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

PM , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

A few years ago, when I started B’OK MEDIA LIFE LLC, I was walking into an industry and a medium of art I had not previously dabbled in.
Prior to that time, I had largely focused my artistic talents on literature, fiction and poetry to be more specific.

I had never made a video, had no idea how to edit and had some of the most basic equipment you could think of (think one step above a flip phone). But I had a passion and a desire to branch out into something that would give me an outlet for all the creativity that was swirling around inside of me at that time.
My earlier work in the YouTube creator journey was all over the place and I was largely using PowerPoint of all things to make my videos…and it showed. The growth I had on my channel at that time was pretty much non-existent and that made it hard to really double-down on stepping up my game.

In early 2024 I had a chance to walk away from a career path to try and pursue my YouTube presence from more of a business approach as opposed to the hobby like way I had been going with.
I sat down with my husband who is also a business owner. We weighed it out, made a decision and then I went about putting together a strong plan for success.

I want to take a quick moment here and just say this, being married and partnered with someone who is also an artist, streamlined some of the process for me because he was able to recognize the passion I had related to this pursuit and get behind it…I’m not sure if a level headed, non-artsy type would have been so easy to persuade.

I’d also like to say that in the end taking that risk worked out, but truth be told, I am still on the redline of that risk…I am still in the process of taking it.
While my channel has grown to over 4x itself since I chose to focus on it exclusively and I am beginning to attract brand partnerships and see some trickle in income, I am still a long way from where I want to be or from a place where I could say that the risk paid off.
Right now I’m still riding the risk and walking the work…every day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an artist above all things.
What that means to me is that in my pursuit to better understand the world we live in I seek out ways to engage in creation and to try and interpret this human experience.
I come from a family of artists and was encouraged early on to pursue writing and painting. I was never a very good painter, but my love of books and storytelling was a sweet spot for me. I wrote my first book, a short children’s book at eight and wrote my first play (directed, hired actors and starred in it) at the age of eleven.

I have always sought out spaces where artists gather and fraternize. I met my husband in an art co-op I lived in during the renaissance of Lowertown St. Paul, MN.
I began meeting with other writers who were looking to get published and started running an open mic night for poets at the eclectic but very much so dive joint, The Terminal Bar in Minneapolis. Getting into the habit of writing for sport and starting to get my work (mostly poetry at that point) published made me start to think I should do more.

So late one night I came up with the idea that I wanted to write a post-apocalyptic book about zombies, but with a twist. I woke my husband up to tell him.
I still think to this day, how incredibly down he was, is one of the purest marks of a soulmate I have ever seen.

Here I was, a black woman, in my 30’s at that point, who had mostly been known for my poetry and now I was getting ready to take a foray into a genre that I loved, but had no real experience with. Also, up until this point, I had not actually written a full book, I had only had pieces of poetry published here and there.

Fast forward to now, I published that first book, titled Zombie Seed way back in May of 2014 and at one point it was in the top ten (for my genre) on the Amazon Best Sellers list.
I have sold copies throughout the world and seen my books show up in places like Barnes & Noble, Walmart and libraries (which I think is the coolest thing).

I think taking that risk and going thru that process is what provided the building blocks for me to turn another artistic corner almost ten years after publishing that first book, by starting my YouTube journey.

Above all things I am a storyteller.
It seemed like a natural progression to want to branch out and tell my stories in a different medium other than literature. I’ve heard it said that videos are the new books (sort of sad).
That is the approach I took in starting B’OK MEDIA LIFE LLC.
I had all these ideas surrounding budget home décor, cooking, traveling and just entertainment in general and I thought I had some relevant additions to throw in the prevailing mix.
Every video I make is a story to me and everything I do, I do so thinking about composition.
My approach to designing anything or creating art of any sort is all about cohesion and conjuring a feeling inside of myself when I look at the piece and in turn attempting to relay that feeling to those that view my work.
I’m seeking to create a comfortable, entertaining environment for artsy weirdos like myself, who look deep into a piece of art, whether that be a painting, a song, a book, a video… and strain…sometimes to the point of migraine… to see the meaning of life.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My approach to building my YouTube audience has been to focus on the quality of my subscribers and my interactions with them rather than the quantity.
I do this because I want to keep the experience fun for myself so that I stay motivated to continue turning out content and because it is important for me to reach my people.
I also think that knowing who your audience is…the one you actually want it to be and courting those people, will give you the most long-lasting overall business success.
Having a base of people who really connect with you and see your vision, can be a great resource as you begin to branch out to other things.
People who are loyal and feel connected to you, will follow you throughout your pursuits.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn on this journey is that my hard work does not match the results.

This one was difficult because we are always told that things will come to us if we just work hard enough.
I feel that this is a huge misnomer which leads to feelings of inadequacy and has cut short the journey of many a great dreamer.
Truth be told, most success stories usually include a leg up being given or a lucky break being made, which is why I think networking and keeping yourself in the slipstream is so important.

As it pertains to working hard, I have learned to look at it differently.
The hard work I put in is not for success that can come from the world around me, the hard work is for me and is a gift I give to the pursuit of my passion.
I put in the hard work because I’m all in on this thing I believe in, not because the world is going to give me anything in return.

In adjusting my thoughts in this way, I find it easier to stay balanced, maintain my focus and set goals that are realistic and not necessarily tied to an arbitrary value I (or the world) place on my efforts.

Contact Info:

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BokMediaLife
• Other: Amazon book page – https://www.amazon.com/stores/P.M.-Barnes/author/B00LKPYTCE