For four years, I've been living The DJ Life In Bali. During the journey, navigating my way through a foreign culture, hustling to keep the dream alive, and having experiences one could never imagine in the comfort zone of the first world, there's been a lot of life lessons...
The thing with life lessons is, they're often broadly applicable - becoming wisdom that can be useful to draw upon in a diversity of life's playing fields.
As such, here as some of the most invaluable lessons I've learned through my adventures being a DJ on the Island Of The Gods, which can also serve as excellent guidelines for how anyone can rock out on Steemit and increase their success on this innovative social media platform...
1. The big things in life don't just happen magically on their own - they require commitment, focus, and action
I didn't arrive in Bali by chance and have DJ gigs at places like Rock Bar and Metis fall in my lap. I had felt a call & increasing magnetism to the island for 3 years before I came, knowing it was where I wanted/needed to be - but it didn't happen until I MADE it happen. It took a leap of faith, with no guarantees of getting gigs once there - though it was upon embracing the uncertainty and hopping on a plane that it could there's even be a chance of succeeding. And that first step was only the start.
Being an attractive international destination, there were plenty great venues employeeing DJs - and also lots of competition. I may have gotten a few lucky breaks along the way, but the way was paved with hustle - making connections with music directors, jumping through legal hoops and paying for work permits, and keeping focused during the waits while the seeds of my actions took time to cultivate their fruits.
Likewise, if we hope to make this collaborative Steem project a success and reap the potential rewards, we need to make our commitments and put in the work - not dabbling half-heartedly hoping the value of our investments will increase, but putting in the time and energy to create the VALUE through which the success shall flow.
There may be no guarantees what we choose to share and vote on will be profitable down the line. But the only way it's even possible is to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Committing to Steem requires more than money, votes, and posting. It requires learning the rules of the game, strategizing, cultivating relationships, tuning into the environmental details and nuances of the cyberspace. It requires trial & error, falling down, and getting back up to continually improve the value of our contributions. And it requires discipline and patience to evolve through these process which can only be driven through consistent, focused action.
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2. Opportunities cannot always be forced on our timelines - but shall inevitably manifest as a result of planting the right seeds and cultivating relationships with the right people
Bali is an excellent teacher, especially in helping westerners learn to "go with the flow." I'd been forewarned about this before going, and sure enough, it was true. I didn't land on the island and was embraced with open arms, ushered in with reverence to play the luxurious, beachfront venues I have. I had dues to pay. Things didn't flow as quickly and smoothly as I'd hoped.
But, slowly & surely, opportunities opened up. Not due to luck, but much due to the preparation I'd done prior to arriving.
As much as possible, I had scoped out the scene from a distance and began making introductions via email and Facebook with those in charge of the venues I wanted to play at. Opening dialogue with other DJs, promoters, music directors, and event organizers, I'd paved the way - establishing a presence as a newcomer to the scene, offering promotional mix tapes to let them know there was someone fresh in town worth keeping in contact with, and following up during my first few months here to put a face to the name behind the emails.
I never could have possibly predicted the way each different door opened in the sequence they did, but was grateful as support was offered to prove myself trustworthy at each step of the way - and as I demonstrated consistency in both my performances and professional conduct, fruits were reaped from having cultivated the foundation of insight into the playing field and right relationships that allowed success to flow when it was time.
As such here on Steemit, none of us can expect to jump in and rake in cash immediately from every story/post shared. While each act of engagement - whether a story shared, comment on a trending post, or a vote - is a seed planted with the potential to bring us payouts later. Some seeds may sprout, many others will not.
The more seeds we plant - in the form of content created and curated - the greater our chances of a nice harvest. And the higher quality the seeds (content/curation), the higher the potential payouts.
However, bear in mind this is a social media platform, and those choosing to nourish (or not) our seeds (content) in the form of votes and comment feedback are real people - and that while some may make their votes based purely on economical predictions of what will become trending, the real reason we vote is because we recognize value in a post.
Some here may be engaging in the site with hopes of a quick profit. But long-term success requires the ongoing creation of *value for others. And the only way to effectively create value for & with others is through building and nourishing relationships.
It is through this process of growing our relationships with others on the site in which we are able to learn **what they** truly value. It is only by investing time & energy into understanding where others are coming from, what their needs, interests, wants, and challenges are that we might be able to gauge what we can offer to the community that **is** of value to it and its members.And not and not only do we get to determine how to serve others by building relationships, but we get to learn and grow ourselves. By taking the time to read the content produced by other members of the community - content they've poured their hearts, souls, hopes, and dreams into - we enrich our lives with perspectives, insight, lessons, and information worth far more than any dollar value we might hope to extract from the system.
3. Playing by the rules is not always convenient, especially in a system in-development. However, it pays to be humble and adapt to the environment, as the risks of breaking the rules can be huge - not just to yourself, but to others whom appreciate, respect and reward professional conduct.
While there are DJs in Bali who've worked under-the-table, doing business by the book and taking proper care of my work permits has opened doors. The process of acquiring these costly work permits, however, has at times been a nightmare and source of great frustration and headaches - giving a glimpse into the sometimes shocking inefficiencies of a third-world country's governmental systems. Much patience has been needed in dealing with agencies who, from the perspective of someone from the first world, might easily be judged as careless and negligent to the point of incompetence.
However, the reality is that such nation-states may be labelled "developing" appropriately, as that's simply where they are in their development, decades behind in some regards from the west. The rules may not make rational sense, but that's just how it is. Breaking them would not only put myself at risk of deportation, in the case of working without papers - a risk increasingly irresponsible as I've made commitments to clients and my Indonesian fiancé - but also pose the threat of a $50,000USD fine to my clients in the event of having gotten busted without papers. As such - no matter how stupid some of the rules may be and potentially be easy to get away with breaking, doing so would indefinitely compromise my integrity and standards of professionalism.
So, I've humbled myself to the flaws of the system and adapted to the rules of this playing field. And consequently, I've succeeded in what I set out to do - earning the trust and respect of those who've been in a position to provide the means to live a lifestyle many would be jealous of.
Now, for how this applies here on Steem...
This is a system in development.
Things may not all work perfectly. Sometimes the voting system may not seem fair. Sometimes having to make a post and spend extra time editing in markdown might seem a hassle (for those not fluent in coding languages). Sometimes the rules for how things work here might not be clear.
Be patient. Be respectful. Maintain a professional conduct with others and the site's developers. Not everything is guaranteed to be flawless upon the first few attempts, but it's a work in progress, and helping to contribute to improving the system may further everyone's interests more than bitching about what inconveniences may occur as it's in development.
AND...
While there may no be any clearly defined rules - as within any cyber space or physical environment, there are certain codes of conduct to abide by when participating and engaging with others.
Given it's a developing system, such rules may not be articulately spelled out in any easily-accessible documentation. But then again, this is where common sense comes in.
Respect, courtesy, all the the basic principles of being a decent human being and treating others with dignity and honour - these would be good rules to follow here on Steemit.
While this may seem like a given to most, we've all encountered people on other social media platforms to whom these basic tenets of honourable conduct would not apply, if were judged based on their manners in certain comment threads and discussions. It's rather degrading how hostile, inconsiderate, demeaning, condescending, etc, etc that some people get on social media.
And though somehow it's been acceptable to behave like a buffoon on Facebook - or one might assume based on how many people do it - that appears not to be the case here on Steemit.
When a given culture or group's rules of play aren't definitively communicated upfront, sometimes it takes navigating the territory to figure them out. And if you haven't figured it out yet, reputation here on Steemit matters.
Showing respect for others and the territory will go a long ways, whereas the types of unprofessional, immature, arrogant, ignorant input that people manage to get away with elsewhere ain't gonna fly here - and will be reflected in reputation. These aren't rules written in stone - but they're there in existence at an unspoken level and are best played by (unless the temporary gratification of asserting your ego is worth the risk of reputation and the future rewards that could be generated through the community).
4. Read the waves. Know which to surf. And know when to retreat.
First case: At Finn's Beach Club one Sunday afternoon, the tide was at peak as I setup my gear and prepared to start playing. The base of the DJ booth met the peak of the tide as it came in, and there was an unsettling uneasiness as I set up my DJ controller and computer just a few short meters from the incoming water...
I walked into the back control room to switch over the music to my setup, and when heading back to the DJ booth, the music cut out. My assumption was that the Serato DJ computer program running had crashed - which it does every now and then - and ran to reset it. The scene, arriving in the DJ booth: all my gear SOAKED from an oversized wave that had splashed up the side and into the booth.
(Luckily, the place's insurance did cover part of the costs of a new MacBook and DJ controller. Though there is no compensation for the emotional impact of that event - although it does make for a pretty great story).
Second case: This February, I was out for a sunset surf at Berawa beach, and really not in a great state of mind. I'd been surfing for about a year and a half, though was still learning (and making mistakes) a lot. After catching a decent wave, I paddled back out - but didn't steer far enough around the incoming waves...
A bit of the flight-of-flight response kicked in as an extra-big, barreling wave stylistically ridden by a long-haired Indo quickly approached - and I went to duck-dive under the incoming wall of water, hoping to pop out the other side unscathed with nothing more than a scowl from the local who might have seen me as in his way.
Instead, I didn't dive deep enough and got thrown through a washing machine, tossing & turning me upside down and all around until there was a sudden, "THWACK" of my board hitting my left forehead. Yet what really freaked me out was a horrifying crunch felt and heard as my neck was twisted in whiplash.
Long story cut short... This resulted in a mashup of minor concussion, dengue fever, ruptured shoulder ligament, a few ribs out, spiralling into a shocking week-long psychosis, and a slowwwwww recovery lasting months and still in progress.
In both cases, retreat from the oversized waves would have been appropriate. Neither of the waves could have been stopped, but it'd have saved a lot of trouble to have set myself up further back at Finn's and to have paddled out of the way at Berawa rather than straight in.
"How does this apply to Steemit," you ask?
Because each idea, each story/article/post, each thread of comments we could choose to initiate or partake in IS a wave.
Some are minor ripples. Some are major swells.
And for each 'wave' we choose to 'paddle into,' there's an opportunity cost. (The one concept that stuck with me from Economics 101 - that for each choice made, there's the cost of what other opportunities are given up that could have been pursued with that same time, energy, and/or resources.)
The big waves - the hot, trending topics - have some decent profit potential if "surfed" well.
And we could have the greatest 'surfing skills' and be super passionate about certain topics - but if they're just minor ripples, it couldn't be expected to generate much profit or influence with even the best of stories, without the energy of those bigger waves behind them.
Positioned correctly, each of us might be able to hop on and get a ride on the bigger waves. Yet, positioned poorly, the same waves could also be devastating.
Reputation matters on a platform like Steemit.
Whether we engage in the hottest stories (big waves) or the less-popular (small waves), there's an opportunity cost. Of course, riding the big waves has the potential for more financial rewards - but we also must factor in reputation to the equation when considering the outcomes of what we post...
Just because we might comment on a trending topic, there's still the risk of doing damage to our reputations if our stance is too far out of balance and we fail to respect others and the game. While it's become common on Facebook for people to make hostile, demeaning, slanderous comebacks in comment threads - there's far more at stake on here. Not only might we sacrifice time & energy making remarks that don't get rewarded, but doing so could potentially destroy credibility and reputability - thus losing the trust and respect of others in the community who might have otherwise upvoted future posts. And while wasting time raising a fuss on smaller waves, other bigger waves are continuing to roll in, which we could be cashing in on by positioning ourselves well to paddle into.
While we may inevitably come across cases of others posting disrespectful, unintelligence, inappropriate, misinformed content - there's always an opportunity cost to each response. It might seem tempting at times to point out others' errors - though if we don't value our time enough to focus on contributing the waves generating true value, the risk is run of getting sucked into unnecessary drama and creating avoidable consequences.
Exercise wisdom in knowing which waves are best to drop into - and when it's best to retreat or paddle out of the way of those whose engagement in could do damage.
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5. Experimentation & Adaptability Are Essential To Success
I barged into Bali with my ideas of how easily I could break into the DJ scene. Reality turned those ideas upside down. Not everything unfolded as planned. But by adapting myself to the nature of the environment, things worked out.
I got residencies at some great venues. And soon lost them to factors outside my control: a couple owners opting to hire lower-quality local DJs for a fraction of the price - one place getting torn apart by a storm and shut down for renovations. While I never wanted to play weddings, the opportunity arose - and became a decent option, paying 2-6x as much as the residencies.
Now, DJing weddings is something of a paradox. If you know what you're doing, it's incredibly easy - however, can also be challenging at the same time. Being very special events, there's little room for error and a high standard of performance. Each event requires a high degree of customization. Each performance requires strict attention to the subtleties of the party's energy, and thus each song played becomes an experiment - the failure of which could completely kill the vibe, or success of which could elevate it incredibly.
Sometimes, the music most appropriate for parts of certain weddings don't match my personal tastes. Yet, it is in striking a balance between choosing tracks based on my passion for them - conducting the soundtrack from that space of enthusiasm for what I'm playing - and being accommodating to the clients' tastes and state of the moment, that the most extraordinary performances are held. And it's that ongoing adaptability to gauge in each moment what next track will have the most beneficial impact on the party, which has enabled the consistency to earn the trust & respect of my event organizer clients, thus providing the means to do this for a living.
On Steemit, there is no guaranteed success formula. We're each a part of a growing experiment, and each navigating our own strategies for interacting with the community.
Steemit provides a quick feedback mechanism - the community's transparent measurement of our content's value - to see how in or out-of-tune with others on here we are.
We may each come in here with our own ideas of what to write or share - and many of our ideas may be proven invaluable to others. We may have to post dozens of various types of stories, experimenting and testing the waters, before we "find our voice" and determine what works best for each of us on here.
And if we care about either the rewards or approval for our posts - or in other words, about our sharings being of value to other, as clearly expressed by them - we must be able to adapt.
If we truly are committed to investing the time and energy to contribute to this project's success, we must each find our own individual balance between engaging from a place of passion - bringing our unique tastes, interests, and perspectives to the table - while translating what we wish to share for the context in which others are right in their discernment - catering to others and customizing our content for the Steemit readership, while maintaining our individual awesomeness.
Because in the end, the voters are right.
It's an open playing field for everyone to step up and play in.
But if over time, we're not getting the votes/rewards, it's simply because there hasn't yet been enough experimentation and adaptation to what works.
Or to summarize this one up in other words:
Talent, intent and ambition equate to nothing without the exercised ability to slow down, assess the playing field, and harmonize one's thought & action appropriately with other players in the game.
6. When the journey seems frustrating, depressing, or unfulfilling - return to the heart and let love lead forward
I wasn't always happy playing the same overplayed top 40 songs at weddings - it wasn't always glamorous, and was almost painful at times making it through nights when the energy of the crowd wasn't there to push the party. I had transitioned into weddings because they provided a better financial stability than beach club residencies, but it was never an appealing prospect for me to become a wedding DJ - and there have been times it felt I'd settled in life for less than my real dreams by slogging through chaotic traffic in the third world just to play the role of human iPod at pretty, postcard-esque places, barely breaking even financially with living & work permit costs...
Of course... Context. It's NOT a bad job, and is a blessing to be grateful for. Refocusing into gratitude for what blessings and opportunities life presents us is always a surefire way get us back in state to make the most of what we've got, and to be of the greatest service to others.
And in shifting context again: the gig is one of providing an ambiance to infuse the most special day of a couple's life (some say) with the best, love-enriched vibe possible. It's an incredible opportunity to surrender my own musical opinions and tastes, to be of SERVICE - customizing each performance to the tastes of the client and energy of the moment. It's an alchemical process - fusing elements of sound, the spirit of special event, the beauty of the outdoor tropical venue, and the energy of the people attending in support of their friends' and families' celebration of love - masterfully transmuting these concoctions into a backdrop for the night's development that isn't just music, but an experience that penetrates the heart and soul.
Each in our own way, we're making 'music' and putting on a performance here on Steem.
Being a new concept and system, there's a learning curve. Sometimes, the process of figuring out the complexities of the system and navigating our way through this cyberspace to design strategies for success can be frustrating and confusing. Sometimes, we might lose the excitement for the collaborative possibilities this platform presents by getting hung up on how we can be profitable with our time & energy invested, losing sight of the philosophical foundation that the platform has been created to reward the production & curation of QUALITY content that is of VALUE to the community.
It is in those moments it is most critical to refocus and remind ourselves of what empowering context we can approach our engagement here within to make it the most enjoyable, fulfilling experience not only for ourselves, but for those we're sharing with.
While we might all go through phases of fixation on maximizing the number of votes we get and play this game viewing the prize as a financial payout, such a temptation may lead us astray from the connection with our passions, and the quality of our contributions might be sacrificed. If too focused on the dollar signs, we might be missing out on the opportunity to inject our sharing with the love that will make the all the difference between the content on here that gets quickly forgotten and that which becomes a transformative event enriching the consciousness of the community.
While some may strategize to earn Steem by appealing to the lowest common denominator and profit as quick as possible, the only way this entire project will succeed is if we root ourselves in SERVICE. Whether this be content that is informative and educational, or inspirational and entertaining - long-term success on this platform can only be achieved through producing VALUE. And as idealistic and airy-fairy as it may sound to some, the greatest value that can be produced is that rooted in love and the context created from leading with our hearts.
7. Character, Integrity, Respect, & Courtesy Are Priceless
Bali either embraces people. Or kicks them out.
It's not a place for the faint-of-heart. And it can be a very difficult learning grounds for those out-of-touch with their hearts.
There's a whole different set of rules at play on the Island Of The Gods, and she's got some profound ways of reflecting back parts of ourselves that aren't in alignment with our higher selves. Each person's experience may be highly unique here - but no matter who you are or what your intentions are, Bali has a way of testing your character & integrity - and teaching the value of respect, courtesy, and honour.
The multitude of ways these lessons here have played out for me are deserving of volumes of their own. And many are so personal, that any words attempting to describe could do no justice.
Yet, sometimes reasons and explanations need not be given for Truths that stand incontestable on their own.
**Be courteous. Be honourable. Be genuine.**
Build & cherish your character. Live with integrity.
Treat others the way you'd want to be treated.
It's not rocket science.
While capitalism may have instilled us with the idea that getting ahead justifies stepping on people and playing rough, it's time to switch to an economic model - and way of life - based on living in harmony with others.
A little bit of human decency goes a long way, and will do so on Steemit just as much as it will anywhere else in life.
And that sums it up.
I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Now go rock it out... :-)
And, to leave you with some fresh new ear candy to lift your vibes...
Feel free to check out one my new DJ mixes, a hot blend of the latest tropical jamz:
Sunset Ascensions 2016 - Vol.2 -
#bali #lifelessons #wisdom