Maybe IDK

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Back in 2016 when I was 19, I discovered a song called “Maybe IDK” by Jon Bellion. It was exactly what I needed at the time.

I was at business school at the University of Michigan and was making like $2,000/month selling stickers on the internet. I dropped out to become a digital nomad and try to scale my business.

I had no idea if it’d work out, but I thought I could do it. As I worked on growing the business, “Maybe IDK” was playing in the background.

I never did end up scaling that business. In fact, it got shut down after a copyright infringement. But I didn’t give up on building internet businesses. From 2017 to 2021, I built a bunch of other internet businesses; then in the summer of 2021, I started using Twitter to try to promote one of them.

Fast-forward to present day. In one year, I’m getting married and there will be a table full of Twitter friends at my wedding. I’m now a full-time creator living in NYC working with startups and VC firms. I have almost 15,000 Twitter followers and Cyber Patterns is up to almost 7,000 readers. Who knows where I’ll be next year? Put your faith in the internet and the internet will put its faith in you.

If you’re a creatorpreneur, get used to a life of uncertainty.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When you start a new project, there’s no way to know if it’ll be successful. Sometimes the dumbest ideas make the most money. Other times, companies raise millions and still fail.

To move forward on any creative project, you must become comfortable with uncertainty. Find joy in not knowing. Find joy in figuring it out. “Don’t give me the cheat codes,” said Mac Miller. Treasure the process. Fall in love with it. “There’s beauty in the struggle,” rapped J. Cole on Love Yourz. The struggle, the process of figuring things out is the most beautiful part.

When I start a blog post, I often don’t know how it’s going to end. I start writing and usually I get flowing for a while. But when I get stuck, I get anxious. I curse under my breath or bang my hands on the desk. I get frustrated, but I love this frustration — or rather, I love the feeling of clearing the frustration word by word and figuring out the post. I’ve been publishing a blog post every week for 1 year, and I know I’ll finish the post, but I still get frustrated anyways. Writing is practicing getting comfortable with uncertainty.

A couple weeks ago, I had a call with what would’ve been the biggest client of my career. One of the biggest VCs in the world. If I got the gig, they said they’d fly me out to LA and SF to make content for an event. After the call, I got so stressed waiting to hear back I almost barfed. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When I didn’t get the job, I was totally cool with it. I moved on and got 2 new clients this week. All the stress I was feeling wasn’t even about whether or not I got the gig. It was the uncertainty.

There’s a certain bond revolving around uncertainty and risk between fellow creatorpreneurs. We understand what it means to try and fail.

• “Writing a new book, who knows if it’ll sell?” “Yolo, do it!”

• “Just raised $5 million, let’s hope this company works” “Let’s hope so!”

• “Posting a risky tweet” “FAFO! Fuck around and find out.”

People think creatorpreneurs are crazy, but we just have a different level of risk tolerance. We’re more comfortable with uncertainty. It’s why it’s so crucial to surround yourself with likeminded people who are also saying “Maybe IDK!”

In 2021, I met a dude named Justin Fineberg because we were both in the same coding bootcamp.

At the time, Justin was writing a personal blog. I was like “I want to do this too, but who’s gonna read it?” I had no audience and no clue how to build one.

Justin said “Just do it to clarify your thinking.”

That’s exactly what I did. I did it for myself: to clarify my thinking and build a writing habit. I wrote about ideas I thought were cool. For 6+ months, I had less than 1,000 subscribers. It didn’t matter, I was happy writing every week.

Fellow nerds, I hope I can be your Justin.

• Start a blog for yourself and you’ll be happy no matter how many subscribers you have.

• Make YouTube videos because you think it’s fun and you’ll have fun no matter how big your channel gets.

• Make some TikToks to make yourself laugh and you’ll have fun no matter if you go viral or not.

As writer Billy Oppenheimer told me, “the work is the reward.”

The things you figure out while writing a blog is the reward. The memories with friends while making YouTube videos is the reward. Laughing your ass off making TikToks is the reward. The work is the reward.

Ok, yes, to play devil’s advocate for a second, of course we all want results. Hell yeah, I’d love it if Cyber Patterns was up to 50,000 readers right now. But am I upset that it isn’t? Do I feel like I wasted time? Fuck no. I’m grateful for every second I spend writing this blog.

It really comes down to intention at the end of the day.

Start a new project because you love the work — then worry about the results. If you love the work, you’ll win no matter what happens.

Creators Corner

3 things to help you become a better creator this week:

😂 Want to master meme marketing? Buy my book Memes Make Millions

🎙 Check out this epic podcast about building cult brands from Danny Miranda and Zach Pogrob — wisdom from 2 GOATs.

🏠 Membership club Soho House is a $5.2 billion brand. Learn how the founder thinks about hospitality and relationships in this episode of Diary of a CEO.

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason Levin

P.S. Want to really upgrade your content strategy?

😂 For my book about meme marketing, head over to Memes Make Millions.

🥳 Looking for content strategy guides? Check out my shop.

📞 If you want 1:1 advice on your content strategy, book a call with me.

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Until next edition, see you on Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.