Whenever I'm back home or I run into someone I haven't met in awhile (typically people in my parent's age group who are curious about what the Gen Z folks are up to / think I'm doing Youtube full time as a result of their kids telling them it seems like I don't work) the most frequent question I get is "what do you do nowadays?" Snarky comments aside, it's probably the most relatable answer an adult can ask another adult, with the slight risk of the response being "nothing" or "looking" and the result being a very awkward conversation. It does seem like in this day and age of LinkedIn and Instagram, most people have a relatively good idea of what someone they remotely care about does, as long as that person is somewhat active in being up to date with their audience in what they do. Of course as someone who craves attention like myself and tied to the virtual world as much as anyone my age could be, my assumption is typically that whoever I'm willing to spend time with probably has a general sense of what I'm up to. Of course, this is limited by the fact that we all post the best of times on our socials as opposed to the trenches we usually are in, and it's probably far more frequent for me to put on my story my Youtube subscription milestones than the analysis I do for my real job.
I'm going through a couple of big changes in my life right now and I thought it'd be good to take this opportunity to write down what I'm doing these days "for a living" - this isn't necessarily limited to activities that directly generate income, but rather what I spend a significant amount of my time on and gives me "purpose," whatever that means these days. As with all my posts and anything directly tied to myself, the underlying reason for this post is of course to flaunt what I've been up to and serve a self-reminder that I'm living life to the fullest, but I also hope it clears the air in terms of what I've been up to and what I'm looking forward to doing.
Real Job - believe it or not I have a real job. In fact, most of the things I do in my life have stemmed from the fact that I have a full time job focused on something else and as much as I'm a critic of searching for the "perfect job," I also see huge value in having something serve as the bedrock for your life to help you stay grounded and routine so that you're not constantly searching for something else. As many of you are aware, I'm currently working in strategy and operations at a stealth startup based out of LA. This takes up the majority of my day, with a couple quick breaks in between as work from home enables all of us to do (or is it more that we're taking a long break with 8 hours of "work breaks" in between? I'm not sure). This is of course where the majority of my income comes from and the primary source of my feeling of accomplishment as well as stresses - something I'm trying to dilute through the other things on this page.
Youtube - I still cringe at myself for saying this is something I do, not because I'm embarrassed about doing it (I'm constantly surprised that I've made it this long), but more that I'm probably nearing the age where social media shouldn't be a thing for me anymore, but it is. Regardless, at this point I think I've relatively grown out of the investment banking mold (don't think anyone cares about me outside of that, but the feelings are mutual!) and this serves as my main hobby, if anything. The Google Ad money that comes from it isn't bad either but what really hypes me up is the fact that there's an audience that's listening to what I have to say. As most of my friends will agree, I have too much to say and don't think I'll run out of content any time soon. It would be extremely ideal if this can somehow become a full time gig - my dream job right now is to be the host of the Late Night show, but we shall see.
Blog - It's been about 6 months since I started this blog on a whim on the beaches of the Outer Banks, and frankly I like it a lot. Unlike Youtube, there's very little prep work that goes with it and it gives me a daily cadence to talk about anything I'd like. It's always good practice to write, a skill that I think is being emphasized less these days - I'm also trying to embrace my Liberal Arts education and trying to pretend it's worth something. I'm hoping that it somehow turns into some form of revenue generation, but I actually really enjoy doing it for the inherent benefits of getting your thoughts out everyday. I just hope I don't get canceled some day for what I have to say.
Pathmatch - This technically stemmed out from my Youtube gig, but I'm a career coach at a phenomenal platform called Pathmatch, which is definitely the next big thing for students to explore careers and get hired. I'm "mentoring" (too big of a word for what I'm able to do) a handful of college students, mostly interested in finance, and trying to lead them the right way based on what I've learned in the past 2.5 years. Through talking to them I'm realizing how big of a jump college to adulthood is, but also recognizing how great of a resource a "mentor" would have been when I was in college (not saying I'm a great mentor, but noting that it really is important to have someone there that knows what you're going through). It's actually one of the things I love the most these days.
Coding - I've always regretted not finishing out my computer science studies in college so I decided to make use of my work life balance these days and enroll in a part time program to learn how to code professionally. I'm not sure if I'm going to become a SWE any time soon, but I think this will pay off huge dividends in the case that my career amounts to nothing. Just bluntly, I'm quite good at the trade naturally and things come easy to me - I don't think it's where my core competencies are, but do think that it's something I can always fall back to if all goes poorly. I've been enjoying it a lot and there's something awfully satisfying about having something work the way it's supposed to coming from work experience in fields that seem to have no clear answer.
Church / Bible Study - Folks are often surprised when I talk about my faith (probably a bad sign showing that I'm not living a very Christ like life...) but I've been rather dedicated to attending church these days to make up for the year and a half that's been forcefully wiped by the state of California for in person service (jokes! Newsom please don't come get me). I attend the church I grew up in to get my dose of Korean service but also have been trying to immerse myself into a new church, especially with their bible study on Wednesdays. Especially growing up in 21st century America, it's easy to get lost in the "feelings" associated with Christianity - which of course is also fundamental to your faith - but it's even more important to understand the Word and apply it to your life. We're living at a time dominated by "subjective truth" - I think it's important for everyone, regardless of their beliefs, to stay firm in what they believe in while openly engaging in dialogue with others that may not share such beliefs, to either reform thoughts you now find are wrong or become more solidified in what you believe in. This can't be done without a firm understanding of what you say you know and follow.
Things I would like to do - this section is just a word vomit and hasn't really been hashed out. Many of these things also stems from things above.
I would like to evolve my Youtube channel into a podcast - I actually think my biggest strength is the art of a conversation and getting people to open up and say what they mean. I'm also blessed to know a wide range of very interesting people from different walks of life and ultimately think that my calling is to run some form of a talk show.
Build an app - I need to do my part as a member of Gen Z and contribute to the virtual space somehow.
Take time to do mission work or become a pastor - this is also top of my list and of course is dependent on my true calling from the Lord, but it's always been on my mind and my "if money didn't matter" plan since middle school.
Please note that I don't do all of these things 24/7 nor do I do any of these things spectacularly well - I've always been a 80% at everything instead of 200% at one thing type of guy and will continue to be so.
Don't feel like you're behind by any means reading this nor think I'm some hustler - I spend most of my time daydreaming, overthinking and surfing Reddit.
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