I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Enrico Moses over at 7DaysTheory.com – a dope site that covers fashion, music, art and even carries their own handmade jewelry and accessories (I’m a proud owner of a few of their pieces).
Enrico’s become a good friend of mine over the past few years and no joke, he’s one of the deepest, most inspiring dude’s I know, as well as being one of the most accomplished entrepreneurial spirits I’ve ever come across.
Passion for exploring life to it’s fullest – whether that’s with your business or your own happiness – is definitely something we have in common, and exactly what we talk about in this interview. Check it out!
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Zen-Master Jaemin Yi Shares Some of His Best Techniques for Living an Awesome Life!
Jaemin rolls deep! This man always is rolling with a crew. Probably because he carries with him, a spirit that is completely dope to be around. I met Jaemin through a series of close friends and instantly, our zen-like approaches to living brought us into deep discussions about life and overall awesome times. For a while I didn’t know what he did for a living. I remember thinking- maybe he has reached a level of enlightenment to where people come from far and wide to hand him checks and learn from his teachings. Later to find out I was close. Well sort-of. Jaemin makes videos that wows and inspires viewers. He helps tell the valuable stories that need to be told. Mastering the art of communication and joy, Jaemin describes to us how to just fucking BE. We hope some of his positive-vibrations rub off on you during this interview. He is a great living testament to the 7 Days Theory.
Please describe your position at your company/organization.
For how many years?
I’m the CEO + Founder of Imaginary Lava Studios. We make awesome animated videos for businesses and non-profits (like Planned Parenthood). I’ve been making videos for about 6 years but made the switch to animation-only about 3 years ago.
How long have you known you wanted to do what you are currently working on?
What made you start your current pursuits?
I’ve always been into filmmaking, even as a kid. I remember making my first short back in the 3rd grade, a parody of Star Wars called Paper Wars (cause paper airplanes were our shit!)
But I never actually thought I could make a living doing this stuff until my last year at college. I remember I was about to start the whole job search thing when I got offered to make a video for this awesome non-profit called Green Dot. I’ve never made a video for hire before but I gave it a shot…and they ended up loving it!
Pretty soon, word got out and I had 2 more projects lined up. I told myself, “Alright once you finish these, then it’s time to look for a job.” But once those were done, I had another project lined up. And then another. And another. Pretty soon a year had passed and I realized that I never had time to search for a job…it had found me!
Why are you passionate about what you do?
What drives you to do what you do?
To be honest, while I love being creative, my true passion is less “making videos” and more “constantly growing and learning”. My passion to always be evolving drives every single thing I do, from creating a location-independent business to traveling the world to finding inner peace and happiness.
How did you overcome your own doubts and the doubts of other people?
The best way to overcome doubts is with knowledge. Anytime I felt scared or confused, I would do a google search or find a book on Amazon and figure out how to solve my problem. Whatever you’re struggling with, SOMEONE somewhere has dealt with it and written some great advice on how to overcome it. You don’t have to constantly re-invent the wheel. Stand on the shoulders of giants!
And this might sound a little too zen-ish, but sometimes the best way to deal with doubt is to not try to get rid of it, but to embrace it. Anytime you reach outside your comfort zone, you WILL feel doubt and fear. And if you want to keep growing, you need to constantly be stepping outside your comfort zone. So make friends with that fear. Hell, people pay good money to feel that nervous rush (i.e. jumping out of an airplane, watching a scary movie). Learn to become friends with those feelings and they’ll become your allies instead of your enemies.
What were some bumps you hit to get where you’re at now?
So many haha. But the worst, most frustrating lows always came about because I didn’t listen to that feeling in my gut. You know that little voice deep down inside that says, “Dude, you don’t want to do this”? Every time I ignored him, I paid for it in some way. Whether that was dealing with a client from hell or getting screwed over from a shady “business partner”. Listen to that voice.
But I will say, every one of those bumps ended up being amazing lessons for me. I look back at every single one of them and wouldn’t take any of them back. Every low, every bump is there to teach you something invaluable…that is, if you’re open to learning from it.
What is a way you got your name out there?
What helped you become who you are?
This is gonna sound cliche, but I let my work do the talking for me. I’ve done zero self-promotion, marketing, hell, I don’t even own any business cards. But I find that if you put quality work and good vibes out there (i.e. if you work with me, it’ll be a fun and positive experience), people will seek you out.
Is there anything that almost stopped you from doing this?
If so, how did you overcome that?
I guess the only thing that almost stopped me was not believing that this was even possible in the first place! I never thought I could’ve made a living doing videos. It was never even an option in my head. I kept thinking that that was for OTHER people. People who were special. People who weren’t me. But that was all bullshit.
My biggest obstacle was limiting my own possibilities of who I could be and what I could do.
Is there anyone in your profession that you admire and/or model yourself after?
What do you like about them?
I don’t really keep up with the animation world but the one entrepreneur I REALLY admire is Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby). His approach to business and life is so zen and full of joy. In a lot of ways, he’s the anti-entrepreneur. He shows that you can be successful without being stressed out, outcome dependent, and killing all sense of exploration and fun.
I highly recommend all entrepreneurs – hell, all people really – to check out his short book Anything You Want (http://www.amazon.com/Anything-You-Want-ebook/dp/B00506NRBS/). And his awesome blog at www.sivers.org.
How do you continue to perfect your craft?
I see life as my craft (cheesy, I know) and that includes everything from running a business to being a happier human being. And it’s pretty simple, really. Every day, I’m always taking one step away from shittyness and towards awesomeness. Just one step. And life continues to get better and better, every single day.
What’s some advice you can share for anyone who wants to pursuit what you are doing?
My advice? Don’t pursue what I’m doing. Or what anyone else is doing. In fact, STOP pursuing altogether!
Pursuing implies a long, arduous journey to accomplish this super specific goal that you’re sure will make your life frickin’ complete.
It implies that you know EXACTLY what you want and what you need in life (which NEVER turns out to be true). It implies that you’re gonna put off happiness today and tomorrow for happiness “someday”.
It implies that having success, fame, or money (usually a combination of all 3) will fix all of your problems and you’ll live happily ever after.
Hint: that’s all bullshit.
Instead, I recommend you throw out the plans. Burn the map.
Stop projecting 5 years into the future and come back to right now. Forget about the 5000 steps your planning to take…what’s ONE step you can take today that will make you feel more alive, happier, and free?
Then tomorrow, take another step. And another.
It sounds too simple to actually be helpful, but I guarantee that this approach to life will open up doors you didn’t even know existed.
You keep taking those steps, guided by your gut and intuition, and eventually you’ll realize that you’ve climbed a frickin’ mountain. A mountain that wasn’t even on the map in the first place! You didn’t climb it because other people told you to. Or because it was recommended by that lame guidebook that every tourist and their mom has. No, by feeling out each step yourself, you climbed a mountain unique to YOU and perfectly tailored for YOU. And the view up here is pretty damn beautiful.
Amazing things will happen when you stop trying to control life and force it to go your (often misguided) way. Instead, let life unfold for you and enjoy the ride.
How do you envision the future of your product/services?
I don’t. If I had done that when I first created my video business, I NEVER would’ve gotten into animation, which I love so much more than live-action video (especially since it gives me freedom to travel and work as little as I’d like).
I believe envisioning your future often limits you. By not trying to map out my future destination, my path is free to unfold WHEREVER. Especially to places that I never would’ve thought of in the first place (trust me, I never would’ve imagined I’d be running an animation company, or that it would lead to such a freeing lifestyle).
When you pick ONE goal, you’re cutting yourself off from the millions of other possibilities that exist for you. Especially the possibilities that you never would’ve imagined in the first place.
You have a nice online website. How much of your business is driven by online buyers?
All of my business pretty much comes from word of mouth. As of now, my website exists mostly as an online portfolio for prospective clients to check out our work.
Where can people go to find out more about your awesome products/services?
You can see what I’m up to and hear my thoughts on life at my personal blog: www.jaeminyi.com. I’m moving to Hawaii in a month so I should have some fun updates coming soon.
And if people want to check out my animation studio, head on over to www.imaginarylava.com.
Thanks for the interview Rico, this was fun. I really love what you’re doing with 7 Days Theory and can’t wait to rock more of your dope jewelry!
Thanks again Jaemin! Have a great time in Hawaii!
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