Kelsey Bigelow 8/10/20 Kelsey Bigelow 8/10/20

How Poets Secure Deals With an Organization

Born and raised in the 310 in Memphis, Tennessee, Sebastian Carson has lived a trajectory of writing his entire life. And now, poetry and writing are his career. We took time to talk with Sebastian and learn how he got to where he is and what his tips are for securing deals with an organization as a poet.

Born and raised in the 310 in Memphis, Tennessee, Sebastian Carson has lived a trajectory of writing his entire life. When he was younger, he went by the name of 2yme and used writing as a way to digest the emotions of a life without his father and as a tool to get girlfriends. And now, poetry and writing are his career.

Poet Life Podcast took time to talk with Sebastian and learn how he got to where he is and what his tips are for securing deals with an organization as a poet.

Let’s learn from him, shall we?

The life of “Grace: A Conversation with God”

In college, Sebastian teamed up with his friend Tilmon and performed a poem called, “Grace: A Conversation with God.” It was their first time “actually doing spoken word live at an open mic.” And the positive reactions they received sparked their poetry journey.

First came YouTube

The pair decided to film the poem and post it on YouTube, and their video had thousands of views on the first day. On the second or third day, Bobby Jones from BET Gospel reached out to them to perform for their casting call in Nashville. From there, they took off on the church circuit, while still in college.

Sebastian says, “Keep in mind, I’m young. I’m in college here. I’m getting this taste of success, and it’s kinda surreal. … From one poem. So here we are still in college, getting paid $1,500 here and $750 there.”

His tip for this sort of success? “When you have a network of that many people, you should really take advantage of it.” Meaning, use the connections you have now, so they can share it and spread the reach of the video organically. When people you know share your content with their personal networks, that’s when people you don’t know start to share your content with their own networks. That’s how you can be seen. It’s virtual word of mouth.

Then came WorldStarHipHop.com

As the buzz was dying down from Grace’s time on YouTube, Sebastian and Tilmon analyzed the success they got from organically posting and imagined what they could do if they “put an incubator behind it.”

They noticed there were only a few spoken word artists on WorldStarHipHop.com (WorldStar) that would occasionally post. So they did their research on the No. 1 urban website in the country.

So they invested $750 in getting their video posted to WorldStar.

Then, as they did research, they noticed WorldStar was doing a spoken word feature video each month. So instead of paying another $750 to post a video, they positioned themselves for the next feature slot and said, “Hey, we would love to be one of your features of the month,” and sent the video in.

The key? According to Sebastian, the key is that “when you learn that you have the power to reach the masses through this digital platform, you start to open your brain to how you position your work and the work you do from now on.”

After a while, “we felt like we were finding our formula. We felt like this was a space that there wasn’t a lot of competition to be quite honest. So it trained us to understand the concept of making sure you eat all of the meat that’s on the bone. … We had something that worked, so all we had to do was find out what markets to get into.”

Keep in mind, they’ve built a career on one poem at this point.

Pro tip: Repurpose your poems

Sebastian was able to “eat off this one poem” for about six to seven years. That’s six to seven years of income from a single poem.

So how did he do it?

He says, “Poetry’s our foundation. It’s the thing that gets us in the door.” Then he goes on to say the things he focuses on are “how are we going to reach the churches? How are we going to reach these organizations? How can we get another school to pay for us to come out?”

They focus on sharpening the business intellect and their brand.

Sebastian notes that doing that “has opened up so many doors. That’s when your gigs start kicking off, and you can start to circulate some new poems.”

Bottom line? Do what they did: Invest in what’s working for you; create a video so your content can live forever.

So you’ve found what works and are ready to bring it to an organization. What now?

How do you pitch to an organization?

Before a poet can pitch to an organization, you have to find the ones you want to look at. In many episodes, we discuss how poets can find a place in business. In conversation with Sebastian, he noticed the opportunities there are for poets among businesses.
“I’m just thinking about the majority of business opportunities I’ve been commissioned on, and the majority of them have been white organizations.” Sebastian adds, “This isn’t pointing out race, it’s pointing out a barrier in communication and a desire to communicate.”

He encourages you to seek those opportunities, identify those companies and organizations. Then you should do the following:

1. Do your research

Sebastian spends time deeply researching organizations before pitching to them. He puts in the effort to understand not just what their mission on their website is but what they’re goals are and what projects are coming up for them.

2. Use your work

He also says he uses his own existing body of work. He says, “If you don’t have [your own body of work], start to utilize every moment that you’re connecting with people, get testimonies.” Those testimonies can be used to help pitch yourself to the next organization.

3. Understand numbers and metrics

Sebastian says, “The biggest thing I’ve had to truly do is understand metrics of a particular organization or how a particular education system runs.” They looked at the business models of public speakers and researched the business and industry to gain metrics.

4. Tap into the digital world

He recommends finding a filmmaker friend who can help you film your poetry. You can also create all sorts of merch or workshops to be selling and promoting at events and gigs. Think about what digital tools you have available to help you bring in more income.

Some examples that come to mind: shirts, books, workshops, e-newsletters, patreon, etc.

5. Build a team

Let’s let Sebastian explain this one best: “It’s not just you. You’re a brand. You’re an entity. You’re just the face of this entity, and you’re going to need a supporting cast to produce together. It can’t just be you.”

At the end of the day, Sebastian reminds us to stay creative and that it’s about understanding the science behind what you’re doing. It’s knowing how to structure yourself as an entity that deserves to be booked. Understanding that is what builds your confidence in the eyes of these organizations.

A final note for you to think about: “This doesn’t mean you’re always gigging and performing. You can position [your poetry] in other ways to generate revenue as well.”

Be sure to listen to the entire episode for more awesome nuggets of information from Sebastian on his career and successes.

As a 10 year-seasoned poet, Sebastian Carson has been a narrative voice of this generation with his ability to use a pen to create thought provoking poetic narratives. As an artist entrepreneur, opening doors for Memphis artists to be compensated fairly and highlighting the unique culture of Memphis, drives and inspires his focus. He is becoming a nationally recognized poet that uses his voice to tell the important stories of current culture. Follow Sebastian on Instagram: @IAmSebastianCarson

Kelsey Bigelow 8/10/20 Kelsey Bigelow 8/10/20

Start Local to Get Global: Tips from The Winningest Poet Ever

Ed Mabrey, the winningest poet ever, has been in the industry for 20 years and graciously shared his experience with us at Poe Life Podcast. However, he dropped so much knowledge that we’ve got to focus on only one aspect for this post. Otherwise, we’d be writing a book.

Look, this is one of those insights that you just have to learn directly from the source.

How to start local and become global

Below is all in Ed Mabrey’s words (with some slight modification to fit the page rather than in conversation).

You start local to get global. But when you’re local, you’re still thinking globally. So, pre-COVID, you go to your local open mics. You go to the host and say, “Hi, my name is so and so. I would like to feature.” They say, “Okay, I need to see you perform.” Right? No problem.

After several times of showing up, people are looking for you. They’re excited when you step up. Now you go to the host again, “I would like to feature.” They go, “Great. Excellent, let's set up a date.” And as soon as you set that date up, you are contacting the next venue.

You keep doing this until you’ve done those dates and go, “Okay, now that’s my city. Now the next city.” And you can go to venues and say, “Yeah, I’ve done a circuit in my city. Here’s my footage. Here’s my video.”

Side note: How do you get this footage?
Standing outside, hold your phone up to people’s face and ask them if they’ll give you 10 seconds about what they thought of your poem tonight. They give you 10 seconds, click, thank you, move on to the next. You get a handful of those, and that’s your Instagram or your Twitter feed. Make sure you show them love when you post it.

When you get to that next city, do the same thing. You repeat that until you hit all the major cities in your state. Now you start leaving that state. Saying “I’ve maximized my state.” Then you go to all the states. You have merchandise. At this point you have a website, basically a one page thing to just show me where you are. You interact with your audience and then interact with your clientele. You work with your customer to automatically reschedule shows.

Keeping the momentum going

As soon as you finish a show, you ask the host, “Did you like my show tonight? Great. How about we do this again in six months? I’ll put it in my calendar. I’ll email you in the morning.” It’s an email reminder saying, “Thank you very much for the show. Loved it. Enjoyed it. I dug down in six months for this particular week of this month. I’ll check back in three months.” If you do that for every spot that you go to for a month, now you have built an income in six months. Now you can start budgeting and planning.

Or you can say, “Let’s do it in a year.” or “You know what? I have more poems. What’s your biggest show you do?” They could say they have an anniversary show. “That’s a show I want to do. What do I need to do to show you that I can do that show?” Or you can say, “Hey I’m very political, I want your Black History Month.” Or, “I’m very romantic, I want your Valentine’s Day show.” Or even do the opposite, “When does everybody hate coming here?”

Ed says, “When I first started touring, I was the person who went to the East coast in the winter and West coast or Southwest in the summer because it was easy money. No one else wanted to do it. And I was like, ‘I don’t care about snow or heat. I came up in the Midwest.”

And those shows can make more money because the people who come out are more dedicated because they came out in bad weather. If you do that, you can increase your merch sales, show acumen, and connections. Make a Rolodex. All those people are inevitably connected to people are buy your merchandise.

Then you send them thank-yous. And say “Hey, have you ever heard of such and such? They’re not really on the circuit but my friend runs it. It’s really dope. You should check it out.” And that’s what’s called fallout shows.

Monetizing through sponsorships

Now, you have 20 or 30 shows set up for the next year or six months, and you can contact somebody where you live. “Hey, I heard you have some clothes for your brand. I would love to have a t-shirt and wear it everywhere I go. And I’ll give a quick 30 seconds on the mic talking about what ya’ll do. Are you willing to help me get my tour?”

Now you have a sponsorship endorsement package. You say the proper name, give the info, add your website info, add your tags, and in return they’ll pay you this particular statement. They’ll literally be able to see that you’re doing your part because they’ll see the photos posted with the t-shirt at the show.

Eventually, you’ll go to the sponsor and say, “Hey, really appreciate you guys, but now I have a brand and my own merch. So now we’re going to change the nature of our relationship.” And maybe the sponsor really liked the relationship and wants to know more about your merch and how they can get on board.

What’s next?

So now you’re booking gigs six months in advance, 12 months in advance. Now you want to start looking into college gigs. The educational level of skillset is speaking in schools. Now you get an agent, a manager, an entertainment lawyer. Maybe you’ll need an account manager since you’ll have so many 1099s coming through, and you’ll be writing off hotels and everything else. Soon you’ll be moving from Greyhound and Megabus to Amtrak and renting a car or flying everywhere you go.

Ed’s route was: Slammed a lot. Won a lot. Became the “winningest poet in the district.” People came to see Ed because it was like, “Every time we see him, every time we hear about a slam, eight times out of ten, if he’s in it, he wins. So let’s see what he’s about.” But from a business perspective, it’s the entire process above.

Start local.

“If I could go back and do anything differently, I’d have believed in myself a lot sooner.”
– Ed Mabrey

IMG_8914 - Edward Mabrey (1).JPG — Ed Mabrey, actor, author, and speaker, exemplifies the modern-day renaissance artist. From the page to the stage and the script to the screen, Ed captivates, motivates, and promulgates the performing arts. He is the winningest poet in the history of Poetry Slam—4 World Championships, 5 consecutive Regional Championships, and over 500 wins in his career. Ed tours the country professionally as a poet, comedian, and professional speaker. Also, an Emmy award winner, Ed has been on Seasons 3, 5, and 6 of Verses and Flow (TV One), as well as appearing on broadcasts on ABC, FOX, HBO All Def Digital, Crackle, CNN, and C-SPAN. Ed was a speaker at 2015 TEDx Dayton and 2017 TEDx Evans Street. As the 2019 APCA Spoken Word Artist of the Year, Ed has performed at over 100 colleges and universities around the country teaching workshops and conducting seminars. Find Ed on social media: @edmabrey

Kelsey Bigelow 7/27/20 Kelsey Bigelow 7/27/20

Forbes.com Asks, “Does Poetry Have a Place in Business?”

Stephanie Denning is a Forbes contributor, a management consultant, and a fiction writer with an interest in poetry. She recently wrote an article for Forbes titled, “Does Poetry Have a Place in Business?” and we wanted to chat with her about poetry in business.

You can probably guess our opinion on that, but let’s hear what Stephanie thinks.

She says, “I’ve been working in business now for over 10 years, and one of the things I’ve alway seen is that you’re either a business person or a creative person. But you could never be both. … But I think that the best business leaders are the ones with that crossover.” She attributes this to how “business-minded people tend to be utilitarian in nature,” and as we have seen, poetry is hard to quantify in that way.

According to Stephanie, less than 10% of the CEOs she works with read poetry and fiction on a regular basis. And that’s the issue that sparked her article: Not enough leaders actually read poetry ⸺ or any creative field for that matter. But the ones that do are the ones who bring a different level of empathy and emotional intelligence to their jobs. Poetry brings heart, and leaders should be sure to balance heart with best practices.

She cites Former President Barack Obama as an example of someone who clearly reads creative writing regularly, and that it brought “an emotional visceral level to his policymaking.”

Which brings us to the main question.

Does poetry have a place in business?

In response to this question, Stephanie asks, “Can you make poetry commercial?” And she believes most people don’t think you can, but in fact you can. She notes that the most common approach to poetry today is too academic for the mainstream. It’s too difficult for the general public to digest on first read, so most don’t give it the full academic process of multiple reads to analyze the poem.

Stephanie believes that “reaching the masses with poetry or any kind of career field should be the purpose. You should be moving people emotionally in that respect.” Also, in Stephanie’s perspective, “The big problem with poetry is the content itself is too esoteric and not comprehensible.”

And she has a point. If you want to stay in academic poetry and not commercialize, that’s completely fine and other poets won’t judge you. That’s not how the poetry community acts. But if you want to make this a career, you have to appeal to the masses. And to appeal to the masses, you need to commercialize to some degree. To a point where the content is able to resonate with a general, non-poetic audience.

We also want to note that poets should be more flexible in the presentation and writing. If you want poetry as a career, you’ll have to be able to commission a poem rather than only writing what you feel. That can be tough for some to grapple with, but the reality is that’s a path to a poetry career, and it can help alter the perspective of poetry in the eyes of the business community and general public.

“I think [it’s important to increase] access to people to reach them in different settings, whether it’s spoken word or written,” Stephanie adds. “You have to really understand it on a visceral level, and then you really start to understand the making of it before it can have a true impact.”

Most don’t view poetry as a way to move your career forward, but Stephanie notes that “[poetry] has a huge influence in terms of eloquence and speech. And that’s really undervalued.”

So let’s transition to the business side of poetry.

Think about the economics of poetry

If you want to make your poet-self more marketable to businesses, you have to be thinking of the economics of poetry. This includes things like identifying your target audience, understanding supply and demand for your work, analyzing the feedback, etc.

Stephanie explains that you can’t really “disentangle the creative pursuit from the economics and the business side of poetry. … The marketability is where you’re really trying to test ‘Is there an audience for it? Is there any kind of demand? … You have to have that feedback loop present. Because otherwise you’re never going to have an audience for whatever you’re doing.”

For example, poets can go into businesses to help explain sensitive issues in the workforce, or anything emotive. Stephanie notes, “It’s really communicating that emotion to an audience where they can empathize with it. And poetry is a great outlet to help people do that.”

As far as the platforms to use to promote your work?

Stephanie sees the value in using a platform like LinkedIn because that’s where the business mindset lives. However, she recommends still finding whatever is easiest for you as a poet to continue creating content. She says, “If you find something that’s complicated and you don’t like it, you’re probably going to stop writing. … You can segment the customers you get from the platforms but at the same time, you have to do something that’s sustainable.”

Sustainability is a crucial part of building your poetry career. You don’t want to start doing something that’s going to burn you out or take away the love you have for your craft. That’s not sustainable and not conducive to a career in poetry.

If you want to know more about Stephanie and her take on poetry in business, listen to the full podcast episode now and read her article on Forbes.com.

Kelsey Bigelow 7/20/20 Kelsey Bigelow 7/20/20

How to Leverage Poetry to Build Your Platform: Featuring Bomani Armah

Do you remember the song “Read a Book”? Did you know that Bomani Armah was the creator of that song? Did you also know that Bomani Armah has made an entire career from writing poetry and music?

One of the ways he’s done this is by bringing art and music into the classrooms of the “core” subjects. He has been able to find art within math, science, history, etc. For example, the physics of the steel drum, the history of the steel drum ⸺ which teaches colonialism, slave trade ⸺ and more.

He spent time in schools doing after-school programs after meeting with schools individually. That networking with schools and organizations created a network of organizations that will do the planning for him so he can focus on the content he’s teaching.

Bomani says, “There was a point where I was multitasking to a point where it wasn’t helpful. So once I got someone else to be like, ‘You make the curriculum. I’ll find the schools,’ the curriculum got 10 times better, twice as fast.”

He even came up with the Frederick Douglass Writing Club, which has turned into his teaching artist career. He gets 10-12 year old boys together for six hours a day at his studio. They spend time reading “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” taking field trips to places to learn about Frederick Douglass, and making rhymes about it and learning to be journalists and public speakers.

Leverage your art to build your platform

Bomani says, “I use my art to get me in front of people. When I was working full time with Busboys and Poets, there was always somebody looking for what I’m doing education-wise.”

The mindset of using your art to get in front of people is what helps Bomani to plan each next project around whether or not it will go big. If it does, awesome. If it doesn’t, at least “people just know more about who [he is].” Because then, they can opt to bring him in to write for them, to promote their stuff.

One of his biggest recommendations is to duplicate what you’re doing. While the pandemic has made it more difficult to continue his regular career in the schools, he’s been able to duplicate what he’s doing through Zoom and online to teach classes in Texas or Kenya.

“Kids still need people who can do this in person,” Bomani says. Which is why he’s brought on artists who learn how to write songs with him so they can be that big brother figure to other young people in their area. So instead of just teaching students, he’s teaching teachers so they can teach students too.

Keep in mind, all of Bomani’s material is copyrighted and gets him royalties. But he also understands that he might not get those royalties, and he’s okay with that because the important thing is that people are using his tactics and some kid is going to learn to read and write. It’s about the impact for him.

Use that art to grow your career

There’s a couple ways you can go about growing your career as a professional poet. Here’s what Bomani recommends.

Look at businesses

Huge corporations used to hire playwrights for their annual meeting. Make that you, the poet. It can be as simple as transferring the corporation’s mission, statement, message, whatever, into a spoken word piece that captivates their audience.

You can help them fulfill corporate responsibility by bringing the socially conscious conversation to their company in an effective, accurate way. Bomani mentions that a company may try to “find the extended metaphor within a project that isn’t corny. You need a poet for that.”

He also says, “Do you have on poem in your arsenal that you can do in front of your grandma? … Do you have one that you can do at your job and not get fired?”

Meaning, is there a poem you can share at a retirement community event or at your job to help those organizations share a message? Because they need someone to help them communicate, and poets can do it.

Connect with non-writers

Bomani explains it perfectly, “ Who wants to write their woman a love poem? You meet with a poet. Ya’ll talk, the poet writes it, and you give it to your lady and still be like ‘Hey, I spent money and hired a dude that helped me get my words together to make sure I express myself right.’ She’s going to love that too.”

Bypassing barriers as a teaching artist in the COVID era

Bomani says it best, “We need to all say, we need to be part of a culture shift. We all have to start taking more personal responsibility for the education of young people around us.”

With the world being virtual right now, parents are forced to be more involved in their child’s education. And Bomani can show the parents how to write raps with their kids as an English Language Arts lesson. It can be as simple as writing down a family story, taking the main points out, and write it into a song or poem. He references Will Smith’s intro to “Fresh Prince of Bel Aire” as an example of using rap to tell a story.

So Bomani has taken advantage of this time to help parents see those opportunities.

Long story short, you’ve got options, and Bomani is living proof that it’s possible.

Listen to his full episode to hear more details about how he got where he is and even more advice he has for poets, writers, and hip hop artists alike.

BomaniArmah — Bomani Armah is a Hip Hop artist, rapper, poet, songwriter, producer, performer and educator. Bomani is best known for his 2007 viral BET video “Read a Book”. He followed that up with his debut album, Radio Friendly, featuring the single “Grown A$# Man”, and became a fixture in the Hip Hop, Spoken Word and Art Integration scene in the DMV and beyond. Find more info a BabaGotBARS.com or @babagotbars on all social media.

Kelsey Bigelow 7/13/20 Kelsey Bigelow 7/13/20

Becoming Your Own Poetry Manager: Tips from E-Baby

Learning the ins and outs of the poetry industry can be tough. That’s why we ask the experts to help guide you through the details you may not have the answers to yet. Poet Life Podcast sat down with Eric “E-Baby” Smith to talk about valuing ownership and becoming your own poetry manager.

This started with a quick explanation of the difference between an agent and a manager.

An agent puts on shows or finds shows for you to perform at. A manager is the one who books your flights, hotels, etc. and makes sure things are taken care of for you. Basically, a manager is the person who manages your career and is your “yes and no” person.

For E-Baby, he has been working with the same agent during his whole career, Tracy Wiggins from Jus Wiggin Entertainment. Be sure to listen to the full podcast episode to hear the story of how E-Baby began working with Tracy and how he got started on the college circuit.

Working with his agent, E-Baby learned to become his own manager and to make career decisions for himself. Let’s explore a few of the tips E-Baby shared with us.

You might argue with yourself as your own poetry manager

Being your own poetry manager means you become your own boss, which sounds awesome and entrepreneurial. However, it comes with the same conflicts you would have with another human being as your boss. So remember that the personal side and the business side of you may not always agree.

E-Baby shared, “My huge headache is arguing with myself. Making that decision.” He goes on to explain that people say “you don’t do your art for free, but you pick and choose who you perform for, for free.” He explains that there are times where a manager would have said no to a certain show unless the pay was better, but he went ahead and did the show because they allowed him to sell his promotional items (books, merch, etc.).

Also, as a manager, you have to be prepared and organized. E-Baby says, “you gotta have your phone and your calendar ready to go so you avoid double booking.”

Overall though, E-Baby loves “the independence of saying yes and no.” Because he knows how much money he needs in order to put gas in the car. He says, “You put that responsibility on yourself.”

Allow your career to evolve and diversify

One of the concerns of going into the poetry industry for yourself is the perception of “there’s no money in poetry.” But E-Baby reiterates that the money is definitely there, and he has proven you can make this lifestyle work for the long haul. So how does he do it?

E-Baby says he’s “still learning, still writing, and not being stubborn.” He’s has learned to allow things to change. He says that “in order to stay in this game, you’ve got to give up what you have. If I wasn’t telling people about [how to do this], I wouldn’t be able to move on. I wouldn’t be able to keep hosting. If I didn’t mentor even on how to host, I wouldn’t be able to move on.”

Another tip E-baby has for longevity in the poetry industry is to not let the crowd get to your head. Keep your ego in check, accept constructive criticism, and be open and honest with yourself and the community. He says, “In order to be relevant, you gotta stay open to what’s out here and be prepared.”

The perk of being a self-managing poet and letting your career path evolve is that you still have control over it as your own manager. You can take charge of what you say yes and no to.

Adapt to the virtual world and believe in your value

As COVID-19 reshaped the world into a virtual one, poets brought their communities to the screen. Open mics live streamed on Instagram and Zoom have allowed poets to essentially become international poets.

These live streams still have space for paid feature poets. E-Baby makes a note that “you’re going to sacrifice a few things with online shows. You’re not going to make as much money because you don’t have the travel and all that. You’re basically in your own house. The battle of pricing is going to start happening.” It’s just a symptom of the virtual world we’re in right now.

However, E-baby adds, “I keep telling everybody to stay true within yourself. The money you’re going to make, it’s going to happen. … But poets weren’t ready to invest in themselves. Poets didn’t believe they should even put $500 into themselves to go make a thousand dollars. … We have to first believe we can make that money. Then we got to believe we can invest in ourselves. Because we’re too busy. People want to invest in us, and we’ll miss out.”

In case you need the reminder, you first need to believe in yourself. Study the lane you’re in, and believe in your value as a professional poet. When you can do that, you are well-positioned to become your own poetry manager and take control of your poetry career.

Again, be sure to listen to the full podcast episode for even more golden nuggets of information from E-Baby on how he met his agent and how he got started in the college circuit. You’ll definitely want to take some notes!