Latest / Story Scaling / Build a Creative Career That Actually Lasts

Transcript

Build a Creative Career That Actually Lasts · Story Scaling

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Story Scaling by Podcast Videos.com, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind, and the growth.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and family.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good evening, wherever you are.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am Bang with PodcastVideos.com.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is Story Scaling, and I am here with an excellent brother of mine, Travis Smith.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: We got Travis Smith in the building.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Trav.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, thanks for joining us, man.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: How are we feeling today?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Grand.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, I'm gonna jump into this bio.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I did some research, and obviously I know you, you know, and so as I read this, I want you to process in your mind, huh?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Does this fully encapsulate who I am?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do I stamp this bio?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Will I take something out?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to add something?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know how you feel.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Travis Smith, founder, Travis Smith Productions.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Travis Smith is a content marketing company based in Northwest Arkansas that specializes in video, photography, graphic design.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: With over 20 years of experience in hospitality and entertainment industries, Travis has built a creative agency that connects brands, businesses, and events with a powerful network of local creators and event professionals.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: A lifelong musician, event coordinator, graphic designer, and camera operator, Travis has been a driving force behind the Northwest Arkansas music scene for more than two decades.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: From performing on the stage to working behind the scenes with some of the industry's biggest names, he's done it all.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Always staying grounded, approachable, and committed to the craft.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Travis is a testament to the power of consistency, collaboration, and staying true to the work.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Stamped.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Approved.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bro.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bro.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's you.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Stamp of approval.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you hear that, like it's it's a lot there, you know, and I and I know you, so I know you're one of the people that's actually doing this stuff, you know.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: What stands out to you?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when people what I consider this doing is giving flowers.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I always try to give, you know, the homies the flowers because you might not get that sometimes.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: But when it says one of the driving forces behind the creative scene in Northwest Arkansas, when it says, you know, Travis is a definition of what happens when you stay true and stay grounded and down, you know, and all of these things from drummer to event coordinator to space curator to connector, what stands out in that when you hear that?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh I think of two things, uh, and being intentional about being consistent.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So to hear, you know, always think about like you can always say that you do something, but it's always better to have somebody else say that you do it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: So uh sometimes whenever I I want to say something, I won't say it.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just be like, well, here in a couple weeks, let's see if they share it or something.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like a spiteful thing.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's more like speak through press releases as opposed to you always being the one that has to say it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I got a line in a song, I say, I'm our song's finest.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why you so confident?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see about it.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't never brag on accomplishments.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna read about it.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm in you say, like, it's cool to say you do stuff, it's cooler when other people say.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he does.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's also like a it's like a benchmark on if you're doing something that's not only true to yourself, but it resonates with people around you.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because now we're in an age where you release content and you see what works, and then you use what work and what does and doesn't work, and then you double down on what does work and stuff like that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like doing that same type of process but applying it to like life.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I think a consistency, but then the part where a driving force of the creativity.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would hope that that comes to where it's inspiration to always try to be creative as opposed to feel like you have to be a creative.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: To always be in the act of creating something.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: If I can you know, if the way that I move or do something inspires other people to want to be creative in their own way, to do what they're wanting to do and double down on that, that's like the best gift that you could actually have as an artist, I feel like.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Cas fire, bro.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Man, you're dropping gems already, bad.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's I mean, it's like it's like things that I've heard and it's like like change my life, but then put it into play to where, you know, it's not it's not the easiest thing to always be an artist, especially in today's world, so it's like you gotta have little things that are kind of let you tell yourself to let you know that you're on the right path, at least with who you are.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right on.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Man, who is Travis Smith?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Take us to back before the first tattoos and before you was, you know, everywhere doing your thing.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I think of drums.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Drummer, dude.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I've been playing drums since I was five.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Started probably younger than that when I was like four, playing with like plastic bowling pins on barstools.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: With like my toys.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd say that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think every single thing that I do, I could like trace it back to the drums, like relationships I have.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Bands that I have.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, everything that I do right now I have is because I played drums in a band.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Relationships that I made through that.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about forming that that first band.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, going from you just doing your thing by yourself and then like playing along to the radio and stuff like that.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're jamming with people.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me everything.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like we this is this is a essentially story scaling featuring Travis Smith.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if we want to know it all, like, how did you go from just banging on the bar stores to you know thinking like I would jam around like I was obsessed with 90s country for a while, like that's what my parents would listen to.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: So like they would go to concerts and stuff and bring home merch and stuff like that.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Garth Brooks.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, obsessed with them.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I used to like dress as Garth Brooks and stuff like that.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, but uh no no shame in my game.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can say it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I can see it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Always had an appreciation for like live performance.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So like going to concerts, like I remember like seeing like went to I think Alabama is playing at Bud Walton Barn Hill at the time.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: That was like my first concert.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think I was like five.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember like at the very back.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember there was also like a few years later, like a Travis Tripp concert.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember like thinking like I want to play drums on the stage.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wanted to play live.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's like a I remember that.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember a lot of early memories and stuff like that, but I definitely remember like that being in there, like so like I kinda always had this.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought of it being like it's gonna be my job, but I always looked at it like I'm always gonna be playing drums.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, that's a no-brainer, and then everything else was secondary.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kinda it's kind of weird how you're hardwired like that when you're so young, because as you get older and you talk to people that aren't artists or aren't don't have any creative really endeavors that they've like pursued a whole lot.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to make it make sense to a lot of people because they won't understand that, like, no, this is like in the way that you do this thing that you do that brings you peace and kind of settles you and also takes your mind off everything you gotta focus on.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a puzzle, it might be like video games for some people or something like that.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for me, it just happens to be music.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so to me, I've always kind of looked at it like that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, I'm still thinking about something you said earlier, which I mean that was that was really well said.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's dope that you had that track in your mind when you're like, nah, I like the drums and that's what I'm gonna do.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always gonna do this one thing.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that's dope.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: You said it's important to create.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's more important to create than just be a creative.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, talk about that, man.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because we feel sometimes as creatives the pressure to be performing all the time.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget my brother, shout out to Zico, told me one of these days.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was going through some real hard stuff.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, man, just feel your hard stuff.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's no pressure to go in the studio and make a song.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to turn this into a, you know what I'm saying, a viral moment.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Go cry, bro.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, go go do what you're dealing with.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so sometimes we can feel like we're human doings instead of human beings, especially as creatives.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so talk about the importance of creating as opposed to being a creative.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bro, that's a little heavy, but you said that, so I think um you gotta submit to it in your brain first.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like um I think of uh, you know, I was in this band one time called Galaxy Tour Guides.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we didn't break up, we're still together, we just whatever, dispersed, but like Shout out to the Galaxy Tour Guides.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we uh we did like it was myself, Jared Dunn playing keys that synth bass with the MC.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like Daft Punk Meets Outcast, all space theme stuff.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Video game inspired.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: They lived together, they wrote all the time.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever I joined that band, we started it, it was after I had like toured for a lot of years, like played a lot of shows, put in a lot of miles, and like, you know, it's probably 30, 31, and at the age where you're like, alright, well, I'm not gonna be in Fallout Boy.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever the trend is.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Fallout Boy.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so be it like yeah, coming back like all these bands from 20 years ago having crazy comedy.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to make it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing marketing rollout.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's a work of art.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the Eclipse 2.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's a few people, Justin Bieber.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot anyway, so there's uh This is my DJ like horn.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's so you know, and whenever I got with that band, those dudes were like just wanting to write and play and come up with stuff.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I had come from like cover bands or bands that we kind of played like the same 10 or 12, 13 songs a lot.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we were doing three-hour shows non-stop, and we were improving for a good 45 minutes of that with just me and a keyboard player.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we're looping and doing, and we stole like a lot of sounds from the NASA website.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: They released the sounds of outer space, so we took all those, changed the pitches to fit the songs, used them as intros, that's fine, and used them as pieces, and I was, you know, using the sample pad and triggering stuff.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we would practice sometimes like nine or ten at night until like one, two, three o'clock in the morning.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's like high school, just now getting together, learning, get the that's like the first time you fall in love with music type hours.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's not like grown adult for sure.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, like maybe with families and stuff like that.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: You might have to go to work and so that like kind of like opened my eyes again to creativity and how you're always a creative and it's always within you.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to like when I say make your peace with it, I mean like don't be in like in the same rut of feeling like, well, I do this and this is all I do now.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget, like, you can just go pick up the instrument and play it and make up something and record it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think so many creatives think about well, what am I gonna do with it after I do that?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: That they forget that what used to really make them fall in love with it was the actual act of doing it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever you said that you went into the studio and after you started getting it out, you became the artist.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: You'd like that's kind of like it's like an Easter egg.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Being a creative is like having an Easter egg that's like you get to control what's next.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can book a show, you can book things to look forward to, but you can also go and kind of sit and write and stuff like that, see what comes out.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's fire, bro.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you might not know because like the song will come to you as you're doing it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Check it out, bro.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then like you don't sit down and write a banger.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: You sit down and start doing stuff, you're like, I like that, keep doing that, keep doing that, add that, do this, do that, and the other.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then you write ten songs that you don't ever want to hear again, then you write a banger.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think after I've seen that so many times with so many friends, like in bands I've been in, like and Silverstone, you know, we were our singers were going off and doing co-writes with people that had like Grammys.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So they were bringing back like this is what's popular at the time, and it may not be us, but that but that's like that's like you know, well why why did they say that?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: What'd they say?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: They're telling you there.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like we would get intel on what is happening on the greater industry, but we're all just kind of from here like traveling and stuff.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I think, you know, I've seen the let's package this and play the same 15 songs for three or four years, trying to get a record deal version of a band, and then I've seen the let's just get up there on stage and be what we sound like together and be creative together and what the reward of both of those have given me is like night and day.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which I love my Silverstone voice and that the time, but like they they know what I'm talking about.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: How many bands have you been in total?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, there let's just go with the first one because you in currently?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would say right now, currently, I have The Juice.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the Juice.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for nothing.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: 20 years going strong, going on our 21st year.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Juice is like on our sixth or seventh.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's nuts.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Lou Dog, Sublime Tribute.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's coming back.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: We've been doing that.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tim our singer has been doing that for probably 15 years, probably at least.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then maybe longer than that, and that'd probably been in the Dan.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, maybe even almost that long, I'm not a lie.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So then Hotshot Karate, that's another band I've been in for about 20 years with Chris that owns East Hawk.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um Will Gunselman, I'll play with him when he does full band shows.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And outside of that, I just I've got like old bands that'll pop out of the woodwork.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I bet I've played with I mean, if I sat here and started naming bands, though, I could probably name about 20 to 25 that I've played with in the last 10 to 15 years.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's nuts.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: But if I were to go from like here to like 25 years since I started it's impossible, dude.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I it's there's just a lot.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: I did like studio session stuff and then I'd go play a few shows.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So like, am I in the band if I play a few shows?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: You five shows, you know.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Five shows five shows put you on.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would say at least sixty.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: What has that taught you?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: You you wanna let's let's let's shift the conversation a little bit because you are one of the more hardworking people, you know what I mean, that I know.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: As it pertains to stuff for yourself, but also creating content and building worlds for other people, and also curating events, and also also also you know what I mean?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: How did you develop that muscle of just relentless work ethic and what's the people always looking for like a secret, you know what I'm saying?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's the what's the secret?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I talk to you, so I know what you you know what I mean, but but let's talk about that.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Good question.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's like, you know, if for the folks that like think about their place in life and they think about themselves, not not they think about themselves, but they think are self-conscious, not self-conscious, but conscious of their self.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Self-aware.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's a better way of saying it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: So um you're always like, why am I like this?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I've spent a lot of time wondering that.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why do I and I handle it well.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like go too far where I'm like not healthy or something like that.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like I'm a workaholic or something like that.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: But like, I've gotten good at balancing it too.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, what's that about?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't always like somebody younger like this.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like what happened?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's it was just like just I don't know.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think that there's been like uh when I was on the road, we had some It was really a lot to just be out there like and not understand the world, but you're out there with other people that don't understand the world and you're just traveling all the time and trying to get paid, and most of the time we're playing like bars where people would be like I mean this is back when people played like 10 to 1.30 at night, so like people are like, we're playing college markets, we're a party band.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: So like people would be just hammered all the time, so you just kind of got like a it's a weird, and then you come back home, you have a normal life for a couple days, and then you go out into like party land, you're not partying, you're kind of just driving all the time, like kind of living a weird life, but you pick up on a lot of things you you tr from travel and seeing other places and other experiences and stuff like that.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think whenever I got off the road and realized that like touring, like I don't know if I actually want to be in a touring band.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I like want to see what it's like to stay in the same place, like for real.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even though I never m lived anywhere else.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see what it's like to be in Faithful for like three weeks at a time.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like something I didn't do for I think I counted like six years, I wasn't here for three weeks in a row.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that was like my whole twenties is like a lot.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I think for me wanting seeing so much cool stuff everywhere and wanting cool stuff here.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And this is before like like Walton Foundation efforts and all these cities have done anything.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: It used to be just kind of just Fayetteville.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so there wasn't there were city events and stuff, of course.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was like Fayetteville things going on, but like it's we still don't have the things that like a Tulsa or a Dallas that I see there.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think the fact that I've stayed so plugged in with like just the music scene and been so inspired by being connected to people where as I get older, I'm connected to people that 20, 25 that are writing, so you resonate with them because you're kind of of the same animal, but at a later stage, but I get to go travel from different things and see different how people put things together just through collaborations and working together, that you can see the power of good idea of movement at the right place, the right time, getting people behind it and like you know, it doesn't always take money.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you get a thousand people to show up for something can do a lot.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I think seeing that happen in different places and seeing that, you know, if I do have like a respected reputation in the community, then I feel like it's uh if I now have the ability to do something, it's kind of like a responsibility to like not only provide like my resources or knowledge to something, but then I think about as I get older, you know, I'm not playing drums as much.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really want to be in like a national act and make be like if I was famous, I'd I'd I d I wouldn't appreciate that.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: But like my creativity is events and experiences.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's always kind of been the case.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like playing the drums in the grander event.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: So being in a spot now where I have a music festival and I have and I produce things and I'm able to help somebody produce their vi vision and stuff like that, it kind of just keeps fueling you.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I'm always joining a new band and a new relationship and partnership with people.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like every when everything you do is project driven and you only do projects that resonate with you, you kinda you don't have to keep gassing up the engine or anything.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: You kinda wake up ready to rock.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's a long-winded answer.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, bro, that's it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's kinda like I didn't always have the ability to just do the things I wanted to do.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: I had to hustle so hard to like get somebody to like believe me or listen to me, or sometimes I had to like take money out that I got tipped all night to pay the bands and stuff, so like the club doesn't know that they're short on that, so they don't think that we need to start having music or something like that.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: So like I've been d I mean, I've been doing this for so long that like I know what it took to keep a space for entertainment to happen.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like whatever I could do legally within my means to do it, I'm gonna do that.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of I don't know why I've always had that mentality, but I think it just comes from always playing venues, having conversations with people that tell you how hard it is, and you know, being so connected honestly with Brian Crown at Georgia's who has like kind of raised me on so many things within the industry.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's been uh like kind of getting so much knowledge and how to actually care about what you're doing and take pride in your stuff.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, man.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of honestly, it's kind of from that.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about putting yourself out there, building a platform for yourself, you are I mean, 20 years in and in bands, do you know what I mean?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And there's people that are listening to this that are probably 20 minutes into wanting to do something and start to put themselves out there.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of them action steps as it pertains to you know getting that first show, posting that first video, no matter what realm you're in?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what are some of the non-negotiable steps like you know here?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: First thing you need to do is define what you want.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Not like you don't have to be I want to play at the amp.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's like a goal.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: But like, not so much like an actual physical thing that you're gonna do, but more like an emotion that you would want to get from that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not about money.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to have the ability to like for me, I just want to be creative and do the things I want to do.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I want to make enough money where I can continue to do that and have all my friends help me do that, and I can hire other creatives that I have watched do other things and help us all be in the position we want to be in to do cool stuff.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like what was the question again?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nah, it's like to that person out there that wants to get started doing something, you know.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: I would say think, yeah, my bad.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's like making the the strategy, you gotta have a strategy.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't have to be the strategy, it doesn't have to be the right one, but it's a it you gotta at least know what didn't work.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And if you didn't, you gotta make a list, you can't remember everything, it's impossible.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: So like know what you're trying to get out of something, like just rather be a monetary, is it happiness, is it is it I want it like a house.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you willing to do?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because you might have to sacrifice in that art the same way that like you sacrifice and going and working at a job you don't want to have to do to do that.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's just you always gotta sacrifice something to get something you want.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that making the plan and then just chipping away at it and not looking at it like it's the big picture, like it all starts with being inspired.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's like that's not like a physical thing.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have like an inspirement wand I can give you, and then all of a sudden you go write a song with it.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like you gotta start with, I want this.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so if that's all that you know that you want, is that I just want it, like I just wanted to be on stage and play drums, and because I wanted to do that so bad, I learned how to do graphics, video, photos, and build websites and manage marketing and run music venues and run a music festival, just because I wanted to play drums on the stage.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not about what you're actually gonna learn, it's the things you're gonna pick up along the way through the process while you're really digging into something.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not gonna be you may not get famous, but you might write a bunch of songs, then all of a sudden, like you they get picked up in some movie or something, they write you a$60,000 check or something like that.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So there's so many things that you don't write it from the unknown.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: You don't do it for a certain reason, you do it for the sake of doing.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: You jump into the process and make your piece and fall in love with it.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: How important is the internet right now and social media?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's everything.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's your voice.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's the to me, I look at um, and I was talking to Brian at George's about this, because we have a lot of conversations about marketing.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the because I also do rail yard live uh marketing director, or I don't even know what the role would be, but like social media video content stuff.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we always have conversations about venue marketing, trends and stuff, you know, and Day that's on the team there.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're all watching venues around the country and stuff like that.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, like live streaming, you know, that where we can't there's the monetization hasn't leveled out yet, but everybody's kind of like keeping it over here to be like, well, there's something over there, we just gotta figure out what it is.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I spent like six months with fan sub on that, like really diving into it, and very interesting, but like just still like unknowns and stuff.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think right now, I was telling Brian the other day, I was like, to me, I think video, like the fact that you can pull it out and shoot the video, it naturally says something of what you're feeling is the new word of mouth back in the day.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and word of mouth still is obviously good because you can provide more context.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's what word of mouth kind of is.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I trust this person, they're telling me something, yeah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go check it out because you know I like this person's taste.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever you're like on a video and you're like, hey guys, I'm over here, I'm doing this, that, and the other.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: This means a lot to me because of this, that, and the other.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: I know you guys have seen me on this with this person before, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys could do blank.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's like so real, that's word of mouth.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you do that and posting something like that, a lot of times those will get a couple thousand more views because people like to see people they know, they like to see things they know about, they're gonna at least listen for a second.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your hook is the fact that they know you.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And now you're in their feed next to a comedian, artist, uh, product person I know talking about something they care about.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say now that you can get in those feeds and stuff like that, when we're talking about how important it is, but also, you know, the importance of creating content, that's how close you are to being in the feed.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: And now that, you know, Instagram is, you know, they're with AI and everything, they're scanning what you're saying and looking at your captions and stuff like that.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: They're plucking people and putting it in relevant feeds and stuff like that.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not from your followers anymore, it's about like your actual content.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as you tell the story of your career through your content and stuff like that, and be in the practice of creating it around what you naturally do, then then you kind of, you know, that way you're always creating content, but you don't feel like you're having to sit down and like make up stuff, right?
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Which is like, I think, a big hurdle for a lot of artists.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about that.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So for the people who are struggling with showing up and you know, being on social media and feeling like the reward doesn't outweigh the investment just yet, and it takes too much time.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, how do you demystify slash simplify?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you said.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um tell the story about who you are and your art through your content, that way it doesn't feel like you're having to make things up.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Dang, you need to remember that so you can tell me and I can write it down.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: But well, though, that's I mean, it's pretty simple.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you look at so let's just pretend social media doesn't exist for a minute.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're gonna kick it old school, because this is what we used to have to do.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna sit down, you're gonna write down everything you got going on on a piece of paper.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be like, alright, we've got an interview, I'm gonna make stuff up.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Got an interview with KUF coming up, we've got a show here at Prairie Street Live, we've got a show here at Rail Yard Live, and you kind of make like a timeline all the way down.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna start there.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Those are just the things that are naturally happening.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta look at your content like you're telling the story on who you are.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're the news team.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be thinking about how it's gonna look or anything.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're not even looking at that right now.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're just looking at the timeline of what's naturally happening.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, your job as a content creator is to go and uh go build stories for yourself.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I'm looking at, say I'm in a band, we had an album we dropped two years ago, we had probably sold some app copies, whatever.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for us to do something new, but we can't think of anything.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta build like you gotta make news.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna go play a free show outside and have some videographers film it and then build a bunch of content from that to be like, hey, we set up over here and we did something random?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Or are you gonna go book a show opening for a big band, and then you're gonna choose to over-promote that just to build buzz, build content.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're building content around what you're naturally doing instead of feeling like you have to go and create stuff out of nowhere.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you look at what you have and you go, Alright, so this show is naturally gonna have usually two or three graphics attached.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably gonna you know, some of it might have a video, it might have some.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: A website link if you're doing a benefit for something, like you do something, say the Jews plays at the Little Rock Zoo for this wine event called Wild Wines, and they'll do like an article or something like that that describes the whole event.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't be afraid to dive into what other people have already created.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't put enough information for people that don't know who you are and don't know who that is.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, pretend like somebody was just don't know anything about you and they just looking for something to do.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: That band looks good.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: The zoo is right across right across the street.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: What time does it start?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: How do I get tickets?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like just being intentional about that stuff.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: You got all that content, and I think if you can be in the practice of sitting down like once or twice a month for like it might take you all day.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: But sit down and put all that content in the folders and pre-batch it.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to post it or like schedule it, but just make a game plan of a strategy around what you have so you're not missing shows, you're not missing promotional opportunities because you're living in the now.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're living in the now and you're making things up on the fly at all times, then you are beholden to the time.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you drop lock your keys in your car, you forgot that you didn't make a post or something like that.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're not feeling good this day, you have a headache, anything.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like I run social media for a venue that's like for the city, you know what I mean?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: So like if I miss something up, I'm like kind of like let everybody down on knowing something's going on, you know what I mean?
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta look at it like that though.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: You got people like if you're truly an artist and you're making music and you're trying to get a connection with other people, you gotta let them know when they can come and connect with you because every opportunity, you gotta keep them coming.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta keep feeding your your your fans and stuff, and if you're not letting them know whenever it's feeding time, then they're never gonna show up.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're gonna have to start all over again later because things are moving so fast in algorithms and feeds that you're gonna be lost in the wash like within three or four months while something else is being fed to them.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: They don't choose who it is.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to the homie today, Barley.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I had my pen and writing some of this stuff down.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'll go back and watch the video recording this.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, we should put this out.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: The people need to hear this, but no, you you did a a phenomenal way of demystifying everything and breaking it down to just simplest form.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is at the end of the day, you are communicating to people who you are and what you do.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: Don't trip up on the platform.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Use it, use all these as a communication piece to get your message out.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's all it is.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Used to be flyers on the wall, used to be standing outside the student union, handing out flyers going, hey, you throw this away.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: But now it's like now it's like now it's like uh you guys want to go to the show and I'm like, no, I hate music.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I talked to somebody the other day, I'm like, I wish we'd bring those dicks back.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, you want to be pre-called standing at the UFO flyer?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, man.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's just different.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same, same stuff, different, different delivery.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Man, give me a give me a give me Travis Smith's five creator commitments.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: So anything, whether you play in a band, whether you're a chef, whether you're an up-and-coming artist, whether you're trying to book shows, give me your five, you must do this, or you must not do this.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would say first thing, I'll tell you I can't tell you what not to do, but I can tell you what what to do.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh join the community.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like show up.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean like joining open mics and playing.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just go to stuff.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Go to concerts, go to shows.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're a comedian, go to the open mic nights and just hang out.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to people.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you like somebody, you like what they do, go tell them.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I yeah, just right now community is big.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's we're all on our phones, we're all on social media too much and stuff.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's why community events are doing well.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like-minded people having real-world conversations face-to-face is and it's like it's it's I think the younger demographic is seeing the power of that through things like what we're doing with the music industry meetup and stuff, and that's you know, just cool stuff like that.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think joining the community that you want to be in.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um just keep keep keep the faith in like what kind of you were into when you were a kid.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like what why as a kid, why were you into that?
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, because it I could do this for hours and not even think about this, that, or the other, or I was having this problem at home and this, blah, blah, blah, blah, or whatever it is that's there.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, the more you can stay connected to that, because I think a lot of people are told to not be connected to that as they get older.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever, you know, and then they start looking at it and other things, or, you know, they just nothing against golf, but they just go play golf every day because they sure then they're spending money and doing all this crazy.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just I think just staying connected to the creative spark, yeah.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: The glowing orb of energy is what I call it.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I would say that uh uh keep relationships and don't burn bridges.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um lot of people will in the artist world will assume things about other people.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, for me being a talent buyer of clubs, like people thinking that like I didn't book their band for a particular reason whenever, you know, one time they needed like a 90s DJ because somebody rented the room so people would like take it personal and hold grudges for seven or eight years.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: So like it's never about you, it's always people doing like taking care of their own thing, and I think you know with the lack of communication on a lot of stuff that that's kind of like communication is big, but I think also like being patient and not you you're not in control when things come to you and when when it's gonna happen.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that that phrase where like if you just keep doing it, it's eventually gonna happen.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I don't think that's like some kind of like sorcery or magic or anything.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that's just you learn to do something and then you eventually get the job done.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think sometimes it might be as simple as that, you just have to stick with it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: So and I'm just glad that I've been fortunate enough to have things that I've stuck with long enough to like see a reward through that process to know that I could apply that to other things to see what that does.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's enough command.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, bro.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: What else you got?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Where can we keep up with you?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where can we see the juice?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: What are we following?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: If there's one more thing I want to say, is this is something that like I'm about to go on a vacation and then I'm about to come back and go gangbusters on Arkansas Music Week.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, which is with Arkansas Music Experience, we're gonna be doing multiple shows.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: We've also got the Music Cities conference gonna be in Fayetteville.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we're just getting all the promoters and venues together to throw as many shows as possible to hopefully have like a yearly big umbrella for all the promoters and all the artists and stuff to have like a a big a big thing to do.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so a lot of stuff going on there, and then Fay Pop is I'm gonna be coming April next year.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm about to start full court press, looking for um sponsors.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be having it over at The Ramble and at George's.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: So looking to do that every year.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to see that become something that like even if I were to move away 20, 25 years, still coming back to do this festival every year.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to see how big I can scale it.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go and how many local entities I can have be a part of it.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Makers, artists.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's always been my dream to be like uh to put together like a big music creative festival type event.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just fortunate to be able to do that.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's at Faypopfest.com.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um if anybody needs video or production of web series or promotional videos or anything, that's at Travis Smith Productions.com.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then um outside of that, beats by Travis on Instagram.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys want to follow some stupid drum videos and kind of goofy behind the scenes video shoot stuff, so fortunate to get to shoot some cool video stuff, concerts and stuff, so I always like to show some behind the scenes stuff there.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Travis from a creative who has benefited from some of the groundwork that you've laid long before I got here.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you, brother.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the time.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: See you, man.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.