Motivation Monday: KevOnStage Edition

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

I’ve been following KevOnStage on Twitter for a long time, and I’ve always appreciated a little chuckle from some of his videos. As a comedian, there are always going to be people who don’t find him funny, a cardinal sin in his line of work. While I appreciate some of his funny takes, I also think he does so much more for creators who are chronically online and trying to match his efficiency with turning around quick videos and building a business (hint: he does 3-5 social videos a day while hosting two podcasts and doing live standup. Have fun trying to keep up with him).

Around this time last year, one of his motivational videos struck me deeply. I was in the late stages of a job interview process, and questioning why I wanted the job to begin with. In his video, which I conveniently cannot find, he spoke about how he overcame the criticisms about his brand of comedy. He listened to critics online saying that he was only funny when he was making clean, church jokes, so he wrote an entire set without any church jokes and went on tour, just to prove that he could. About halfway through the tour, he was exasperated. It was clear that his audience expected church jokes, and he was left wondering who he was trying to prove his comedic chops to. For those unfamiliar, KevOnStage has:

• 400K+ followers on Twitter

• 2.1M followers in Instagram

• 1.2M followers on TikTok

• 400K+ on YouTube

• sold an original TV series to BET+ called Churchy

• a new book coming out this fall called Successful Failure

By any standard of measurement, he is a top 1% creator (who I would love to see make an appearance on the Colin & Samir show). There are some people who just are never going to like what you create and how you create it. Those people are never going to buy tickets to your shows, follow you online, or cheer you on, no matter what you do. So why cater to them? Meet the needs of your audience and community first. Serve the people who follow you and want to support you first. Become the best at what you uniquely do.

In hindsight, I wanted the job because I wanted to prove that I could lead a team and create video content at a high level. But I don’t actually need a job to do that. And once I get the job, who exactly am I proving myself to? Other employers that I don’t actually want to work for? Other people in the industry who are likely preoccupied with their own work and creative projects? That’s not to say I’ll never apply for another job, but my “why” as a creator is clearer now, and I think about the process differently. Besides, “being likeable is better than being talented,” so I’m no longer aiming to get hired off merit alone. If you’re reading this and you’re hiring, I’d like to be the personality hire that just so happens to have creative production experience. Please inquire in my inbox.

Here are some motivational videos from KevOnStage to kickstart your work week:

• creating is hard, that’s okay: https://x.com/KevOnStage/status/1901805660569997435

• don’t care about people liking you: https://x.com/KevOnStage/status/1894212396283302357

• there’s levels to this: https://x.com/KevOnStage/status/1889732477167739131

• for the dreamers: https://x.com/KevOnStage/status/1886955878491865492

• you’re only competing with you: https://x.com/KevOnStage/status/1880730868052066533

They're going to talk either way, run your own race. I’m rooting for you.