Meet Joe Compton | Executive Director, Producer, and Host at the Go Indie Now Network

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joe Compton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, how do you think about risk?
Without risk is there is truly no reward. Not everything works, not everything works the first time you try it. Trial and error are just as important tools for success as anything else in your toolbox. That being said there is a good way to approach risk and as you gain experiences and learn from those (especially the failures) you find just find yourself. You find your speed, your voice, your way, and your method, Through discovering all that you begin to develop what I like to call calculated risks at the right moment. The steps in developing this are fairly easy but yet for a lot of people, difficult to navigate. #1 You have to let go of any fear. Not just failure but success too. You have to accept that if you take a risk, whatever happens with that leap is what was meant to happen. You can’t control everything. #2 You have to account for variable change, never get flustered if you develop a plan to take a risk and it doesn’t go the way you calculated it. You have to be ready for anything and have plan b, c, d, etc. #3 You have to measure your value as it pertains to the risk. You have worth, you have valuable, don’t take an unnecessary risk that doesn’t reap anything you would gain from it. Your brand is just as important as the risk and you are the only one that cares about it, so protecting it is your #1 priority. You might say how do you know the risk is worth it? Well, there are 2 questions you can ask to weigh that. -Is it something you haven’t experienced before but know other people have and those who have got something out of it? -Do you have the time and effort to invest and will that time and effort cost you anything you have already accomplished or temper an external force that may not be directly related to the risk/reward ( i. e. valuable family time, zapping creative energy from where you had already set aside in a routine, working on me time – be that physical or mental etc.) So with those factors, I look at risk as an opportunity to grow, develop, and explore without changing the dynamic of what I have already accomplished or built. I do a lot of traveling, for which I hauling equipment (expensive equipment) and I pay for all of that out of my own pocket. However, the exposure from not only the event I am covering but the networking I get to do is a risk I will take every time because it grows my business and brand. I also aim to impress, so in calculating that risk I know I have to bring it and stand out. So I approach interviews in a different manner, absorbing the materials given but looking at it from a perspective of not being on the outside but being on the inside. I also deep dive into research beyond the materials given. I look at interviews done with the person(s) I might be talking to and highlight questions or reactions to questions that might be good to avoid. I also approach them in a positive manner (no matter how I might be feeling, how tired I might be) I look at every opportunity as that an opportunity. You never know when you are standing next to someone who can help your brand or better yet someone in where you would be helping each other. So that becomes a well worth it risk.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Well, me personally I am someone who has always been around art and artists. I have looked at this all as a community, my tribe, where I belong for a very long time. I have made short films, both on my own and produced for others. I worked in the music business for an independent label honing their message, brand, and giving the sparks needed to highlight bands who need highlighting. I have written and published 2 novels, countless poems, and short stories in periodicals, magazines, and anthologies. All that has to lead me to Go Indie Now. An online network that highlights, supports, entertains, and educates all around the idea of Indie Art and Indie Artists. We produce content that is live, filmed and edited, just as any network would in a seasonal, weekly, monthly, and special event fashion. Our content streams over YouTube, Facebook Watch, IGTV, TikTok, and Twitch. We aim to be on many more broadcast outlets in the future and produce content that broadcasts 24/7. We believe that art has become so commercial so saturated and that there is an elitist mentality that has permeated and really denigrated and insulted the very people it is trying to engage. We want to show the world there is so much purity and true passion that doesn’t get seen, that would connect to those turned off and really truly insulted and disregarded audiences. Not only that but we look to bring in the artists who feel beaten down, taken for a ride, or shoved away because they aren’t cut from the cloth of those on the inside who think they can dictate what is seen and what is promoted and popular. We want to give them a community and not just as authors or filmmakers but as artists. A place where we all belong, where we can learn from each other, and experience success together. So Go Indie Now produces content that tries its best to do all the above. We are just scratching the surface of what we aim to achieve and what I have learned is that you have value and that value is worth being seen, heard, and read. So we won’t stop until we have helped you find that.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Well I would not be where I am without many people who have given up their time and worked tirelessly to ensure this network gets seen and has success. C. L. Cannon has done so much for the Go Indie Now brand. She is a marketing genius but she also is an ocean of knowledge and she is always willing to share that knowledge and put in the time in between her busy schedule to fit in Go Indie Now. She also always looks for ways to be more involved, and she really is a great person to bounce ideas off of and help expand our brand. Jin Okubo has been with me since the beginning. He never shies away, no matter how busy he is with his own life and pursuits, to jump in and do something needed or give something to Go Indie Now. He is someone whose trust I value because he doesn’t let me down, and believe it or not that is a hard, hard thing to find. When given the producing reigns he always takes that mantle and runs with it. I never have to say anything, he is that reliable. J. D. Estrada is someone who has immense talent but he also has an immense heart and he gives so much to Go Indie Now, no matter how much he has going on I always can count on him. J.D. is also a star on the screen for us. He brings it at levels I think are untouchable and that is something incredibly valuable to the brand and the ideas that we wish to have seen on our network. Katie Salidas is another star. She is a bonafide burning bush of knowledge, and what she doesn’t know she studies hard to know and she steps up whenever she is needed. Her dedication to Go Indie Now is a special thing that I do not take lightly. I am very lucky to have her be one of the faces of this network and behind the scenes, she is someone who contributes in ways I can’t imagine navigating without her. Julia Allen is so dedicated to producing much-needed content for Go Indie Now. She is someone I also bounce and discuss a lot of our programming with but she doesn’t just listen, like C. L. Cannon, she aims to jump in and do something to help that idea foster. Once I have given her the free-range she needs, I never worry about it getting one or produced in a manner we want to produce content in. She has produced some of the most memorable and proudest moments this network has ever had. She takes so much off my shoulders and that is priceless. Our fans and participants in our shows, you all are the reason we do this, and why Go Indie Now exists. Without your love, dedication, and support none of this matters. THANK YOU! I am so grateful to all of you.

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