Ask Yourself This...

Dear strange people,

Welcome to my experiment. This is a newsletter where I dive deep into the decisions that I am making (and learnings) when it comes to my personal brand, community, and business.?

When I was young I wrote something every day.

Poems, journals, songs, stories, it didn’t matter.

Sometimes it felt like words and stories just came to me — like magic — all I had to do was start moving my hands and the stories would unravel themselves.

I haven’t felt that feeling in probably over a decade. Words calling to me. To put pen to paper (or in this case fingers to a keyboard). The NEED to say something. Anything. But I feel that same calling now.

It was, and always has been, my dream to be a writer. And it didn’t hit me until recently that I’m holding myself back from achieving many of my dreams.?

I had a call with someone a few weeks back. Significantly more successful than I am and much further along in their career. Mid conversation I found myself feeling envious of the life they lived. Waking up in the morning. Doing yoga. Having time to think. Writing. Essentially just doing whatever they want, however they want.

I zoned out for what felt like thirty minutes but was probably only a few moments. And then I thought to myself… what is really holding me back from being the person that I want to be??

I awaited an answer… even though it was just a conversation I was having in my head.

Here was the answer:?

Do you really want the things you think you want?

I know that’s another question, but it’s a question that leads to an answer.

Let me break it down quick.

I’ve been trying to gain weight for a long time. Ever since I started my first business back in 2016, I stopped eating and taking care of myself.?

I have said repeatedly, “I want my body back!” Or “ I’m going to gain 15 pounds.” But I’ve never been consistent with it.?

And for the past month, I have. Because I have decided in my bones that this is something that I NEED. Not something that would be convenient or make me feel a little better. I need it. For me.?

So I've asked myself that question with everything that I “thought I wanted.”?

Some of them I don’t want anymore.

Others are now burning desires for the first time in a long time.

And when I decided that I NEED them, things have started to align mentally and physically.

I realized that I work for a New York Times Best-selling author (not sure how I didn’t realize this before, but hey I wasn’t looking)!

I started writing scripts for my TikTok videos and it started growing [pretty quickly].

Youtubers keep coming into my life. Big YouTubers. It’s a platform that I’ve never had success with but always told myself I wanted to tackle. It’s a NEED. And seeing so many people around me be successful with it is a sign that I can do it too.

I don’t know where you’re at with your dreams right now… but if you’re where I was… in a lull. Knowing what you want but paralyzed by possibilities, or fear, or whatever.?

Ask yourself this: do you really want the things you think you want??

And if you do, what are you waiting for?

The Remainder of the Year

With this all in mind, what’s next? I’m focused on creating: My writing, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. I want to focus on growth this year and building something that allows me to make money with my creativity (not something in which I HAVE to create in order to make money). There’s a big mental drag that comes along with the latter (I know because I’ve been there many times).?

If you follow any of my content, you know how important music and sound is to the things that I create. Whether on my podcast or any social platform, it’s a big part of my art. I’m using Epidemic Sound for all sound effects and most of the music that you see within my videos. I partnered up with them recently so you’ll be seeing a lot from me about that. I really want to dig into the importance of music and what I’m learning about sound. But also, in the meantime, if you are a creator (or agency/freelancer) check out this offer!?

I know this isn’t the normal style of this newsletter. I'll be back with the normal format, next week! Hope this helped some of you! <3

About Me — I’m Quentin Allums (justQ) ??????

I spent the majority of 2016-2020 building companies, growing personal brands, hosting events and helping brands tell powerful stories through video. Early 2021 I accepted a position with Greatness Media (School of Greatness, Lewis Howes, Etc.) leading the marketing team & that’s what I’m doing now! I'm also the host of the Stupid Deep podcast, a narrative show that explores the power of stories and how they shape us.

I was one of the first video creators to use LinkedIn. Collectively my videos, thoughts, podcasts, and writing have been viewed over 10 million times across platforms. I spend most of my time (outside of my new day job) speaking, creating, running experiments, learning about everything video games/esports, and petting way too many dogs.

That's me. And this is the 'Dear Strange People' newsletter. For those that have already subscribed, welcome to the madness. I'm looking forward to taking this journey with all of you. Smash the subscribe button to keep up with this experiment.

If you've read this far 1). thank you for reading my words! And 2). what are you working towards this year?

Stay strange,

#justQ ??????