Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 84
You go viral overnight. Now how do you get rich?, New Yorker Cartoon of the Week, Georgia O’Keeffe’s photographs, Recipe Corner, and more.
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You go viral overnight. Now how do you get rich?
Inside the fledgling cottage industry helping influencers make money.
For a skyrocketing industry, there are very few places where aspiring content creators can speak publicly about the finer details of their work. It’s a delicate balance, performing your life for the consumption of others, then calculating your value in the public marketplace of attention. While most influencers have multiple streams of revenue — sharing affiliate links, making money from creator funds, launching their own businesses, or starting a subscription service — by far the most popular is brand sponsorships, in which a company pays an influencer to promote or incorporate their product.
When they first start out, fledgling influencers typically have no frame of reference for how much they should be paid for such services: a 30-second TikTok video, an Instagram story, a series of three posts in two months, whatever it might be. And in an industry predicated on aspiration and envy, things can get messy: If Nike sends you free sneakers, do you still post the shoes in the hope that the company might pay you in the future? What do you do if you find out another influencer is being paid significantly more for the same work? If a brand takes six months to pay you but you’ve signed an NDA, where do you go?
In recent years, a cottage industry has formed around the problem of calculating the worth of influencers, who have been estimated to number more than 50 million globally.
“Everybody is basically their own contract employees and setting their own rates. I had no idea what to price anything,” says Ashley Hosmer, a 34-year-old lifestyle creator in Los Angeles. After losing her job early in the pandemic, she began posting reviews of scented candles on Instagram and got so many eager replies that she leaned into it further. She’s now known on TikTok as the creator with the most detailed candle review spreadsheet in history.
Influencing is still a dream job for many people, but it isn’t something you can apply for. Babies can be influencers. So can dogs. Nobody tells you how to do it; you don’t have a boss. Influencers are, ultimately, digital islands competing for our attention, many of them without guidance from someone who might know better.
New Yorker Cartoon of the Week
Happy Monday everybody!
Instagram post of the week
Shouts to my employer, Leahy Lending, for this banger of a post.
That good-looking guy is a Certified Mortgage Advisor now. I am available to help you and your family. Visit micahwiener.com to schedule a free consultation call today.
Thank you.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Photographs, Seen Closely for the First Time
In letters, O’Keeffe refers to her photos as “sketches,” a quick and precise way to get her ideas down.
In July 1964, Georgia O’Keeffe purchased her first Polaroid camera. “She was like a kid with a fine new toy,” her friend, the photographer Todd Webb later wrote in his journal. “She said it was better than Christmas.” At the time — as is still the case today — O’Keeffe was best known for her luminous oil paintings abstracting nature. But she’d also been quietly making photographs for more than a decade. As Webb’s entry suggests, photography gave the artist great joy. But it was also a crucial — if little-known — component of her creative practice and personal life.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston is the first exhibition devoted to O’Keeffe’s photography. The groundbreaking presentation brings together nearly 100 of the artist’s photos from a previously unstudied archive, along with 17 of her related paintings and drawings.
Check out some of these snaps.
Recipe Corner
It’s my birthday week. This looks like a meal I might enjoy.
Garlic-Butter Steak Bites
2 pounds beef strip steak (1-inch thick), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (3 tablespoons)
⅓ cup dry vermouth
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Sprinkle steak all over with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper. Add oil to skillet, and heat until shimmering. Add half of the steak pieces to skillet, keeping space between each piece. Cook, undisturbed, until browned and crispy on bottoms, about 1 minute. Flip steak pieces, and continue cooking until browned on other side, about 1 minute. Flip pieces again, and cook, turning occasionally, until most sides are browned and crispy and steak is almost medium-rare, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer steak to a large bowl. Repeat cooking process with remaining steak pieces, transferring cooked steak to bowl with first batch; set aside. Do not wipe skillet clean.
Reduce heat under skillet to medium; add garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add vermouth, and scrape up browned bits from bottom of skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 3 tablespoons, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; add butter, and stir until melted and creamy. Add Worcestershire sauce and remaining 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour mixture over steak pieces in bowl, and toss to coat. Transfer steak with butter sauce to a platter, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.
CRISPY SMASHED POTATOES WITH CREOLE SAUCE
Creole Sauce
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon creole mustard or whole grain mustard
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon hot sauce such as Frank's Red Hot
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon salt
Potatoes
1 pound baby red potatoes rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin or light tasting
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Chopped chives and flaked salt for topping
Creole Sauce
To a medium mixing bowl, add mayo, creole mustard, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper.
Use a small whisk or fork to mix all the ingredients until combined. Refrigerate the sauce while you prepare the potatoes.
Potatoes
Boil potatoes in water until easily pierced with a fork. Drain potatoes and allow them to dry out for about for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 °C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
Transfer potatoes to a large mixing bowl, add olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper. Toss everything together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until all potatoes are coated with the oil and spices.
Transfer potatoes to the prepared baking sheet. Do not discard the oil and spices leftover in the bowl. Use the back of a ½ cup measuring cup to smash each potato, being careful not to break them apart. If a few break apart it is fine, just try to keep them intact.
Brush the tops of the potatoes with the remaining oil and spices leftover in the bowl used to coat the potatoes. Bake potatoes in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, until crispy and dark golden brown.
Drizzle potatoes with creole sauce and sprinkle chopped chives over top. Enjoy!
Microwave Eggplant with Scallion-Chile Crisp Oil
1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound 2 ounces)
1 large scallion, trimmed
2 ½ tablespoons neutral-flavored cooking oil, such as grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons chile crisp, stirred before measuring
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Fine sea salt, to taste
Peel off and trim pointed flaps of eggplant stem, leaving remaining stem intact. Using a fork, pierce eggplant all over 12 to 16 times. Place eggplant on a microwavable plate. Microwave on high until eggplant is soft, slightly deflated, and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Pierce the thickest portion of eggplant with a knife; if eggplant is not softened, microwave an additional 60 seconds. Let eggplant stand at room temperature until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes.
Thinly slice scallion, separating dark green parts from white and light green parts. Set scallion aside. Combine oil and chile crisp in a small microwavable bowl, and microwave on high until hot, about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Add fish sauce and garlic; let stand until garlic softens (garlic will immediately sizzle), about 10 seconds. Stir in white and light green parts of scallion. Set sauce aside.
Trim stem end of eggplant, and cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Cut each half lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; transfer to a serving plate, and top with sauce. Season with salt to taste. Sprinkle with dark green parts of scallion.
Did Micah practice yoga this week?
Yes. 60 minutes Saturday at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. That’s 8 weekend classes in 9 weeks this year. Namaste.
More Micah
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Those smashed potatoes look amazing