“I’m never any better than my last concert or the last time I played, so it’s like an audition each time.” ― B.B. King

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One bad thing about success is, we often rest on laurels. We finally hit our goal and expect everything to magically come together.

You know those moments. It’s the moment when: we get our painting in a gallery, we get published in a magazine, or we hit a five figure month in sales.

It’s exhilarating. We’ve worked so hard to get here. But then we get complacent. We think that just because we are in a gallery or publication that everything will become easier.

While these moments are fantastic and worth celebrating, that doesn’t mean things will become easier. In fact, we aren’t close to being done yet. We are just getting started.

Hitting a milestone alone won’t help you find more success. It’s what you do after you’ve hit the milestone that counts.

Anyone can become a published author. Anyone can get 100,000 views on their website. Anyone can get published in a big time magazine. But what do you do afterwards?

Will you continue on that upwards trajectory or will you become complacent? That is the difference between a professional and an amateur.

B.B. King was one of the most decorated and highly regarded blues guitarists in the world, yet he still approached each concert, each performance, like it was his last. He did not rely on his name or stature to get gigs. He worked hard every time he played to earn his next gig.

If you think one successful moment is good enough to bring you recognition and respect, think again. You have to earn that respect every time you create. You have to treat every piece of art, every performance, every book like it’s your last.

That is how you gain respect. That is how you gain recognition. That is how you find success.

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Photo by Harvey Salvador

The post “I’m never any better than my last concert… it’s like an audition each time.” ― B.B. King Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Thom Fox is a strategy consultant who helps companies with complex problems. He has created economic empowerment programs that have reached over 3 million people and has conducted 1,200 seminars, workshops and keynotes. But his story wasn’t always one filled with success.

Thom started off in a life of crime and with an addiction to angel dust. He broke into people’s homes and got arrested at the age of 14. It wasn’t until he was 19 years old that he realized he needed to make a change in his life. It was in that moment that clarity was brought into his life, and got him on the path towards success.

Here are three things you can learn from Thom:

You can change your life

Many people believe once you hit a snag in life, you are doomed to failure. That simply isn’t the case.

Thom started off his life as a criminal who was addicted to drugs. Yet, he still found a way to turn his life around.

Once he made the decision to change his life, he took on various customer service jobs. But the real moment of change happened when he took a job at a non-profit.

That job gave him the opportunity to learn and grow. They threw everything they could at him to see if he could figure things out. “They just kept throwing stuff at me and I looked at from that way. It was a great opportunity to just learn. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all that yet, but.. if they ask me to do this, let me understand what it means.”

It was also at this job that Thom learned to absorb information. “I guess what I learned was one of the biggest lessons is be a sponge. If anybody out there right now is trying to do something different in their lives, be a sponge and learn all that you can because you can apply that knowledge in different areas once you finally get the confidence of achieving some of those things, and then from there, it’s using your creativity to just put them in different situations.”

One day, the president of the company told Thom to become the lead of the marketing department. So Thom learned marketing on the fly, and started to do educational work for the company.

If there’s one thing we can learn from Thom, it’s that your life isn’t set for you. You can change who you are and what you do to impact other people and the world.

Relationships are a crucial

In 2005, Thom was working on a non-profit for college scholarships. After one of his pitches, Thom was approached by one of the directors of the board. When the director asked where Thom learned to build one of his programs, Thom told him he learned on the fly. He told him about dropping out of school and not going to college.

The director was shocked and told him he should pursue his degree. That moment convinced Thom to get his GED and pursue a degree in international business.

After graduating, Thom decided to venture out on his own. The biggest reason Thom was able to do this was because he already had good relationships. His work with the local school system and his work on a documentary allowed him to hit the ground running.

Thom’s belief is that relationships are crucial to your success. “Relationship building is probably the most important thing that I’ve seen in business… I mean the relationships that people really get to see you in your element. So I found a lot of success simply donating my time to organizations.”

When people see your involvement and passion, they are more wiling to work with you. “I fount that by serving on these boards and serving in communities and positions, people get to see what you do, and people get to see your passion for it.”

These relationships form the foundation of your reputation. They help you when you need help the most.

The value of a startup mentality

Thom is a huge proponent of the startup mentality. He believes it can teach you many things, even when you find failure.

Startups are often successful because the people who found them are so creative. “You don’t need a 500 person company to generate a billion dollars, you need to have people who are smart and know what they’re doing. People in that capacity are creative. You know, when your innovation takes creativity, that creativity has to come from the ability to have momentum.”

Startup founders also approach problems with an open mind and willingness to learn. “I appreciate entrepreneurs for their ability to be open minded, their ability to learn, to constantly challenge themselves, and their work ethic.”

They are also don’t let their fear of failure prevent them for continuing on. “That’s what I think I appreciate about that failure and that understanding. Just because you fail, doesn’t mean that it’s over. It just means you get to take all that stuff that you learned, and you get to do something else that’s pretty cool with it.”

That ability to learn and that ability to persevere are what make the startups mentality so special. Even if your idea fails, there is something to learn from that. We just need to be open and willing to learn and fail if we want to run a successful business.

Shownotes

• about Thom
  • aided by many mentors
  • was lost for a long time

4:33 “It’s when you connect with other people and get feedback from them in a meaningful way , not when they’re destructive but constructive, and they’re honestly trying to help you make better changes in your life that can breath a little bit and understand that if someone is willing to invest in you, there’s a reason for that, and you have to figure that out. It’s kind of a humbling experience, but it’s also kinda mind-boggling if you were an idiot like I was.”

• getting started with drugs
  • grew up with grandparents in 70’s
  • was a young person with old people raising him
  • got good at taking things apart and putting things back together again
  • kids in neighborhood wanted him to break into alarm system
  • broke into houses
  • they gave him drugs, and eventually got him hooked on angel dust
• his thoughts when they approached him
  • was mostly left alone as a child, so when they approached him, he was glad to be part of a group
  • didn’t know anything about drugs when he took them
  • it didn’t seem malicious to him
  • didn’t see it for what it was until it was already way out of control
• difficulties he encountered
  • has had a long battle with police
  • he has been beaten and shot at
  • was living a life of ignorance
  • life came crashing down at 19
• getting arrested at 14
  • grandparents found out
  • mom died after parents got divorced
  • was walking on highway
    • father and grandfather came to police station
    • next day aunt comes over to house
    • they get help for him
    • when he moved in with mom, he got involved with a different group of people
• falling asleep on woman’s doorstep at 19
  • saw that he had trenchcoat but no pants on
  • found 16 empty grams of angel dust in his coat
  • didn’t know when he smoked it
  • hopped train to NY
  • looked in the mirror and saw that he was ninety six pounds, and he stopped cold turkey
• how he was able to cope with such a massive change
  • had already dropped out of high school, but went to get degree in electronics
  • took on retail and customer service jobs
  • had nervous breakdown after getting married
  • got divorced and lost custody of child
  • got job at a non-profit, and they put him to work
• his new job
  • they didn’t know what they were looking for
  • gave him an opportunity because they could drive him into the ground
  • they kept throwing stuff at him and told him to figure it out
  • was honest with them about his situation and what he could do
  • company helped people repay credit card debt and also had a financial literacy program
  • worked there for 18 years
  • saw job as an opportunity to learn
  • president had Thom start the marketing department because he knew how to write
  • learned marketing on the fly and eventually went on to do educational work for them
  • built educational program on a national scale and produced radio/tv commercials
  • applying what you learn from one area and using it in another area
  • world’s best push-up bra was created by a mechanical engineer

18:22 “So they just kept throwing stuff at me and I looked at from that way. It was a great opportunity to just learn. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all that yet, but.. if they ask me to do this, let me understand what it means.”

18″53 “I guess what I learned was one of the biggest lessons is be a sponge. If anybody out there right now is trying to do something different in their lives, be a sponge and learn all that you can because you can apply that knowledge in different areas once you finally get the confidence of achieving some of those things, and then from there, it’s using your creativity to just put them in different situations.”

20:23 “Take the things that you learn and look elsewhere, and that’s where opportunities sometimes lie. But that’s the gift of the experiences that you go through. They stay with you and the ability to use them in different situations is really, I think, the challenge in life is mastering that and really trying to understand when to do it, and when to shut your mouth sometimes too.”

• where Thom looked for inspiration
  • soaked up everything
  • happened during the advent of the internet
  • he Googled everything from “How do I write a commercial?” to “How do I storyboard a commercial?”
    • he then reached out to people in the industry and asked for their opinions
  • the challenge he had was, his employer didn’t want to listen to other people’s opinions
    • because he didn’t have the background, he to provide support from people in the industry
  • people don’t mind backing you up
• mentors
  • 2005 – worked with Bill Cosby on non-profit for college scholarships
  • increased it by 100%
  • one of the directors on the board asked him what else he was up to
    • told him about financial literacy program he spoke about to USA
    • taught personal finance via the game of basketball
    • put on hour long game shows to give away tickets to games
    • asked where he learned how to do that
    • told him about dropping out
    • was told he needed to go to college
    • got GED even through ADHD and dyslexia
    • went to college for international business
• building his skill set
  • is a natural introvert
  • had a lot of emotional growth to do because of his addiction
  • was on a quest to figure things out
  • dealt with nearly committing suicide and alcoholism
  • didn’t know what the end game was
  • employer didn’t want him to go to college, but he went anyways
  • he focused on college where mentorship helped again
  • mentored at a startup incubator – where he helped startups connect with community and come up with strategies
  • fell in love with startups and their mentalities which was completely different from big corporations
  • brought these ideas to big corporations
• after graduating
  • met up with Angela Lussier
  • had conversations with Angela about his career and she told him to just do it

29:50 “Every time you step up and do something on your own, there’s a lot of nervousness. There’s a lot of unsureity, but it was interesting, and the journey still continues.”

• going into consulting
  • started as co-founders with Angela and they enjoyed working together, but realized they had different goals for what they wanted to do
  • had 3 funds – regular money, uh oh fund, and oh crap fund
  • went out on his own as freelancer
• building up freelancing business
  • even though he dropped out of school, he was able to build rapport with school because he set up mentorship programs
  • got a contract with the local school system because of his connection with them
  • was also working on a documentary on depression
  • already had two great projects when he started off
  • came through hustling, networking, and connecting with the community

31:53 “I understand the importance of investing in people. I understand the importance of giving back.”

• having a strong network and hustling
  • show vs. telling
  • people are more comfortable referring you when you already have a relationship with them
    • they get to see how you do what you do and how much it matters to you

33:11 “Relationship building is probably the most important thing that I’ve seen in business… I mean the relationships that people really get to see you in your element. So I found a lot of success simply donating my time to organizations.”

33:40 “I fount that by serving on these boards and serving in communities and positions, people get to see what you do, and people get to see your passion for it.”

•  getting involved in your local community
  • woman who was on two boards: one for heart and one for wallet , asked what to do
  • volunteering for organizations that matter to you
  • serving on boards involves time and commitment so when people see you giving up your time and expertise, they recognize that
  • people like people who remind them of themselves
  • warm introductions vs. cold introductions

35:07 “If you really want to get involved and actually use it in some capacity to build your notoriety or even build your brand or business, find out something your passionate about. Find out how your skill set can help that organization and just go talk to them.”

• instant gratification and giving up
  • being in an interesting time in history
  • your audience makes your brand what it is

37:41 “A lot of people, most times, the overnight successes are ten years in the making, and the people that actually do make it into instant stardom and things like that, it’s so random. It’s hard to forget. So I think there has to be a default and a default position has to be, ‘You gotta work at something in order to get anywhere.'”

38:10 “If you’re happy at what you’re doing and you’re doing it for the reasons that are good for you and your life. You really can’t go wrong.”

• things that helped grow his influence
  • radio shows
  • had a branding problem at Junior Achievement
    • had a hard time connecting with business owners/funders
    • created a business show with entrepreneurs
    • bring them on to talk about tips/tricks and learn about Junior Achievement
• lessons learned while doing show
  • learned things about himself
  • hates closed minded people and thinks they are destructive
  • the ego can be destructive

“The more supportive that we are towards people and the less that we tear them down, the more we build them up, the more success we create for everybody.”

“Some people, some entrepreneurs especially, are so enamored with their own thought process that they don’t realize that they’re doing something good or doing something bad… One way to look at it is, some people are successful in spite of themselves.”

• being supportive of people
  • there are people who have good ideas, but may not have the confidence
  • every student who doesn’t graduate is a $250k drag on the economy
  • imagining what it would be like if we could provide resources for all those kids

“The world has changed. There’s different ways to do things. So… now more than ever, I think it’s important to be open minded, otherwise you just miss a bunch of opportunities.”

“It’s amazing to see what you can do if you just invest a little bit of time in somebody.”

• examples of people he has helped
  • Suit Up Springfield
    • founder heard from business owners that many kids didn’t come to jobs dressed appropriately, so he started giving away suits to kids going on job interviews
    • big disconnect between kids going on job interviews and business owners
    • kids said they don’t know what it’s like to go on a job interview, so they don’t know they have to dress up
    • you can then take that idea back to the business community to let them know that
    • one of the first kids of the program worked on mayoral campaign
    • he was one of the stories told by Senator Elizabeth Warren when she was in town

“It’s these different investments in different ways that we help these people get these opportunities.”

• seeking mentorship
  • one on one mentorship is often helpful
  • you can start just by asking someone you feel comfortable with
    • they might not be able to help you directly, but they may know someone who can
    • ex: kid asking Thom about animation, Thom didn’t know anything about animation, but he knew someone who did
  • the importance of having a direction and people who want to help you
  • having an advisory board of three people you trust
    • being able to call somebody when you are having a problem
    • bringing those people together once a quarter to help you and connect with each other
  • the importance of having people who know your intentions and motivations
    • they can give you clear advice that you might not be able to see

“Talk to somebody you trust. Start from there.  Tell them what kind of guidance you think you need, and have an open and honest conversation. And they may see it from a completely different perspective, because sometimes we get trapped in our own head. So to get it out there and talk to somebody you trust is really important because they’re giving you information that’s helpful to you, not helpful to them. And that’s the most impactful information, where they really earnestly want to help you out, and then maybe it can make connections to other people in the community… Try to connect with someone you have some level of trust with that you think will steer you in the right direction.”

• startup mentality
  • living in an ever changing world
  • startups are challenged on multiple levels
    • it’s not just about whether people want or don’t want the product
    • they need to think about where to take the company, if they want to license the product, getting funding from angel investors/venture capitalists
  • when you are trying to make a pitch to angel investors, they will try to tear it down
    • you have to justify why you should get funding
    • it forces you take make an argument based on sanity
    • knowing exactly who your customers are and what value you can bring to them
  • knowing what your product will do for people
  • getting feedback from customers
  • having a thick skin, and being able to listen to why your product sucks
  • Lean Launchpad – making assumptions and talking to customers
    • you have to have strong hypotheses
    • it’s about learning
    • company that wanted to build an app that proofreads emails
      • learned that nobody would pay for it
      • they also learned they had a strong skillset for helping kids get into the right college
      • started off with one idea, but shifted into a new one
    • customer development tells you whether or not you have a product
    • finding out where your skills fit
    • Paypal was the fourth or fifth company they worked on
    • Twitter and Slack both started off as different companies
    • your company/idea  has to be something you enjoy, you have to care about it
    • you have to open minded and you have to be able to take ideas and run with them

“You don’t need a 500 person company to generate a billion dollars, you need to have people who are smart and know what they’re doing. People in that capacity are creative. You know, when your innovation takes creativity, that creativity has to come from the ability to have momentum.”

“You have to understand what your value represents to other people. I don’t care who you are and your brand, or anything like that, but what’s in it for me, as a consumer?”

“I appreciate entrepreneurs for their ability to be open minded, their ability to learn, to constantly challenge themselves, and their work ethic… if you’re inside of a startup or building your company, that’s your life. It really is. There’s no on and off. That’s challenging.”

“That’s what’s interesting to go out and learn, because we make a lot of assumptions as entrepreneurs. We have to in a sense. The idea has to be fantastic because it’s ours, but sometimes your ideas suck, and that’s alright.”

“That’s what I think I appreciate about that failure and that understanding. Just because you fail, doesn’t mean that it’s over. It just means you get to take all that stuff that you learned, and you get to do something else that’s pretty cool with it.”

• advice he would give to his younger self
  • doesn’t know because he doesn’t think his younger self would have listened
  • ignorant people are dangerous people
  • related to people who were genuine with him
  • find someone who is genuine with you and may be able to help you out
• the ability for one person to completely change your life
  • being open and willing to listen to others
  • felt like he was always waiting for something
  • act on the things you need to act on
  • listen out for those conversations that can make a difference
  • recognize situations that can build momentum and activate them
• favorite quote
  • represents the foundation of strategy
  • second guessing gets in the way of your agenda
  • find a way to accomplish the things you want to do

 “Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then… find the way.” ― Abraham Lincoln

• morning routine
  • gets up 4:30, gets coffee, smokes cigarette, gets going
• books, documentaries, podcasts
  • Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy by Cindy Alvarez
    • how to interview your customers using an open ended approach
    • helps you get inside customers’ heads
    • it’s never the surface answer that you want
    • ask why until you get to the root cause
    • getting inside the mind of your customer and figuring out how you can get them to buy
• creative people
  • Angela Lussier – using creativity in her business
  • Steve Jobs
    • had faith that you know what people want
• definition of creativity

“Creativity isn’t just artwork. I guess in some capacity, I look at my work that I do in strategy consulting as creativity as well because I have to come up with solutions, and those solutions aren’t always evident. but in order to maximize creativity, I say, always remain a student. Always learn. Always learn about different ways to do things… just continually going out and building your craft or sharpening your saw.”

Thomfox.com  | Twitter

The post Thom Fox on Life Changing Moments, the Importance of Strong Relationships, and The Value of a Startup Mentality – Cracking Creativity Episode 48 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

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“You did what?”

Many people who hear those words become squeamish. We only hear those words when we’ve done something unthinkable. We only hear those words when we do something brave.

Those are the words I want to hear when people learn about my journey. I want people to do a double take. I want people to wonder how I made that leap.

Whenever you hear about someone leaving a cushy job to pursue their dreams, you become skeptical. “You did what?” They tell stories about all the doubters. The haters. The jealous.

Those doubters are the ones who are insecure. They are the ones who aren’t pursuing their dreams. They are the ones who feel like they need a change. They are the ones who feel like they are making a mistake.

Skepticism is often a sign that you are doing something meaningful. When you tell people about your work, do they move on to the next question or do they become curious?

One of the biggest signs you are achieving your dreams is when people look at you like you’re insane. There are many examples of people who were considered insane for leaving their careers behind:

Vera Wang started her wedding business with no experience in the wedding industry. Tim and Nina Zagat quit their legal careers to work on their restaurant guide. Ronald Reagan left his career as a famous actor to become a politician.

You are not the crazy one for pursuing your dreams. After all, you are just dancing. People who think you are insane just can’t hear the music.

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Photo by Florent Chretien

The post “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Will Hatton has a passion for travel and adventure. Through his website, The Broke Backpacker, Will talks about his many wonderful travels and adventures around the world while also doing it on a tight budget.

He has traveled everywhere from India and South East Asia to some of the world’s most dangerous countries like Palestine, Pakistan, Venezuela, and Iran. While many people might consider his methods   unconventional and dangerous, he has found that the world is a much kinder and safer place than you might think.

Will’s latest adventure is a two year trip from the UK to Papua New Guinea without using any flights. In this episode, you can find out why he is embarking on this journey and how he has been able to fund his amazing adventures, among many other things.

Here are three more things you can learn from Will:

You can push yourself farther than you think

Let’s face it. We all live fairly comfortable lives. If you are reading this, you probably have access to the internet, to electricity, and to some of life’s most basic needs.

Yet, we still find ways to tell ourselves we aren’t good enough. We make excuses for why we aren’t pushing hard enough. As soon as we hit the first obstacle in our path, we shrivel and give up.

If there is one important lesson you can learn from Will, it’s that you can push yourself farther than you ever thought possible. You can overcome any obstacle that is in your way.

While he was trekking the Annapurna Circuit, Will nearly died. He was struggling breathing. He was delirious. He was close to giving up. He didn’t think he was going to make it back down, but he did make it.

Pushing through that challenge made him a stronger person. It showed him the power of a human’s will to survive. Here’s Will’s account of overcoming that obstacle, “The fact that I didn’t die in the snow and I did manage to make it over and down the other side, it definitely strengthened my resolve and heightened my interest in challenging myself physically and mentally… I suppose when you think it’s all over, it definitely isn’t. You can give it that last push and break through that wall.”

Our obstacles seem incredibly fickle when compared to Will’s experience. If he can overcome nearly dying, we can overcome whatever obstacle is in our way.

Make a change in your life or stop complaining about it

Before Will decided to embark upon his journey as an adventurous nomad, he had a stint as a travel agent. Since he loved travel so much, but wasn’t ready to take the leap yet, he thought being a travel agent would be the next best thing.

He quickly realized it wasn’t the job for him. Being stuck behind a desk in an underground building was making him angry and depressed. He realized the job was destroying his soul.

He wanted to set up the same experiences that he loved doing himself, but his style of travel was too extreme. The trips he had to set up were too tame. So he decided to quit.

Instead of constantly complaining about his job, Will did something about it. He didn’t know whether his idea to give up everything and travel the world would work, but he did it anyways.

Will believes you should either make a change in your life or stop complaining about it. “If you don’t like a part of your life then you have a duty to either change it or stop moaning about it. You’ve got two options. You get on with it and that’s fine. That’s the level that you’re going to be at… but if you’re not, don’t just moan about it. Do something about it.”

Every new journey requires preparation

Whether you’re going out to travel the world on a budget or quitting your job to work on your own creative business, you must prepare yourself for the journey. Every new adventure requires some thought and preparation. You can’t just give everything up without a game plan.

You may have heard about people who found success after taking such a huge risk without preparing for it, but they are in the minority. What you haven’t heard about are all the people who weren’t successful after taking such a bold risk.

If you are going to embark upon a new journey, you must be prepared for it. You must prepare yourself both physically and mentally. You must do your research.

“You’ve got to prepare. You’ve got to prepare mentally, and you have to prepare your gear because if you’re hitting the road for the first time… you need to know that you’ve got the right gear and know it’s reliable… if you’re hitting the road for the first time, you have to have done a little bit of research, so that when you do arrive at the initial destination, you’re not just like a rabbit staring into headlights… I say the more research you do, the more fun you’ll have.”

While Will’s advice is meant for people who are preparing to travel, it also holds true for any new adventure. Preparation is the key to success. Without it, you are just like that rabbit looking into the headlights for an answer. Don’t take that risk without knowing what you are going to do.

Shownotes

• about Will
  • backpacking for 7 years
  • extreme adventures on a tight budget
  • started traveling at 19
  • had bigger sense of freedom
  • traveled to India and held a lot of different jobs
  • started Broke Backpacker to tell people how to travel around the world
  • has had a bunch of sponsors sign on
  • 2 year trip from UK to Papua New Guinea without flights
• becoming a full-time traveler
  • had a new job in UK, but found it boring and tame compared to living on the road
  • doesn’t know what will happen next
  • realized that as long as he was traveling, he was happy

13:16 “I never know what’s going to happen next and I really like that… It kinda keeps you guessing, it keeps you on your toes, it makes the day more exciting, and when  I experienced that, and had compared it to the alternative…  being on the road broke seemed a much better option than trying to make a living in the UK.”

• first place he visited by himself
  • Costa Rica – got really ill, spent 2 weeks in hospital, and got sent home
  • it didn’t deter him from getting back on the horse and trying it again
  • wanted to join the Marines growing up, but he infected his leg, which got permanently damaged, and he couldn’t join Marines
  • decided to take a one-way trip to India
    • chose India because it was cheap, big, far away, and he didn’t know anything about it
    • was there over a year and only saw half of it
    • going from state to state in India is like going to different countries
    • India is culture shock, even for experienced travelers
    • had $3k when he went there, which lasted 14 months
    • Couchsurfed, hitch hiked, and used trains
• Couch surfing in dangerous countries
  • Couchsurfing – online hospitality website where you can stay with people in the community
  • has couch surfed over one hundred times
  • had Couchsurfer meet him in Venezuela to cross over into Colombia
  • uses it to explore crazy places without looking like he’s lost

17:00 “I quite like to go to countries where nobody else really goes to, because when I’m exploring, I want to be a little like Indiana Jones and pretend like I’ve got it all to myself. So  I do tend to go to countries like Palestine, Pakistan, Venezuela, Iran… and when I do that, the way that I keep myself safe is I use Couchsurfing to make contact with somebody beforehand, and that way you got a friend in countries who can help you.”

• travel tips
  • walk with a purpose
  • you get a sense when things aren’t quite right
  • look assertive
  • instinct will kick in, so you can run or fight
  • getting robbed at knife point
  • use common sense and hang out with sound people
  • Couchsurfing hosts are excited about showing people around

18:20 “A lot of the time when I’m walking around new cities or walking around new towns or whatever, you gotta walk with purpose, even if you have no idea where you’re going because it’s much better to walk past a rough looking gang of people three or four times, then to stand in front of them for five minutes looking at a map.”

19:44 “In general, the world in nowhere near as scary a place as the media might make it out to be. People everywhere are really friendly, really helpful. They keep an eye out for you man.”

• after being robbed at knife point
  • got friend, and went out to look for him, then went to get Buffalo momos
  • only lost $30 and his wallet
  • has never had his entire backpack taken
  • was only robbed 3 times in seven years
• stationing himself
  • burnt out while traveling in S. America
  • got an apartment in Medellin
  • sometimes he has to take breaks just to relax
• after India he went to Nepal
  • trekked Annapurna Circuit – nearly killed himself on it
  • then went to SE Asia for months
    • colorful, cheap, close distances
    • India is comparatively difficult to travel
  • nearly dying at Annapurna Circuit
    • was struggling with his breathing
    • most people do it with a guide, he went with his friend and a hand-drawn map
    • while climbing the last summit he got extremely sick
      • he could either climb 500 meters or go back down for a few weeks
      • was delirious, but got to a shack at the top where man sells chai
      • was able to stumble back down after another 8 hours
    • didn’t think he was going to make it

25:45 “The fact that I didn’t die in the snow and I did manage to make it over and down the other side, it definitely strengthened my resolve and heightened my interest in challenging myself physically and mentally. So I guess the lesson I would learn is that sometimes I suppose when you think it’s all over, it definitely isn’t. You can give it that last push and break through that wall.”

• how he travels
  • has traveled with girlfriend and brother
  • also meets up with people for different amounts of time
  • but mostly travels by himself
• making his way around
  • is good at sign language
  • 90% of communication isn’t language
  • he is bad at languages and making fires
  • learns 10 keywords in languages
  • he wants to learn languages
  • U Talk language app
  • easier to learn a language like Spanish than trying to learn different languages used in India
• Tim Ferriss Experiment
  • learning Tagalog in two days and having conversation on talk show
  • breaking skill down into most important parts and anticipate what people would ask
  • Will did that with tests by looking at previous questions
• his jobs
  • wind surfing instructor, life guard, unloading trucks for supermarket
  • was a travel agent for a while
    • was a soul destroying job
    • felt too tame
    • being stuck behind desk and being underground made him angry/depressed
• taking action on your feelings
  • two ways to take action:
    • one – exercise (Crossfit)
    • two – travel the world

33:14 “If you don’t like a part of your life then you have a duty to either change it or stop moaning about it. You’ve got two options. You get on with it and that’s fine. That’s the level that you’re going to be at, and if you’re content with that and you’re happy about it. That’s great. Good for you. But if you’re not, don’t just moan about it. Do something about it.”

33:51 “Go and travel the world. It is not as scary as many people think it is. It is significantly more rewarding then you could ever imagine. It will give you ideas. It will fuel your passion. You’ll find a purpose. You might fall in love. It’s a life changing experience. Do it. Everybody should travel.”

• finding job when you can’t speak a language
  • if you have concern about money and you speak English, get a teaching English as a foreign language certificate
    • $250-$300 for 60 hour online course
    • you can teach foreign languages in a country almost anywhere
    • has a certificate, but hasn’t had to use it because he is able to sell articles
    • it’s his fallback option
• starting Brokebackpacker
  • first version was terrible
  • he set it up so he could keep mom up to date with his travels
  • was encouraged to enter travel writing competitions
  • entered 3-4 and won 2
  • then made the decision to become full-time blogger
  • started networking, learning about social media, and taught himself how to code
  • when he can’t do something he turns to Fiverr

36:34 “I just started to take it seriously, and as soon as I started to take it seriously, other people started to take it seriously and I just got really good at the networking side of it. Before you know it, I’d been featured by Business Insider, Reuters, BBC, Yahoo Travel, and Daily Mail. And yeah, it just keeps spreading as long as you keep putting lots of energy into it.”

• writing competitions he won
  • Telegraph, World Nomad, In Travel Magazine
  • Telegraph was about most embarrassing moment
    • talked about moment in Nepal
  • In Travel was about inspirational moment
    • novice monk in Burma after climbing six hours up hill
    • monk gave him a glass of water
  • embarrassing moment
    • staying in guest house and noticed discomfort in groin
    • saw creature attached
    • tried everything to get it off
    • went to doctor who removed the tic
• writing style
  • free flow
  • start writing, and when he’s done, he’s done
  • has to write a certain number of click bait articles
  • likes to write investigative articles

40:09 “Whenever I have to write something I don’t want to write, I find it really really hard. I find it almost like selling out and I don’t enjoy doing that. I haven’t done much of that recently, but when you are competing in a space that is as competitive as travel blogging, you need to write click bait articles every now and again… I hate writing that stuff.”

41:10 “I think it’s important that people realize that traveling is amazing but it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s real as well.”

• whether being honest leads to people following him
  • knows around 200 of his followers by name because he’s had conversations with him
  • being approachable is important

42:02 “The blog isn’t about me. It isn’t about my personality. It’s about the journeys that I’m doing and the people I’m meeting. And that’s what I want to write about, and I think that’s something everybody can get behind even if they don’t like me.”

• most popular articles
  • getting tattooed in the jungle by Wang Od
    • the last Kalinga tattoo artist to hold the title of Mamababatok (tattoo master)
    • last one who could do a certain type of tattoo
    • they didn’t speak each others’ language, but he still got the tattoo
    • 3-4 day mini adventure that anyone can do
    • didn’t realize what he was getting until the next day when he found out it was a fertility symbol
    • had a book of 20 tattoos, and he chose one he liked
    • see video of him getting the tattoo
• recommendations for how to create a network
  • doesn’t see benefit of connecting with lifestyle bloggers because they aren’t into the same things as he is
  • he is more into overlanding/extreme adventures

44:27 “Just find your tribe. Find people who are into the same things you are into. Be honest.”

44:55 “You need to identify who is writing about, or producing content about, the kind of thing which you hope to produce content about, and try and make friends with them. Obviously you’ve got this thing in common that you’re both producing similar kind of content. So as long as you’re being honest,.. people tend to respond to it quite well.”

• finding connections on bigger sites
  • used Twitter to pitch editors
  • Tweeted an interesting story and picture that made it easy to understand the pitch
  • if you have the right story, and find the right person for that story, you can get it published
  • you need to research who you’re trying to pitch before you try to pitch them
  • find out what the editor likes and a story that fits that theme
• pitch to BBC
  • going to Venezuela
  • wanted to explore dark side of Venezuela
  • story had both sides of story
  • BBC denied it because it didn’t have human/positive element to it
• getting sponsorships
  • got sponsorships using the same Twitter technique
  • got his biggest sponsor, Hostel World, because they saw his pitch to Red Bull
  • other companies have contacted him through Twitter because of that
  • isn’t going to change the way he travels because of the money he makes
  • he is putting the money into a pot to create Broke Backpacker hostels
  • wants to build some in SE Asia and South America
• idea for the journey is currently embarking on
  • wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before and wanted to travel the world like the original explorers of the world
  • doesn’t know anything about at least a dozen of the countries he is going to visit

“I just wanted to really really challenge myself physically and mentally. I also wanted to travel and go out with a purpose, and I feel like I’ve got a purpose by having a destination that I’ve set for myself, and I’ve made these rules that I’m going to travel by, old style without any flights, to make it harder. I’m going to try and level up with my traveling I suppose.”

• countries he looks forward to visiting the most on his trip
  • Bulgaria, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Buton, Myanmar, Phillipines, Papau New Guinea
• commonalities and differences between people he’s met
  • if you do backpacking for a while you get used to waiting, being hungry, cold, uncomfortable, etc.
  • backpackers are usually laid back and don’t get stressed
  • gravitates towards chill people who also like to do things
  • young backpackers have a problem of getting too drunk

“If you travel, you’ve really gotta try and show a respect to the local people and the local culture and the local history as well. So it really annoys me when I see people not doing that, and I tend to just avoid those people. And that’s why I go to more challenging countries like Pakistan and Papa New Guinea, or Iran, because it just doesn’t have that kind of crowd.”

• most interesting thing he has found or done on his journeys
  • in Myanmar, he rode a bike up a dirt track up to a jungle that had limestone Buddha statues that were laid out in a grid
• favorite place or story
  • Jordan – couchsurfed with a Rastafarian Bedouin
    • helped collect firewood, had a fire every night and slept under the stars
  • merges together in once awesome trip
  • tends to meet a lot of the same people around
• how he gets around on the cheap
  • does a lot of hitchhiking inspired by Kerouac
  •  takes a lot of local transport like trains, buses
  • hitchhiked a lot in Central America in the back of pickup trucks
  • usually has local currency, but also has spare US dollars in case of an emergency
• suggestions for people embarking on a new journey

“You’ve got to prepare. You’ve got to prepare mentally, and you have to prepare your gear because if you’re hitting the road for the first time… you need to know that you’ve got the right gear and know it’s reliable… if you’re hitting the road for the first time, you have to have done a little bit of research, so that when you do arrive at the initial destination, you’re not just like a rabbit staring into headlights and you at least have a kind of got an address to go to or something like that. I say the more research you do, the more fun you’ll have.”

• what he does on social media
  • uses scheduling software
  • doesn’t know why he’s grown so large
  • getting articles published in media outlets is how he’s grown his following
  • recommends Tweet Jukebox and Crowdfire
• journeys other than travel he has planned
  • has a 5-10 year plan for traveling
  • wants to train for the Crossfit Masters Games by the time he turns 35
  • has another journey planned to take a motor bike from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego at the bottom of South America
  • likes to keep himself busy
•  favorite quote
  • got a book from his father when he was ten called Illusions by Richard Bach
    • adventures of a reluctant messiah
  • if you say you can’t do something, then you can’t
  • doesn’t limit himself
  • tells himself he can do anything he wants
  • this mantra carries him through whenever he is having a hard trek
  • still has doubts and fears, but knows he can do it
  • likes to face challenges with gusto rather than despair

“Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they’re yours.” – Rchiard Bach

“I tend to not limit myself. I don’t like saying to myself, you can’t do that, you can’t do this. Yeah, you can do whatever you want. I do have quite a lot of self-belief. I do  I do reckon I can do pretty much anything I want as long as I put in the correct amount of energy and enthusiasm, I feel like I can pull off any project.”

• his journey
  • has to schedule out times for Pakistan/Iran, but every other place is fairly open
• morning routine
  • hamstring stretches, makes his bead because of Tim Ferriss, drinks two pints of water, then crossfit or work
• books, podcasts, documentaries, etc.
  • Will’s ebook for blogging – Travel Blogging 101
  • Bruce Parry’s Tribe – 3 season series, lives and integrates with tribes
  • The Lost City of Zed by David Grann – English gentleman explorer, last of his kind, goes looking for lost city in Peru
  • any book by Jack Kerouac
• creative people
  • Tim Ferriss
  • Will’s father – came from disadvantaged background and built empire
    • didn’t have qualifications, but is able to invent things
• definition of creativity
  • be willing to experiment

“For me, that would probably be, trying lots of different things and throwing yourself into them 100% until you find the thing you are good at because I believe everybody is good at something and they haven’t just necessarily worked out what that thing is. You’ve got to keep trying stuff, and I mean, that’s what I’m doing. I’ve got loads of ideas. I’ve got loads of things I want to try. And I’ve had some projects fail this year. I’ve had some things take off. I’ve had some things not take off, and that’s just how it goes. You need to keep experimenting. You need to keep pushing the boundaries. Keep trying.”

• being more creative

“It’s a muscle and it needs to be exercised properly. You can’t just expect to sit down one day and… write a masterpiece. It doesn’t happen like that. You need to write every day. You need to practice every day, and be thinking about it every day. It needs to become a part of your personality. That would be my recommendation for getting good at something. Just make it your whole thing.”

TheBrokeBackpacker.com  |  Pericscope: wandering_will  |  Snapchat: wthatton

The post Will Hatton on World Adventures on a Budget, Pushing Yourself Past Your Limits, and Making a Change in Your Life – Cracking Creativity Podcast Episode 49 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Print available on Storenvy.

My friend Tyler Bel has a way with people. She is able to connect with people on a deep and emotional level. There is one thing she does in particular that had me floored the first time I heard it.

When working with clients she would give them this scenario: Imagine if I had a fairy wand, and could make any wish come true. “What would tomorrow be like? A miracle happened… your wildest dreams have come true. What does tomorrow look like?”

This question often shakes people to their core. It’s not one of those questions you have a prepared answer for. It really makes you think about what you’re doing. It makes you wonder whether you are living up to your own expectations.

It has affected some people so much that they not only changed their jobs. They changed the industry they worked in completely.

It makes you wonder why we don’t ask ourselves that very same question. Am I living the life I want to live? If I could make any wish come true, what would it be? What would tomorrow look like for me?

We can make our way towards that dream starting today
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The thing is, we don’t have to wait for tomorrow. We can make our way towards that dream starting today. Remember, our lives our a marathon, not a sprint.

If we start today, we can achieve our goals. We just have to break our goals down into smaller, more manageable, steps and tackle them one at a time. Just determine the first step you need to take, and do it. Then figure out the next step, and do that. But, you have to start today. Not tomorrow. Not some day. Today.

We can get to those Great Places. We can find the mountain that’s been waiting for us. So why wait? Let’s get on our way.

Buy Dr. Seuss Quote Art

Photo by Alana

The post “You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!” ― Dr. Seuss Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

This week is going to be a little different. Instead of interviewing another creative, I wanted to celebrate the fiftieth episode of Cracking Creativity by having someone else interview me.

I had my friend and former podcast guest, Jacques Ho, interview me. He has been a huge part of my work on this site and this podcast. Each week we meet to discuss what we are working on while also keeping each other accountable to our goals. He has a lot of insights on my work, which I thought would be great to have for this episode.

In it, I discuss the beginnings of my creative journey, why I started my blog Marketing Your Art the Right Way, my quote art collection and upcoming book, influences for my work, my podcast, and much more.

By the time you finish this episode, I hope you have a better idea of why I started this site and why I want to help all of you on your creative and artistic journeys.

Here are three things you can learn from me:

Start each day by working for yourself

Many of us start each day without making room to do something for ourselves. We might start checking our email or social media. We might prepare for work. Or we might get ready and just head out the door. I used to be one of those people too.

Every morning I would wake up, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, get dressed, and head out the door. I would do the least amount of work possible before heading out the door to work for someone else.

It was only after listening to other people talk about their own mornings that I started to change mine too. Instead of using the beginning of the day to work for someone else, we need to work for ourselves.

We only have a certain amount of energy each day. Why don’t we use our most productive hours working for ourselves? Why do we insist on giving our best hours to someone else?

Now, I begin each morning working for myself. I read the books I want to read. I write what I want to write And I create art for myself.

I’ll tell you this, it has made a huge difference in my day. It has fueled my mornings. It has invigorated my passion for my work. It has changed everything.

Don’t spend your most precious hours working for someone else. Use them on yourself instead.

You normally can’t be creative on command

One of the myths of creativity is that you are either born creative or you aren’t creative at all. That simply isn’t true.

If there’s one thing I know about creativity it’s that everyone has the capacity to be creative. As artists, we fall for this myth too. It’s most common form is writer’s block.

When we get stuck on an idea, we are stumped. We don’t know what to do. We let it paralyze us. “I am a creative artist, why can’t I be creative?”

The reason people think they aren’t creative, or the reason so called creative people get stuck is, they haven’t practiced using their creative muscle. Just like any other muscle in the body, if you don’t use it, it will become weak. We must practice using our creative muscle every day if we want it grow strong.

One of my favorite methods for strengthening my creative muscle is James Altucher’s ten ideas a day. Every day, I choose a topic and write ten ideas for it. In fact, it has helped me write some of my best and most successful articles.

The point of the exercise is not to come up with ten good ideas. It’s to constantly practice using your creative muscle. When doing the exercise, you will come up with the first five ideas fairly quickly. It’s those last five ideas that strain your brain. It’s those same ideas that help make your creative muscle strong.

The next time you are feeling creative block, try coming up with ten ideas to overcome it. If you keep practicing it, you will notice yourself become more and more creative.

The power and importance of story

One of my favorite parts about working on this site and this podcast is hearing about and uncovering people’s stories. We are all going through our own journeys in life. Often times we forget that other people are going through their own journeys too.

It is both an honor and a pleasure to hear about other people’s projects and lives. Some of the greatest lessons in life don’t come from our own experience. They come from learning from other people.

Other people have the capacity to inspire and move us the way we often can’t ourselves. We are too close to ourselves to notice the things we need to change. By listening to the story of others, we can gain insights into our own faults and flaws.

That is the beauty of hosting this podcast and creating this site. My podcast has introduced me to people who are changing the world. But I would never have met many of my guests if I hadn’t started this show.

One of my favorite parts of every week is when I get to jump on a call with one of my guests. Each one has an interesting and beautiful story to tell. I have made it my job as the host of Cracking Creativity to uncover the wonderful story behind each of my guests.

Too often, our connections with other people just scratch the surface. We rarely get the chance to dive deeper into other people’s lives. We rarely give ourselves the chance to learn lessons from those around us. We are too busy with our own lives to care.

That is why I want to share these wonderful guests with all of you. It has been an absolute pleasure sharing the stories of my guests, and I hope they have inspired you too. Thanks for joining me for my fiftieth episode. I hope there are many more to come.

Shownotes

• creativity as a strong focal point in life
  • creativity at a young age – drawing Disney cartoons at a young age
  • drawing the Tasmanian Devil on my bedroom door
  • coloring underneath the kitchen table
• starting this blog Marketing Your Art the Right Way
  • previously worked on a blog called Who Designed It? which explored fashion, drawings, art, etc.
    • was supposed to be a site where people could find out where to buy different things they saw online (clothes, paintings, art, etc.)
  • blog was started to show artists how to market their art and learn how to build/fix their websites to reflect their art
  • why you website might not be working and how to make it something you want it to be

4:03 “I figured out that wasn’t something that was fueling my own creativity, so I started this blog to help show other people how to inspire themselves and show people that marketing  and all these things aren’t detrimental to your being an artist, they’re actually helpful to being an artist because they allow you to spread the word about your art, and therefore, by doing that, you’re able to make money, and by doing that, you can create more art because you have the means to do that.”

• inspiration as the driving force of the blog
  • helping people in the avenues I am already familiar with (web design/marketing)
  • first quote art from Marcus Aurelius
    • “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius
    • found courtesy of Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacle is the Way
    • the only way to go to is it go through it, that’s the only way we learn

6:16 “In order to keep people coming back, you have to consistently create things.”

6:39 “Obstacles aren’t something that should prevent you from accomplishing your goals. They’re something that can become the way that empowers you to overcome things. Because, by seeing that obstacle, you can find out different ways around it, and therefore, figure out the path that can lead you to success as opposed to just turning around and giving up at that point.”

• my writing process and how it helps with projects
  • started off having the goal of writing every day
  • working all day for someone else, and being too tired to work for yourself
  • the idea is to start small
  • started off with writing a couple of sentences, then moved up to 100 words, and now it’s more than 100 words every morning

8:09 “One of the things I realized by listening to a bunch of other people talk about how they are creative was the fact that they start off every morning creating something for themselves. So, instead of waking up and getting ready to work to do the things that other people are asking you to do, you get up and you work on the stuff that you want to do. So, when you’re in that mindset, it’s easier to work on yourself first, then it is to work for other people.”

• ideas that turned into something new
  • 10 ideas a day is a concept from James Altucher
    • exercises your idea muscle
    • being creative on command is difficult if you don’t exercise your creative muscle
    • is the inspiration behind some of my bigger blog posts
      • The Do’s & Don’ts of an Artist Website
      • Why You Shouldn’t Market Your Art to a Large Audience
      • Ten Marketing Ideas Artists Can Steal From Me Right Now

9:45 “By creating ten ideas a day, you are exercising your idea muscle because you can’t just be creative on command. It’s not easy to do, if you don’t use it. So the idea is to consistently create those ten ideas a day so that you can come up with a solution to a problem you might have at any given point.”

• things that have come out of the 10 ideas a day practice
  • the first few ideas for your list will be easy, the latter half will come a little harder which is where you exercise your muscle
  • idea sex – combining ideas from your different lists to coming up with something original
  • as muscle memory
• quote art collection
  • started off as something I could write about
  • I didn’t intend for it to grow like it did
  • process involves finding quotes that resonate with me and my audience
    • keeping a running list of quotes in Evernote (currently have 585 quotes I haven’t written a post for)
    • uncovering why famous person gave a quote, how it has meaning to me, and what meaning it might have for you
    • also allows me to play around with my own art
    • a way to combine making art with idea generation
    • currently working on a project for a quote book that compiles a list of the quotes, my thoughts on it, people who embody it, and action steps based on it
    • will contain 52 weeks of inspiration for the 52 weeks of the year
    • combining the quote and a case study  that applies to it
    • Aristotle quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
      • people who are successful/excellent got there by creating habits
      • ex: Beatles – Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
      • 10,000 hour rule
      • played thousands of hours in Hamburg before they became famous
      • the habit of playing allowed them to create excellent albums
• people who have influenced my life
  • James Altucher – daily practice
    • consists of spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional health
    • if you can improve in those aspects every day, you will be a better person, which will lead to better things
    • combination of every aspect of life to make yourself better
    • Choose Yourself
  • Ramit Sethi – Ramit’s Brain Trust
    • I Will Teach You to Be Rich – not only being rich in monetary sense, but also in life
    • emphasizes having the right mindsets, taking action, and changing your way of thinking
    • definition of a rich life varies from person to person – what brings you happiness?
  • Choose Yourself book review that got retweeted
    • James showing appreciation for what other people have done
    • experts like when you do the things they recommend and you can show evidence of it
    • establishing a relationship with influencers
• mastermind group for creatives
  • Jacques and I are accountability partners
  • partnering with Mike Roy and Kent Sanders
  • showing other creatives the way through what we’ve discovered ourselves
  • group is Journey to Creative Freedom
    • combining the ideas of creativity and a journey achieve creative freedom
    • creative freedom is dislearned over timeTED Talk from Sir Ken Robinson on how education system is destroying creativity

24:56 “We want to empower other creative people to work on their first project or learn how to write or learn how to build their website or learn how to start their own podcast or any of these things that we’re trying to do and help them fuel a community of creative people to get out of the wrong mindsets and get into the right mindsets to sell their work or create their novel or write the music that they want to write.”

25:46 “Everyone is going through a journey in life, whether you think you are or you aren’t, and we want to empower those creative people to go on a journey to leave their possible day job, or leave the project they don’t like working on, or to work on themselves so that they can continue to create and make a living for themselves doing what they love.”

• Mike and Kent’s backgrounds
  • Mike Roy signed up for my email and said he liked what I was doing so I checked out his site
    • Cinderella myth – finding the perfect thing that will bring you exposure, that proves you are the chosen one
    • cracking creative myths
    • had monthly meetings for around a year
  • Kent Sanders – author and worked in ministry
    • one of the biggest things holding his audience back is the idea of making
    • he wants to show them you that making money isn’t a bad thing
  • pitched the idea of all working together
  • working on different ideas together as well as working on our other projects
  • mindsets on making money and pursuing goals
  • making money in pursuit of art
• Chris Guillebeau – Born for This
  • take necessary steps towards doing things you were born to do
  • My Money or My Joy vs. My Money and My Joy
  • World Domination Summit – brings together people who are trying to make a difference
    • so many people working on so many great projects
    • fostering a community and becoming a connector of people
• selling point for World Domination Summit
  • my review  of World Domination Summit 2015
  • world record attempts
    • most people eating breakfast in bed
    • longest high five chain
    • most people applying lipstick at the same time
  • purpose of attempting to break records
    • people coming together for a common goal
• about the creative mastermind
  • journeytocreativefreedom.com
  • first webinar will be on mindset, how to choose your idea, focusing on your audience
  • exploring the beginning stages of the creative journey

38:50 “The first step, before you can start selling your work is to figure out how to set yourself up to do it.”

• reason for starting the podcast
  • been listening to podcasts for a long time, and I thought it would be fun to talk to artists and creatives about their different projects
  • started going to a podcast meetup in Orlando
  • liked talking to people with podcasts to see how they are using it in their own projects/businesses
  • meeting the co-creator of Podcast Movement, one of the largest podcasting conferences in the world and thinking I could do it too
  • Unmistakable Creative – talks with some of the world’s most creative people
    • doesn’t just talk about tactics, he uncovers people’s journeys
  • Jacques didn’t listen to any podcasts before we started our weekly chats
    • now he listens to shows like School of Greatness and Art of Charm
    • the difference between Cracking Creativity and bigger podcasts
    • Tim Ferriss interviewing people like Arnold Schwarzeneger and Jamie Foxx
    • but other non-famous people have interesting stories too
    • everyone has a story to share
  • starting my podcast by asking people I knew to come on, then moved to people in the podcast group, then finding many great guests at World Domination Summit
  • asking people for recommendations of people they know
  • strengthening connections between people and myself
  • connecting people who might benefit from a connection with each other
• favorite moments from doing the podcast
  • improv and standup as ways to connect with people

41:49 “My favorite moments are the ones where people are telling a story of something that happened to them that you can relate to yourself.”

• most surprising moment
  • having so many people agree to talk to you
  • the value you bring to someone else’s audience and the value they bring to your audience

42:58 “It’s surprising even though you may or may not have a huge audience, like the people you mentioned, Lewis Hows and James Altucher and Tim  Ferriss, people are still willing to share that story with you. And it doesn’t matter how famous that person is, you can learn something from everybody you meet.”

• Jacque’s friend Sarah Jackson and Casa de Paz
  • helping so many people through her organization and having a platform to share that story without having to retell it all the time
• Jacque’s favorite part about interviewing for his gratitude project
  • salsa research/gratitude project
  • wanted to learn unwritten rules that aren’t spoken about
  • losing dance venue in Denver
  • compiling memories into memoir
  • likes hearing about other people’s experiences
  • the joy in being able to change the life of even just one person
  • Jacque’s episode where he explains his journey and project in more detail
  • being the hub of his project and the way everyone is connected

47:24 “If you can make the world a better place by changing one person, I think you should go ahead and do that, if you enjoy doing it. If you don’t like doing the thing you’re trying to do, then there’s no reason to do it.”

• feedback from listeners
  • hearing feedback from the audience of the interviewees
  • giving interviewees a chance to share parts of their story that haven’t been told
  • seeing interviews spread
• interesting/unexpected things I’ve learned through the process
  • creativity is different for everyone
  • even though people give such different answers for what creativity is, there are still commonalities between them
  • learning about yourself by talking to others

51:44 “Creative thinking isn’t just one particular thing. It’s many different things and everyone views it in a different way.”

51:57 “Just hearing the way that people tell stories inspires you to try to figure out how to tell your own story in a better way… telling a story is one of the ways that, is the best ways to connect with people.”

• what advice would I give to myself
  • do a better job of connecting with people and trying to get them more involved
  • figuring out what people like/don’t like, who they like hearing from, what types of people they want to hear more from, getting more people involved in the process
• vision for the next 50 episodes
  • there are a bunch in the back log
  • some episodes reference earlier this year, but they mean earlier last year
  • doing solo episodes or shorter best of/recap episodes
• favorite quote I haven’t published yet
  • No matter what level you’re at in life there is still a struggle – Kanye West tweet
    • people you don’t think have struggles have them too, theirs are just on a far grander scale than yours
  •  “We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” —Walt Disney found through Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work
    • you need to create art and sell it so you are able to make more art
    • you can sell your art without worrying about starving
    • stop worrying about being greedy or selfish
• morning routine
  • grab breakfast, read kindle app on computer and highlight passages, also brush teeth while reading and highlighting
    • serves duel purpose – doing something I have to do and something I don’t necessarily have to do simultaneously
    • saves time and effort
  • daily practice of writing at least 100 words per day
    • topic tends to be quote art for week or currently the people who embody those quotes for quote book
    • in the past it was for things like How to Be a Successful Artist, 10 Marketing Ideas post, etc.
  • then work on quote art for that week
  • then drive to work while listening to podcasts
  • whole routine before driving to work takes around an hour and forty five minutes
• books, podcasts, documentaries, etc.
  • books
    • Make Art Make Money by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens – Jim Henson’s journey from Muppets to Labyrinth and making money to make work he loves
    • War of Art by Steven Pressfield – making art is liking war and going into the battlefield, battling Resistance and the idea that you’re not good enough
    • Choose Yourself by James Altucher – working on yourself and not relying on other people
    • Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
  • podcasts
    • Unmistakable Creative
    • Fizzle – great for anyone building a business
    • OffCamera – sharing stories from celebrities, actors, musicians, etc. and how their lives and struggles are just like ours
  • documentaries
    • Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy
    • Jiro Dreams of Sushi – sushi chef who has spent many years mastering a craft
    • Tim Ferriss Experiment – taking two days to learn a skill or teach someone else a skill using 80/20 principle
      • teaching a woman who was afraid to swim how to swim
      • teaching himself how to play the drums, from scratch, so he could play Hot Blooded in a concert with Foreigner
  • Derek Sivers Now page – lists what projects he is working on at the moment
    • thought about it, but then thought about upkeep it would take
    • if you want to keep up to date, sign up for my newsletters or follow me on Twitter
• creative people
  • Josh Carrasco aka Madd Illz – first podcast interview I ever did
    • was a former battle rapper
    • trade verses trying to diss/make fun of your opponent
    • battle rapping takes skill, quick thinking, and a lot of creativity
    • you have to think quick on your feet or you will lose
    • his explanation of a splinter in a building
    • singling in on the smallest details and making them seem extremely important
  • Carl Rosa – starting off as a real estate executive and completing shifting his career through sushi and trips to Japan
    • not liking sushi the very first time he tried it, but still wanting to learn about it
    • having a deep sense of curiosity and willingness to explore
  • Jason Silva as the most creative person I would like to meet
    • host of Brain Games – tv show exploring how our brains work
    • Shots of Awe – freeflow thoughts and ideas combined with music and video to create wonderful videos on love/philosophy/art
      • when you hear them, you know he’s in a state of flow
• definition of creativity
  • everything that is creative is just a combination of ideas
  • iPhone just being the combination of a cell phone and a computer
  • listening to your own inner thoughts
  • taking your life experiences and combining them into something that never existed before
  • play as an element of creativity
    • don’t ridicule your idea before it has time to grow
    • kids don’t worry about the rules, they make them up as they go
    • Hot Lava game – not touching the floor
    • making up rules to games, and losing that ability as we get older

“Another thing that I think creativity is is listening to your own inner thoughts, and taking your life experiences and using them and combining them into something that never existed before because you are the only person who will ever live your life. Ever. So, your ideas and the things that you went through can impact what you think and how you combine those ideas into something interesting.”

“Kids will come up with all kinds of crazy idea if you let them and at a certain point we lose of all of that and we think that we can’t be creative anymore. But anyone can be creative if you just allow yourself to be, and one of the good ways to do that is the ten ideas a day.”

• challenge for the listeners
  • figure out a project you want to do, and figure out what the very first step is for achieving it
  • do that step, and don’t worry about anything else yet
  • then do the very next step
  • only worry about the step that is in front of you
  • take a David sized step, not a Goliath sized step
  • ex: for Jacques’ project
    • first step is who can he interview
    • second step is, what question can he ask
  • the idea is to start  on the path towards accomplishing your goal
  • your not running a sprint, you are completing a marathon

Marketing Your Art the Right Way | Journey to Creative Freedom

The post Kevin Chung on Art, Creativity, and Lessons Learned While Cracking Creativity – Cracking Creativity Episode 50 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Miranda Aisling found her passion at a very young age. She went to college at the age of 14, and by her junior year of college, two things gave her a clear direction in life. The first was deciding to open up an art center. The second was a trip to El Salvador that changed her life. In this episode, learn about her work as an artist, community builder, and creator of Miranda’s Hearth, the first Community Art Hotel.

Here are three things you can learn from Miranda:

The beauty of experimentation

One of the things artists need to embrace more is the idea of experimentation. When we look up at the paintings hanging in gallery walls, we ask ourselves how someone was able to create that. What many of us don’t see is all the effort it took to get there.

Every artist goes through phases of exploration and experimentation. We start off trying to mimic our heroes. What we soon discover is, we can’t recreate a piece of art, no matter how hard we try. So we must experiment for ourselves.

Miranda believes the artists who came before can teach us the lessons they learned through experimentation. She believes after learning from the masters, we must experiment for ourselves. “I think how you find out what works is through experimentation.”

She also believes that, after experimenting and trying to mimic other people’s work, you discover yourself. “You can try and make something perfect and you can mimic it perfectly, but it’s actually in the way you can’t make it the same that you find your own voice.”

The beauty of art is, you can both learn from others and from experimentation. It is when those two worlds collide that we find what really works for us.

Curiosity’s role in creativity

Miranda believes curiosity lies at the center of creativity. “Curiosity really is the root of creativity. Artists are the people that sit there and they ask, and they try to express what they find whether they can or not. Through expression they try to find the answers.”

She believes it is something that is missing from our education system. We don’t allow people to explore their curiosity. Instead we try to force people to memorize facts. “By playing to a test, we beat out curiosity, because we say, there is an answer. This is the right answer. This is what it is and if you tell me it back, you’ll be correct, and you’ll pass, and you’ll move on. But manifesting curiosity is actually really humbling.”

Instead of relying on people to give us the answers, we need to discover them for ourselves. We need to develop our own humble curiosity. We need to ask what if. We need to find our own expression. When we do, we will have found our connection to creativity.

The importance of art

While on her trip to El Salvador, Miranda discovered the importance of art. Her trip visiting a war torn town changed her entire perspective of what art could be. She saw the way it could bring people together after experiencing such tragedy.

The town was the site of a horrific massacre that left only one survivor. So along with Claudia Bernardi and Walls of Hope, they painted a mural with people who came back to the town. This trip is the reason Miranda does what she does and doesn’t stray off the path.

“It was at that moment that I realized how vital art is, that it’s not just million dollar pieces hanging on a museum wall behind a piece of glass. That, cliché as it sounds, it literally builds communities. It brings people back together. It brings meaning to life. And that was the moment when I realized that I didn’t want to dedicate my life to pursuing some gallery position selling artwork to the 1%. I wanted to help rebuild. I wanted to help create connection and I saw art as the vehicle. For me art has always been a vehicle. It is not a purpose in and of itself… for me art is the means, and human connection and finding meaning through life, that’s the purpose. That’s what art helps us do.”

Shownotes

• jack of all trades, arts organizer and connecting people/things
  • experiments in a lot of different realms
  • is able to communicate with people in different mediums
  • learning by doing lots of different things
  • creative process is consistent no matter the medium
• upbringing
  • was not a virtuoso
  • played piano, but hated it until she learned to play Für Elise
    • was no longer learning technique, but learned expression
  • everything else was exploratory – knitting, fiber arts, etc.
  • sat down with materials and saw what happened
  • went with older sister to Michaels
    • sister scoffed at her picking elaborate patterns
    • sister was jealous of her ability to work outside of the norms
  • likes exploring and playing
  • tried many different things
  • when she went to college at 14, she was able to explore different things
  • took first major art class and got hooked
  • parents were supportive of her practice in arts
    • mom told her to figure out what she wanted to do with it
    • guided her to being a community artist

7:31 “I’ve always balanced that kind of exploratory encouragement with a really practical, realistic, approach to what it means to make a living out of being an artist.”

• what drew her to community art
  • her mother was theater artist
    • warned her it is really hard to do
  • Miranda studied painting and what she wanted to do
  • originally studied art and psychology
    • realized she would be a terrible therapist
    • works better in macro scale as opposed to micro scale
    • community art is more macro than therapeutic art

8:22 “I was leaning towards doing something else for the most part because I wanted my art to maintain it’s disconnection, in a sense. I’m really glad that I’ve never made money off of my art. I’ve sold a couple of paintings here and there, but I never needed the money that I make off of my art. And I think that’s really freeing for my art. That being said, I do think my entire career is based out of art and creativity.”

• classes she took in college
  • was indecisive – double major and triple minor
  • majored in painting and pottery, minored in piano performance, psychology, and art history
  • took other classes unrelated to her course studies
    • these classes stood out because they created a more rounded education than going to art college
    • things she learned in medical sociology informs the work that she does as a community artist more than drawing classes
  • most influential class – materials as metaphor
    • teacher encouraged the class to experiment
    • sketchbook was an encyclopedia
      • were encouraged to destroy it
    • were let loose – melded plastic bags together
    • open-ended exploration was important
    • not a technique driven school which fit her learning style

12:14 “It was really important to my artistic development that I was in a program that encouraged me to just play around, to just try to figure out what worked best for me as far as developing my voice.”

• experimentation vs. knowing what works
  • her experiments with drip art and rug sample sponges
  • pottery as an art form vs. oil paintings
    • pottery was made all over the world independently
    • everyone experimented and came up with the same things
  • senior thesis in pottery – people separated by time and oceans, but they still had similarities
  • Everything is a Remix by Kirby Ferguson
  • Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist
    • “A wonderful thing about human beings is that we’re incapable of making perfect copies, and our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives and that is how we evolve.” – Austin Kleon
  • even when you try to mimic others, you still can’t create a perfect copy
  • imperfections make us beautiful
  • Good Will Hunting – imperfections are what make us fall in love with each other and the world
  • it’s in the way you can’t re-create something
  • not being able to re-create your own work either
  • it’s about the process of creating

12:40 “I think how you find out what works is through experimentation.”

13:32 “I would say that the point of learning established techniques is to learn what other people have already experimented with. You shouldn’t have to re-create perspective because people spent years and years and years figuring out how to do that well. So, they did the experimenting so you don’t have to… but I think everything is learned through experimentation.”

18:18 “You can try and make something perfect and you can mimic it perfectly, but it’s actually in the way you can’t make it the same that you find your own voice.”

• origins of her book
  • started as her Master’s thesis
  • wanted to create creativity training program for professionals
  • 19 year old graduate student
    • who would listen to a 19 year old?
  • most people stop when they think they can’t create what’s in their mind
  • art is a heavy term, it has weight and stigmas
    • you can get bogged down before you even create

20:21 “I think re-introducing creativity and curiosity and a desire to learn is vital to just about any profession, but it was from my defeat that I came up with… the concept for the book, because what I wanted to create was in my mind a piece of art. It was this program that would train people, that would help people grow, that would contribute to the world in this really grand way. And I felt completely unprepared to do that, and I think that moment is where most people stop.”

21:43 “I find this for myself is that if my idea gets too big and weighty then there’s no way that I’m going to do it. So I always try and break things down into manageable pieces. I say, you know, I’m not going to make an art piece. I’m not going to make a masterpiece. I might not even make a painting. I’m just going to make something. I’m just going to make sure that I do something and hopefully, in the long run, you do enough little somethings that grow into other somethings, that it becomes a piece of art. But I think of you start by trying to make art, you’ll be so intimidated that you’ll never make anything at all. But if you start with just attempting to make something, whatever it is, wherever it goes, then at least you’ll start along the path and I think that’s one of the hardest parts of creating.”

• surprising examples of people who just started making something
  • hosts dinner and music nights in Harvard Square
    • bring people together under Miranda’s Hearth to make something together
    • Ryan Bonaparte wrote Crazy Enough to Try – finding your passion
      • engineer surrounded by artists
      • mural project post – I tried to make something… and it worked!
      • made it comfortable by creating structure, then taking them away
      • being surrounded by creative people
      • taking charcoal and creating web shapes
      • someone asked how he made it
      • was happy to share experiment with people
      • was in structured environment where he was allowed to experiment
      • it’s hard to make the first step
  • labels that stop us from creating
    • natural talent in art, math, sports, etc.
    • Carol Dweck – fixed mindset
    • growth mindset – TED Talk comparing different country’s systems
      • Japan – good at math? – recognize effort vs. talent
    • Miranda did not call herself an artist in school
      • only after four years and a gallery show did she consider herself an artist
      • took years to become comfortable announcing herself as an artist
  • imposter syndrome – no one is truly an expert
    • being a teacher and giving tours at museum of fine art
    • doing research half an hour before giving tour
    • hour later, imparting wisdom
    • being an expert comes from confidence
    • wisest people know what they don’t know
    • the further you deep into a subject, the more you realize you don’t know
    • Albert Einstein and creativity

26:39 “I think labels can be incredibly dangerous. They can also be incredibly helpful. The reason they’re dangerous is… you get too comfortable, and you fall into it and you think ‘Oh, this is what I do and I’m not good at this other thing because of that.'”

28:04 “There’s a form of empowerment that comes when you finally feel ready to take on the label of an artist or a musician, when you finally feel like you’ve worked hard enough to feel comfortable calling yourself an artist.”

29:21 “As I’ve gotten more comfortable it’s meant, well, if I really am an artist, which I do identify as such, I need to make sure that I actually spend time in the studio.”

29:33 “I think in some ways labels can be helpful as long as you are aware of what they are doing and what they are constructing.”

• asking questions and curiosity
  • develop your humble curiosity
  • what happens if… and originality
  • combining existing things
  • figuring out your own expression
  • performing the same art, but bringing new depth to it (Shakespeare, Bach, Mozart, etc.)
  • The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
  • community arts – storytelling is memorizing first and last lines
    • memorizing the bones of the story
    • performances are affected by many different factors
    • different interpretations of the same piece of art

32:57 “Curiosity really is the root of creativity. Artists are the people that sit there and they ask, and they try to express what they find whether they can or not. Through expression they try to find the answers.”

33:24 “By playing to a test, we beat out curiosity, because we say, there is an answer. This is the right answer. This is what it is and if you tell me it back, you’ll be correct, and you’ll pass, and you’ll move on. But manifesting curiosity is actually really humbling.”

38:12 “The people who you are creating for have just as much of an impact on your artwork as you do.”

• starting up her group (Miranda’s Hearth)
  • has always known what she wanted to do in life
  • knew she wanted to start community arts program at 16
  • as sophomore she went on life changing trip in El Salvador
  • will not only be a community arts group but also a hotel
    • take run down building and revitalize it through the arts
    • renovate rooms with art made by the community
    • when people stay, they can buy art in the room, take art classes, etc.
    • make art a part of daily life and break down barriers created by art institutions
    • help people realize creativity/art is everywhere
  • Ideas Into Action class in grad class
    • spends 75% of time fundraising
    • Miranda wanted to create something that didn’t require fundraising
    • started hosting events to build community first, then the community can help make the building
    • Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
  • Music, Art, & Wine night
    • started in July 2013 with four people
    • played music, and talked about projects, etc.
    • has done them every month since then
    • has grown in depth, built relationships and histories with each other
    • now public events with a different feature of different subjects
    • creating community through creativity that is affordable, accessible, and approachable
    • growing enough to work on the hotel
    • the power of strong connections and relationships

44:41 “I started the community that I wanted to be a part of and it’s been really fundamental for my stability and my growth professionally and personally because all that really matters when it comes down to it is genuine human connection. And I think that the reason so many people are drawn to art is that it is one of the best conductors of human connection.”

• spending much of your free time in the arts (music, tv, movies, etc.)
  • realizing someone made something in the hotel, getting to meet them, taking class with them

45:41 “Unless you’re standing in an untouched forest,  in the middle of nowhere, everything around you was at some point made by someone. We live in these fabricated worlds and yet we rarely stop to think about who made them or why or how. So the concept of the hotel is to break down those barriers and connect the people who make things so the people who use things. Connect to the artists to the audience and the creator to the consumer.”

46:33 “It’s about caring about the human behind the art that art comes to be more meaningful in our lives. What I think art really does is that it signifies a story, It signifies a connection. And honestly, the art itself is not actually important to me… To me what’s important is not a painting. It is to be painting. It is being in the room and creating and it’s a story that I make while in that room, and a story that I can then share with everyone else.”

• not being able to express what you’re thinking when you’re creating
  • emotional vs. technical abstract art
  • artists can’t talk about what they do because if they could, they would talk instead of create
  • envying artists who can express
  • being visual/kinesthetic learner
  • not being able to express something but through painting
  • if you’re creating for everyone, you’re creating for no one

49:20 “As an artist you have to accept that not everyone will connect. You don’t want everyone to connect because if everyone connected, it probably means that it’s oversimplified and shallow.”

• different learning styles for different people
  • Howard Gardener – multiple intelligences (audio, visual, spatial)
  • cartoon about educational system – animals lined up in front of guy at a desk asked to climb a tree
  • learning what art form was best for her (realism vs. abstraction)

50:35 “One of the most important things you can do for yourself  with growth as a human being in mind is to learn how you learn. And too often in our culture is so focused on logical based learning… we assume that that is the only way to learn, but it’s not. And so many people are lost in both the educational system and then later in their professions because we assume that everyone should communicate in these ways.”

• best method for learning
  • test for what method works best for you
  • another method is experimentation
  • figured out the way she learns is through writing and visual recognition
  • the act of writing made her learn
• importance of failure
  • “Being prepared isn’t a matter of how much you practice. It’s about knowing that even if you fail, you won’t give up.” – John Maeda
  • learning how to learn better

55:29 “You will always fail. You will never be so good that you are invulnerable to failure, and so the true expert, the true wise man, the true sage knows how to keep going even when they fail.”

• next step in Miranda’s Hearth
  • building the first room (at the time of recording)
  • has a strong enough community to build it
  • tiny house being filled with hand made items
  • will be used as a hotel room
  • will live in it while searching for place to put Miranda’s Hearth
  • then start developing hotel
  • will also continue events (book club, fiber arts group, waltzing)
  • create engagement with community
  • making it approachable to everyone
  • turning the idea into a community
• trip to El Salvador
  • led by Claudia Bernardi who runs Walls of Hope
    • paints murals across world and works with people across the world
  • 10 day spring break trip
  • had to learn the history before they went
    • had Civil War in 70’s/80’s
  • painting mural on one room library
  • visit to town on edge of guerrilla/government territory
    • was trying to be impartial
    • government officials came and massacred the town
    • one survivor from the attack
    • read her account of that night and went to the town
    • excavation from the church
    • created beautiful mural of children dancing and names and ages of victims
    • one piece was surrounded by garden
    • creating mural with people who came back
    • playing with children, weeding the garden
    • time in El Salvador is the reason she does what she does, and why she doesn’t stray off the path

1:03:46 “It was at that moment that I realized how vital art is, that it’s not just million dollar pieces hanging on a museum wall behind a piece of glass. That, cliché as it sounds, it literally builds communities. It brings people back together. It brings meaning to life. And that was the moment when I realized that I didn’t want to dedicate my life to pursuing some gallery position selling artwork to the 1%. I wanted to help rebuild. I wanted to help create connection and I saw art as the vehicle. For me art has always been a vehicle. It is not a purpose in and of itself… for me art is the means, and human connection and finding meaning through life, that’s the purpose. That’s what art helps us do.”

1:05:15 “It’s important in the darkest of place and it’s also important in the lightest of places to remember that creativity reminds us why we’re here.”

• singular moments can have an enormous impact on our lives

“Everything you do makes an impact and it might not be huge and it might not be remembered and you might not be remembered but the concept might not be, but it makes you love much more intentionally. To be aware that everything you do has an impact on someone or something or at least that it could. The possibility of impact is there.

• favorite quote
  • Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk: Your Elusive Creative Genius
    • how to maintain your creativity
    • best-selling book Eat Pray Love
    • Elizabeth’s Magic Lessons podcast and Big Magic book

“I’m not a pipeline. I’m a mule, and the way that I have to work is, that I have to get up at the same time every day and sweat and labor and barrel through it incredibly awkwardly  – Elizabeth Gilbert

“We’ve created this really harmful story of what it means to be an artist in our culture. She [Gilbert] talks a lot about it in that TED Talk about how we’ve called ourselves geniuses. We talk about inspiration striking. We make it seem like these genius impulses coming from natural inborn talents. When really what it comes down to. What art comes down to. What grand projects come down to is effort, is putting in the time, and people don’t want to hear that. They don’t want to hear that it takes time. That it takes endless, repetitive, obnoxious, menial tasks to get anywhere… if you’re a good artist, people don’t see that. They see the inspiration. They read the masterpiece. They listen to the song and they don’t recognize our, our culture doesn’t recognize the effort that it takes, and one of the things I want to do in my community is help tell those stories of effort.

• morning routine
  • writes in journal every evening before going to bed (8.5 years and 26 journals)
  • you fill up a book by writing a page every night
  • the writing isn’t important, but the act of writing is
  • remembering or learning from what you’ve written
  • the act of writing has made her writing better
  • voice has become clearer by repetition
• creative people (met Miranda through intro from Dorie Clark)
  • 15 founding members of Miranda’s Hearth
  • Ryan Bonaparte
  • Kara Kulpa – musician
  • Sir Ken Robinson – was knighted for work in creativity and education
  • Brene Brown – shame and vulnerability, concepts important for artists
• books, podcasts, tools, etc.
  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  • Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
  • Do Skills Kill Creativity TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson
  • Redesigning Leadership by John Maeda
• advice for people who want to make more out of their creativity
  • figure out how to make it manageable

“I think habits are actually incredibly important. Routine is incredibly important as far as establishing creativity in your life… I think if you walk into a museum and think God I don’t think I couldn’t do that, then you won’t. But if you walk into a museum and you say I really wish I could learn how to draw a figure. How do I figure out how to draw a figure and then you find a class… that’s how you learn how to do it. You take some big concept and you break down into bite sized pieces.”

“Inspiration shows up, but it has to find you working. You’re not going to get struck by lightning if you’re not out in the field.”

• definition of creativity

“I think it’s paying attention. I think it’s being curious and then following up on that curiosity. So much of creativity is just trying. It’s just combining things in new ways and making things show up in a different form. And to be more creative you have to be willing to take those risks. You have to be willing to try new things. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable and to sit with with makes you feel uncomfortable.”
“I think that’s what creativity is. I think that’s what it takes is just consideration. Just sitting down and breathing into it. And then taking the leap and seeing where it takes you.”

MirandasHearth.com

The post Miranda Aisling on the Importance of Experimentation, Curiosity’s Role in Creativity, and the Importance of Art – Cracking Creativity Episode 51 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
— Aldous Huxley

Print available on Storenvy.

We worry far too often about the things that are out of our control. We worry about what other people think about us. We worry about what other people think about our work. We worry about how many followers we have or how many sales we get. But we don’t spend much time considering how we can improve ourselves.

Why do we insist on placing the blame on other people? My belief is, we feel insecure, but instead of trying to fix ourselves, we put the blame on others.

Blaming others is easy to do. It takes the pressure off of us. We can’t control what other people say, do, or believe. So instead of figuring out how we can become better, we pass off the work on someone else.

The fix is simple, but not easy. First, we must identify the things that are bothering us. Then we must figure out the best way to tackle them.

If you are worried about what people think of you, ask yourself are you being your best self
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If you are worried about what people think of you, ask yourself are you being your best self. If you are worried about what people think about your work, ask yourself if you are doing the best you can. If you are worried about your followers and sales, ask yourself if you are reaching out to the right people.

The hard truth of it is, when things aren’t going right, it’s not because the world is against us. There’s no vast conspiracy out to get you. You just aren’t doing the right things. I know that may be hard to hear, but it is the truth.

We spend so much of our lives trying to please others that we get caught up in their perceptions of us. We can’t control what other people think of us, but we can control what we think of ourselves. If you are in a rut, stop blaming others. Look inside and see how you can improve yourself.

Buy Aldous Huxley Quote Art

Universe Picture by Unsplash

Woman Picture by Michael Fertig

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“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
― William Faulkner

Print available on Storenvy.

One of the greatest mistakes we make is becoming too complacent
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One of the greatest mistakes we make is becoming too complacent. We get stuck in our habits and routines. We rarely drift far from what we know.

The only problem is, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to be willing to try something new and different. That doesn’t mean you should give up on what works, but it does mean you need to grow and evolve in your work.

Just look at some of the greatest artists and their artistic evolution:

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci dabbled in so many disciplines that people dubbed him a Renaissance man. He was not only a great painter and artist, he was also an architect, inventor, and student of science. He did not stick to painting even though that is what he is best known for, he broadened his studies to everything that interested him.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso changed his painting style so often that his work is classified in periods. His blue period consisted of somber paintings in shades of blue. His rose period was cheery with orange and pink colors. He also went through different styles from cubism, to classicism, to surrealism. Picasso did not let one style define him. He explored art that interested him.

Kanye West

Kanye West might be a controversial person, but his impact on music is undeniable. His first three albums all had a similar sound, but his later music evolved as he did. His albums starting with 808s & Heartbreak all the way to The Life of Pablo have distinct sounds and styles. He does not let critics or fans dictate the way he creates music. He explores the sounds that feel right in the moment.

—

While many artists are content with creating the same work throughout their careers, artists who explore their creativity are far more interesting. If these artists were not willing to explore their curiosity, they would not live up to their true potential.

If you feel stuck in the work you are creating, then you must change it
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If you feel stuck in the work you are creating, then you must change it. You never know where your curiosity and creativity will take you. But you will never find out unless you are willing to give up what you know. You must be bold to explore new horizons. The only way to do that is by losing sight of the shore.

Buy William Faulkner Quote Art

Picture by Boss Fight

The post “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ― William Faulkner Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Jacob Sokol was climbing the corporate ladder at his job as a computer technician when he realized there was a deep void in his life. His life was filled with the highest of highs, but also the lowest of lows. He didn’t trust his own happiness. He knew something had to change. So he took a 5 week trip to Europe. That is when he decided to embark on a quest to create his ideal life. In this episode, find out about Jacob’s beginnings, his quest to help people create their ideal lives through his website Sensophy, and also see what makes him tick.

Here are three things you can learn from Jacob:

You are not your thoughts

We like to listen to the thoughts in our head. After all, they are all we know. The problem is, these thoughts often lead us astray. We let them control what we do, and how we think.

One of the biggest lessons Jacob learned on his trip to Europe was, he was not his thoughts. Although we all inherently know this, there’s a difference between hearing it and experiencing it. Jacob’s trip showed him the difference between the two.

What he discovered was, we are creatures of pattern, habit, and ritual. Since our thoughts are just patterns. if we can change our patterns, we can change ourselves.

“Suddenly I realized my thoughts are just patterns. If I can change my thoughts, that means I can change my life. And if I can change my life then I can create a life that is amazing.”

By changing his thought patterns, Jacob was able to build the life he wanted to live. He no longer had to live the role society told him to live. He was no longer trapped in the consumer cycle. He realized there was a life he could create for himself.

Confidence comes from action

Too many of us believe we must be confident in order to take action. Jacob believes the opposite is true. He believes clarity comes from confidence. “It’s when we take action, then we become clear and confident. So clarity and confidence are not prerequisites, they’re actually results of action.”

The problem most of us have is, we wait for that moment when we are confident enough to take action, so we never take it. We wait and wait, and that confidence never comes.

Jacob believes confidence only comes as a result of taking action. “Confidence comes as a result of knowing you can handle something. You gotta try something a couple of times until you get better at it and competence leads to confidence… You don’t get competent unless you actually go do something and try it.”

Instead of waiting for confidence to come to us, we must be proactive and seize it for ourselves. We must be willing to fail and suck. We must do things for ourselves, and gain confidence by doing them.

If you want something enough, you’ll figure out how to do it

One of the more interesting responses from Jacob came when I asked him how people can change the environment and people in their lives. His response surprised me with its beauty and simplicity.

“Any time someone asks how to, it’s because they don’t really understand the principle. So the principle here is… if you want it enough, you’ll figure out how to do it.”

I think he’s right. Although how-to’s can be helpful. They are just one person’s take on solving a problem. If you really want to solve a problem, you have to do it for yourself.

Jacob believes this comes from a place of instant gratification. “That’s kind of what people often times want. It’s the instant gratification of them wanting to be told what to do, instead of owning within themselves that they are a creator of life and can go out there and do and create based on what’s within them versus looking for the external to tell them.”

We need to stop looking for someone else to give us all the answers. We need to understand the principle first, and so we can figure it out for ourselves.

“If you understand the principle of something, then there’s a thousand ways you can go out there and do it.”

Shownotes

• about Jacob
  • avid hip hop fanatic growing up in NYC
  • quote Notorious BIG – “I grew up a screw up.”
  • felt there was something wrong with the way he was told life should be lived
    • didn’t have the ability to articulate it, but it led him to being rebellious
    • did graffiti and drugs
  • realized he didn’t want to end up in permanently damaging situation
  • mom gave him the option to go to college or get out of the house
    • went to college
    • had no idea what he wanted to do
    • put together passion for graffiti and computers (graphic design)
  • got two year degree, realized he didn’t want to continue college
  • became waiter – first job where he needed to learn to be social
    • is an introvert
    • never felt comfortable talking to adults
    • you get paid for service and being charismatic
  • became computer technician
  • ended up working for great boss in corporate culture for 3.5 years
  • as he climbed corporate ladder he realized there was a deep void
  • your mind controlling you
  • high highs and low lows
  • didn’t trust happiness
  • knew something had to change
  • went to Europe for 5 weeks which changed his quest to create the ideal life

9:45 There was a deep deep void within me. A void of there’s got to be something more. More of what I’m doing now isn’t going to make me any more happier, any more fulfilled. And although on the outside you could call it success, on the inside there was starting to becoming a mess. And the mess was a lot of shame about not feeling like I was enough… and my mind was out of control.”

11:39 “I knew I had it better than 99% of the world… Why couldn’t I just be happy? Why couldn’t I just be okay? and so I started to feel bad about feeling bad and that just led into this vicious cycle of the worst I felt, then I felt that there was something wrong with me for feeling bad and that just got deeper and deeper and deeper.”

• what he discovered during trip to Europe
  • realized he is not his roles (tech guy)
    • realized he was free to do whatever he wanted without being trapped by the roles society puts on you
  • became aware there was another way to live life
    • working to buy things, so you can work more in consumer cycle
    • there were people who realized there was a lifestyle you could create for yourself
  • “I am not my thoughts.”
    • there’s a difference between hearing it and experiencing it
    • being creatures of pattern, habit, and ritual
    • thoughts as patterns
      • What can I do to change patterns?
    • heavy experiences that make you believe you can’t continue on the same path
    • liberating experience
  • How do you do the same thing?
    • meditates every day for 5-6 years
    • mind works the same way as going to the gym
    • meditation should be considered as important as brushing your teeth

14:05 “It felt like there was a part of myself that wasn’t allowed to be expressed because the world was constantly affirming to me who I was based on their perception, and their perception of me, because I didn’t know who I was at that point in my life, was still very much in this identity quest of ‘Who am I?’ and  ‘What am I here to do with my life?’ Because of that, I let the world define that for me.”

18:58 “Suddenly I realized my thoughts are just patterns. If I can change my thoughts, that means I can change my life. And if I can change my life then I can create a life that is amazing.”

• experience meditating
  • does it first thing after he wakes up
  • when people think about meditation they imagination levitating in the mountains
  • but meditation is attention training
  • choose an anchor – something to return to (breath, mantra, intention, etc.)
  • breath in, count to 5, exhale for 5 seconds
  • uses Blissitations
  • 15 minutes of meditation/day

24:28 “The  reality is, the more your mind drifts, the more your mind needed meditation that day. So never judge it as this is a good or bad thing. If you’re sitting down to meditate, it’s a good thing.”

• making the leap even though he didn’t know what he was going to do
  • made harder by the fact that we are defined by what we do
  • people will be scared for you and themselves
  • did things he only had a small curiosity in
  • becoming a slave to our unconscious limitations
  • wanted it badly enough and had a strong enough desire to do it
  • made the commitment to leave job in 6 months
    • sold his car, motorcycle, packed lunches, canceled phone/tv, stopped buying clothing… etc
    • put the money into savings
    • developed savings and reduced amount of money it cost each month
    • asked old roommate if he could stay with her in Hawaii
      • stayed there six weeks and rented apartment
      • cheaper to be in Hawaii then to pay rent
    • did nontraditional thinking to create a better living
  • intentionality in what you are doing

26:39 “So often leaving a career is an identity quest and it’s about figuring out ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What’s my purpose?’ and ‘What are my greatest gifts?’… and then, once we look at some of those, then we can flip the questions and say, ‘Okay, here are the things I love so much that I would pay to do them. How can I get paid to do some of these things that I love so much?’… it’s a lot of self inquiry that happens through a process of journaling, but also experiential living.”

28:05 “It’s rarely about how to do something and it’s more likely about wanting to do it… The reality is, if you really wanted to do it, you would do it and often times, the thing that gets in the way of wanting to do it is that there’s some weird superstition that someone has… that if they go do this thing that they really want to do, then this worst case fear scenario is going to come true.”

• showing people how to accomplish what they want to accomplish
  • most fulfilling experiences and noticing common threads or core values
  • meeting girl in Thailand and connecting on deep level
  • taking niece out for ice cream in Manhattan
  • two experiences that were very different, but still had common threads
    • deep sense of connection/adventure/growth
    • pushing himself to the edges
    • seeing values through experiences
    • less about specifics and more about purpose and living in alignment with values
    • figuring out how you are stopping yourself from aligning with values

33:14 “It’s not the experience itself that actually matters. It was that the experience allowed you to express a value of yours that was important.”

• group coaching in Bali
  • helps people live in alignment with their values
  • did one on one coaching for 2-3 years
  • facilitates transformation for people
  • creating a space for people to get what they want
  • realized there are many ways to help people and wanted to figure out the most powerful ways to do it
  • figure out how transformation works
    • Jonathan Haidt – professor at NYU
      • takes complex ideas and makes them easy to understand
      • peer reviewed scientific papers
      • epiphanies being cheap, but not changing our lives
  • experience in Bali – brings together people who are non-judgmental and in an environment that is different from reality
    • creating a version of his own European adventures for other people
    • has allowed people to express themselves in a safe atmosphere
  • first Bali trip he was just trying not to mess up – had no experience doing anything he had to do
  • next trip – instead of trying not to mess up, he tried to figure out how to mess up
    • people realize they go on retreat for a different reason than they thought
  • intangible things happen they you could not predict

41:26 “Any change that you try to make ultimately is not going to last unless you change one of these two other factors. If you change one of these two other factors, then your change will be sustained, but if you don’t, then more often than not, the overwhelming majority of the time, you’re going to average back to where you are. And the two things are, one, change your relationships  or, two, change your environment.” – Jonathan Haidt

• being open to new experiences
  • gaining clarity by learning about yourself
  • you need to listen to and trust yourself
  • we are not our thoughts or our head

47:16 “We think we need clarity and confidence before we take action. I should be clear on what I want and I should be confident that I can get it, and then, I’ll take action, but it actually works the other way around. It’s when we take action, then we become clear and confident. So clarity and confidence are not prerequisites, they’re actually results of action.”

48:03 “Confidence comes as a result of knowing you can handle something. You gotta try something a couple of times until you get better at it and competence leads to confidence… You don’t get competent unless you actually go do something and try it. And the first few times, you’re going to suck at it most likely.”

49:00 “You actually can’t be fulfilled fully unless you are following your heart. Now that doesn’t mean don’t think… use your head, but understand you are not your head, and if you continue to make decisions based on your head, you’re going to continue to get a life that feels like there’s something missing… Follow your heart, but bring your head.”

50:00 “It’s when we align with that deeper voice within us and move beyond the fears of the ego, the fears of our mind… when we align with this deeper wisdom within us, then we start to get the life that we admire that other people have… it starts now and it starts with taking action before you’re ready.”

• environment and people
  • people want instant gratification of being told what to do
  • you must ask yourself the right questions to determine how to do things yourself
  • come up with a list of five things you can try instead of asking how to do something
    • they might not work, but they will get you in motion
  • Sensophy’s Inner Circle – email jacob@sensophy.com

51:17 “If you understand the principle of something, then there’s a thousand ways you can go out there and do it.”

51:38 “That’s kind of what people often times want. It’s the instant gratification of them wanting to be told what to do instead of owning within themselves that they are a creator of life and can go out there and do and create based on what’s within them versus looking for the external to tell them.”

52:31 “Any time someone asks how to, it’s because they don’t really understand the principle. So the principle here is… if you want it enough, you’ll figure out how to do it.”

• favorite quote
  • opens Bali video with the quote
  • brings him back to when he was five years old
  • don’t measure your well being on society’s idea of what you should do
  • figure out how to make life better for yourself
  • when people make you angry, it reflects something about yourself (shadow projection)
    • when something bothers you, ask yourself “How am I that?”
  • golden projection – the people you admire reflect aspects of yourself
    • projecting seeds of potential and courage within yourself
  • reflect on the things that happen to you

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

56:26 “Take ownership for your life and creating it the way that you want.”

• morning routine
  • Succeed by Dr.  Heidi Grant Halvorson
  • choosing what you let into your brain
  • wakes up, recites gratitude, drinks lemon water, shower, meditation, then routine differs based on the day
  • doesn’t check email/Facebook unless it’s for something specific
  • don’t go into reactive mode where someone else dictates what you do
  • used to wake up early to watch Seinfeld to start day with playful attitude

1:00:06 “A morning routine is important because it is the time in the day where generally your will power is highest. Willpower works the same way that a muscle works. It grows by using it, but it also needs long periods of time in order to recover it, and it get exhausted by options, by making a lot of choices.”

1:01:29 “I needed to become the gatekeeper of what I let into my consciousness and society is constantly telling us that the world is a dangerous, scary place… and I was tired of hearing that message… I learned to shut off outside stimuli or at least choose what I want to come in.”

• creative people
  • Brian Johnson
    • reads a book a day or 3 books a week
    • writes six page summaries of books, 10 min Youtube video, and 20 minute mp3 all in one day
    • Philosopher’s Notes – reads books and extracts ten big ideas from them
    • creates micro classes from each of the big ideas
    • systems maniac, takes creative energy and translates them into systems
    • philosophy felt esoteric to Jacob, but Brian makes it actionable
  • Gary Vaynerchuk
    • went to Jets game with Gary
    • read Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – “It’s realistic to be unrealistic”
    • 99% of the world aims for realistic goals
    • 1% of goals are so unrealistic, no one has the guts to go for them
    • makes goals much easier to achieve because no one is going for them
    • friend challenged him to go for goal instead of writing about it
    • Gary V’s Crush It!
    • friend challenged him to have Gary take him to Jets game
    • took 30 seconds to reply, decided, why not try?
    • use it as a documentation of going for something
    • wants to show people concepts by applying them
    • succeeded in getting Gary to take him to Jets game
• books, podcasts, resources
  • Sensophy’s Inner Circle – community creates change
  • Brian Johnson’s Podcast
• definition of creativity
  • didn’t consider himself creative for most of his life

1:12:35 “Creativity is often a label… it’s a role, like you’re a creative person so you do artsy things… and the reality is I’m a creative person. I’m a creator, creator of life… My life is my greatest piece of work. People work on books or on art, and me.. I just want to mold my life to my ultimate creation.”

1:13:15 “To me it means being a creator which is creator is someone who honestly expresses themselves and allows… the universe, God, to come through you and be used as an instrument for whatever greater force is at play here than our intellectual minds. Let that come through you.”

jacob@sensophy.com – email him one thing you took away from this interview

3 free months of inner circle access at Sensophy’s Inner Circle

“Books don’t cure shame, only empathy and human connection do that.”

The post Jacob Sokol on Thoughts and Self-Awareness, Confidence from Action, and Figuring Things Out – Cracking Creativity Episode 52 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” — Walt Disney

Print available on Storenvy.

There are two major mistakes artists make about money. The first is, they believe in the myth of the starving artist. The second is, they believe they shouldn’t need to make money from their art.

The starving artist myth is prevalent in society. We believe artists must suffer to create great work. We believe you have to live at end’s meet. We believe you can’t be a prosperous artist.

Artists of all kinds are able to make a living from their work
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I’m not sure why this myth has prevailed. There is so much evidence to the contrary. Artists of all kinds are able to make a living from their work. Are they all rich? No, but they aren’t starving either. There are musicians, illustrators, actors, writers, and artists of all kinds creating great work and making a living from doing it.

If you want to make a sustainable living as an artist, you have to sell your work
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The second mistake artists make, is believing we shouldn’t have to make money from our art. While it’s true that we don’t have to sell our work to be artists. It’s also true that if you want to make a sustainable living as an artist, you have to sell your work.

Walt Disney was one of the greatest visionaries of his time. He completely revolutionized animated films. Why did he do it? He wasn’t interested in making movies to become rich. He did it because he had a vision and story to tell.

While making his first full-length animated film, Snow White, Disney went far above the initial budget of the film. He could have released a cheaper version of the film to make more money, but he wanted to make it as perfect as possible. He wanted people to be so entranced by the film that they would forget they were watching an animated movie. And it worked unbelievably well!

If you want to be a successful artist, you can’t be afraid to make money for your work. You can’t fall victim to the myth of a starving artist. You have to be willing to make money from your art. Not because you want to become rich, but because you want to make more art.

The best way to become a thriving artist is to get over your insecurities over money. Money is just a means to create a sustainable living. It allows you to live comfortably while also creating art. Don’t create art to make money. Make money so you can create more art.

For more great info on this topic, check out my review for Elizabeth Hyde Stevens’ Make Art Make Money.

Buy Walt Disney Quote Art

Photo by Michael Saechang

H/T quote via Austin Kleon’s  Show Your Work!

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Catherine Orer was an award winning communications and PR expert for multinational corporations for years, but that job never felt fulfilling to her. So, when the opportunity to study at Christies in Paris opened up, she jumped on it.

While in Paris she gained hands on experience working in contemporary art galleries. After her studies, she brought this knowledge and experience back to Canada. While working at an art gallery in Montreal, many artists approached her for help. This began Catherine’s journey as The Artist Entrepreneur.

In this episode, find out why gratitude is so important, why there isn’t just one path to success, and why artists should find support.

Here are three things you can learn from Catherine:

There’s more than one path to success

Most people falsely believe there is only one path to success. They believe there’s a secret formula they can learn to become successful. They believe the people who’ve made it are all part of a secret club.

Catherine’s path is neither traditional or conventional. She went to school for public relations and communications and got management positions in corporations before even considering the art world. It was only when she noticed she wasn’t having fun at work that she decided to dip her toes back into the art world.

She went to Christies in Paris for training and worked at an art gallery when she got back. It was only then that she found how much help she could provide to artists. Artists came up to her hoping they could work together, and finally she relented.

Now she is working with thousands of artists in her Facebook group. She is doing one on one coaching, group coaching, and providing immense value to artists with her experience in PR and in the arts.

Catherine’s path to helping artists was not the traditional one and she believes artists should look for their own path too. “There’s not just one path to being a successful artist. Not every artist will get their retrospective at the MoMA at fifty and it’s fine. It’s not everybody’s path and it shouldn’t be. You just need to find yours, what makes you happy, and also where you can grow as an artist.”

The importance of gratitude

One thing that I’ve found by speaking to many successful people is, gratitude is an essential part of their daily lives. Catherine is no exception. Leaving her corporate job was the turning point in her gratitude practice.
What she has found is, we aren’t always at our best. So the best thing to do at those times is be grateful for what you have. “We can’t always be on high, so life is what it is. You have your ups and your downs and that’s when I really started being more thankful with everything that was going on my life.”

She goes on to talk about why she has to practice gratitude every day. “If I don’t take some time to be grateful and thankful,for everything in my life, I would go crazy… At some point you just need to be like, okay, what I’m doing is enough and I’m just really thankful that I’m doing what I love, and that I have these people around me who support me.”

We all need to be thankful for what we have and embrace where we are in our journeys. “Being thankful is just being in the present. It’s just looking at what’s happening right now, and just embracing it all and opening up yourself to more abundance too.”

Find a community that supports you

One of the things that artists get wrong is trying to do everything by themselves. They believe they don’t need to find support when they are struggling. They believe they have to do all the work themselves. They believe if they don’t do all the work, people look down on them.

Catherine believes you won’t find success unless you find people to support you. “My experience is that at some point, you’re going to hit a roadblock, and you’re going to want to get support.”

She even advocates finding help if it isn’t with her. “I don’t really mind if you don’t work with me. For me it’s not about working with me. It’s about finding support. So, if you find support… that’s fine, but doing it all by yourself is usually not the right way to go about it. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to support you.'”

She goes and talks about our need to connect with society. “If you want to grow, you need to be in contact with other people. We live in society, and if you want to sell your work to people, then you have to surround yourself with people. You need to network. You need to build a network around you, a support network, but also a network and following of people who are going to want to know more about you, and what you do, and how you can be of service to them, and how you can support them, and how you can communicate who you are and what you stand for.”

Shownotes

• about Catherine
  • started college wanting to work in arts
  • art history teacher told her not to go into the arts
  • went to university to study PR/communication
  • had management positions in corporations, but her heart wasn’t in it
  • wasn’t having any fun at her job, knew she wanted to go into the arts
  • had the opportunity to study art market in Paris with Christies
  • started studies a year later
  • worked in art galleries, visited art fairs, and met people in art world
  • went back to Montreal to work in art market
  • after working with artists in galleries, they asked to work with her
  • set up her business to support artists with strategic consulting in business, marketing, PR, etc.
• interest in art
  • Christies asked her same question
  • at 6-7, she had school trip to Museum of Fine Arts
  • remembered standing in front of self-portrait and being blown away by it
  • since then, she always found herself attracted to visual arts
  • always liked to read art history and visit galleries
  • importance of introducing children to the arts
• opportunity at Christies
  • she realized something had to change
  • took time to do introspection
  • found the experience magical
  • being in contact with fine and decorative art every day
  • looked into their website to see what credentials she needed
  • came across program, and thought it would be perfect for her
  • she felt the need to change jobs
  • took a year from when she decided to go to Christies to when she was in Paris
    • was a priority, so she made it happen

9:36 “I really took some time to do some introspection, and I was like, okay, forget school, forget what I know. If  I could just tomorrow have a magic wand and work anywhere, and do anything, what would that be, and it just came up. Christies came up.”

• requirements for Christies
  • needed a certain background
  • flew to NY to do interviews and tests
  • needed some knowledge of art history because of the fast pace of the program
• things she did in program
  • days divided into two parts: master classes (art history/Christies expert) and afternoon was hands on in the field (museums/Christies/art galleries) to be in contact with arts
  • theory in morning, practical in the afternoon
• special moment from the program
  • first evening  they had cocktails in Christies’ office
    • was intimidated and felt like an impostor
    • asked herself “Who am I to be here?”
    • realized everyone felt that way
    • met amazing people through the program
  • you get used to being in the environment
  • made sure to be thankful
  • two days visiting chateaus
    • art history in N. America is so short, being in Europe makes you realize the history and culture

6:10 “At some point you get used to being in this environment but I made it a point to be so thankful every day and really absorb as much as I could because I knew that I had this once in my lifetime opportunity. So I needed to take most advantage of it.”

7:17 “Once you understand the origins and how everything led one step after the other, it all led to what contemporary art is today. So having this global understanding of the arts and how the art market was, it was a great way for me to really better understand even what’s going on today in the art world.”

• impostor syndrome
  • no matter where you are, you wonder how you got there

8:28 “We have a tendency to want to know things before we even learn them, but that’s not how life is. Once you realize that everybody has this fear in themselves, then you know that you have to push through that fear. You can’t just let it decide for you, because if you do, then you’re not going to have much fun in your life. It’s going to be boring.”

• importance of gratitude
  • leaving corporate job and making leap of faith was turning point for her gratitude practice
  • thought she would be happy when she graduated and got a job
  • making the most out of the opportunities you are given
  • part of her daily life, because she has so many things to juggle
  • Thankful Thursdays on  Artist Entrepreneur Facebook group

1:25 “At some point,  when you get into this opportunity where you make things happen for yourself and you’re truly really doing what you want, and you realize that, okay, I’ve worked really hard to get to here and there are still days where I’m not feeling my best… That’s totally normal and… we can’t always be on high, so life is what it is. You have your ups and your downs and that’s when I really started being more thankful with everything that was going on my life.”

2:42 “If I don’t take some time to be grateful and thankful,for everything in my life, I would go crazy… At some point you just need to be like, okay, what I’m doing is enough and I’m just really thankful that I’m doing what I love, and that I have these people around me who support me.”

3:48 “Being thankful is just being in the present. It’s just looking at what’s happening right now, and just embracing it all and opening up yourself to more abundance too.”

• mindfulness practice
  • something that she aims for, but she has difficulty not doing things
  • does it more in the evening, because the days are a whirlwind
  • tries to do one minute mindfulness practices between tasks
• starting the Artist Entrepreneur Network
  • she was between jobs
  • worked at one of the big art galleries in Montreal for over a year
  • started doing one on one consulting work with artists
  • took a break and worked for Environmental NGO
  • got back into arts after having two kids and going back to work
• meeting artists
  • met them through the art gallery she worked in
  • her vision during time at Christies was not to work with artists
  • she wanted to be an art rep or consultant or have her own gallery
  • owner of gallery became her mentor
  • at some point, she realized owning a gallery was not flexible enough
  • artists asked to work with her and made her realize she could do it
    • they showed gratitude for how she was able to help them
    • started locally, then started Facebook group
    • artists are engaged and want to take action
  • loves support from the community
  • mutually beneficial relationship
• listening to what the world is telling you
  • seems like she is the type of person who likes to take risk, but she actually likes to plan things out

2:35 “Sometimes you just need to let things go and see how they come together. And now, because I have a little more experience, I realized that they always end up coming together in the best way possible, but it took me a while to figure that one out, so I was the kind of person who tries to push her own plans and her own agenda, but it doesn’t work like that. And I failed a few times in my life because I had this vision and that’s what I wanted, and I was hanging on to it so hard that I wasn’t opening myself to other opportunities, and it’s those times where I just opened myself and just let things come to me.”

• how her unique background has helped her in the art community
  • views her path as different from the traditional path
  • the art market is opaque, it’s not very transparent
  • the art market is quite traditional with pre-conceived notions
  • wanted people who came into the gallery to be welcome, feel comfortable asking questions,  and would have fun being there
  • people came back to art gallery and bought art because they felt comfortable
  • making art accessible, fun, and less snobbish
  • in the corporate world, you can’t bring excuses, you just have to make it happen

5:28 “I think that’s also something I bring to the table with the artists I meet because I want them to really understand the market and find where they fit. Not where they should fit or they should be, but where they want to go because there’s not just one path to being a successful artist. Not every artist will get their retrospective at the MoMA at fifty and it’s fine. It’s not everybody’s path and it shouldn’t be. And you just need to find yours, what makes you happy, and also where you can grow as an artist. And that I think is something that’s pretty unique, and because of my corporate background, I’m bringing in this very structured approach of ‘If you want this, then you gotta make it happen. You gotta leave the excuses at the door and make a plan and make it happen.'”

• article on the Huffington Post: 7 Mistakes That Are Keeping Starving Artists From Thriving
  • Goal and vision for art career
    • selling art is not a vision
    • need to understand what you want to do and where you stand in market
  • Storytelling
    • opportunities to connect
    • part of your branding, and the best way to build relationships
    • using images/words to communicate your brand
  • Artists shouldn’t promote themselves
    • artists believing selling and promoting is bad
    • artists used to be able to rely on reps/galleries to sell work
    • you need to have a brand/following to get into a gallery
    • promoting yourself is a good thing, it’s not selling out
  • Not following through and not following up
    • it will be hard, and there will be work
    • we all have failures and we all have to get up
    • you have to surround yourself with the right people and have accountability/support
    • those who follow through see results
• mindsets holding us back
  • being conditioned to think failure is not an option
  • failure is inevitable as an entrepreneur
  • it’s what you do after you fail that matters
  • ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?”
  • failure is not the end of the world
  • take it step by step and have a long term vision
• Artist Entrepreneur group
  • free Facebook group
  • place for support and a community for helping each other
  • themes ever day: Thursdays – gratitude, Mondays – setting goals for the week, Tuesdays – tutorials with guest experts (Live Q&As)
  • develops content – guides and video series
  • also does one on one consulting
  • Artist Entrepreneur Lab – community, training, and accountability in a group setting
  • self-study program – bootcamp for artists who want to dig into marketing/pr
• giving – trying to benefit yourself vs. benefiting others
  • people have emailed her asking if her videos are really free
  • tells community she does it because it provides value and makes good business sense
  • she’s happy to share knowledge for free

19:48 “My experience is that at some point, you’re going to maybe hit a roadblock, and you’re going to want to get support, and whether it’s through a group setting or a more fast paced one on one, I’m here to support you and I tell my community all the time, ‘I don’t really mind if you don’t work with me. For me it’s not about working with me. It’s about finding support. So, if you find support… that’s fine, but doing it all by yourself is usually not the right way to go about it. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to support you.'”

• lone genius myth
  • most of the lone geniuses grew up in communities of other creative minds
  • artists have worked for centuries with teams
  • apprentices, assistants, business partners were all part of an artists’ success

21:31 “This is not a new concept, if you want to grow, you need to be in contact with other people. We live in society, and if you want to sell your work to people, then you have to surround yourself with people. You need to network. You need to build a network around you, a support network, but also a network and following of people who are going to want to know more about you, and what you do, and how you can be of service to them, and how you can support them, and how you can communicate who you are and what you stand for.”

• standing out as an artist
  • be clear on who you are and what you have to offer, and what you stand for
    • define your brand, and be able to communicate it
  • be clear on who you want to communicate to
    • reach out and connect with people
  • build an audience of people who are the right fit
    • find people who like your work

“Your art is not for everyone, and it shouldn’t be.”

• favorite quote

24:24 “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso

24:34 “At the end of the day, if you don’t take action nothings going to happen. And when you take action, something’s going to happen. It might be good. It might be bad, but it’s going to give you a sense of direciton and it’s ultimately going to lead adjusting and then getting into the success that you want.”

• book recommendations
  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  • The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
  • The $12 Million Stuffed Shark by Don Thompson
• creative people
  • kids being unconcerned with perfection because they’re playing
  • they don’t stop themselves from being creative

26:56 “I think everyone is creative in one way or the other. You can’t put someone in a mold and say this person is creative, and this person isn’t, because, when you take the time to get to know yourself and give yourself a chance, everybody has a creative outlet one way or the other. So I think the people… who are not creative, if there’s one thing I noticed, with those who have difficulty with creativity,  are the people who seek perfection… when you seek perfection, you’re stopping yourself because you’re not trying anything, and it’s really when you try things and you’re letting yourself be creative, that magic happens. But if you’re always seeking perfection, which doesn’t exist, then, you’re from the get go, setting a block. So I think creativity is in all of us.”

• definition of creativity

29:08 “I think creativity is being your true self, being authentic, and giving yourself that space to express your unique voice, because we all have something to say and our creativity is channeled in different ways. We all have it in us, but we don’t necessarily give yourselves this chance to express it.”

29:49 “When I started my business, I thought I had to fit in this mold, and… the way I communicated had to be, I was used to this corporate voice, which wasn’t my voice, and when I really started being more open and vulnerable and honest, and really say things the way I really felt them and the way I really saw them, and just let my voice be heard, that’s when it actually started resonating with people around me and with artists.”

30:26 “You can’t create your art with the intention of selling it because no one is going to buy it. People are going to buy it because they’re invested in you, because they love you,and your work.”

• being more creative
  • Traits entrepreneurs can learn from artists to be more successful

30:57 “First you have to give yourself a chance… It doesn’t happen overnight and it takes practice.”

31:24 “Artists exercise creativity like a muscle. So, you have toe exercise it all the time and just need to take action, and that’s what The War of Art tells you. You can’t just wait for this illumination to happen, and wait for that inspiration. You just need to try things and accept that masterpieces aren’t going to come on the first day or on the first draft or maybe not on the first business idea, but it’s through trial and giving yourself a chance and taking action, that at some point, you’re going to get to where you want to go.”

• challenge for the listeners
  • identify one thing you know you should be doing, but you’re not doing
  • get out of your comfort zone
  • sit down, write it down, and decide on one action you can take this week to move forward with it

TheArtistEntrepreneur.co  |  Artist Entrepreneur Facebook group

The post Catherine Orer on Multiple Paths to Success, the Importance of Gratitude, and Becoming Part of a Community – Cracking Creativity on Episode 53 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.”
― Jon Kabat-Zinn

Print available on Storenvy.

We need to learn to appreciate each moment on our journey. One of our biggest faults is looking at what other people are doing and being envious of their success. Even though we know this intuitively, it’s still hard to do.

We ask ourselves why that person has success and why we don’t. The problem with this line of thinking is, that person probably spent ten years getting to where they are. Instead of looking up at other people, we need to learn to appreciate where we are in the process.

The best way to do this is by recognizing our paths aren’t a straight line, they’re a journey. One thing I have to constantly tell myself is to focus on what I’m working at the moment instead of worrying so much about the end result. When I stay present and focus on the now, I tend to enjoy my work a lot more.

Even though it may not feel like it, these little moments form who you are as an artist and as a person. They are the checkpoints along your journey. When you recognize these moments, your work can feel magical. When you don’t, your work can become unfulfilling.

If you find yourself yearning for instant success, you need to ask yourself these questions: Is instant success all it’s cracked up to be? Would you know what to do with it? Would you truly appreciate what you have?

Keep these questions in mind the next time you are feeling envious of someone else. Reflect back on your work. Feel gratitude for what you’ve been able to accomplish.

When you lose sight of your journey, you lose sight of who you are. Appreciate the little things. These moments are what makes life so enjoyable.

Buy Jon Kabat-Zinn Quote Art

Photo by Paweł Kadysz

The post “The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Sally Safadi was working at an after school program for kids between medical school and graduating . While there, she found it was difficult for children to learn in the traditional school environment after already spending eight hours in school. So she came up with different games for the kids to play to get them involved in learning.

This began her shift from studying science to studying and exploring creativity. Sally’s site, Neurons Away, is the hub for all her work including her book and card game. Each of her projects help people explore and exercise their imaginations.

In this episode learn about her various projects, the power of constraints, the benefits of trial and error, and much more.

Here are three things you can learn from Sally:

The Power of Learning to Play in Empty Spaces

Most of us are taught to find a single answer to problems. We haven’t been give the proper tools to tackle problems with more than one possibility, which is why we struggle with empty spaces. “The way we are taught, especially through school, is to write in the lines and in the box. Color in the space.”

Instead of looking for the single answer, we need to develop the mindset to play in the empty spaces. “You have to have that specific mindset that develops to be able to do that. But most individuals haven’t really been given that opportunity.”

Sally believes the blank canvas can be used as an educational tool. She believes, that once you learn that form of expression, you can use it many aspects of your life. “Giving empty space in different areas of life, especially education, empowers an individual to be more creative in their own choices in life.”

The Importance of Trial and Error

We spend too much time worrying about whether our plans will fail or succeed instead of actually testing them out. One thing is for certain, if you don’t test your ideas, you will never know if they are going to work.

Sally likens testing ideas to planting seeds. Some will grow, and others won’t. “It’s just like these little things of trying, and trying, and trying til something catches or grows, or planting a bunch of seeds and hoping some of them take.” It is only by trying a bunch of ideas that you will be able to get one to bloom.

She also believes in listening to the feedback of your audience. That’s how she ended up with the cover for her book. Her first cover didn’t convey the message that was in book, so she tested a new one that worked much better.

She was able to leverage the opinions of her audience to create a cover that her audience liked. But you can’t listen to everything people say. You have to find the right balance.

“Seeking the opinions and constructive criticisms is really good, but people also need to create their bubble with that. I could ask a thousand people what they think about the cover, and each person… is telling me something different. So at some point, you just have to also just make your own decision and stick to it because you’re always going to find someone who has something different to say.”

Everything Around Us Came From Someone’s Imagination

Many people believe imaginations are stronger in children than they are in adults. But this is only partially true. Children may use their imaginations a lot more, but they mostly use them for play. Adults, on the other hand, use their imaginations to shape the world around us.

“Our realities are basically a moment’s expression of our collective imagination. Everything that is around us was once an idea or a thought that was applied, and directed, and grew into a tangible reality… which a lot of us fail to realize in this journey that we call life.”

Everything from our phones, to our cars, to our computers was the result of a creation from someone’s imagination. Before these things existed, someone had to dream them up. That is the power of imagination.

The problem is, many of us stop using our imaginations once we hit adulthood. If we all harnessed that power a little bit more, who knows what the world would be like.

Stop thinking play is for children. Leverage the power of your imagination to help change the world.

Shownotes

• about Sally
  • questions used to come to her, she used to write them down in Word and have people fill them out
  • spectrum of questions people didn’t confront in day to day
  • people were surprised by them and found them hard to answer
  • started making zines and giving them out
  • put together book from all the questions
  • the gap with out thinking processes
    • happens in one direction
    • we absorb but don’t respond to info.
  • offers stimulus and space for expression
  • prompts are open-ended with no wrong answers
• before she started doing Neurons Away
  • graduated from SUNY with degree in biology
  • was taking organic chemistry courses for medical school
  • between medical school and graduating, she was teaching in after school program
  • hard for children to learn in school environment
    • they want to play after doing school for 8 hours
    • created games with learning schemes
    • they became more involved
  • thoughts changed through reading about psychology and philosophy

7:26 “What I really wanted to do was redirect individuals’ lifestyles, but not forcefully. I just want to give them the opportunity to think for themselves

• shifting from science to creativity
  • didn’t feel foreign to her, made sense to her
  • science is based out of creativity and imagination
  • researches neuro plasticity
  • she makes sense of the connection between science and creativity

8:58 “What I wanted to do was show that when you exercise your imagination and actually flex those different thoughts, that you’re able to actually allow space to connect new neural pathways and actually generate new neural pathways and you go in that direction thinking.”

• things inside Fill in the Space
  • sampler of mindsets and questions
  • introduce the idea and not overwhelm
  • colorful with drawings and illustrations to make it less intimidating
  • offer boxes for people to express themselves
  • one of the questions: “When exactly does a child become an adult?”
    • differences between physical, psychological, and physiological growth
    • allows people to think over the idea of growth
    • 13, 18, and 21 as different ages of turning into an adult
    • mindset vs. physical version of being an adult is quite different
  • favorite part is seeing people’s responses
  • doing assessments of people as they fill out the book
  • Youtube video of people filling out the book
  • one great example is “What is the opposite of a jellyfish?”
    • interactive website as a personality assessment
  • most surprising answer
    • people say things she would never think about
    • it gives people permission to use creativity and venture far off from their normal selves
    • in the video: What’s in this burger?
      • putting in things that are important to him: friends/family/loved ones/etc.
• empty space being intimidating
  • the power of constraints in creativity
  • the rest of the world is boxed in

19:53 “The way we are taught, especially through school, is to write in the lines and in the box. Color in the space. So it’s just what we’ve learned to do.. we haven’t been given the proper tools or the background to tackle that unless you are an artist and you work with empty canvases all the time… You have to have that specific mindset that develops to be able to do that. But most individuals haven’t really been given that opportunity. So starting off small, in a boxed space is easier, and it’s fun, and you’re still expressing yourself. It’s just on a smaller scale.”

• blank canvas as an educational tool
  • needs to be integrated into the way we learn
  • when you learn that way of expression, you can use it in many aspects of your life
  • buying things that are ready made instead of taking the opportunity to make it ourselves
  • why people like IKEA furniture they built themselves rather than having it assembled for them
  • consumer society vs. creator society
  • impact of our environments
  • it’s hard to find venues to express our creativity

22:41 “Giving empty space in different areas of life, especially education, empowers an individual to be more creative in their own choices in life, rather than choosing from the different value meals available. They can actually go home and create their own.”

• Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal
  • Keri’s books are more hand’s on and active with the book
  • Sally’s books are more mental and imagination based
• things Sally does consistently
  • tries to stay in the happy zone
  • when she feels fearful/sad, she signals herself and tries to break it by doing something creative
  • counters computer work with physical activity
  • she does acrobatic yoga which keeps blood and creativity flowing
  • seeks new things in creative world
  • watches a lot of Youtube videos that inspire and develop a healthy mindset
  • be selective with the type of info you consume

26:52 “It’s really really really important what you spend your time and energy on because it’s not that easy to get that time and energy back.”

• deciding what to consume and not to consume
  • trying things out and finding things that contradict her beliefs
  • connecting ideas that aren’t on her mental pathways
• how she approaches trial and error
  • focus on what she already has instead of trying to do too many things at once
  • trying things out, testing them, and taking in their suggestions
  • not beating yourself up for your mistakes
  • creating the cover
    • first version of the cover had a girl on it and was called From the Sky
    • wasn’t turning many heads, so she re-created the cover
    • newest version of the cover is more representative of what the book is

34:50 “It’s just like these little things of trying, and trying, and trying til something catches or grows, or planting a bunch of seeds and hoping some of them take.”

35:21 “Seeking the opinions and constructive criticisms is really good, but people also need to create their bubble with that. I could ask a thousand people what they think about the cover, and each person… is telling me something different. So at some point, you just have to also just make your own decision and stick to it because you’re always going to find someone who has something different to say.”

• card game: Sallies
  • different questions/prompts like the book, but you can play with multiple people
  • similar to Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity but the way you respond is different
  • Neuron cards – question/prompts
  • Shuperpower cards
  • What would I fill my pool with?
    • other plays guess and toss answers into brain bucket
    • then the original player chooses their favorite
    • you get to know people and what they’re about
    • game style varies based on who you play with
    • winner gets to keep neuron cards
    • shuperpower cards bring another twist to the game
    • great way to learn about the people you play with in a playful way
  • shuperpower cards
    • Robinhood – pull a card from someone and give it to a player with less cards
    • play on of different characters
    • Cupid – 2 people have to hold hands and answer together
  • inspirations for creating the game
    • questions of other games are non-creative
    • the questions in her game require effort to create an answer
    • it’s very unlikely two people will have the same anser
  • takes a few rounds to see how people will play the game
• fortune cards
  • created it while working with kids in after school program
  • left notes for teachers inboxes
  • had leftovers, that she started to hand out to people
  • wrote handwritten notes and left them in random places or let people choose them
  • people who chose their own fortunes found great joy in them
  • people have kept them in their wallets and gotten tattoos of them
  • started mass producing them
  • you can get fortunes through her interactive site
  • tries to make them personal and direct
  • small events can have a huge impact on other people’s lives
    • tattoo the person got
  • going to a festival in Portugal and gave out 4,000 cards
  • great way to connect with people or start a conversation
  • stopping people to say hello or ask a question can leave a lasting impression
  • is surprised when people are mean or refuse to take a fortune card
• choosing which projects to work on
  • depends on her flow or energy
  • also depends on events or what’s happening during the week
  • carrying fortune cards or media packages for the people she meets
  • the importance of having multiple projects to work on at once

51:43 “I never usually force it when it comes to the creativity. If I feel it, I feel it. If I don’t, I’ll switch my attention and do something else.”

• her audience
  • thinks the book can be for anyone, but a lot of adults feel like it’s a children’s book
  • wants to keep it colorful and directed to the inner child
  • some people lack the insight it takes to understand the book
  • the challenge of finding her target audience
  • people who are conscientious or want to keep in touch with their creativity
  • also for people interested in alternative forms of education
  • being a learning tool for businesses, organizations, and schools
  • connecting with people is a big key
  • embracing people who are trying to help you

56:18 “Connecting and networking people who are connected to those other networks that I wouldn’t even thought of are extremely helpful. So it’s really important to reach out to different individuals and not be intimidated to do so. And to go ahead and do it multiple times… because sometimes

• recommendations for people who get stuck creatively
  • give yourself space away from textual/informational data
  • give people a piece of paper and a question, journal, or doodle
  • break habitual thinking patterns and generate new ones
  • be around other people who are creative
  • journaling helps you navigate through your thoughts and gives you permission to be more expressive
  • not having enough common spaces to go out and do something
    • most involve doing something very specific
    • there aren’t many free creative zones
  • there aren’t many places to connect with people for relationships or friendships
• short term and long term goals
  • short term – better communicate her mission
    • struggles to summarize her work
    • the way she phrases it has to be different for different groups
    • promoting the book
  • long term – workshops and events
    • has done a few with organizations and schools
    • makes lasting impressions on individuals and their ability to work together
    • get more involved with organizations and groups
• favorite quote
  • when you’re young, you use your imagination for fun
  • when you’re an adult, it’s more mature
  • we are the co-creators of our reality

1:06:05 “Imagination grows by exercise and contrary to common belief is more powerful in the mature than in the young.” – W. Somerset Maugham

1:07:35 “Our realities are basically a moment’s expression of our collective imagination. Everything that is around us was once an idea or a thought that was applied, and directed, and grew into a tangible reality… which a lot of us fail to realize in this journey that we call life.”

• morning routine
  • likes to play songs she enjoys and watch a slideshow of her vision boards
  • good way to develop a good brain pattern and brain wash herself
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • documentaries  – What the Bleep Do We Know?
    • motivational speakers – Jack Canfield
    • We Are Creators
  • sit and silence and listen to yourself

1:11:46 “I feel like ware are our greatest teachers if we just give ourselves the opportunity to do so

• creative people
  • two friends name Rowan who live in Jordan
    • lifestyle, clothing, mindset, etc.
  • singer/writer/creator – Imogen Heap
    • creating songs by putting things on your hands
    • integrating dancing and creating music
• definition of creativity

1:14:39 “I think creativity is a form of expression and behavior and really a part of our nature. I feel like even our anatomy is designed to be creative beings. It’s just a part of who we are. So when we aren’t being creative, I feel like you’re missing out on a form of nutrition. Creativity is a part of who we are and how learn to express and interact with the world.”

• how to be more creative
  • experiment with life
  • don’t do the same thing every day
  • take a different route to work, make up a game, play with your food
  • it doesn’t always have to be writing or drawing creatively
  • it can be in how you dress, how you talk, or how you think
  • think of things in a different way

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The post Sally Safadi on Playing in Empty Spaces, the Importance of Trial and Error, and Leveraging our Imaginations – Cracking Creativity Episode 54 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“No matter what level you’re at in life there is still a struggle” ― @kanyewest (Kanye West)

Print available on Storenvy.

For some reason, we believe there’s a tipping point where we no longer have worries. We believe, with enough money, we no longer have struggles, fears, or doubts. But that’s simply not the case.

We like to make excuses for why we can’t accomplish our goals. “I don’t have enough money.” “I don’t have the time.” “I don’t have the right connections.” That’s all these things are. They’re just excuses.

If you think your favorite painter, actor, musician, or writer doesn’t have to deal with struggles, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Just because someone has a lot of money or fame doesn’t mean they don’t have struggles too.

They have the same doubts, the same fears, and the same problems that we all have. Their problems are just on a much grander scale. Here are just a few examples of famous people who had to go through struggles:

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” ― Oprah Winfrey

“All struggle, all resistance is — must be — concrete. And all struggle has a global resonance. If not here, then there. If not now, then soon. Elsewhere as well as here.” ― Susan Sontag

“All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.” ― Pope Paul VI

These people all came from different backgrounds. They have different identities. And they are well-known for very different reasons. But one thing they all understood, was, life is a struggle.

It doesn’t matter who you are, you will face adversity. It is by overcoming that adversity that you become great. The next time you think someone else’s life is perfect and free of worries, think again. We must all face the challenges in front of us and overcome them. It’s what makes life worth living.

Buy Kanye West Quote Art

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Puneet Sachdev worked for years in the hotel industry and with General Electric as a management consultant. He now uses that knowledge in his work as a consultant, creative philanthropist, and coach.
He is also the author of Deepa Wishes Daddy Happy Birthday, a book based on the time he’s spent with his daughter. He uses 100% of the proceeds from the book to support the education of underprivileged children. The book also began his work as a creative philanthropist.

In this episode, learn how Puneet turned his idea into reality, why you need to put yourself out there, and the importance of being present.

Here are three things you can learn from Puneet:

We Are All on a Journey

Many of us believe we aren’t destined for greatness, but we never take the first step. The first thing we must all do, if we want to find success, is accept the fact that we are all on a journey.

Puneet believes we all have a choice to make. We can choose to continue on the path we’ve been on, or we can choose the unbeaten path. “When you have that call to adventure. You have the choice of taking it or not.”

And once we’ve answered that call to adventure, things will begin to come together in unexpected ways. “I just feel like you step out of that path and put yourself out there, and … the clearer you get and the more you put yourself out there, serendipity is what shows you the way.”

But we can’t do it on our own. Luckily, life has a way of providing the help we need. “I feel that what happens is when you start off on your journey, when you start off saying ‘This is really important to me and I’m going to set sail on this path,’… I think somehow the teachers show up and that support network emerges at different points.”

Our Greatest Projects Start With a Strong Desire

One of the great things about creative projects is, they start off as just an idea in our heads. They are nothing more than a thought that sprouted and evolved into a something beautiful.

That’s exactly what happened to Puneet. He never considered himself a creative person. He believed only artists had the ability to be creative, but what he discovered was, everyone has the capacity to be creative. We just need the right people around us to make our ideas come to life.

So, while he is not a gifted writer or illustrator, he was still able to bring his idea to life. “I know I’m not a great, gifted, writer. I’m not taking any courses on creative writing. Nothing. It was just a desire and a passion behind it. I did that, and I used the people who have got those gifts.”

All it takes is combing that desire with action and the ability to bring the right people together. Just don’t expect it to be a quick process. “Desire, taking the action, using the people that will help me put it together. It’s a very long process, It’s much longer than I would have liked it to be.”

The Importance of a Mindfulness Practice

Puneet is a huge advocate of having a mindfulness practice. There are so many things around us that distract us from our goals. Sometimes we need to disconnect from everything and focus on ourselves. “The world that we live in is just in so much of a frenzy all the time and with technology it is very easy to get disconnected. It’s very easy to get just swayed away by whatever the most prevalent wind is… so I think practice (mindfulness) is what really helps in grounding you.”

One problem is, many people want to practice mindfulness, but they have the wrong ideas about what it is. They believe their minds have to be empty of thoughts, but that simply isn’t the case. “That’s really not the goal of it. The goal is for you to be present with yourself in this moment and time. So please get away from the notion that you should empty your mind of thoughts.”

Instead, we must aim for stillness. We must be in touch with ourselves. “[In] day to day life, the goal is stillness, being with yourself, [and] getting in touch with what your body is saying”

Shownotes

• about Puneet
  • was missing daughter during her birthday, and wondering what he could do for her that was unique
  • made up stories based on her daughter
  • wrote stories on the way from San Francisco to Chicago
  • did illustration program at university in Chicago
  • wrote and illustrated the first version of the book
  • wanted to inspire other kids with the stories too
  • commit 100% of profits to support underprivileged kids
  • asked friends on Facebook to support the cause
    • friend mentioned couple who ran a school near New Delhi
    • they organized a school to help children

13:14 “What I really want to do is make creative philanthropy into a larger, wider, scale movement by inviting artists to contribute towards social impact using their art.”

• Puneet’s upbringing and background
  • dad was from Indian navy
  • had a good education and went to decent schools
  • there’s a lack of education for many children
  • knew he wanted to work with kids, and the book became the trigger to be able to do that

15:31 “These children, they have a great hunger, and they have a fire in their belly. They’re hungry. All they want is to be given the opportunity. So I’m glad that I can make a small difference over there and help these kids in some way.”

• what he learned in school
  • a lot of sports
  • studied hotels and worked in corporate world with General Electric
  • then went to UK to study management
  • transitioned to management consulting in US
  • doesn’t consider himself creative
    • thinks artists are creative
• his creative project started as a strong desire
  • thinks if we think too much about something, we don’t take the first few steps
  • took book to publisher who said he should take it to an illustrator
  • he realized it wasn’t about just him anymore, so he took it to a professional illustrator

18:15 “I know I’m not a great, gifted, writer. I’m not taking any courses on creative writing. Nothing. It was just a desire and a passion behind it. I did that, and I used the people who have got those gifts.”

19:22 “Desire, taking the action, using the people that will help me put it together. It’s a very long process, It’s much longer than I would have liked it to be, and that involves my own procrastination a good deal too.”

• initial phase of the book
  • wrote during his flights on his laptop
  • created illustrations while taking classes
• style for the drawings
  • was proud of his first book
  • got it done at Shutterfly and put love into it
  • showed the book to people, and people asked if the drawings were created by his daughter
  • is still developing his drawing skills so he can use his own drawings for his books
  • daughter made video for his birthday while he was away
    • one of his stories is based on this event
    • QR code in the book showing the actual video she sent
  • book is based in Swaziland for the Bushfire Fesitval
    • social impact events take place at the festival
    • story is based on true events
• developing the story for the book
  • Deepa character is almost a part of the family
  • for his current book, he is trying to base the plot on events at Swaziland with help from people in Swaziland
  • writes what he feels is interesting
• moments that stood out from first
  • video birthday story
  • sets book in real places
  • wishing dad goodbye at the airport
• watching the birthday video
  • had just moved to US
  • people were at his party
  • was watching in kitchen
  • he felt very emotional and had tears while watching it
• getting other people involved
  • setting an example as a creative philanthropist through engaging with schools
  • doing a TED X Talk
  • inviting artists who support cause and providing platform for them to sell to contribute to the cause
  • experimenting with schools and holistic education
  • bringing mindfulness, connecting with nature, introducing modern communication, doing rights of passage ceremonies
  • exploring softer emotions: love, gratitude, etc.
  • writing to teach kids about gratitude/love, re-educating adults as well
• importance of mindfulness
  • the first thing he does when working with people one on one is making sure they have a stillness practice (mindfulness)
  • Jon Kabat-Zinn bringing mindfulness to popular culture
  • studied Buddhism in his twenties
  • connecting with nature can be a separate or the same practice
  • being with yourself and being outside
  • connecting with something as a much larger inspiration
  • he spent a lot of time practicing and developing his practice

35:35 “The world that we live in is just in so much of a frenzy all the time and with technology it is very easy to get disconnected. It’s very easy to get just swayed away by whatever the most prevalent wind is… so I think practice (mindfulness) is what really helps in grounding you.”

• situation where mindfulness helped him in a challenging situation
  • finished consulting work in 2008
  • was developing a golf business because he liked it
  • wanted to create a big business out of it
  • gave himself three months to develop it
  • building business took a lot of licenses and expenses
  • didn’t work out, and he wasn’t getting work
  • exercised and did mindfulness practice to get himself out of the situation
  • giving himself hope helped him cope with the situation

40:58 “I feel that’s one thing which really helped me, that I could give myself hope. I feel that at some deep gut level I do kind of bet on myself.”

• difference between people who believe in themselves vs. those who don’t
  • getting up one more time
  • take things one day at a time
  • environment as an important factor
  • Rory Mcilroy – fearless and tremendous self belief
  • Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey
  • threshold guardians – people who care about you
    • they try to protect you
  • practice keeping your heart open to see what emerges
  • take things ones step at a time and you will know what you need to focus on

42:52 “I feel that what happens is when you start off on your journey, when you start off saying ‘This is really important to me and I’m going to set sail on this path,’ and if you commit to it, I think somehow the teachers show up and that support network emerges at different points.”

43:53 “When you have that call to adventure. You have the choice of taking it or not.”

44:32 “I just feel like you step out of that path and put yourself out there, and … the clearer you get and the more you put yourself out there, serendipity is what shows you the way.”

• knowing whether you should continue on your path
  • Puneet is in this place at the moment
  • you need to stop if you’re trying too hard and not getting very far
  • mindfulness helps you keep in touch with this
  • change makers are often at a crossroads
  • using coaches or other people to help you reflect
  • sometimes you just have to focus on your own well being and nourishing your spirit
  • very few people are built with a perfect environment and mindset

48:03 “At times you just have to be and not take too much action and focus on your own well being and your own goodness and nourishing your own spirit, and then see what emerges.”

• creating mindfulness practice
  • also called stillness or meditation
  • Deepak Chopra and Oprah’s Meditation Challenge
  • start with guided meditation if necessary
  • an empty mind is possible, but not practical in day to day life
  • sit in one place for 10 minutes and see what comes up

“Here’s the one big thing that stops people from meditating, is that the goal of meditation is to get my head empty of thoughts… That’s really not the goal of it. The goal is for you to be present with yourself in this moment and time. So please get away from the notion that you should empty your mind of thoughts.”

“[In] day to day life, the goal is stillness, being with yourself, [and] getting in touch with what your body is saying”

• the rite of passage
  • didn’t experience it himself, but heard about it through a woman he was talking to from Botswana
  • Thea Khama of Inner Core Energetics
  • working with an organization for youths and young adults that do Rites of Passage
  • showing trust and love for children turning into adults
  • most of them take place in nature
  • different organizations will do different things
• working with large businesses and bringing that experience into philanthropy
  • project planning, putting things into a proper framework, raising money, etc.
  • organizing events, eye for detail, customer service, etc.
  • GE – working with Six Sigma
  • using data and mapping it out into a process

“I think the greatest gift of having worked in corporate organizations and having tried to run a business of my own, etc…is that I can work with an idea. I can work with a vision. I can break down to the steps that are required to actually bring it to life.”

• similarity and differences between businesses and philanthropies
  • they are all organizations and are run very similarly
  • ex: airlines – driving shareholder value
  • social enterprise – cause oriented, but also generating profits
  • doesn’t see much of a difference
  • hiring the right people, structuring operation, setting a vision, etc.
• coaching
  • did it as a part of his job doing operations
  • coaching as being important part of managing a team
  • after operations he did organization development
    • creating high performing teams, management/training programs, etc.
    • creating action working sets
  • Game Changer Coaching
  • natural extension of what he has already done

“I think what makes it really easy for me, I just generally have a desire to be able to work with people, and help them, and do something great in their life, or whatever they would call great. Not everybody has to do something huge, big or impressive. Whatever is great to them, whatever calls them. How do you help them do that.”

• advice for people who don’t consider themselves creative
  • having a desire to do something that only he could do and using storytelling
  • putting something together that is your own creation
  • the thing that stops us from doing something is not taking the first few steps
  • Thom Shillaw – used to work in sports nutrition, but has used language and body language to help people through challenging emotional situations
    • uses creativity to cure people in an unconventional method

“Millions of people want to write a book, but so few of them actually take action because they don’t perceive themselves to be an author… The way to get over that is simply, start with the first few steps or work with somebody. Work with somebody who resonates, whether it’s a coach or friend. Just go and see someone you trust, someone you feel comfortable and safe with and simply say ‘I have a desire. I want to make quilts. Will you hold me accountable? I’m going to try to do this. Would you mind if I check in with you or speak to somebody you know who’s done it.’ So I would say… find somebody you trust, who you feel… would support you in your journey, but take the first few steps. I think that’s the key. “

•  favorite quote
  • challenging situations
    • facing or running from challenges

“Where you stumble is where you find your treasure will be.” alternatively “Where you stumble and fall, there you will find gold.” ― Joseph Campbell

• morning routine
  • 30-45 minutes of meditation which takes years to get to
  • conscious movement and motion to break inertia/stress
  • 3x a week goes for a workout
• creative people
  • Attraction Shadow Dance
    • using dance for storytelling
    • Britain’s Got Talent Youtube video
• books, resources, podcasts, etc.
  • The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
    • pure simplicity, one law for each day
  • The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by  Robin Sharma
  • The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
  • UYD Media – Use Your Difference to Make a Difference
• definition of creativity

“For me creativity is just your own unique expression of your own spirit of your heart and I feel that the important thing is that this is not meant to be competitive. It’s not meant to make you look good. It’s just your own pure expression. That’s really what it is.”

• being more creative

“If you have an urge or a desire, take action on it, or find some people or find some support which you can have to help you try expressing what it is you would like to try. Whether it’s writing or making some art on walls ot it is anything… It can be anything but I feel that the most important thing scheduling, number one… and then following through with it and use some people around you to hold you accountable for it if you can.”

• Valerie – Soul Motion Dance
• two free one on one coaching sessions for the first two people to contact him: Puneet on Facebook or email creativephilanthropist@gmail.com – mention coaching sessions

Creative Philanthropist and Coaching

The post Puneet Sachdev on His Journey Into Creative Philanthropy, the Key to Successful Projects, and the Importance of Mindfulness – Cracking Creativity Episode 55 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Chris Dessi was fired three times in two years, but that didn’t stop him from building a successful career. Instead of letting those setbacks get him down, he leveraged them into building his own business, writing multiple books, appearing on TV, and running his own summits. In this episode, learn about the power of a personal brand, being a taste maker, and defining success.

Here are three things you can learn from Chris:

Build a personal brand

Building a personal brand is one of the best things you can do to make a name for yourself. Once people recognize you for your thoughts and your work, it becomes easier to get your voice heard. But it’s not always easy.

If you want to build a personal brand, you have to stop taking what’s given to you. Instead, you need to look within yourself to discover what makes you unique, what differentiates you from everyone else. Chris believes we can do this by being introspective. “Building your personal brand is about becoming introspective and not a lot of people become introspective. A lot of people take what’s given to them.”

Building a personal brand is also about defining your goals. “That’s really where the personal branding starts. You need to have a definitive end goal in mind and understand that you have a voice, and then start to play with that.”

Finally, your personal brand is about exploring your curiosity. “If you do anything with fervor and interest and intellectual curiosity, people will start to come back to you and people will become part of your tribe. And if you’re interested in something that scares the hell out of you, at least learn about it.”

Become a tastemaker

Once you’ve built your personal brand, and made yourself known to the world, you have the opportunity to become a tastemaker. Tastemakers are the people you look to for advice and guidance. They’re the ones we turn to when we are looking to make a decision. If you want your voice to be heard, you should aim to be a tastemaker.

Chris believes these people are the ones who make the biggest impact in the world. “It’s the tastemakers, the definitive people that are shaping society, that are shaping thought, shaping businesses, and shaping lives, we’re the ones that do, and go out there and listen to that curiosity and trust their own curiosity and trust that it will lead them to a place that will continue to help them to grow as a business person, as a creative, as a creator, as a human being.”

That’s why Chris thinks we need to stop worrying about our resumes. We need to start worrying about getting our voices heard instead. “Stop tweaking your resume, and create a blog… Don’t worry about the resume, worry about creating your own identity, and then you don’t have to worry about pandering to people to get a job, because other opportunities will come to you, because that system’s broken.”

Define what success means to you

One of my favorite parts of my conversation with Chris was hearing his definition of success. He’s not worried about bringing home the most money or having tons of fans on social media. Instead, he chooses to define success for himself.

The first thing he considers success is doing something that fulfills his curiosity. “If I am doing something that I am being true to myself, that allows me to feel excited, intellectually curious, and fulfilled, and generates revenue, that’s amazing.”

The other thing that defines his success is getting his girls onto the bus in the morning. “I think if I can stick to that, and put my daughters on the bus in the morning, follow things that allow me to continue to be intellectually curious, and things that will potentially generate revenue, I’ll be in a really good spot no matter where I end up, or what I’m doing.”

These two things may not equal success for other people, but they define what success means to Chris. In the end, that’s all that matters. We need to stop letting other people define what success means to us. We need to determine that for ourselves instead.

Shownotes

• about Chris
  • daughter asking if he was an author
  • CEO of digital marketing company
  • books are his personal journey
  • Remarkable You & Just Like You
    • Remarkable You is about  his personal journey
    • Just Like You born from blog interviews
  • terminated 3 times in 2 years (2007-09)
  • learned how to be cockroach of marketing – learning to survive
  • got offered $250k job from a blog post
• topic of first blog post
  • talk about what you know and what you’re experiencing
  • loved job he was at, but was there for four years and realized it was time to move on
  • the only people who knew how good he was were his boss and clients
  • bought Harvard Business Review magazine for $15 while traveling
    • read article about the The Fatal Flaw in Pay for Performance (for CEOs)
    • article had nothing to do with his industry
    • when working pay for performance, they are incentive to cook the books
    • worked at a company where they sold cost per acquisition ads
    • issues because affiliates are paid for performance
    • emailed blog post to head hunter and got job
  • people don’t realize how good they are
  • got terminated from VP of Sales job
  • took 3 months off to work with Gary Vaynerchuk
  • bought FacebookShouldHireMe.com
    • rip off of Jamie Varon who bought TwitterShouldHireMe.com
    • sent Gary V a video saying he should hire him
    • got national attention from Fortune
    • took article and brought it with him to Buddy Media
  • being an expert in new apps/tools
    • a little bit like the wild west

16:00 “Being able to blog and being able to flex your intellectual muscles and mapping it against other things that happen outside of your industry is really powerful because you then open yourself up to opportunities that you wouldn’t have previously thought about.”

18:52 “It’s really about owning your skill set and I wasn’t pretending to be a developer, coder, or a designer, or somebody with exceptional creative ability. I knew that I was a sales guy, but I told Facebook why they should hire me and that I was a go getter… and these are the things I was going to bring to the table. It’s about just understanding what you’re good at and seeing that there’s a value for that in your dream company.”

• his beginnings
  • junior year in college abroad (Belgium)
    • students from around the world learning together
    • realizing there’s a world outside your bubble
  • undergraduate in psychology
    • advanced courses, gave credits to MBA students
    • was getting A’s in his classes
    • ex: psychology behind casinos, tasting Coca Cola under different music situations
    • McDonalds has plastic booths so you don’t stay long
    • dad didn’t want him to change his major, but helped get him into program at NYU in direct marketing
    • internet marketing is direct marketing on steroids
    • worked at TIME, then Mediaplex
    • Mediaplex went public, there was a party at SFMoMA
      • founders were billionaires on paper
      • less than a year later, the stock sold for less than $1
      • dad told him that’s the best thing that could happen to him
      • told him to go on informational interviews, and not let getting laid off get to his head
    • Remarkable You
      • leveraging tech. – people can create their own brand the way they want it to be told
      • opportunities doing things he never could have foreseen
      • getting called to talk on TV, becoming a regular and appearing on CNBC

25:45 “I am eternally resilient to becoming unemployed. I am eternally self-sufficient and I think that’s a really important skill set to have as a 40 year old guy when there’s no reliance on what’s happening in our economy and as things shift, and how our culture has shifted, and how… guys my age that have been working at a company for fifteen years are terrified because their company might go away next year.”

27:44 “I didn’t set out to do that. It was just by virtue of realizing that I can control my destiny. I can leverage these tools to articulate what I’m good at, and I can take the reigns of that without passively being affected by outside variables that I have no control over, that I do have control over my career and my destiny.”

• building your personal brand
  • you can get Chris’s white paper on defining your personal brand on his website
  • when looking for jobs – people look at job boards
    • only fit for one of them
    • encourages people to try to figure out what they want to do
  • Chris’s Inc. article on passion
  • blogging, posting on LinkedIn, and building a community
  • had foundation in marketing
  • when he got laid off, he took time to learn everything he could about social media
    • learned everything he could and immersed himself in it
  • met Gary V. at Wine Library
    • challenged him, asked what he’s passionate about
    • Chris said he didn’t know, he was all about making money
    • said he was passionate about being a dad
  • started blog Dadzilla TV
    • reviewing childrens’ toys
    • worked with video person in Florida
    • learned how to do social media
  • then went to Buddy Media with his pitch
  • first episode he used a flood light
    • local community built around his video even though he was an amateur
  • social media being perfect for introverts
    • becoming a curator
  • purchase firstnamelastname.com if available
  • talking to Brandon Steiner of Steiner Sports on his podcast
    • started business with $4k and turned it into a multi-million dollar business
    • on passion: “You have to start with understanding and then commitment and then the passion comes.”
    • first learn about it, if you like it, then you become a student of it, then you can build a passion for it
  • TV producer found Chris by searching for “social media guru” but found Chris’s article on calling that title BS
    • saw video Chris did as VP of sales
    • did quarterly report on video
    • thought he was telegenic (looked good on camera)
    • was unknowingly doing things to get himself on TV
    • friend asked about his feeling about someone being fired on Facebook
      • he had already written about it
    • took hypothetical scenarios about fake situations and wrote about them
      • already had pro’s and cons for the situation he was asked about
      • already thought about question before he was even asked to come on TV
      • was in auto-pilot mode

28:48 “Building your personal brand is about becoming introspective and not a lot of people become introspective. A lot of people take what’s given to them.”

29:25 “Think about, what do you want to do? What gets you going? And what excites you? I think following your passion is an overused phrase… I think it’s sort of abused. ‘Oh, I gotta follow my passion.’ Yeah, but that’s not where you start. You gotta think about something you can do that can generate revenue for your family, for yourself, that you can tolerate. You do that, you put in the work. You bust your butt. And once you get past the point of tolerating. Then you say, ‘Okay, now I have a little bit of freedom. So it’s about saying ‘I want to be free. I want to do what inspires me, what allows for me to be intellectually curious. And then, once I become intellectually curious, I need to add my two cents about it.'”

31:20 “That’s really where the personal branding starts. You need to have a definitive end goal in mind and understand that you have a voice, and then start to play with that.”

33:29 “That’s where people should start. Figure out what you’re into, what gets you excited, and generate content around it. Have no fear.”

33:59 “If you do anything with fervor and interest and intellectual curiosity, people will start to come back to you and people will become part of your tribe. And if you’re interested in something that scares the hell out of you, at least learn about it.”

35:21 “This is why I say that passion gets people into trouble… If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble.”

• the journey vs. instant success
  • Westchester Digital Summit – online only next year
  • bought 67 domains for digital summit
  • lost $17k of his own money for first summit, second summit made $3k, third summit lost $3k
  • asked himself why he’s doing it if he’s not making any money
  • journey, branding, network, and people were great, but it wasn’t working
  • making it online and free
  • mention Chris Dessi at Bookinabox
  • writing two books at once, and the the brutality of doing it, but having a sense of accomplishment too

42:48 “The journey can be a blast. It can be fruitful. Sometimes the journey can be a dead end, but you’re going to pick up some learning and you’re going to pivot.”

44:21 “There’s an infinite joy in being in the process and seeing whether you can do it or not.”

• talks about everything in his books
  • everything from being fired to thinking he was having a heart attack
  • building a strong connection with your audience
  • be as transparent as possible
  • What No One Tells You About Being an Entrepreneur blog post
    • feedback makes him cry

“I talk about the brutal, ugly, honest, truth. It’s not be popping bottles… It’s about the sludge and the response has been astronomical. I encourage everyone that’s listening, that if you’re a struggling artist. If you are just starting out building your personal brand. If you’re just starting out selling your artwork, your photography, your design work, or you’re a freelancer or you’re anything along those lines, be as transparent as is comfortable to you because we’re all human beings. We’re all looking for connection, a deeper connection and when you posture and you are full of bravado, and you’re not being true to yourself, to your core, people sniff it out 100 miles away, and it’s never going to work. But if you’re normal, and you are who you are… the beautiful things that come afterword are disarming.”

• luck vs. serendipity
  • talking to his mother about his interview
    • preparing for the interview in the evening, but also for his entire life
    • you create your own luck
  • story about Picasso creating expensive drawing for woman
    • took his whole life to make it
• valuing our work
  • Oren Klaff in his book: Just Like You
    • wrote a book called Pitch Anything
    • being valued for your time, work, and energy
    • why you need to value your work vs. begging people to buy from you

“You really need to define parameters for your time and your effort, and to hold yourself in high enough regard to ask for payment for your work. You should be paid for your good work.”

• doing good work and being an active member of the community you’re in
  • having no fear when he was learning social media
  • not knowing who the players are
  • Fred Wilson’s blog AVC
    • leaving a comment on his blog and getting a response for the thoughtfulness of it
  • reaching out to people smarter than you
  • that’s how he wrote Just Like You
  • talking to speakers at Westchester Digital Summit after their talks
  • David Kidder’s The Startup Playbook
  • didn’t set out to right book, he wanted to learn from people that inspired and challenged him
  • when you are curious, magical things happen
  • starting a dialogue with people you learn from
  • learning from each other instead of thinking you know it all
  • starting my podcast because I wanted to learn from other creatives
  • everything can be accomplished in different ways

“When you’re in an environment where you’re learning, or you’re in a community, it’s not just about look at me, look at how good I am. It’s about listening and it’s about learning, and it’s about being an active participant in that community.”

• Inc.com articles on the word toxic
  • multiple perspectives being a good thing
  • wanting the answers to the test and not getting them
  • no one is going to tell you what the questions or answers are, you have to figure them out for yourself
  • find out what you are passionate about, what gets your blood going, what makes you curious, etc.
  • former guest Mark Guay talking about education and the Industrial Age
  • teaching methods are outdated

“It’s the taste makers, the definitive people that are shaping society, that are shaping thought, shaping businesses, and shaping lives, we’re the ones that do, and go out there and listen to that curiosity and trust their own curiosity and trust that it will lead them to a place that will continue to help them to grow as a business person, as a creative, as a creator, as a human being.”

“Stop tweaking your resume, and create a blog… Don’t worry about the resume, worry about creating your own identity, and then you don’t have to worry about pandering to people to get a job, because other opportunities will come to you, because that system’s broken.”

• Remarkable You podcast
  • 300 executives who were fired from ESPN are screwed because there’s no other ESPN
  • they were let go because the business model for ESPN is changing, younger generations are watching from their devices instead of their TVs
  • Chris has been reinventing himself every day for the past 15 years
  • Gary Vaynerchuk uses social media because it works, because he’s a marketer and a salesman
  • Gary V. would be the expert in almost everything he does
  • find the spots you can be good at
  • the platform that’s best for you might not be the best for someone else
  • working with a team to leverage your strengths and someone else’s strengths to your weaknesses
  • Gary starting with Wine Library before building the success of Vayner Media
  • Gary also worked with younger people who would run through a wall for him
  • Chris’s dad quitting his job 2 weeks after getting job offer because he got an offer from a job he liked more

“Figure out what you’re good at, and go for it full boar.”

“When you go to college, when you go to university, you’re taught the corporate mindset. You’re not taught to be an entrepreneur… Universities don’t teach that. They don’t teach to be independent and build your personal brand which is why I go to universities and talk to universities.”

• Chris’s plans for the future
  • scary and exciting question
  • he doesn’t know and likes to keep it that way
  • his vision begins with putting his daughter on the bus in the morning
  • talking, being on TV, being a good writer, and knowing what people are looking for are Chris’s strengths
  • if you don’t like what you’re doing, figure out how to change it
  • not enough people allow themselves to make that a priority
  • realized that if he wanted to do good work and be there for his family, he had to go to bed earlier
  • how he changed his routine to meditate, write in the morning, and be with his children
  • hustle does not mean exhaustion

“If I am doing something that I am being true to myself, that allows me to feel excited, intellectually curious, and fulfilled, and generates revenue, that’s amazing.”

“Every time, in my life and my career, that I’ve tried to say ‘I’m going to become that’ it backfires. When I find something that gets my juices flowing, and I say… “That’s a ridiculous goal, I’m going to go for it,” then it works.”

“I think if I can stick to that, and put my daughters on the bus in the morning, follow things that allow me to continue to be intellectually curious, and things that will potentially generate revenue, I’ll be in a really good spot no matter where I end up, or what I’m doing.”

“I will not let anything get in the way of my workouts. I will not let anything get in the way of my meditation, and the way that I do that is I tack on an extra day a week, and it’s a dirty little secret, but I get up at 5 AM every morning.”

“Hustle does not equate exhaustion. Hustle equates performing at your optimal level in an optimal way, and the only way that you can do that is when you’re eating right, when your body is healthful, when you’re getting enough sleep, and you are surrounded by people that love and support you, and you are focused on them and loving and supporting them and giving back to them and having definitive, deep relationships with them.”

• Brandon Steiner on his podcast
  • talking about a sales book from 1905, and it had all the same basic fundamentals as we try to follow today: live healthfully, be part of a supportive community, get enough sleep, exercise every day, etc.
  • principles seem intuitive, but they aren’t, espically for entrepreneurs
  • not much has changed in the thousands of years people have been around
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday – Ryan’s perspective on Roman Marcus Aurelius and dealing with the same struggles we have
  • using the lessons of people who’ve come before you instead of trying to figure it all out yourself
  • taking care of yourself is seen as begin weak

“Understanding The Obstacle is the Way, understanding we’re all human beings, and we all have limitations, and we all need to take care of our ourselves, and we all need to take care of each other is profound.”

• favorite quote
  • Jeff Pearlman – NYT best-selling sports biographer – blog The Quaz
  • interviewed Chris’s dad, where they talked about his life
  • creating a life for himself and having ALS
  • asked Chris’s dad – Do you ever have a ‘Why is this happening to me moment?’
  • translated the quote into Italian
  • father faced death in the eye, and didn’t let his diseas affect his relationships

“I’m not dying today and I’m not dying tomorrow, so fuck you. I don’t have time for this shit.” – Chris’s dad

• morning routine
  • starts working at dining room table and writes
  • finds time to meditate
  • plays with girls
  • hangs out with daughter, and takes her to bus stop then heads to work
  • the importance of getting stuff done in the early morning
• books, podcasts, documentaries, etc.
  • listens to audio books while driving
  • comes in to work with a bunch of ideas
  • Ready Player One – only fiction book he’s read/listened to
  • writes nuggets about non-fiction books
  • doesn’t recommend anything specific because everyone learns differently
  • Pitch Anything – listens to it frequently
  • Eckhart Tolle books
  • The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • being moved and motivated

48:04 “You need to read and you need to learn. If you don’t have time or feel like ‘I don’t have time to sit down and read’ or you’re not a good reader… download Audible.com. Download audio books. And it’s a game changer.”

49:04 “Immerse yourself in everything you can get your grubby hands on.”

50:00 “Allowing for yourself to learn, I think, is hugely compelling.”

• creative people
  • Gary Vaynerchuk
  • David Kidder – challenges you to talk to the smartest people you know to solve big problems
  • Dan Harris – wrote 10% Happier
    • having nervous breakdown on Today Show
    • power of the brain and quieting our brain to get into flow
    • old school world of media but talks about new school subject
• definition of creativity
  • third listen of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic

56:09 “I think being creative is more about being brave to allow yourself to be true to what gets you going… because I don’t consider myself a creative person… however, I think after listening to Elizabeth Gilbert articulate Big Magic and creative living beyond fear, I think I am a lot more creative than I’ve ever given myself credit for. And being able to put forth ideas in the form of books, or podcasts, or television, or tweeting, or engaging. That’s creativity at it’s core… It’s about allowing ourselves to share ourselves with other human beings bravely and with transparency.”

• challenge
  • buy your url firstnamelastname.com and host a blog
  • How to Create a Blog in 15 Minutes or Less
  • click by click video of launching a blog with step by step instructions as well
  • create your blog and tweet it to Chris

ChrisDessi.com  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  chrisdessi@silverbacksocial.com

The post Chris Dessi on Building a Personal Brand, Becoming a Tastemaker, and Defining Success – Cracking Creativity Episode 56 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

We should all have aspirations of getting better. When we rest on our laurels, we lose the ability to make an impact in our lives and with our audience. That’s why I went to Podcast Movement in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. We can learn a lot from the top people in our industries, and Podcast Movement was no exception.

Since I began my podcast, I’ve received nothing but positive feedback, but it would be foolish to stay stagnant. Going to Podcast Movement has inspired me to take my podcast to the next level.

There were a lot of great speakers, and even more fellow podcasters, who made the conference worthwhile. Here are some of the highlights from my weekend at Podcast Movement:

Glynn Washington

Glynn is the voice behind the Snap Judgement, a show that focuses on telling personal stories. You might believe this makes Glynn as a wonderful storyteller, and you would be right. Here are some of the great things I picked up from his keynote:

Trust Your Guests. As hosts, we need to believe in our guest’s ability to tell their own story. The only way to do this is to listen to them and make sure we ask questions that dig a little deeper.

Don’t Translate Stories. Sometimes it’s better to let the story speak for itself. As hosts, we need to let the reader interpret their own lessons from what the guest is saying.

Storytelling Takes Iteration. When you hear a good story, you might think it comes out naturally the first time. While sometimes it does, more often than not, it is the result of iteration. We can always improve and get better.

Inspiration is for Amateurs. We can’t just sit around waiting for inspiration to come to us. We need to seek it out for ourselves. Only amateurs wait for that spark before they start working.

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is the writer and director of many cult films including Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob, and Dogma. But he is also the host of many podcasts. The funny thing is, he didn’t plan on creating a podcast, nevertheless a network of podcasts, it just kind of happened. Here are some things you can learn from the famous storyteller.

There are no Gatekeepers. One of the great things about the podcasting medium is, there is no one to tell you what to do. You can make a show about anything you want. That’s exactly what Smith did. He just kept making shows that made sense to him.

Be an Imitator. Too often, artists worry about imitating other people’s work. The funny thing is, that’s exactly what Kevin Smith did. He said his first film, Clerks, was just a poor imitation of Richard Linklater’s Slacker. By imitating a film he loved, Smith was able to create a film that other people loved too.

Stop Asking Why, Ask Why Not. There is enormous difference between those who ask why and those who ask why not. People who ask why are doubters. They let their skepticism get in the way of accomplishing their goals. Instead of asking why, ask why not. Smith believes this simple change in phrasing can profoundly change your outlook on life. Just think of it: Why not you? Why not now?

Andrew Warner

Andrew is the host of Mixergy, a show where he explores startup stories with the founders of some of the world’s most well known companies including Wikipedia, Y Combinator, and Pixar. He is one of the most well respected interviewers in all of podcasting. He is not afraid to ask the tough questions and he has built a passionate following because of it. Here are some of the tips he gave:

Empathy Connects You with Your Audience. Many companies fail because they don’t empathize with their customers. Instead of listening to their customers, they all they do is try to sell. What they don’t realize is, the best way to sell is to connect with your customers. What are their biggest pains? How can you help them solve that pain? These are the questions you need to answer if you want to build a better business.

Understand Their Problem. People do not go out looking to spend money. They are trying to solve a problem. When you empathize with your audience, you discover what they are really looking for. The only way to solve someone’s problem is to know what it is. As creatives, we need people to connect with our work. How does your art connect with your audience? What problems does it help to solve?

Make an Impact. The best way to gain customers is to actually make an impact on their lives. People have so many options to choose from, why would they choose you? That’s why, when you can empathize with your potential customers, you have a much better chance of making that impact. That one thing can make the difference between a customer and a fan.

Shannon Cason

Shannon Cason is a masterful storyteller. He is a GrandSlam champion with The Moth and regularly appears on Snap Judgment. He also has his own storytelling podcast called Shannon Cason’s Homemade Stories. Shannon gave some great tips on how to tell a great story. Here are a few:

Stories Create Connection. When you can tell a great story, you create much deeper connections with your audience. Have you ever felt like you knew the host of a podcast? If you don’t listen to podcasts, have you ever met someone who tells great stories and felt an immediate connection with her? That is the power of a great story. Using stories when talking about your art can help build that deep connection with your audience.

Be Authentic. While this might seem like a no brainer, often times we ignore this advice. Being authentic is absolutely necessary if you want to build real connections with your audience. If you are dishonest about one thing, what’s to say you aren’t being dishonest about everything? People can easily sniff out someone who isn’t being authentic. Don’t let the thought of impressing someone dissuade you from being who you are.

Stories Should Have a Purpose. In order to be a good storyteller, your stories must have some sort of purpose. We don’t tell stories for stories sake, we tell stories to convey a message or a meaning. Whether you’re telling a story to teach a lesson or get your meaning across, make sure it has a purpose. A story without a purpose is not really a story at all.

Dan Miller

Dan is the author of 48 Days to Work You Love and No More Dreaded Mondays. He hosts a podcast that’s consistently ranked #1 in iTunes. And he is on a mission to help people increase their personal and business success. Here are some of the insights from Dan’s talk:

Be Intentional. If we aren’t intentional about our work, it will never connect with our audience. We must be willing to put ourselves out there regardless of what people might think of our work or our message. In order to make a lasting impact, we can’t wander aimlessly hoping something will stick. We have to approach everything we do with purpose.

Give Value. As artists, people turn to us to make them feel. You can make them feel nostalgic, happy, or curious. It doesn’t matter what you make them feel, as long as they feel something. That is the value of art. We need to provide people with value if we want to sell our art. What is the value of your art? How can you use that value to connect with your audience?

Be Unique. Too often we try to mimic other peoples’ success. She was successful because she used this strategy. He was successful because he did this. The list goes on and on. If we want to stand out in the crowd, we can’t follow someone else’s path like some food recipe. We need discover what makes us unique and own it.

Alex Blumberg

Alex is the host of Startup and the CEO/co-founder of Gimlet Media. Before that he was also a producer for This American Life and the co-founder of Planet Money. Suffice it to say, he knows a lot about telling a good story. Here are some things I learned from Alex.

Audio is Powerful. Audio is an extremely powerful form of media. The difference between audio and the visual of video is, nothing pulls you into a story like audio. When someone begins telling a story, you can’t help but wonder what happens next. We are compelled as human beings to listen to stories.

Stories Must be Interesting and Have Self-Reflection. Stories need to be interesting if you are going to capture your audience’s attention. If your story doesn’t have a point, or isn’t interesting, people will stop paying attention. Your story must also have a moment of self-reflection. Without self-reflection, the message of the story becomes lost.

The Power of Empathy. Stories are the most powerful when they are told with an element of empathy. Empathy is what connects the storyteller with her audience. Empathy puts us in the shoes of the storyteller. It allows us to see their point of view and perspective. It is what makes stories so powerful

—

There were  many more great speakers and attendees at Podcast Movement, but these were the ones that stood out to me. If you are interested in hearing more about my experience, or sharing your own, feel free to let me know in the comments below.

The post My Thoughts on Podcast Movement 2016 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

We’re short so Mountains seem tall. We’re mortal, so Earth seems eternal. Our spacecraft are slow, so the Universe seems vast – Neil deGrasse Tyson (‏@neiltyson)

Print available on Storenvy.

Sometimes people forget we aren’t the masters of the universe. We are so busy thinking about ourselves that we fail to think about our place in the universe.

Years ago we thought we were the center of everything, and why wouldn’t we. The sun appeared to revolve around us. We were the smartest beings on the planet. We had yet to make discoveries about the universe.

But once we studied the world enough, we began to realize how small we are. We aren’t in the center of the galaxy. We aren’t the center of the universe. The world does’t revolve around us. We are just the result of millions of years of time and good luck.

When we take a good, long, look at the world, we realize how inconsequential we are. That’s why mountains seem tall. That’s why the Earth seems eternal. That’s why the universe seems vast.

While many people feel insignificant when faced with these facts, I feel empowered. Our lives, in the grand scheme of things, mean very little. That means we should pursue the things that interest us. We should study the things that we find fascinating. We shouldn’t be afraid of going after the things that mean the most to us.

We have a limited amount of time in this world. So why don’t we live life the way we want to? If you have a dream, go chase it. If you’ve been holding off on a project, start it. There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.

When all is said and done, you will have either lived life to the fullest, or you will have died regretting the things you didn’t do. The universe isn’t affected by what we do or don’t do. So make the biggest dent in the world that you can.

Buy Neil deGrasse Tyson Quote Art

Mountains photo by Unsplash

Stars photo by Levi Price

The post “We’re short so Mountains seem tall. We’re mortal, so Earth seems eternal. Our spacecraft are slow, so the Universe seems vast” – Neil deGrasse Tyson Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Ginger Kern knew she wanted to leave her childhood home in the Midwest even when she was a young. She grew up reading books on adventure and mythology, which fueled her desire to get away.

So, when she had the opportunity to visit her family in Germany, she jumped on it. Even though she didn’t speak German and her family didn’t speak English, she was hooked on travel and living abroad. This was the beginning of her life fueled by travel, adventure, and a desire to help other people do the same.

In this episode, Ginger talks about embracing your playful side, taking rites of passage, and transforming herself and others.

Here are three things you can learn from Ginger:

Engage in Playfulness

Once we become adults, most of use lose our sense of playfulness. While this may be good in some situations, it absolutely prevents us from being our most creative selves.

Being playful allows us to experiment without worrying about ridicule. It allows us to be curious as we explore the world. That’s why Ginger likes to put herself in playful environments. “It is a question of how can I surround myself with the external environment that pulls from me to be playful, to be creative, to be in a space of wonderment and curiosity and experimentation. ”

She also believes we need to intentionally set aside time to be playful. “It’s the structure of ‘Okay, I’m going to actually to block out a chunk of time in my week or in my day that is for whatever comes out of my creative forays.’ It could just be two hours and you don’t have a set plan for those hours but you do something.”

When we set aside that time, we can’t judge ourselves so much. we just have to see what comes out. “And just letting it come out and allowing it to just be what it is, and not judging it until maybe later… but during the process, just let it come out.”

This minor shift in playfulness can have a massive impact on our creativity. Creativity requires an open mind, exploration, and curiosity, and play makes those things possible.

We Must Help Ourselves in Order to Help Others

Ginger deals a lot with transformation. She has helped people overcome their doubts and has helped push them past their comfort zones. One example she gave was helping a woman who was feeling stuck creatively. Before her call with Ginger, the woman wasn’t drawing at all. But within 48 hours, she was able to reconnect with her creative expression.

But one thing Ginger emphasized was, she wouldn’t be able to be a source of strength for others if she wasn’t a source of strength for herself first. “I can only take my clients as big as I have gone myself… but really being a powerful stand for someone, that is sometimes tricky if you’re not being a stand for yourself… because it’s hypocritical. And so, helping others, if you want to use the word help… my goal is to really be a powerful stand for their power… in order to be able to do that, I have to be able to do that for myself.”

One thing Ginger noticed about her clients is, they are so eager to jump to the next level, but you can’t rush the process. “It’s always a process, right. So, there’s always expansion. There’s always that next level. And I think where some entrepreneurs might get caught up, is trying to force that next level… and what I found at least is that there’s so much to be learned just through the process of that.”

That’s why, before she can help others reach the next level, she has to reach the next level herself, and the only way she could do that was by getting support herself. “In order to effectively help, or effectively support, or effectively coach any of those things, I also have to have people pulling for me and so that does really bring me into that next level.”

Travel Can Act as a Rite of Passage

One interesting observation Ginger has made about the world is, we no longer go through rites of passage. Before modern civilization took it’s hold on the world, previous generations had traditions that were passed down the line. People had to go through symbolic journeys, or rites of passage, in order to transition from one part of life to the next.

The concepts behind these stories and journeys all come up in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The archetypes found in the book spanned across all cultures and helped convey different messages and morals.

Ginger is now using travel as a rite of passage to help people deal with their own versions of these journeys from isolation to discomfort. “The rite of passage is a real tool and the way that I see it being a really effective tool… is going into a slightly scary situation of travel, where everything is unknown. You have to figure stuff out on the go. You have to deal with feelings of isolation, aloneness, uncomfortableness, discomfort… It’s such incredible work to see how someone can transform so thoroughly through travel.”

And when people come back from their trips, their hero’s journey, many come away completely transformed. “It’s beautiful, and inevitably, they come out on the other side and they’re so thrilled. They’re psyched about life because they see that they can handle it and they can take on a new challenge. They might even start seeking out new challenges and being more epic in their everyday life. That mentality, once you have it, it doesn’t leave you. It doesn’t just disappear.”

Shownotes

• about Ginger
  • grew up in Midwest
  • had a desire to leave early on
  • grew up reading a lot of books
  • wasn’t allowed to watch TV and didn’t have video games
  • was interested in mythology/adventure books
  • Ginger’s TEDx Talk
  • had the opportunity to visit extended family in Germany
  • flew there alone and stayed a month with a family that didn’t speak much English
  • she got hooked on travel
  • studied German, Italian, and French in college
  • went back to Europe in college
  • got Fullbright Grant for English teaching
    • taught 20 hours/week, which allowed her to explore and travel
    • Couchsurfing for travel
    • worked in Frankfurt for 2 years
  • learned certain things that aligned with who she was and things that didn’t
  • living alone and figuring stuff out

12:00 “For a lot of people, that word someday is super sneaky and tricky because it means you keep putting it off and putting it off.”

• dark spots
  • the strain of living in a different culture long term
  • Frankfurt was a city with different values (investment/tech/business)
    • couldn’t build a community with common values there
    • felt isolated and alone
    • Global Shapers – initiative of World Economic Forum  – social entrepreneurship
  • relationship with boyfriend – there was a non-compatibility
    • didn’t have a way to deal a breakup in a healthy way
  • darkest recorded winter in fifty years

18:13 If you choose to be a person who leaves your home country, and goes to another place to live for an extended amount of time, yes it’s going to be awesome. So I’m a huge advocate for it, and I would share that and just have people know that there will be dark spots… but you will survive.”

• traveling
  • has home base in Boulder
  • when she came back to US, she was worried about getting stuck in routine again
  • staying in mindset of a traveler
  • emotional and complete return to Frankfurt
  • travels with a purchase
  • looks for experience she wants, who she knows where she’s traveling, any organizations she can contact, ect.
• learning languages
  • learning structures, recognizing patterns/root words
  • uses BaseLing – $99/month for unlimited Spanish tutoring
    • difference between talking to native speakers  and learning from a textbook
• intentionality of traveling
  • sights, activities
  • Nepal – parahawking, Argentine tango
  • Rites of Passage
    • designing trips at the edge of your reach zone but not in your panic zone
    • UK – reach, China – panic
    • How much do you want to challenge yourself and how do you want to challenge yourself?
    • handling different situations and testing your confidence
    • using travel as a tool for transformation
• how she figured out how to help people
  • her own experiences and recognizing patterns
  • basic human desires are the same
  • self-study, training, and self-development as well
  • going through coaching training, and getting coached herself for three years
  • having mentors that pull for your biggest self
    • learning from the experience of others and passing it along

31:40 “The basic human desires remain the same. We all want to feel loved and appreciated. We want to feel connected, and when we don’t have those needs met, then there’s a disconnect. We feel like we’re not purposeful, or we’re not held or received. Maybe we’re not as self-expressed as we could be. And so, seeing those patterns come up time and time again.”

• expectations after college
  • wanted to live in Europe for 5 years, lived there for 3
  • thought she was going to do something in communications
  • sought community online because she didn’t find it in real life
  • read a lot about personal development so she could cope with things
  • TheFeelGoodLifestyle.com
    • started writing articles and seeing comments uplifted her
    • saw what worked and what didn’t, did a lot of experimentation
    • ended up working with the founder
    • started off trying it out, and committed to it later
    • Landmark Education
  • fear of being fully seen
    • hearing the voice that’s telling you can’t
    • feeling the physical hesitation and dealing with it

“By in large, if you put in your effort, you’re going to get out amazing, amazing things for your life. So, for me, it’s just brought so much self-expression and love into my life.”

“The process that I go through is hearing the voice, and literally saying ‘Thank you for sharing’ and setting it aside, and taking the action anyway. So, it doesn’t mean that I don’t experience that physical hesitation… but I can be with it and not resist it and then move through it or let it dissolve on its own. Cause, you know it’s not real… you have the choice to listen to it and follow it, or set it aside and take the action anyway.

• experimentation
  • taking the smallest action toward your goal
  • innovation from nothing
  • feeling bad/wrong when our visions don’t pan out

“As far as what my own definition of creativity is.. All it [creativity] is is causing something to exist in the world that, in my opinion, previously didn’t, and it’s coming out of your own self-expression. So, whatever that is, it’s inherently good because it’s you expressing yourself. That’s beautiful. And so, it doesn’t have to look exactly like you might think it would be, but it will lead somewhere. And I think the fun part is, if we can really dig in to our playful self, and just let that playfulness come out… just go for it… It’s so much more fun to be childlike wonderment playful self then it is to be adulty analytical I have to do things a certain way self. Which one is more fun? For me the choice is super obvious.”

• engaging in our playful/creative side
  • it’s all about who you surround yourself with
  • Velcro and Silly Putty as examples of experiments intended for a different purpose
  • Silly Putty’s origin as a rubber substitute
  • living in a place with Silly Putty and colored pencils
  • travel as a good way to be creative
  • The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton
    • traveling in Amsterdam airport and the signs sparked him to think about the subtle differences
    • sparked different ideas and they started happening
  • why artists travel to different areas for creative inspiration

42:30.4 “Cause, if you surround yourself with people who are lighthearted and playful naturally, or if you have activities in your life that are already childlike or just freeing… that’s a really great way to tap into it, especially if there’s a community around it.”

43:06 “It is a question of how can I surround myself with the external environment that pulls from me to be playful, to be creative, to be in a space of wonderment and curiosity and experimentation. And also, it’s the structure of ‘Okay, I’m going  to actually to block out a chunk of time in my week or in my day that is for whatever comes out of my creative forays.’ It could just be two hours and you don’t have a set plan for those hours but you do something. And just letting it come out and allowing it to just be what it is, and not judging it until maybe later… but during the process, just let it come out.”

45:26 “If you’re surrounded by newness, if you’re surrounded by stuff that is foreign to you, and has some sort of similarity, your brain is going to automatically going to start making the connections between those foreign objects and try to assimilate it into that which you already know. So, by putting yourself into a new scenario, you’re going to start making new connections mentally between things.”

47:20.5 “It’s just this little bit of newness but it causes this massive ripple effect shift of how you play with and interact with and view the environment around you, and then your inner environment changes as well.”

• most transformative experience she’s had
  • 3+ years she experienced as a traveler
  • trying and failing many times, but also succeeding too
  • knowing she can trust herself and handle tough things that come her way
• helping woman with a transformative experience
  • has massive creative block
  • is an artist and designer
  • reach zone is taking a trip to California for 3 weeks solo
    • getting to place where she can figure it out and maximize her time there
    • becoming a powerfully self-expressed woman and making the most of it
  • before speaking to Ginger, she wasn’t drawing at all, after a call together, she reconnected with her creative expression
• how helping transform others has transformed herself
  • working with coaches herself
  • think to yourself, What would it really mean if I weren’t enough

53:17 “I can only take my clients as big as I have gone myself… but really being a powerful stand for someone, that is sometimes tricky if you’re not being a stand for yourself… because it’s hypocritical. And so, helping others, if you want to use the word help… my goal is to really be a powerful stand for their power… in order to be able to do that, I have to be able to do that for myself.”

54:03 “It’s always a process, right. So, there’s always expansion. There’s always that next level. And I think where some entrepreneurs might get caught up, is trying to force that next level. ‘Oh, I have to rush to it’ or make it happen, otherwise I’m not good enough yet… and what I found at least is that there’s so much to be learned just through the process of that. and even having those thoughts and feelings come up and just sitting with them,.. The point is that, yes, helping others does help me. It’s very fulfilling obviously as well, but in order to effectively help, or effectively support, or effectively coach any of those things, I also have to have people pulling for me and so that does really bring me into that next level.”

• getting her first client and what has changed since
  • first client was a practice client
  • was a free coaching agreement through website she was writing for
  • first paid client required increasing her confidence in being able to transform others
  • had phone conversations to see if it was a good fit
    • what do they want

57:05 “The internet is a beautiful place, right? You can meet and totally connect with people in a really deep way if you know how to invite someone into a powerful conversation.”

• shift in how her coaching has changed
  • before she was heavily focused on a wide funnel
    • found it wasn’t natural or working for her
    • felt surface level and less powerful
  • chose to switch from wide funnel to making offers and inviting people she had connection with into a conversation
    • if they were up for it, she would dig a bit deeper with them
    • more about relationship and simplifying it
  • what works for some people might not work for you
  • going deeper with fewer people than going less deep with more people
• Rites of Passage
  • not many examples of modern rites of passage
  • The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
    • archetypes that span across cultures
    • challenges along the way
    • separation from everything you know, go out on your own (initiation), after overcoming challenges there’s a return
    • bringing back discovery from rite of passage to community
  • there isn’t a coming of age story for most people
  • there’s no transformational experiences for most people
  • uses travel adventures, trips, experiences as a rite of passage
  • becoming a new person through travel experience

1:04:21 “The rite of passage is a real tool and the way that I see it being a really effective tool… is going into a slightly scary situation of travel, where everything is unknown. You have to figure stuff out on the go. You have to deal with feelings of isolation, aloneness,  uncomfortableness, discomfort. So, that’s really what I mean when I say a rite of passage and it’s such incredible work to see how someone can transform so thoroughly through travel. It’s beautiful, and inevitably, they come out on the other side and they’re so thrilled. They’re psyched about life because they see that they can handle it and they can take on a new challenge. They might even start seeking out new challenges and being more epic in their everyday life. That mentality, once you have it, it doesn’t leave you. It doesn’t just disappear. It totally stays, so that’s really exciting.”

• biggest difference between before and after rite of passage
  • client was a already a digital nomad/traveler
  • he wasn’t afraid of being alone/traveling
  • his challenge was creating a community and settling down
  • he had the challenge of going deep in one place
  • chose to stay and build community in Barcelona with people who aligned with his values
  • became CTO of travel startup, they liked him so much that they were willing to move to him
  • full spectrum of way of being so you aren’t pigeonholed into one slice of existence
• interesting/unexpected experience while traveling
  • went to Belgium and two cities:  Bruges and Ghent
  • thought she would like Bruges but it was too touristy
  • in Ghent she stayed with a Couchsuring host
    • nighttime in winter
    • had a canoe by his artist loft
    • when she arrived, he asked if she wanted to canoe in canal
    • went on canoe trip with clear waters and starry sky
    • experienced beautiful Belgium cityscapes from the water
    • being open led to beautiful experience
• recommendation for people who want new experiences
  • define what options for it could be
  • there’s not just one right place to start
  • take a look at what’s achievable but within your comfort zone
  • then go out and do things that are more uncomfortable
• future of her work
  • transformative travel businesses
  • not just beach and margaritas
  • emphasis on travel with purpose and transformation
  • Muddy Shoe Adventures – multi-day adventure trips where guides have PhD’s
  • coaching for women who want Eat. Pray. Love. experience
• favorite quote
  • adventure centric and open-ended for what worthwhile means

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” – Amelia Earhart

1:17:29 “If you follow something that both scares and excites you and you take that on or do that, it’s going to be worthwhile in some way or another.”

• stories or books that inspired passion for travel
  • D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
  • The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau – visited every country by 35
    • taking on a quest for yourself
    • becoming the person of your dreams
    • not about the end result but the journey
  • The Art of Travel – the moments in-between
  • Josh Barad interview – the uncomfortable feelings that cause you to take action
• morning routine
  • wake up between 7:30-8
  • tongue scraper
  • probiotic/supplements/women’s renewal greens
  • stretching/warm up
  • hot shower/mate tea
  • breakfast
• podcasts, documentaries, tools, resources
  • book that helped her through darker times: The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
    • dealing with moments of sadness
  • Unraveling the Year Ahead from Susannah Conway
    • what you accomplished last year, areas of life that aren’t working, what to let go of, etc.
    • creating year ahead of you, map out what you will do in next 12 months
• creative people
  • Amy Segreti – helps people in life, creativity, health, etc.
    • Argument Diffuser Box
      • used to diffuse arguments in relationships
      • box full of rolled up parchment tied with string
      • reach in the box, unroll it, and do what it says
      • Examples: Hug person for 30 seconds, no talking, full on, Become an animal and make noises of animal
  • Imogen Heap – singer/songwriter – creates songs at nexus of music, tech, visual arts, etc
    • artistry and master of craft
    • Youtube channel which has her music vidoes
• being more creative
  • tap into playfulness

1:28:23 “Think about it. When you’re a kid, you don’t have to force yourself to be creative. You just make stuff up, and it doesn’t matter. Being in that playful spirit of whatever happens happens, follow where I feel like, and that’s really the essence of that creativity… letting that lightheartedness, that expression, and that flow come through, just as if you were a kid again and you’re just doodling in your notebook because why not? No one told you to. It wasn’t a means to and end. You were just doing it.”

• challenge
  • the next person you come across, take the time to connect with them and ask a meaningful question
  • if you do it enough it becomes easy and less scary
  • connect with someone and see what happens
  • take the time, look the person in the eye, and ask “How are you?”
    • acknowledge and recognize person, and ask them with meaning
  • What’s your fondest memory? If you had no worries about money, what would you be doing?

GingerKern.com  |  Travelersmindset.com

Ginger also provided this awesome resource:

Fund Your International Work & Travel: A $7 Guide To Over $100K In Jobs, Grants, & Fellowships Abroad

The post Ginger Kern on Engaging Your Playfulness, Helping Others and Ourselves, and Travel as a Rite of Passage – Cracking Creativity Episode 57 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.