for makers

The number of people who are willing to start something is MUCH smaller than the number of people willing to contribute once someone else starts something.

“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me. It’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”

Instead, when writing newsletters or pitching articles, mine your own work for content. Dig deep into your own subject matter, expanding on some details, reframing others, and sharing parts of your research that didn’t make the final cut. Establish your expertise, your passion, and your continued critical engagement in the debates surrounding your

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Talk about why the subject is important to you, how you feel about the finished piece, what inspired it, what you learned along the way. Show up as a human. It’s far more interesting, and your passion and connection is much more inviting to hear. Leave the superlatives to other people - and don’t be afraid to quote them.

I’ve ultimately realised that the best way to let others know about your work is to get rid of the word ‘promote’ altogether - it just isn’t a good fit for what creative people do. Instead, I like to tell people what my work is about, and let them make up their own minds. There’s no force, no pushiness required, and everyone involved can come away ... See more

So how can we get people to accept a new idea? Show how it is a natural extension of the things they already believe.

In early interviews with Whaley, he often talked about the internet being the magic ingredient to MSCHF: “Life is too short and the internet is too big to not make what you want.”

“Everyone bifurcates the world into content and distribution,” Whaley told me. He has brown hair, is of average height, and was wearing a nondescript gray t-shirt and jeans when we talked. “From the beginning, we viewed those as the same thing. Each object gets better with more participation, and so does MSCHF. Scale is not the goal. Scale is a too... See more

Taste is the bone-deep feeling that you’ve made something good. It is a sense, inexplicable and ephemeral. But it’s also a tangible skill that’s increasingly essential. Taste is how a business differentiates itself when attention is scarce and choice is abundant. Knowing what to make is just as important as the ability to make it.

There’s an even b... See more