We were lucky to catch up with Dylan Keene recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dylan, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

My journey has been a consistent trend of risks that have gradually gotten bigger as gradual success has been achieved. My first big risk was starting a residential house painting company when I was 20 years old although I had a successful mentor and a team around me ultimately was a fail and made me lose a lot of money however, I gained invaluable business experience. The next big risk I took was moving to San Francisco California from Seattle in 2020 right before Covid occurred. This was my first time really going head on in my career as an artist I was able to make enough to “scrape by” however, I didn’t really build a firm financial foundation. A small amount of success during this 10 year led me to move to Los Angeles 4 1/2 years ago where I am still continuing to evolve. However, I feel there has been a big shift in my career as I have been able to lay that financial foundation, I have also been able to consistently hit goals after having the understanding of how to set attainable goals which I’ve learned is a big part of it. Overall, I can only speak for myself, and the main thing is keeping goals, attainable and setting a larger amount of smaller goals, as opposed to setting huge vague goals.

Dylan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a visual artist focusing mainly on large scale murals. Overtime my goals and approach to my artistic career have, and they currently are divided pretty cleanly between painting murals for small business owners, private, clients, and corporations, and painting canvases with my own specific vision. For me this division within my artistic career has been important and very valuable to keep a consistent and reliable income flowing while also leading to much more positive and enjoyable, client interactions, and relieving pretty much all of the stress that comes with an artistic career.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have a few.. the year that I spent operating a residential painting business was one big lesson. Long days starting at five in the morning going until 9 o’clock at night and sometimes later six days a week and mostly just fixing problems and not really enjoying success or profits. Through this experience, I learned the resilience that would carry me to where I am now. Also moving to San Francisco took a lot of resilience, as I had to immerse myself in the industry without any connections whatsoever. This lead, naturally, to a ton of rejection and failure. And then finally my move from San Francisco to Los Angeles where I live now was painted with a lot of that same rejection and frustrati, also, when I made that move to LA, I had a pretty serious injury on my hand, which ended in a lot of medical bills, and not being able to paint with my dominant hand for months. I did what I had to do paid off the debt, and now I am 4 1/2 years later, still painting with my healthy hand and no debt.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This is a pretty fiery topic that I’m sure it can be controversial. It is also one of the biggest pieces of advice. I give people that are just starting out and not just in a career, but in any type of career endeavor, including corporate jobs and that lesson, being nice, and when I say that I never intend to tell anyone to be mean, it just means literally don’t be nice. When I stop being nice I noticed that more and more of the problems I faced within my artistic career, and my business also stopped. I have always remained respectful and professional and punctual empathetic however, I am not nice I’m not mean I don’t think anyone should be mean but I’m not nice. A lot of times I noticed that being nice opens the door for either one side to be uncomfortable or put in a position to do something they are not comfortable with. I strive to always carry myself away that keeps my clients in a place where they are comfortable, and I just asked for the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.keenevisions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keenevisions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keenevisions
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/dylan-keene-a29511313
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/keenevisions