You Can Make a Good Living From a Traditional Path, Or You Can Make an Exceptional Living Following Your Intuition…

10 thoughts, ideas & creative finds on building a timeless brand, speeding up your creative process & creators building authentic worlds / million dollar businesses.

*Artwork by artexplore

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• The Rundown 16: What You Create in the Process & Who You Become is the Real Art

• The Rundown 17: Entrepreneurship is Really Just Organized Creativity

• The Rundown 18: Your Role Isn’t To Conform To What Exists, It’s To Create What Doesn’t

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Hey Everyone,

Before I begin this week’s Rundown…

**I’m currently developing an All-in-One Notion Dashboard to help you streamline your creativity, productivity and income — so you can manage the technical, creative and financial aspect of your work easier. it's not just another project management tool or content calendar, but a complete operating system for the modern creative professional who needs to be both artistically fulfilled and commercially successful. You can join the waitlist here.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program…

The Rundown — Here’s what I found over the course of this week that has helped me, inspired me or gave me some creative pushes…

1. On building an ecosystem instead of content — “World building is more than just creating content — it's crafting an entire universe around your vision, values, and voice. It's what happens when creators stop trying to fit into existing spaces and instead build their own creative ecosystems.” (—

   Matt Gottesman
   ) — In a recent essay I wrote (CLICK HERE), I talked about the power of thinking beyond creating “content” for the sake of sharing a world you want to build. This allows you to do several things — build a foundation, evolve your creations (posts, products and projects), generate a business as a byproduct, serve the people through your interests and experiences, amass a community and a life that you don’t want to quit from. READ IT HERE

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2. On creators becoming multi-billion dollar businesses — “We spent the first decade building platforms and getting them to scale… the value that was captured was trillions of dollars, essentially to Apple and to Google. We did that by attracting billions of monthly active users to their platforms. Then this next wave where these apps (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram) became an atomized version of the platforms. They sat on top of them, they were an ecosystem participant. The value they created was the same… trillions of dollars and billions of users. There’s an interesting phenomenon that’s hiding in plain sight. The next most obvious atomic unit are content creators… billions of users and atomizing our own (ecosystems).” (—Chamath Palihapitiya) — This is “world building.” The creators are the ones attracting audiences of all sizes and developing ideas, innovation, businesses and community. This is why legacy “systems” aren’t performing as well because people are willing to bet more on themselves and build worlds that contribute their unique value, and in return, create a life. (Video by creatorjed on Instagram)

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3. On differentiating yourself and not comparing to others — “I learned that creativity isn’t about matching others. It’s about using your unique experience, creating something original. How do I get there… First, consume selectively. Study creators who inspire you and break down their work. Next, create consistently and experiment. Finally, steal like an artist. Take inspiration and remix it into something fresh.” (—John Bucog) — I thought John’s breakdown is spot on and something I do as well. I’m very very selective and careful what I consume. If you went to my “discover feed” on Instagram, you’d see my exact content pillars that inspire me and I talk about. Everything else is either muted or just doesn’t get recommended to me. Second, I’m constantly experimenting… ideas, topics, products… things that I’m uniquely interested in that may also resonate with all of you. And third, I definitely find cool things people are doing out there, often in other disciplines and industries, and I try to reimagine the technique for my interests… PS — I’ve had over a dozen posts go viral this way. Don’t focus on virality, but just know if it works for others, it most likely can work for you.
   

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4. On building a timeless brand — “People talk a lot about brands. To me, a brand is one simple thing… Trust. Customers trust you... When customers have a great experience, that’s a deposit into our brand bank account. If they have a bad experience, it’s a withdrawal. We focus on the basis stuff like that… We don’t spend a lot of time talking about the brand. We spend a lot of time talking about how do we take care of people.” (—Steve Jobs) — If you want to build a brand, do these two things very well… 1.) constantly be in the pursuit of your highest purpose and best self. This will be what you contribute to the world… and 2.) take care of the people you are helping in this world. Be passionate about the work you’re doing that benefits them. Be interested in the problems and desires that your brand is solving for them — Everything else will be revealed to you in the process of building.
   

   
   

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5. On finding what formula works for you — “Stop trying to copy other people’s formulas. Your natural tendencies are your natural advantages.” — On a recent podcast, I spoke about why other peoples’ formulas won’t work the same for you, how your natural tendencies are your natural advantages, how your originality will create massive opportunities, how your unique process is your market advantage, how to look to others for inspiration only and then reimagine something from your perspective and more — My latest podcast on this can be found here (APPLE, SPOTIFY)
   
   

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6. On not knowing who’s really watching your work — “I know a lot of people will work on something and then, because of the time we live in, you’ll post in on Instagram and then no one will really say anything and then you’re like f—k. But you’re just building a resume. You never know who’s watching. Y’all don’t know how many people’s pages I’m on just listening to their music.” (—Tyler the Creator) — It is so deeply important to build your body of work, which will serve as your resume. Many people care more about who saw it, then the work itself consistently getting out there. Believe me, I understand your concern, but what made my work eventually take off was that I was consistently dedicated to the purpose, the mission and the work being put out… eventually, it got picked up by so many people who found it when they needed it. More importantly, you can be found at any stage because people are always looking for fresh perspectives and ideas… just like Tyler the Creator was.

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7. On abundant energy for your work — “Tired for what? This is my calling. I’m doing what I’m blessed to do. What I’m gifted to do. I love what I do and I do what I love. I love life.” (—Deion Sanders via kennedymotivate on Instagram) — There’s a lot of talk out there about not chasing your “passions” and I understand why motivational people may say that… BUT, and here’s why I offer a different perspective… Deion Sanders demonstrates perfectly well what real passions are… your purpose. When you do things that feel on purpose, a different “passion” emerges… one that you cannot wait to jump out of bed for… one that you can’t stop thinking about… one that you can’t stop putting in the work, and then some more work and then some more work… not because of “prover” energy that you can do it… but from “Godly” energy that you’re purposefully here to do it. I’m not taking anything away from the folks online who say “don’t follow your passions” and instead build a business people need… That’s certainly one way to exert your mental energy… but I urge everyone to think bigger in how you can apply your divine gifts and talents into useful, purposeful business that requires both passion and excellence in work ethic.

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8. On speeding up your creative process — “The more constraints you go into with your content, if you go into it with like, it needs to be niche, it needs to direct people to my product, it needs to do this, it needs to gain followers, too many variables that you’re consumed by that you don’t act on that content. Whereas, when I make my best stuff, it’s usually when I go, ‘you know what, f—k it, I just need something to be published today. Those are when the best moments come out.” (—Tom Noske) — I’m often asked about this as well. It is hard to teach because it’s outside of a “framework” that people usually like operating from. Sometimes, flexibility is the “framework.” Often, when you let go of expectations and too many variables/constraints, you give yourself permission to create whatever wants to come through… and that’s usually the stuff that does the best… views or simply expansion or direction. *NOTE — as previously mentioned (ongoing reminders), I’m working on a NOTION operating system to manage both the creative and the business side of things… if you’re interested, you can join the waitlist here - CLICK HERE

   
   

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9. On a good living vs a great living — “Your intuition isn’t lying to you, it’s guiding you. You can make a good living following a ‘traditional’ path, but you can make an exceptional living following your intuition.” (—Matt Gottesman) — I posted this on my Instagram recently and I wanted to reshare it with you. In an “approval” driven, material world, it can be constantly promoted to us to follow a ‘traditional’ path for the money, respect and success. However, I challenge that because I truly believe our gifts and path are bigger than someone dictating to us where success can be found. Success is found wherever you create it and if you’re going to create it, you might as well employ your soul, your talents and your gifts. This is living limitlessly. This is living abundantly. Otherwise, you’re just living for someone else’s idea of success. PS - following your intuition and calling is a lot more work, but that’s the best work and it’s different than work you’re not connected to.

   

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10. Playlist — Easy Morning Jazz House Music Mix - Chill Coffee Brunch Playlist | Cozy Living Room Breakfast DJ Set — A great playlist from Flavour Trip on YouTube @flavourtrip of Chill House to work to… great for creating, designing, writing, computer work.

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You Can Make a Good Living From a Traditional Path, Or You Can Make an Exceptional Living Following Your Intuition…

What we're seeing isn't just a shift in how creators work — it's a fundamental change in how value is created.

The traditional path promises safety. But your intuition promises something greater: the chance to build worlds that only you could create.

Look at the evidence: Tyler building his universe despite initial rejection. Deion Sanders finding endless energy in his purpose. Jobs focusing on trust over traditional branding.

They all point to the same truth — when you build from intuition rather than tradition, you create ecosystems rather than just income streams.

Your natural tendencies become your natural advantages. Your unique process becomes your market advantage. Your purposeful energy becomes your infinite fuel.

The traditional path may lead to success. But your intuition leads to significance.

Now go create your world.

Until next week,
– Matt

P.S. If you found value in this week's insights, consider sharing this post with someone who might need this reminder about the power of individuality. ↙️

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