“Even when you have doubts, take that step. Take chances. Mistakes are never a failure—they can be turned into wisdom.” ― Cat Cora

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In school, I was always scared of getting an answer wrong. Red marks across a test or paper would make me cringe. What did I do wrong? I studied so hard. I wanted my grades to be perfect, but perfection was often unattainable.

I’m sure you’ve felt that same fear and embarrassment too. We have been conditioned to always strive for perfection, even if it is unattainable.

Our schools punish kids for their failures, but is that the best way to teach our future generations? They condition us to find the one right answer, but there is rarely ever one solution to a problem.

Those lessons often translate to our lives outside of school. Most companies are searching for people who can come up with innovative solutions.

On the other hand, we expect companies to tell us exactly what to do. We have been conditioned not to take chances. We look at mistakes and believe there is no recovering from them.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from studying creative people, it’s that they are unafraid to take chances. They leap into challenges head first. They treat failures as a chance to learn instead of as an indictment or themselves and their work.

Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone learns from them.
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When they fail, they look at that experience and ask themselves “What could I have done better?” That’s exactly what we all need to do. Stop getting down on yourself for making a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone learns from them.

Don't worry about making a mistake. Mistakes are the foundation of learning.
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We need to be more bold in our thoughts and our actions. So go out there and take chances. Don’t worry about making a mistake. Mistakes are the foundation of learning.

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Bodlar Deathbringer is a visual artist living in New York City. Since early in his life, it seemed like he was destined to become an artist. His father was a visual artist and his mother was a writer. He also started creating his own paintings when he was eight years old. So it would seem odd that Bodlar went into IT work.

After years of working in the corporate world, he finally decided he had enough. He decided he would move to New York City to pursue his art career full-time. It hasn’t always been easy, but Bodlar has been working as an artist ever since.

In this episode, learn about the challenges you face as an artist, the importance in marketing and networking, and why you need to confront your fears.

Here are three things you can learn from Bodlar:

Work Hard and be Prolific

No one has any illusions that life as a full-time artist is easy. Bodlar believes you must want it. “”It’s hard. It’s really hard, and it’s perpetually terrifying. You know, you just always have to be on point. You have to hustle. You have to be self-motivated. You have to really want it.”

When you are working a 9-5 job, there’s a certain comfort there. But when you are working for yourself, things are different. “The reason it took me so long to get out of IT work is that you get addicted to that level of comfort of having that regular paycheck. It’s very hard to look in the face of the world and say ‘No, I’m going to do this other thing and go off the beaten path…”

The key is to constantly create. Bodlar creates 600-700 pieces a year, and that’s without the comfort of his own studio. While most artists believe talent is enough, he believes in the power of being prolific. “In order to be a successful artist, you really have to be prolific.”

As an example he brings up the fact that most famous artists are prolific creators. “Any artist you can name off the top of your head got there because they were prolific and worked and worked and worked their ass off to get there.”

Network and Market Your Art

Another thing Bodlar believes in deeply is the importance of networking and marketing your art. People won’t find you unless you put yourself out there. “As a visual artist, half of your job is marketing and networking and that people aren’t going to come to you just because you painted a pretty picture. You have to go out and show it to them and find the right person to buy it. And I’ve always painted under the auspices of painting what I want to paint and then going to find someone who likes it, that wants to buy it.”

You can’t just wait for people to come to you. You have to go to them. “You have to get into the scene. You have to figure out who the important players are. Who are the important galleries? Who are the important artists? And just go to as many events as you can and network with as many people as you can.”

It’s all about being visible. You can’t be afraid to share your work with others. “You have to be visible as an artist. You have to go out and figuratively grab people by the collar and say ‘Hey look, I did this. This has merit. It’s interesting, and really get in people’s face about what you’re doing.'”

Overcome Your Fears

When I asked Bodlar what separates someone who makes the leap from their 9-5 IT job from someone who doesn’t he talked about overcoming our fears. If we want to live a life without regret, we have to make that scary leap. “Our life, our society, our world are typically controlled by fear and jumping off of that cliff into the abyss of art is probably one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve been through in my life and it still terrifies me to this day, but I finally realized that if I don’t do this, If I don’t take that leap, that it’s going to kill me… and I don’t want to be one of those people that wakes up when I’m sixty-five and realize I wasted my life doing nothing.”

He believes many people never make the leap because they’re afraid of discomfort. “I think people are just very afraid of discomfort. We have this evolutionary precept to where we want comfort. We want to be comfortable. We want to have abundance… We want to have all of those things, and so, it’s hard to balance those things, because when you’re starting out, they’re very much at odds with one another.”

He also has no illusions that our fears and struggles will ever go away. We just have to be willing to deal with them. “Even if I’m selling tons of work, and making tons of money, I’m still going to be worried about what’s next. There’s still going to be newer, bigger, struggles to tackle and I think that’s one of the other things that a lot of people don’t realize that no matter where you’re at in life it’s going to be a struggle. It’s always going to be hard and that if you’re afraid of it being hard, then you’re never going to get anywhere. You have to be willing to say, ‘Okay, this is going to be hard and then go out and do it anyway.”

Shownotes

• about Bodlar
  • born into a family of artists
  • father is a visual artist/painter/sculptor
  • mother is a writer/pianist
  • created his own paintings starting at eight
  • very first pieces were created from construction paper and markers
  • mom had art pieces framed, interior decorator friend asked who made them
    • got first commission at twelve to decorate a riverboat casino with twenty of the pieces
  • thought it was common to get commissions that early
  • didn’t put much focus into it, but did get into music
  • had bad experiences with art and music which turned him off of art as a profession
  • got into IT work after high school
  • did it for 13 years before realizing he hated it
  • turned back to music but it didn’t really grab his attention
  • thought about painting more and realized it was his thing
  • in 2012, gave up his full-time IT career to do painting full-time
  • got help from his dad on what it meant to be a classically trained artist
  • asked himself “Why does a canvas always have to be a square?”
    • started experimenting and ended up creating wild shaped canvasses
  • Las Vegas was a creative black hole
    • decided he had to move to NYC to get the most out of his art career

4:34.5 “It was really difficult to live in corporate America because they have so many standards. They’re very conservative. You can’t do this with your hair. You can’t have visible tattoos. It was just very stifling and realized I had to find a way out.”

• networking in NY
  • people are very busy, it’s hard to line people up and schedule them

“It’s just a grind. You never know where a break is going to come, so you just kinda have to treat everything and everyone you meet as though they’re going to be that person.”

• favorite style of art
  • doing the same style over and over can get boring
  • has 3-4 directions he goes in
    • minimalist/subtle
    • abstract – emotional dumps
    • aggressive – censorship culture
    • vortex pieces spawned from happy accident
    • traveler – abstract/landscape – journey as human beings
    • Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey in The Hero With a Thousand Faces
• how he works on his art
  • usually creates multiple pieces at the same time
• learning from his parents
  • mother wanted him and his brothers to develop a strong sense of initiative
    • built a strong foundation for building a critical and capable mind
    • learned a lot musically from his mother because she was a pianist
  • father gave him strong background in visual arts with color theory and design principles
  • both taught him life lessons on what not to do
  • saw his parents struggled, so he decided to get regular job

24:25.4″The life of an artist is very challenging. It’s very typically like… it’s always a roller coaster. You go through periods of feast and famine and because you’re individually employed, you don’t know where the next job is coming. You don’t know where… It’s always this tenuous sort of, on a razor’s edge type of life.”

25:24 “It doesn’t matter what you do in your life. You are going to have stress. You are going to have challenges and ultimately came to the conclusion that if I’m going to have to deal with challenges in my life, I want them to at least be on my terms, and that was ultimately what pushed me into painting full-time.”

• dealing with the fact that there’s no guaranteed salary or stability
  • has little freak outs, but always hits the pavement again
  • does not think he could turn back to having a full-time, non-painting job
  • large disconnect with visual artists and performance artists
    • talent vs. practice
  • works at frame shop because of his experience with

“It’s hard. It’s really hard, and it’s perpetually terrifying. You know, you just always have to be on point. You have to hustle. You have to be self-motivated. You have to really want it… The reason it took me so long to get out of IT work is that you get addicted to that level of comfort of having that regular paycheck. It’s very hard to look in the face of the world and say ‘No, I’m going to do this other thing and go off the beaten path…”

“In order to be a successful artist, you really have to be prolific.”

30:27 “Any artist you can name off the top of your head got there because they were prolific and worked and worked and worked their ass off to get there.”

• where he sets up his studio since he moves around so much
  •  creates 600-700 works a year
  • can’t paint as much as he would like because he doesn’t have a permanent space
  • has a small mobile painting rig where he takes to parks/bars/etc
• where he gets the most sales
  • come through personal networking
  • goes out 2-3 times per week to specific bars to do personal networking
  • started working with a broker to sell larger pieces

33:40.8 “As a visual artist, half of your job is marketing and networking and that people aren’t going to come to you just because you painted a pretty picture. You have to go out and show it to them and find the right person to buy it. And I’ve always painted under the auspices of painting what I want to paint and then going to find someone who likes it, that wants to buy it.”

• social media
  • has sold a few pieces through Facebook promotions
  • hasn’t had direct sales through Twitter/Instagram, but Instagram has been a powerful tool since moving to NYC
    • being introduced to galleries
    • got recognition from Jerry Saltz a famous art critic
    • Instagram is a good way to network with people
• strategy for Instagram
  •  presenting your work in a more professional and systemic way
  • using the right hashtags
  • tagging different boroughs and parts of NYC
  • using it as a portfolio
  • mohawk as a conversation starter
  • you need to be willing to talk to people everybody and promote
  • business card with fuck on one side, and Art by Bodlar on the other
    • the card requires an explanation, which allows him to show people his work

38:09 “You have to get into the scene. You have to figure out who the important players are. Who are the important galleries? Who are the important artists? And just go to as many events as you can and network with as many people as you can.”

38:44 “You have to be visible as an artist. You have to go out and figuratively grab people by the collar and say ‘Hey look, I did this. This has merit. It’s interesting, and really get in people’s face about what you’re doing.”

39:33 “I don’t get to stop working ever. Really, I mean, I’m always working. Whether it’s somebody I meet on the street who makes a comment on my hair. It’s always this way of creating a conversation.”

• his choice isn’t to stand out, it’s a stylistic choice
  • likes punk rock/industrial music
• most interesting interaction in NYC
  • interesting interactions with his friend Andre who is a violinist
    • hosts miniature loft concerts
    • meeting talented artists and trying to reach that higher echelon
• artists that influenced his work
  • favorite artist is Mark Rothko
  • fan of Vincent Van Gogh
    • put emotion into his paintings
  • “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” ― Cesar A. Cruz

“I always really appreciate artists that work on an emotional level.”

44:45.7 “I think really good art is going to hit that chord where it creates this sense of discord or at least creates this emotional connection or a little bit of unease or it just starts this conversation rather than just being a pretty picture to look at.”

• best/most powerful comment he’s received
  • any time another artist compliments him
    • they understand the elegance and simplicity of it
  • Convergence
  • some of his most powerful compliments were intended to be insults
  • does a lot of work with curse words
    • people being offended highlights what he’s trying to say/show
    • words only carry the amount of power that you give them

45:51.5 “Any time I receive a compliment from another artist, it always really carries a lot of weight, especially if it’s an artist that I respect because that’s saying ‘Wow, I’m an artist, and I’m really blown away by a painting you did. That means a lot to me.”

• source of his inspiration
  • when he was young he had shapes he had to get out of his head
  • for his abstract work, he goes into it with an emotion in mind, then lets it come to him
  • emotive work is the same as it was when he was young

51:16.5 “Art is all about expression and it’s all about, for me it’s all about emoting and I’m trying to convey some sense of feeling and emotion and through that, sometimes I get to do it in the moment and sometimes it’s this longer, gradual, methodical thing. So It’s a good mixture I think.”

• how he paints
  • comes up with the image in his mind first
  • the process he uses
  • studying art under his father
  • design as an important part of art as well as color theory
• advice he would give to his younger self

54:58. “The advice I would give to my younger self would be to don’t be afraid of being an artist. That being genuine to who you are and what you want to say is extremely important, and that people are going to judge you anyway. So, you might as well be the most genuine form of yourself possible.”

• the difference between someone who makes the leap and someone who doesn’t
  • If you imagine yourself in 5, 10 years, etc. are you happy with the course you are on? If not, you need to take that plunge and change course
  • it took him 4 years to leave his job before becoming a full-time artist
  • it’s a matter of conquering your fears
  • it takes 10 years to become an overnight success
  • you don’t ever see the struggle it took to become successful

55:57 “Our life, our society, our world are typically controlled by fear and jumping off of that cliff into the abyss of art is probably one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve been through in my life and it still terrifies me to this day, but I finally realized that if I don’t do this, If I don’t take that leap, that it’s going to kill me… and I don’t want to be one of those people that wakes up when I’m sixty-five and realize I wasted my life doing nothing.”

56:44 “I think people are just very afraid of discomfort. We have this evolutionary precept to where we want comfort. We want to be comfortable. We want to have abundance… We want to have all of those things, and so, it’s hard to balance those things, because when you’re starting out, they’re very much at odds with one another.”

1:00:07.7 “Even if I’m selling tons of work, and making tons of money, I’m still going to be worried about what’s next. There’s still going to be newer, bigger, struggles to tackle and I think that’s one of the other things that a lot of people don’t realize that no matter where you’re at in life it’s going to be a struggle. It’s always going to be hard and that if you’re afraid of it being hard, then you’re never going to get anywhere. You have to be willing to say, ‘Okay, this is going to be hard and then go out and do it anyway.”

• Bodlar talks about his name
  •  he was not born with his name
  • never cared much about birth name
  • got into role playing games at 11-12
  • came up with the name Bodlar Deathbringer for a roleplaying game
  • liked the name and character, kept it for future characters
  • everyone knew he was going to use it
  •  2000 joined tabletop game for warhammer and colored and detailed figures
    • first time someone called him Bodlar referring to him instead of character
    • it really resonated with him and felt like it was who he’d become
    • by 2008 he was using it full-time
    • when he went into painting full-time, it made sense to use it
  • didn’t want people to view him as his father’s son, he wanted to be known in the art world for his work
  • reacts negatively to his legal name, because that’s not who he is
  • friend looked up meaning of his name and it’s a Scandanavian name meaning executioner
  • didn’t know the two names were related when he created it
  • wants his art to be a way to start conversations and change people’s perspectives
  • Jason Zook selling his last name
• Infected Mushroom by Dropout
  • listens to the song to remind himself he’s on a journey

1:11:50 “We’re so busy going from A to Z that we forget that there’s twenty four letters in-between.”

1:12:04.4 “Yes everybody has a lot going on in their life, but don’t skip through the process. Don’t skip through the details and appreciate the journey.”

1:12:58.5 “The end is boring. The beginning is boring. The real meat of anything happens in-between.”

• morning routine
  • is nocturnal so his morning doesn’t usually start until 11-12
  • starts with coffee and cigarette
  • then goes on to social media then tackles his task for the day from gallery submissions to talking with collectors
• recommendations for books, documentaries, tools
  • A History of Doubt by Jennifer Michael Hect – history of great doubters of the world that made a profound change
  • DMT: The Spirit Molecule
  • Simon Schama’s Power of Art – follows series of impressive artists
• creative people
  •  Yayoi Kusama artist who committed herself by choice and continues to create
    • her work is similar to some of his art
•  definition of creativity

1:19:25 “My definition of creativity would simply be making something, anything, that wasn’t there before. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate or extravagant thing. Just making anything, I think, takes a certain level of creativity.”

• being more creative
  • creativity is like a muscle
  • every time he creates, he gets five ideas from it
  • everything creates more inspiration and motivation
  • it’s hard at first but eventually you’ll pick up momentum

1:20:07.4 “I really believe that anybody can be creative, that anybody can express themselves if they want to, but it takes practice and you have to take really small steps at first.”

1:20:44 “If you really want to do something creative, it’s really more about consistency and showing up and doing it over and over and over, and eventually you’ll get to a point where you’ll look at your work and realize it’s not terrible anymore.”

• challenge
  • you have to be prolific to be a great artist
  • Picasso quotient – during 70yr period he had 35k works
    • roughly 500 works a year
    • includes sketches/studies, and production pieces, etc.
  • challenge yourself daily to do two things
  • by doing that you will hone your skills and build momentum
  • keep track of the things that you do and measure it out over the year

Bodlar.com  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook

The post Bodlar Deathbringer on Being a Prolific Creator, Networking and Marketing Your Art, and Overcoming Your Fears – Cracking Creativity Episode 58 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Love me or Hate me but at the end of the day u will RESPECT me!!
– @KingJames (Lebron James)

Print available at Society6.

No matter how nice you are, no matter how hard you try, people will end up hating you or your work. It’s not because you did something wrong. Unfortunately, it’s just the way some people are. You can’t please everyone all the time.

I grew up thinking I could get everyone to like me. I never got into confrontations. I always tried to play the middle road when possible. The problem is, even when you keep to yourself and do your best, people still ridicule you.

It took me a while to figure this out. Why was I getting ridiculed for getting good grades? Why did people make fun of my art? I just wanted to make everyone happy, but the reality is, you can’t.

The great thing is, that lesson is a valuable one to learn. We can’t and shouldn’t try to please everyone. We have to embrace the people who love our work and ignore the people who don’t.

People can hate your work all they want, but taken in another light, it’s a sign of respect. If you are creating uninteresting work, people will just ignore you.

The fact that most people love your work and some people don’t is the ultimate compliment. It means you are creating work that is worthy of criticism.

Instead of trying to go out there and please the masses, embrace the haters. Learn that lesson I had to go through long ago. When you are at the top, people will try to bring you down. Use that as fuel to push you further.

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Photo by Erik Drost

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“Weird is just a side effect of being awesome.”  ― Bill Murray

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Andrea Dantas could have ended up poor and broke in Brazil. Her father went bankrupt when she was a child and her mother struggled to feed two kids. Her one saving grace was her love for acting.

Andrea left Brazil to study acting in Australia. While she was able to get a tourist Visa, she had trouble getting a work Visa. So her mother smuggled her money by putting it inside books she sent through the mail. While she survived on a diet of canned beans, she was still happy because she was learning and doing what she loved.

She has been able to build a successful career in acting through years of studying, performing, and working in multiple countries.

In this episode, learn why you should never stop learning, why you should always remember your why, and what it takes to do work that matters to you.

Here are three things you can learn from Andrea:

Never Stop Learning

One thing Andrea made very clear is that you should never stop learning. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been practicing your craft for one year or one hundred years, you are never done learning. “You never stop learning, and if you think that you’ve got it, and a project comes along and it’s just going to kick your butt and prove to you ‘Oh my gosh, I thought I knew everything.’ Hang on a second, but that’s with everything in life I think.”

Andrea also believes your technique matters. You can’t just go through the motions. “Nothing is more important than technique until artistry comes along. It’s the only way that your art is going to come out.”

She also believes that once you’ve discovered and mastered what works for you, the possibilities are endless. “Once you find what really works for you, and you hone into that and you become a master at that, then you can do… pretty much anything.”

Remember Your Why

Some people get so caught up in trying to be rich or famous that they forget about their craft. They forget the reason they got into art in the first place. They are too caught up with their vision of the future that they forget to live in the present. “I think it’s that ability of not being married to a situation and holding on so tight to it that you don’t see the change right in front of you and also being silent and asking yourself ‘Why am I doing this in the first place? Why do I still love doing this thing?’ It’s important.”

When I asked Andrea why she loves her work, she said it came from a direct answer from the divine. “My reason for doing this is because this was a direct answer to a question I had forgot and I believe that vocation, which is the most important thing in my life, is in total alignment with the divine and I think that I’m answering a calling. And I see how it’s impacting these artists in New York because New York can be a pretty intimidating city and how they found each other and they’re making things together… It’s such a rewarding job. It’s not even a job because it’s so good.”

One thing to remember when you are going through your journey is, it’s hard to do it alone. You need to find people who are going through a journey too so you can help each other out. “Find your tribe. For an actor, for an artist, that’s so important. Find an artistic family, the family that you choose to go through this journey together, to go through this journey with, because it can be pretty lonely out there when you’re an actor.”

On Doing Work that Matters

When we are starting out on our artistic journeys, we have grand visions of what we can accomplish. We look at those who came before us and think “I can do that too.”

While this may be true, it can also be stifling. Our expectations become unrealistic too quickly. It can stop us dead in our tracks. So, remember to stop being so hard on yourself. Just do the best you can at the moment. The rest will come to you in due time.

Just listen to what Andrea has to say. “Don’t be so hard on yourself thinking it has to be a masterpiece. Chances are, your first movie is not going to be a Martin Scorsese film. It’s not going to be that. So, I say get that idea. Put it on paper. Get people together. Go do it. Give birth to your ugly baby, and then, what do you know, you learn something. And the next one, you learn something else… We live in a day and age where there’s no reason for actors not to be working, for filmmakers not to be working because we have access to technology and things and we can be making our own stuff.”

It all begins with starting. “You have to start somewhere. Start somewhere, don’t stop and do the things you’re passionate about.”

And don’t get too caught up in the future. Live more in the now. “The future is now. No, I stopped thinking about the future a long time ago. I go as I go.”

Shownotes

• about Andrea
  • from Brazil, started acting in teens
  • decided she wanted to seek something else because the quality is Brazil wasn’t good enough
  • acting school in Australia
    • first thing she saw was quote – “Acting isn’t lying, it’s telling the deepest truth.” – Sanford Meisner
    • spoke so deeply into her heart that she left and never went back
    • lived in LA for six years and is now in NYC
• time in Brazil
  • being able to speak English vs. being able to act in English
  • emailed teacher about school, while living in a hostel dorm with female rugby players
  • saved money for two years and went through crazy personal things

7:09 “I had nothing to lose but also knew how much sacrifice I had to make to be able to be there. So, it was a challenge that I had to overcome.”

• sacrifices she made to pursue acting
  • father went bankrupt, so she had to count pennies to take bus or jumping subway
  • mother sacrificing her food for children when they only had two eggs left
  • didn’t find it difficult to leave that situation
  • grew up in theater community with the arts
  • didn’t have roots, family wasn’t a family
  • father was absent and mother struggled to raise two kids
  • learned affection from her grandfather
• surviving in Australia
  • had a tourist Visa, and applied for work Visa but couldn’t get one
  • mother sent her money in books
  • ate canned beans but was happy because she was learning so much
  • making sacrifices to do what you love

11:32 “At the end of the day, your heart needs to be fulfilled with joy and I think that comes from your ability to do what you were put in this world to do and follow your vocation.”

• Meisner vs. other techniques of acting
  • Meisner saw obsession with emotion
  • living truthfully under imaginary circumstances
  • you need to have imagination but also do things for real
    • don’t pretend
  • you don’t have to be a messed up person to play someone who is messed up
  • it gives you room to play different parts using your imagination as opposed to emotion
• didn’t make money into she moved to Europe
  • ex-husband was supportive and pushed her
  • she was going through self-doubt and uncertainty
  • went to Los Angeles to help her
  • was already working as an actress for ten years by this time
  • married for seven years, stayed for ten years
  • constantly studies and experiments with new things

17:04 “I have never stopped studying since I began, since I was 14 years old, I have always studied no matter what I’m doing because with this art form, if you stop, you just can’t stop because you’re your own instrument… So you change in life and you evolve.”

• learning and the ability to become better
  • technique gives you freedom to be artistic
  • there’s always a stage in life where you experiment and find the thing that’s for you

18:31.5 “You never stop learning, and if you think that you’ve got it, and a project comes along and it’s just going to kick your butt and prove to you ‘Oh my gosh, I thought I knew everything.’ Hang on a second, but that’s with everything in life I think.”

19:45 “Nothing is more important than technique until artistry comes along. It’s the only way that your art is going to come out.”

20:31 “Once you find what really works for you, and you hone into that and you become a master at that, then you can do… pretty much anything.”

• Meisner technique
  • went to 3 year academy in Brazil
  • it works when you need it
  • Playhouse West actors
  • it allows you to take your own approach
  • script analysis, making choices, using your emotions
• how she gets into character
  • her acting comes from herself
  • puts herself into the shoes of the character
  • find clues in the script and bring the story to life
  • reads the whole script before beginning to play a part
    • re-reads the script all the time

27:20.5 “If acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, I better know what circumstances we’re talking about. That’s so obvious.”

• evolution of her characters
  • her reaction is dependent upon what the other actors give her
  • being present in the moment and reacting to what’s happening
  • reacting as human beings to what’s happening
  • knowing when someone is not being genuine

28:18 “I think a mistake a lot of actors make is to lock into something and plan things and hold onto the idea so tightly that there is no room for real interaction. So I hope every interaction is different because that means that I’m really present with the other actor.”

• being a Flamenco dancer
  • Flamenco dancing influencing her acting
    • strong technique, expressiveness, and presence
    • has taught her discipline, expressiveness, and the ability to do something
    • you can’t be in your head, you have to listen
  • people who study more than one art form have a leg up on the competition
  • flamenco informs every other art form because  it has so much spirit and heart
• directing and writing Drug of Love
  • story about people seeking love
  • cinematographer Hunter Nolan coming in to bring a visual direction to the film
  • everyone who was cast was from Playhouse West Brooklyn Lab

36:46 “Just to work with my students and see that they’re slowly becoming their own artists, it’s so rewarding.”

• how acting and Flamenco influenced her project
  • importance of story
  • sacrificing scenes you like if they don’t move the story forward
  • as a director it is important to be in sync with your director of photography
  • being clear with your vision of the film and map things out
• the importance of being in sync with your team
  • clashing is going to happen
  • not being too tied to your vision and being open to new ideas
• how directing will affect her work from now on
  • it makes you more sensitive to what’s going on
  • are people talking to each other and listening or are they just pretending?

43:10 “I’m not sure if directing helps my acting, but definitely the ability to translate the director’s notes into a way that works for me. That for sure.”

• Playhouse West Brooklyn Lab
  • met the founder, Jim Parrack, in Los Angeles at Playhouse West LA
  • he moved to NY while she was still in LA
  • she was directing a play and decided she needed to slow down
  • after three months of not partying/going out, she asked God “Where do you need me? What do I need to do? I’m listening.”
    • next morning, she got a text from Jim saying “I need you in New York”
    • she sees it as a similar moment to when she saw the quote from Meisner
  • he talked to her about his vision of the school
  • being a place of community
  • they held a 120 hour film festival
    • students made 14 films in five days

46:14 “The whole thing with the work that we do is ‘How can we change the actors?’ If you come here and you train, you better leave this transformed. You better leave this place being able to being cast in anything and know how to handle yourself. You better leave this place not ever needing to drag a coach on set with you. Become your own artist.”

• single moments changing the trajectory of your life

47:41 “I think it’s that ability of not being married to a situation and holding on so tight to it that you don’t see the change right in front of you and also being silent and asking yourself ‘Why am I doing this in the first place? Why do I still love doing this thing?’ It’s important.”

• Andrea’s reason for what she does
  • Jim’s reasons for bringing her in:
    • she has high standards and makes people respect her
    • seeing eye to eye with him and being in sync
  • she said yes because of the vision for the school and it’s a place where actors can really be changed and have a community
  • nothing is forever. the journey will end

48:15 “My reason for doing this is because this was a direct answer to a question I had forgot and I believe that vocation, which is the most important thing in my life, is in total alignment with the divine and I think that I’m answering a calling. And I see how it’s impacting these artists in New York because New York can be a pretty intimidating city and how they found each other and they’re making things together… It’s such a rewarding job. It’s not even a job because it’s so good.”

51:40 “Find your tribe. For an actor, for an artist, that’s so important. Find an artistic family, the family that you choose to go through this journey together, to go through this journey with, because it can be pretty lonely out there when you’re an actor.”

• importance of community
  • students don’t come in seeking community, they are looking for something for themselves, then they find a community

52:22.3 “I’m not sure if people consciously choose to go through something by themselves. Maybe. I’m not sure they know they have a choice.”

52:53 “I tell my students all the time, this isn’t a country club, this is for you to change your art and to become another kind of actor. On top of that, there is the aspect of community, of course. But I think it’s so important because acting is not a profession that you can do by yourself. It’s not writing. It’s not painting. You need to be dealing with people all the time, and the only way is to find your tribe.”

• the tribe they’ve built
  • they are hardworking, they are for each other, constructive not destructive
  • they are hungry for art and have formed their own production companies
  • casting directors have complimented their school saying they must be doing something right
  • they want students to learn from them first, then go out and learn for themselves as their own artist

55:20.2 “I think it’s  passionate people that found each other and are doing something together while pursuing their own dreams and careers as well.”

• results
  • personal transformations, positively affecting students’ lives, quitting substance abuse, being able to book jobs and be more confident
  • instilling confidence
    • Jim is better than she is
    • she gives them tough love
  • helping people in your own way
• current projects
  • one woman play about Frida Kahlo
  • Voices from the Towers – perspective of 911 operators
• doing the project about Frida
  • asked herself What do I want to talk about? What do I want to do?
  • heard a story about Frida and wanted to learn more about her
  • Frida’s life was a struggle
    • surviving the struggle, producing art, and flourishing
  • lessons learned from Frida
    • appreciating how good we have it
    • Frida had many surgeries, had a leg amputated, and her husband cheated on her with her sister
    • despite all her struggles she still had a zest for life
    • learned to be grateful
  • books she read
    • Frida by Hayden Herrera
    • The Diary of Frida Kahlo by Carlos Fuentes
    • Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself by Salomon Grimberg
• directing/writing 9/11 movie
  • read an article about 911 operator who went through the event and what they went through
  •  operator said “We were the last human voices they heard, and if we were there to say it’s okay, we did our job.”
    • after reading that, she felt it was a story she had to tell
  • dispatchers were being blamed
  • did the research necessary to write a fiction story
• doing work you want to do
  • the thing that stops people from taking the first step is self-doubt and listening to others
    • self-doubt, lack of encouragement, and fear also play a part

1:07:40.6 “If you ask me what’s the best quality an artist can have, I believe it’s courage because from that, everything else can be born. You have the courage to take that first step… I love taking that first step. I hate waiting. I hate waiting for anything. That’s the way that I grew up. I have to go get this thing for myself because no one else is giving me it.”

1:08:50.8 “You were born with yourself. You’re gonna die with yourself. Everybody else is temporary. Might as well follow your heart.

• recommendation for someone who wants to do their own thing

1:09:23 “Don’t be so hard on yourself thinking it has to be a masterpiece. Chances are, your first movie is not going to be a Martin Scorsese film. It’s not going to be that.  So, I say get that idea.  Put it on paper. Get people together. Go do it. Give birth to your ugly baby, and then, what do you know, you learn something. And the next one, you learn something else… We live in a day and age where there’s no reason for actors not to be working, for filmmakers not to be working because we have access to technology and things and we can be making our own stuff.”

1:10:23 “You have to start somewhere. Start somewhere, don’t stop and do the things you’re passionate about.”

1:11:00 “The future is now. No, I stopped thinking about the future a long time ago. I go as I go.”

• favorite quote
  • actors are doctors of the soul
    • they think what they do is insignificant

1:12:32.5 “There’s a lot of people out there that they go through stuff and sometime all they need so they can carry on is to watch a movie that takes them out of it or to go see a play that transforms them… Our role in society is important. It’s not a superficial one… There’s a misunderstanding that being an actor is the same as being a celebrity, and if you’re not a celebrity, you’re not an actor. Those two things have nothing to do with each other. And that’s why I think actors are doctors of the soul because we are the ones lifting people up when they see a movie or making them think or changing how they view the world. I mean it’s such an important and noble profession. It matters.”

• morning routine
  • not a morning person
  • needs silence in the morning, and is always rushing
  • she hates routines and rules
  • practices Buddhism
• books, movies, documentaries
  • Driven from Within by Michael Jordan
    • career in basketball and business
    • inspiration for getting motivated and gaining courage
    • athletes’ careers are usually over by 35, artists’ have their whole lives
• creative people
  • Jim Parrack – creative and visionary
    • always looking for innovation
  • Madonna
    • innovative, forging the way, taking risks, etc.
• definition of creativity

1:18:02 “I think creativity is allowing God to speak through you. Whatever you believe in in terms of the divine or a higher thing. It’s a mysterious thing that we don’t know but it’s out there and if you allow for that to speak through you, all of a sudden, you’re making creative things.”

• challenge
  • for one hour every day, turn off your devices and just be with yourself
  • turn everything off and listen to your own creativity

Imdb  |  Playhouse West |  playhousewestbrooklynlab@gmail.com

The post Andrea Dantas on Learning, Leaning in to Your Why, and Doing Work that Matters – Cracking Creativity Episode 59 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“the grind never ends”
– @Usher (Usher Raymond IV)

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It doesn’t matter if you’ve made one dollar or one million dollars from your art, one thing will always hold true: you can never stop working. The key to being a successful creator is not dependent on how much talent or luck you have.

It depends on how much effort you are willing to put in. It depends on how persistent you are. It depends on showing up every day to do the work.

Hard work, directed in the right place can take you farther than talent and luck ever could
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Sure, talent also plays a role, but there are millions of talented people who never find success. Sure luck plays a role, but luck can only get you so far. Hard work, directed in the right place can take you farther than talent and luck ever could.

We all want to believe our work will speak for itself. We keep hoping and praying them someone will come along and discover us. But what if we are discovered? What if someone came to you and made all of your dreams come true? Would you stop working? What would you do?

Just ask all the one hit wonders what a few minutes of fame did for their careers. Are they still rich? Are they still adored by fans? Nope.

In order to build a sustainable career as an artist, you must keep going
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In order to build a sustainable career as an artist, you must keep going. You have to show up and do the work. Artists like Usher know how to stay on top. They are constantly creating new work. They innovate and try different things while everyone else becomes stale. They are willing to put in the hours while everyone else is taking it easy.

You may not want to be rich and famous like Usher, but everyone would love to be respected like he is. It doesn’t matter whether or not you like his music, you can still admire the fact that he has been able to build such a sustainable career.

You can do this too. You just have to be willing to put in the work to make it happen.

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Adam James Butcher didn’t take the traditional path towards becoming a full-time artist. He went to university to study sculpture, but never pursued sculpting as a career.

For a while, he created art in an alley and worked as a sandwich maker, but realized it wasn’t right for him. So he became the head of art for London schools.

During his time teaching, schools began using iPads to allow kids to create art. This was a pivotal moment in Adam’s career. After seeing his students work so well with technology, he began painting himself. Adam did so well with his digital art that he was able to move to Mexico to sell his digital art full time.

In this episode, Adam talks about why you should share your work, the value of habits and routines, and why selling is crucial for your business.

Here are three things you can learn from Adam:

Share Your Work

One thing Adam has learned about being an artist in the digital age is, sharing is absolutely crucial to your success. “I think that now it’s absolutely vital that you share because that’s the way that people, that the vast percentage of the population, experience digitally through social media platforms.”

Although, he didn’t go into digital painting with the intention of sharing his work, it became obvious to Adam that sharing his digital art was very important. “Yes it’s important to share what you’re doing. That’s one of the things that I found that I didn’t intentionally think about when I started using the iPad, but obviously the iPad was made for that purpose right from the very beginning.”

The most important element about sharing your work is the ability to tell your story. Instead of someone else setting the narrative, you can do it yourself. “Even before the iPad, the story, however it was depicted, of the artist, was incredibly important I feel. It’s just now, instead of someone else telling the story, the artist themselves can do it from their own studio.”

Habits and Routines are Essential

One of the most important things you realize about being a professional artist is establishing habits is incredibly crucial. “I think that you’ve got to adapt professional habits. And I thought I was a professional when I was head of art, but I realized that actually, being a full-time professional artist who is independently making it happen is a very different thing. And a much more difficult thing to do, and deep down I feared it. I avoided it for years because what it means is that you totally have to take complete responsibility. You don’t have a boss telling you what to do.”

Adam learned that, in order to succeed as a professional artist, he needed to treat it like his full-time job. “The one thing I learned straight away was… that to become a professional, I needed to treat it pretty similarly to when I had an incredibly busy full-time job. Some of those habits… I was very lucky in that I had established them.”

He also realized that routines are absolutely essential if you want to succeed as a professional creative. “Creativity is finding that thing that you know you have to do… Knowing what it is, and doing it seriously at a professional level is what makes a professional artist.”

This routine also creates value for others, and Adam believes as we should as creatives, it our duty to help others too. “When you’re working, you have to understand, it’s a privilege to get to a stage you can be doing what you love, what you’re good at, and what your mission is every day… and you have a… duty to create value and communicate something and to help others with it… That’s what it is. It’s not about you and being closed away in a studio.”

You Need to Sell if You Want a Business

When Adam was early in his art career, he had a romantic idea of what it meant to be an artist. But at a certain point, he realized this thinking was holding him back. “I think I’ve lost that kind of romantic idea that someone is going to discover me one day… I just don’t think nowadays that people discover you in that way.”

As proof, Adam points to Picasso. “Even Picasso was… incredibly good at selling. He was a brand and a business.”

He also points to the fact that galleries won’t represent you unless you are a viable business partner for them. “Galleries are not going to take you up unless you’ve already got a following, unless you’re something that’s really viable for them.”

If you want to be a professional artist, you need to come to terms with selling your art. Instead of bemoaning the fact that you have to sell your art, embrace it. That’s what makes the difference between an artist that fails and one that succeeds.

Shownotes

• about Adam
  • lived in France, Singapore, and London
  • left London year and a half ago for Mexico
  • now specializes in art with a digital medium
• growing up
  • was a shy and introverted child
  • grandfather was amateur artist and art teacher
  • when left school, he didn’t know how to make the leap to being a professional artist
    • took a year doing teacher training
    • became head of art in London schools for 15 years
• when he started creating digital art
  • only became interested in digital art after being a teacher
  • the school system let him run art department using tech
  • tablets made impact on engagement in classrooms
  • became frustrated with his own creativity so he started drawing on his phone during his commute
    • created a portfolio of portraits
• finding the time to be creative
  • create art any time you have free time
  • “The more you do, the more you do.”
  • was desperate to make his own work and follow his own path

“I think you have to really want to do it… You gotta really want to get up and do it.”

• being a digital painter
  • time and space being an issue
  • iPad became his studio
  • could do it along side his day job
  • using the tools that are available in the time that you have

18:35 “I don’t see myself as a digital painter, right? I see myself as a painter and an artist actually… It’s very limiting to say you are a digital artist. I mean, you are someone who creates visual art, but to limit myself to an iPad would be what I would find quite limiting. I just found that as a medium, it had immense potential and possibility.”

• his work
  • doesn’t have exact ideas in his head when working
  • being an introverted kid and watching/recording what he saw
  • iPad being a great way to record the world around you because of its portability

21:11 “I always wanted to respond to my experience of what I saw in front of me and I think I’ve been kind of fascinated with communicating the connection experience with people and the places that I encounter.”

• studying sculpture
  • foundation – preparation for degree
  • had background in drawing – was working in his comfort zone
  • teacher convinced him to try different techniques
    • forced him to work with leftover pieces of aluminum
    • form took a lot of pain/effort

23:17 “If I’m talking about creativity, it’s about constantly pushing the boundaries of what you’re discovering and I think if you’re in a safe place, I’m not sure that you’re actually being creative.”

25:51 “The more difficult the process,., the more you have to think, and therefore it can actually be quite exciting. That was an incredible revelation to me, and I kinda kept that ever since.”

• his teaching experience
  • making art in an alley was isolating
  • realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do
  • had preconceptions about what an artist was
    • working in a study all day and being discovered
  • was working as a sandwich maker, making no commissions
    • friend suggested teaching art
    • spent year getting teaching qualification
    • had no luck applying for part time teaching jobs
  •  opportunity came up to become head of art
    • ended up getting the job
  • learned about discipline, self-motivation, and tools necessary to be a professional artist

26:40 “I think in life, you get what you need, not necessarily what you want.”

• why they chose him to be head of art
  • saw his passion for the subject
  • keeping up practice on the side
• duties as head of art
  • you have to deal with your own issues first
  • focused on the idea of creativity and how to get non-art students engaged in the process
  • linking the real world of art with his students
  • younger generation’s connection with tech/social media
    • they were suspicious at first, but saw the potential for creativity
    • made progress quickly for things that usually took a lot longer
    • students used iPads to develop/research their ideas

34:15 “It’s not so much what you make, it’s more of the process you go through and your ideas going into it.”

• the importance of process
  • millennials buying/experiencing/making art through digital medium

34:57 “I think that now it’s absolutely vital that you share because that’s the way that people, that the vast percentage of the population, experience digitally through social media platforms.”

35:34 “Yes it’s important to share what you’re doing. That’s one of the things that I found that I didn’t intentionally think about when I started using the iPad, but obviously the iPad was made for that purpose right from the very beginning.”

36:00 “Even before the iPad, the story, however it was depicted, of the artist, was incredibly important I feel. It’s just now, instead of someone else telling the story, the artist themselves can do it from their own studio.”

• sharing his work on the iPad
  • already had the ability to draw on a professional level
  • there was 3-4 month period where he had to get used to the medium
    • creativity and motivation were already there
• results from students
  • had assumptions about students
  • some students completely changed when introduced to the iPad medium
  • medium is accessible to most students
  • the leap from not being able to draw to creating something that’s interesting
  • iPad helped him make jump from sculpture to painting
    • loved color, but was afraid to use it
    • was used to monotone work with sculptures
    • iPad made him feel free to experiment with color
• working with the tools you are comfortable with
  • iPad’s ability to be visual journal/research tool
  • presenting work professionally and quickly using digital medium
• how digital medium is changing art
  • accessibility and ability to be appreciated on global level
  • removing elitist ideas of what art is
  • wants to use 3D paint brush for digital medium
  • Google Brush
  • not getting caught up with digital format, artists are also diving back into old techniques
  • coaching semi-professional artists with digital medium to take them to the next level
• becoming a professional artist
  • continually worked while trying to be a full-time artist
  • started writing about art and tech for Huffington Post
  • creating from anywhere
  • student who has illness and can’t paint like he used to
    • some days he can’t physically paint
    • is using the iPad to paint
    • stepping back and looking at the whole picture
    • helping people develop creative process and tell their stories
  • Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work
    • digital archive of your process and work
    • getting yourself out there
  • building identity and process for your art
  • learning from his students and getting a better understanding of who he is as an artist
• lessons he learned when he turned into a full-time artist
  • adopting professional habits
  • you need people to help you
  • establish a routine
  • Steven Pressfield : The War of Art and Turning Pro
  • telling his students to build a routine/habits vs. doing them himself
  • getting started and being inspired at the same time every day
  • finding your own routines
  • Daily Routines of Famous People
  • spark of creativity vs. consistency creating creativity
  • knowing vs. doing

52:36 “I think that you’ve got to adapt professional habits. And I thought I was a professional when I was head of art, but I realized that actually, being a full-time professional artist who is independently making it happen is a very different thing. And a much more difficult thing to do, and deep down I feared it. I avoided it for years because what it means is that you totally have to take complete responsibility. You don’t have a boss telling you what to do.”

53:36 “The one thing I learned straight away was… that to become a professional, I needed to treat it pretty similarly to when I had an incredibly busy full-time job. Some of those habits… I was very lucky in that I had established them.”

54:40 “I think that’s been the most difficult thing for me is to build that routine to help me be great… through hard work and practice you have moments of inspiration.”

58:09 “Creativity is finding that thing that you know you have to do… Knowing what it is, and doing it seriously at a professional level is what makes a professional artist… And I think that routine is something that creates value. When you’re working, you have to understand, it’s a privilege to get to a stage you can be doing what you love, what you’re good at, and what your mission is every day… and you have a… duty to create value and communicate something and to help others with it… That’s what it is. It’s not about you and being closed away in a studio.”

• lone genius myth
  • being flexible with the hours you spend in the studio
  • being able to create anywhere without having to be stuck somewhere
  • the freedom of creating from anywhere through digital painting
• building a sustainable business
  • had a romantic view of what an artist is, which held him back
  • friend who was very lucky getting representation
    • missing that story that connects people with it
  • the frustration of working with galleries
  • the benefits of social interaction with other people

1:03:12 “Even Picasso was… incredibly good at selling. He was a brand and a business… I think I’ve lost that kind of romantic idea that someone is going to discover me one day… I just don’t think nowadays that people discover you in that way… Galleries are not going to take you up unless you’ve already got a following, unless you’re something that’s really viable for them.”

• Adam’s future
  • pottery workshop
    • posting and writing about it
  • recordings of portraits/paintings over Skype
  • working with 3D printing companies for painting tools
  • reflecting on the year and planning ahead
  • program for one on one coaching sessions for select students
  • teaching professional artists what’s happening digitally in art

1:06:36 “I’m going to make sure I keep up my own practice… I need to put the hours in and push my work to the next level… I want to try a lot of things.”

1:07:48 “I’m loving kind of mixing it up and pushing the boundaries of what I can do with a mixture of traditional techniques and processes and the latest light based technologies.”

• advice for people who want to be full-time artists
  • made a plan and created accountability
  • made financial goals
  • shares his process on Instagram/Facebook
  • make connections
  • it’s a process, it takes time
  • getting into a routine
  • digital medium is helpful for talking about/sharing your work
  • experimental creativity and taking risks

1:11:33 “If you’re working to raise your profile in that way, you need to connect, and what I think I realize is that I don’t mean connect by just liking someone’s work. You really need to connect. In the first year, what I did, instead of getting thousands and thousands of likes… I actually connected with specific people that I was really interested in and platforms that I was interested in. I started up a relationship with those people… and that’s opened up a lot of opportunities for me.”

1:12:36 “You’ve got to get that working routine… to be honest, I don’t think you can do it on your own. That’s why I think you need to get professional help. You need to get someone to help you with building it, otherwise, you really haven’t got a chance. And that’s why I worked with a coach myself, and that’s why I really feel the need to coach people myself.”

1:13:44 “I suppose the most difficult thing for me was doing the social media, was recording the story. At first all I wanted to do was just make, but that planning and the sharing is something you have to make time for, and you have to balance that time. I quickly learned that 20% of my time had to be spent sharing my story and making connections and opening opportunities. That’s what an entrepreneur does, and that’s just a normal part of my routine, and now I really enjoy it, now that I’ve gotten into the routine of it alongside the hours I spend in my studio. I couldn’t see it any other way.”

1:14:51 “You have to get into a routine. You have to know what you’re trying to say. You have to establish what you want to communicate, and all those kinds of things take time to do.”

1:16:33 “The only way you can kind of validate yourself is to learn how to put yourself into context with the world around you.”

• favorite quote
  • purpose and value for work you’re doing
  • On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz
    • dog taking her on creative path
    • 11 journeys she took on her walks with 11 experts
    • focusing on what you love doing in life
  • paying attention is incredibly important for artists

1:18:40.1 “Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” – Steven Pressfield

1:21:08 “Even the feeling of time passing changes on our walk. With less to notice, time speeds up. The capacity to attend is ours. We just forget how to turn it on.” – Alexandra Horowitz

• morning routine
  • gets up at 5:30
  • uses it to plan and think over the day
  • chants for 20 minutes
  • has a coffee and does Morning Pages
    • wipes out concerns and worries
    • gets important insights from notes
  • The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
  • goes for walks/takes kids to school, etc.
  • paints for 5-6 hours
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
  • follows museums
    • iPad lets him visit them
  • goes out and meets artists
    • does things that are non-digital/experiencing life
• creative people
  • local painter Eduardo Stein
    • has taken up Instagram
• definition of creativity
  • creating value through your medium
  • you have to be strong enough to take risks

1:30:33 “I think that creativity is  being able to take risks, to be able to get to the position to where you can do what you really passionately want to do. And it does take a lot of courage, a lot of risk to able to do that in this world where people assume you need to do thinks you don’t want to do to make money and so on. And being creative is a constant path of challenge and personal development to achieve something… as an artist, you shouldn’t really stop and you probably never will.”

• challenge
  • you need to take actions towards your goal
  • do something every day and start small
  • just start

Adam James Butcher | The iPad and the Creative Process Coaching Program | Huffington Post

The post Adam James Butcher on Sharing Your Work, the Importance of Habits and Routines, and Why Artists Need to Sell – Cracking Creativity Podcast Episode 60 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“Kindness is a free currency from a well that will never dry up” – @ladygaga (Lady Gaga)

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If you are anything like me, you are tired of hearing all the terrible news around us. Whether it’s scandals, diseases, or death, it feels like the world is crumbling around us. If you regularly watch the news, you might think it’s best to never leave your home.

I refuse to believe the world is such a horrible place. In fact, we are living in one of the safest times in human history. There are no worldwide wars. Most of us aren’t in danger of conquests, pillaging, or raids. So why are we all so worried?

I believe there are two reasons for this. One is, fear sells, so the media tries to sell it to us as much as they can. The other is, we remember tragedy and travesty more than other things. So when we hear about bad things happening, they stay with us, even though we usually aren’t in danger.

What can we do about it? I think the answer lies in kindness. Just think back to a time when someone was kind to you. How did it make you feel? How did it change your day? I’m assuming you felt amazing and wanted to carry that feeling with you. That’s the power of kindness.

I admittedly could be more kind. Although I try my best to be kind to everyone I meet, I think I could do a hell of a lot better.

I can be petty. I can be jealous. I get annoyed and frustrated. But that doesn’t mean I can’t also be kind.

We feel trapped in the box people put us in. It doesn't have to be that way
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We tend to look at the world as either black or white. You are either mean or kind. We feel trapped in the box people put us in. It doesn’t have to be that way.

You can choose to be kind even if you are afraid. You can be kind even as jealousy or frustration pulls on you from the inside.

It’s all about your mindset. Anger, fear, jealousy, and greed are draining emotions. They weigh you down like a ton of bricks. Kindness, on the other hand, is an endless well.

That doesn’t mean you have to be kind all the time. We are human after all. But the more kindness you spread, the more it comes back to you. If it is true that we are the sum of the five people closest to us, then the more kind we are to the people around us, the more kind they will be to us too.

Don't get trapped in the cycle of fear and hatred.
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Don’t get trapped in the cycle of fear and hatred. Just listen to the Golden Rule and treat others the way you want to be treated.

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Kaitlyn Guay grew up wanting to be in Broadway. She grew up in a household where she wasn’t allowed to watch TV and could only watch movies on the weekends. She grew up in a cultural bubble where she entertained herself by writing poems and song lyrics for fun.

While she wanted to be an artist and entertainer, those around her thought it would be too risky, so she became a musical teacher. This allowed her to share her passion for the arts with others. That is until a severe case of Chronic Lyme Disease forced her to change her path. Instead of letting the disease break her, she leveraged it into creating a young adult book series and jewelry line.

In this episode, learn why creative growth is an evolution, how to find beauty in gratitude in every day life, and ways you can overcome Resistance.

Here are three things you can learn from Kaitlyn:

Creative Growth is an Evolution

Many people mistakenly believe that you are either born with an artistic talent or you aren’t. While some people are more talented at the beginning of their artistic journeys, that doesn’t mean it will stay that way. The difference lies in practice. “I think that so often, when you’re a musician, you get used to the concept of practicing and also playing. It’s a completely different mindset to how you approach things. You don’t say, ‘I’m going to sit down and work the piano.’ You say ‘I’m going to sit down and play the piano. I’m going to practice the piano.’ It’s this concept of an ever evolving process. You’re never there. It’s never perfect. There’s never one perfect way to do something because music is personal. It’s evocative. It’s something that means something to every single individual person.”

I would even argue that those who rely on talent alone are at a disadvantage. These people pursue something just because they know they can do it instead of doing it from a place of joy. What Kaitlyn realized is that practice helps your creativity evolve. “I think that just the idea that everything creative comes from a place of process and evolution really helped me kind of be able to transition into another creative arena … the thought of practicing and playing and doing everything from this place of joy and knowing that the more you do it, the better you’re going to get.”

Find Beauty and Be Grateful

One of the biggest tragedies of life is that we don’t celebrate it enough. We tend to look at all the horrible things going on around us and let them influence how we perceive the world. That is why Kaitlyn likes to focus on beauty. “I think that once you focus on the beauty, it becomes more important than the things that are so loud in our world, the ugly things that tend to get thrown in our faces. So that’s my biggest intention right now, to see beauty everywhere.”

Kaitlyn believes we can retrain ourselves to see beauty in the world. We can stop letting the stories of tragedy and negativity bring us down. “With the concept of beauty, I think that, just because something is louder and more in your face, doesn’t make it more important. And the whole concept of retraining your brain to bring… gratitude, and positivity, and beauty into the forefront. And then, like you said, yeah that will absolutely change how you view the world and in turn, how the world views you.”

She also believes our suffering is relative. When we see people go through real tragedy, but make it through the other side a stronger person, we realize our troubles aren’t so significant. “Sometimes it’s difficult when you hear someone that’s gone through something so incredibly horrible and you think… ‘How in the world can I be complaining?’ My experiences are so trivial in comparison, but I love when you get inspired by someone else. Not just because they’ve been through something so much worse than you could ever imagine, but because they have found a way to relate their survival, their tactics, into something that’s universal, that anyone can apply to their lives.”

Overcoming Resistance

As creatives, many of us know what it’s like to hit a wall in our work. We become stuck and can’t find a way to break through the lull. Then a voice starts to creep in our head telling us we can’t. That is the voice of what Steven Pressfield calls Resistance.

The first step is overcoming Resistance is realizing it’s there. “I have a really hard time leaving things unfinished, which can be devastating because sometimes your brain just needs to hit the refresh button for a little while, and I think that Resistance comes from not listening to yourself when that little voice in your head says ‘Okay, here’s a wall.'”

One way you can begin to overcome Resistance is just step away from your work for a while. “I’ve started to learn that when I get to that point to where there’s a voice in my head that says ‘The muse, the inspiration, it’s not working for you right now. You hit a stand still.’ I’ve learned that I need to take out a new project and put some fresh creative insight and energy into something brand new. Go there for a little while, so I’m not stopping the creative flow, I’m not throwing my hands up in the air. I’m just switching gears. I’m going into something completely different. And usually, if I do that, by the time I go back to where I was stuck, anything that felt stagnant before and frustrating, has now has got a new sense of vitality and whatever the mystical muse is, some times, most times, will find a way to reveal herself yet again.”

Sometimes we take on projects that are too big for us and our brain needs a break. In those times, we need to step back for a little bit of perspective. “I think that when you recognize that you’re creating something that’s going to be bigger than yourself, once your brain starts to get overworked, sometimes it’s best to… step away, get a little perspective… and come back when you’re not so focused… Sometimes when something is right in front of your face, is when you can’t see it and that’s why you need to take a step back.”

Shownotes

• about Kaitlyn
  • had an a-typical upbringing
  • she wasn’t allowed to watch TV, could only watch movies on weekends
  • grew up in a cultural bubble
  • entertained herself by writing poems, song lyrics, etc.
    • wrote for fun
  • 5 years ago she was healthy and happy
    • got devastatingly ill to where she couldn’t leave the house
    • had to find a new purpose/find herself
    • everything she associated with herself was gone (teacher/athlete/etc)
    • keeping a positive mindset while chronically ill
  • watching snow fall from living room floor
    • free wrote scene that would be pivotal to her novel
    • slowly rediscovered who she could be through writing
  • uncovering blessings from her journey
  • was asked if she could be well but had to give up her book, she said no
  • didn’t want to be associated with sickness
  • writing gave her an identity
• being a music teacher
  • loved working with kids and teaching
• parallels between singing and writing
  • the way you play music  changes the emotions of it, even if it’s the same notes
  • Kaitlyn learns by ear, but she forced herself to learn from the page
    • she wanted to make sure what she brought to the piece was her own

11:12 “I think that so often, when you’re a musician, you get used to the concept of practicing and also playing. It’s a completely different mindset to how you approach things. You don’t say, ‘I’m going to sit down and work the piano.’ You say ‘I’m going to sit down and play the piano. I’m going to practice the piano.’ It’s this concept of an ever evolving process. You’re never there. It’s never perfect. There’s never one perfect way to do something because music is personal. It’s evocative. It’s something that means something to every single individual person.”

12:34 “I think that just the idea that everything creative comes from a place of process and evolution really helped me kind of be able to transition into another creative arena … the thought of practicing and playing and doing everything from this place of joy and knowing that the more you do it, the better you’re going to get.”

13:56.9 “Sometimes I think that’s the way we learn the best is by being inspired by someone else, and then finding a way to put your own stamp on it.”

14:31.4 “I would force myself to learn music strictly from the page, even though that wasn’t my strength, because I wanted to make sure that what I was bringing to the music was not something that I was bringing from another artist. I wanted to try and make my interpretation as pure as possible, at least for my initial musings, and then gleam inspiration from other sources.”

15:08.5 “No matter if you’re playing the exact same piece, with the exact same note with the exact same cadence and everything, it’s always going to sound different.”

• interview with David Villalva on story structure
  • likes to design jewelry while listening to podcasts
  • gets inspired when listening
  • catering towards different types of creative people
  • connecting on different levels with different creative people
  • learning from what inspires other people
• where she finds her jewelry
  • all about the stones
  • became fascinated by gemstones and properties while writing her novel
    • stones represent different elements
    • looked up the history and properties of different stones
    • fascinated by things that have therapeutic properties
  • wearing jewelry that represents different properties
  • setting intention through what you wear (ex: communicating and water stones)
  • selects things piece by piece, things that speak to her on an individual level

22:07.3 “My philosophy is, it’s all about the stones and bringing them together in a really harmonious way. In a fashion that I hope will help others to, on the high end, transform their lives and set intentions. And on the most basic end, to just help themselves feel a little bit more beautiful and special.”

• intentions changing the way you approach things
  • setting intentions changed the way she approached things
  • Wayne Dyer – The Secrets of the Power of Intention
    • listened to lecture that helped her
  • keeps intentions journal that she writes in every morning
  • has changed her work and the way she views the world

22:33 “I’m sure you know this as a creative person, as an artist, it can be a struggle to stay positive when it’s a process. When everything artistic is always a process and sometimes the best thing you can do is just set really clear intentions before you even begin.”

• things she has accomplished through setting intention
  •  seeing beauty everywhere
    • writes in her journal the intention to do this every day
    • her article about seeing beauty everywhere
    • inspired by Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning
      • finding beauty in everything while living through the Holocaust
      • was incredibly moved by his story
      • forcing herself to implement it into as many moments in her life as possible
    • every day it becomes more natural
  • AJ Leon of Misfit Inc.
    • interview on the Unmistakable Creative
    • you aren’t stuck to any chosen path in life
    • was told he wouldn’t amount to much, so he used that as fuel for his career
    •  going through hardships and your struggles being relative
  • successful mindsets come from gratitude

28:57.25 “I think that once you focus on the beauty, it becomes more important than the things that are so loud in our world, the ugly things that tend to get thrown in our faces. So that’s my biggest intention right now, to see beauty everywhere.”

30:32.5 “Sometimes it’s difficult when you hear someone that’s gone through something so incredibly horrible and you think… ‘How in the world can I be complaining?’ My experiences are so trivial in comparison, but I love when you get inspired by someone else. Not just because they’ve been through something so much worse than you could ever imagine, but because they have found a way to relate their survival, their tactics, into something that’s universal, that anyone can apply to their lives.”

• gratitude
  • our brains focusing on negative things more than negative things
  • bring gratitude into the forefront and it changes the way people see you
  • Einstein quote “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
  • wanting to go to Broadway/the arts when she grew up, but ended up as a teacher instead
  • going into a stable job and having to leave due to sickness, then leaving to do something unstable like writing/jewelry making

34:43.75 “With the concept of beauty, I think that, just because something is louder and more in your face, doesn’t make it more important. And the whole concept of retraining your brain to bring… gratitude, and positivity, and beauty into the forefront. And then, like you said, yeah that will absolutely change how you view the world and in turn, how the world views you.”

35:31 “I love hearing stories of people who are told you can’t, and then use that, instead of letting it defeat them, they use it to show just how much they can accomplish.”

36:21.3 “I think that’s one of the worst atrocities in schooling is when someone tells a student, or someone in their formative years that they can’t do something.”

37:43.6 “It’s just all about finding your own genius and not letting someone else define those parameters for you. You know, not having someone else tell you what makes you special, or what makes you genius, or what’s going to make you happy.”

39.44 “Sometimes there’s a path you’re meant to be on and you can try as hard as you will to change it, and sometimes you just have to say ‘Okay, there’s something bigger at work here. There’s a path I’m meant to be on, and I’ve just got to go for it.'”

• even when you don’t choose a certain path, it comes back and chooses you
  • telling her advisor in her freshman year that she was going into education
    • advisor told her it was fine
    • made a drawing of a path on folded paper with her path and a split in the path
    • one path went straight to the path, the other took many turns
    • he told her she was meant to have a certain path, and she was going to end up in the same place no matter what
  • Daniel Pink speech at Northwestern
    • the winding road to success
  •  5-10 year plans
    • unrealistic way to plan because life happens to you
    • you have to take twists and turns to your final destination
  • you don’t have to be stuck on the path you originally choose
  • we often feel like we don’t have a choice, but that’s not true
  • two things that didn’t start with the end purpose: Velcro and Silly Putty
  • being open to possibilities
  • Velcro began because burrs stuck to a man’s pants and he wondered if there was an application for it

43:27.4 “Sometimes, there’s something that we’re here to do and we just have to be okay with the fact that we’re going to do it or we’re just going to take a zillion twists and turns, and then we’re going to do it.”

46:58 “If you value curiosity over fear, I think, when you’ve spent so much time going down one path, it’s terrifying to think of leaving it because you’ve devoted so much time and resources and energy and sometimes… since you don’t know what something is going to look like it can be absolutely terrifying. But, if instead of focusing on that, if you’re more curious, I feel like curiosity is the creative person’s best friend. Because when you’re curious, you can never fail at anything. Curiosity is your way to look at something and not see a path that isn’t working out the way you want it to. It’s your way of looking at something and keeping it open and questioning it.”

• influences for writing
  • writing and painting are very similar processes
  • when she’s done painting, she always has the same thought “How did that just happen?”
  • gives in to art and inspiration
  • if she’s struggling, she gives herself on word or one line
  • her characters tell her what’s supposed to happen
    • she can’t force them to do things

54:03.4 “For me personally, I can not plan creativity because when I do that, I put myself into a box, and then the beauty and spontaneity, and what I love about creating is when you just love yourself in it, when you’ve just completely gone into another world. And for me, that’s just what writing is departing my life going in to another world and letting it take shape around me.”

• inspiration for writing
  • loves reading science fiction/fantasy
  • loves being taken to another world
  • creates beautiful pictures in her mind and they become real to her
  • her book series is about a girl who goes through a tragedy and starts to go through new things
  • the world she was brought up in is a lie and she has to navigate her way through it
  • reason she had to write was because she needed an outlet when she was sick
    • she had to stop working
    • she needed to write a character that was going through a transformation and had to re-identify herself
    • book changed her whole identity
    • she couldn’t change her healthy or much of anything in her life
    • character helped her get through it
  • used character to help herself navigate the world
  • it was therapeutic because she had a lot of fear and didn’t know how to handle it
  • people with chronic illnesses want to know why it’s happening
    • What’s the point? What’s the beautiful experience that can happen out of it?

1:00:09.4 “I was in a really scary place for a very long time where I had a lot of fear, and I didn’t know how to handle it. And writing her journey as she learned how to cope and learned how to become stronger throughout all of this, really helped me figure out how I wanted to deal with it. It was almost like I was creating my own role model.”

1:00:45.6 “I needed… to outline where she was, which is where I was, and show where she was going to go and how it was going to make her a better person and how it was all going to be worth it. because that’s what I was questioning every day. When am I going to know why this is happening to me?”

• not being able to explain why, but being able to make it through tough experiences
  • she can tell you important lessons she’s learned

1:02:01.5 “I think that’s why setting intentions has been so beneficial because it’s taken me a really long time to recognize that there are some things that I don’t have control over. And when you don’t have control over something you have one of two options. You can continue to bang your head up against the wall and come away with a migraine or except the fact that you don’t have control over whatever it is you so desperately want control over. What you can control is shaping slowly how you want to be seen, what you want to be important in your life, and make that be the most important part of your day and who you are.”

1:03:18.4 “When all is said and done, the biggest lessons that I have learned has definitely been how to live. You know, how to live, not in spite of illness, but how to live because of it.”

• writing from experience
  • doesn’t believe you can write without experiencing something
  • characters are what make you love stories because they go through universal evolution
  • Luke Skywalker goes through Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey
  • there has to be some sort of personal connection to characters or they won’t resonate
  • rich cultures hand down history through storytelling
  • one person’s story being more effective than statistics
• War of Art by Steve Pressfield
  • the muse and creating something beyond yourself
  • Resistance preventing us from creating
  • overcoming self-doubt
  • Kaitlyn had to re-calibrate how she works
    • is a perfectionist and has a hard time leaving something undone
    • stopping mid sentence as a tactic for writing
  • finding your way around the wall of resistance
  • being defeated and feeling horrible when you hit the wall
    • she became doubtful and had self-pity when she hit the wall
  • learning to take on new projects when she hits a wall
  • put fresh creative insight into something brand new
  • the muse recognizes when something is being created that’s bigger than yourself
  • creativity doesn’t come from overthinking things

1:09:38 “I have a really hard time leaving things unfinished, which can be devastating because sometimes your brain just needs to hit the refresh button for a little while, and I think that Resistance comes from not listening to yourself when that little voice in your head says ‘Okay, here’s a wall.'”

1:10:49.6 “I’ve started to learn that when I get to that point to where there’s a voice in my head that says ‘The muse, the inspiration, it’s not working for you right now. You hit a stand still.’ I’ve learned that I need to take out a new project and put some fresh creative insight and energy into something brand new. Go there for a little while, so I’m not stopping the creative flow, I’m not throwing my hands up in the air. I’m just switching gears. I’m going into something completely different. And usually, if I do that, by the time I go back to where I was stuck, anything that felt stagnant before and frustrating, has now has got a new sense of vitality and whatever the mystical muse is, some times, most times, will find a way to reveal herself yet again.”

1:13:23.5 “I think that when you recognize that you’re creating something that’s going to be bigger than yourself, once your brain starts to get overworked, sometimes it’s best to… step away, get a little perspective… and come back when you’re not so focused… Sometimes when something is right in front of your face, is when you can’t see it and that’s why you need to take a step back.”

• looking at things from another angle
  • talking to people about your ideas
  • first 10k words of her book flew out of her, then she got stuck
    • had no idea where the story was going to go
    • sat down with her husband and told him about her self doubt
    • he asked her to talk to him like she was Amy and tell her story
    • having a sounding board was incredibly helpful

1:16:18.5 “I think that just kind of realizing that creativity doesn’t always have to happen in a vacuum. It’s okay to collaborate and it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to experience something outside of yourself. In fact, sometimes I think that’s the only way that we get inspired is by constantly trying to learn new things and have new experiences and that’s a reason I’ve really started to love lectures and podcasting, and I listen to them while I make my jewelry, because I’m always hearing something. ‘Oh, I need to write that down. Oh, I need to listen to that again. Oh, that’s an amazing point. I want to research it. I want to write an article on it. I want to write a book. I mean, it’s just a beautiful way to kind of put yourself outside of your own little world. And I think that’s where the beauty and the magic really happens, is kinda when you’re able to do that.”

• Mark’s role in asking questions
  • he asked questions before reading any of the book
  • was like a job interview
  • brought her back to theater roots like a character study
  • digging into the past before you can see the future
• number of books she wants to write
  • planned on making it a trilogy
  • loves when authors create series because you can dig deeply into a new world
• stories she likes other than Star Wars
  • loves period dramas (Civil War)
  • The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
  • Jodi Picoult – buys any novel written by her
    • Nineteen Minutes
  • 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
    • allows you to have enough fans to live off your work
    • stop trying to reach 7 billion people when 1,000 people can help support you
    • helps you stay true to yourself
    • jewelry line that’s based on her book series

1:27:51 “Do what you love because there are always going to be other people in the world who love what you do, no matter how obscure it may seem.”

1:28:08.3 “Stay true to what it is that you believe in, your vision, what makes you different, your personal stamp, and just cultivating your brand instead of start to freak out because you want to make sure that you’re making something or providing something that other people are going to enjoy, as opposed to thinking ‘Okay, I’m doing something that I love and I’m so passionate about. There’s going to be other people in the world that are really passionate about it too, and I can share this with them.”

• making art about money
  • cultivate something you love and have people appreciate it
  • Make Art Make Money by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens
    • biography about Jim Henson making work that sells so he could work on movies that he dreamed of
    • the balance of making art and making money
  • Kate Winslet doing one movie for the art and one movie for the money
  • discovering the balance between making art and money
• favorite quote
  • cultivating positive intentions instead of dwelling or resistance/negativity

1:36:21.6 “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

“What you water is what grows.”

• morning routine
  • reiki, 5 minute journal, intention journal
  • writing daily intentions and how she will live each day
  • clean slate and positive mindset
  • “Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it.”
  • affirmations: mindset, work related goals, health affirmations
  • love languages – how people resonate with love
    • Love Language Test
    • developing growth mindset
  • growth mindset – evolution, staying curious/open, committing work to come from place of truth
    • digging deeply into who you are and what you stand for, and live on that frequency
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • Your Life on Purpose by her husband Mark Guay
    • showing  you how to live a life on purpose
    • the concept of growth mindset
    • inspiring her to become the person she is now
• creative people
  • Tyler Bel – inspires Kaitlyn by watching her work
    • helps with jewelry, the book, website, etc.
    • can inspire and touch people because she is true to herself and open
  •  Beethoven – embodying his art even after losing hearing
    • found inspiration by being in nature
    • was prepared with notebook to absorb inspiration
  • Dr. Wanye Dyer – changing how she looks at the world and herself
• definition of creativity

1:51:49 “Creativity to me is the personal and pure expression of inner truth. I think that all creativity comes from having a story to tell. And we all tell stories and resonate in different ways and in different mediums. Some people can feel something so strongly… I think that creativity is just allowing yourself to tap into whatever makes you quintessentially you. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be put up on an art gallery. It doesn’t have to be on a stage and it doesn’t have to be up for publication. I think that just tapping into whatever makes you, whatever you find to be the strongest expression. Whatever gives you that guttural primal feeling of truth. That’s what you should explore.”

• challenge
  • in morning, write something where you can see it often, See Beauty Everywhere today
  • make a hashtag and post it
  • acknowledge and share it with others

Elementsbykaityln.com | Thefemaleyoda.com | befree@elementsbykaitlyn.com | Twitter

The post Kaitlyn Guay on Creative Growth as and Evolution, Finding Beauty an Gratitude, and Overcoming Resistance – Cracking Creativity Episode 61 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Speak your truth even if your voice shakes. Live your truth even if your body breaks. Spirit survives. – @katyperry (Katy Perry)

Buy this print from Society6.

What are you afraid of? I ask myself this question a lot.

My biggest fear is often being my true self
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It’s not because I’m afraid of scary movies or video games. I am not afraid of heights or tight spaces. My biggest fear is often being my true self.

What does it mean to live truthfully? After all, we are supposed to present multiple versions of ourselves to the world. You wouldn’t act around your parents like you would with your closest friends. You wouldn’t act around your co-workers like you do with your family.

We are all chameleons adapting to our environments. But the question is, Do we have to be? I often wonder about this, and I still don’t know the right answer. Is there even a right answer?

I think the problem is, I haven’t defined who I truly am. What do I believe in? What values are important to me? What kind of person do I want to be?

It’s okay to act differently in different situations. We don’t necessarily need to be the same person at every moment in our lives, but we should always hold the same values.

If we can't live by our own truth, what kind of life are we really living?
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We need to ask ourselves what we stand for. We need to live up to those truths no matter what. Because no matter what everyone else thinks about us, we are the ones who have to live with ourselves every day. If we can’t live by our own truth, what kind of life are we really living?

Buy Katy Perry Tweet Art

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Monica Kang knew early in life that she wanted to work in international affairs. Her upbringing in two countries compelled her to understand how people related to each other, and steered her towards her role working with the government.

Monica worked for years in international affairs, and even though she loved her job, she still felt something was lacking. She saw that people weren’t creatively fulfilled at their jobs and knew she wanted to help them. She knew she could fulfill that gap, so she started up InnovatorsBox.

In this episode learn why you should think link an outsider, the importance of asking questions, and how self-awareness can improve your problem solving.

Here are three things you can learn from Monica:

Think Like an Outsider

One of the things that has helped Monica build InnovatorsBox is the fact that she didn’t have prior experience in business. Too often, when we are well versed in an industry, we have trouble thinking outside of the box.

Instead of relying on tried and true advice, Monica was able to try new and innovative ideas. “The big part of the business element that has worked the most effectively, were the creative and new approaches that I took.”

That’s why bringing in a fresh perspective into any industry can be helpful if you want to be different. When you don’t know what’s “right” and “wrong” you are able to think differently.

So, the next time you want to bring creativity into your work, try looking at industries outside of your own. That curiosity can make a world of a difference. “It’s critical to be willing to learn different domains because you’re going to have that naive curiosity of wanting to understand and less fear of being judged because you really don’t know.”

The Importance of Asking Questions

Have you ever held back a question back you were afraid of looking dumb? Do you carefully consider seeking advice because you want people to think you are smart and have it all figured out?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, you may want to reconsider the way you approach problems. Most successful people are not afraid to ask questions. In fact, they embrace it.

Monica believes every business starts because someone was curious and asked a question. “Essentially all businesses started because of a challenge they wanted to solve and opportunities come out of it. Innovators are people who, when they see a problem, they see a challenge… and ask questions.”

Successful people are open minded and curious about the world around them. They are unafraid to ask questions. It is this trait that allows them to learn and grow. “When you start asking questions and have an open mind and you’re willing to learn, you’re permitting yourself to actually grow and expand your comfort zone, and always… find there is unlimited possibility.”

The Power of Self-Awareness

One of the problems we all encounter is trying to disconnect from our digital lives. We are constantly bombarded with emails, text messages, and social media notifications, that it can be hard to detach ourselves from our screens.

Monica believes this has affected the way we approach problems. They have gotten in the ways of responding when something goes wrong. “Sadly, we’re so used to staring at screens… and along that point, we’re so used to acting and responding when something happens, and not knowing what to do when something doesn’t happen, that we forget to be actually thinking through what’s happening and being fully aware.”

She believes that we need to take breaks and become more aware of our surroundings. Doing this will make us much more effective during challenging situations. “Notice all these details so that you are being more fully present and being aware. and when you do that more regularly, that really trickles down into everything else you do. And so when you do face challenging situations, instead of feeling like ‘Ah, I don’t know what to do,’ you’re like ‘Hey, this is not great, what can I do? How do I feel about this? When do I want to tackle this?’ And you start breaking it down.”

What can you do to bring presence into your daily life? Try taking a walk or a five minute break, and see how your thought process improves. “Just take a silent walk and let yourself go for a bit. And I think that initial practice of pausing and giving yourself space is important. That’s would recommend the next time you’re feeling this. And if you’re feeling this right now, I recommend taking a five minute break. It’s not going to change, make a difference, you actually feeling a little more rested and more centered is going to help you make the right decisions instead of you feeling stressed. And I think that’s essential even as someone who’s creative… who’s trying to make important decisions.”

Shownotes

• about Monica
  • started career in government affairs/non-proliferation and security
  • loved what she was doing, but wasn’t feeling okay internally
  • struggles in creativity
  • Why are we okay with this story?
  • 75% of professionals feel lack of creativity at work
  • there has to be a better way to tackle it
•  knew she wanted to be in international affairs since high school
  • feels like she will go back into that work after InnovatorsBox
  • creativity shouldn’t just be in one domain
  • wants to redefine creativity
• being a traditional creative
  • tackling the concept of “traditional creatives”
  • creativity is more a mindset and skill set
  • being a multi-disciplinary creator

• why do we only consider artistic people to be creative?
  • there aren’t enough resources for professional and personal domains
  • society, school, and friends judge us for being creative
  • demystifying the idea of people not being creative

• getting into government and international affairs
  • up in two countries
  • growing up in two cultures made her want to understand how people could relate to each other
  • interested in how decision making would impact different people
  • diplomats need to understand different ways to relate

3:20 “I’ve always wanted to do new things, try different things, and kind of find ways to bridge new relationships.”

3:52 “If I know I want to get somewhere, I just find different ways to get there and that type of approach of thinking, I think has helped me recognize that is being creative.”

• benefiting from experiencing multiple cultures
  • be understanding, curious, and empathetic about other cultures
  • understanding as part of being creative and human
• leaving her government position
  • bringing knowledge she learns back to government
  • seeing jumping around as normal

6:48 “It was not easy leaving a career track that you built your entire life. That’s how I felt because this was a career I was building ever since I was in probably middle school or high school. But it was also ultimately, I knew it was the right time, the right decision… I realized that I could provide greater value by taking a step back and wearing this independent hat and meeting more people instead of directly helping those within my organization or those who I interacted with. “

• her experience in business
  • has no experience
  • has had 3-5 panic moments
  • has always loved reading about business stories and how people get from one place to another
  • curiosity and understanding human interactions helped her understand things
  • projects need a start and end with an element of how
  • reading articles and learning as well
  • there’s less society pressure when you’re learning something new
  • it’s hard to understand what being an entrepreneur is unless you’ve done it
  • build more empathy and perspective

9:14 “The big part of the business element that has worked the most effectively, were the creative and new approaches that I took.”

12:00 “It’s critical to be willing to learn different domains because you’re going to have that naive curiosity of wanting to understand and less fear of being judged because you really don’t know.”

• preparations she made for leaving
  • wanted to make sure her concept made sense and also wanted to make sure that people experienced it first
  • different ways to build creative mindset in non-traditional domains
  • did a lot of testing while doing her full-time job
  • had data, support, and saw the need for it
  • having enough money to support got herself
  • there’s no perfect time to do anything
  • was running out of vacation and had to go to different conferences
• test pilot workshops
  • had concepts and exercises
  • needed to make sure she was prepared as facilitator/speaker and needed to make sure exercises made sense
  • didn’t feel that confident at first, but has gained confidence
  • has built structure and awareness
• where she got ideas for InnovatorsBox and how she found her audience
  • got insights from outside sources and from people she knew
  • recognized niche – it was the why for wanting to create it
  • new value of creative thinking
  • realized that all the other programs came from the point of view of traditional creatives
  • there wasn’t anyone coming from their voice and explaining why it was important
  • growing into connective hub
  • being a safe space for creative insights
  • keys to creative mindset

22:24 “I knew the value of something about creative thinking was needed. I recognized that gradually that the element that was missing, and one of the reasons why there’s a big gap between those who work in the art space and those who don’t work in the art space and feel a lack of creativity was because there was no programs, no community that talked about creativity or creative thinking in that mindset of thinking space from a traditionally non-creative voice and perspective.”

• testimonials from people who’ve gone through the program
  • is not surprised from anything she hears
  • wants to empower people to take on a creative mindset
  • people’s perceptions of creativity has changed
  • believes consistency, being open minded and willing to go outside of your comfort zone are crucial to a creative mindset
  • challenges are opportunities to do something good
  • all businesses started as a challenge to solve
  • innovators also ask questions, they don’t wait to be told what to do
  • she has found people who do the best are optimistic realists

28:31 “Essentially all businesses started because of a challenge they wanted to solve and opportunities come out of it. Innovators are people who, when they see a problem, they see a challenge… and ask questions.”

29:00 “When you start asking questions and have an open mind and you’re willing to learn, you’re permitting yourself to actually grow and expand your comfort zone, and always… find there is unlimited possibility.”

• getting people to jump out of their comfort zone
  • first you have to see where people’s comfort zone territory is
  • we are all creative in different ways
  • where is your comfort zone and what is it?
  • be mindful of where your comfort zone is at any moment

3:26 “In regards to determining what’s the right method, it’s really going to be a case by case. But along the way, to know that, know the right method, the right time, one has to build a strong sense of self-awareness and understanding of their insights, and in essence, know when they feel comfortable, and know when’s the right time to get out of it.”

• recognition and self-awareness through the day
  • do digital unplugging to build awareness
  • practice 5-15 minutes unplugging or taking a walk and observe everything around you

7:50 “Sadly, we’re so used to staring at screens… and along that point, we’re so used to acting and responding when something happens, and not knowing what to do when something doesn’t happen, that we forget to be actually thinking through what’s happening and being fully aware.”

9:18 “Notice all these details so that you are being more fully present and being aware. and when you do that more regularly, that really trickles down into everything else you do. And so when you do face challenging situations, instead of feeling like ‘Ah, I don’t know what to do,’ you’re like ‘Hey, this is not great, what can I do? How do I feel about this? When do I want to tackle this?’ And you start breaking it down.”

11:09 “Just take a silent walk and let yourself go for a bit. And I think that initial practice of pausing and giving yourself space is important. That’s would recommend the next time you’re feeling this. And if you’re feeling this right now, I recommend taking a five minute break. It’s not going to change, make a difference, you actually feeling a little more rested and more centered is going to help you make the right decisions instead of you feeling stressed. And I think that’s essential even as someone who’s creative… who’s trying to make important decisions.”

• advice for people who want to make the leap from where they are now
  • 1 – recognize you are unique
    • identify your strengths
  • 2 – practice small steps of mindfulness/self-care
    • crucial to also unplug
    • being creative is energy consuming
    • rest and take a step back
    • if you don’t rest, you will feel burned out
    • try something different
  • 3 – recognize it’s a long journey
    • be willing to learn and be open to the journey
  • 4 – recognize how you learn and allocate time for it
    • she sets aside time to read
    • figure out what you like doing
    • allocating time to things you love to do
  • 5 – respect yourself
    • enjoy the process, have
  • 6 – find the right community
    • people you can relate to
    • “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn
    • get away from toxic people
    • spend more time with the people you want to be with and learn from

17:56 “If you’re not spending enough time doing that unplug, taking a step back  and reflecting, building self-awareness, and being mindful and being present, you’re not actually being your 100%. So, the more burnt out you feel, the more tired you feel, the more lost you feel, start taking that five – fifteen minute break. Take a walk… take a different stride. Try something different.”

18:50 “It’s going to be something that’s going to take long to cultivate and it’s important that you recognize that you are in this long haul and being willing to learn and hone, and be open to that journey I think is crucial.”

20:50 “This is a journey and it’s going to take time. So enjoy the process and have fun with it and be your full self.”

• morning routine
  • balancing time as a full-time entrepreneur
  • wants to find time to exercise and unplug
  • checks calendars for meetings each day
• creative people
  • Ed Catmull from Pixar
    • Creativity Inc – has helped her understand creative thinking and inspired her to create InnovatorsBox
    • pours out soul/heart into something he loves in a new industry (3D animation)
    • had to convince someone to believe in his vision without a tangible product
    • creating a great company culture
    • not centered around him, it’s centered around the culture
  • family – had the courage to send her to US on her own and build her career
    • gave her support and helped build her creative mindset
    • mother was a housewife who was hungry to learn everything
    • helped teach her people are creative in different ways
• definition of creativity

28:29 “Creativity is a mindset and a skill set. It’s something that we all have and it’s something that we uniquely all have that’s different. And to build it, you first need to believe it. Once you believe it, you need to find… your strength and your weakness, kind of getting to know yourself, and then understanding how you like to learn and how much you are willing to take risk and how you feel about it.”

29:16 “That how part is going to be different for every individual. So being self-aware along that process and being mindful is going to be so crucial… One way to easily understand this is start practicing in small amounts. Spend 5-10 minutes on what it means to be creative… whatever that is for you, start doing that and figure out what is it that makes you most creative and excited. My definition of when someone is creative is something that makes you feel most alive because you are actually truly integrating your insights and perspectives as well as your thoughts. That’s really exciting because your’re seeing in front of your eyes, your ideas coming to life in front of you, whatever that result is.”

30:36 “We all have the potential… and you have the capacity to build that mindset and that skill set. And if you feel like you can’t, find the resources. Find what resources you like to get to build that mindset because we all have different ways of getting there and you don’t have to leave your job to feel like you need to get it.”

• challenge
  • ask one silly question per day and really think about that question and be open with it
    • ex: Why is the sky blue?
    • helps you think outside of the box and be open to possibilities
    • do something more regularly
  • take more walks
    • ideally for 30 min.
    • know where to start/end
    • unplug and don’t analyze
    • be open to possibilities and observe while being fully present

InnovatorsBox  |  LinkedIn

The post Monica Kang on Thinking Like an Outsider, the Importance of Asking Questions, and the Power of Self-Awareness – Cracking Creativity Episode 62 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

The Unmistakable Creative is just that: unmistakable. If you have not heard an episode of the show, stop reading this post and look through the archives. Listening to an episode of Unmistakable Creative is an absolute joy. I am not the only one who thinks so. At the moment, the show has over 550 five star reviews on iTunes and over 650 reviews overall.

Srini Rao, the host of the show, makes sure each episode is interesting and informative. He does not settle for the ordinary answers you hear from most podcast guests. He gets some of the world’s most interesting people to open up about topics they normally wouldn’t talk about.

In fact, without the Unmistakable Creative I might not have my own podcast. Srini showed me what is possible through the wonderful medium of podcasting. His thoughtful interviews are one of the main reasons I wanted to get into podcasting myself.

If you aren’t convinced yet, here are some reasons you must listen to the show:

Interesting Guests

Guests from the Unmistakable Creative

Most business podcasts, feature the same people over and over again. They spout the same thing you’ve heard a thousand times. The conversations sound canned and repetitive. The guest is just going over their talking points like an actor talking about their upcoming movie.

Not so with the guests of the Unmistakable Creative. Srini does an incredible job of bringing on some of the most interesting guests around. These people may not be the most famous, but they sure are interesting. Each one has a unique perspective to bring to the table.

Srini started off the show as Blogcast FM where he interviewed people who were running successful blogs. Luckily for all of us, he did not stay in that space. He evolved and started finding people outside of the narrow realm of blogging. What he was really looking for was people who are unmistakable.

His guests range far and wide. They are not confined to just business owners and bloggers. They run the gamut from artists to educators to former bank robbers.

The best part is, the stories of his guests are all different, yet they have a familiar feel. It is the feeling of the wonderful, the awe-inspiring, the unmistakable.

The show is known for having some of the most interesting guests around. When you listen to the show it’s easy to tell why. It’s because of the profound questions and conversations. These questions open guests up and allow them to share their authentic stories.

Even when he has the occasional well-known guest, he gets them to open up in ways that they are unaccustomed to. He treats them like people, so the answers are often authentic and profound.

Forget About Tactics. Ask Profound Questions Instead

Quote by Anton Chekhov

Many podcasts featuring business owners concentrate on tactics. “What did you do to accomplish that task?” “What tools do you use to run your campaigns?” “How often do you post?” Etc.

While many people think they need the answers to these questions, often times, they don’t help. There are probably multiple reasons for this. My guess is, we become too concerned with trying out that shiny new idea instead of learning the principles behind the idea. We can’t just jump from tactic to tactic hoping something will stick.  There are so many things we can try, but then we’re overwhelmed by all the things we’re “supposed” to do instead of just trying one thing and seeing if it works.

Needless to say, tactics can often do more harm than good. They can only take you so far. What we really need is something that kicks us in the butt. We need something that can teach us the overarching lessons of business and life. That is the reason I love the Unmistakable Creative.

Srini does an incredible job of probing his guests with thought provoking questions. He uncovers their pasts to find moments of truth and self-discovery. He is able to pull away details that are rarely heard elsewhere.

How does he do it? By listening to the guest and asking the right questions. Instead of having a pre-determined set of questions, or letting the guest dictate the conversation, he is able to guide their answers to moments of revelation. The most important part of engaging in a thoughtful conversation is listening to the other person, reflecting on what they said, then responding.

People should not be in such a hurry to get to the next question. Instead they should do more listening and reflecting. That is the key to creating magical conversations.

Going Deep and Getting Personal

Photo by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Another thing I admire about his Srini is, he is not afraid to get deep and personal. Podcast hosts are often afraid to delve into the darker moments of someone’s life. They don’t want to step on any toes, so the questions end up being bland and stale.

Oftentimes these moments are where a person’s story really gets interesting. These are the moments where the human spirit is at it’s lowest point. They are also the moments people grow the most.

We cannot learn from others if we are not willing to see their failures. Success is not about a long list of accomplishments. It’s about what you do when you encounter failure.

People who recover from their failures, and learn from them, have much more to teach us than those who don’t talk about their failures at all. Everyone encounters failures, but few are willing to talk about them. Srini gives people the space and platform necessary to share these moments of fear, depression, and doubt.

It Inspires You to Take Action

Quote by Walt Disney

Each episode of the Unmistakable Creative is filled with wonderful information. It doesn’t matter whether the guest is a New York Times Best Selling Author, a professor at Wharton, or a former bank robber. Their stories will inspire you to take action in your life.

Before listening to the Unmistakable Creative, I had no idea what a truly inspiring podcast could be. Most podcasts talk about tactics the guest used or information about the project the guest is working on. While this is helpful information, it’s not enough to hook me into listening to every podcast.

The Unmistakable Creative is different because it makes you want to listen to each episode. You don’t listen because you will learn about some great technique that can take you to the next level in business. You listen because it features moments of true inspiration.

The moment when all the chips are down. The moment when the guest has everything to lose, but continues on. These are the moments that we will all face, but are never prepared for. Listening to these moments, and the triumphs that come afterward, inspire me to continue on.

The Unmistakable Creative has not only inspired me to start my own podcast, it has also inspired me to continue on when things aren’t going as planned. Whenever I think about quitting, I reflect back on all the people on the Unmistakable Creative who didn’t give up. They chose to forge ahead.

If you are looking for a show to inspire you, you must listen to the Unmistakable Creative. It is one of the few podcasts that is consistently great. It will inspire you to do more with your projects and your life.

Different Perspectives on What it Means to be Unmistakable

Photo by Takashi Hososhima

One of the best things about podcasts is their ability to change your perspective. Many of us limit our interactions to those around us. For the longest time, I did too.

When you only expose yourself to those around you, your perspective is limited. Your world view is fixed and rarely changing. You believe what you believe, and leave it at that.

It wasn’t until I started listening to podcasts that I really opened up my perspective. This is especially true of the Unmistakable Creative.

The men and women who come onto the show are world changers. They are movers and shakers of the status quo. They provide a profound outlook on life and what it means to be unmistakable.

The best part is, no two answers are the same. Each guest has their own view on what makes something or someone unmistakable. They bring their own lens on life to the answer. Everyone has different experiences and influences as they go through life, so it makes sense to have a different view on what makes something unmistakable.

These answers have really opened up my eyes to what is unmistakable. They have caused me to reevaluate the possibilities of what I can achieve. We can all take a page from the Srini’s book and do something unmistakable in our own lives. Maybe then we’ll be on the show too.

The post Why Every Creative MUST Listen to The Unmistakable Creative appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Nicolas Cole looks like someone out of a fitness magazine, but it hasn’t always been that way. When he was growing up, he was sick almost every day. By the time he was 17 years old, he weighed less than 100 pounds. He missed school a lot and didn’t have many friends. So he turned to World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft became his escape from life. He played so much that he was one of the top players in the entire game. That is until he was faced with a tough decision. He could either continue to pursue his video game career on his own or receive his parents’ help and go to college. He chose college.

It was at this point that Nicolas took the principles from gaming and applied them to fitness. He went from less than 100 pounds to 170 pounds by gamifying his workout routines. He also wrote about his fitness routines and his journey on Quora and became one of its top writers.

In this episode find out why you should learn from everything you do, why you should help others, and why marketing is not your enemy.

Here are three things you can learn from Nicolas:

• about Cole
  • intersection of creativity and getting your work out into the world
  • interests in different and conflicting industries
  • passions include fitness and had a passion for competitive gaming, health space, creative marketing, and writing
    • combining passions into a story that people can follow
  • Skinny to Shredded
    • people wanted to learn from how he became fit
    • at 17-18 he was less than 100 pounds, now up to 170 pounds
    • broke it down for people so they could learn from him
  • Confessions of a Teenage Gamer
    • being a teenager who was sick
    • missed school and didn’t have many friends
    • played a lot of World of Warcraft and became a top player
    • story of how it all got started

4:19 “There’s a huge disconnect between people that think ‘I have to fit into this niche or I have to fit in this one thing in order to be successful.'”

• growing up not knowing he was sick
  • felt like he had a sickness every day
  • wondered if this is what it was going to be like for the rest of his life
  • used World of Warfcraft as an escape
  • learned discipline at a young age which he has applied to bodybuilding, music, school, marketing and everything else

9:24 “I learned the fact that, when you really apply yourself to something, and you’re disciplined about it, even if it’s a video game, you learn a fundamental lesson about discipline and of goal setting, that it really doesn’t matter how you learned it, once you learn it, you can apply it to everything.”

• developing discipline
  • finds questions on Quora and answers them
  • his profile on Quora
  • believes mentors are extremely important
  • had a mentor in World of Warcraft
    • sought out player to learn from
    • learned from him for eight months
  • didn’t have an option for being disciplined because of his sickness
    • learned the lesson inherently
  • period where he decided to quit WoW
    • he felt lost because he spent so much time in the game
  • saw the biggest parallel through fitness
    • was like a video game in real life
    • challenges, levels, etc.

13:24 “When you take something that has been the foundation of your life for four years and you decide to give it up, you sorta like around like, ‘Well then, who am I? What am I doing now?’ And so, it took me about two years after that to distill and think back and realize what I had learned from the game. And it wasn’t just World of Warcraft specific. And taking those lessons and looking for new goals and new challenges, applying those same lessons, and drawing the parallel and seeing them through.”

14:40 “When you get into any sort of hobby or passion or something that you’re passionate about, even marketing, I find marketing to be a whole art in itself. When you get into it, it’s really fun, and when you break it down, it’s all the same. Every industry, every interest, you start at level one. You learn the basics. You move up… with each level you go up you meet better and better people. There’s better competition. You have to work harder. You have to stay at the top of your game. There are strategies to everything. It’s all the same lessons. It’s just a lot of times we miss that because we think it’s all industry specific or talent specific.”

• learning lessons from everything you do
  • it’s not about liking something or not liking something, it’s a question of why
  • Why does it work?
    • asking why is not subjective, it allows you to learn
  • saying something is good or not good doesn’t help you
  • Taylor Swift – you don’t have to like her but you can learn something from her
    • What can you learn from her?
    • the most creative people are open to the question
    • people who are open are more creative
  • founder of Lulu Lemon
    • dad was gym teacher and mom was a seamstress
    • saw the intersection and created higher end gym clothing
    • created new market of gym fashion

18:04 “If you look at the most creative people out there, they are the people who are most open to that question. They’re okay looking at every single thing, every single industry, different, the same, all over the board, and asking the question, ‘What can I learn from this?'”

19:04 “True innovation is really at that intersection between almost conflicting, but somewhat parallel industries. And it’s really the intersection between art and marketing.”

20:08 “Even if you’re an artist, it’s not just about your art in your industry because your art in your industry might seem the same as it’s always been done and you’ll never stand out. But if you bring it to a different space, you could be the most innovative person on the planet.”

• why he decided to stop professional gaming
  • realized the game itself changed
  • wasn’t as into it anymore
  • a lot of people are not supportive of his gaming
  • he was give the option to go to college with help or pursue WoW without help
  • contributed to his feeling of being lost
  • had a blog and wanted to get involved in eSports, but it was new in 2007
  • was part of the group that laid the foundation for people to make money through Youtube/blogging/etc
• why he pursued fitness
  • went to the gym for health reasons
  • learned he had Celiac Disease and had to change his diet
    • from pizza, chips, burritos, etc. to brown, rice chicken, and vegetables
    • had a fractured spine because of hockey
  • also learned he had form of arthritis
    • needed to keep muscles around spine active and healthy or they would atrophy
    • had two options: he could either take a pill or become more active
    • started going to the gym
  • combined need to be active with bodybuilder’s diet
  • re-framed his mindset to that of a sport
  • set goals, and changed to a healthy diet
  • Jairek Robbins recounts his time as a logger thinking he was better than the job and how he changed that mindset
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday – turning obstacles into your advantage
    • they come from as far back as Marcus Aurelius
    • translating lessons from history
    • learning through biographies and the best lessons people have to teach us

28:30 “I think re-framing everything, that’s the whole point of us having challenges. You have to find a way to re-frame it and have it work to your advantage. And If I really wanted to look back at my story, my journey, all of those important pivot points have been because of a re-frame. It’s taking something that I could have seen as negative and instead making it work to my advantage of when you can do something like that, you notice your growth is exponential.”

30:30 “I think the more that people talk about it and the more they challenge themselves to look at the things that are really tough, but finding ways to make it work for them instead, that’s where the real growth happens.”

• the importance of giving people what they are asking for
  • two months after starting on Quora
  • started reading and writing there
  • Is it possible to change your mentality such that you cannot recognize yourself anymore?
    • quickly wrote two paragraph answer
    • took before and after pictures (looked like completely different people)
    • 3-4 hours later, friend told him he was on the front page of Reddit
    • answer got over a million views
    • people kept asking him the same questions: What did you eat? What was your workout?
    • decided to put up eBook of what he ate and the workouts he did
    • put up site on Squarespace
    • sold copies in ten countries
    • look for questions people are looking for
    • lesson in getting things done
    • has been working on current book for five years
    • put it together in one weekend

35:58 “When you have an idea, get it done. It’s not going to be perfect. That’s the whole point. Nothing is going to be perfect. It’s a constant journey. So, do it to the best of your ability for right now, and get it out, and move on.”

• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  • Resistance preventing you from doing what you want to do
  • it’s better to finish than try and make something perfect
  • get over your perfectionism
• stuff he put in his workout book
  • put some mindset things in but wanted to save his story for his new book
  • wants books to complement each other
  • not being special, just being determined
  • other people telling him he was crazy
  • helping others and having a mentor
    • mentor showed him how to do it
    • trained with him over a year
  • being accountable to other people as well as yourself
  • surround yourself with people who will keep you accountable

40:00 “That’s the whole story you want to share with people is I wasn’t special. I was the farthest thing from special. And I can’t tell you how many people told me that I was crazy.”

40:34 “It’s one of those things too that, if you do have to do it yourself, it kind of gives you a different skin, but at the same time, I think it’s also important to go back and help the next kid.”

41:28 “When you have someone do that for you, it’s really important, I think, to then, you go back and you do it for the next person. And whether it’s a one on one situation or whether it’s just ‘I’m going to take everything I learned, and I’m going to put it out, I’m going to make it accessible, and I’m going to try and reach the largest audience possible’, either way, it’s important for that kid to know that’s it’s not about being special. It’s not about ‘I was gifted and you’re not.’ It’s just you make the decision that you’re going to make this happen, and here, ‘I’ve learned these lessons the hard way, I’m going to pass them on to you so you don’t have to learn them the hard way. And then just follow the path that I took and you’ll hit the same results.'”

• physical transformation
  • started lifting at 19-20 and started seriously at 20-21
  • realization that his diet is what affected his transformation
  • phases for the reactions he got
  • at first he thought it was amazing b/c people were paying attention to him
  • it gave him a false sense of confidence
    • thought his external appearance would change things, but it doesn’t on its own
  • attention vs. greater sense of self and intention
• gaining confidence
  • it happens as a process
  • attraction/attention as a result of what he looked like or who he was
  • pickup artists – becoming more comfortable with the process
  • being good with who you are and the process
  • you’re not selling, you’re trying to work together for mutual benefit
  • giving other people the opportunity to do great work and being yourself
  • there’s no formula for confidence
  • know who you are and you will attract the right people

48:44 “It’s just  this process of getting clear on who you are, what you bring to the table, and just putting yourself out there. And doing it over and over again.”

51:05 “You’re not selling them on ‘Look at how awesome I am. This is why you should date me, or this is why you should be friends with me or work with me.’ You’re just cool with who you are and what you’re about, and that’s real confidence. And people are attracted to that. And then you realize… you’re not asking a girl out, you’re giving her an opportunity.”

• approach to writing
  • write every day (journals, blog, Instagram, etc.)
  • social media lets you practice writing in public
  • Mastery by Robert Greene
    • examples of how people mastered their craft
    • Beatles hit 10,000 hours of practice before they became popular
    • 10,000 hours in private vs. in the public
    • Beatles practiced in public
    • played for 8-9 hours per day
• first thing he published on Quora
  • talked about contributing writing for Elite Daily
  • figured out he didn’t want to write factual pieces
  • figured out questions on Quora are just the starting point
  • people are interested in the story
  • stories being more powerful than facts
  • the power of writing every day
  • course on how to be a top writer on Quora
  • writing one good answer a day
  • friend took course, in less than 2 months had 100k+ views and been published in three publications
• leveraging the opportunities in front of you
  • never knowing which thing people will resonate with
  • consistency will always win

1:00:50 “It’s like, once you understand and you find ‘Here’s how you play the game well, just go. Just keep practicing.'”

• job as a digital marketer
  • works at Idea Booth – everything from digital marketing to experiential events
  • he directs social media creative
  • also does influencer marketing
    • finding thought leaders in a niche and targeting their audience in collaborative way
    • reaching out to foodies with Instagram marketing for restaurants
    • Tim Ferriss as an influencer
    • 5-10 years from now resumes might become extinct
    • having an audience and doing things on your own
  • your network helping you
  • building trust

1:06:21 “I think that people are going to see really soon that one of the most valuable things you can have isn’t really ‘Oh I was part of this school club or whatever’ on my resume. It’s do you have an audience or not.”

1:07:31 “It’s hard to explain to a lot of people, but, especially when you’re young, I think. You come out the gate, and you’re like ‘I’m going to charge for everything.’… You have to do a lot of free stuff. You have to a lot of free work and a lot of free collaborative efforts, and you have to see them as investments in yourself and in those relationships. Building your network, trying new things and using different people’s skill sets to make an even better product or an even better project. And then once you get to a point, you can start ‘I’m going to be more selective.'”

• why artists push back
  • was against the idea of advertising when he was studying creative writing in college
  • the idealism of being an artist
  • getting your thoughts, feelings, and ideas out there
    • spreading info through art
  • Confessions of Teenage Gamer
    • what it was like to be a teenager that was sick
    • being sick during that time and being a ranked gamer
    • using Quora as a marketing channel through short story answers
      • people checking out his book because of his answers
    • putting pieces in different places all being art
  • building a connection through platforms
    • sharing a connection with people
    • appreciating what artist creates and the thought process of creating
  • marketing being a learning process
    • open-minded people will learn it faster
  • artist vs. marketer
  • J.R.R. Tolkien writing Lord of the Rings during World War I
    • Nicolas wrote a college paper on it
  • even big stars are trying to engage on a personal level
    • transparency, authenticity, and openness

1:09:53 “I think that when you’re an artist… when you’re creating something that is your own, from scratch, it’s a very different sort of place energetically than when you’re extroverted, and you’re trying to get people to pay attention to it. And so I think a lot of people will see those as conflict. They see those two sides as almost working against each other. And that’s why a lot of artists are not big on wanting to learn marketing or understanding how it works, but when you really step into it, and this is something I learned first hand, is that marketing is an art in itself. It is an art to get people to listen to what you have to say, especially in 2016 when there are so many social media channels, and so many ways to communicate with people. It’s a very noisy world. So, getting heard through all of that, is an art.”

1:11:03 “Again it goes back to the re-frame. You could be the artist that is insanely creative, but you see marketing as a burden. And you fight it and you’re the victim and nobody understands, and you’re super creative, and I shouldn’t have to market this. Okay, that is a road, and you’re fully allowed to take that road if you like, but if you re-frame it, and you realize you now have more control than ever to expand your art, and now your art isn’t just what people listen to or read or see, but it’s also how they get there and how they see it. And the process of after they’ve consumed your art,,How do they stay in touch with you? What about you learn about yourself outside of your art?… There’s so much more that you can do for yourself as an artist when you see the whole thing as art. You see it all as working pieces. And you realize that when you just put a couple of pieces in play that will allow you to make money, okay, there’s nothing wrong with that. But taking ownership and having the confidence to step into that challenge and realize that it’s all an art. The end product is art and how people got there in the first place is art.”

1:15:55 “A lot of people don’t even realize they’re marketing themselves. They’re like, ‘I’m going to start a blog and talk about my art. but I don’t want to market.’ You’re doing that already, you are just calling it a different thing.”

1:18:48 “People are starting to realize that it’s all about transparency. It’s all about being very authentic and very who you are and very open and sharing that. It’s not about ‘I’m going to create this facade. I’m going to hide behind it. You’re never going to see me again.'”

• after releasing memoir
  • celebrate it
  • longest project he’s ever worked on
  • at some point he realized it needs to be done
  • wants to build more with fitness
  • six books he plans on writing afterword
  • Nerd Fitness
• favorite quote
  • approaching things like they are fresh and new without needing to be perfect
  • trying something new, risk, and reinvention without pressure
  • once Elizabeth Gilbert finishes a book, she lets go of it
    • TED Talk

1:22:04 “The joy of reinvention removes the pressure for perfection.” – Steve Jobs

• morning routine
  • makes sure to meditate for 15 minutes every morning
  • usually reads poetry or something similar
    • reading 365 Tao by Ming-Dao Deng  – tidbits to get you thinking
    • his meditation is about feeling
    • find your center, then set intention for the day
  • things changed for the better once he started meditating
  • stopped for a year and everything went wrong
    • looked at every aspect of his life, but didn’t know why he was stressed
    • 10-15 min of meditation in the morning are crucial
  • you don’t need to start with 10 min, you can start at 3-5 min. and work your way up
  • sit in silence and ask “Where am I at?”
• creative people
  • head of creative at Idea Booth
    • taught Nicolas how creativity and marketing are related
  • BGO – Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious
    • biggest answers are the simplest
    • takes someone who can look at the whole landscape
    • Chief Creative Officer
      • former CCO of Digitas
• learning resources
  • Gary Vaynerchuk and Ask Gary V
    • answering fan questions
    • relentlessly provides value
• definition of creativity

1:34:07 “I think creativity is the intersection of two ideas. A lot of people might think it’s just an idea, like it’s one thing, but really, when you think about it, something that’s creative takes two things, or more than two things and it jams them together. It kind of smears it around and creates something new as a result. So it’s not really one thing that is creative. The one things is a product of two things.”

• how to be more creative
  • expose yourself to new things and combine them with other things to create something new

1:33:38 “I think what anyone can do to be more creative is to expose yourself to as many things as possible because whether you’re reading, whether you’re traveling, whether you’re talking to people, and especially what you’re experiencing, all of those things are going to contribute to your creativity.”

• challenge
  • put something out every day, no matter how small, how big, where, how, or where you do it
  • the act of consistency teaches you more than trying to make something perfect

NicolasCole.com  | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Snapchat

The post Nicolas Cole on Learning from Everything You do, the Importance of Helping Others, and the Benefit of Marketing- Cracking Creativity Episode 63 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman D. Vaughan

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I have to admit that I’ve been holding back. It’s easy to give advice or prescriptions, but it’s much harder to do it yourself. That’s why I want to put myself out there.

For the most part, my dreams have been small. I’ve self-published one book and have another one on the way. I’ve started up a podcast, built this site, and an e-mail list, and I’ve had some wonderful conversations with artists and creatives. But none of these things are part of my ultimate goal.

I’ve heard multiple times, in several conversations, people talk about what they would do if they had a magic wand and could do anything at all. All I know is, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now.

Even though I’ve enjoyed the work I’ve done up to this point, I think I can do much better. I want to visit creatives and see what it takes to create beautiful works of art. I want to help artists grow their businesses. I want to bring artists and creatives together so they can help each other.

I’ve been able to complete my smaller short term goals, but I need to reach much farther. I need to dream big. I need to dare to fail.

Even if you fall on your face, you can always get back up and try again
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We only get so much time on Earth. Which means we need to take some chances. What’s the worst that could happen? Even if you fall on your face, you can always get back up and try again.

It all starts with having a plan. What would your ideal day look like? What would you be doing? How can you begin to make your way towards that ideal life?

I want to live a creatively fulfilling life. I want to spend my days exploring what it means to live life to its fullest. And I want to help you do the same.

So, this is a call to you. What are you struggling with? What is your big dream? Are you pursuing it? If not, I want to know why.

Photo by Unsplash

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Dr. Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan were both on extremely successful career paths. Matt was working for a seven-figure chiropractic business and Charine was offered a lucrative management position at her company. On the outside, everything looked great. But internally, they both felt they were living a life of complacency.

The tipping point came when they took a sabbatical to wine regions around the world. That’s when something struck Charine. She believed they could build a business around wine and travel. So they built up enough run way to quit their jobs and started their journey as the Exotic Wine Travelers.

In this episode, learn why experiences are better than having things, why you should invest in yourself, and why communication is the most important skill you can learn.

Here are three things you can learn from Matt and Charine:

Having Experiences is Better Than Having Stuff

One of the things people learn over time is accumulating possessions is not as fulfilling as having great experiences. While many of us start off wanting to buy fancy things to keep up with the Joneses, few of us realize that buying stuff is a never ending cycle. It is experiences that truly light us up. “When we started to step away and travel, when we started to focus on experiences, we realized stuff is all on the periphery. It’s nice, but it’s a want, not a need. Life is all about defining what you need, number one, and then what you want.”

While many of us begin to internalize that idea, we can still get stuck in the trap because we want to fit in. “It’s funny because both of us pride ourselves, we really value experience over possession all along, for the past couple of years that we’re together. But, as much as we know that intellectually, and we can relate to that thinking, we still fell into the trap of possession or consumerism. And looking at things broadly, I don’t think it’s just consumerism. It’s just that human beings, we are wired to belong. And when we’re in a group, community, or society, you want to fit in, and… all of us will be influenced by our environment and people around us.”

Charine believes you can truly discover this for yourself once you have the power to possess things. “It’s only after you have the power to possess things or when you have the power to achieve all those things, and that’s when you start asking yourself whether you really want it or not. We are lucky we got to step out of the environment that we’re in and we get a clear choice of whether we really enjoy those experiences or not.”

Invest in Yourself

Charine and Matt both believe the best investment you can make is in yourself. While most people believe investing in high value stocks is the best way to become wealthy, they believe investing in yourself is far more valuable. “When you invest in yourself, it will always pay itself back and a lot of the times, it can be the best investment that you can make.”

What they found is that most people are afraid of growth. People are afraid of both the success and failure of personal growth, so they choose to do nothing instead. “It’s not that people don’t want to invest money in growing. Most people don’t want to grow. Growing is scary, it’s hard, and it’s difficult, and that’s the reason most people don’t want to do it.”

While they understand people’s aversion to growth, it’s still baffling that people choose to invest in everything but themselves. “It baffles me when people pick all sorts of investments to do, yet they don’t invest in themselves because you are the safest investment. Is there any risk at all? There’s no risk. There’s only growth.”

That’s why they are on this journey of traveling and tasting wines. They see it as an investment in personal growth.

Good Communication Sets You Apart

People often wonder what skills set them apart from everyone else. Matt believes the most valuable skill you can learn is communication. “When you can communicate and articulate your ideas, you move into the top 1% of humanity. When you can actually get up and speak in front of a large group of people, you move into another top 1%. If you can speak and inspire somebody to move, you move into another top 1%. So I think that’s a skill that everybody should learn to do.”

While most creatives try to improve skills within their craft, top performing artists are ones that know how to communicate with their audience. That’s why Matt recommends improving your communication skills. “I would recommend that skill (communication) to anybody because if you can communicate and articulate your ideas, that’s when you can really get things done.”

• about Matt
  • went to Chiropractic College
  • traveled the world for six months
  • had chiro business and got blacklisted in Indonesia
  • built chiro business in Singapore, left practice in April 2015
• about Charine
  • background in marketing, sales, communications, etc.
  • met Matt five years ago
  • started traveling and living independent lifestyle last year
• getting into chiropractic
  • went to Michigan State University
  • science education training to be teacher
  • met chiropractor in a mall
  • didn’t have symptoms/problems
  • chiropractor talked about innate intelligence and he became hooked
  • fell in love with philosophy of the profession
  • wanted to see philosophy in practice and reach a certain level of success
  • live on a bigger scale and apply principles to something that allowed him to be location independent
• getting into business
  • knew 5-10 years in advance
  • wanted to be in management consulting then have a successful business at 35
  • had 5-10 year plans
  • coming from an Asian family
  • was offered management position and she turned it down
• leaving the comfortable for something less certain
  • was difficult for Matt because his practice was doing well
    • from the outside eye, everything look great
    • he didn’t want to be in the same place all the time
    • talked to coach about everything being good
    • living in an accessible place, great dining, amazing experiences/vacations
      • coach told him he was living a good life, not a great life
  • Charine used to tell herself things that made her happy
    • But is a huge indicator word
      • dangerous trigger for complacency
  • Good to Great by Jim Collins
    • “Good is the enemy of great.”
    • choose what you want and go after it

7:08 “I wanted more out of life. I didn’t just want to be in one place all the time, and it is incredibly scary stepping outside that life you’ve created yourself to try something completely different and try something new from scratch. I mean, I still have days where I’m terrified and I freak out a little bit because I think about what I’ve given up, in terms of where I am now and what I’m ultimately reaching for.” – Matt

8:24 “At the end of the day, my coach said, ‘Yeah, you’re living a good life. but you’re not living a great one,’ and from that point on, that’s when something clicked in my head and said I have to go and do this.” – Matt

8:38 “Having a good life or sense of security, it’s a very dangerous situation to be in because when you bite that mediocrity can be when you stop growing. And it’s easy to move on when you acknowledge that you have security, you have a sense of security. That security is not real. It’s not tangible. It’s something that you feel and it’s a possession. And we’re able to accept that, then that’s when you ask yourself what is out there for you to achieve because, yeah, there’s so much more that’s out there than settling down for security. Then, you just don’t have to go outside of the house. You don’t have to do anything… that’s not how you live.” – Charine

• his coach
  • shaped his life and helped make practice successful
  • helped him in many aspects of life
  • mentors vs. coaches
  • mentors are more informal – can impart wisdom
  • coach you have to pay for, is on you, will tell you the truth
    • will show you things you can’t see yourself
  • uncovering things you know you should do
  • layers and peeling things back
  • “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” – Will Rogers
  • peeling layers back and finding what you want
  • his coach understanding him and recognizing what he truly wanted
  • identifying values – having trouble articulating what you want
  • Singapore – memorization pushed in education
    • pursuing certain careers and money
    • creativity and what you want is never asked
    • lack of creativity and not pushing people to be creative
    • templates for career/lifestyle decisions
• living with a consumer mindset vs. what he’s doing now
  • money makes you more of who you are
  • mentor told him he should be successful early so he can realize he doesn’t need it anymore
  • multi-national cities – getting caught in the rat race
    • getting into clothes, watches, eating, wine, etc.
    • after traveling, he started to focus on experiences
    • identifying wants and needs
  • following into the trap of consumerism and belonging
    • power of possession and asking if we really want something
  • leaving Singapore and going back after traveling
    • traveled for 7 months
    • feeling competitive pressure when going back
  • being in Michigan before trip to Serbia
    • going to parent’s church for fish fry
    • saw parents of old classmates
    • asked what he was up to and he felt defensive
    • explaining his lifestyle to those parents

20:34 “When we started to step away and travel, when we started to focus on experiences, we realized stuff is all on the periphery. It’s nice, but it’s a want, not a need. Life is all about defining what you need, number one, and then what you want.” – Matt

20:50 “It’s funny because both of us pride ourselves, we really value experience over possession all along, for the past couple of years that we’re together. But, as much as we know that intellectually, and we can relate to that thinking, we still fell into the trap of possession or consumerism. And looking at things broadly, I don’t think it’s just consumerism. It’s just that human beings, we are wired to belong. And when we’re in a group, community, or society, you want to fit in, and… all of us will be influenced by our environment and people around us.” – Charine

22:12 “It’s only after you have the power to possess things or when you have the power to achieve all those things, and that’s when you start asking yourself whether you really want it or not. We are lucky we got to step out of the environment that we’re in and we get a clear choice of whether we really enjoy those experiences or not.” – Charine

23:28 “The biggest lesson for me is travel really helps you to whittle out to the minimal number of things you need in life to make you optimally happy and I think we really experienced that when we were on the road.” – Matt

24:05 “So when you live by your own terms, it’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole.” – Matt

• family reactions to their journey/trip
  • started thinking about traveling three years ago
  • Charine primed her parents by leaving hints/messages
    • parents were sad
    • friends were saying “So this is really happening”
    • parents were supportive and trusted her even though they didn’t really know what she was doing
  • it comes down to the relationship you have with your parents
  • respecting your parents but also respecting yourself and living on your own terms
    • Matt’s parents haven’t always understood what he does
    • didn’t understand chiropractic/what he’s doing now, but they still support him
    • distinction between their lives and yours
• preparing for the trip
  • sold everything they owned that wasn’t necessary
  • published a book before leaving
  • mostly living off savings
  • gave themselves a cushion until business takes off
  • two years savings for two years of travel
  • donated stuff and let friends take stuff for a donation
  • liberation in getting rid of the stuff you have
  • being more productive
  • travel as a personal investment
  • mentor worked for NBA in Asia
    • wanted to leave corporate world
    • lived off of savings for two years
    • now running big basketball clinic in Singapore
  • saw gap in wine industry
    • only saw gap because of the travels they did
  • Jim Hopkinson interview referencing Steve Jobs and connecting the dots
  • notes from travels became part of Travel,Learn, Earn
  • investing in their trip like they’re investing in themselves
  • Alex Hanse and the $2 mindset vs. $2,000 mindset
  • Daniel Pink’s speech at Northwestern
    • learning skills along the way
  • living a non-linear path
  • Seth Godin thinks people are scared of things that might not work
  • making blue chip investments vs. investing in yourself
    • 10% returns on other investments vs. returns you can make on yourself
  • growth from doing the podcast
    • importance of the connections you make
  • working at Hubud co-working space and gave away copies of his book
    • didn’t think of what he would get back
    • possibly secured a connection with a literary agent and New York Magazine
    • met many business people, designers, and freelancers
  • Hardcore History
  • co-working spacing – similar to the way people worked years ago

36:06 “When you invest in yourself, it will always pay itself back and a lot of the times, it can be the best investment that you can make.” – Matt

37:04 “It’s not that people don’t want to invest money in growing. Most people don’t want to grow. Growing is scary, it’s hard, and it’s difficult, and that’s the reason most people don’t want to do it.” – Matt

39:24 “It baffles me when people pick all sorts of investments to do, yet they don’t invest in themselves because you are the safest investment. Is there any risk at all? There’s no risk. There’s only growth.” – Charine

43:33 “You never know what’s going to happen when you invest in just giving to people.” – Matt

46:15 “I think the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions you ask yourself. When you ask yourself bigger questions, you’re going to get the answers. The answer is going to come to you because your subconscious mind is going to try to work it out.” – Matt

• wine and travel
  • started as a sabbatical to wine regions
  • Charine suggested moving into the wine business
  • becoming consultants for exotic wines
  • breaking wine down to make it simpler and have people experience something
  • looking for two types of people: adventurous & people who want to learn
    • older people looking for people to show them something new
    • encapsulating culture with wine
  • helping people learn about wine
  • Alain de Botton – The Art of Travel
    • having a focus for your travels
    • being passionate about wine
  • wine as a gift from God and also as an art
  • wine being a time machine
    • being transported back to where he first drank a wine
  • wine using all your senses and creating conversations
  • talking to winemakers about their journeys/struggles

48:11 “I think that you can use wine as a tool, especially exotic wines, to open yourself up to a lot of different areas of life.” – Matt

50:24 “How much more pleasure can you get when you’re traveling with a purpose and overarching theme… It’s one of the genesis that got us into the business.” – Charine

50:47 “People are excited about being creative because they tap into something deep inside themselves or deep in the universal consciousness.” – Matt

53:04 “I recommend anybody, even if they’re casual wine drinkers… If you go to a country and go to a wine maker… There’s just so many beautiful things that happen in the creation of this simple thing that you see in front of you and consume. I think it’s a real magical thing.”

• wine as a lens for viewing the world
  • wine that’s crappy and sterile or water that’s contaminated
  • using it as a social/connection vehicle
  • positive experiences attached to wine
  • pursuing the things you light you up
  • connecting with people through chiropractic and connecting  with people through wine
  • it’s okay to contradict yourself and try different things
  • having only one thing can be stressful
  • Renaissance men and women affected the world to a high degree
    • Leonardo da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Amelia Earhart
  • experimentation, non-linear lifestyles, being present
    • Tony Robbins saying you have to craft and create the wealth you want

54:29 “I think it’s about choosing a focus because anything can be used as a vehicle for connection.” – Matt

57:04 “I think life is a lot more pleasurable when you find something that you’re dedicated to that’s bigger than yourself.” – Matt

59:19 “I think society is generally intolerant of contradiction.” – Charine

1:00:00 “Why can’t we just have it or do a series of different projects or have mini milestones and achievements or successes over the years, over our lifetime, Instead of focusing forty years of your life on a singular goal? That’s conventional belief, but I don’t think that’s what life is about.” – Charine

1:00:54 “I think it’s important, if you really want to leave a mark on this world, you have to experiment a little bit and find out… a lot about a lot of different things and find out how ultimately that can serve your greatest purpose.” – Matt

1:01:51 “You have to go out and you have to craft and create the life you want. And most people let things come to them or just casually walk through life… instead of truly going after and creating what they want.” – Matt

• industrialization leading to the world we have now
  • being thankful for what’s in front of us
  • industrialization making way for us to have options
• how what they did before helps what they’re doing now
  • Charine’s experience with business
    • utilizing your experiences
    • experience was in business which helps with marketing/branding wine business
    • branding strategy and marketing strategy
  • Matt’s experience with chiro:
    • understanding how the world and human body works
    • communication as one of the most useful tools you have
    • Einstein – “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
  • thing that helped with my communication:
    • improv – makes you quick on your feet and makes you adapt to your environment
      • also shows the importance of teamwork
    • starting a podcast – builds upon ideas and helps to spread them too
      • building a common ground between people
      • being genuinely interested and asking the right questions
  • everything you do makes you who you are
    • someone asked Matt what he would change if he could go back to when he was in school
      • he said he wouldn’t change anything because everything he did led up to who he is now
      • he made mistakes, but those helped him learn
      • living better than most of human history even kings
    • not being satisfied drives people to create
    • seeing that you are privileged

1:06:54 “When you can communicate and articulate your ideas, you move into the top 1% of humanity. When you can actually get up and speak in front of a large group of people, you move into another top 1%. If you can speak and inspire somebody to move, you move into another top 1%. So I think that’s a skill that everybody should learn to do.” – Matt

1:07:23 “I would recommend that skill (communication) to anybody because if you can communicate and articulate your ideas, that’s when you can really get things done.” – Matt

1:11:30 “You tend to forget how things go right in your body that you’re actually around moving… There are so many things that are going right that you have to be thankful for in the first place.” – Matt

1:12:49 “It’s about seeing that you are privileged and I think every one of us is privileged in our own way and seeing that we are privileged really opens the space and generosity to give and to offer value to other people.” – Charine

• going to next destinations
  • old world wines of the other side of the Mediterranean
  • going back to US, then South America
• preparation for traveling
  • long term travel becomes a way of living
  • things happen quickly and on the fly
  • they don’t make many plans until they get to their destination
  • the environment affects what they do
  • go to big cities, go to wine bars, and talk to people

1:16:07 “I think it’s. when you travel, identifying what’s important to you, what you want to get out of the travel,  why are you going in the first place, locating where a focal point could be, then spreading out from there.” – Matt

1:17:21 “I look at travel as who you become. It’s a process. It’s interacting. It’s figuring out different problems, how to navigate language, how to navigate unforeseen obstacles. I think that’s what makes it exciting. It’s what makes life exciting.” – Matt

• ultimate vision
  • making an 8 figure business while being location independent
  • wants the company to be at the forefront of wine education
  • wants to make the website a place for long form writing of travel, culture, etc.
  • bringing an unknown country into the forefront of the wine industry
  • giving back to the winemakers and change the local towns
  • key motivator is giving value to people
  • many people create financial goals, but most don’t look at creating value as a part of it
  • figure out what people want and give it to them

1:20:13 “When you serve other people and try to help other people, you’re rewarded. That’s just how the world works.” – Matt

1:20:20 “Ultimately we have a financial goal. We have a self-fulfillment goal, but the key motivator always comes from delivering value to other people… Because if you don’t feel a sense of responsibility towards a community… It’s only when you’re connected to love and a community, that’s when it pushes you out of your comfort zone and it makes you want to do more.” – Charine

• favorite quote
  • Charine: “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” ― Amelia Earhart
  • Matt: “When the voice and the vision on the inside is more profound, and more clear and loud than all opinions on the outside, you’ve begun to master your life” ― John F. Demartini

1:22:28 “There’s so much virtue in being unreasonable. It’s the fact that you don’t need a reason to do anything. You want to do it because you feel like it. And there’s no reason to be accountable to other people if you feel that your action is important to you.” – Charine

• morning routine
  • Charine had a strong morning routine in Singapore
    • mornings are important and a time for relaxation
    • getting up an hour earlier to get started on your day
    • pay yourself before you pay other people
    • start the day on your own terms
  • Matt used to have a disciplined routine, but doesn’t have one now

1:24:18 “Crafting the time for yourself first, before you do anything else, it’s really important, and it puts you in a really good mood.” – Charine

• resources: books, podcasts, etc.
  • Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley
    • founders of IDEO talk about the idea that everyone is creative
    • do creative things over and over
  • Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull the founder of Pixar
  • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
    • has influenced many Fortune 500 CEOs
    • important for discerning how you think
  • The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles
    • written in 1910, book that The Secret is based on
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
    • understanding why societies came together
  • podcasts:
    • Ultimate Achievement Show by Matt Westheimer
    • Tim Ferriss Show, The School of Greatness, The Minimalists, Tropical MBA, TED Talks
• creative people
  • Charine’s dad – the way approaches life
    • different ways of approaching things
  • Richard Branson
  • Matt: people who are doing interesting things are creative
  • Gary Vaynerchuk – inspiration through Wine Library
    • makes things relate-able
• definition of creativity
  • Charine believes creativity doesn’t need to be related to art
    • imagination, self-expression, and bringing positivity into action
    • looking at the way kids see the world

1:32:36 “I think creativity is about having critical thinking skills, having the cognitive flexibility to look at things very differently. So it’s about problem solving skills and pushing for improvement, not just for the right answer.” – Charine

1:33:36 “Creativity is not about right or wrong. It’s about your own self-expression. So I think that’s what creativity is about. It’s about your own critical thinking skill and your own self-expression.” – Charine

1:34:19 “My definition of creativity is understanding yourself and what you truly want because not all of us want the same thing, and when you truly know what you want, you’re able to give it to the world. Therefore, I think the most vital skill that people should learn to be more creative is understanding themselves more.” – Matt

• being more creative
  • not being afraid to be wrong, putting yourself out there, and expressing yourself
• challenge
  • write every day
  • writing clarifies and distills the mind
  • have a new intention every 30 days

Exotic Wine Travel

The post Dr. Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan on Having Experiences, Investing in Yourself, and Being a Better Communicator – Cracking Creativity Episode 64 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Something a little bit different this week. Instead of a one way interview, I had a conversation with Ryan Hildebrandt of The Maker’s Journey podcast.  In it we talked about starting our podcasts, why you should provide value, writing a book, building  a TEDx event from scratch, and much more.

Here are three things I learned by talking with Ryan:

Everything Starts Off as an Experiment

If you look around at all the wonderful things people are able to accomplish, you might believe they were meant to do it. For them, things go off without a hitch. Their work sells like hot cakes. They look calm, composed, and confident all the time.

What you don’t see is how they got there. You didn’t see them struggling. You didn’t see them speak timidly about their work. You didn’t see how they doubted themselves.

We all have this mistaken belief that other people are special. Ryan believes everything starts off as an experiment. “When you create something, it’s almost always… it’s is a bit of an experiment really. You’re never really sure how it’s going to turn out.”

That’s the exact conclusion I’ve come to by interviewing and talking to a lot of people. Everything starts off as an experiment. No one really knows what they are doing when they start. The key is getting started. Find the thing you want to create and start experimenting.

You Must Give Value to Get Value

One of the things that is often overlooked when we try to make something great is focusing too much on ourselves. Most of the time, we try to see how something will benefit us, but the real moments of magic happen when we put other people before ourselves.

That’s exactly what happened when Ryan decided to make a podcast. He could have been selfish and kept that knowledge to himself, but he didn’t. He chose to share the valuable lessons from other creators with his Marker’s Journey audience.

Ryan feels that when you add value to other people’s lives, wonderful and unexpected things happen. “I think when you create something that’s of value to a lot of people, opportunities come back to you, and you never really know what they’re going to be until it comes, but when you create something, you’re giving a gift. You get to provide value to a lot of different people.”

We Can Create Something Much B igger Than Ourselves

My favorite part about chatting with Ryan was when he talked about starting his TEDx event. Ryan started the event because he wanted to do something cool, but he didn’t have a plan for it.

He thought throwing the event would act as proof for his ability to manage and run something. He also believed it would help build a network of interesting and successful people.

What he realized was, you can accomplish things much bigger than yourself if you ask for help. “It kind of showed me that it’s possible to do something that’s really really big, and that’s larger than yourself if you give yourself enough time to do it, and… if you’re willing to ask people for help.”

When Ryan started preparing for the event, he was the only one on the team. Things started slowly. His grew his list, but only had a handful of volunteers. That’s when the impostor syndrome crept into his mind. Would he be able to run a successful event? What if he couldn’t get good guests?

But then things started to change. His volunteer team grew from two people after one month to fifty people after three months. He had everyone from graphic designers to speaker liasons on the team.

What Ryan realized was, in order to achieve something big, you have to find the right people to help you. “It’s very possible to do something that’s that big if you are willing to ask the right people for help, really, and keep working at it, even when you have zero volunteers and your email list is ten people.”

• my first episode with Joshua Carrasco aka Madd Illz
• started the show without knowing what to do/how it would go

00:51 “When you create something, it’s almost always… it’s is a bit of an experiment really. You’re never really sure how it’s going to turn out.”

• first set of interviews Ryan did was with people he knew, then he asked guests if they knew anyone that could be on the show
• Ryan’s podcast – The Maker’s Journey
  • the experiences of people who crate things
  • had topics he wanted to cover and dug deeper into answers
  • modeled after Tim Ferriss Show
  • never did anything to prepare for doing a podcast, just decided to do it
• some questions you can turn to that have interesting answers
  • open-ended questions
  • ex: What was a moment of failure and how did you come back from it?
  • ex: How did things come to happen?
• why we chose to podcast
  • Kevin – Cracking Creativity – creative projects/businesses
    • actors, musicians, artists, etc.
    • creativity as an open ended topic that applies to almost everyone
    • started podcast to show creatives what others have done, even if they aren’t doing the same thing as you
  • Ryan – The Maker’s Journey – people that have made things
    • rappers, tech, poets, founders, etc.
    • help people around the world make things
    • personal benefits of making things
      • people look at you differently
      • wants people to see the benefits of creating things
    • on a personal level he wanted to get better at interviewing/speaking
    • value of interviewing people vs. just asking to pick their brain
  • coming together to record podcast only a day before the conversation

9:50.8 “I think when you create something that’s of value to a lot of people, opportunities come back to you, and you never really know what they’re going to be until it comes, but when you create something, you’re giving a gift. You get to provide value to lots of different people.”

• things learned while doing the podcast
  • most people don’t know what they are doing before they start doing it
  • you have to take the risk in order to see any results
  • Ryan used to think working harder would allow him to do things he was afraid of
    • do things while you’re still afraid of doing them, this will give you courage
    • re-framing things in your mind by starting and doing them
  • taking on a beginner’s mindset and growing from that point
• starting up my podcast
  • grow an audience and talk to people who were interesting
  • connections you make are bigger than any metric you can measure
  • getting introductions through people you’ve interviewed and having people you can turn to for different projects/ideas
  • listening to podcasts and wanting to start my own
• before the podcast
  • my design blog – Who Designed It?
• why Ryan started his podcast
  • creating a network of people
  • traveling in Myanmar and not working a 9-5 job
  • using podcast as a creative outlet
  • wanted to get better at speaking and asking better questions
  • being concise and precise with questions
  • what to ask that will lead to better answers
  • improving by learning from mistakes
• finding guests for the show
  • in the beginning I reached out to people I knew and asked them if they knew anyone afterwards
  • went to different events to find people as well
  • World Domination Summit – for people who want to make a change in the world for the better
  • Ryan started off with the same strategies for getting his guests
  • both asking people to do a challenge at the end of our shows
  • having similarities despite not following each other’s podcasts
• tips for starting a podcast
  • all you really need is something to record with (I use a Blue Yeti mic) and a place to host (I use Libsyn)
  • also have an intent before starting a show
  • interview style podcasts vs. storytelling podcasts
  • go with intent that doesn’t rely on a lot of people listening
  • only do it if you will continue doing it despite the metrics
  • have a secondary benefit – learning a skill or meeting interesting people
  • being surprised by who says yes to coming onto your show
  • guide to storytelling/narrative podcasts
  • interview podcasts are more of a conversation, storytelling podcasts tell a narrative with journalism and excerpts from other people you talk to
• my upcoming book: We Are All Creative
  • this site being a way to help artists learn how to market their art
  • started a morning routine trying to write 100 words per day
  • ended up using a lot of quotes to fuel my writing
  • created art based on quotes and wrote about them
  • had 52 weeks worth of quotes & attached stories of creative people who embodied the idea behind the quote
  • completing the book took around two years to create
  • creating the quotes took a year, and writing about creative people took another year
  • creating the book has two benefits: it shows artists that creating and selling something is possible and it gives people lessons to learn to be successful
    • share art, stories or creative people, and principles behind success
    • allows me to talk about lessons learned and how to improve upon what I’ve done
    • gives me borrowed credibility through the success of other people
    • gaining credibility through podcasting on different topics
    • biographers gaining credibility by sharing someone else’s story
• plans after creating the book
  • using the lessons to create course on how to sell a product/products
  • lessons from selling the book and principles behind how it was done
  • Ryan’s planned course for helping people get accepted for TED Talks
• why Ryan ran a TEDx event (TEDx Leamington Spa)
  • wanted to do something cool, didn’t have an exact plan for it
  • building a network of people who are involved in TED Talks
  • wanted to strengthen his inner circle with interesting/successful people
  • also thought cool things would happen from running the event
  • use as proof of his ability to manage/oversee things
  • had a team takeover running the event
  • event took on a life of its own
  • has built a network of friends in different industries
• how the event came into being
  • started with no team in January
  • first applied for license from TED
  • apply for a TEDx license
    • they want assurance that you will do a good job of representing their brand
    • a lot of factors go into accepting/rejecting a license
  • had to figure out how to build a team
  • built a website, social media accounts, etc.
  • created a volunteer signup form
  • posted in different groups and places
  • one month – 2 people, two months – 10, three months -50
  • started a volunteer team and made up things for them to do
  • wanted to get good speakers for the event
    • was worried he wouldn’t be able to get good people
    • was comparing himself to bigger conferences
    • had a speaker application process
  • had graphic designers and marketing people come in as well
  • by July he had a nine person team
  • had people in charge of everything from catering to decoration
  • gave himself as much time as possible to brainstorm what to do
  • took a team of around 40-50 people to put together the event

56:25 “It kind of showed me that it’s possible to do something that’s really really big, and that’s larger than yourself if you give yourself enough time to do it, and… if you’re willing to ask people for help.”

57:15 “It’s very possible to do something that’s that big if you are willing to ask the right people for help, really, and keep working at it, even when you have zero volunteers and your email list is ten people.”

• everything starts with zero people or one person
  • evolving from the very beginning
  • impostor syndrome
  • getting past the very initial stages and building momentum
  • things being obvious only in hindsight
  • learning from failure
• benefits of the event
  • before the event Ryan was looking for jobs at big tech companies
    • didn’t feel like he was qualified
  • after the event that’s all people wanted to talk to him about
  • got interviews he doesn’t believe he would have received otherwise
  • got invited to lunch with local Parliament rep at UK parliament
  • satisfaction of seeing it come to life and grow
  • a lot of energy goes into doing something new
    • finding sponsors, speakers having doubts, etc.
• having a common cause or goal
  • whole is greater than the sum of its parts
  • event wouldn’t have happened without the help of a team
  • the ability to question the direction or ideas
  • variety of people adds new capability to a team
  • effectiveness of momentum and people with multiple skills
  • people are more willing to do things for you if you help them first

1:05:47 “It’s also encouraging that, if you set that vision, and you have an exciting project for people to all get behind, then you can get those people a lot easier than you think you can.”

• influences/resources
  • Ryan
    • journaling – weekly review every Saturday for last 7 years
      • borrowed from Chris Guillebeau
      • weekly review paired with quiet time
    • Tim Ferriss
      • living a life that is adventurous and cool
      • you don’t need to work a lot to live a fulfilling life
    • Ramit Sethi
      • living a rich life
    • Rework by Jason Fried
      • founder of 37 Signals
      • every chapter a couple of pages
      • lessons from starting businesses
  • Kevin
    • Chris Guillebeau also the founder of World Domination Summit
    • James Altucher
      • made and lost millions of dollars
      • Choose Yourself – not relying on gatekeepers and doing things for yourself
    • Unmistakable Creative podcast with Srinivas Rao
      • gets creative people to reveal the story behind the story
      • stories of how people rise above obstacles
    • Ryan Holiday
      • commonplace book
      • I use Evernote for mine

1:09:09 “I think one thing that has been really important for me is the quiet time paired with some kind of reflection on your week or your day.”

• challenge for the listeners
  • Kevin: find the idea you’ve been thinking about and make the first step towards it
    • in Ryan’s case, his first step was applying for TEDx event
    • once you’ve made first step, take the next one, and continue on from there
  • Ryan: create a recurring calendar event for a weekly review
    • ask yourself two questions: What did I do that I’m proud of? &  What could I have done better/differently?
    • third question: How are things coming along? What have you done to move your project forward?
    • recurring event that never ends
    • helps you move forward and prevents you from feeling lazy/stalling
    • Tiny Habits developed by BJ Fogg
      • figure out what the smallest thing you can do
      • ex: flossing, start w/ one tooth, then two, etc.
      • also celebrate once you’ve accomplished your small goal
      • after a while, you won’t need the celebration aspect of Tiny Habits and it will become a habit

http://www.ryanhildebrandt.com/ | Facebook | The Maker’s Journey Podcast

Also check out Ryan’s notes for the episode.

The post Ryan Hildebrandt on Experimentation, Giving Value, and Creating Something Bigger Than Ourselves – Cracking Creativity Episode 65 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

We’re willing to fall because we’ve learned how to rise. – @BreneBrown (Brené Brown)

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Do you let the fear of failure prevent you from succeeding? Are you unwilling to take risks because you are afraid of the results? Do you stand by while it feels like everyone around you is doing so well?

If you said yes to any of the questions above, you are not alone. We all have these thoughts. We are all afraid of failure. We are all scared of taking risks. We all feel inadequate when we compare ourselves to others. These are all normal feelings.

So how do you find success while these thoughts plague your mind? The answer is simple, but not easy. You have to go on despite your fears. You have to take risks knowing you might fail. You have to stop comparing yourself to others.

Success is a funny thing. In school, there is only one right answer. We make sure kids know when they’ve gotten an answer wrong. Red ink is abundant. We make students feel like a failure if they get anything below a B. It’s no wonder we’re all afraid of failing.

In the world after college, everything changes. People no longer expect us to find the one right answer. We are expected to experiment and figure things out for ourselves. We have to re-calibrate the way we approach problem solving.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while trying to build my website and audience, it’s that there is no right answer. If your ideas succeed more than 50% of the time, you are doing an incredible job. That same score would flunk you out of school.

One of the most important lessons you can learn is that failure is not the end of the world. Failure teaches us lessons that success never could: It teaches us how to be resilient. It teaches us how to learn from our mistakes. It teaches us how to experiment and test things out for ourselves. It teaches us how to make it in the world as creators.

As artists and creatives, we must be willing to fall. It’s going to happen. A lot. So get used to it. The most important thing is that you learn how to rise too. You shouldn’t strive for failure, but it comes with the territory. The only way you will learn that lesson is if you are willing to try.

Photo by Unsplash

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“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

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I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life. Have you?

I’m not saying this because I am proud of my mistakes. I’m not, but I will tell you what I am proud of.

I’m proud of taking chances. I’m proud of bouncing back from failures. I’m proud of continuing to experiment despite the setbacks. I’m proud that I can say I tried.

If you’ve been paying attention to all the talking heads in the startup and business world, you might believe failure is a good thing. I can tell you this much: failure sucks. Failure does not make you better at business. Failure does not pay the bills. Failure is demoralizing. Even so, the truth is failure is inevitable.

If you want to achieve something great, you will also face failure. It’s not because you are dumb. It’s not because you don’t deserve it. It’s not because you aren’t special.

It’s because you don’t know what you are doing. None of us do when we begin our journeys.

It also doesn’t matter how much you follow an expert’s suggestions. You will still encounter failure. You will make mistakes. You will find obstacles all along the way.

The good news is, you will learn from your mistakes. You will learn what to do and what not to do. You will make tweaks to your process. You will adapt and change until you discover what works for you.

That is why we must embrace experimentation. We must embrace taking action despite the fact that we will run over speed bumps along the way. We must be willing to embrace the unknown.

If we don’t, we will never achieve anything. If you want to go through life without any blemishes on your record, you might as well give up now because the only people who don’t make mistakes are those who don’t do anything.

Photo by Pach Brothers

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Charlotte Eriksson grew up in a house where athletics were emphasized. The arts weren’t celebrated and you weren’t supposed to express your feelings. Her family didn’t grow up listening to music, so she didn’t really discover it until she was 16 years old. That’s when a friend introduced her music that touched her life.

From that moment on, she knew she wanted to be a musician. She knew she wanted to spend her life creating that same magical feeling for other people. And at the age of 18 Charlotte moved to London to pursue her dream. Since that moment, she has released several albums, toured all over Europe, and has published three books.

In this episode, Charlotte talks about facing obstacles, knowing yourself and your fans, and the importance of knowing your why.

Here are three things you can learn from Charlotte:

Everyone Faces Obstacles

Many of us have this false assumption about people who are successful. We think they don’t encounter obstacles just because they’re successful. But that’s far from the truth. The reality is everyone faces obstacles and challenges along the way, no matter how successful they are.

That’s why Charlotte recommends finding heroes who face obstacles and overcomes them. “A hero is not someone who sets out to achieve his dreams and achieves them with no obstacles. A hero is someone who has a dream and everything is working against him. He is running up hill, and it’s tough and hard, and no one might believe in him but he makes it to the top anyways. And I’m saying that the hero stands on the top and people only see the glory of him standing up and praise him, but they don’t see he had tears in his eyes and he’s out of breath and clearly worn out, but he made it.”

Charlotte believes these obstacles make us stronger. “It’s not about achieving everything you want without any obstacles. It’s about having so many obstacles, but pushing through them and learning something in a way that matters.”

Know Yourself and Your Fans

A lot of artists and creatives try to build their businesses by selling their work to everyone. They believe the more people they appeal to, the easier it will be to sell their work. But that is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

If you want to build a successful business as an artist, you need to know exactly who you are appealing to. Charlotte believes that begins by knowing who you are as an artist first. Once you know that your audience will become apparent. “Just knowing what you’re actually about. Knowing your story, knowing what you’re about, knowing your statements, what you want people think about when they hear your name. If you know these things, it will be quite clear who these people are too.”

But your work doesn’t end there. In order to build and maintain a passionate fanbase, you must build deep connections with your audience. “That’s also one thing why I like having really deep connections with fans, because if there are these wide but shallow audiences, they will rarely go and tell their friends that they have found the next amazing thing… but if you build something really really deep, that person will feel such a personal connection and they will go out and tell the rest of their friends too.”

This is exactly how Charlotte built her audience. She started with a small and passionate fanbase and grew from there. “I think that’s… the best way to start, is to just build something small but really passionate and then let it grow from there.”

Know Your Why

Similar to knowing yourself is knowing your why. Knowing your why might be the most important thing you learn in your journey towards building a thriving and successful business. It is the reason you do what you do. Without your why, you lose direction, you lose focus, you stop working on the right things.

Charlotte believes it is absolutely crucial to know your why. They are the reason she does what she does. “For me, everything I’m doing is always about my why, just creating these moments for people, creating belonging, creating community of inspirations. And personally, everything I do I base on the decision of how I want to spend my day to day life. And so everything I do has to match with my values and… I think it all just goes back to knowing why you are doing what you are doing and knowing how you want to spend your life.”

She credits knowing her why for keeping her on track. Without her why, she wouldn’t be where she is today. “I would never have been able to get to where I am if I didn’t know why I did what I did. Embarking on a mission, no matter what you are doing, creating your own business, it’s tough, and it’s hard, and it’s a lot of work, and you will have to go places you didn’t want to go, and you will not have time to be with people you might want to be with, and there’s a lot of sacrifice. So if you don’t have such a deep why, you know exactly why you want this, I don’t think you’re going to work as hard as you need to work to be able to make it.”

Shownotes

• about Charlotte
  • moved from Sweden to London at 18 years old to pursue her dream
  • spends every second of every day building the life she wants to lead
  • released several albums, toured all over Europe, has published three books
• her childhood
  • discovered music late, didn’t grow up in musical family
  • discovered music at 16, and didn’t really listen to it before then
  • got a guitar, learned some chords and wrote her first songs
  • built her fan base from scratch

5:07 “I discovered it (music) from a friend and it just really hit me. There were a few certain songs that I heard that got me really deeply and since then I knew, I just knew that I wanted to spend my life creating that feeling for other people.”

5:29 “Soon after that I really made the decision that this is what I was going to do so I threw myself into it. I learned everything I could learn about song writing, production, the music business, how to start a company, and how to do everything. And then I moved to London and just… started to learn everything I could about the industry and everything that comes around actually just playing music.”

5:56 “I guess I realized really fast that I was a person who was very driven and I knew exactly what I wanted to create with my music. So it didn’t suit me to spend a lot of time chasing the industry or someone else to try to convince them to like me. Instead I realized that I can actually start finding my fans by myself and start doing my own thing without anyone’s permission or a label or anything like that. So that’s what I did.”

• Songs that inspired her:
  • Round Here by Counting Crows
    • simplicity of four chords but also deep
  • Walk Away by Ben Harper
    • taken aback by the feelings of the melodies
    • came from a family of athletes where you weren’t supposed to have many feelings
  • Copeland
  • she goes back to certain bands as her roots

7:28 “I grew up in a kind of athlete culture where you’re just supposed to make a decision and just go for it, and not have too many feelings. And suddenly I discovered these songs where people were so open about how they felt and they used these feelings to create something of impact and that just really talked to me.”

• learning music
  • feels a natural talent for some parts of music
  • writing lyrics came easily because she wrote a lot in journals
  • was not a natural singer but she practiced a lot
  • learned piano and guitar after
  • learned enough to make her vision come alive
  • self-taught, went through a lot to learn vocals
  • music production school introduced her to the medium
  • if she could do it again, she would get an instructor, but it made her independent
  • had friends that inspired her

1:30 “I think the worst thing I know is when I feel like I am dependent on someone else to create what I want to create.”

• writing her songs
  • now she writes songs in a different way every time
  • in the beginning, she only knew four chords
    • wrote 50 songs using those chords
    • had a lot of writing that she turned into songs
• first song
  • got her artist name from her first song – The Glass Child
  • wanted to protect herself from people but also be in the middle
  • after she wrote it, she felt really proud of it
  • was inspired to write more songs
  • it’s important to get started
  • the people you look up to were beginners once too

5:15 “I think that’s the coolest thing, when you learn something for the first time and you get this kind of high from just being proud of yourself and seeing opportunities, and you just want to learn more.”

5:54 “I think it’s so important to just dare to try new things, because, everyone’s a beginner at some point and if you never dare to be a beginner, you will never learn new skills.”

• choosing London as her destination
  • wanted a place where she could play music and be part of the industry
  • London was the capital of music in Europe
  • was from a small town in Sweden where there weren’t as many opportunities
  • she was nervous for her first performance at a tiny pub
    • pushed through it and got used to it after a few times
• crowdfunding campaign for her album
  • nervous because she has to share her songs with people

8:41 “It’s the scariest thing because obviously whatever you’re creating, whether it’s music or books. or a play, or whatever, it’s something that you have created with your own thoughts and your own mind, and that’s the most precious thing you have. It’s super scary to show new stuff, but there’s nothing better than songs or new books or writings and then actually realizing that people really like it, and it will have meant something to someone, and so, it’s really worth it in the end.”

• how she got over being nervous
  • almost wanted to throw up the first time she played live
  • you have to act like you are confident before you can be confident
  • publishing her first book
    • become like a person who would have published a book
    • talked about her year traveling around England playing music
  • a moment that stands out to her from her first year
    • first part set tone for the rest of the book
    • definition of a hero

12:56 “A hero is not someone who sets out to achieve his dreams and achieves them with no obstacles. A hero is someone who has a dream and everything is working against him. He is running up hill, and it’s tough and hard, and no one might believe in him but he makes it to the top anyways. And I’m saying that the hero stands on the top and people only see the glory of him standing up and praise him, but they don’t see he had tears in his eyes and he’s out of breath and clearly worn out, but he made it.”

13:40 “It’s not about achieving everything you want without any obstacles. It’s about having so many obstacles, but pushing through them and learning something in a way that matters.”

• greatest obstacle she faced
  • had to learn how to deal with rejection
  • wanted to give up when people told her she couldn’t make it, but pushed on anyways

14:11 “No matter how good you are at what you’re doing, if you’re the most talented person on Earth or there are millions of people that like you, there will always be people who don’t like you and who don’t get what you’re doing, and who just don’t understand you. And you just gotta learn how to take those rejections and those no’s and be able to say ‘Okay, they didn’t get it but I will stop talking to them. So I need to find my people, the people who do get me and just push on.'”

15:04 “I think that the most important thing you can learn, to take rejections and just keep going anyways.”

• giving up
  • always knew she wouldn’t give up, but there were times she wanted to
  • times where she had no where to live
  • had a deep connection/mission
• advice for people in the middle of their creative journeys

0:28 “I always used to tell myself, when you forget about the how, go back to the why. So every time you doubt… sit down and stop thinking about what you’re trying to achieve, like the actual goal you are trying to achieve, and instead remember why are you doing this in the first place. Because everyone starts out their business adventure or their creative careers from the point of just being passionate about something. So I’d say, just sit down and remember why you’re doing this and when you know the why, try to keep that with you in everything you’re doing because I know that it’s so easy, when you turn your passion into your career, it’s really hard to remember the passion in all this business stuff that goes around it. But, if you have that why with you everywhere, you will always feel motivated.”

• Charlotte’s Why
  • goes back to the moment she discovered music
  • felt emotions from a stranger’s song
  • she wants to create those moments for other people
• moment she knew she was going to continue creating
  • you can doubt but still go on

2:30 “I think everyone doubts what they’re doing from time to time, no matter how much you love what you’re doing. So obviously I love what I’m doing but there are rough days and there are hurdles, and there are moments when I wonder why I’m doing this. Obviously everyone gets tired and sometimes I get so tired that I lie on my floor and just think ‘Oh I just want to go home and feel safe, but again I think it’s just something about when you find something that you just believe in so much, and… it gives you so much hope, you love it so much then there is no alternative… and you just have this weird strong feeling that this is what I am going to do no matter how hard it gets, this is what I’m doing now… there is no alternative.”

• building up her fan base
  • went directly to her fan base
  • knew exactly who would like her journey/story/music and knew where to find them because they were like her

4:03 “I think the best thing I did when I started out, what that I knew exactly who would like my story and my journey and my music… and I was quite sure where to find these people because I was fortunate enough to know these people are like me.  So I just thought, where do I find new music? Where do I find people to look up to and where do I find my inspiration? And I just went straight to these platforms and tried to build a following there and make real connections and interact with people. And it grew really slowly, but it’s like you said, really organically.”

4:56 “I think that’s… the best way to start, is to just build something small but really passionate and then let it grow from there.”

• types of people in her fan base
  • it has grown a lot because she does so many things
  • when she started, it was younger people like her
  • publishing her books grew a literary audience
  • there are fans of books and music
  • no longer a specific persona
• how she knows who likes her art
  • you have to be able to see yourself from a perspective
  • people will hate what you do no matter how good/bad you are
  • people have different cultures/interests
  • her audience is filled with creatives
  • struggle to find home
  • sometimes it’s better to have fewer dedicated fans than more less dedicated fans
  • Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans
    • if you find them, they will help spread your work

8:03 “Just knowing what you’re actually about. Knowing your story, knowing what you’re about, knowing your statements, what you want people think about when they hear your name. If you know these things, it will be quite clear who these people are too.”

10:16 “That’s also one thing why I like having really deep connections with fans, because if there are these wide but shallow audiences, they will rarely go and tell their friends that they have found the next amazing thing… but if you build something really really deep, that person will feel such a personal connection and they will go out and tell the rest of their friends too.”

• other two books
  • Another Vagabond Lost in Love
    • wrote during year she lived in Berlin
    • travel essays and living in a new city
    • album journals – essays on creativity and thoughts she dealt with while recording her second album
  • You’re Doing Just Fine
    • collection of poetry/prose dealing with hope and recovery
• capturing her ideas
  • keeps notebook with her at all times
  • small recordings on her phone
  • don’t go through life thinking you’ll remember something, you won’t
• when she realized she could make money from her music
  • recalling creating her EP
  • playing live shows and people coming up to her wanting to buy CDs and give her tips
  • realized people valued what she did enough to give her money
  • these moments gave her hope
  • value from creating your art
  • releases her music because she believes it has value for people
  • Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk on Asking
    • giving credibility to independent artists
    • being an influence in pursuing her dream
  • reciprocating value and giving back
  • the business around art – she only makes money when people pay for her work, so people support her

14:43 “I remember sitting there super happy because i created something that didn’t exist before and someone was willing to pay for it, and I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world.”

16:08 “When you ask someone to take the time to listen to it, or look at your photograph, or your painting, or whatever it is, you’re asking someone to actually spend a little bit of their lives on something that you have done. Which means that, if they’re going to do that, you have to kinda be sure that you’re not wasting their time.”

16:49 “I think it’s really important to remember that if you’re going to ask a favor of someone else, you have to have some kind of value to give them.”

17:30 “Now it feels like being an independent artist is the most respectable thing you can be because that means you are willing paving your own way.”

18:05 “I spent a lot of years giving away my music away free to people. I always put it up for free. Even my books from time to time… I believe that the most important thing is to just give people something, and if they find value in it, they will come back and give something back to you. So I learned that if I give away my albums for free, if someone finds so much value in it… they usually come back and buy a t-shirt or they decide to pay for the album anyway, or something like that/ So, I believe in giving away things for free. I believe that the people who do find value, they have the good heart to come and pay you back for it.”

• balancing time between all the things she does
  • her work goes in seasons
  • usually works on one project at a time
  • 6-8 month cycle for albums
  • so drained from song writing that she turns to reading/writing
  • when she feels rejuvenated, she moves on to the next project
  • feels she would burn out if she tried to work on albums back to back
  • having seasons keeps her inspired
• her third book
  • first two books were about her story/journey as artist/song writer
  • not about her personally
  • has universal themes for a younger audience
• artist coaching
  • helps younger people start out what they’re doing

6:03 “When I started out, when I first moved to London, I started to kinda figure out how to do this, I had no idea. And if I had had someone who could guide me in the right direction or that I could have asked questions that would have helped me so much. So I’m just basically trying to be that kind of mentor I wish I had when I started out.”

• importance of having a mentor
  • you don’t need to have someone you can meet every week

6:57 “I never had a physical person that i met with and discussed my career with, but I had a lot of role models that I looked up to and I studied how they got to where they are and how they built their careers and as long as you kinda know where you want to end up, you can always figure out the way. So I think the important thing is to just know where you want to go.”

• figuring out the path towards where you want to go
  • goes back to knowing why you are doing what you are doing and knowing what kind of life you want to build
  • it has to come from within

7:57 “For me, everything I’m doing is always about my why, just creating these moments for people, creating belonging, creating community of inspirations. And personally, everything I do I base on the decision of how I want to spend my day to day life. And so everything I do has to match with my values and… I think it all just goes back to knowing why you are doing what you are doing and knowing how you want to spend your life.”

8:52 “I would never have been able to get to where I am if I didn’t know why I did what I did. Embarking on a mission, no matter what you are doing, creating your own business, it’s tough, and it’s hard, and it’s a lot of work, and you will have to go places you didn’t want to go, and you will not have time to be with people you might want to be with, and there’s a lot of sacrifice. So if you don’t have such a deep why, you know exactly why you want this, I don’t think you’re going to work as hard as you need to work to be able to make it.”

• promoting her upcoming album
  • crowdfunding campaign – Looking Back with the Glass Child
    • everyone who contributes gets a pass to 20 live sessions and other content
    • get people excited and give them as much as she can
  • also does standard PR campaigns and touring
  • likes what a few authors and filmmakers do to promote their work
  • finding things around their project to get people excited

1:49 “I think the biggest mistake people do, both when it comes to authors, and definitely musicians, is that they go and try to get press, and then they sit and just talk about their own album for an hour. And I think that it’s so important to see the bigger picture. Your art should just be the final product… I really like when people have a bigger theme around what they do so they can talk about something else than just the actual product.”

• things she wants to do in the future
  • has dreams of creating her own coffee brand and have a coffee shop in her favorite city
  • tries to find a cozy coffee shop when she travels to new cities
  • got gift of different coffees from a fan
• advice she has for people starting out on their creative journeys
  • believes she released her music too early in the beginning
    • didn’t know yet what she wanted people to know her as
    • had to tweak and develop herself along the way
  • evolving as an artist

5:38 “I would say that, before you show your art to the world, make sure you know who you want to represent yourself as. I think there’s something to be said about just going for it and learning along the way, but I also think it’s so important that before you try to publish your book or give out your single or have an art show, or whatever, make sure that you know that that is who you want to be, and that your art is representing you like that.”

7:07 “Don’t ever be afraid to change and develop and tweak yourself along the way because if you want to build a long lasting career that will hopefully last your whole life, you have to learn, and grow, and change.”

7:29 :When it comes to being a public person like you’re trying to, especially as artists, it’s really hard to stand on the stage and be comfortable if you feel like ‘I’m not sure if I want people to see me like this.’ And it’s the same with the music. Your music will be there forever. So make sure that that is something to be proud of.”

• social media platforms she uses
  • Tumblr – very specific crowd
    • the kind of audience she is trying to reach
  • Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Goodreads
  • publishes the same types of posts on each of the platforms
  • very active on Twitter
• favorite quote
  • changes every day
  • “What a wonderful life I have had. I only wish I had realized it sooner.” – Collette

10:07 “You never see how beautiful a moment is when you are in it… I like back at my journey and I realize that, wow, I had an incredible adventure, but while I was there, I never appreciated it because I was always scared or worried or nervous. So I’m just trying to appreciate the moment more now.”

• morning routine
  • depends on the season she’s in
  • always gets up early and meditates/runs
  • makes coffee and then gets to work
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way
    • stoicism/philosophy
    • easy to read with good examples
  • Rich Roll Podcast – ultra marathon runner who interviews all kinds of people
• creative people
  • surrounds herself with like minded creative people
  • guitar player she’s been playing with since London
  • Miranda July – has done all sorts of things
    • doesn’t label herself
• definition of creativity

16:20 “My definition of creativity is just creating something that wasn’t there before. So that can be building a business or creating a workout plan… anything that is just about creating something that wasn’t there before.”

• being more creative

16:50 “I think just dare to have a little bit of imagination because sometimes I think I do that myself when I get caught up in these dry business stuff. It takes a lot to sit down and say ‘Oh let’s just forget about the world and create something.’ It can feel a bit unserious sometimes. When it comes to it, you’re creating something from nothing. That’s the most amazing thing you can do. So I’d say, to be more creative, dare to make mistakes. Dare to do things that might never be used. Just build something for the sake of building it. Then trash it.”

• challenge
  • try to see yourself from a bigger perspective
  • take a step back and see what you’re doing from above
  • be more at easy and more passionate about what you’re doing

The Glass Child

The post Charlotte Eriksson (The Glass Child) on Facing Obstacles, Knowing Yourself and Your Fans, and The Importance of Your Why – Cracking Creativity Episode 66 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Marcella Chamorro’s creative journey hasn’t been a straight line. Her career path didn’t reveal itself to her until well after she graduated from college. In fact, she took multiple detours including working at a non-profit, getting her masters degree, and starting a web design business, all before finding her true calling.

She only recognized her true calling of writing, photography, and technology after running her web design business. Through these mediums she is able to help people tap into the serenity and enjoyment they crave.

In this episode, Marcella talks about letting go of your ego, getting into creative flow, and becoming more mindful.

Here are three things you can learn from Marcella:

Let go of your ego

One of the problems we face as creatives is letting our ego get in the way of creating something truly great. Often times we tie our self worth to our achievements or the amount of money we make.

Marcella believes those things fed directly into her ego. “The main thing that I had realized was that for a long time, I had been attached to my self worth, to my achievement, and to my ability to make money. And that was feeding my ego so much. Like I made this much this month or I landed X client, or whatever.”

When Marcella decided to close down her web design business, she was prepared for the blow it would make on her ego. She knew she wouldn’t be making any money, but she also believed it would help her peace of mind. “It was more of a blow to my ego and one that I was looking forward to. So I knew it was going to be an adjustment and I knew the area in my life where I needed the most growth… That’s kinda what I felt was holding me back from peace of mind… So I decided, you know what, you think that you’re cool cause you make money, how about you make no money and see how that feels.”

Our egos often get in the way of being at peace with ourselves. We let it control what we do. We let it drive our ambitions and our lives. But if we are willing to let go of our egos, we open ourselves up to greater possibilities.

Getting into creative flow

One of the problems we often face as creative people is tapping into our creative flow. We know that energy, or spark of ideas, lies within us, we just don’t know how to tap into it when we need it.

Marcella believes discipline is the key to tapping into that creativity. “For me it’s a lot about discipline. It’s a lot about repeating routines over and over, and just kind of triggering that in my brain, and say ‘Oh yeah, it’s time to write now,’ and not having to use a ton of willpower when it’s become kind of like a system… In my experience, if I plan things in advance, there’s not creative flow.”

Another important thing we need to get into flow is working on things that matter to us. We need to choose topics that really speak to us. We need to let it come to us and let go of our ego when creating. “I need to really be feeling a certain topic to… really get into that creative flow. So for me, it’s kind of spontaneous and… it definitely has a lot to do with letting go of the ego.”

Become more mindful

When you work in a creative field, your mind often wanders. Your head is filled with so many ideas that it becomes hard to concentrate. That’s why it is important that you build a mindfulness practice.

A Mindfulness practice allows you to clear your head. It allows you to live in the present moment instead of always living in your head. Marcella’s practices mindfulness by concentrating on her senses. “The main mindfulness practice for me are my five senses. I use my five senses to just reconnect with what is instead of what I’m thinking about. So either I’ll stretch and feel my body… one of my favorite ones, just because it’s so easy, is to just sit and hear everything. So really listen to all the sounds that I’m ignoring the majority of the time.”

Marcella believes taking breaks helps her get back into creative flow. She believes those breaks, even if they only last ten seconds, help her get through lulls in her productivity. “I try and really check back in to my surroundings via what I’m hearing, what I’m listening to, and then I get back to work. And it could be 10 seconds, but I realized when I did that that I got through that hour of writing or that email or whatever, however long it took, and I felt kind of energized and not depleted.”

Shownotes

• about Marcella
  • worked at a non-profit after college
    • that was when she discovered blogs
    • had a journal for many years before but it very private
    • left non-profit for masters
    • started her on blog and things took off after
  • started writing about tech and social media
    • exploring what it felt like to blog
    • wasn’t interested in the topic so she moved on to personal development
    • after masters, she moved home to do her own thing
  • started her own business for web design
    • did it to pay the bills
    • was a struggle
    • didn’t like herself as an entrepreneur
    • wanted to change paths to focus on creativity
  • scaled down the business so her employees could find jobs
    • spend six months just exploring and writing
    • started her podcast after speaking at an event in Panama
    • launched podcast for fun
  • on journey to solve problems as an entrepreneur
    • how to overcome demons she faced
    • how to be the best version of herself while creating and serving
• providing for herself while she was ramping down her web business
  • still had a big client
  • once she gave up that client, she didn’t have income for 6-7 months
  • saved enough financially

13:44 “The main thing that I had realized was that for a long time, I had been attached to my self worth, to my achievement, and to my ability to make money. And that was feeding my ego so much. Like I made this much this month or I landed X client, or whatever.”

14:26 “It was more of a blow to my ego and one that I was looking forward to. So I knew it was going to be an adjustment and I knew the area in my life where I needed the most growth… That’s kinda what I felt was holding me back from peace of mind… So I decided, you know what, you think that you’re cool cause you make money, how about you make no money and see how that feels.”

• importance of planning
  • was pregnant when she decided to close shop
  • didn’t want to make a rash decision
  • doesn’t plan ahead that much
  • more serendipity than planning
  • not being connected to what you work on after some time
  • didn’t know she would end up podcasting and writing about mindfulness
  • a fan of exploring more than planning
• the presentation she gave in Nicaragua
  • released her talk in English on her podcast
  • why worrying is ridiculous
  • talked about her journey as an entrepreneur and the pitfalls of being an entrepreneur
  • having peace of mind and creative flow
• getting into creative flow
  • piece of mind and letting go of all the things the ego cares about
  • it’s about serving people
  • focusing on moving people vs. getting people to like something

19:16 “For me it’s a lot about discipline. It’s a lot about repeating routines over and over, and just kind of triggering that in my brain, and say ‘Oh yeah, it’s time to write now,’ and not having to use a ton of willpower when it’s become kind of like a system… In my experience, if I plan things in advance, there’s not creative flow.”

19:51 “I need to really be feeling a certain topic to… really get into that creative flow. So for me, it’s kind of spontaneous and… it definitely has a lot to do with letting go of the ego.”

• things that move people
  • personal stories and things she’s afraid to publish
  • saves encouraging emails/messages to her Dropbox to look at when she’s down
• using story
  • painters on Instagram share stories and behind the scenes of their paintings
  • building up anticipation for your work
  • relating what you offer

25:30 “Anything really, I think, is better than nothing because people can relate. People can’t relate to nothing.”

•  falling in love with the work of Michelle Armas
  • followed the process of what it was like as a painter
  • fell in love with her life and painting aesthetic
  • had Michelle on her podcast
  • relationship was built because Marcella followed her work

1:23 “If she had never shared anything of her personal life or her personal story and her work,  I don’t know if I would have ended up being a customer, let alone now her friend.”

2:37 “If I just wrote, and I just podcasted, and I didn’t promote my work and stretch myself in that area where maybe it doesn’t come naturally to me, where would my work be. I mean, it would be there but there wouldn’t be anybody watching, or listening or reading. And that might be the case for an artist who’s never really shared personal stories to attach to their work. It might be the next frontier for them to reach more people. So it might feel strange at first. It might feel annoying because you just want to paint, but I think it’s worth exploring.”

• coming up with stories
  • writes from a place of “What needs to be said?”
  • wrote about a story getting her baby to sleep and tied it into her work
  • takes a “This is me” approach
  • people are excited to see or hear about her kid
  • material from everyday life
  • Instagram #nothingisordinary

5:02 “It’s true. Nothing is ordinary. Everything is beautiful, you know?… Everything should be documented I think and shared. That’s where paintings come from. That’s where art comes from. It’s from either our day to day lives, like the actual things that happen or our imaginations. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

• mindfulness
  • every moment having a lesson
  • the difficulty in explaining self-awareness
  • “The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes (Also attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
  • planting seeds and see what works for you
  • experimenting and adapting other people’s ideas into your own life

6:00 “The more in tune I am with what’s going on around me, not what’s going on in my head, the more I am able to write, not just the truth, but from a place of creative flow.”

7:12 “I think that our work habits also are difficult to break and I think that self-awareness might be difficult to exercise when it comes to that. But I think the truth is that whatever works for you. Everybody’s different so… if they could exercise some self-awareness to figure out what works for them, that’s all that matters.”

• her mindfulness practice
  • Mindfulness for Makers
    • email series that has been turned into an ebook
    • sets a timer for 10 minutes and writes, then takes a break
    • making mindfulness accessible and telling people what she knows and experiences

10:39 “The main mindfulness practice for me are my five senses. I use my five senses to just reconnect with what is instead of what I’m thinking about. So either I’ll stretch and feel my body… one of my favorite ones, just because it’s so easy, is to just sit and hear everything. So really listen to all the sounds that I’m ignoring the majority of the time.”

11:40 “I try and really check back in to my surroundings via what I’m hearing, what I’m listening to, and then I get back to work. And it could be 10 seconds, but I realized when I did that that I got through that hour of writing or that email or whatever, however long it took, and I felt kind of energized and not depleted.”

• favorite quote
  • “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
    • is a very visual person – sticks with her in times when she needs it the most
• morning routine
  • had one before having a kid
  • mornings are dedicated to her son
  • she does her work when time permits
  • has a “when the baby is asleep” routine
  • keeps her task list short
  • be like water and strive to be as adaptable as possible

16:47 “One of the things that I love most about mindfulness is how it focuses on accepting reality because rejecting reality is ridiculous. It’s reality, you know. It’s not going to help to reject it.”

17:50 “If I wasn’t trying to be as flexible and as accepting of reality as possible, there’s no way I could get done what I get done.”

• books, podcasts, documentaries, etc.
  • encountering difficult conversations -managing them can change your life
    • Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone
  • anything by Brene Brown
    • Rising Strong
  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield – on resistance
• creative people
  • Caroline Kelso – Made Vibrant and Instagram
  • Oprah – pulling out the creativity of people who work for her
• definition of creativity

23:12 “For me creativity is… definitely not about doing something with your hands or making something from scratch. For me creativity is simply fusing whatever you are doing or saying or whatever with your own personal spin or your personality.”

24:01 “I think that everything we do can be creative as long as we try to put our own spin on it and bring our true self to it.”

• challenge
  • read something on and get to know mindfulness
  • accepting what’s happening around you and putting your attention on that
  • stop time traveling with your mind, open up your mental energy for creativity

Mindfulness For Makers | Marcela’s Main Site | Marcela’s Book

The post Marcella Chamorro on Lettting Go of Ego, Getting Into Creative Flow, and Becoming More Mindful – Cracking Creativity Episode 67 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.