IAM1158- Artist Provides the Vibe for Any Occasion

Artis Jones, Local DMV Artist, Poet, DJ, and Event Coordinator. Born and raised in the DMV PG County. Has finally become his name:
ART.is Art is YOU
Art is Therapy
Art is Healing
Art is Love
Artist Empowerment
Art is Positive Empowerment

• CEO Hack: (i) Writing down ideas (ii) Canva
• CEO Nugget: The sooner you start, the sooner you advance
• CEO Defined: Creator of an economic opportunity

Website: http://empowermentisart.com/

AllMyLinks: https://allmylinks.com/djart-is32
Instagram: https://instagram.com/art.isempowerment
GoFundMe: https://gf.me/u/zvsytu

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Transcription

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00:15 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:42 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. And I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Artis Jones of Art Is Positive Empowerment. Artis, it's great to have you on the show.

00:50 – Artis Jones

Hey, DJ Art Is in the building. Hey, good to have me. Have you? Have me.

00:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate having you on the show. And what I wanted to do before we jumped in was read a little bit more about Artis Jones or DJ Artis, So you can learn a little bit more about him. And Artist Jones or DJ Artis, a local DMV artist, poet, DJ, and event coordinator. He was born and raised in the DMV, PG County area. And he has finally become his name. Artis, Artis you, Artis therapy, Artis healing, Artis love, Artis empowerment, Artis positive empowerment. DJ Artis, and Artist Jones, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:27 – Artis Jones

Hey, I AM the CEO community. I am so grateful to even be here. Up-and-coming CEO in the building, right?

01:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, I absolutely love it. And we talked so much offline about, you know, how it's so important to be appreciative of all the great things that are happening. And one of those great things is having you on the show. So what I wanted to do before we jump in, so like what you do and how you do it. I wanted to hear a little bit more on what I call your CEO story. Well, let's get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

01:50 – Artis Jones

So how it started for me was I was a reluctant poet, to be honest. I used to go to open mics. I've been going since high school. But I used to just go and sit there and just watch and watch. But I've been writing since I was about 7. So I would just always be the background guy. And I'll be more specific. Even when I started to do stuff, I was still the background guy. And I was the background guy until people started saying, pushing me to the front. And that's a lot of my story. People were like, just go for it. And a few years later, I'll say that it's a lot already happened.

02:24 – Gresham Harkless
Was that something when you did it for the very first time? Could you take us through a little bit more of how you felt and what that did for you, from obviously a talent standpoint and what you were able to share, but also sounds like internally as well?

02:35 – Artis Jones: 

So, I mean, the story to really wrap it up, one year it was my friend's birthday and he was just like, no, get on the stage. And he signed me up and all that. I got on the stage and I did it nervously and crackling. Now fast forward 3, 4 years later, 3, 4 years later. So I did it and it was just like, I did it and I let it go. 3, or 4 years later, I went to an open mic and I signed up myself, and her name is Whiskey Girl, infamous poet in DC. Love her. I call her my poetry godmother. I signed up. And then when she called me, I said, I can't do it.

And she said, Oh, you a punk. Like, like she said, like, like just like that. She just called me like, no, you're a punk. She went smack at me. And I, it's something clicked in me, like, you know, in that motherly way. And I swear it never stopped since. I swear it never stopped since. It was just like big sis told me to like, no, do your thing. We're here for you, regardless of what it is, just, you know, and you'll feel better. And I remember you'll feel better. And once I once I did that, who you don't those doors don't close.

03:38 – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. It is making a lot stronger. So I love that. And so I know I touched on, you know, a little bit and you did as well, too, about art as positive empowerment. Could you take us through a little bit more on what you're doing, and how you're serving the community?

03:48 – Artis Jones

Okay, so art is positive empowerment in two folds. So the goal of art is positive empowerment right now in this incarnation is to actually put on art-focused events for artists. So you know how usually if we have art events, it's kind of based on venues, ticket sales, trying to get people into the spaces. The events that I put on are opportunities for artists to be exposed to not only other artists but also to a community that will actually support them. So a lot of the time the artist events are backed by people who have a financial intent. And I realized that like outside of that, it's kind of all fringy and separated. So what I'm called, what I'm doing is bridge work. I'm just kind of creating spaces for artists of all walks of life, orientations, and lifestyles, to kind of have spaces, not in one space, but all across the DMV district, DC, Maryland, Virginia, to have these outlets.

And I've tried to, a specific goal of mine is low and free, low or free, you know, low cost or free entirely. So it's that artists can come out and thrive. And I really wanna be particular about it, how it is my name, my name is artist, no T at the end, but like artists empowerment, art is positive empowerment. And I just mean it in the sense that If you listen to a song, it makes you feel better. If you watch a TV show, it makes you feel better. If you watch a movie, it can make you feel better. So when we think about art, we have to kind of flip it on its head and use art to power us, to kind of get us through our tough times, our good times, and inspire us to do what's actually in us to do, because art is everything we do. You might have already touched on it.

05:18 – Gresham Harkless

What would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? The thing you feel, either you or the organization and the Sesset Department makes it unique. What do you feel like is your secret sauce?

05:27 – Artis Jones

So this this is my saying, and I say this is my saying, doors open when you walk in your intention. And say you intend to get a job, that's not intention enough. Do you get what I'm saying? So everybody will know you want a job because you want to get money. But say you want to be a pianist and you want to play in the classical hall, The intention that you set forth as you play, no matter where you play, is that you want to be a pianist in the concert hall. So regardless of people who know of classical piano, opera, or any of these things, they know when they see you, when they come into your energy and space, that that's what you're intending to do. And I can tell you particularly, because I'm a DJ, I'm a poet, I put on events, I'm not the best of any of these things.

But as people have told me, I can feel the intention of what you're setting forth and what you're doing. And that literally has opened the door for me thus far, all the way to now, all the way to the point that I have my own company, all the way to the point that I'm able to put on events in the community. And I literally just started, you know, like I'm not tooting horns or any of that. It's just really people, Not who you expect, but people come to your aid when they see your intention. When they feel it, they know it by you. It kind of comes in afterward. We kind of expect to kind of start off running. You kind of have to, and I'll say this now, work for free. Even in 2021, in 2020, in 2019, in 2018, I was working for free.

I was DJing who would have let me? I was excited about the opportunities, but this taught me both the business aspect, also my worth. Also, it's kind of pivotal in understanding which direction you wanna go as a business. So it's like, put yourself out there and that's literally what it is. Just take, release yourself from the fear of failure, and take that failure if you fail. Cause I can say I've never failed. It just never went to plan. I can say that now as a business. So take that fear and walk on it. Because then you'll realize like, oh, well, that didn't happen as expected. But I got this, this, that. And usually what happens with me is that I go to an event for one thing and 3 things happen after. And so it's kind of like I went to an event to perform a poem, but I got a DJ gig, speaking gig, and I got recommended to host an open mic.

And this is literally just what just happened 2 weeks ago for me. And so now I'm hosting the open mic for free in a free space instead of having to pay for one. So it's just like intention really opens the door. I want people to understand that. So don't do it for the money. Don't do it for the fanfare. Don't do it for any reason. But what's the reason that makes you feel inside that it needs to be done? Yeah, That's my honest truth with that. Because people will congregate to that and you won't have to even lift a finger. It's gotten so much easier for me to get gigs and all these things now because this is like, this is how, instead of having to hustle, that hustle culture because people who resonate to your business or structure actually come to you. They hear about you. People talk about you in the ways that you want your business to be talked about.

08:25 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that's so powerful. And you know, you hear so many times about being quote unquote in flow. I mean, when you're in flow, things start to be attracted to you. But I love how you said you have to kind of step into that. You have to have that intentionality, you know, towards that. And you've been able to kind of part of what you do, I think, for one, it obviously has helped you to kind of open those doors and those opportunities in so many different ways, I imagine. But it also sounds like it is a reminder to other people as well, to step into their intentionality and do that, you know, so much better. So absolutely appreciate that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit. I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. You might have already already touched on this, but this could be an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective in it?

09:00 – Artis Jones

So I'll say I call them ninja scrolls, just like how you have right behind you up on the wall. I call them ninja scrolls. Now, I'm not a vision boy kind of guy, because my visions were too nearsighted on material stuff, right? So what I would do with my ninja scrolls, I would just basically take any idea, I mean, abstract, and I would just literally write them all out. So if it's like something that comes to my mind more than once, that means I thought that's kind of come out of nowhere, but it came to my mind more than once. I would just write them on my ninja scrolls, Not asking for what's next, not asking for what next part, I just would clear it from my brain because it wants to come out.

And so I would call that the first major hack. And the second is Canva. I use Canva for all of my promotions, making anything. Because Canva is kind of a versatile app. If you want to make a flyer, you want to make a video, if you record from your phone and you want to make it look a little chop professional, Canva is great, and even if you pay for the full version, which is only $12 a month, you can pay for it for a month and cancel it, but you can get like a thousand things done. Canva is a great hack.

10:04 – Gresham Harkless

You might've already touched on this as well too. I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, which could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

10:14 – Artis Jones

I would tell my younger self that even though they're going to talk about you, even though they're going to ridicule you and tell you that it's not good, it will get better. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll advance. And that's really the big part. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll advance. So I'm sitting at my DJ deck actually, but I didn't use to know how to man, but it takes hours, it takes practice, it takes repetition, it takes failures. Most people don't even hear how often a DJ makes mistakes when they're playing in front of them. And the whole key is like, you know, if they're into the music, they don't, that all you know is where we play. So it's kind of like understanding that your mastery is gained in your failures.

I want people to see this as a failure because you don't really fail. You just learning more processes. You don't fail, you're just learning more. You don't know until you try. So it's kind of like understanding that and taking that pressure off yourself. Because that kept me from even starting. So once I kind of realized that if I move that out the way, I'll keep going. And for my story, that got me, that's still what was propelling me forward. Because if I sit and think about really how all could go wrong, I'll just sit here. I just like sit here and be like, okay, it's not gonna happen. And that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. So you don't do that. You don't do that. You just literally keep on chugging, keep on chugging.

11:35 – Gresham Harkless

I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping that different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So DJ Art is, what does being a CEO mean to you?

11:44 – Artis Jones

So to me, a CEO is a creator of economic opportunity. So because I used to be an IT person, I used to work in a government structure, I used to be a contractor at that. So I really sat nowhere on the totem, right? I just did as they told me. And I kind of realized that the CEOs, to me, are kind of the figurehead face, but to me, a CEO is actually the creator of the opportunities for everyone at the company. If that's my idea of it because they create the job for the marketing rep and the ad person and the cleaning person. To me, the CEO is the creator of opportunity.

Now, I know in the corporate world, it's just different. It's different. But to me, a CEO is somebody who creates opportunities as it always formulates as a business. If you think about it, because no business can run, they can with one person. But you get what I'm saying. Even now, our computers weren't built by us. So it's kind of like you need, it's a network of things that's necessary. And to me, the CEO creates that. The visionary, another word to me is the CEO the visionary who got paid for creating the foundation that's made all this for everyone else.

12:51 – Gresham Harkless

DJ artist, artist, I truly appreciate you appreciate your time. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all those things you're working on.

13:02 – Artis Jones

Right. So first and foremost, if you guys liked what you heard today, my whole messaging and everything is going. Empowerment is art.com is the website. If you're on Instagram, social media, Matter of fact, Google, if you just type in Google art dot is, it will all lead you back to me, which is so great. And I haven't even gotten to the SEO stuff yet. So it's like, I'm excited. It's just because of my name that it's all interconnected. Also, so I am, I am heavy in the open mic scene in the district, the DC area. I have been humbled and honored enough to be able to host an open. At the end of the month, every month, starting this month, I'll be at the Anacostia Art Center. It's a free open mic from 3 to 7, last Sunday, August 29th.

We have a featured artist, her name is A. John. She's singing such beautiful music, but this is an opportunity for artists of all levels of mastery to just come out and express their art. A lot of artists didn't have stage time last year. And I just want to have a space where you can do your thing. No judgment, no criticality, but opportunities work when you walk in your attention. I'm just going to say that. I'm just going to say that. Doors open and I just went to this girl's show for 2 weeks and I was able to give her the opportunity to pay her to perform for other people. So you just, you know, if you get a hand, you gotta pass a hand. And I really, really, really wanna say that. Also, and this is just my little thing.

When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you wanna do is that thought that's on your mind, just take it out put it in your phone, and send it to yourself. This is gonna be called your morning clearing. This is called the morning release. This is what I do. Now, usually, it starts with a 30-second deep, but you can just do 30 seconds of deep breath. And what will happen is the thought will come to the top of your head, whatever that thought is. And sometimes it could be a little out there, but just write it down or send it in the notes app because the notes app, because you can just delete it. Because yeah, but then what you do is just write it and walk away from it. Then before you go to sleep, come back to it.

Then you'll find yourself at this crux, understanding that I should have addressed it, or was this just something that needed to be dismissed? And this is truly the clearing because then you'll kind of think about your thoughts of, I'm holding on to stuff that doesn't matter, I'm worried about stuff that's not happening, fantasizing false realities, and then you kind of focus on the things you need to do. And then you get to a point where you can meditate. And I'm saying that because meditation is hard.

It was hard for me. And so I had to learn how to release this stuff first so that then I could get to a space where I could meditate and get that clearing so that the real creative stuff would come. And that's just the start. The release also will be on YouTube. I'm going to start it back up because I know it's necessary so that it's different practices of how to actually get these thoughts and emotions and feelings out and productive art is positive empowerment.

15:48 – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you DJ Arts. What I'll do is we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on. I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. The reminder of how important space is, especially 2 and so many different aspects, whether it be creating space for other people to have opportunities, creating space so that you can, you know, focus on the work that you have to do, creating space so that you can med it, whatever it might be, there's a hugely impactful thing that you can do from having those practices and those actions. So appreciate you so much for doing that. Appreciate you even more for reminding us of it. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:23 – Outro