Meet Wes Hamil | Entrepreneur, Artist, and Teacher

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

Hi Wes, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Being an artist is essentially being an entrepreneur. Having been an entrepreneur in multiple startups, I have learned that they are going to demand the majority of your time and effort. You have to enjoy as much of the process as you possibly can because to be successful it will require a high degree of commitment. Know this will be true of any endeavor, from the outset. This helps in the work/Life balance because you can avoid resenting the amount of time you spend working. The secret of work life balance is NOT that you get to spend equal time in terms of hours engaged in non-work activity (excluding sleep from this equation). If you are going to be successful you will spend far more time working on your project than almost anything else.

The “magic trick” in this balancing act is staying present to the moment when I take time away from work and stay fully connected to whatever the “non-work” activities are- be they rest, family time, etc. In other words truly be “not working”. It’s more the quality and intensity of the non work experiences that rejuvenate me than a quid pro quo system of “1 hour leisure/family for 1 hour work” formula. If I am doing 3/4 of life on the business, but the 1/4 of time I spend away from work I remain 100% present to those activities instead of still keeping work foremost in my mind, then that quality and intensity of time away from work rebalances and replenishes me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Finding a place in the Creative world is always challenging. Our culture does not generally speaking place the same value on artists as it does other vocations. Whether it is the songs I have written, some of which have appeared in films or on projects with very famous artists, or one of the books I have written, I possess the ability to convey complicated and layered concepts in a way that is direct and easy to consume.

Everything changed for me when I shifted the INTENT with which I approached Life- all areas of Life. This is best summed up by a phrase I coined decades ago. Once I shifted to focus from “What’s in it FOR me?” to new phrase “What’s in it FROM me?” doors opened. The world will always find a place for our gifts and abilities when we are looking first to CONTRIBUTE rather than consume. It’s like another one of my sayings- a sort of spiritual math if you will- CONTRIBUTION > CONSUMPTION.

I could go on at length about all the lessons learned…….

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live alot in my internal landscapes, so I can enjoy almost anywhere I go. That being said- around Denver I recommend the beauty of all the nature, from the foothills to the flatirons. Boulder and downtown Denver offer very enjoyable People watching and dining experiences.

For the Spiritually adventurous, they would get alot from connecting with our community here if they are into meditation and personal development type activities.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This will be a bit of an odd answer I suspect. There have been many great mentors in my life, typically in the form of people I have interacted with who either modeled inspiring behavior to aspire to, or modeled exploitation behavioral which taught me what to avoid and showed me “who I did NOT” want to be. All of them have helped me.

Specifically however I would like to shout out to my wife Victoria- we have been together 44 years, during which time she has had multiple challenges health wise and literally dozens of surgeries. She never quits on Life, she always supports my talents and encourages me to risk and go for goals, and she never quits on herself despite the pain and frustration of the constant struggle to remain healthy.

Website: weshamil.com

Instagram: weshamil

Twitter: @weshamil

Facebook: @WhiteManRedRoad

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSsvrG5BE3-mtXowb-h8SuA

Image Credits
Photos by Wes and Victoria Hamil