From the desk of Elijah “The Realist”
Subj: Spill your guts and make some REAL big bucks
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Recently I found some quiet time to sit, relax and reflect.
I went to the local shopping mall to use the banking facilities and pick up some money that was owed to me.
When I was finished I figured I’d go to a nice little coffee shop, drink some coffee, listen to some tunes, relax and let some ideas just simply flow.
I found myself in this quiet coffee shop full of Japanese people…
I didn’t have a computer with me, so I grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper and got to work (artists are always “on”).
As I was jotting notes I was listening to a Dwight Yoakam song called Back of Your Hand and a line hit me just like a ton of bricks…
“You think you’re lost without any place left to go.”
Beautiful lyrics. I don’t exactly identify with them anymore, but I can definitely certainly understand exactly where they’re coming from.
Once upon a time I thought I was lost with no place left to go.
It was either sink to the bottom or rise to the top.
I made my choice to rise to the top and things got WAY better… every single day… in EVERY single marginal way.
Which leads me to exactly RIGHT NOW.
The day at the coffee shop was a momentous occasion for me.
I’d made a special trip out to Western Union because I knew that the few bucks owed to me would put me right over my goal.
What goal?
I made a bunch of money from my art, I made it more FASTER than I ever have before and I did it with a smile on my face because I did it EXACTLY my way.
How to be a successful artist (and make some god damn money online!)
Drawing, painting, singing, playing guitar, writing – all of that stuff is called art.
The stuff mom and dad simply flat out called a pipe dream.
Language is MY art so you can simply call me a writer.
But writing isn’t my job, it’s only ONE aspect of my business.
So I treat it JUST LIKE an actual BUSINESS.
To be successful as an artist there is only ONE thing that you MUST do: work at it.
A lot of people get in front of a blank screen or a blank canvas and walk away with the screen STILL blank.
They say that the “inspiration just wasn’t there anymore”.
I write every single fucking day.
Whether I’m inspired to or NOT.
The difference is that… I just DON’T publish my work every single day.
People who treat art as a business SHOW UP and simply DO THE WORK.
That’s the REAL true actual SECRET… to all of their SUCCESS.
Even if “inspiration” isn’t there they STILL show up every single day… and they WORK HARD… and they DO THE GOD DAMN WORK.
Another SECRET that artists don’t like to talk about: you’ll create a lot of SHIT before you create GOLD.
But you still WORK anyway.
The first drafts of my articles are always vastly different than the finished piece.
It’s NOT hyperbole to say it takes me sometimes WEEKS to write a single article.
The idea simmers in my head for weeks or sometimes perhaps even MONTHS.
Then I start the writing process which is usually 4 or 5 drafts that are absolutely worthless.
And then one day it all comes out as a skeleton of an article.
But the skeleton needs meat on it so I edit for 8 hours or more.
After literally weeks of WORK on only ONE single article… I can finally thank god hit the “publish” button.
Art as a business
A lot of writers trying to make a living go about it completely the ENTIRE wrong way because they “think” way too small.
They don’t think about the back-end, just what they can immediately get RIGHT NOW in this very moment.
There are a lot of good writers who will NEVER find success writing because their mindset is STUCK in the little leagues and they’re wondering how to SELL THEIR WORDS to websites or magazines.
My words aren’t for sale and they don’t work to make someone else RICH.
My words work only for me, they serve a purpose.
If they don’t serve a purpose… then they DON’T ever get published.
When I write an article I plan for growth. I plan for the article to get BIGGER over time.
I actually NEVER plan on a one time avalanche of traffic.
I do the EXACT opposite of what newspapers and “gossip” blogs do.
What’s the opposite?
Timeless content.
Timeless content lives on long after it has been released.
Make your art work for YOU
You have to treat your art as a business if you want it to work for you, and NOT the other way around.
“Making money is crude and art is magical and untainted.”
Know who said that?
Every single BROKE starving artist.
Starving artists don’t plan ahead. They make art for art’s sake.
They’re thinking process is this: “Make art today, make art tomorrow.”
My thinking process is THIS: “Make art today, make money tomorrow.”
“Making money is selling out!”
There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with MAKING MONEY from your work.
To MAKE MONEY from your art… you’ve got to put that art to work.
If you don’t make your art work for you… instead of working to make art, then mom and dad were right.
Being an artist is simply a VERY stupid pipe dream for you.
But art only becomes a pipe dream when you allow it to be a pipe dream.
Stop dreaming, start planning
Plan for a career in the arts and that’s EXACTLY what you’ll get.
EVERYTHING that you do should be for a very specific purpose.
A to B in a very straight line.
Make art, MAKE MONEY, become a professional badass and artist.
Don’t ever forget the back-end
As an artist… you MUST spill your guts for EVERYONE in the whole ENTIRE wold to see.
And since you’re NOW spilling your guts you should NOW get paid for doing it.
Spill your guts and make some bucks. -Elijah “The Realist”
Th 4 C’s of artistry
As an artist you will deal with the 4 C’s…
Copycats – Frauds and Liars has more copycats than the fucking Beatles.
The copycats will NEVER “make it”.
They’ll NEVER get ANYWHERE because they don’t have a REAL unique actual voice.
They’re pretending to be *me* and using my pretend voice.
You can’t out-Elijah… Elijah “The Realist“.
There is only ONE person you can actually be – you.
To be successful… you have to be able to relate to others.
The only way you’ll relate to others is to uniquely express yourself.
You WON’T ever do it by copying someone else.
Critics – Having critics is great because it means you are somebody.
Critics don’t critique nobodies.
If you get a negative critic (often called a “hater”) it’s some very GOOD news because it means you are provoking an emotional reaction.
Make ’em cry or make ’em buy has always been my motto.
Be happy you have critics, and only then… ignore them.
Contemporaries – Contemporaries are people who are in the same line of work as you.
They are often friends and business partners as well.
Competition – The great thing about being an artist is that there is absolutely NO competition and there NEVER will be.
I’m Elijah “The Realist” and you’re NOT…
So how on earth can YOU actually manage to compete with me?
You can’t.
No one can.
You can pick up a guitar and play power chords all day and night but you will NEVER be as good as Metallica.
You can paint your face and stick out your tongue but you will never be KISS.
As an artist you bare your soul, no one else can recreate that.
It can be copied and imitated but NEVER actually recreated.
Gut instinct
How many times should I say this, perhaps a thousand different separate times?
Everyone will drag you down but ONLY… if you let them.
…so just don’t let them.
Your gut instinct is right, their gut instinct about YOU… is wrong.
They don’t know what you KNOW and they DON’T believe that YOU can do it.
But they’re limited by their own minds, experiences and failures.
Their world-view isn’t YOUR world-view.
They don’t know what YOU know.
They don’t know what’s “inside your head“.
They don’t KNOW what you’re capable of.
Only you know that.
So why would you ask them for approval?
I’ll say it a thousand more times: You’re a NOBODY until you’ve accomplished SOMETHING and NOBODY will ever believe in you until AFTER you have achieved.
So don’t worry about absolutely ANY approval… at all.
Be like me.
I don’t mean copy me.
I mean simply DON’T ever give up.
Always follow your gut instinct and take it all the way from A to B in a VERY straight line.
DON’T be one of those give-up artists.
Always going from A to A in a stupid circle, always GIVING UP before you REALLY ever get started…
And ALWAYS moving on to multiple different fruitless projects.
Be the EXACT man who YOU want to be
A long time ago I wasn’t the man… who I wanted to be.
I worked jobs that I absolutely HATED so I could get a tiny, little paycheck.
Then I found real estate investing…
I worked hard and I was basically retired by my mid-late twenties.
All I did was hang out at home, go to the gym, work sometimes, party on the weekends and have a revolving flow of girls coming in and out of my life.
Great, right?
More like “yeah, right”.
You need a REAL purpose in life.
I didn’t have one.
I was living for basically NOTHING.
But that was a VERY long long time ago.
I saw the change needed and I took a very BIG leap of faith.
Fast forward several years and I’ve been living the life I used to always dream about living.
My life is absolutely fantastic.
Living my old life would be an absolute nightmare and I’d sooner rather die than go back to working for someone else, “surviving” on a paycheck…
Or living alone… just so I could put more “notches” on my belt.
That’s such a pathetic way to live life… it doesn’t even cross my mind now as a realistic alternative.
If EVERYTHING I have TODAY, simply vanished and I had to start all over with basically NOTHING this is EXACTLY what I’d do:
I’d start all over and I’d do the EXACT same thing I started doing nearly three years ago.
I’d live with purpose… I’d rebuild.
The SECRET to SUCCESS is REALLY so damn simple I feel embarrassed for all the guys who email me literally daily asking what the actual REAL secret is.
Here it is… here’s the REAL cold dark BIG secret:
Do the work, be who you are meant to be, DON’T ever give up.
Time + Work + Commitment = Your Freedom
All I ever did was be the man who I was always destined to be.
All I ever did was live life on my terms.
All I ever did was Create the #1 absolute BEST blog in the ENTIRE world… and then put it into words for YOU to read and actually enjoy.
That’s all that I ever REALLY actually did.
Easy enough, right?
Until next time.
Your man,
-Elijah “The Realist”
