Today you’ll meet audacious Austin Kaiser. Austin is not following a career path, he’s forging one. He is a media pioneer. You will be fascinated by his creative, synergistic thinking and how that thinking is helping him carve a niche that spans current media and artistic endeavors of every sort.

 

Austin began his journey at Rutgers University. He majored in economics and environmental science. Both areas interested him but he found he was not passionately driven to pursue either, so he made his first pivot before he even had a career. At the end of his junior year, Austin decided he needed to find quickly what he was truly meant to do.

 

He and his housemates spent a lot of time watching YouTube and visiting many other popular media sites. Austin was very enthusiastic about social media and began to think that maybe this was the path his career should take. As he considered the possibility, it occurred to him that every major company and the smaller ones as well, were hiring media managers to advance their products effectively on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He began to shape a plan to make his way into the social media world.

 

During his senior year, many of his friends were taking internships, hoping to segue effectively into their respective careers. Austin decided to do the same. Unfortunately, none of the major social media sites seemed to be offering media manager internships as the field was so new. Not to be daunted, Austin created his own internship by making contact with popular YouTubers offering his volunteer services. He became familiar with as many tasks as he could that a media manager might encounter. For example, he ran surveys, collected memes and was a willing gopher. He was building a unique resume targeted at a market which he knew had already or soon would have, positions for someone with his unique background.

 

His diligence paid off. Austin landed his dream job. He was hired by Complex Magazine in his first media manager position. He loved it. He says it changed his life as he then knew this was exactly the kind of work he wanted to do. How is it then that he only stayed with the magazine for 9 months?

 

He decided he didn’t know enough. He began reading everything he could to bring himself up to speed. His scope continued to widen as he realized the concept of “media” was far greater than he realized. He was not only learning from the content he was devouring, but he was also observing how the authors wrote. As he continued to educate himself, Austin says he was increasingly enthralled with writing and the power it has. Cue the pivot.

 

While at work, he became curious about anything that caught on and went viral. Why do some things take off and become instantly popular? As he considered that, he says he realized he was asking a “golden goose “ question. He was so curious about this that it prompted his big pivot. He exited his great job to work full time researching and writing a book exploring viral ideas from past to present. He thought this might very well be the opportunity to be one of the first to write about this 21st century topic.

 

Luckily, his parents remained supportive, and he moved back home so he could tackle his writing and research full time. Amy was curious as to why he didn’t keep his job and work on the book in his free time. Austin says he needed to be fully immersed in the writing in order to produce the outcome he wanted. His efforts took 25 months and became much broader in scope than he originally anticipated. When he finished, he self-published Putting Wings on Ideas.

 

He wanted to say even more than he did in that first book, so he wrote yet a second and a third. (He has now been writing for 5 years.) But he realized all of his work would probably go unnoticed if he didn’t develop a following. Who better than a social media expert to advance that? Thus, he opened an Instagram account called Advice for Artists where he currently has a whopping 30,000 followers.

 

Artists and talent of all types interact with him and each other on Advice for Artists. Austin gathers inspiration from them all, he says. He now also has a newsletter that comes out each Saturday, and his next big venture is a digital magazine called Artfest, a compilation of contributions from his myriad Instagram followers. Eventually, if it’s successful, there will be a $10 charge for the magazine with its over 5 hours of creative content, and artists will be paid while helping to support each other.

Austin Kaiser sparks creativity from his daily interactions with artistic people from every field. His passion and enthusiasm for his own creative work and the managing of his Instagram community is obvious and infectious. You will enjoy listening to a genuinely excited Austin Kaiser explain how he is creating a 21st century career path for himself and others who will follow.

Topics in this episode:

Inspirational Quote: “Everybody in their life uses creativity. The artistic process is relatable for everybody.”

• Find something that inspires you to jump in with both feet
• How art is important to daily life and how to promote it
• How passion creates persistence; How to develop media followers
• How and why you can be fearless and create real meaning in your career life

Links:www.artfest.com

• Instagram: Advice for Artists
• Putting Wings On Ideas: How Content Travels And Becomes Popular: Kaiser, Austin: 9798618288507: Amazon.com: Books
• Feel Free To Feel Free: Secrets Of The Universe Condensed Into Clever One-Liners: Kaiser, Austin: 9781702639347: Amazon.com: Books