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The Creative World’s Advice Problem

The creative industry has seen a huge popularity with digital info products and advice monetization. It's an advice gold rush and everyone's looking to cash in. Click through to read how this is hurting the creative industry

Is advice still free? Everywhere I turn, advice is monetized. E-courses that talk about ways to increase audience, page views, and 10 tips to do X and X. Ebooks that are a “crazy deal” and promise to give the low down on how to get going on with your business. The creative world has been going through an advice monetization era.

I know that obviously advice is still free. There are super helpful blog posts being written, gracious people give out wisdom on social media, and relevant Facebook mastermind groups full of advice with a variety of perspectives.

However, the monetization of advice has been growing more abundant. Everyone wants to be an authority figure. Cranking out ebooks, e-courses, filling their content with several sponsored posts, and churning out repeated advice.

What happened to starting out and just creating? You know, setting out to do something, experimenting, failing, and experimenting some more.

The creative world’s advice problem is people who are spouting out advice without experience behind it and action in it.

I thought, at first, the issue was solely with bloggers. For the past year or two, the business blogger selling their advice has become a popular thing. Bloggers aren’t the only ones after all. Many of the ebooks, e-courses, and workshops churned out are valuable. Even still, the amount of non-stop selling, vague statements, and courses about mindset rather than actual strategy have been increasing.

A teacher I had back in middle school said a quote that sticks with me to this day: Nothing is ever truly free, everything has a price tag. 

Does everything really have a price tag? There is lots of free good and bad content out on the internet. Aside from paying for an internet connection, you don’t have to pay for the actual content you reading.

Unless it’s a post meant to convert, which consequently happening a lot more. You read an article that promises a free download (checklist, cheatsheet, resources guide,etc) and the only way to get it is to provide your email.

Then, provide your email and then you’re added to a list in which you can start being sold to. There’s nothing bad about this. Everyone has their ways and is trying to make a living. Problems happen when all the emails end up being sales pitches. One after the other. Over and over. People are tired of being sold to. 

The creative world’s advice problem isn’t tied just to bloggers as I thought, it’s going on throughout the industry. Advice is churned out over and over. Now more than ever, people must be intentional with their content consumption.

With seemingly every other person taking their slice of the pie and selling their advice, it’s important for people to be intentional and understand their behavior towards spending before they go and buy another information product.

There is still great advice out there. Even great advice that doesn’t require your email address :). Many times, an online course or ebook isn’t the only way to get the information. Cue the old grandpa voice saying there weren’t many e-courses back in my day (let’s say 2010). I had to look up the information all by myself! 

There’s a good possibility that free alternatives are out there.

Being an authority leader isn’t the be all version of success in the creative world. Advice should be something given without the constant thought of monetization and making an income off it.

Do you think the creative world has an advice problem? 

Why is the U.S. Tip Crazed?

Why is the U.S. so tip crazy? There's been debate over tipping and some restaurants implementing no-tipping policies to both success and failure. Is tipping a necessary thing in America? Read more to find out.

Delivering sandwiches all across town was one of the many jobs I had while in college. I worked at Schlotzsky’s (lotz better, right?) and made the amazing hourly wage of $7.75. Frequently, the job required doing delivery orders. Since my position fell in a middle ground between server and retail salesperson, I had a lot of awkward situations with customers who did and didn’t tip.

Maybe my delivery person job wasn’t considered a “tipped profession”. Servers, bartenders, and other common hospitality professions are the most recognized tipped professions. Tattoo artists, nail and hair salons, and valet drivers are some others.

My job delivering sandwiches usually entailed interacting with customers who didn’t give me a tip. Most of the clientele were businesses who I was delivering sandwich and cookie platters to for a group of people. After handing the stuff over, the head person would just give a gentle nod, forced smile and thank me.

While hanging out at a hostel in Thailand a few months ago, the topic of restaurant dining came up. A woman from England, who had learned I was American, immediately blurted out several questions. The top one was:

“Why is the U.S. so crazy about tips?”

She followed up with a story about a trip to Australia she had taken. She was at the restaurant with several other people from various countries, including a girl from the U.S.. When it came time for the bill, everyone paid their share without much thought and started to get ready to leave. Tipping isn’t a common practice in Australian restaurants.

The girl from the U.S. had a shocked expression on her face. She angrily asked why everyone at the table wasn’t leaving a tip. When the server came to collect the bill, she smacked down several bills and stated the tip was from her, while glaring at the rest of the table.

Fun story, isn’t it? Granted, this is only one tale about an American clutching onto their norms. It does make me wonder, why is the U.S. tip crazed?

While I did make a crappy wage at my sandwich delivery job, I did make slightly above the federal minimum wage. Many servers don’t. The hourly wage for servers in Texas (where I live) is $2.13 per hour.

Often times I didn’t get a tip when making deliveries because customers already had to pay a $10 delivery charge on most of the delivery orders.  I had to use my own car for orders and didn’t get any sort of per mile payment. Whether I did a delivery for a $35 check or for a $280 check, I still got the same $10 amount for delivering orders. Judging by the lack of tips I got, delivery customers (and my boss)  thought this was satisfactory.

An earlier job I had involved being a server/floor attendant at a BBQ restaurant. Since customers got in line and ordered the food from a counter themselves, the management believed the floor attendants didn’t need tips, so they banned it.

The job required me refilling cracker boxes, the soda machine, cleaning up tables, and getting customers anything else they needed. Basically a waiter minus the ordering part. Yet I was never allowed to get any sort of tips.

Why is the U.S. so tip crazed with certain amounts? If you read any article on tipping/no tipping, arguments over the “correct” amount are bound to break out in the comments. Is 15% gratuity enough? Is 20% the standard? Maybe the change in percentages has to do with wait staff pay being stagnant for for over 20 years.

Why not just pay servers and other “tipping professions” a living wage? (I’m sure my broke college self would have liked that 🙂 ). While restaurant establishments have experimented with no tipping policies, the actual outcomes haven’t been stellar.

I’m mixed when it comes to tipping. On one hand, I hate the idea of tipping. There are things that a servers tip is dependent on (food quality, wait time, even A/C temperature) that are out of their control. Tipping is discriminatory a lot of times.

On the other hand, tipping can be a way to ensure a server provides good service and have a more scalable income.

At the end of the day, as I travel and meet more people, the big thought is why the U.S. is so tip crazed. I mean, if much of Europe and other places can get by without being so tip crazed, why can’t the U.S.?

 

Does Life End at Age 30?

Does life end at age 30? You don't have to "do it all" while you're in your twenties. Life and adventure don't magically end when you turn 30.

Does life end at age 30? I’m legitimately wondering because all around me it seems like it. The do it while you’re young and free phrase has been repeated, whether directly or indirectly several times.

Last week I turned 22. I went to work, people sang happy birthday and I ate a bunch of macarons instead of a birthday cake. Taylor Swift’s newfound rite of passage pop song ’22’ got played on repeat. It was awesome.

It got me thinking about the elusive milestone of turning 30 years old. Turning 30 is seen as this big, life changing thing and the benchmark age for “getting your life together”. What does getting your life together even mean?

What should you “have done” by age 30? Does it mean owning a house? Does it mean already gotten started on having 2-3 kids?

Society and expectations are tricky things to understand. The common things associated with turning 30 and getting your life together include: owning a house, being married, having kids, and working a respectable job.

Just like an infomercial for a useless product, but wait, there’s more! It’s not enough to have a house, you have to have a big house. You know, one that has a fancy master bathroom suit and two living rooms. A house that is big and modern looking with cool appliances.

Being married and “settled down” is expected when turning 30. Buying anything other than a robust engagement ring is considered odd. Not getting married with an expected timeline or not wanting to get married is considered odd.

So you’re considered odd if you’re 30 years and not married with a mortgage and kids. This has given way to celebrating your twenties and living it up while the fun lasts. Instant gratification starts to surface.

People are frustrated. They feel they have to be working a dream job, have discovered and done something amazing, own a home, and/or be married and having kids by the time they are 30 years old. They blow money on unimportant things and don’t plan for the future. They thing they need to get all of their adventurous things out of the way by the time they are 30.

It makes sense in some ways. Why put off doing something when you can do it today? If you have a yearning to start something or do something, make steps towards it starting today.

However, instant gratification works in negative ways. When you’re in your twenties and constantly hearing about friends getting married, having kids, and buying houses, it starts to wear you down. Even when you hear about people doing their dream travels or working a fabulous job, it wears you down as well. You want for your life. You want it now.

There was recently Saturday Night Live sketch about a frazzled millennial who came to her boss, asking for a promotion.

Boss: How long have you been here?

Millennial: Three days

It leads me to the first point…

Crappy jobs teach us lessons 

Nobody likes having a bad boss, dealing with office politics, doing mind-numbing work, working long hours, having a long commute, or even the horrendous act of someone stealing our sandwich from the office fridge :). But these jobs usually teach us lessons in some way.

Crappy jobs motivate us for change. They put you in a tenacious mindset of pursuing something better. You develop a thick skin and staying calm when dealing with nightmare situations and bad co-workers.

The coveted “dream job” is touted a lot. It lead to instant gratification problems of people wanting to quickly find an occupation that leaves them satisfied and fulfilled. But dream jobs, no matter how great they are, still require work. Having a fulfilling job takes time and experimentation, and realizations about what matters most to you.

Don’t get hung up on not being able to travel 

Ah, ladies and gentlemen, we are in the “quit your job and travel the world” era. You ever see those people on Instagram who have lots of followers and they’re always traveling and posting pictures of beaches and you aren’t really sure exactly what they do but their photos do spark your wanderlust vibe?

The importance of travel has become more prominent in recent years. It often goes hand in hand with the saying of travel while you’re young!

Does travel suddenly end when you’re 30? I don’t think so. Travel is more about mindset than hitting destinations. 

As you get older, your living costs will increase. Mortgage’s and kids might come into play. Why does that have to stop you though? If being adventurous and discovering new places is important to you, then make a plan for continuing it in some way, even after you hit 30.

Traveling, no matter if your 22, 30, or 80, is going to be a great experience. Don’t get so hung up if you can’t do it right this second.

People achieve success at a later age 

From young dudes wearing hoodies who start social media companies, to teen authors, to young activists, it can seem like if you don’t reach some big milestone by age 30, you are a failure. No.

Plenty of people have achieved greatness at a later age. Things will work out.

Your twenties are a time to live it up and experiment with things but don’t let the thought of having to follow a certain life syllabus hold you down. From what I’ve seen, life doesn’t seen to magically become unadventurous and incapable of trying new things once you hit 30.

Be patient, be intentional, and be active (both in the physical and intellectual sense, I have a feeling your 50 year old knees will thank you). As Parks and Recreation can show you, you’re never too late to do something new.

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Dealing With Friends Who Are Bad With Money

How to deal with friends who are bad with money.

Friends who are bad with money. Either they splurge too much, save too little, or have a YOLO mindset when it comes to their finances. They need help.

I recently got done having a binge of the second season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Awesome show with just the right level of wackiness and humor. I also watched the 1994 Winona Ryder film Reality Bites along with a new indie film called Temps. 

All great stuff that had topics related to starting a new life, finding one’s goals, quarter life crisis frenzy and in some way involved the every golden topic of money.

Back in March, before I departed to Thailand, I sat at a friend’s apartment and discussed all the things I was budgeting for when I arrived in Thailand.

Me: I’m just worried about the various unexpected expenses I will encounter. What does your monthly budget look like? 

Friend: *confused stare* I don’t have a budget. I mean, I save money but I don’t look over my expenses or anything.

Me: *stares in confusion for an undetermined amount of time*

Everyone has tales of being around people who are bad with money, myself included. While there certainly are people who are badddd with money, many people just aren’t good with their money.

[tweetthis]Many millennials have the basic “saving is important” mindset down, but not much else[/tweetthis]

Let’s go through an anecdote. One of my friends has been working at her current company for nearly five years. A year ago she went full-time with them. Being a full-time employee, she got a slew of benefits: health insurance, paid time off, and a 401k with 4% match.

Want to take a guess whether she signed up for the 401k or not?

She didn’t.

I had another friend who had a severe misunderstanding of what “treat yo self” meant when it came to splurges and shrugged it off by saying she put money into her savings account every month, so all was good. No, no, all is not good.

How do you help friends who are bad with money? How do you help them set money goals and understand concepts like 401k’s, IRA’s, Index funds, and more without boring them?

Don’t offer advice unless asked

This is the biggest thing I have realized when it comes to dealing with friends who are bad with money. Being a young twenty-something (I’m 21), I want to to tell them all the things when it comes to practicing money management in your twenties (which, let’s be honest, isn’t a whole lot since I’m learning myself).

You want so bad to help them, to sit them down and explain the basic concepts of compound interest, the magic power of a 401k and IRA, and developing a solid emergency fund.

You shouldn’t do any of this though, unless they ask you (whether directly or implied) for help. Only friends who solicit advice are the ones who actually want to get better with money.

Talk about your money experience

People constantly want to see how something relates to them. How they can apply something to their life.

Whenever I talk about my money experiences (both good and bad), is when my friends relate the most to it and start wanting to get better in their own lives.

Back in university, I talked with a friend about the small, but growing emergency fund I had and how I was glad I had it when it when a few unexpected car repairs came up. I discussed how I was able to save while on working a low-wage job (something she was also going through).

Often times, I found I most often had a “money breakthrough” with a friend when I discussed a personal anecdote.

Like many things in life, becoming better takes practice. Money, whatever way in comes in (being debt free, making a higher salary, etc.) isn’t the goal. It’s all about making it work for you!

How do you deal with friends who are bad with money? What ways can you help them? 

My Commencement Address to College Graduates

commencement address to college graduates

My commencement address to college graduates…

I had an realization while busy at work, this month (May 2016) would have been the month I graduated from college. I didn’t graduate this month though, I graduated college 1.5 years ago.

On a warm December day in 2014, (winter in Texas wasn’t much of a thing) at 20 years old, I walked across the stage in an over lit auditorium and accepted the university diploma for my bachelor’s degree. (people have questions on my early graduation, I’ll answer them in a later post).

I remember be crunched up in the tiny auditorium seat, listening to the commencement speaker talk to us graduates about starting our new lives and taking chances on things. She gave the usual warm and fuzzy closing remarks about reaching such an accomplishment and wishing us the best on our new endeavors.

And that was it….

After she finished, we got our diplomas and left the building.

The commencement address wasn’t bad, I really enjoyed it, but there was something missing about it. Speaking about entitlement wasn’t the missing part. I’m not part of the group of people who constantly shout “We NEed to TeLL KIDS ThEY R NOT SPECIAL!!!!!”

I was inspired to write this after reading Think. Save. Retire’s piece on college commencement. There is one big thing I would tell to people graduating university and stepping ground into “the real world”.

Don’t drink the Kool-aid: don’t blindly follow what everyone else is doing. Figure out what works for you.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@colinashby”]Don’t drink the Kool-aid: don’t blindly follow what everyone else is doing. [/tweetthis]

So often I see recent grads taking jobs they hate, buying new cars with money they don’t have, doing the minimum on their student loans, and generally not being conscious and intentional with their choices.

Despite being done with formal education, they are are still following a syllabus. A syllabus they haven’t even fully examined.

They get a certain job because that’s what they think they need to do, they buy a new car because that’s what’s seen as the right choice, they settle with paying the minimum balance on their debts because debt is seen as normal.

It’s odd how so many people follow it, then later when they want to change things, they’re weighed down by all the baggage they took on.

Don’t fall into this. Things I would like to add:

  • your job does not define you
  • know your worth and understand your strengths and weaknesses (yeah…it’s more than just a job interview question)
  • The life you want, no matter what it looks like, has a price tag (Stefanie O’Connell)

Your job does not define you

What do you do for a living? It’s one of the first questions people ask upon meeting you as an adult. We put people into labels and categorize them because it’s somehow easier.

Your job does not define you, no matter how much you hate or love it. This idea is in part perpetuated back when you were a senior in high school and socially forced decided to go to college.

You NEED to go to college. You don’t want to be a server or do a “menial” job for the rest of your life! (because obviously college is the surefire golden ticket to a great job, right…)

Our identity needs to be centered around our interests, personality, and skills, not our job title. After all, working at a job only takes up part of your life, how do you live in the other parts?

Know your worth and understand your strengths and weaknesses

It isn’t just a question you get asked in job interviews.

Confidence, assertiveness, and knowing your worth are hugely valuable traits to have and learn.

Towards the end of my university career, as I continued to apply to more places, I was offered an internship at a media communications company. The company was a well known company in the area and seemed like a good place to  expand my skills more.

Then, after a good interview, I found out it was unpaid.

You will get lots of exposure and a chance to build your portfolio! – interviewer

It was an opportunity I would have taken as a college freshman with little experience, but I was a senior, confident in my skill set, and already had a portfolio. I turned it down.

Be assertive in your future endeavors and know your worth. Be honest with yourself about what your strengths and weaknesses are.

How can you strengths help you move forward? What weaknesses do you have that you feel are holding you back? Figure them out and start working on them.

The life you want, no matter what it looks like, has a price tag

This is an awesome quote from millennial finance expert Stefanie O’Connell.

O’Connell graduated from university with a degree in theatre and spent the next seven years living the starving artist life as a professional stage actress. Over the years, she has built up a business as a freelance writer, millennial finance speaker, and author. She’s #breakingbroke (love a good Breaking Bad pun 🙂 ) and wrote a great article on becoming a six-figure artist.

So recent university graduate, I’m here to tell you money is a key part of your life, you can’t ignore it or have a passive eye on it. Don’t just go to your parents for financial advice either. Actively managing, saving, and growing your money will help you splurge on that passion project you’ve been wanting to try, it will help you move away from that dreaded job you hate, and it will make you feel more relaxed and not always stressed about money (nobody likes wondering whether their going to overdraft on their account).

Being proactive about your money and being savvy with it will be a key ingredient in helping you propel forward and reach your goals. Don’t ignore or put it off. Start today.

So university graduates, congratulations on accomplishing a big milestone. While your degree isn’t a ticket to success, it is an accomplishment in and of itself. Good job.

As you set out into the world, remember to not drink the Kool-aid. Examine it, add your personal flavoring to it, and make it suit your taste.

 

What would your message be to recent university graduates? What do you wish you had been told at your commencement address? 

 

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