We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jakejames Lugo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jakejames below.

Jakejames, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

A lot of how I learned to get involved with making video content online or writing articles about games was simple diving into the craft where I could. Taking a lot of time to figure things out by making videos, watching them back, seeing what worked or what didn’t, and then changing things for the better on the next one. A lot of it is being humbled by the reactions some content can get online, but a good chunk of how you learn everything is simply getting up and doing it.

If I knew everything I know back then, I would’ve put a lot more effort into getting involved with certain platforms earlier on, as well as made a lot more videos than what I did back then. My work ethic and productivity is a lot different than how things were just a few years ago, so I would’ve been much further along a lot faster than how things turned out.

The most important things that helped me along the way was being open-minded, as well as willing to take my time and learn new things by watching others. Learning how to use programs like After Effects or Premiere differently, as well as how to write a script for a video I was making. I think learning how to write very well can be an immense asset to anybody looking to create content for a platform like YouTube. You process ideas and convey your thoughts differently, and it ends up making your content a thousand times better.

The biggest obstacles I ran into were limited resources, technology available to me, and getting people to look my direction. It can be daunting when you’re in a super saturated industry where tons of other people seem to have a huge jumpstart ahead of you, especially when you can’t afford cameras or other equipment that is super expensive at the start. But you don’t always need those kind of things to put something together and make it work. What you really need is a solid idea and you can take the first steps from there. It’s hard, and very intimidating at first, but it does pass.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a writer, content creator, media personality, and host that has been talking about video games and the industry around it for over a decade. I’ve published written content for a variety of websites online, including places like IGN, Playboy, RedBull Gaming; and many others over the years. But I also publish video content on my YouTube channel, where I review games and talk about other things related to gaming and entertainment. I try to give the most fair and honest perspective on the games and other media that I cover, while allowing the viewer to walk away having gained new insight about what I make videos on.

Some of my proudest moments come from being able to reach new larger groups of people online, as well as travel to places where a lot of my favorite hobbies converge. Going to conventions and expos related to gaming and entertainment is always fun for me, but its even more fun for those who follow me online. I get to bring them with me for the entire experience. And when I review games, I like seeing the conversation in the comments and being able to interact with everyone. It promotes a lot of healthy and fun discussion about games, and gives people another spot where they can celebrate the medium as much as they criticize it. In time, I hope to reach many, many more people who can enjoy hearing me speak about games and other forms of entertainment. It’s a big goal of mine that I hope to achieve in full within the nearby future.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

While my audience is still growing, the people who have followed me now do so because I’m always honest and fair with my perspective. There’s so many spots online that want to give a hot take, a viral tweet, or something that gets people irate enough to share things around… And while that works, it doesn’t always last or build up a loyal following that place a lot of value in who you are or your stances… I like being upfront and grounded with how I talk to the audience that follows me. And I hope in the long run, more and more people see that and resonate with it enough to follow me as well. Because I think people value honesty and fairness more from someone in the long run than a quick-fire take.

Anyone who wants to build any sort of audience online needs to maintain a few things. Consistency, an open mind, and enough honesty to show others. You obviously don’t have to reveal everything to people, but you need to be honest and real enough for everyone to see and not be repelled by what they feel is disingenuous. Consistency in posting content or putting yourself out there for the conversation is very important as well, but so is an open mind to adapt and change things when needed, as opposed to being stifled into doing one thing all the time, like a one-trick pony. You can’t grow and become something more if you put yourself into a box.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the toughest lessons I had to learn over the years is that some of your biggest resources or role-models aren’t always right. You can’t always take things at face value all the time, because you might not always agree. You need to be willing to sometimes question and explore things deeper than presented at first, or at least look at it from more than one way. I’ve had that happen to me many times with outlets or other creators I followed who didn’t always line up with my own views and perspective. Just because the masses or a popular outlet states one thing, doesn’t always mean you’ll feel the same, nor does it mean you have to line up with them at all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.patreon.com/jakejameslugo
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakejameslugo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJakejamesLugo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakejameslugo/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jakejameslugo
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/GamersWithGainsChannel
• Other: MuckRack – https://muckrack.com/jakejames-lugo