Sell Yourself Without Selling Out with Marc Ecko

I’ve been talking a lot about authenticity lately, so thought it would be a good time to share one of my favorite episodes of the show from a few years back with Marc because it’s all about authenticity – specifically, how to promote your work as a creator while staying true to yourself.

Marc is a creative entrepreneur who’s probably best known as the founder of the apparel brand Ecko, which began in his parents’ garage and eventually grew into the largest brand in streetwear with a global footprint and over $1 billion in revenue. He’s also the author of Untitled: Selling Yourself Without Selling Out – the book we discuss in this episode – the creator of a video game called “Getting Up” and the founder of Complex Media.

Here’s the video we watch part way through the episode – Marc’s epic marketing stunt where he supposedly tagged Air Force One

+ Create connectionsHe’s been one of the driving forces behind putting hip hop culture into the mainstream, and I’m super stoked that we got a chance to sit down to unpack some of the lessons he learned along the way.

Today on the podcast,

Some super-actionable tactics for promoting your work – one that I really love is Marc’s concept of a “swag bomb,” which is a package that you deliver to someone to get their attention- for example when he’d send some Ecko gear to rappers. But the concept works for anyone– handmade, personalized objects are an incredibly powerful way to stand out from the crowd in a world where digital is the default.
Why the biggest barrier to success is – for most people – a self-imposed one: fear. Specifically, the fear of public or peer ridicule – the questions many people ask themselves like “What happens if I put this thing out and people don’t like it? What if I fail in front of everyone?”
The power of humble beginnings. There’s this idea that you have to have best-in-class tools from the jump in order to get your start and frankly, that’s complete bullshit. Marc started out airbrushing shirts in his garage, I used to develop film in my bathroom – that’s how you start. Constraints breed creativity. If you’re just starting out and feeling insecure about where you’re at, this part is for you.

Enjoy!

It’s not what you make, it’s how you make people feel

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Some Questions I Ask:

Talk to me about the old days, where you started out air brushing in your parents’ garage. [5:04]
Talk to me about how the tools of an artist do or do not make the artist. [9:13]
What is it that gets in people’s way and prevents people from starting? [12:15]
Talk about public and peer ridicule. [14:00]
Was it the success that caused your peers to get cynical with you? [18:57]
In your book, Unlabel, you talk about coming up in your parents’ garage and it sounds like it wasn’t a smooth ride. [27:27]
In 2006, you tagged Air Force One with “Still Free”. Pretty ballsy. [29:37]
How much did it cost you to tag Air Force One? [32:50]
Q from the audience: “How important is educating your audience about your art?” [45:05]
Q from the audience: “When was the first time that someone said to you that your talent can earn you money?” [46:48]
Q from the audience: “How do you not sell out?” [47:36]
How have you gotten off track? [48:45]
How do you stay humble? [54:00]
Q from the audience: “What’s the relationship between Joey Badass and Ecko, and how did it start?” [1:04:06]
Q from the audience: “Once you find success with a brand you believe in, how do you get out of your own way to allow growth for yourself?” [1:09:30]
Q from T.A. McCann: “Who are some people that you look up to?” [1:16:19]
Q from the audience: “Can you share a time where you overcame doubt and insecurity that led to taking on bigger challenges?” [1:19:05]
Q from the audience: “As a successful business owner, do you find it hard to be the artist in the garage?” [1:23:13]
Q from the audience: “What role does social media play for you?” [1:25:50]
Q from the audience: “What’s been your most aha moment building your empire?” [1:26:20]
Q from the audience: “Who were some of your marketing mentors in the beginning?” [1:27:25]
What’s one piece of advice you can leave us with today? [1:27:50]

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Why Marc considers having a twin and growing up in Lakewood his two unfair advantages in life. [6:00]
What Marc’s first studio looked and felt like; not glamorous. [7:00]
Why you should appreciate the constraints on your limitations. [9:55]
What fear does to the creative mind and how it stunts your output. [12:20]
What the tension between commercial hip hop and raw hip hop taught Marc about his own art. [15:48]
How Marc views the importance of his community and how he values his own selfishness within it. [20:00]
Why getting your peer’s permission for your art is a bullshit way to make anything that’s going to turn heads. [22:22]
What personal brand is; it’s what you make, what you do, and what you believe. Your art has to be aligned with those if it’s going to make you happy. [24:48]
Why it was worth nearly a million dollars to film a hoax video of Marc tagging Air Force One to market a new video game. Ideas, not dollars. [32:40]
“It’s not what you make, it’s how you make people feel.” [38:40]
Food for creative thought. What can you do for $250 or less that changes your game in the eyes of your peers and the people you’re trying to attract? [39:45]
Why you have to be useful. The difference between making a game to distract you for ten hours and making a game that opens your mind up to a new world. [40:30]
What a swag bomb is and how hand to hand connections are so important in our digital world. [41:50]
Why you should create a metaphor for the service you provide. [43:00]
Why the function of your art should drop you like toxic gas. [45:20]
How Marc defines selling out. [48:08]
Why you need to keep your hubris in check. [54:05]
Just because you don’t have the crayons doesn’t mean you aren’t a creator. Being creative is a fundamentally human trait, despite society’s best efforts to beat that notion out of you. [57:26]
How you can apply the creative mindset to any sort of project. [1:00:00]
Why you need to be ok with the messiness of the creative process. [1:02:00]
You have to work towards both what is commercially responsibly and creatively fulfilling. [1:13:00]
How GoPro went public, got rich and still maintained their authenticity. [1:14:30]
The internal dialogue you should be having with yourself when you’re faced with fear and insecurity. [1:19:50]
Sage advice from Marc’s high school Latin teacher, “If you ink it, you think it. That’s how you’ll remember.” [1:23:45]
What the difference between gatekeepers and goal keepers are and who you should care about. [1:27:00]

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