FATE V FUTURE

What you want to know in culture, tech, travel, luxury, media, marketing and more. We’re aiming to curate the Internet’s best newsletter. Any feedback? Simply reply

FUTUREBOARD

🔼 Clancy’s Autobody, an independent car repair shop in South Florida. Check out the fascinating (and hilarious) true story of how this random small business went crazy viral on TikTok »» (s/o to our reader Nick Horton, and the OP Tommy Clark)

🔽 US home prices. Analysts expect them to fall 4.5% this year »» (Meanwhile, UK house prices have fallen for 6 months in a row »»)

💬 “I’m just like, ‘why am I here?’ ” The university experience has changed beyond recognition in the space of ten years. Has it become pointless? »»

🛩️ Rimowa’s new, more organized pilot case is perfect for your next short haul »»

👗 Peek inside that new West Hollywood Supreme flagship store with the floating skate bowl »»

💎 The top ways the world's ultra-rich spent their money last year »»

QUICKFATES

Inside the rise of the “Founder-influencer” »»

Wendy’s has soured on delivery-only kitchens »»

Why brutalism is making an interior-design comeback »» (s/o our subscribers at Portaire)

Get to know amapiano, the red-hot South African music genre gaining global buzz »»

Gen Z is saving the manual transmission, sort of »»

A new app called Trumpet wants to make the (often painful) act of buying B2B software simpler and more collaborative »»

Good news: Revolut finally made money in 2021. Bad news: the fintech’s auditors were not able to verify 75% of the firm’s revenue »»

“The Elon Effect” is spreading. According to Salesforce’s CEO, tech leaders across Silicon Valley are asking themselves if they can make even deeper workforce cuts »» 🔐

An investment guru for star athletes explains why he says no a lot »»

The best deals on MacBooks right now »» The newsletter's writer owns shares of Apple

The American private equity firm L Catterton —majority owners of Birkenstock, Etro, Ganni and others— is taking a majority stake in understated French fashion label A.P.C. »» 🔐 

Cheapest Nicest: 10 European cities to visit on a budget »»

YouTube’s brand new CEO outlined priorities —and teased some new features »»

How VanMoof made e-bikes cool »»

Is that whole “Alpha Wolf” idea a total myth? »»

The “greatest pilot ever” pulled a 360, so all of the passengers could see the Northern Lights »»

“The Rachel” is back »»

DEEPFATE 🎶 WHAT’S YOUR FREQUENCY?

An elegantly simple concept about matching your skills with the right output format could change your life. Are you really good at something without knowing it? Meet “frequency”

DAVID ROTH IS a talented creative.

• Copywriter. Creative Director. Stand up comedian. And soon, published children’s book author.

• He’s also a failed playwright.

• There’s a simple, yet powerful lesson in David’s creative journey for everyone trying to navigate the creator economy.

DAVID STUDIED PLAYWRITING.

• But he struggled to write full-length plays because, as he puts it, “I would make a bad decision in the first 10 pages, then follow that bad decision for the next 80.”

THEN, HE GOT into advertising copywriting.

• For some reason —from almost the very moment he started— things clicked.

• The way his “brain worked was perfect for concepting and scriptwriting —and writing that didn't need a plot.”

• Over his successful, 16+ year creative career, David’s written not one, but two Super Bowl commercials, and plenty of other big campaigns for some of the world’s most famous brands.

• He had found his frequency.

• David coined this expression, and I love it.

• The idea of your natural skills meeting just the right format is an elegant, and optimistic, way to frame your creative activity.

PLOT TWIST! DAVID then tried standup …and wasn’t good.

• He found it hard. Extremely hard.

• In his own words, “I had no natural performance ability and even though I had funny concepts, it was/is really difficult for me to stand out as a performer.”

• Nine years in, it is still “a ridiculously uphill battle, even though I've put in a lot of time.”

FROM POWERPOINT TO “Pre Order Now”.

• Recently, David “put together a PowerPoint teaching kids to write a joke.”

• As he puts it, “with perhaps the least effort of anything I've ever done, I got a book deal.”

• “Writing a kids book, and writing it well… just worked. It was another frequency that aligned with my skills.”

THE POINT? YOUR creative impulse is half of it. Finding your frequency is the other.

• Despite some of what’s on your feed, the creator economy really is one of the most interesting, exciting and positive elements of modern life.

• Creative impulse times skill, knowledge, or talent meeting endless human curiosity, is an excellent thing.

• Social media —and especially TikTok— has given everyday people who possess extraordinary charisma, knowledge, or skills —or all three— a potential audience of unprecedented scale.

EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE HAS something that they love and know a lot about.

• If you’re struggling to express it, you might just be doing it on the wrong frequency.

• Can’t write a blog? Try speaking to camera.

• Camera shy? Flip it around, and just voice your message over what you see.

• Podcast not working? Try a newsletter.

• You might be are extremely talented at something creative.

• If it’s not clicking or working, you might just not be sharing it on the right frequency.

“LOL 101: A Kid’s Guide to Writing Jokes” by David Roth and Rinee Shah »»

The original post »»

Written by Jon Kallus. Any feedback? Simply reply.