Free Time with Jenny Blake
181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Prioritize resonance over reach to create impactful content.
- Infuse personal creativity and uniqueness to avoid being replaceable.
- Focus on personal connections to cultivate loyalty and stand out in business.
Deep dives
The Importance of Creating Meaningful Work
Creating work that reflects your creativity and unique essence is essential. The podcast highlights the significance of infusing your creative touch into your endeavors to avoid being replaceable. It emphasizes the value of focusing on creating work that resonates personally and serves a higher purpose rather than merely following generic best practices.
Crafting Quality Content with Personal Touch
The episode explores the concept of mastering craft in a multi-faceted manner, not just in terms of process, but also in posture and practice. It underscores the importance of viewing creativity holistically, incorporating personal identity and regular practice to deliver impactful and original work that stands out amidst automated processes.
Prioritizing Resonance over Reach
A key takeaway from the podcast is the emphasis on prioritizing resonance over reach. It suggests focusing on creating content that deeply impacts and engages a smaller, dedicated audience rather than pursuing wide reach without meaningful connection. By fostering personal connections and relevance, one can cultivate a loyal following and become irreplaceable.
Building Personal Connections in Business
The episode advocates for building personal connections in business by creating content that feels personal to the audience. It emphasizes the transformation from being merely relevant and enjoyable to becoming impactful and ultimately personal. By eliciting personal resonance and a sense of connection, businesses can foster genuine loyalty and differentiation.
Elevating Quality Craftsmanship
Elevating craftsmanship involves going beyond meeting specifications to infusing anticipation and personal taste into your work. The episode reveals that true mastery lies not only in technical expertise but also in embodying a unique perspective and creating work that resonates personally and emotionally with the audience, ultimately aiming for the highest level of personal connection and impact.
đŁ The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and April 20!
One thing I love about Jay Acunzo is that his body of work is a love letter to craft and quality. We talk about mindset shifts and practices to help you focus more on resonance than reach; how to do work that matters to you so that your work can matter more; how he worked through his own existential creative crisis upon hitting the 200th episode milestone of his podcast; thinking like an explorer, not an expert; and âmaking the leap from what best practices say you should do to what your intuition is urging you to try.â
More About Jay: Jay Acunzo is one of the worldâs most sought-after business storytellers and brand consultants. Heâs worked in marketing for Google, HubSpot, and ESPN before launching his award-winning podcast, Unthinkable, and authoring multiple books on creativity. Today he helps creators learn to increase the power of their creative work, not just the volume, through his membership platform, the Creator Kitchen.
đ 3 Key Takeaways
- Reach vs. Resonance: Reach is how many people see something. Resonance is how much they care. No amount of reach will ensure that people care. As David Bowieâs says, âDonât play to the gallery.â
- âDonât be the best, be their favoriteâ: Create resonance with the audience relevance pyramid, starting with the baseâhow relevant you are in topic and theme. Moving up, your content should be enjoyable and entertaining, then impactful, where you are helping people reflect or take action. At the top of the pyramid is personal, where you (and your content) truly becomes irreplaceable.
- Jayâs Mastery 3 Pâs: Posture, Practice and Process. Posture is how you see yourself in the world. Practice is the cadence you are creating and shipping on (aim for consistent and purposeful), then process emerges.
đ Permission: Focus on resonance beforeâor even at the expense ofâreach. Let go of the idea of adding more people until you have a small group reacting in a big way.
â Do (or Delegate) This Next: Define your Even More Meaningful Metrics. For example, Jayâs Unsolicited Response Rate (URR): When he publishes something and someone feels urged to respond in some way without being prompted, or Cackles Per Piece (CPP): points during the process of creating that cause so much joy he cackles out loud.
đ Resources Mentioned
- Jay on the web, Instagram: @jacunzo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium
- Jayâs podcast: Unthinkable and community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life)
- People: Andrew Davis, Hrishikesh Hirway
- TV Series: Song Exploder on Netflix
- Video: David Bowie on why you should never play to the gallery, and AJ Jacobs: The Importance of Self-Delusion in the Creative Process
- Article: The Surprising Thing About Expectations by Seth Godin
đ Books Mentioned
- Jayâs Books: Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work
- Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business
- Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
đ§ Related Episodes
- Unthinkable: Fine, Iâll Talk About AI; Song Exploder Exploded, Welcome to the Jumble
- Podcasts: Mike Birbigliaâs Working it Out, Song Exploder, Radiolab
- 2 Pages with MBS: Making What Matters Most: Jay Acunzo [reads] âKitchen Confidentialâ
- The Tim Ferriss Show: Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness with Tim Urban
- Free Time: 127: Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry, 014: Why It Matters to Celebrate Wins
- Pivot: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs, 254: The PracticeâOn Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin
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