Love Your Work

Srini Rao (@unmistakableCEO) is host of the Unmistakable Creative podcast, and author of the new book, Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity for Its Own Sake. In Audience of One, Srini gives you the tools and encouragement you need to stop focusing on external validation, and to reconnect with your creative spark. In a world where you can publish your creative work to more people than ever, it's easy to lose sight of why we create. If you're dead set on your work reaching a lot of people, ironically, you'll lose touch with that special something that makes your work resonate with others in the first place. In this conversation, we'll talk about: How do you follow up a success to reconnect with "Creativity for Its Own Sake?" We'll hear about how Srini's self-published book hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and we'll hear about how he has struggled to reconnect with the true source of creative work that resonates with others. How do you ask a question that gets right to a great story. Srini asks great questions on his podcast, The Unmistakable Creative – in fact, I was on there recently, and he got stories out of me that I had never told before. So I loved digging into his questioning style. His thoughts on this could be as useful for a first date as they are for a podcast interview. What has Srini learned from hosting more than 700 podcast interviews? He'll break down the best tips and ways of thinking that he's gleaned from creators, bank robbers, drug dealers, performance psychologists, and more. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://everyplate.com http://earthclassmail.com

There's something I've noticed that very successful communicators do. It's a very simple tactic, but it can go a long way in making everything you say or write more engaging, more memorable, and more effective. I'll tell you about it – this thing that successful communicators do – this week. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/prompt-talking-podcast/

You hear it all of the time. Maybe you even say it yourself: It's "crazy" at work. There are unrealistic deadlines, demanding bosses, and wall-to-wall meetings. Jason Fried (@jasonfried) believes it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, he'll tell you why in his new book, called It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. Jason needs no introduction for many of you, but for everyone else: Jason is the CEO of Basecamp, which is simple yet powerful project management software. Basecamp the software has a long history of staying simple even when it doesn't make intuitive sense. Basecamp the company, with Jason at the helm, has a long history of espousing sensible work practices, even when they don't make intuitive sense. We'll talk about: What's the difference between deadlines, and "dreadlines?" How can this simple distinction help you stay in control of your projects? How does Jason and his company struggle with it being "crazy" at work, and what do they do about it? Hear about their fascinating "uphill/downhill" tactic for deciding when to quit a project that just won't end. Hear specific ways to handle clients that make it "crazy" at work. Jason will tell you exactly what to say, and guide you through a real-life scenario using the stoic technique of "negative visualization." Jason was the very first guest on Love Your Work, three years ago. I'm thrilled to have him back. Image credit: Michael Berger Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jason-fried-podcast-2/

When you're marketing your business, it's easy to gravitate toward sure bets. Things you can do and be assured of a positive outcome. But these sure bets can cause you to miss out on asymmetric opportunities: Things that take a small amount of investment, with a small chance of a very big upside. We talked about asymmetric opportunities in last week's conversation with Tynan. This week, I'll tell you how to find asymmetric opportunities for growing your business. These are also known as "Black Swans." We'll get to why. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/black-swan-marketing-podcast/

Sometimes an idea pops into your head, and you think to yourself, "nah, that's insane!" Then you move on with living your regular life. We all have these ideas. Sometimes we don't even notice them. In The Heart to Start, I called the source of these crazy ideas "The Voice." The thing is, sometimes these crazy ideas are what you call "asymmetrical": It doesn't take much to try them out, but the potential payoffs are huge. Our guest today has to be the king of crazy ideas. Tynan (@tynan) is his name. That's it, he just has one name – like Madonna. Tynan. Just a few of the crazy ideas that Tynan has followed through on: He owns a private island (it's not as expensive as you think); he lived in San Francisco, rent-free in an RV, for several years; and he owns both a minivan and a Bentley. Tynan is also a serial self-publisher, and watching his self-publishing story was a source of inspiration for me as I made the leap from traditional to self publishing. I first met Tynan several years ago. He joined mutual friends of ours for dinner during my mini-life in Austin. When I met Tynan, I thought to myself "if and when I have a podcast, this is definitely the type of person I want to have as a guest." Here's some of what you'll learn: What thought processes can you employ to seek out interesting opportunities in your life? How can you prevent yourself from making an emotional decision about your crazy ideas, and instead see the true cost/benefit? If you have a crazy idea, but you have hesitation about following it, what are some ways you can break through that hesitation, and any other mental blocks you see? Tynan's new book is Forever Nomad, and his site Cruisesheet is full of the best cruise deals. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tynan-podcast/  

What does it really take to "make it" as a creative entrepreneur? I often have people asking me for ideas on strategies for how to smoothly transition from their day jobs to making their art for a living. Is it possible? What do you have to do? I always feel like I have an answer that they don't want to hear. But here it is anyway, in this week's episode. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/walk-through-fire/

Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) knows better than anyone: Sometimes, you're working hard on something, and it's just not happening. How do you decide whether to double down, or shut down? This is what Nathan was asking himself two years after launching his email service, ConvertKit. He was bringing in only $1,500 a month, and he was losing customers every month. It was time to decide: Double down, or shut down. Today, ConvertKit brings in much more than $1,500 a month. They recently had their first million dollar month. Spoiler alert: Instead of shutting down, Nathan did double down. Today, we’ll analyze how he made that decision: When Nathan decided to double down, he had no idea if his business would succeed. How did Nathan – and his spouse – mentally prepare for the worst-case scenario? Nathan had to dig into his savings to the tune of $100,000 to double down on ConvertKit. What criteria did he use to know whether or not to quit. What was the one question Nathan asked himself that ultimately got him to double down? This is a super valuable conversation. It's incredibly helpful if you've been working on a project that just isn't taking off. I've used this conversation myself to think about this podcast, how I define success, and how I should divvy up my own resources amongst my various projects. (Note: Since recording this episode, ConvertKit has decided not to rebrand as Seva after all.) Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/nathan-barry-podcast/

It's no surprise that we procrastinate on things that we don't want to do. But why do we procrastinate on things we do want to do?: Our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I call it aspiration procrastination, and there's a fascinating theory from psychology that can help you understand why you put off your dreams, and what you can do about it. I'll talk about it in this week's episode. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/aspiration-procrastination/

Steve Stewart was manager of the band Stone Temple Pilots. He guided them from being an unknown funk band to a multi-platinum powerhouse whose sound is synonymous with 90's grunge. With Steve by STP's side, they sold over 25 million records, for nearly half a billion dollars in sales. But then the Internet happened. The record industry wasn't selling many CD's or records anymore. Fans were becoming a bigger part of helping music spread, and free music was key to the new success equation. Steve had to stand by helplessly as big music industry players shot themselves in the foot, and tightened their budgets in the process. But now, Steve is trying to fill in the gap that free music created. Now, imagine that Justin Bieber paid you. With Steve's new company, that could become true. Steve is now CEO of Vezt. With Vezt, music fans like you can buy a share of the future earnings of a song. So if you're a Justin Bieber fan, you could at some point buy a share of his song. (In case you're wondering, you can't "short" a song, these aren't stocks you're buying.) We're going to learn more about how that works in today's conversation. Find out: What artistic decisions did Stone Temple Pilots have to make in order to become a huge success? I take Steve back to the early days, and we find out why early-90's music critics have called him to apologize. How does Vezt fill in the hole that music-sharing created? Fans have become a part of the music promotion process, with Vezt, they'll start getting a piece of the pie. Blockchain companies are hot now, but the blockchain is not always relevant to the business model. What about blockchain technology makes Vezt possible? Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/steve-stewart-stone-temple-pilots-vezt/

You've heard the advice to find your passion. You've probably also heard the advice that finding your passion is bad advice. But if you shouldn't "find" your passion, what should you do? Isn't passion important? New research tells us exactly what is wrong with "finding" your passion. It's the subject of this week's article. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/dont-find-your-passion/