Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Victoria Alice. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Victoria, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I get my work ethic from my family. It is just how they approach building stability in their lives.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
When I create anything, whether it is work I’m producing for a client, clipping together pictures and audio, or sharing my interests online – I consider each piece from the frivolous to the dignified pieces – an extension of myself.
I am sincere about what I make, some of it doesn’t require long periods of brainstorming rather than just spur-of-the-moment ideas, and some of it, is a piece of my inner world.
Whether it is work a client asks me to produce, clips of pictures and audio pieced together, or boudoir-genre photography, I’m just having fun and making sure it aligns with my vision. In retrospect, nothing you make is frivolous, I often say that as long as you are having fun it doesn’t matter if it’s frivolous or dignified, all of it matters.
My motto goes ” I was put on this earth to have fun ” and this is just more of a fleshed-out explanation of the matter.
Remember when we use to paint paintings, draw drawings, and there was no metric for whether or not it was worthy other than you enjoyed what you made. If people could create with that same joy behind it, we would have many people making things not just people who create for profit, for approval, for other reasons. I don’t think this only applies to art that is created on a canvas, through photography, film, and etc.
Because that is a really close-minded way to look at things. Many things can be considered art, whether it is the performing arts – dance, song, acting, the martial arts – philosophy and discipline paired with physicality. There are many ways that art takes form in our world.
I didn’t start making what I make for profit necessarily, though alot of my personal life choices stand behind creating some kind of stability or security for myself. I pretty much did well in school not because I wanted to, but because it was necessary so I could give myself a fighting chance at the many things I wanted to explore. I don’t care for the approval of authority figures unless it lends to my long term goals. My peers’ approval doesn’t matter to me either because there will always be someone ready to disapprove of me.
The approval of authority figures doesn’t matter to me if it doesn’t contribute to my vision. I don’t really view people as quantifiable as numbers because to me, people can have everything one day and lose it overnight and vice versa.
We cannot see into people’s intangible reserves of effort or persistence or what they are silently doing to enhance their lives or contribute to their community so it’s not my place to do so. People often seem to be “overnight successes” which is not true. They probably have a whole journey they didn’t share with people. Vice versa, I accept the possibility that some people do have lengths of teams helping them move forward. I can’t keep my eye on that because it won’t help me forward.
My job is to have fun and enjoy what I make, and try my best to get close to what is in my head. Because tomorrow is not promised, fun is a good use of my life and if I die tomorrow that would be the mark I want to leave, fulfillment and enjoyment of my life, and being sincere in doing so.
Since I was 18 – I pretty much had attempted to do many types of businesses and failed, not mentioning these to people. I probably will continue to attempt things and perfect it. The world often comes hard and harsh on failure as if there is no such thing as evolution or learning. So, I was going to keep trying until I felt satisfied and understood my capabilities just as much. The metric for me is fun and experience.
I tried a couple product-based businesses, I had drafted ideas for these products and was advised by another entrepreneurial friend at the time until I was 21 that product based businesses were the most difficult because if I stored inventory, it would cost me to sit behind in a warehouse. I tried service-based businesses then at 21 because it doesn’t cost inventory, and found that I had to develop my marketing skills. So what I did from that point on, was take as many internships as I could get, and throw myself into extracurriculars that would connect me with the people who could teach me the necessary skills. The great thing about doing these things is variety and being able to see everyone’s unique gifts in the cosmic consciousness that is the entire world.
One of the decent businesses I’d done where I was able to retain a steady number of clients was through writing other people’s papers for them however, it wasn’t really what I enjoyed nor brought me purpose. I found a common theme between this is that I didn’t enjoy taking orders from people I didn’t genuinely respect. I still find that to be true today…. Some things are fundamental parts of people’s character. I don’t think you always have to listen to authority figures either especially if they’re useless in the long-term. I’m not saying that other people don’t have something to teach you but it doesn’t really make sense to me, to just follow orders like a drone without some long-term gain simply because someone else put them there.
Every time I’ve followed my own intuition and path anyway, it ended up working out better for me and I ended up surprising myself with what I can do. So I continue to do that, because it gets me alot closer to my long term vision.
It’s hard to say I have one professional focus. I enjoy many things: I enjoy managing and creating content for various social media brands with my UGC business, enjoy modeling and creating content for Playboy, enjoy creating fun Tiktok content to showcase my personal life, but still also enjoy traveling, working out, boxing and martial arts. I think my interests and focus are ever expanding not decreasing with time because I value exploration and genuinely believe that I can make it for myself just by creating things and refining my craft in the professional metrics but the highest metric for me, is whether or not I enjoy it – because like I’ve said many times before
“I was put on this earth to have fun”.
In a couple weeks I’ll be releasing new content for Playboy, then I’ll be back to continuously doing UGC which is what I’ve been doing since I started that business a little under 2 years ago.
I think I’ll just always be making things till it’s time for me to move onto my next journey.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The 3 skills I think are important and impactful in my journey
Willingness to take risks
Genuine enjoyment/fun (if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t go the extra mile to commit or learn everything needed about it and do it consistently)
Consistency (hand in hand with resilience)
My advice is to listen to your inner child and remember that the tools you have to create a linear/normal profession still exist, won’t be erased whether or not you take a risk or try to pave a path for yourself. And, as time goes on, as long as you commit to your focus, your skillsets will ever expand and grow not decrease, thereby giving you a better chance at succeeding or monetizing your interests. Failures are not endings, just opportunities to see areas for improvement and learn your own capabilities. If you view every setback that way, you won’t stop trying and if you don’t stop trying, eventually something has to give.
This applies to everything not just professionally, in life, in love, in fitness and developing your personal inner strength.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
There are many people to thank on my journey of continuing to be me. Even if I may no longer be friends with them or close to them, it’s the small belief that they had in me that helped me initiate the courage to try.
I would like to thank various friends I’ve had as a child who helped me explore my many interests. I also would like to thank Mo, for playing a pivotal role in my development as an adult exploring and challenging my many areas of interest, and telling me I’m not simply crazy but a crazy person with a plan and persistence.
Sometimes it is good to meet “delusional” people who have done what you want and aren’t that far in proximity to you, especially if they’re older and share your values because it’s somewhat like seeing yourself, if not someone similar to you who has succeeded at their vision despite their delusions and the concrete world sharing their opposition.
I give the most credit to myself though at the end of the day because I have always had that willingness to try and explore many things inside me since I was a kid but all these people helped continue to ignite the way for me. And for that, I am endlessly grateful.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingvictoriaalice/
Image Credits
Black and White Photo: Shot by Tony Marino @tonymmarino on Instagram All other photos shot in swimsuit: Shot by Yoshimura Neex @36neex on Instagram
