We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ty Gibson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ty, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, by the Grace of God – I have been able to become steadily afloat as a result of what my craft has built up around me over the 10 years that I’ve been on social media. Starting out, knowledge about the “social media” game was unintentionally lacking which led to a lot of services being done for free. In that, the “free” was them providing the necessary materials I would have to use to fulfill their requested need. Then, I had no idea I was being used to be someone else’s publicity while not being properly compensated for completing those deliverables. We thank God for managers, management teams and agencies that now fight for me to make sure I’m respectfully paid. Moving forward, once I realized that my talents weren’t being rightfully handled – I then started learning the financial ropes myself through these said experiences and began paying closer attention to how I was approached, talked to and how much of my time it would take to complete the task at hand while making sure that price I proposed reflected my time used. Years later in the game, my team is still growing and I am surely still learning. I just look back sometimes and wish that there were earlier opportunities to catch the mistakes I were making to ensure that I would get the most bang for my buck. Original, creative content isn’t for the weak – it’s very time consuming. So I now make sure that based off the depths of what’s asked of me and or the depths of how creative I can freely be – I based my compensation pitches around that. I am the services you’re asking to use so therefore, be willing to pay the price. You wouldn’t go into a store and tell an employee there that you’re not willing to pay that $5.99 for detergent, now would you? If you need it, you’re gonna buy it. Same with us creatives and entrepreneurs. If you need us, you’re gonna have to pay us.
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.
From the beginning, I knew entertainment of some sort was going to be my true God-given calling. My family stayed cuttin’ up real bad. We still watch our family videos from time to time and when I say all of us were characters? I mean, all of us. However, I didn’t know that I would be entertaining thousands to millions daily on this digital level. Long story short, I entertained people on live daily through a platform called “YouNow.” I would play games, interact, and do live improv and entertainment for my audiences. As my brand as “Yeah-It’s-Ty-G”grew, that’s when I knew I was in the right position. After 2 years of consistently showing up for my supporters, my chapter there had came to a close. I felt that by this point – I’ve proven enough of what I’m capable of. The CEO, execs and other YouNow employed individuals at this time had also seen me and some even watched for hours. But the catch is, where’s my tipjar? In other words, my partnership with the brand so that I can get paid for my time. That never came so I left without having a backup plan. Some time passes now and one of my friend’s who always thought I was funny told me I should try making videos for Musical.ly which is now TikTok. I didn’t really move on it then, but I had thought about it. Fast forward, I leaped out on faith as God had intended for me to do all along and that leap truly changed my life forever. Many brand deals, opportunities, connections and over 10 million+ supporters across all platforms later – we’re still going strong and becoming stronger than ever as the days go by. With that being said, I fully have the privilege and opportunity to wake up daily to create dope, original and entertaining content as the comedian and dancer that I am for all the popular platforms you consume content on. If I had to highlight one major shift that bridged both my comedy and love for dancing together – it would definitely be the birth of my dance and song, Kick Swivel. I never would’ve knew that from 2019 up to today in 2024, people would still know this worldwide trend that swept across quicker than we could have ever imagined. A lot of you still express with me today that you found me through this dance and for that alone, I’m so grateful.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me has been creating community around being myself. Yes, I’m an entertainer with an array of characters who are not necessarily me however they’re “of” me. But at the same time though, I have still established a surface that Ty G can be just Ty G, on. And thousands to millions have embraced that and continue to embrace me just as I am. And for that alone, God is good and I’m forever grateful for each of you who have chosen to support this journey at some given point over the years. I care about building those up around me, encouraging those around me and uplifting people versus focusing on what opportunity I can gain and or what money I can make. My TyGems (as I call my supporters) are not robots nor money milkers. They are my village, my honest community and my God-given family. Don’t get me wrong, my supporters are truly a huge help in making motion flow my way however I don’t look at them with my hand out first. My heart will forever and always be out before anything else. God supplies all my needs according to His riches in Glory. I will always find a way because God already promised me that and have predestined those promises to be great and sufficient. It’s just in due season as to when I’m granted access to receive them.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Absolutely. And if we’re being honest – this is a constant mindset struggle that a lot of non-creatives tend to adapt which can be unhealthy and unpromising. And that is believing that virality equates to longevity. I hear so many times that “I wish I was famous” or “I wanna go viral.” Yeah, yeah – that’s cool but at the same time though, you’re already setting yourself up to be letdown without realizing that every moment you have is not going to be a grand slam. You truly have to have enough confidence in yourself and your craft to take any hit that will come in your direction. It’s not always peaches and cream, cookies and milk. There will be days where you want to quit. There will be days where you’re exhausted. And that’s okay however through it all – don’t give up. This industry demands tough skin. Without it, you will crumble. So I say all of this to encourage you to not conform to the metrics, analytics and numbers that can and will soon come from the work. You are your craft and craft alone. Knowing that you did the best you could possibly do will always be the reward from applying your pressure. If you don’t take away anything from what I just said, please hold onto this – always remember that practice makes progress and fruit truly blossoms from a tree that’s well rooted in truth, confidence, hard work, determination, and greatness. Be mindful of your soil.
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Image Credits
@rentmystudio / @insidemonthly