Benevolent Busking Breakthroughs while Managing Marvelous Mediocracy
Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics: Job Fairs, CoWorking, Super Bowl, Busking, Trend Spotting, Pattern Recognition, Valuing Time, Daily Life, Alcoholism, Self-Love
Lately, I heard the advice to just “be yourself and others will catch up” so I’ve been doing that more full-fledged. It has been nice being more social, brave, and creative around the city. Whether it’s at coworking events, busking, or other random things where I’m working harder than ever. So, this blog is a bit of a summary of what has been going on and some of the useful things I’ve learned lately.
Why Attend: These days, I have no car, extremely low expenses… I spend around 2k/month on everything… I don’t go to restaurants, I don’t go to events with a fee, I dont’ buy new clothes, spend money on entertainment… I kinda live as cheaply as possible like every day lately. And it’s been so freeing!!! I appreciate so much. I think things will change soon, as my investments continue to get recognized/unignorable, and then I’ll shift gears a bit and invest more in my business + networking (and maybe back to LA again - of course to move, later - but also just to go binge-watch skateboarding in real life). But for now, I’m enjoying this world, the safety net which the USA provides, learning about strengths/weaknesses in government benefits (and btw, I spent over SIX FIGURES on taxes from 2021-2023…) so now it’s my time to take it back a bit and be fed by the hands of Uncle Sam. I’m enjoying my scrappy, creative life and sticking to my values NO MATTER WHAT.
PHOTO COLLAGE & COMMENTARY:
NOTES FROM THE EVENTS:
COWORKING / LIVESTREAM
First, I went to an event which was advertised as a “full day vibe coding” event, which I decided to check out. Since… duh! Its a useful/relevant hobby/skill in 2026. Only, when I got there, I was the only one there for the event.
My plan for that event, anyway, was not actually to code anything, but to learn what others were working on, ask more questions, and see all I could learn. But… since it was just a livestream of a coding marathon, that really couldn’t keep my attention and I was lucky enough to meet someone who was super interesting to talk to.
We talked about life, the pursuit of happiness, the reasons for making decisions (money? happiness? power?) and we talked about integrity a lot, too.
We had a lot of great conversation, probably talked for like 2 hours and shared a meal. But then I decided to get going and check out a job fair, then go busk. Though the big thing of this guy’s life is that he used to do fitness influencing, then he ran a bunch of bars/clubs, and now he’s getting into teaching people about divine masculinity and self-love.
We even talked about how I like to spend time going around the city and figuring out how things work. Who are the decision makers? How do the sorta behind-the-scenes politics work? The overall system analysis of cities and industries. Its fascinating to me. And also how I’ve become a bit of a NARC/whistleblower.
He asked how I do this? What’s my motivation, but I told him its just who I am. It’s what I’ve always wanted, who I’ve always been. I always wanted to do whatever was most “true” and so I keep learning and figuring things out.
And I think about that many people want more for their lives, more out of life, a better future… myself included… so we need to start really understanding things and solving them. Change the world by culture. We talked about the game Civilization, how every time I play, I don’t try to win by war or science, but by culture. And I think we need the same here.
Less influence to run away or do this behavior that is actually really harming in real life.
We talked a lot about the pressures on men these days… and I even think about my former fiance, how we talked about… well.. penises. And how they can be really shameful or jokes, or idk. How they don’t get enough respect, true respect. I think that’s true. They’re treated as so “awkward” and punchlines of jokes.
Not that a woman has it easy these days, but I think a lot of “sexuality” is confusing these days - and I think its done intentionally, actually.
This guy and I didn’t talk about penises, lol, but we did talk about how many men try so hard to impress their fathers. I told him how I used to do the same, but then I realized that your “father figure” is fine to replace. With your role models, God, whatever. And how my father figures actually are, really proud of me and I look up to them a lot. So if my own father doesn’t quite feel impressed with me, I can be okay with that and strong. He said I must have gone through a lot to have that realization… and overall just said I’m really in touch with myself.
He also said I have a great message to share and that I should be on Instagram :) lol. But this was nice to hear. I haven’t really met many people I get along well with over the past few years, but I think its cause I’m a bit reserved and/or “over performances”. Performed normalcy. This particular conversation was nice though, and lately I’m really working so hard to be more “myself,” you know? Like more honest and open and bold and brave. And just say my true thoughts, not so shy. So, it was nice to see it work
He also said he’s been called to have a poetry jam soon and he’d lke for me to participate in it. That made me laugh cause I thikn poetry is kinda lame… lol! I know. but I literally write songs ALL OF THE TIME. So, I said, Sure!
We talked about a how a lot of times people just need to see someone else do what they think they want to do, to feel permission to do it themselves. I agree. I’ve talked aboutthat a lot over the years.
Anyway, I stayed at that place a while and then ran into another guy I’d met on my way out. It was funny cause I even blogged about him a while back, and I remember we had a good conversation about not trying hard to get “job titles” as your goal, but really line up your job with your ethics/values. So, I asked him how his job hunt was going…b ut he said he was still at his same job.
What does our favorite CEO like to tweet: “Talk is cheap, it takes money to buy whiskey” -@ryancohen. True all the time.
CAREER FAIRS (FAILED)
Yeah, I went to two career fairs this week which were both total flops.
The first just didn’t happen… I couldn’t find it (and I only wanted to go to “scope out the vibe” cause it was all government/city jobs, but it wasn’t where they advertised it), and actually, I think I know where it would have been if I’d looked harder, but I had plenty to do that day)
The second was such a disaster. Its a local company that is just trying to do too much at once and look good in every picture in the meantime. Just, they prioritize vanity over quality. And they frusterate me. I try hard to keep giving them my time, and this time I even signed up for their event… but they ended up giving me two answers for why they locked the doors on everyone before the event closed…
One employee told me the guy greeting everyone downstairs got too cold (an employee told me this when I arrived - and I’d met him like MANY times at other events, so we’re “friends” or at least “know each other” - idk about friends. I dont even know his name but he’s alright.)
Then the owner of the company said, later in a message to me (cause i messaged them asking how to get in cause like every single door was locked to the building, and people inside were like dodging me!! till one girl let me in finally), “yeah, sorry, we finished at 2:00/2:30” (which is a legit LIE cause I was up there at 2:00/2:30 once a random stranger let me in) and the event online said it went till 3??? so what the heck? I even told them ahead of time I was going to be late and they said that’s totally fine….
Then the one company I was going to talk to didn’t even show up… and they had the most disgusting cheese of my life, that’s all that was left to eat.
And then they had “free headshots” but the photographer couldn’t have been more bored (aka bad photos taken, hello! get a cheerful photographer to get a genuine smile out of people) and the “free headshots” required a review of their app… so I gave an honest one and I said i’ll give them a better one if they impress me more next time. For now, this was a huge waste of my time.
It’s hard to run a business and it is clear when you don’t put your customers first.
BUSKING DISCOVERIES
Now, I really love to find patterns in life. And figuring out trends (like, i mean this not like “fashion trends” but like… what is/isn’t working, all sorts of things. like catching onto social/cultural trends and business trends)
Busking has been super fun in that way… trying to figure out trends, waht works… like, its like doign a hypothesis and testing it in real time. I’ve learned a lot over the past 2.5 weeks of busking (and making almsot $900 over that time) So i’ll share some things I learned
MONDAYS = don’t busk. don’t bother
BEFORE SPORTS GAMES = don’t busk, don’t bother.
AFTER SPORTS GAMES = huge money to be made when the team wins
EXCEPT FOR SUNDAY NIGHTS. On Sunday nights, people want to get home -> even in the biggest games of the year. But other nights, less pressure to go to bed/get ready for the “real world” people love it cause you’re “carrying on” the good vibes
THURSDAY AFTER WORK, HEADING HOME = great tips
WOMEN TIPPING = tip other women (me) well when I wear PANTS (not dresses) ORRRR in, in the more “financial district” and they tip with QR codes and write nice messages, even when I wear a dress
MEN TIPPING = usually older men tip, not younger than me… or if so, just a dollar. My age people usually tip decently well - but not when they’re with their girlfriends/wives (usually)
GIRLS YOUNGER THAN ME = sometimes tip. Like teens. It’s sweet.
BOYS YOUNGER THAN ME = never tip… but a literal kid/boy gave me a chocolate this weekend!! hahah which was cute.
COUPLES WITH KIDS = usually tip decently/well. Especially if the kids like my music.
COUPLES ON THEIR OWN = don’t tip unless I’m wearing pants
FOREIGNERS = usually people who don’t appear to speak English give me lots of thumbs-ups and just stare and give ogling eyes and/or use translation apps to tell me what artists I sound like (the cranberries). One guy tipped me an energy drink.
MORNINGS = hit or miss
TOURIST SPOTS = amazing on weekends
MUSIC PREFERENCE = when I sing higher notes, people tip better. BUT that makes it so its harder for me to sing the next day, if I sing for too long. But when I sing really like symphonic/angelic, peopel love it hahaha. WHen I’m in the subway and it echoes. WHen i sing boppity-bob songs, usually peopel don’t tip.
LENGTHS OF TIME = usually I can play for about 2 hours… but sometimes I go to 2 spots and play for much more over a whole day
GOALS = i want to learn the harmonica too, like learn to play harmonica while guitaring… 1. cause i think it sounds AMAZING and 2. I can do more with sounds than simply what my voice can accomplish
CHORDS or PICKING = I can do lots of chords and only some picking. I get compliments on my ability to keep time and strum chords wellll. heyyyy :) and lately I’m trying (especially on slow days) to figure out more picking and like within-chords-picking (lifting up my pinky, moving it to different frets) and stuff
COVERS? = no. I don’t do any covers. I improvise every single song, every lyric. I”ve never sang the same song twice
NIGHT TIME (SUNDOWN) = not a lot of success… usually afternoons I have good success on weekends. During the mornings/mid days, I spend with my daughter, so weekend afternoons I have found are really good to go downtown and be in places I like that are a bit touristy. But night time, not good.
BEST TIP = one time a lady tipped me $50!! she said my voice was amazing. that same day another guy gave me a $20. I made liek +$100 in that time
WORST TIP = there have been days (… today! hahah) i’ve played for an hour and got $1… so, you never know. Even when you try different places. Which is why I’ve realizes that Mondays/the first day back from a long weekend (cause Tuesdays afgter a long weekend have been like this before, too…) just stay home and take the day off of busking
OUTFITS= I tried wearing a purposefully ugly outfit today… no, doesn’t work. People like when you have on a cute outfit.
JACKET = also, you may have on a cute outfit, but if its cold and you’re wearing a jacket, all they can see is knee-down/shoes… and sometimes that looks so lame on its own, so you really have to think about it
QR CODES = amazing! I didn’t have them before, but I’ve made almost $100 since… in just a week or so.
FUN? = Yes! I literally feel so happy EVERY TIME after busking and idk how. Even when I don’t want to and I get myself to, I leave happy. Even days I make no money (today) its so fun and a learning experience. I figure out what to do different netx time. But usually its just extremely fun to get smiles, sing, be creative, and make money.
So… lemme check back in once i’m a harmonica queen. I need to figure out which ones to get (cause I’ve been doing some "music jams” lately where guys show up with their whole set of harmonicss and it’s like, woah… this is a thing, huh?)
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
