We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stoney Keeley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stoney, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Taking the leap and putting myself out there for anyone on the internet to see was the most challenging part of getting started with SoBros Network. I started writing in 2013, when I was five years out of college. I felt like I was just spinning my wheels at a day job that wasn’t particularly fulfilling, and constantly thinking about the reality of the “real world” and how claustrophobic it made me feel. I felt like if I wasn’t careful, decades would slip away from me and I’d be wondering why I never really bet on myself. So, it was almost out of a panic when I started putting my brain online.

I had always had that creative streak in me, countless ideas bounding about in my head. Some of the projects I’ve wrapped up in recent years are ideas that I had all the way back in my college days. So, for me, I think about how differently things might be for me if I had started sooner all the time. Maybe I’d be a better writer with more reps and experience under my belt. Maybe I’d have a bigger audience. Maybe I’d be better-connected within the industry. There are a ton of “what if” scenarios.

I wish I could tell 20-year-old me to finish out his ideas, and to stop being so timid about his work. Ultimately, it was a confidence issue, and I know if he had seen the man he’d become back then, he’d feel 10 feet tall and bulletproof. If you have those creative instincts, just trust them regardless of what the critics will say. That’s how the good stuff is made.

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 started SoBros Network in 2013 as a way to build community and uplift others through content. Since then, we’ve evolved into a nice little mom-and-pop style media company. We write articles, film videos, and record podcasts – be it sports, entertainment, or a little bit of humor (which can admittedly be a little dry and sarcastic), we are a network that prides itself on being there for its supporters, being authentic, and creating fearlessly. I’m proud to be apart of a team that writes and speaks what is within them, gives back to the community, and shares my vision for a more transparent and entertaining alternative to traditional straight-laced journalism. We’re a little rough around the edges sometimes, but you can always trust that what you see is what you get with us. We’ve been able to take this small little blog and get it in front of hundreds of thousands of users at this point, with a regular readership of thousands of users per month. The fact that we’ve been able to do that without sacrificing who we are or doing it by someone else’s rules is what makes me the most proud.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, it’s similar to making something with your hands – you put the work into building something, and you get to touch it with your hands when you’re done. Writing an article or recording a podcast doesn’t give you something tangible to hold onto, but in seeing it live on the internet, it feels pretty close to that. If someone reads it or listens to it, and they decide it’s worth sharing with their friends, that’s the sweet spot. I could make all the money in the world, and it’ll still floor me when someone reaches out just to say “hey, this was awesome, Stoney!” You can’t beat that from a creative standpoint.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Not to go too morbid here, but in all honesty, it’s about residual energy to me – that which we leave behind. I want to create something that is, in essence, an extension of who I am. None of us know when our stories will ultimately end, but I want to put who I am out there so it may linger on the web once I’m gone, and maybe…just maybe…it’ll inspire someone else to take the leap on their own creative journey.

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