Social Media to Broadcast

Creating content on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok is more than a hobby; it's the training ground for the big leagues of broadcast content on Netflix, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

Just ask Shawn Kanungo, whose journey from social media to broadcast by creating a featured special illustrates this path.

I was attending the launch of Shawn's new special, The Bold Ones, with my boy Daniel, and we had a blast. The night had drinks flowing, great catered food, and it was great to run into so many and meet new faces in the video production and influencer community.

It reminded me that many creators hesitate to envision their social media content as the first step toward major production. But, just like honing a craft, it's about dedication, ambition, and taking those essential reps to achieve bigger dreams.

5 Ways to Utilize Social Media to Broadcast in the Entertainment Industry

This was such an amazing interesting story and for those who rather watch than read please check out this video here.

Who is Gary Vaynerchuk aka GaryVee?

Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a modern-day media holding company, and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients across the company’s five locations and I got a chance not just to meet him but also found his one of one doodle. 

Interviewing GaryVee

So, Gary Vaynerchuk came down to Edmonton, Alberta, for his first keynote in 2021. Luckily before his talk, I was fortunate enough to have a 10 minutes interview with him for my podcast.

My interview was only 10 minutes, but it felt like 10 seconds with Gary because he was so insightful. 

My questions were more about my community, and I asked for advice for Black Canadians and reference to what traits from his new book would be valuable for Black entrepreneurs and creators.

What are Alpha Doodles?

It all goes back to September of 2021 when Gary Vaynerchuk had a series of doodles that went to auction at Christie's Auction House. He managed to sell five digital doodles for a total of $1.4 million; yup, you read it right, it was for $1.4 million. 

This artwork sale destroyed many acclaimed and famous artists, as he is a new and emerging artist in the space of NFTs'and now original artwork. 

You may have gotten the idea by now why I wanted the doodle.

GaryVee challenge in Edmonton

Fast forwarding to October 21 that month, while in the city of Edmonton, Gary at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald, left a gift where he put out a challenge on Twitter for someone to “figure it out.” 

The Mo’ You Know

Now I had no clue this alpha doodle was in Edmonton, and to be honest, I had no motivation to find that doodle, thinking it was likely already gone, but I had a friend who kept pushing me to check it out.

After the keynote, I debriefed my friend Moh, who discussed his day and the Twitter post Gary shared before the keynote.  

“It's at Fairmount” 

I was curious at first, but I did not want to go because I was super tired. It was a long day, and on top of that, I thought the doodle was gone.  More importantly, l didn't want to look like a crazy man coming to this prestigious hotel requesting if they could find a doodle from an artist. 

Nonetheless, my dear friend Moh convinced me to see if I could grab it.

Reaching the Fairmount Hotel Macdonald Front Desk 

You know that awkward walk that makes you feel like everybody is watching, judging, and wondering what you're doing? 

That's what it felt like to be walking into this hotel in the middle of the night. As I walked up to the hotel, I was met with anxiety because I immediately thought about what I would say to the front desk team. 

 As I walked through the doors, I was greeted by a friendly bellhop who asked about my day and greeted me. As I got into the main lobby, I took a right and was immediately greeted by two young ladies working the desk and instantaneously, I felt the pressure about what I was about to do or say; I did not want to sound stupid. As I looked at them, I made eye contact with both individuals, and then the lady asked, how can I help you?

So I cleared my throat through my mask and said,

“Hello, my name is Bobby, and there is an individual named Gary Vaynerchuk and D roc,  who recently were staying here and left a doodle. And both of them said that I could claim it, which they left for me in their hotel room.”

And then I just smiled through my mask. Once I uttered those words, I thought to myself I had already messed up; I used the nickname name of D-Rock, and I  should have chosen better words.

What was their Room Number? 

“Do you have a room number?”

Instantaneously, I drew blank, and I was like, holy cow. 

I don't even have the essential information to get this doodle. Luckily I remembered I got D-Rock's phone number and sent him a text message. 

Here's our room number, and I had an instant sense of relief. As I shared the room number, the staff at the hotel were able to pull up their accounts. 

 I couldn't believe the following words out of their mouths.

“Sir, I cannot let you in the room because they are still checked in”

So Close yet So Far 

To make them understand better, I showed them the picture of the doodle on my phone. The lady looked at me a little bit more puzzled, a little bit more intrigued. 

She then spoke to a colleague who then informed me that they could not let me into the room unless they had a direct conversation with the occupants that were staying there. 

Again, instant grief and sadness went over my body. I had to ask these fantastic and super busy individuals, who are actually at the airport, to take the time and speak to these front desk clerks.

I D-Rock yet again another text requesting if he could talk to these ladies. 

“cool, we’ll give him a call, Bobby, just give us five minutes.”

Almost Gave Up 

As I sat down, my mind flooded with thoughts like, is this doodle still here?

Did someone already claim it?

Am I wasting my time, these people's time and, even worse, both D Rock and Gary Vee's time trying to pursue this particular doodle?

As I sat and pondered all this information, I was texting my Moh micro-updates, but I didn't want to disappoint him; however, I didn't want to give them false hope that I was about to get this doodle.

What felt like five hours later, D-Rock called and gave these two ladies the green light,

“we're setting someone up to check the room to grab the doodle.”

Upon hearing those words, I got so pumped! One of the ladies behind the desk went upstairs to grab the doodle. Overhearing the ladies talk through walkie talkie’s

“Hey, I've checked the desk. I've checked the counter. This doodle is not here.

Do you know where they left it? “

With a big deep sigh and disappointment, I have no clue where they left it. Here is the picture again of the doodle.

The Gold Desk 

Just like in a movie, when that tiny detail, a small moment changes everything, happened. The lady downstairs asked the other lady in the room.
Did you check the gold desk?

I'll check the gold desk.

My mind was racing at this point; there's another place? What the hell was the gold desk??

30 seconds later, I heard,

“I have it on the radio. I'm coming back downstairs.”

I can't believe this is happening.

A Piece of Stationary, A Piece of Gold!

As I was handed the doodle, I gave her the biggest smile I could (through my mask), Thanked everyone, and I walked out the door excited for what was next.

It doesn't matter if you own a highly operating business or a small café across the street, funding is required. There are many funding organizations that would love to support the project you have been working on. Look for as many opportunities as possible and apply for funds.

why should you apply for funding?

We have all experienced a roller coaster of challenges as creators. There are resources that you can access in your local region to help reduce these setbacks.

Let’s be honest no one likes to apply for grants, including myself; however, there are resources aimed at your specific needs, niche, and genre. To forgo the opportunity in applying is doing yourself and your audience a disservice.

So in case, you consider applying for funding, let’s get down t the basics.

Do I need funding as a small creator?

Funding is fuel to a business. It doesn't matter if you own a successful company or a small café across the street; funding is necessary. As a creator, you need resources like businesses to help launch successful projects and make them manageable. Imagine being able to work with a team of experts in your next project, having the latest equipment to better share your story, or access to paid marketing for your project!

To creators, this is where funding can make a huge difference that can make, or break a project.

organizations for creators

Many organizations support the creative community and i'm sure with the help of Google you would be able to find ones local to you, but I want to talk about STORYHIVE in Western Canada, which focuses on filmmakers in this blog.

STORYHIVE's Goal

“STORYHIVE wants to accelerate your creativity and development through funding, distribution and support from TELUS to help BC and Alberta creators move their career goals ahead. It is dedicated to supporting and amplifying local stories and voices”

STORYHIVE is essentially a platform targeting and trying to engage  creators in Canada. So far through this initiative, they've successfully funded over 500 projects, they've engaged up to more than 18,000 creators, and they have already awarded $11 million since 2013.

2021 Black Creator Edition

They make sure to provide you with the mentorship, the distribution and even a community you will be comfortable working. BSO is a huge deal, helping black filmmakers, creators, video makers, basically people to penetrate this industry.

 STORYHIVE's goal with this Edition is to support capacity building for Black content creators in British Columbia and Alberta and empower the next generation of Black creators.

How does it work

This platform funds screen-based projects that capture the local communities in a very creative way. STORYHIVE supports stories that reflect its local areas’ culture, environment and society.

Once your projects are submitted, there's a chance that it may be featured on TELUS Optik TV through the Community Showcase program.

How to apply

Check this link here to learn more and apply STORYHIVE.com/apply

NEW BLOG SERIES

I am starting a journey of my own and want to share my process.  One of the philosophies that I'm a big advocate for is this idea of building in front of people.

Over these next few weeks, in hopes of educating and sharing with people, I will be showing my process of applying for this particular grant. 

Signup to newsletter if you want more tips and insights into this journey.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a great conversation with a good friend about business opportunities and ideas. We started to talk about the topic of people stealing ideas. Most people believe it happens, but I couldn't disagree more. 

IDEAS ARE EVERYWHERE

 I firmly believe that there are no original ideas; ideas come from a range of existing concepts. Everything is a mixture of something influence by experiences. This brings me back to when I started my first business, a clothing store called Room 322. 

What makes a retail store original?

 I firmly believe that there are no original ideas; ideas come from a range of existing concepts. Everything is a mixture of something influence by experiences. This brings me back to when I started my first business, a clothing store called Room 322. 

As I create my own unique curation of clothes and styles within my store, many people compared us to a dope boutique called Foosh. Fortunately, my business partners and I developed a relationship with one of the founders of Justin, who was essentially mentoring us on how to run and build a successful streetwear store.

While we were starting to get a few fashion seasons under our belt amongst the community, there was this pushback. Some of the loyal fans of Foosh would claim that we were copying and biting their favourite clothing store. Foosh was heavily into skateboard culture, while my store was influenced by the varsity meet streetwear concept. Even though we had different selections of clothes and had a whole other type of game plan of the styles, people still said that we were copying them. We worked hard to educate people one by one about the Room 322 brand as we began to develop our own vibe during that period.

I remember asking myself what made a clothing store an original?

SOMEONE WILL EVENTUALLY TRY TO COPY YOU

Beginners mimic your ideas, your style because they haven't already found their own voice yet. Being an inspiration to imitators should indicate that you are on the right path because you are doing something that people want to follow.  Many creators develop a sense of "taste" way before they have the skillset to bring their creations to fruition.

Instead of complaining and confronting them, you should spend that time double down on your efforts. Finding out ways how you can make your work more significant and packed with more value.

YOU SHOULD STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST

A year ago, I was exposed to this excellent book called Steal like an Artists that really opened my mind to this topic of the original idea. The book had so many quotes and pages that really hammered home the idea that sometimes perception is at everything. People would get inspiration from a single artist, and the public would position them as copycats, stealing ideas. Still, as soon as that individual can get a bigger breath of inspiration, sampling ideas from a range of artists, then suddenly they're positioned as originators. I fell in love with this concept of steal Like an artist because it gives you the freedom to build upon ideas. Like the music industry, it allows creatives to sample others to create something (hopefully) better.

I get a ton of inspiration from books, podcasts, other creatives, and people I come across every day. There are so many different resources and opportunities to consume information today because of technology. From unlimited access to content, remix culture has blown up, creating enormous opportunities for creators. The only thing stopping you from taking advance of these opportunities is you. Your fears of not executing due to someone potentially stealing your idea.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• IDEAS ARE EVERYWHERE - You can pull ideas from other industries, creators, books, videos, professionals, and many other places. Sampling ideas and reinterpreting in your own work has always been the game.

• SOMEONE WILL EVENTUALLY TRY TO COPY YOU — one of my favorite quotes comes from a book called Thank you and You’re Welcome  by Kanye West that has a line, “Get use to being used”. To speakers of the idea that if no one is trying to engage with you then that is a big problem, and might be because you're actually useless.

• YOU SHOULD STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST -- Having access to such a vast amount of content through online gives you the opportunity to “steal” from other genres and industries and add to the development for creative voice. Once you get good at sampling and experimenting you can then refine your work through the feedback from your audience to establish your own unique creative style

Have you ever experienced a situation of someone stealing your idea? Where do you get your inspiration from?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

When it comes to learning a new skill, one of the most important things you can do accelerate success is to connect with like-minded individuals by joining a community around that topic.

These relationships might help you get the support, resources, and added help that might need to successful in your journey. 

Being around people who are on a similar journey and share the same interests, passions, and goals can become aids when facing challenges progress.

What does it take to join a community? 

1. Understand yourself 

The first important thing is understanding yourself through personal reflection. It is vital to have a deep transparent understanding of what you're hoping to achieve. You should be clear about what you want from a community and how you can contribute to it.

You then, in turn, can go down the journey of finding resources or information about how you can achieve what you're hoping to do and what you need. It is easier to move on to the next step when you are entirely aware of your expectations.

To other content creators this can be as simple as commenting and providing real feedback on their information people share.

2. Be ready to bring value to the community 

3. Find a leader who's best for your development

Research the leaders who are creating these communities. A leader is someone who's going to guide you towards your goal.

I've been fortunate enough to meet a a lot of different individuals who are phenomenal leaders that make you want to stay once when you join a community. They consistently invest their time and efforts to ensure that everyone with in their community is getting value with clear expectations and goals.

The great try to take the time to engage members on a personal level t foster stronger relationships.

4. Determine how much you are willing to share with the community

When it comes to finding and engaging with communities, it is fundamental that you determine how much you will share and participate.

You get the best results when you do so. Don't overextend yourself; set the proper expectations with yourself about how you're going to share and contribute, whether that is sharing content, commenting on other people's content, or simply providing your own stories and solutions on how you solve your problems.

Active participation can help in knowing each other better and building bonds.

5. Challenges down the road, have patience.

I highly recommend that you get involved with a community of like-minded people on a similar journey and path like yourself. This will help you learn from the people around you more effectively and start moving past objections and challenges quicker. In addition to that, when you reach new thresholds and new levels, you'll be able to celebrate with people who care and understand your success.

I explore this topic more on my podcast here if you interested to learn more about some of my experiences connect more with like-minded people on a similar path like me.