Beyond Success
eLL cartoons' lessons from building a 600K YouTube Audience (New Podcast!)
In this week’s Podcast Lauren, aka eLL cartoons, shares the pitfalls and heights of artistic success on YouTube.
This conversation stands out as one of the bravest examinations of life’s journey I’ve ever had.
Within it, Lauren fearlessly shares:
overcoming brain tumours and challenging an ADHD diagnosis
the pitfalls of radical success
navigating artistic loneliness
audience building strategies
writer’s block and resistance
forging an independent career in the digital economy
prioritising mental health over work
To everyone here, I’d like to say thank you for all the support with the Podcast launch!
If you have a moment, it would mean the world if you rate and review it on your favourite platform:
We charted on Apple Podcasts with Episode #1 and reviews are the best way to keep the early momentum rolling!
Love Jim
A REFLECTION ON MEETING AN ARTISTIC WARRIOR
What is bravery to you?
For me, I understood it better while conversing with “eLL cartoons”.
Why?
Because while building an audience of 600,000 on YouTube, she realised she’d latched onto a primal modern desire; the belief that an audience will lead to happiness.
A raw and instinctual person, I understood immediately that Lauren does not suffer bullshit: not in you, herself or society.
“I don’t want to be a puppet to society or someone I’m not truly, I just want to know who the fuck that soul really is…I think I’ve been fooled for a very long time”
Lauren, eLL cartoons
If breaking down that illusion meant she had to tear her own self apart, then so be it.
She is a cartoonist with a Nietzschean hammer.
And like Nietzsche, there was little choice but to break down what she found.
Why?
Lauren is someone who lives so close to her instincts that the search for truth is an extension of being.
For her, anything short of complete authenticity goes against the essence of her humanity.
And it took her into the deepest abyss.
Yet the courage that takes you to the depths provides the strength to bring you back.
And the woman I met brought so much back; wielding her discoveries with an iconoclastic pick-axe, a whirlwind of creativity and the courage to dive into any topic.
I admire people who possess the spiritual courage to challenge their assumptions when they suspect the existence of a deeper state beyond.
It’s why I love Nietzsche.
And it’s why I love eLL cartoons.
“How can I possibly be unhappy if I have an audience?…. I mean I’m still fooled by that, and if I went back again I’d still be fooled by that….because it’s so hard to think you can’t be happy if you have an audience. Here’s what I learnt - I got the audience, and I was more miserable than I’ve ever been in my life. I felt like a fucking idiot. This is a fucking lie that’s keeping me on a treadmill and making me not get to where I really need to be…
eLL cartoons
I hope you enjoy this moving, funny & riotous conversation with an unbound soul. I still feel inspired by it!
Lauren reminded me that facing our challenges head-on - and being motivated by the energy of truth - is as good a life strategy as you’re likely to find.
I present to you eLL Cartoons: from the Ashes, a Phoenix Rising!
“I am finally walking the path of the person I always wanted to be”
Lauren
Lauren has two YouTube Channels:
What a woman! 👏👏💪🤩