“It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts

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Rolf Potts is the author of four books, including the bestseller "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel."

On today’s episode of the Conscious Creator podcast, host Sachit Gupta speaks with travel author Rolf Potts. The conversation takes a bit of a different form from previous episodes, discussing their individual views on creative work and podcasting. Rolf shares his philosophy about pursuing the most soulful way of working, the inherent authenticity of TikTok, and more. They also talk about how they prepare for podcast interviews, the current media landscape as compared to Old Hollywood, and the differences between radio and podcasting.

Episode Highlights:

Once you’ve gotten successful at something, you want to branch out and expand, not just continue to do the exact same thing.
The distinction between the business side and the creative side have become far less siloed with things like podcasting.
At what point do social media algorithms start to change your art itself?
There’s a difference between having 5 years of experience and having 1 year of experience that you’ve repeated 5 times.
When preparing for an interview, Sachit asks guests what they’re usually asked about so he can talk about something else, and asks them what they’re rarely asked about but wish they were.
The entire idea of Rolf’s podcast is to talk to experts about something other than their expertise.
Rolf’s sees his podcast as being personality-driven rather than topic-driven.
You have to learn to think about your business expertise in a creative way.
Rolf’s book Vagabonding is a somewhat philosophical book because he built his own travel philosophy out of desire to travel rather than travel experience that was handed to him in his upbringing.
Rolf has always been driven to find the most soulful way of doing things and to treat everything he does as an education.
There’s a difference between success that’s just an endless pursuit like Pac-Man and success that actually enhances your life and that you allow yourself to appreciate and enjoy.
Our lizard brains love brief excitements and dopamine hits that come from clickbait culture, but that is not in any way connected to soulfulness.
Authenticity and being true to your vision is what makes you successful.
TikTok is a platform that has encouraged authenticity down to its algorithm making discoverability and the probability of going viral more equal across the board instead of favoring accounts with existing large followings.
In Old Hollywood, consolidation was on the side of the production studios, and now in social media the consolidation is on the side of distribution with Google and Amazon Web Services.
Social networks are reality prisons.
People often now believe that admitting that you were wrong about one thing means you are always wrong about everything, but in reality, scientists modify their conclusions based on changing data all the time.
Podcasting is distinct from radio because in the past, not anyone could have a radio show, but now production is available to anyone.
The response to COVID-19 goes against all American sensibilities. Because we can’t see the virus, we can’t see the “attack,” people behave as if there’s nothing to react to.
Podcasting represents human conversation in a way that other social networks don’t.

3 Key Takeaways:

Expanding beyond your niche is a way to improve your work in your initial specialty.
Pursue soulfulness rather than success.
Production tools are now accessible to everyone, so figure out what you want to say and be authentic when you use them.

Tweetable Quotes:

“It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts

“I’ve been on the business side because I believed my creative side wasn’t good enough for a long time… I ended up being on the business and marketing side for creators because I felt like I couldn’t be like that. So that intersection of creative and business has always driven what I’ve done.” –Sachit Gupta

“More and more, creative people are going to be expected to manage their own business, their own marketing, their own promotion. And I think just as equally, business people are going to find that their world is enhanced by being creative.” –Rolf Potts

“Something is attacking our country, yet we’re having the same old conversations. We’re trying to stick a dagger in somebody else’s argument when both of us should be listening to what’s happening.” –Rolf Potts

Actions:

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Resources Mentioned: