- This is not gonna be a get-rich-quick video,
this is a hustle video.
(upbeat music)
Hi, my name is Jackson Bird and welcome
to another installment of Ask Jack,
my, sort of advice series.
Sometimes these videos are straight-up Q&A
and sometimes, like today, I focus on one Q,
or an amalgam of frequently asked Qs,
and do a real deep dive on the A.
Not like that, answer, deep dive on the answer.
So I get a lot of questions about what I do.
Clearly, as you can see from the sub count down there,
I'm not making millions off of YouTube.
But if you'd like to help me out there,
don't forget to subscribe and tell your friends.
(bell dings)
And as I'm constantly reminding all of you,
I am not a student or a child, I am 28, almost.
Hah, so I've been doing this
payin' my own bills thing for a while now.
And I've never really had a traditional job.
Which tends to confuse the people of the Internet.
And even when I had a full-time, nine-to-five salaried job,
it was still working for the Harry Potter Alliance,
from home while I picked up freelance gigs on the side.
So, not the most traditional of work.
And nowadays, I'm pretty much
a full-time freelancer and creative.
So, because so many of you ask
how I am able to do what I do and how you can do it too,
I thought that I would share my top five tips
for makin' money doing what you love.
Disclaimer, this is not a quit your job
and do what you love video.
I am a realist, you can't just do that, usually.
These tips apply, whether you want to someday
be a full-time freelancer just earn some money on the side,
snag your dream job that is a normal nine-to-five job,
or just level up anything that it is that you do.
So here is my, in no way professional advice.
First, you gotta put yourself out there.
If you work in video, photography, writing, design,
it's a little bit easier because you can
put your work on the screen, on the Internet.
Make a website, put your stuff on it,
put your stuff on Instagram and YouTube.
Get it in front of people, and keep making stuff
and putting it out there where people can find it.
I've gotten pretty much every job I've ever had
from YouTube and my larger Internet presence.
It basically works as like your portfolio.
It's a way to both get discovered,
and have some solid evidence of your skills backing you up.
And if you don't have a craft
that is easily displayable online or even if you do,
you can also put yourself out there by networking.
I know, that is a super gross word,
but basically, what I mean is go to events and spaces
where there will be people working in the field
that you want to work in or that you do work in.
Tell them what you do, what your goals are,
what kind of jobs you're hoping to get.
And later, when this person you were talking to
at this party has a friend who needs a video editor,
they'll remember that kid they were talking to
the other week who was looking for more work
as a video editor.
Bada-boom, you just got a job.
Now it's not always that simple, and you gotta follow up,
you gotta be willing to put in the good work,
but that's the basic concept and it does work.
You put your intentions out into the universe,
and, well, maybe a higher power doesn't hear it,
but the people that you're talking to do,
and they'll follow up with you.
And as all of those opportunities start flowing in,
from all of your networking and your self promo,
say yes to, just about, everything.
Maybe you think that a job you got offered isn't
exactly in line with your end goal,
or maybe you even think you're above it.
But you never know the people you might meet,
or the opportunities that might come as a result of it.
And especially when you're starting out.
You just need to rack up as much experience as you can.
The disclaimer here, is to always balance your priorities.
If you're not getting paid, make sure it's actually worth it
in terms of experience and exposure.
And make sure that you're never doing anything
that makes you uncomfortable in a bad way.
You know, evaluate every situation,
but generally push yourself to say yes.
My next tip, is an important one,
put confidence on your resume.
And this means a couple of things.
First, do not sell your skills short.
Did you make a custom theme for your Tumblr?
Great, you have experience with HTML and CSS.
Did you moderate a panel at a fan convention?
You have public speaking experience.
Do you make YouTube videos?
Then you probably have writing, speaking, film production,
video editing, and social media experience,
that a lot of places would kill for right now.
So when you're working on your resume,
or looking at opportunities, remember those things.
Just because they didn't take place in like a normal office,
or a classroom doesn't mean that they're not valid
as experience and skills that you have.
A lot of people's hobbies these days,
are real, marketable skills.
And the best advice that I have heard,
that I'd like to give you, you audience
of predominantly women and queer and trans people is this.
Conduct yourself with the confidence
of a mediocre cishet white man, it'll do wonders.
Now I know a lot of you might be thinking,
Okay, sure I kind of know how to do that skill,
but like not well enough for a professional setting.
And that is a very good point.
Don't lie about your skills, but also,
if you're not sure how to do it,
or wanna learn how to do it better, learn it.
Look up what you don't know.
There are so many online tutorials and classes
that you can watch to learn or level up your skills.
I cannot tell you how many things that I do everyday
for jobs that I learned from the Internet.
Anytime there's a particular effect
I want to achieve, in a video.
I mean heck, video editing in general.
How to work with equipment, how to optimize
SEO on my website.
I mean even how to write an invoice and format my resume.
I learned it all from the Internet.
I love so much that we are able to use the Internet
in that way, in this day and age.
Which is why today's video is sponsored by Skillshare,
a fantastic website that lets you do just that.
Skillshare is an online learning community
with more than 17,000 classes in video, design,
photography, entrepreneurship, and more.
Premium membership gives you unlimited access
to high-quality classes from experts
working in their fields, so that you can
improve your skills, unlock new opportunities,
and do the work that you love.
And keeping with the theme of today's video,
one of my favorite classes I've taken on Skillshare recently
is Going Freelance: Building and Branding Your Own Success,
by Justin Gignac and Claire Wasserman,
from Working Not Working.
I love that one because it kind of doubled
as a branding workshop as well.
They like walk you through how to create your own mission,
and how to stay loyal to it, in all the work that you do.
There's also a ton of other classes
that cover topics as mentioned in my tips today.
Like the art of self-promotion,
keyword and website optimization,
creative non-fiction writing,
DSLR filmmaking, and so much more.
Over the years I've looked into a lot of learning platforms
as I try to tackle different skills,
like finally understanding how InDesign works,
or best strategies for social media ads.
And I really like Skillshare,
because the classes come in like chunks,
so you can work at your own pace,
but they also have like a community of people,
who are also taking the class,
that you can share thoughts with.
And one of the most important things,
Skillshare is more affordable
than a lot of the learning platforms out there.
An annual subscription is just $10 a month,
and, I've got a special offer for you,
if you use my link which is down in the description box,
you can get two months for just 99 cents.
Now that fits a freelancer's budget.
So, thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video,
and gifting everyone with so much knowledge.
Oh and hey did you see how meta this video is?
I put my work out there,
so cool companies like Skillshare notice.
I said yes when they wanted to work with me.
I confidently believed that I was a good fit for them.
I looked up some tips for color correcting
this video on their website.
And I did one last thing.
Because it is not enough to hone your skills,
have confidence, say yes and put yourself out there.
You also gotta hustle.
Doing what you love, and making a living from it is hard.
It is so much harder than taking an ordinary job,
with set start and end times
that you don't ever take home with you.
But you also maybe don't care about as much.
It's like Versace's mom told him,
in American Crime Story the Assassination of Gianni Versace.
"Success only comes with hard work."
There might be some luck, there might be some pure talent.
But neither of those are enough
without the early morning, burning the midnight oil,
flaking on friends, knuckle bleeding, hard work.
One of my favorite motivational stories,
is about Jim Carrey's dad, who always wanted
to go into comedy as well but took a safe job
so that he could take care of his family.
But when Jim Carrey was a teenager,
his dad lost that safe job,
and the family struggled to survive.
So Jim Carrey learned, and I think about this quote
all the time, "You can fail at what you don't want,
"so you might as well take a risk on doing what you love."
So those are my tips that I hope
were helpful in doing what you love.
Whether it can one day be a full-time thing
or you were just applying it to everything else that you do.
Let me know in the comments today
what your passion is and what you are doing
to take it to the next level this year.
If you liked this video, you can watch
other Ask Jack videos in this playlist.
And you can also check out the video
I made around New Year's about creating habits
not just vague resolutions.
You also subscribe to this channel
for new videos every week.
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @jackisnotabird.
And also, please listen to my podcast transmission,
which you can find wherever you get podcasts.
Thank you again to Skillshare, for sponsoring this video,
and to each and every one of you for watching it,
I'll see you next time.
(upbeat rock music)
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