits of Freemium as a freelancer

There is a prevailing thought among influencers, entrepreneurs, and certain tech companies that in order to attract future customers you must give them something for free. They are not wrong.

If you take a look at Tesla, Spotify, and Dropbox (and countless other tech and media companies) you’ll see successful business models that stress the importance of giving a portion what you do away for free. However, when does giving it away crossover into Brain Rape?

But what’s Brain Rape?

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of Brain Rape check out this clip from Silicon Valley. PS DO NOT google image search ‘brain rape’. It’s absolutely terrifying.

Brain Rape is a thing that’s been around forever under its sexier moniker “corporate espionage” or “utter douchbaggery”. However, these days the pervasive “Culture of Free” creates a crucible between solid biz dev and having a potential client data mine your brain when they have no intention of hiring you.

So How Much Should You Give Away for Free?

If you’re Spotify, you want people to take a test drive of your streaming music service so your customers can understand the value of your product. If you’re Tesla and you are confident in the ability of your R & D team to innovate why not open source some older battery tech?

But if you’re a small business or a freelancer, how much can you really give away if you’re limited by scale?

As a video producer and a principle in EGO 360 and VR this is a question I’ve struggled with for sometime. Part of my job is pitching (read: sales!). That means showing studios, networks, brand managers, ad agencies, and development execs our creative decks and technical expertise in terms of our vision and level of execution. In any pitch meeting you have to give, in order to hopefully receive.

But, I’ve learned to hold back something despite my artistic leanings towards collaboration.

I have to give them a reason to hire me instead of someone else.

It could be a technical detail or it could be the a key plot point that would bring the whole third act together, but I need them to sign the check otherwise I run the risk of them “going with an internal producer”.

But what about consulting? There is a very lucrative industry dedicated to consulting? Excellent question.

Should I Give it Away for Free vs. Being Hired as a Consultant?

Two schools of thought and both have merits:

Hired as a Paid Consultant

1. If I feel as though you are date-raping my brain then you should probably pay me. This totally subjective. But like the Silicon Valley clip above, we’ve all been in meetings when one party is taking copious notes and asking very pointed, in-depth questions.
2. I can’t pay my rent with good vibes. Don’t even get me started on exposure.
3. Most importantly: If you are making money on this project . . . there is money for a consultant fee.

Or Giving it Away for Free

1. I’m confident in my ability to innovate. My competitive advantage is to create AND execute. If you want to burn calories on this idea . . . cool. I haven’t had my last good idea yet.
2. This is art, not science. We can be given the exact same subject matter with the exact same tools and we will definitely tell different stories.
3. You’re gonna hire me . . . eventually. If this is the jab that will eventually lead to a right hook down the road, I’m willing to bet on that delayed gratification.
4. People are coin operated: I’m still holding something back if I’m doing it for free.

Friends — the exception?

Of course, friends are the notable exception to all this. If they are having difficulty with something I’ve experienced, chances are I usually offer to help before they even ask. But beware of professional frenemies . . .

TL;DR

If you want people’s money you gotta show ’em something worth buying. But in your quest for for their money, hold back the secret ingredient to your recipe that makes it your recipe.

If you enjoyed reading, please support my work by hitting that little heart!

FIND OUT MORE

You can hire EGO 360 to create and produce eye-popping framed content and immersive video. We also consult on story development for immersive environments.

Zeke Thomas is the artsy-ist bro or the bro-yist artist you know and is the Pride of Hermosa Beach. Filmmaker, host, vlogger, and MMA fan boy.

Email: Info@zekethomas.com

IG: Here YouTube: Here FB: Here

2015 was a banner year in new media as we’ve seen a number of platforms legitimized by industry awards(Netflix beating our HBO for total Golden Globes nods), a ton of big purchases and investments(Disney’s purchase of Maker Studios), as well as advertising budgets shift their focus towards metric-rich platforms.

So here are some of the things I’ve noted as 2015 came to a close and 2016 ramps up:

1. Your Audience Matters More than Ever

Your biggest asset is your audience and this year it will determine more and more who gets the job in 2016. Ask any entertainer and they will tell you the same thing. Without their audience, they are nothing. The same goes for writers, producers, and on-line personalities at any level.

One of my big considerations in hiring talent is their audience. We all want the most qualified person to get the job but we also want people to see the final product.

It boils down to this: a) Do we like you? b) Can you do the job? and now we have to be aware of c) Do you bring an audience?

Depending on the job, its not always an equilateral triangle, but I can tell you that in 2016 your audience will be a huge factor in who gets the gigs.

2. Mainstream: VR and 360

The market place is still anyone’s race as Google Cardboard attempts to capture the most eyeballs with its simple solution to VR and 360, Oculous Rift continues to innovate with its next iteration of their game changing headset, and Microsoft’s augmented reality headset made some serious headway in giving us a terminator-like vision as we approach our daily life.

What does this mean for next year?

Expect a TON of new 360 content on youtube from the usual suspects of Redbull, off road racing, and anyone else on the periphery of extreme sports. But whoever finds a compelling way to use this new technology within the confines of narrative storytelling has the opportunity to made a big cultural dent.

Music videos and horror shorts are already making huge strides.

3. You down with OTT? Yeah, You Know Me

Everyone is taking cues to jump into the over-the-top/subscription video on demand space and this year you’re going to see even more entrants into the market.

Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon are pressing forward in the OTT/SVOD space and creating their own IP as quickly as they can, but they aren’t the only game in town. Verizon’s Go90 service has made in big splash attracting top talent to the service as well as possibly adding the much sought after NFL. Add in NBC’s SeeSo, Screen Junkies Plus, HBO Now, Sling, Watchable, and Showtime — You really got to ask yourself “Why do I need cable?”

Does the consumer have bandwidth for all these services? Is there enough quality content to sustain all of these endeavors? Are we just re-creating the same problem as soon as you try and bundle them together?

4. Catch phrase of the year: Digital First

We’ve barely started 2016 and I’m already tired of the phrase but that won’t make it any less important. Like Verizon’s Go90, you’re going to see a huge shift towards making content that is designed to be consumed on a phone as its primary viewing platform.

This is going to mean a huge shift in the way that content is made given the fact that the 50" big screen is not the most viewed screen in most American’s homes for people under 25. Content is going to get shorter, brighter, and louder.

5. The Return of the Second Screen Experience

Outside of live sports, must see TV events are becoming rarer and rarer but there are some outliers like the #TheBachelor and #Rosewood. These shows have found a way to effectively incorporate the second screen experience by harnessing the power of their stars, creators, and fans on social media.

Fans of these shows know that by engaging in these #livetweet sessions there is a chance that Kerry Washington may tweet you back or Morris Chestnut may fave your response.

Can Go90, Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix find a way to incorporate this into their marketing plans? When guys like Noah Kinsey are live-tweeting their virgin watching of the Harry Potter franchise years after its release and still finding an engaged audience it seems completely possible.

6. The Branded Cream will Rise to the Top

Free (virtually free) distribution platforms like Youtube and podcasting have democratized media and allowed anyone to cultivate their own audience. Yes, the 45% Youtube tax is a cost of global distribution as are some minor costs associated with getting listed on the itunes podcast charts, but you have access to billions of potential customers.

On Youtube, you’ve seen the best rise to the top with a healthy middle class Youtubers starting to emerge as well. Expect these monetization models to start to shift as brands see the value in knowing exactly who’s actively engaged with their message.

Everybody and their mother has a podcast these days but according to the content marketing institute, less than 3% of content marketers are using the medium. Look for major brands to start moving into the space previously occupied by comedians or at the very least start to poach talent as they make a play on this very engaged audience.

If you enjoyed this article please hit the recommend button below so more people can find it.

Zeke Thomas is a creative producer at Defy Media, freelance new media consultant, and host of the Getting Real with Zeke podcast. If you liked this story and want to read more like it, sign up to his newsletter to receive more of his writing more often or just find him on twitter.

I’ve always considered myself an entertainer.

The first signs of which manifested itself at age 6 when I would grab the nearest candlestick and lip-sync the opening to Perfect Strangers on top of a coffee table to a disinterested party of my mother. Perhaps it was this lack of audience or lack of talent that led me to pursue acting after graduating college, but I knew that itch to entertain was still there and could not be ignored.

In 2001, I moved back to my home town of Hermosa Beach, CA and enlisted the game-plan you’ve heard all too often:

1. Move to LA (check.)
2. Wow “them” with talent (check?)
3. Profit

The goal was obvious: be discovered as a great artist and then watch the money, power, and women pile up.

This was not my story.

And it probably isn’t going to be yours either.

And that is okay because we are living in magical times! More on that in a minute . . .

For the next 6 years I toiled in complete obscurity as an actor save a handful of commercials, a ton of student films, and some bit parts in B level films. Hell, I barely had theatrical rep for most of my career. As a reasonably handsome, young, multi-ethnic, union actor I soon realized there were 10,000 other dudes that looked just like me. And had better resumes. And definitely spoke better Spanish. I soon realized the power dynamic as an actor was never going to being my favor. Let’s also kindly ignore my sub 5% booking ratio. Apologies to my former agents.

By 2006, I figured out that being cast in commercials and occasionally testing for pilots was not artistically fulfilling. The obvious answer was to create.

It seems ridiculous to many of you reading now, but a decade ago content creating opportunities seemed completely out of reach given that traditional media was so rigidly segmented.

“No film school? How can he direct?”

“He’s an actor. He can’t write . . .”

“Stick to writing, kid. Maybe one day they’ll let you act, too.”

These are all direct quotes from agents, managers, and producers.

But I had this weird skill set where I could kinda act, kinda write, kinda direct, and kinda play music — all just not at an elite level.

So Where is a Jack-of-all-trades Supposed to go When He Doesn’t Want to Pick a Lane?

The answer started to appear for me in 2007 when Youtube started to become a viable platform. I should also point out that it didn’t become a serious platform for me for almost another 4 years, but I saw the potential just like a whole host of people smarter than me.

Upon the suggestion of my theatrical agent at the time, my friends and I shot our own pilot presentation for a sketch comedy competition show back in ’07 called Sketch Wars. It was good, though not great, but it showed gumption and led to meetings that we definitely weren’t getting before we bet on ourselves.

Ultimately, the show didn’t get picked up, but it planted the seed that I should be making my own content if I wanted to get anywhere. Filming our own content wasn’t cheap as cameras were still expensive and the technology was not great. Plus who’s got Final Cut and who’s knows how to use it?

In the coming years I continued to audition, write sketches, write pilots that never went, perform improv every week, play music with the hope that one of these things would lead to something.

I had no idea I was putting in my Gladwellian 10,000 hours towards a thing we would later call content creation.

Turning Points

2007 was a major one for me. My father had suddenly passed away during the taping of Sketch Wars. It was the first time someone close to me had had passed away and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t blow a hole through me.

As a way of dealing with life on life’s terms, I became fascinated with MMA and starting to train as a way coping. I was a total weekend warrior, but getting choked out and tossed around on a regular basis ultimately led me to meeting my first jiu jitsu coach (and now creative partner), Jarrett Sleeper. He was the funniest damn martial arts instructor I had ever known and it wasn’t long before we were creating together doing live shows and low level sizzle reels.

But it wasn’t until October of 2012 that Jarrett approached me with the idea to film a joke that he wanted to explore. Filmed on a Canon T3i with a Rode VideoMic on a Sunday night we uploaded “How to Pick Up a Girl at the Gym” to what is now the Murderbot Productions Youtube channel and by 7am the following morning my phone didn’t stop buzzing. Our little video had graced the front page of Reddit and tallied 1 MM views in its first 24 hrs. The following days confirmed what we suspected as we were mentioned on The Today Show and MTV had reached out with licensing offers. By the end of he week, we had accumulated 9 MM views. Not an insignificant amount by 2012 standards.

And then things went back to normal.

Contrary to popular belief there were no calls from CAA, UTA, or ICM, no development deals, and no mansions.

What did come from it was just enough money to start a production company and some basic equipment to keep us going. Plus, we took Youtube Space LA up on their offer to become take part in their Scream Lab . We now had access to pro-level equipment and studio space. We didn’t know what to do with it yet, but we were a lot closer to executing the visions we had in our heads.

We continued to make videos. Some of them did okay but we weren’t Youtubers in the traditional sense (No vlogs or make up tutorials here) as we treated the channel as a sketch pad. But then an outtake from an unreleased music video also started making the rounds and we had our second viral hit in less than two years, Typical Crossfit Workout.

The timing of this couldn’t have been better as we had just been approached by a consulting firm about creating corporate content for a major electronics manufacturer for CES. Just another another break that we were ready for and had the viral metrics to back up. Not only could we start to pay ourselves, but it helped subsidize what became our agency reel and put on us the map as far as creating content for Fortune 1000 and above companies.

So you Had Some Viral Hits? Does it Matter?

Yes, and here’s why: Metrics matter as much as your portfolio.

Over the course of multiple jobs as a sub-contractor, I was offered a position with Now Labs as Executive Producer and Director of Video Production. The little production company that I started with Jarrett Sleeper, Goon Creative, is now a strategic partner and has also branched into creative. Add in my narrative work as a Producer with Human Proof Entertainment, freelance producing for Defy Media and new media consulting and you see how drastically things have changed since I marketed stopped myself as talent only.

Yes, I’m busy as all hell. And yes, I am available for hire.

The point is this. Five years ago I had no idea where I was really going. Scratch that . . . 2 years ago I still didn’t know where I was going but I knew that I should go where the water is warmest. That meant learning as much as I could about not only production, story, and content development, but business, venture capital, and advertising.

I still act from time to time, but its not my focus right now. My voice over career has allowed me to scratches that performer’s itch that I still have but most of my time is spent creating, developing, or consulting on content creation. Creating feels much more empowering than waiting to be picked out of the crowd.

My next level goal is being a show-runner.

I want to create universes and build them out. Hopefully, more opportunities to do so will come my way through the relationships I’ve built and a healthy dose of luck.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” — Samuel Goldwyn

Quick and Dirty Advice:

Actors: Show up to your auditions with a better attitude than I ever did. Trust me, I know it sucks, but also know that we are in very strange time in the media biz where your talent isn’t the only factor. Make stuff, get an audience, buyers want this. Pick up your phones and start making short form content.

Aspiring Creators:

• Do your thing. A lot. Practice. We talkin bout practice?. Fuck yes, we are talking about practice. Everything I do (surfing, muay thai, Olympic lifting, writing, editing) is a perishable skill so I try to practice outside of practice so I don’t suck (as much).
• Try your best but don’t get bogged down in details until you have to. Be nice. Help others. Be authentic. Youtube has an incredible bullshit detector.
• Learn the basics of every department. I wanted to be the best producer I could be so I’ve gone out of my way to learn the basics of everybody’s department so I can make informed decisions about what needs to happen on set and in post.
• You haven’t had your last good idea. Don’t be precious with them.

Pro Creators: This advice applies to me as much as it applies to you. It’s easy to look at Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, and The Gregory Brothers and see what works right now. They are really good at what they do. We need to think outside of what’s happening right now and answer these questions:

• Who needs content in the next 6–12 months?
• Who needs our skill set? These are different questions.
• Are OTT services the next frontier?
• What’s really happening with VR and 360?
• How can we harness those trends to tell a compelling narrative?

When you find the answers make sure you loop me in. ;)

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