In November 2014, The Atlantic posted a short video on Jazzoon, a Brooklyn man that followed his passions– sports memorabilia, music, and comic books –into a viable living.
A “collector of (his) childhood”, Jazzsoon isn’t living it up in a West Village loft, however he’s making a good living selling sneakers and doing what he enjoys the most in life. And evident from the passion with which he speaks about his craft, he’s clearly enjoying what he’s doing.
At one point in the video, he explains how he makes a living in one of the most expensive cities in the world:
“As long as I can supply a demand, I can make a living. That shit’s exciting.”
But it’s not that very quotable passage about “hustling” that stood out to me about Jazzsoon. It’s the two sentences that follow that’s worth listening to two or three times over:
“I got this thing in my head man where I know I’m destined for greatness and if not yo, i can’t complain with what I’ve been given. If nothing ever happens at the end of the day man, I’ll tell you what: i was happy to be this dude.”
A lot of people will be turned off by the first sentence; discarding it as arrogance and naivete. Others will disregard him as street trash because he ends his sentences with “yo”.
For the rest of us, what lies beneath the surface our visceral impulse is a charismatic, self-aware man that wholly believes in his abilities, understands the realities and is appreciative of his impact in the world, no matter the size of that impact.
TL;DR Follow your passions and be happy with who you are
