Colombia, Cocaine & Creativity.

Maybe I'll start a newsletter…

& call it “Lukesletter”

A letter for myself, every week.

A public letter, for my future self, every week?

eh, idk…

what am I gonna write about? What am I gonna teach?

Maybe it'll just be documentation of my emotions & actions.

a visual space for my thoughts to exist…

And boy let me tell ya… the thoughts have not been easy lately.

I feel as though I'm coming out of the hardest season of my life.

Last week I finally had to do it

Printed out my old serving résumés & applied at restaurants.

Sorta feels like step back.

I mean “I was living the videographers dream” traveling the world & gettin paid to film it…but now I’m goin back to restaurants.

And you know what… I’m pretty damn excited.

You see, every filmmaker or photographer that I’ve talk to that’s older and has a family they all say the same thing… It’s way too exhausting to rely on another gig or another brand deal to put food on the table.

And let me tell ya… I experienced that firsthand.

Sure, there are things I could’ve done better with freelance.

I could have been better at contracts & retainers with my clients. I never like contracts so I never wanted to lock any of my clients in like that.

I thought if they enjoyed working with me they’d stick around.

I could’ve done better at marketing & experimenting with different marketing platforms.

But sometimes you gotta take a step back in order to take two steps forward.

That’s what I’m telling myself anyway…

I quit my serving job about a year and a half ago. Since then I’ve gotten to be a social media manager, travel videographer, content creator, drone pilot, & travel to 9 different countries.

I got to meet Dan Koe, shoot Tim Tebow, play Danny ball with David Montgomery. All thanks to my camera.

During this time, I had multiple “I made it” moments. One when I was able to quit serving. One when I hit 10k/month from content creation. Another when I got paid to travel the world & shoot a documentary. And another when I needed to outsource all my editing cause it was shooting daily.

Then one day, I found myself at a coffee shop in Columbia, facetiming a therapist.

I was lonely & very sad.

This was the dream dude…you’re a travel videographer… why do I feel so empty?

11 months later & I've had the hardest season of my life.

After ending the travel videographer job I was broke for months trying to find consistent video work. Drove DoorDash, had to ask my parents for money multiple times, I sold things for quick cash but couldn’t find a place for me to shoot vids or do any type of media really.

Every time I reconsidered serving, I would land a gig, and make enough money to make it by a little longer… so I tried to stick it out.

I thought to myself ‘have strong communication, media skills, likable energy & I watch business vids all the time…why can’t I provide for myself?’

I learned during this season I can’t count on other people.

Lots of people who would say they need media but didn’t have the funds for it.

I had to resort to shoot for old clients who would demand edits after being awake for 24 hours, traveling & shooting all day. Spoonin ‘em cocaine as they drive us to Vegas.

Gettin handed $700 cash at the casino & forced to watch it melt away playing slots. Gettin paid $150 per reel after shooting for 3 days. Fuckin hard, desperate times.

So that’s probably why serving seems so attractive to me now.

I see it as a way to not stress about money while still being able to build the dream. Writing in the morning & serving in the evening. Two focuses. That’s it.

And what's the dream?

I want to be able to create an income from my ideas, writing & content.

solopreneur type thang, not relying on anyone else. Just me.

I know there's a way to systemize my creative process to maximize content output.

& I've landed on writing a newsletter.

So here's number one.

The first of many.

-Luke

P.S. Imagine a life where what you write earns you money. You have created a system for your managing thoughts & channeling creativity. Your creativity brings you new friends. You're doing what you love & you are successful.