Big Sean and Evan Carmichael discuss staying true to yourself instead of chasing trends. Evan shares how he accepted a lucrative client deal that conflicted with his values, produced one video, then stopped and offered the work free, realizing it was wrong from the start.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is be true to you. Over to you, Big Sean.
Man, you just gotta stay real to yourself, you know, not ever try and follow the trends. That's when you get lost in the sauce, man. You gotta do what you feel, man, and be creative, and don't be scared to be yourself, and always keep that faith. You know, I've been in the darkest times of my life, man, where I didn't know what was going to happen. I was flat broke. Anything you could think of, man, I done been through it. And like, you know, you got to be strong enough to make it through. And it just makes it that much sweeter when everything starts going right.
So I love this message because there is always a temptation to compromise who you are because you think you can make more money or be more successful. And I'm talking here live in New Orleans. There's a crazy thunder shower happening. I hope you guys can hear the audio okay. But it's super common. This temptation will always be there. There's a path that you're taking that is you, that is true, that is something you feel happy and proud about, and there's always going to be temptations to move you off path, move you off course because you think you can be more successful, because you think you can make more money, but it's not really true to who you are. And what you have to understand, and I still get these temptations myself, and I may still not fully have internalized it, although I'd like to think that I have. You have to realize that your true success, your true success will come when you are always true to yourself instead of trying to be somebody else's version of you. If you see this like short-term opportunity, think you can make a lot of money and work with a client or be somebody who you're not, the long term it's not going to work out. And let me give you an example. There was a client I worked with who I took on a deal with them because I had worked with the agency before and had a good relationship, and I wanted to help them out. Like, I wanted to help them out. I didn't want to say no because of the relationship I had, but I wasn't comfortable with the deal because they wanted me to promote something for them, and I don't promote stuff, right? I don't get on YouTube and say, "Hey, you got to go buy this product." And they weren't super on board with how I wanted to do it, and normally that's the point where I'd say no, forget it. I don't care how much money you're giving me, I'm not going to just be be a promotion shill for you guys. And I said yes because I wanted to keep the good relationship with the client that I had, the agency client that I'd done work with before. And we had an agreement to do 2 different videos. And I did one video and it was okay, and then the second video stopped before I started because I didn't like the direction. And I ended up saying, listen guys, I don't need to charge you, just take it for free, I don't even care, this isn't working out for us. And it looks bad on me, it looks bad for them, a lot of wasted time, and I knew at the beginning, right? I knew at the beginning that I shouldn't have taken on that deal. And so you'll always be tempted to step outside, and you're not doing something because it's outside your comfort zone, right? That's something you want to really be conscious of. Are you not doing it because you're just scared of doing it or because it's not true to who you actually are? And that's a big part of self-awareness that Hopefully you have and can recognize the difference. But if it's something that you feel is not true to who you are, then don't do it. And have the courage to understand that in the long run, that's going to make you a more successful business person, a happier human being, and able to contribute more to the world. Thank you guys so much for watching. My question of the day for you is, I'm really curious to know an example of when you took on an opportunity that wasn't true to you, that you thought you could make some money with, and it didn't work out, leave it in the comments below. Share your story because I think it can help inspire others as well. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. Espresso keep me going. I wake up every morning. Espresso keep me going. I wake up every morning. Espresso keep me going.
