Confidence

I was pulled aside by some friends recently who told me that “j’ai pris la grosse tête”, a French saying that literally means “you took the big head” but means “you’ve become arrogant”

At first I was defensive (normal human reaction)

“You have to be arrogant as a content creator”

“I’ve worked hard, I am entitled to a bit of cockiness”

“If you were able to live off of making videos and had a ton of followers you wouldn’t be arrogant too?”

It was when I said that last one to myself that I realized there was an issue

I’m immensely proud of what I do; a childhood dream that has become reality. I have the coolest job in the world: I get paid to make f*cking videos. It’s so epic

However, when your friends are telling you that you’ve let the success get to your head…

You listen to them

There’s a very fine line. I realize that when I meet new people I introduce myself by what I do and by my # of followers. I don’t even give them my real name “Michael” but instead say my internet persona name, “Mike”

Ironically, I used to HATE when people who didn’t know me called me Mike and now EVERYONE calls me Mike

“But Michael, this is EXACTLY what you wanted when you started, right?”

So how do I balance the pride of living my dream, while also being a nice person?

Humility

The way I make money is by making videos for people. The problem with this business model, however, is that my clients can basically decide whenever they want that

“Hey Mike, we’re sorry, but making videos is not what we need as a business right now”

I had this happen to me yesterday

Suddenly, I’m worried about how I’m gonna pay rent this month

“But what about all your followers? What about all the sh*t you’ve talked online? What about all the clients you rejected because you thought you were better than them?”

None of that matters right now

But what matters right now is that I don’t let this get to my head

The successes I’ve had, the videos that have gone viral, the money I’ve made, the places I’ve been to, the people I’ve met, they’ve all been amazing, but that’s temporary

The lows I’ve had, the clients who’ve bailed, the moments where I had $8 in my checking account, the negative comments, they’ve been tough, but that’s also temporary

Have the humility to understand where you can improve, but have the confidence that you will get out of this

Ciao guys

Mike

Washington DC