Table of Contents

• Howdy

• Mission

• My Goal

• Depression>Passion

  • Trigger Warning

• In Conclusion

Howdy

Hi, I'm Classic Reinvention, founder of Clssc LLC and creator of the brand The Inquisitive Outsider. For the last twelve years, I’ve been on a mission to prove the value of Art in Business, but it wasn’t until 2020, during the pandemic, that I learned that the Tech Industry would be the sector that would amplify my gift and purpose the most.

Funny enough, I was reading Crossing The Chasm then because my wife thought I needed to view myself as a new disruptive technology working to achieve mass adoption. She’s really smart, that’s why I married her.

Mission

Before we begin, this is not a mission of being a top content creator. It's about how a Content Creator believes that strategic content can grow into an infrastructure for creatives aided by the global Art & Business community.

What is the special sauce? Well, I was lucky enough to grow up on National Geographic, PBS, and the intellectual silly of Monty Python. When I got older, I discovered that my city of Philadelphia had helped develop one of the greatest long-form commercials of all time, Rocky, which became a massive inspiration for the philosophy around my work. 

I believe that we’re all Inquisitive Outsiders. So, in the long run, I see this becoming a global fraternity of curiosity where you're either inspired to discover something new or discover new inspirations yourself. You also don't have to approach it alone because this transfer of inspo is happening between you and a fraternity member, so if you ever decide to go and experience it for yourself, you have a guiding hand to enjoy it with.

I, Classic, have spent years being told that what I do isn't valuable, and each time, I’ve climbed higher because I chose to believe in my calling. Most folks fear the unknown and are paralyzed by it, whereas an artist tends to respect, love, and embrace it because it potentially represents a new opportunity to create even more. I call it the Beautiful Unknown.

My Goal

On the one hand, it is to offer affordable content production and distribution opportunities to people working to create positive solutions for the world’s various problems. Let’s be honest: Business media blows. These are some of the most exciting times, but we can't tell if they're discussing an innovation or a funeral. This means it's hard to make the audience care because there's no emotional connection made. I solved that in our presentation and writing style, which was developed not in a business class but in local theatres. I know how to make anything look, feel, and sound cool. Thank you, Art!

On the other hand, I want to grow and help create stepping-stones into equity opportunities for the world's creative talent; our talent pool will consist of anyone who wants to support our storytelling journey, and we will work to empower them to build an Art To Equity mindset. So now we are feeding the Creative Economy by offering work that speaks to the community's strengths while introducing them to companies they can work with directly in the future through our collaboration while showing them the true value of their Art. 

The more we grow revenue-wise, the more Subject Researchers, Writers, Content Producers, and Talent we can employ globally, getting us closer and closer to a diverse news cycle. At that point, we’re on track to becoming the new CNN built by the people for the people. Since many of our operations will be driven around Data and AI, this also gives us a chance to invest in initiatives over time to expose underestimated communities to the skills needed to get these jobs of tomorrow. 

I believe the diminishing middle class is a product of a lack of exposure, education, and access to these new opportunities. Our channel can help combat this while empowering the next generation of world changers and builders through an inclusive media platform. We're taking the low-employee media concept to the next level, ultimately building a unique Creative Business Ecosystem.

Depression>Passion

Trigger Warning

There are mentions of loss and suicide.

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy, but it’s just a drop in the bucket of an existence that isn’t as well. We’re all dealing with something we need to push through to show up in these areas of passion and purpose. But sometimes, it's a little too hard, and the facade you put up isn’t sustainable.

It doesn’t mean it hasn’t fooled everyone else, though. For instance, this is what depression looks like.

2023 wasn’t an easy one for me. It was almost like the storyline of the saddest and most ridiculous drama in the world. In January, my oldest daughter took her life, and in December, I lost my mom to a heart attack. I saw both in their final moments. I shut everything down briefly in the middle of the year because I felt like a car running on no oil or gas, breaking down at every turn.

By the fourth quarter, though, I could gather enough energy to take on a salary and a side contract because, unfortunately, even if your world stops, everyone else’s keeps going, and bills don’t care about your grief. Fortunately, as hard as losing my mom was, sitting through quietness, sadness, rage, peace, chaos, and reflection on behalf of my daughter, this rolled into it, and I was able to find an even stronger purpose.

My mom taught me how to be a creative entrepreneur, and she was nothing but light and love. Later in life, she changed her name from Valerie Merritt to Nia Nandi. Nia means purpose, and Nandi means happy, joy, and satisfaction—that is where I learned intention from, unbeknownst to me.

Man, I’m crying as I write this.

I have four children, three I was a part of and one I took on after marrying his beautiful mom. I love them all dearly, but your firstborn is different.

My dad was barely there, but when he was, he showed me mostly things I wish I’d never learned. So, I did what I knew best and wasn’t there for my kids early on. I was immature and selfish, and I was becoming the new version of my reference. On a different note, that ties in, as I got older and got into Market Research. I realized I loved studying audience behavior, especially psychographics.

If you understand the behavior, you understand cycles, and if you understand cycles, you can predict the future pattern of actions and results and their second-order effects. Then it's like, holy crap, I don’t have to be stuck in this cycle or prediction. I have a chance and a choice at this moment to change the behavior and thus shift to a more desired outcome.

So, I did the new work and became a better dad. Life turned into Market Research, and I identified behaviors that I knew if I adopted and built new consistent habits with them, the right combination would make me a better dad for my kids.

And I did it! I beat the internal system! My kids loved me! I was in a better space, personally and professionally!

But here’s a new piece of data. Yeah, you set a new course for yourself, but it doesn’t mean it was on a clean slate. You can’t undo the past actions and erase their future results. So, even though you are in a better space, you still have to deal with that returning bad energy you previously sent out into the universe.

And I reckon the pain back is on par with the pain of the offense, to which I say to whomever that person or people were, I am truly sorry for the pain I caused you because one day, my daughter asked me if she could come to live with me. I almost jumped through the roof because one of my kids requested to be with me?! My little artist and biggest fan of my videos?!

Win! Yes, you can; let’s talk to your mom about it!

The next day, she harmed herself, and the next week, I watched her on a ventilator until her system collapsed, and we had to pull the plug. I held her to her last breath. I’ll keep to myself the specifics of how we arrived here, but know that, showing up every day is a torturous but fulfilling honoring of their lives. Thats balance.

On the day my mom passed, they had to shut her alarm off so she would sleep in and not go to church. She was getting increasingly ill but wasn’t going to stop serving her community, and my stepdad just wanted her to get some rest. Giving all she had to ensure everyone else was good all the way to the end.

My daughter was autistic with a learning disability, and she was absolutely beautiful. But she struggled with being different and people not understanding her. They could have tried to, but not all children or adults are emotionally mature, so they made fun of her instead. People also took advantage.

She had no positive point of reference for going from being so different it’s treated like a negative to being accepted and championed because you learned it was a superpower and helped others do the same. That is what I was working to become, so now I have to keep serving because my mom did, and there are a lot of children in the world who think it isn’t worth being in that I need to show otherwise.

If I had to choose between being smart, understanding, and not having my child vs. being ignorant and having her, you know which way I’d go. Losing her made me understand how important the mission is and why I need to do my part to save as many of our children as possible. If I could only see her, then I couldn’t see them—that's why the choice wasn’t given to me.

Depression over passion isn’t a want; it's a state of being I have identified as having a hold over me because no matter how much good you do, it doesn’t make you forget why you’re doing it and all the things lost along the way. You can’t cure it, but you can find ways to manage yourself inside of it so it doesn’t spill out onto the people around you as much.

There’s nothing worse than having a big win but not being able to share it with the people you were winning for. So, I fulfill myself with community in an amplified way now. I want to help the community win and tell the world about it.

When people light up after getting a highlight, I see my mom and daughter light up because they know I did well.

And then I cry. Thats balance.

In Conclusion

I will fund ways to help creators understand their value and build wealth in the proper rooms.

I also want to be able to invest in Autism Research so I can show that it’s a superpower that should be embraced and helped to grow.

I know how to do it, and as you all help me unlock each milestone, I’ll lay out my genius plan more and more.

My business partner Adie likes to say stop giving them everything, and I try not to, I really do, but if you show an interest, oh boy, you're about to get a mind-blowing passionate rant. Sorry in advance.

Maybe it’s because I want to help so many people, so my ideas are lofty, and on top of that, I’m explaining a web of various art, business, and tech intersections, creating this ecosystem I’ve been envisioning for years. I see patterns most don’t, and that’s why my content connects the way it does.

Well, that’s a little about me and my motivations. I hope it has you intrigued enough to want to support our cause, and if you are, please subscribe!