Productive Flourishing Podcast

Many modern men are caught in a strange space. For one, we can’t and don’t want to be like our fathers and grandfathers, but we also don’t want to be some shade of Homer Simpson. And yet, there’s not much space to talk about this in public either. Add in the fact that many of us, men and women alike, work in confined spaces indoors, and what you get is a ‘caged-in man’, both literally and metaphorically. Jonathan Mead joins me today to jam about reclaiming wild men and how physical movement is tied to our encaging. Note, we discuss the apparent heteronormativity of these views in this conversation, so if that’s bugging you, listen in first. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[1:08] Thank you to our sponsor, SaneBox.[2:10] Quick shout out to Lee, Nadia and Rob. Thanks for the emails and ratings about the show you all![2:16] Charlie tells us a little bit about Jonathan Mead.[4:18] How did Jonathan’s journey evolve from Illuminated Mind to Pay to Exist to the Uncaged Man?[7:23] Jonathan is passionate about helping men uncage and reclaim their innate wildness to become the greatest versions of themselves.[9:52] How has Jonathan created a brand that’s exclusively for men? He shares on the journey.[14:28] Where are we as the modern man, right now?[18:50] Men need to be physical and men need to have an outlet for expressing those sharper energies that don’t seem to have a place to fit within society.[20:13] Nature vs. over-domestication of men. Jonathan explains the distinction.[23:03] Everyone is on the spectrum of masculine and feminine energy. [29:41] Aggressive loving? Jonathan gives examples to explain.[33:23] Back to the wildness![36:26] We are animals, well, we wear cloths...and all animals play-fight.[39:56] How does Jonathan help men uncage their mind, body, heart, and spirit? The fastest way to uncage and reclaim your wildness as a man is through the body.[42:07] What are some things men can do to make natural movements more accessible in their everyday lives? “Squad and hang”[46:15] If you are resonating with this discussion, check out Jonathan’s free resources on the Uncaged Men website.[49:42] Jonathan’s challenge: Go outside and squad for 1 minute, barefoot. Mentioned in This Episode:SaneBoxPaid to ExistUncaged Man: Reclaim your wildnessThe Illuminated Mind by Jonathan Mead This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

If you’ve ever considered being a fine artist or have talked to an artist you know, you’ve probably heard or accepted some variate of ‘the gallery myth’, which is that the goal is to have your art featured in a gallery and then you’re set for life. Buyers will flock to you, critics will appreciate you, and you’ll get to continue to make the art you love. I like stories about unicorns too! Cory Huff joins me for episode 79, to discuss the relationship between commerce and art, as well as the hidden path for artists that lead to real abundance. Ready? Let’s do this!   Key Takeaways:[1:01] Who is Cory Huff?[2:18] Cory has been on the show before. Check out Episode 25 on Art, Abundance, and Entrepreneurship with Cory Huff![3:06] Cory is “the great corruptor”!! What does capitalism have to do with it?[8:18] Charlie sums up the 3 important points Cory made about the art world![10:24] Cory believes that for some artists Capitalism does inherently corrupt the art making process![12:38] Charlie believes that capitalism does influence an artist’s work but he’s pushing against the idea that it corrupts it! [14:01] What is a huge problem in the art world according to Cory? What is a common challenge that all artist or creators are faced with?[18:01] What are the traditional paths to an artist’s career?[22:10] What is the hidden path to long-term longevity in the art world?[23:45] There is a similar type of disruption across every creative field. What about the disruption in the fine art world?[27:40] What does Cory see happening in the near future as a result of digitalization?[30:02] What’s the relationship between the hidden path and social media? How can artists use social media effectively?[33:43] Instagram just announced they’re introducing an algorithmic feed! What does that mean?[38:03] What are Cory’s thoughts on the relationship between artists, the hidden path and experts?[43:55] What’s the ‘not so silver lining’ of not caring what the experts think about your art?[46:07] Cory shares his final thoughts and how you can reach out to him! Mentioned in This Episode:Theabundantartist.comThe Abundant Artist on FacebookHow to Sell Your Art Online by Cory HuffThe Abundant Artist ConferenceEpisode 25: Art, Abundance, and Entrepreneurship with Cory Huff This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Let’s face it, the legal, tax and financial aspects of our businesses and creative ventures are areas that many of us avoid. We’ve been conditioned to be afraid of them, in the case of financial and tax matters; and diving into the financial realm, naturally makes people feel uncomfortable. But avoiding them is like trying to build a third floor of your business without building its foundation. Kyle Durand joins me today to jam about 3 essential pieces of your business’s legal, tax, and financial foundation. I ask him some of the common questions I get, so listen in to see if he answers a question you might have. Ready? Let’s do this!  Key Takeaways:[1:06] Who is Kyle Durand?[3:28] What motivated Kyle to do a deep dive into the legal, tax and financial realms?[6:25] Kyle shares a story to help us reframe our relationship with legal, tax and financial matters.[10:59] What are Kyle’s reasons for laying a legal and financial foundation in a businesses.[14:02] How does this type of foundation help you to set the foundation for business growth?[18:23] Kyle discusses the different pillars of the business foundation.[19:16] What is a business entity? How does Kyle use it to his advantage?[21:50] What are 3 different configurations to consider when deciding on a type of business entity?[25:22] Kyle talks about financial systems and the importance of having clarity with money matters.[30:36] When should you get professional help to set up your financial system? What do you want and don’t want in a bookkeeper?[37:06] Kyle talks about business contracts and agreements, which may be the scariest part of all![43:22] What does Kyle think about the 50/50 partnership agreement?[47:15] When is it a good time to tackle the business partnership agreement? The dos & don’ts of business ventures![54:56] What is the one thing that Kyle wants the listeners to take action on? Mentioned in This Episode:www.kyledurand.comQuickBooks Disclaimer:This does not constitute legal and financial advice. Please consult a professional and engage them for consideration.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Cynthia Morris joins me today to jam about creativity, talent and Capturing the Wow that comes up as we travel through our days. This is a particularly good episode to listen to if you’re at the beginning of your mastering journey with a creative form, whether that form is writing, painting, music, programming or blogging, or any other creative form. Also, if you just found yourself feeling paralyzed by trying to cater to all of the voices out there that might judge your work. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[0:57] Charlie is delighted to introduce us to Cynthia Morris.[2:51] What is a ‘Medium-agnostic creator’ and how did Cynthia get to owning that title?[7:21] Charlie gives a shout out to Corey Huff, who teaches how to sell your art online![9:41] How does Cynthia manage the tension between letting her creativity play out in the moment vs. making it better or something ‘for show’?[14:01] What kills creativity and authenticity?[18:35] The element of surprise is a really powerful aspect of life that makes life fun & enjoyable.[20:51] What kind of tension exists between creative surprise and trust?[22:25] What about Cynthia’s art does she think is pretty cool?[24:13] The main takeaway from this conversation: Give yourself some space to play & explore![24:36] Charlie and Cynthia discuss different levels of consciousness about one’s own competence.[27:41] What sort of tension exists between solo creativity vs. social catalytic creativity?[28:43] How can we be our most authentic selves when we’re making and sharing our work?[31:18] What is the concept of “Capture the Wow” all about? Cynthia explains and outlines 3 of the capture tools she has created. [38:48] Cynthia shares an example of how she recently used Capture the Wow.[40:38] Cynthia’s creative challenge for this week. Mentioned in This Episode:SaneBoxBooks by Cynthia Morris:Create Your Writer's LifeChasing Sylvia BeachGo for It: Leading Tours for Fun and ProfitThe Graceful ReturnCapture the WowOriginal ImpulseArt as a way, Book by Frederick FranckCorey Huff on How to Sell Art Online This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

What does depression, strategy, financial intelligence and specialization, all have in common? They’re all related to choices. In the case of depression, sometimes feeling like you don’t have any. They’re also topics Tara Gentile and I jam about. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[0:53] Charlie is delighted to have Tara on the show again. She also joined him on episode 27.[2:21] How did Tara go from a career in an academic track, to being an entrepreneur? How did her depression affect her path?[9:03] What are some of the links between creativity and depression?[11:24] How might not expressing yourself lead to the feeling that you’re denying an important piece of yourself?[14:30] How might the hunger you get as an entrepreneur have a positive effect on depression?[18:26] Tara talks on her ongoing struggle with having to say no to things in order to create what she really wants in the future.[23:13] Charlie and Tara discuss how people’s ultimate goals & what they really want right now often don’t match up, which ties into the importance of choosing to not choose.[29:05] How can you stop business burnout from happening by focusing on things that matter? What is The Content Delusion? [32:48] What questions does Tara ask when she comes across new tactics, methods or strategies? How does experience tie into this?[36:41] What are some frameworks that allow people to say yes or no very easily? [42:18] Tara wants to know how Charlie handles the shame that comes up when analyzing what hasn’t worked in the past with his clients.[48:00] A lot of the insecurity and fear that comes up with creative entrepreneurs stems from not looking at the books, plans, and strategies.[49:33] Tara talks about the DailyWorth, which offers financial and career advice for women.[52:27] Tara and Charlie discuss predictability and ‘game changers’.  Mentioned in This Episode:Tara GentileEpisode 27: Leveraging Your Quiet Power with Tara GentileThe Content Delusionby Jonathan FieldsDailyWorth - Financial and Career Advice for Women This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

We all know that death is a part of life, but it’s the part of life that we, as a society and individuals, often would rather not talk about. And yet, not talking about it isn’t making it go away; and in fact, makes death and dying so much harder for us to process. Kathy Kortes-Miller joins me today to talk about how to bring life into conversations about death. If you’re not a long time listener to the show, you might wonder why we’re talking about death. One of the reasons I do this show is to share a wider range of the human and creative experience than just the Oprah version. I most want you and us all to see that we’re not alone in whatever adversity we’re going through, and you can triumph too. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[1:13] Thank you to our sponsor, SaneBox.com.[2:13] Charlie is pumped to introduce Kathy Kortes-Miller.[3:52] How did Kathy slide into a career in death education?[5:32] How did she feel about death at the early stages of this path?[7:40] How did we get to this point where death is such a taboo topic to talk about?[12:35] Charlie shares a story on death in earlier forms of our societies and existence.[14:06] Why would we want death to become a normative life event?[17:32] How do we open the door to having conversations about death across generations?[20:41] What sort of things have people, who are at the end of their lives, told Kathy they wished they had done differently.[22:28] What are some conversation initiators on how to have a more intentional or celebratory passing?[27:49] How do we make conversations about death something that’s what we want to do vs. what we have to do?[31:54] People don’t necessarily know what to do after your passing. They don’t know what rituals you want or what legacy you want to leave behind.[34:20] Kathy shares a story about a family she worked with whose dad was dying.[35:57] What’s happening now with the traditional funeral model?[37:46] Kathy’s ‘one song’ about death and the process of dying. Mentioned in This Episode:SaneBox This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Angela is joining me today to jam about the emotional journey that happens as you’re growing and scaling your business. There are a lot of ups and downs, but a lot of times we’re not talking about the leaders or founders’ journey of grief, excitement, freedom, and fear that happens as they start letting go of more and more pieces of the business and start working on the business rather than in the business. This came up because a team mate was letting us know she was talking to a friend who is a small business owner that’s going through it. So, we thought it’s a great topic to talk about. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[1:07] The framework for today’s discussion is based on Michael Gerber’s distinction between working on the business vs. working in the business.[3:54] The Small Business Lifecycle and the first stage of business growth.[4:51] The second stage of growing your team and delegation.[6:03] The last and hardest stage of business growth, which occurs in mature businesses.[9:23] How do you let go of something you’re so good at doing in your own business? Slowly![17:25] What do you do with your newly gained creative energy?[22:01] The tense balance that is created when you’re at the last stage of letting go of responsibilities.[26:46] There are different things you can do with that excess creative energy.[30:20] The challenges with slowing down and letting the rest of your team take care of things![34:39] An opportune time to take a step back as a founder or CEO and get really clear about the vision for your business.[38:04] The two types of fear that come up for people in getting to that level of finally letting go.[40:02] Growing your business involves an emotional and spiritual journey that can be embraced. Mentioned in This Episode:The E-Myth, book by Michael GerberThe Small Business Lifecycle, book by Charlie Gilkey This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Though we wear cloths every day – at least most of us do – many of us don’t think about the entrepreneurial and economic aspects related to the cloths we wear. Like many other business industries, the fashion industry is going through a massive disruption, making it a great time to be an entrepreneur and creative person within the fashion industry. That said, it’s also really tough. Shannon Whitehead joins me today to discuss how to sew business success in the fashion industry. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[0:58] Thank you to our sponsor, SaneBox.com.[1:58] Who is Shannon Whitehead?[3:26] Why did Shannon decide to start her own sustainable apparel business?[4:46] Why the apparel industry?[6:27] What is it about the fashion industry that makes it tough?[8:03] What are some of the different trends that make it tough to get started in the fashion industry?[10:02] What are the trends that are leading to the fashion industry’s disruption?[11:58] What are some challenges that may come up for someone who is starting a clothing line?[15:39] Why did Shannon choose to play up not having VC money when she launched Factory45?[17:36] Why did she decide to close up shop with Revolution Apparel despite all the buzz?[19:19] Shannon talks us through the story of closing down Revolution Apparel.[23:00] What was harder, and easier, than she thought it would be with Factory 45?[25:30] How did she talk about Factory45 in 2014 vs. now?[26:45] Why is it such a big deal to manufacture clothing with environmentally-friendly methods?[29:54] What were some of the spark moments since starting Factory45?[31:00] What’s the greatest unanticipated challenge Shannon is currently facing?[34:29] Shannon’s main message to us! Mentioned in This Episode:SaneBoxProject 333 by Courtney CarverFactory45Revolution ApparelSeemly Apparel This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Many of us get stuck in life, because for some reason or the other we’re resistant to change. Being resistant to change is like being resistant to gravity, we might be able to counter some the effects of it, but it’s always going to be there. There are some amazing gifts that come from embracing change, and Jenny Blake joins me to jam about the ways to embrace change rather than to resist it. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[0:51] Thank you to our sponsor, SaneBox.com[1:51] Charlie tells us a bit about Jenny and her body of work.[3:54] What excites Jenny the most about living in New York?[5:16] How did Jenny get started with ‘Life After College’ before leading Google?[6:41] How did she handle her crisis of confidence when she decided to leave Google?[7:54] How did Jenny find her spark after struggling with her confidence & the path she was on?[12:45] Jenny’s ‘aha’ moment with PIVOT & digging herself out of the ‘dark existential hole’.[15:03] How do you get in that creative spark zone without crisis or hitting rock bottom?[18:19] Meditation practice is a big business accelerator for Jenny![21:29] What was most surprising when writing her book, PIVOT?[24:54] We never know what the future holds, but we do have certain ‘constants’![29:53] The new security for Jenny: having a diversified portfolio of our day & our income.[31:46] What do you do when you’re in an ‘okay’ or a ‘great’ job by others’ standards, but that it’s not the ‘IT’ job for you?[34:53] What kind of life do you want to live? Are you aligning your day-to-day with your values?[39:21] What are the pieces of your priorities’ pie & how are you going to portion & slice it up?[42:14] Jenny suggests finding ‘constants’ in your life to help you make better decisions.[46:37] Within a decision itself you can have known and unknown variables. Turn the scary unknowns into ‘how can I’ questions?[49:21] What is the most unanticipated challenge Jenny is facing right now & what is a known ‘unknown’ for her?[55:41] What does Jenny want people to remember about her or her body of work? Mentioned in This Episode:SaneBoxJennyBlake.me@jenny_blakeLife After CollegePIVOT by Jenny BlakeSacret Contracts by Caroline MyssAntifragile by Nassim Nicholas TalebScarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Most people don’t put managing their money and being creative together. Especially since one seems to be what you have to do, whereas the other seems to be what you get to do. But managing your money is a creative process and whether you like it or not, it’s an emotional process too. Luna Jaffe joins me today to share how she has incorporated her work as an artist into her work as a guide for people to improve their relationship with their money. Ready? Let’s do this! Key Takeaways:[0:53] Struggling to keep up with processing your email? SaneBox may just be the tool you need![1:30] Go to SaneBbox.com/giant & you’ll get a $25 credit towards subscription on top of the 14 days free trial.[1:55] Charlie tells us a bit about Luna Jaffe and her work![3:51] What was it like to jump from being a psychotherapist to being a financial planner?[7:53] What were some clear visions Luna had that seemed super crazy? What happened when she pursued them?[9:56] How does Luna maintain momentum & at the same time does quantum shifts?[14:19] What’s been 3 lessons Luna has had to learn all over again?[18:02] Luna’s thoughts on going from being solo-oriented to community-oriented.[22:40] Luna’s suggestions on how to visualize & think about your relationship with money.[26:14] What are some surprising or unexpected things she has seen with people & their money?[30:07] Any good coach is asking good questions & encouraging people to understand things at a deeper level.[33:24] What’s been harder to do with Sacred Money Studios that didn’t turn out to be that hard?[38:28] What’s it like to go through the highs & lows of running her businesses?[44:55] What’s the most unanticipated challenge Luna is facing right now?[48:35] What’s the one thing Luna wants the listeners to take away from this episode? Mentioned in This Episode:Luna Jaffe – Where Creativity & Money MeetLunaria FinancialKMS Financial Services Inc.Wild Money: A Creative Journey to Financial Wisdom by Luna JaffeWild Money Coloring Book by Luna JaffeSacred Money Studios This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe