Jason SurfrApp's Blog, page 23

Courage, Happiness, and Gratitude

I stood on the side of a stage, moments away from getting up in front of 200+ people. The woman who was speaking before me asked me: “what are you talking about?” To which I confidently responded “I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet.”

Let me rewind a bit and set the scene for you. Last week I traveled to Orlando to speaking at a conference, which is very familiar territory for me (both the city of Orlando and speaking at conferences). But this particular talk came a day after my normal talk and was supposed to be a 10-minute “TED style talk” about something new and unique.

Earlier in the week I kept moving the “work on 10-minute talk” calendar reminder around my Google Cal. I didn’t just move it once, I actually moved it four times. Upon dragging it for the fourth time I finally said to myself, “screw this, I’m just going to wing it!”

So there I am. Stage left. About to walk up on stage in front of a sizable audience of people with absolutely no idea what I was going to talk about.

All I knew is that it wouldn’t have anything to do with my normal speaking stuff (IWearYourShirt, BuyMyLastName, marketing, yadda yadda). Instead I decided I want to talk about three things: Courage, happiness, and gratitude.

My name gets called, I hear (and see) people clapping, and I make my way to the stage. During the final steps to the stage I was still working out the details of what I was going to [try] to entertain this crowd with…

Courage

Anyone who gets up on stage in front of people, any in capacity, has a very similar fear: What if I forget my lines and it’s dead silent??

I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket, flipped open the stopwatch, and pressed the start button. All the while, over 200 faces looked on in bewilderment.

As the seconds ticked by I could feel my heart racing. I didn’t say a word. I just stood on stage, looking out into the audience, and occasionally put one finger up to let the audience know I wasn’t losing my mind and that this was on purpose.

15 seconds ticked by and felt like minutes. 20 seconds went by and I could feel my pulse racing. 25 seconds and then finally, finally, the stopwatch hit 30 seconds and I hit the stop button.

I let out a huge sigh of relief (and I think the audience did too). I proceeded to explain that I wanted to talk to them about three things: Courage, happiness, and gratitude. I also asked them to help me remember those three things because I had just decided to talk about them about one minute prior to that moment on stage.

I went on to explain that the reason I chose to stand in front of them for 30 seconds (of agonizing) silence, was to face a fear that every person that takes the stage fears. Instead of waiting for a moment like that to come to me, I decided to muster up some courage and embrace that moment on my own. After that 30 seconds, I felt more alive and invigorated than I had in a long time.

I asked the audience to think of small courageous acts they could do in their lives. Little things that would give them the same invigorating feeling I just felt. (Note: I wouldn’t recommend trying my 30 seconds of silence if you’re going up on stage for the first time!)

For you, the reader, where can you embrace moments of courage in your life? Especially ones that relate to fears you have? I’m willing to bet if I ever forget what I’m talking about while on stage, I’ll immediately remember those 30 seconds of silence I forced upon myself (and an unsuspecting audience) and be able to recover or snap out of it much quicker.

Happiness

From there I’d like to say I transitioned perfectly into the topic of happiness, but truthfully I had completely forgotten what I was going to talk about next. I asked the audience and they quickly reminded by shouting out, “Happiness!” (That in itself was kind of awesome.)

Some of you may have read my article on morning rituals so you know where this is going.

A year ago I noticed I had a lot things going well for me, but for some reason I still felt kind of unhappy throughout my day to day life. I don’t remember exactly who I heard of it from (or where I read it), but I remember stumbling across someone talking about starting mornings off being proactive instead of reactive. Specifically, not rolling over in bed and checking all your notifications, emails, and the news. Instead, do something for yourself. I think they were talking more about it from a process and productivity angle, but I chose to see it through the lens of trying to fix my happiness problem.

I decided to give it a shot. I made the commitment that when I woke up, I wouldn’t immediately reach for my phone. Well, honestly, I would reach for my phone and make sure I didn’t have a missed call or text message from anyone in my family saying their houses were on fire. Morbid thought. I know. But hey, I’m being honest here. After allowing myself to check for morbid messages, I would leave my phone next to my bed and try to find a moment of happiness.

Where would I find that moment? Calvin and Hobbes.

As a kid I was obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes. I owned every book Bill Watterson put out. I clipped the strips out of the actual paper. Heck, I filled notebooks with my own renditions of Calvin building killer snowmen. Calvin and Hobbes was deeply rooted in my soul as my happy place.

Knowing that, I pulled a few Calvin and Hobbes books out of the attic and would start flipping through them while making my coffee in the morning. There were no emails to read. No social media updates to scroll through. No chance of negativity creeping its way into the start of my day.

Back to me standing on stage telling an audience of strangers about my childhood. I shared with them how much of a profound impact this small change in my morning routine made. I could legitimately feel myself becoming happier each day. It cost me nothing and it only took 5 minutes every morning. I still do this morning ritual a year later.

“What’s your happiness moment?” I asked the audience. I’ll ask you the same question. What in your life can give you a happy jumpstart to your day? We all deserve to live happier and more fulfilled lives, it just takes work to get there.

Gratitude

I knew my third topic, but I quizzed the audience anyway. They were on top of it and yelled “gratitude!” back at me. Which, looking back on it, was also a fun thing to hear hundreds of people yell out loud.

I asked the audience to all pull out their phones, tablets, phablets, laptops, whatever device they had on them. I think I dropped a flip phone joke in there, but maybe not. I gave them a few seconds to fumble through their pockets/belongings and get their device in hand. Kind of counterintuitive to what you want people to do when you’re up on stage in front of them, no?

I could see a look of confusion on their faces but I told them to trust me. I told them to open up whatever mail application they had on their phones. All their heads dropped and then popped back up. Then I told them to compose a new email to a family member, spouse, best friend, someone they really cared about. Down went their heads and then back up. Then I told them to put a smiley face in the subject line and write “I am grateful for you” or “I love you” or whatever sentence seemed appropriate for them to write that showed gratitude in the body of the email.

Then I told them to hit send.

At that moment I told them that 200 people had just sent notes of gratitude that could have an incredibly profound impact on someone’s life. I shared with them that I was in a pretty bad place in 2013 and I remember getting an email from a friend of mine that said simply “Jason, you are awesome, don’t ever forget that.” That email had a real strong affect on me. I knew my friends and family loved me, but it’s an entirely different feeling when it’s from an unexpected source at an unexpected time.

I finished my 10-minute talk by telling them that the simple message of gratitude they just sent may have an incredible impact on someone. It may, and I know this seems silly, change someone’s life. But that’s what little moments of gratitude and thanks can do.

If you’re reading this article, I’d love for you to send a note of gratitude to someone right now. You don’t have to write much, just a sentence of thanks or love will do. It’ll take you five seconds, but those seconds may do more for someone than you could ever imagine.

I share the story of this talk in the hope that you will embrace small moments of courage, happiness, and gratitude. I’m fully aware that articles like this are a lot more touchy-feely than my normal stuff. But hey, I’m constantly trying to grow as a person. And I just moved to San Diego, so I might be becoming a hippie (a very large, meat-eating hippie, who likes fast cars).

Be courageous. Find your morning happy place. Share some gratitude.

The post Courage, Happiness, and Gratitude appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Understand That Feedback Is Dangerous

Feedback has a 10th degree black belt in the art of derailing progress. Be very careful with feedback.

// This article was originally written for the Crew Blog. You can read it here

I’ve always been fascinated by the music industry. Not necessarily the labels, insane deals, and celebrity status but more the process of how a new album or song is created.

See, for the most part, musicians create their songs and albums in relative isolation. It’s not uncommon to have an artist drop off the map for a year or two, then out of nowhere come out with a chart-topping album garnering multiple hits, copious amounts of radio play, and appearances galore. But the really interesting thing about this process is that we—as consumers of music—rarely ever see any iteration or minimum viable versions of a musician’s product.

We only ever see the final product.

When an album is finished, it’s finished. All of the years of writing, recording, working with producers, management, and labels culminates in a single release. And despite any issues they have with how the process turned out, there’s no way of actually changing or updating any of the music they’ve created. Other than a re-release down the line, once an album is out, the artist moves into a purely promotional stage of their business.

In a lot of ways, this is the opposite of the current methodologies that people preach on creating businesses—specifically online products and services.

Creating in isolation

Despite all the preaching about sharing your work, seeing how the music industry works has made me wonder if there aren’t benefits to working in isolation. Can letting people into your work and process too early on be detrimental to your end product?

I think the main difference between music and online business can be boiled down to one key fact: Music is art. And the majority of art is created without feedback and unsolicited criticism. It’s up to the artist (and their close circle of confidants and collaborators) to decide what unique product they’re going to create and put out into the world.

On the other hand, online businesses rely heavily on feedback from the very beginning, iterating their idea as they go along.

Now, while the right kind of feedback can help shape your company and push you in the right direction, where feedback becomes incredibly dangerous is when an artist (musician or business owner) takes criticism from the wrong person or at the wrong time.

But how do you know when you’re ready for feedback? And who you should seek out for the most beneficial criticism?

Do you want to get feedback from your ideal customers? Absolutely.

Do you want to get feedback from someone who has created something similar to what you’re building? Yes, that could definitely be helpful.

Do you want to get feedback from a friend, family member, or acquaintance on social media who have no experience with what you’re building and won’t be your potential customer? No. That is dangerous feedback.

When to ignore your closest critics

You’ll never hear a musician’s work before it’s finished. Once you hear it, it’s been through all the feedback and criticism that matters to get it to a completed (and promotable) state.

But for those of us building a business or creating something online, we’ll often go to a friend, family member, or acquaintance on social media first. While the intentions of those people are in the right place, unfortunately the outcome of the feedback they give can be disastrous.

Here’s an example…

When I was starting my IWearYourShirt business back in 2008, I individually emailed a list of about 100 personal contacts. My business was merely an idea with a website. It didn’t even have a single paying customer at the time. In the emails I sent, I was asking people for feedback and for potential introductions to customers who might be interested in the unique social media marketing services I was offering.

The feedback from the people closest to me was something along the lines of, “Jason, are you sure you want to do this crazy idea? It sounds really out there.” Or, “I don’t think this idea can work nowadays.” Or, “Stay with the job you have right now, it’s doing well.”

These comments came directly from family members, close friends, and acquaintances I trusted, BUT (and this is a huge but) these people were not my potential customers or people who had experience building unique businesses.

To take their feedback to heart would have derailed my new idea. Luckily, I was keenly aware of this and was able to take their feedback with a grain of salt and not let it demotivate me. Had I taken their feedback honestly and in high regard I never would have built a $1M business that garnered worldwide attention.

Unfortunately, for every story like my own, I’m sure there are a lot of people in the online (and small) business space who are taking feedback from the wrong people and it’s setting them up for failure. There’s even a term for this condition that the authors of the book Think Like A Freak helped promote: ultracrepidarianism.

Ultracrepidarianism is the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge.

I hadn’t heard this term before reading their book and I’m going to assume the majority of you haven’t either. Ironically, although we don’t know the term, we’re all too aware of people who fit the description.

How to get the best feedback possible

So how can you, if you’re creating a product or service of your own, avoid taking the wrong feedback from the ultracrepidarians of the world?

When receiving any feedback, look at it through this very important lens, which we can frame as a couple questions:

Is this person my potential (or existing) customer?
Does this person have experience in my industry and should I trust their opinion?
Is the product or service I’m sharing actually ready for feedback?

Feedback has a 10th degree black belt in the art of derailing progress.

Feedback doesn’t come in one, singular form. Feedback could be the thoughts and opinions of the people around you, but it can also be a vehicle for avoiding doing the actual work. I know there have been many times in my career when I had a huge task ahead of me, and because it was daunting, I’d instead share work I’d already done with friends to get positive reinforcement.

For many creators and entrepreneurs, that singular moment could be the roundhouse kick that completely stops a project in its tracks. They don’t get the support they were searching for and instead get criticized.

Early stages of building and creating can be very vulnerable. You don’t have thick enough mental armor to block the attacks of feedback. Especially from non-credible sources.

When a musician is working on their music, they take advice from experienced writers, producers, and fellow musicians. They certainly aren’t asking someone who’s never heard their music or has zero experience in their industry for feedback.

We should follow this same advice for our businesses. Take feedback from sources that have experience in what we are trying to do or build. Seek those people out first. Build a trust circle. Finish creating something without the thoughts and comments of ultracrepidarians.

***

The next time you get feedback—whether you asked for it or not—ask yourself the questions above. If the feedback doesn’t fit, then don’t waste a single moment with it. If it does, apply it (using your own good judgment, of course) and keep working on whatever new project you’re building.

The post Understand That Feedback Is Dangerous appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Feedback Is Dangerous

// This article was originally written for the Crew Blog. You can read it here.

I’ve always been fascinated by the music industry. Not necessarily the labels, insane deals, and celebrity status but more the process of how a new album or song is created.

See, for the most part, musicians create their songs and albums in relative isolation. It’s not uncommon to have an artist drop off the map for a year or two, then out of nowhere come out with a chart-topping album garnering multiple hits, copious amounts of radio play, and appearances galore. But the really interesting thing about this process is that we—as consumers of music—rarely ever see any iteration or minimum viable versions of a musician’s product.

We only ever see the final product.

When an album is finished, it’s finished. All of the years of writing, recording, working with producers, management, and labels culminates in a single release. And despite any issues they have with how the process turned out, there’s no way of actually changing or updating any of the music they’ve created. Other than a re-release down the line, once an album is out, the artist moves into a purely promotional stage of their business.

In a lot of ways, this is the opposite of the current methodologies that people preach on creating businesses—specifically online products and services.

Creating in isolation

Despite all the preaching about sharing your work, seeing how the music industry works has made me wonder if there aren’t benefits to working in isolation. Can letting people into your work and process too early on be detrimental to your end product?

I think the main difference between music and online business can be boiled down to one key fact: Music is art. And the majority of art is created without feedback and unsolicited criticism. It’s up to the artist (and their close circle of confidants and collaborators) to decide what unique product they’re going to create and put out into the world.

On the other hand, online businesses rely heavily on feedback from the very beginning, iterating their idea as they go along.

Now, while the right kind of feedback can help shape your company and push you in the right direction, where feedback becomes incredibly dangerous is when an artist (musician or business owner) takes criticism from the wrong person or at the wrong time.

But how do you know when you’re ready for feedback? And who you should seek out for the most beneficial criticism?

Do you want to get feedback from your ideal customers? Absolutely.

Do you want to get feedback from someone who has created something similar to what you’re building? Yes, that could definitely be helpful.

Do you want to get feedback from a friend, family member, or acquaintance on social media who have no experience with what you’re building and won’t be your potential customer? No. That is dangerous feedback.

When to ignore your closest critics

You’ll never hear a musician’s work before it’s finished. Once you hear it, it’s been through all the feedback and criticism that matters to get it to a completed (and promotable) state.

But for those of us building a business or creating something online, we’ll often go to a friend, family member, or acquaintance on social media first. While the intentions of those people are in the right place, unfortunately the outcome of the feedback they give can be disastrous.

Here’s an example…

When I was starting my IWearYourShirt business back in 2008, I individually emailed a list of about 100 personal contacts. My business was merely an idea with a website. It didn’t even have a single paying customer at the time. In the emails I sent, I was asking people for feedback and for potential introductions to customers who might be interested in the unique social media marketing services I was offering.

The feedback from the people closest to me was something along the lines of, “Jason, are you sure you want to do this crazy idea? It sounds really out there.” Or, “I don’t think this idea can work nowadays.” Or, “Stay with the job you have right now, it’s doing well.”

These comments came directly from family members, close friends, and acquaintances I trusted, BUT (and this is a huge but) these people were not my potential customers or people who had experience building unique businesses.

To take their feedback to heart would have derailed my new idea. Luckily, I was keenly aware of this and was able to take their feedback with a grain of salt and not let it demotivate me. Had I taken their feedback honestly and in high regard I never would have built a $1M business that garnered worldwide attention.

Unfortunately, for every story like my own, I’m sure there are a lot of people in the online (and small) business space who are taking feedback from the wrong people and it’s setting them up for failure. There’s even a term for this condition that the authors of the book Think Like A Freak helped promote: ultracrepidarianism.

Ultracrepidarianism is the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge.

I hadn’t heard this term before reading their book and I’m going to assume the majority of you haven’t either. Ironically, although we don’t know the term, we’re all too aware of people who fit the description.

How to get the best feedback possible

So how can you, if you’re creating a product or service of your own, avoid taking the wrong feedback from the ultracrepidarians of the world?

When receiving any feedback, look at it through this very important lens, which we can frame as a couple questions:

Is this person my potential (or existing) customer?
Does this person have experience in my industry and should I trust their opinion?
Is the product or service I’m sharing actually ready for feedback?

Feedback has a 10th degree black belt in the art of derailing progress.

Feedback doesn’t come in one, singular form. Feedback could be the thoughts and opinions of the people around you, but it can also be a vehicle for avoiding doing the actual work. I know there have been many times in my career when I had a huge task ahead of me, and because it was daunting, I’d instead share work I’d already done with friends to get positive reinforcement.

For many creators and entrepreneurs, that singular moment could be the roundhouse kick that completely stops a project in its tracks. They don’t get the support they were searching for and instead get criticized.

Early stages of building and creating can be very vulnerable. You don’t have thick enough mental armor to block the attacks of feedback. Especially from non-credible sources.

When a musician is working on their music, they take advice from experienced writers, producers, and fellow musicians. They certainly aren’t asking someone who’s never heard their music or has zero experience in their industry for feedback.

We should follow this same advice for our businesses. Take feedback from sources that have experience in what we are trying to do or build. Seek those people out first. Build a trust circle. Finish creating something without the thoughts and comments of ultracrepidarians.

***

The next time you get feedback—whether you asked for it or not—ask yourself the questions above. If the feedback doesn’t fit, then don’t waste a single moment with it. If it does, apply it (using your own good judgment, of course) and keep working on whatever new project you’re building.

The post Feedback Is Dangerous appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Avoid Burnout

In 2012 burnout hit me like an unsuspecting right hook from Floyd Money Mayweather.

“You can’t sustain this.”

“You need to take a break.”

“Eventually, you will burnout.”

Those were things that were told to me again and again in 2009 as I embarked on a business that operated 365 days out of the year. My inexperienced and naive self scoffed at the thought that my youthful invincibility would be tested.

Boy, was I wrong.

Burnout was never something I felt coming. I felt stress and pressure, sure, but those didn’t inhibit my ability to do creative work. Yes, they added a tinge of difficulty, but they certainly weren’t insurmountable.

But in 2012, burnout hit me like an unsuspecting right hook from Floyd Money Mayweather. Out of no where I felt like my creative spark was gone. I felt like I couldn’t come up with any new or interesting ideas. And I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my camera or my laptop thanks to filming more than 1,500 daily videos from 2009 to 2012. It’s now three years later, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’m only now feeling like I’ve overcome the disdain for my video camera.

I don’t bring up this topic so you’ll pity me. I also hope I don’t sound like a drama queen. I bring this topic up because I feel that many business owners, creative folks, and entrepreneurs are going to get blindsided by the evil bitch that is burnout, and I want to help you try to avoid that.

The other evening I had a discussion with friends who were both feeling burned out. I could see it on them, like a dingy, dirty, wet trench coat. They looked weighed down and tired.

I want to share a bit of context about these friends. They have two businesses they’re running. One business is established, is a well-oiled machine, and is profitable, but takes multiple hours every day to keep going. Their second business is a brand new business that they’ve been working on for months, but is just starting to see the light of day. The second business has a lot of technical details involved, customer support issues, and is all-around a bigger project.

As a group of us sat chatting in a circle on the floor of our living room, I could see it in their faces. A familiar look that I remember all too well. In most scenarios, I try to hold back a bit on being brutally honest (it gets me in trouble sometimes) but this time I recognized my former self in them and I wanted to get really honest about that.

What I shared with them (and what I’d like to impart upon you) is that burnout is not something you can simply work through.

There’s a difference between working long hours to get the job done and overworking yourself to the point of no return (that last one is burnout).

Avoid burnout by attacking it early

As soon as you see the signs of burnout, you have to attack it. And the best way to attack it? Take breaks. I know that sounds incredibly counterintuitive, but I honestly feel burnout is like an infection. The longer you ignore it and just let it fester, the worse it is going to get and the harder it is going to get rid of.

If you start to feel burnout creeping in, you have to take a step back. That doesn’t mean taking a week off to go to the Bahamas, but it does mean establishing time away from your work.

Set a schedule for yourself

Your schedule could be a specific time, like the hours between 9 to 5 (especially if you work from home). Or it could only be a certain number of hours per day (and you stop, no matter what, when those hours are up). The important part is just that you create a schedule and then stick to it. I’d recommend starting with one schedule, trying it out for a week, and seeing how it feels.

It could also be very helpful for you to keep a journal of how you’re feeling. This might sound a bit “woo woo,” but if doing something that’s a bit “woo woo” helps you avoid an epic meltdown, then I think it’s worth doing. If you’re going to try a new schedule for a week, write in the journal every morning and evening. You don’t have to write a novel, just write a few sentences of how you’re feeling.

If you’re going to try journalling, I’d recommend doing it for a week with your current schedule and then another week with a schedule that allows you some breaks. After those two weeks, read through and see the differences between them. You may still have a feeling of overwhelm, but it might not be as daunting and you may not feel as stressed out.

Burnout doesn’t go away with success

In 2012, I pivoted my IWearYourShirt business to a new model and it was going well enough. I wasn’t swimming in money, Scrooge McDuck style, but things were looking a bit better. Looking back now, I can see that even the shift in my business didn’t help get rid of the burnout. Surprisingly, it actually seemed to continue to get worse.

We tend to think money is going to fix all our problems. But if you have problems before money comes along, and the problems don’t get solved, they’re only going to get worse with the stresses that get brought on by money (more customers to deal with, more employees, higher output of work, more pressure, etc).

Success is simply a byproduct of hard work. Success doesn’t fix problems. It doesn’t heal wounds. It’s merely an outcome.

Ask for help and then take it

The first part of asking for help is difficult. Trust me, I once waited eight entire months to send someone an email who I completely believed could help me out. Pride is a dangerous beast. But it’s the second part that comes along with asking for help that can really cause complications: actually taking the advice you get and doing something with it.

You aren’t doing yourself any favors if you muster up the courage to ask for help and then remain set in your old ways. Whatever you were doing up until the point of asking for help was leading to burnout, so it’s time to make a change. You certainly don’t have to take someone’s full advice, but maybe there’s one small thing you can start doing right away. That one thing might lead to another, which leads to another, etc.

Asking for help is important, but actually doing something with that help might be even more important.

For folks who own their own businesses, burnout is very likely to rear its ugly head at some point or another. You might not be dealing with burnout right now, and in that case, it’s my hope that this article gives you some semblance of preparation when you start to see some signs of it.

I don’t think we as entrepreneurs talk enough about the dangers of overworking ourselves or the negative feelings that can come with running our businesses, feelings like burnout. I hope this article reminds you that your business is not the only thing in your world. If you don’t take time and attention to care for yourself as you continue to follow your dreams, all the success you’re working so hard to achieve won’t be worth what you had to sacrifice to get it.

Take care of yourself and your business will follow.

The post Avoid Burnout appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

I Want To Help You Avoid Burnout

“You can’t sustain this.”

“You need to take a break.”

“Eventually, you will burnout.”

Those were things that were told to me again and again in 2009 as I embarked on a business that operated 365 days out of the year. My inexperienced and naive self scoffed at the thought that my youthful invincibility would be tested.

Boy, was I wrong.

Burnout was never something I felt coming. I felt stress and pressure, sure, but those didn’t inhibit my ability to do creative work. Yes, they added a tinge of difficulty, but they certainly weren’t insurmountable.

But in 2012, burnout hit me like an unsuspecting right hook from Floyd Money Mayweather. Out of no where I felt like my creative spark was gone. I felt like I couldn’t come up with any new or interesting ideas. And I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my camera or my laptop thanks to filming more than 1,500 daily videos from 2009 to 2012. It’s now three years later, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’m only now feeling like I’ve overcome the disdain for my video camera.

I don’t bring up this topic so you’ll pity me. I also hope I don’t sound like a drama queen. I bring this topic up because I feel that many business owners, creative folks, and entrepreneurs are going to get blindsided by the evil bitch that is burnout, and I want to help you try to avoid that.

The other evening I had a discussion with friends who were both feeling burned out. I could see it on them, like a dingy, dirty, wet trench coat. They looked weighed down and tired.

I want to share a bit of context about these friends. They have two businesses they’re running. One business is established, is a well-oiled machine, and is profitable, but takes multiple hours every day to keep going. Their second business is a brand new business that they’ve been working on for months, but is just starting to see the light of day. The second business has a lot of technical details involved, customer support issues, and is all-around a bigger project.

As a group of us sat chatting in a circle on the floor of our living room, I could see it in their faces. A familiar look that I remember all too well. In most scenarios, I try to hold back a bit on being brutally honest (it gets me in trouble sometimes) but this time I recognized my former self in them and I wanted to get really honest about that.

What I shared with them (and what I’d like to impart upon you) is that burnout is not something you can simply work through.

There’s a difference between working long hours to get the job done and overworking yourself to the point of no return (that last one is burnout).

Avoid burnout by attacking it early

As soon as you see the signs of burnout, you have to attack it. And the best way to attack it? Take breaks. I know that sounds incredibly counterintuitive, but I honestly feel burnout is like an infection. The longer you ignore it and just let it fester, the worse it is going to get and the harder it is going to get rid of.

If you start to feel burnout creeping in, you have to take a step back. That doesn’t mean taking a week off to go to the Bahamas, but it does mean establishing time away from your work.

Set a schedule for yourself

Your schedule could be a specific time, like the hours between 9 to 5 (especially if you work from home). Or it could only be a certain number of hours per day (and you stop, no matter what, when those hours are up). The important part is just that you create a schedule and then stick to it. I’d recommend starting with one schedule, trying it out for a week, and seeing how it feels.

It could also be very helpful for you to keep a journal of how you’re feeling. This might sound a bit “woo woo,” but if doing something that’s a bit “woo woo” helps you avoid an epic meltdown, then I think it’s worth doing. If you’re going to try a new schedule for a week, write in the journal every morning and evening. You don’t have to write a novel, just write a few sentences of how you’re feeling.

If you’re going to try journalling, I’d recommend doing it for a week with your current schedule and then another week with a schedule that allows you some breaks. After those two weeks, read through and see the differences between them. You may still have a feeling of overwhelm, but it might not be as daunting and you may not feel as stressed out.

Burnout doesn’t go away with success

In 2012, I pivoted my IWearYourShirt business to a new model and it was going well enough. I wasn’t swimming in money, Scrooge McDuck style, but things were looking a bit better. Looking back now, I can see that even the shift in my business didn’t help get rid of the burnout. Surprisingly, it actually seemed to continue to get worse.

We tend to think money is going to fix all our problems. But if you have problems before money comes along, and the problems don’t get solved, they’re only going to get worse with the stresses that get brought on by money (more customers to deal with, more employees, higher output of work, more pressure, etc).

Success is simply a byproduct of hard work. Success doesn’t fix problems. It doesn’t heal wounds. It’s merely an outcome.

Ask for help and then take it

The first part of asking for help is difficult. Trust me, I once waited eight entire months to send someone an email who I completely believed could help me out. Pride is a dangerous beast. But it’s the second part that comes along with asking for help that can really cause complications: actually taking the advice you get and doing something with it.

You aren’t doing yourself any favors if you muster up the courage to ask for help and then remain set in your old ways. Whatever you were doing up until the point of asking for help was leading to burnout, so it’s time to make a change. You certainly don’t have to take someone’s full advice, but maybe there’s one small thing you can start doing right away. That one thing might lead to another, which leads to another, etc.

Asking for help is important, but actually doing something with that help might be even more important.

For folks who own their own businesses, burnout is very likely to rear its ugly head at some point or another. You might not be dealing with burnout right now, and in that case, it’s my hope that this article gives you some semblance of preparation when you start to see some signs of it.

I don’t think we as entrepreneurs talk enough about the dangers of overworking ourselves or the negative feelings that can come with running our businesses, feelings like burnout. I hope this article reminds you that your business is not the only thing in your world. If you don’t take time and attention to care for yourself as you continue to follow your dreams, all the success you’re working so hard to achieve won’t be worth what you had to sacrifice to get it.

Take care of yourself and your business will follow.

The post I Want To Help You Avoid Burnout appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Know Everything About Podcasting

Podcasting, so hot right now. Podcasting.

The Zoolander references stop there. Now I want to talk to you about my current favorite medium for sharing information online: podcasting. Orange mocha frappuccinos!! Sorry … I couldn’t help myself.

I’d like this article to serve as a resource to help people make the decisions of whether or not they should start a podcast. I’m going to assume you have heard of podcasting and understand what it is. If you don’t, well, Google is pretty awesome. I’m also going to share the (current) steps to getting featured in the New & Noteworthy section of iTunes and share multiple ways that you can make money with your podcast.

Why should you care about podcasting?

Podcasting is another way to get your unique message out in the world and (hopefully) in front of your target audience.

A podcast is not a place to complain about your issues with your cable provider and their lack of customer service (that’s Twitter). A podcast is not a place where you can put photos of your cute little niece Gertrude (that’s Facebook). A podcast is not a place to teach people how to put IKEA furniture together, although with some wit, that could be a highly ironic and funny podcast to listen to (that’s YouTube).

Think of podcasting as a virtual megaphone. You grow audiences and followers on other platforms and podcasting is no different. However, unlike social media, the experience of choosing to subscribe to a podcast is more like an email newsletter subscription. If your listeners choose to subscribe to your podcast, they get notifications and downloads specifically about your show.

It is highly unlikely you are ever going to be forced to listen to a podcast on a topic that you don’t enjoy. On a platform like Twitter or Facebook, however, you never know when a rant about taxes, politics, or religion, is going to pop up in those activity feeds.

Podcasting hasn’t reached bubble status yet. It hasn’t jumped any proverbial sharks (although I personally think jumping sharks sounds kind of cool). It’s a wide-open playing field that’s gaining a lot of great attention and momentum, and is becoming more accessible than ever.

Why should you think about starting your own podcast?

When I started the Invisible Office Hours podcast with my co-host Paul Jarvis, it was because we knew we had more to say. There are a lot of people who talk about the sunshine and rainbows of entrepreneurship and working for yourself, but there are not enough people who talk about the difficult times, the struggles, the self-doubt, and the real aspects of making money. We set out to use podcasting as a forum to share our unique perspectives on topics we were passionate about.

If you have something worth saying, a podcast is one of the few mediums where you can do that with emotions and tone.

As someone who does their fair share of writing, sometimes I know my tone and emotions just aren’t coming out the way I want them to via words on a screen. This is very different on a podcast. You can vomit your emotions onto your microphone and your listeners will be able to hear them and consume them as you intended.

Podcasting gives you an opportunity to reach an entire untapped segment of your target audience. It also gives you a chance to create a deeper connection with your existing audience. From personal experience, I can attest to both of these things.

Starting new things is fun! The ability to produce and distribute a podcast isn’t quite as easy as starting a blog, but it’s not at the difficulty level of installing an IKEA file cabinet. (I’ll share my experiences about setting up a podcast in a moment.) I personally really enjoy the process of creating a new episode of a podcast. There’s something about speaking into a microphone that comes much more naturally for me than typing words on a page. And even though I have quite a bit of video recording experience, recording audio removes an entire layer from that process that causes headaches (and requires a lot more equipment, time, and skills).

Podcasting can generate revenue!

If you’ve listened to any of the popular podcasts (Serial or $100 MBA) you’ve probably heard them mentioning sponsors. I know I hear the company names MailChimp, SquareSpace, Audible, HostGator, and others all the time. I have friends who make $100 per episode on their daily podcasts. That’s $36,500 in revenue per year! Not too shabby. Oh, and I know other folks who make $1,000–$2,000 per sponsorship mention in their shows.

As someone who has had quite a bit of experience with sponsorships over the years (2,000+ sponsors under my belt!), I can attest the value of a great sponsorship relationship.

If you’re sharing a message that brings people value and you can make money promoting a company that aligns with your message, it can be incredibly beneficial to both parties. Granted, if you had a podcast about entrepreneurship, you probably wouldn’t want to talk about sponsors like Victoria’s Secret or Yankee Candle (I don’t think those companies actually sponsor podcasts, but you get what I’m saying).

There are other ways to generate revenue with a podcast as well:

Lewis Howes is a former professional athlete and two sport All-American. He also happens to be a salsa dancer and host of the popular podcast School of Greatness. Lewis has created a thriving community of over 500 members in the School of Greatness Academy and has thousands of customers for his other online programs, workshops, and live events. All of these businesses are fueled by Lewis’ email list, which has grown 4x because of his podcast.

Want to find new clients?

Grant Baldwin is a writer, speaker, and self-proclaimed lover of ice cream. While not enjoying a bowl of Rocky Road, he hosts the How Did You Get Into That podcast. Grant has also seen his email list grow because of his podcast, but he has also seen increases in advertising revenue, digital course sales, coaching clients, and the non-measurable benefits of networking and relationship building with the guests he has on his podcast.

How about selling products?

Justin Jackson is a developer, writer, and product-creating-machine. Through his intriguing Build and Launch podcast, Justin generated $12,049 in revenue in just two months. Each week Justin launched a new mini-product (books, plugins, and software) through his podcast. Justin continues to generate new income from his podcast every month, even when he’s not producing new episodes.

And I can personally attest to making money from a podcast. The Invisible Office Hours podcast I mentioned earlier generated over $3,400 per episode in revenue during the 12-week second season of the show. We took a handful of products we’d already created, paired with a few unique discounts from companies we know and love, and sold the “Bundle of Awesome.” Our expenses were almost non-existent and our podcast brought in over $40,000 in just three months. Not too shabby!

Not so shameless plug…

If you’re reading this before June 1, I have a brand new course called How To Get Sponsorships For Podcasts that I’m doing a pre-launch for. Let me help you make your podcast profitable!

How can you start your own podcast?

I’m not going to go into great detail about starting a podcast because Pat Flynn and Chris Ducker have both already done a great job of that. I will, however, give you a brief overview of the podcasting process I use and have enjoyed.

For recording podcast episodes:

Microphones: I’ve used RODE’s products for years. Their microphones are extremely well made, durable, and come in all shapes and sizes. I own the RODE Podcaster (at-home recording), RODE NT-USB (travel recording), and the RODE Smart Lav (also travel recording).
Audio Recording: I use Quicktime Player (on a Mac). It couldn’t be easier to setup and start recording with Quicktime.
Audio Editing/Engineering: Depending on the podcast, I’ll either outsource the audio engineering of my podcast to a professional (which ranges from $30 – $100 per episode) or I’ll use Final Cut Pro X.

For hosting and publishing podcast episodes:

Hosting: I use Soundcloud and absolutely love the experience. The Pro Unlimited account is only $15 per month and well worth every penny. It connects directly with iTunes and gives you stats for any downloads/listens outside of iTunes.
Publishing: Again, this is where Soundcloud comes in to play. They give you an RSS feed, which you can submit to iTunes (once) and they’ll handle the rest.
Analytics: This isn’t required, but I use the free service PodTrac. It’s an additional piece of code that goes on your RSS feed that you submit to iTunes (once). It, to the best of known abilities, shows you downloads in iTunes (iTunes doesn’t give you any statistics).

There are a bunch of podcasting publishing platforms popping up. Like anything else, I’d look to friends who have podcasts and ask them for their recommendations. Do a little due diligence and see what podcasting setup feels right for you.

Getting in the New & Noteworthy Section of iTunes

I’m not going to lie to you and say these next few paragraphs are guaranteed to work. What I am going to tell you is that they worked well for me and anyone I’ve helped start and publish a new podcast in iTunes.

Why should you care about the New & Noteworthy section? Because it’s a guaranteed window of additional promotion to the front page of whatever category your podcast fits into. This is hugely beneficial to growing your listenership early on and creating some awesome credibility for you and your podcast.

Step 1: Build an email list or spreadsheet of contacts first

Before your podcast gets recorded or uploaded anywhere, you should be building a list of people you can reach out to on the first day your podcast goes live. If you already have an active email list you can tap, awesome. If you don’t, start building one. You can (and should) use your existing contacts and let them know you’re about to launch a new podcast and would their help with it when it launches.

Step 2: Record at least three podcast episodes before launch

This isn’t mandatory at all, but it certainly seems to help. Why? iTunes seems to value the time spent listening to your podcast episodes. What’s going to increase that time on your launch day? Having more than one episode to listen to!

Step 3: Know that iTunes can take 2–4 days to show your podcast

Once you submit your podcast RSS link to iTunes (via this really outdated form), it can take 2–4 days to have your podcast show up. Be prepared for this! Especially as it relates to this next step…

Step 4: Get people ready and pick a launch date

Whether it’s on social media, your email list, or the secret underground group you belong to, let people know when your podcast is going live. You’ll want to pick a launch date and ensure it’s after the 2–4 day time window from iTunes. If you set a date and get people ready for it, your chances of getting them to help you with reviews (which I’ll get to in a second) and listens drastically increases.

*Bonus: Having a podcast launch party is also a great idea! You can do it virtually through live video or in-person.

Step 5: Launch day!

Your podcast (with multiple episodes) is up on iTunes, it’s time to tell the world … but what do you tell them? iTunes values two things above all else: Subscriptions and Reviews. In the email you’re going to send to your email list (or list of contacts) share the link to your brand-spanking-new podcast and ask people to hit the Subscribe button and leave a review of your show. It should go without saying that you’ll want to nudge them to actually listen to the show as well (albeit, your friends and fans should want to do this for you because you’re creating something of value for them). Don’t be afraid to hunker down and send 50–100 personalized emails as well. Your first day is an important day for subscribes and reviews.

Step 6: Create and share future episodes consistently

All platforms enjoy consistent content creators. iTunes is no different. Whether you’re doing a daily, two days per week, or weekly show, make sure to stay consistent early on. Hopefully you’ve planned ahead and are recording episodes well in advance of their release. This is a great habit to get into and keeps your consistent content schedule intact.

After those six steps, it’s really out of your hands. Yes, you’ll want to share your new show on social media, but those platforms aren’t great at getting people to take action and do something (especially two things: subscribe and leave a review). You should definitely send another email to your list the day after launch to remind them to keep helping you out. If you have reviews to share, those tend to encourage people who are weary about reviewing something.

I mentioned Chris Ducker earlier. He wrote a solid article about his experience with New & Noteworthy here. It’s not a one-size-fits-all formula, but these steps seem to work. And remember, you only get 8 weeks to be featured in New & Noteworthy, so make the best use of that time and promote your show!

Some final thoughts about podcasting

Create something worth listening to. Don’t just start a podcast to start one. Do some research into the topic you want to discuss and see who’s already discussing it. It’s not a problem if there are people already in the space—competition simply means people are already interested in that topic. What’s your unique way of talking about a certain topic? Pour as much of your own personality into your show as you can.

Quality over quantity! Yes it’s cliché, but it rings extremely true with podcasting. Your show needs to sound good, and making that happen isn’t hard or expensive. Invest in a good microphone and either learn how to do simple audio engineering or pay a professional to do it. Invest in your show and it will pay dividends.

Good podcasts don’t stop at pushing their audio content out into the world. Good podcasts keep the experience going somewhere else and build a loyal base of fans/friends/followers.

Your podcast should be a conduit to something else. Whether that’s an email list, your website, your business, etc. Who knows how long iTunes is going to be the king of the podcasting space. If you rely heavily on iTunes and they make an algorithm change (or just get rid of podcasting), you don’t be want to be up the up the creek without a paddle.

The post Know Everything About Podcasting appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Podcasting, so hot right now. Podcasting.

The Zoolander references stop with the title of this article. Now I want to talk to you about my current favorite medium for sharing information online: podcasting. Orange mocha frappuccinos!! Sorry … I couldn’t help myself.

I’d like this article to serve as a resource to help people make the decisions of whether or not they should start a podcast. I’m going to assume you have heard of podcasting and understand what it is. If you don’t, well, Google is pretty awesome. I’m also going to share the (current) steps to getting featured in the New & Noteworthy section of iTunes and share multiple ways that you can make money with your podcast.

 

Why should you care about podcasting?

Podcasting is another way to get your unique message out in the world and (hopefully) in front of your target audience.

A podcast is not a place to complain about your issues with your cable provider and their lack of customer service (that’s Twitter). A podcast is not a place where you can put photos of your cute little niece Gertrude (that’s Facebook). A podcast is not a place to teach people how to put IKEA furniture together, although with some wit, that could be a highly ironic and funny podcast to listen to (that’s YouTube).

Think of podcasting as a virtual megaphone. You grow audiences and followers on other platforms and podcasting is no different. However, unlike social media, the experience of choosing to subscribe to a podcast is more like an email newsletter subscription. If your listeners choose to subscribe to your podcast, they get notifications and downloads specifically about your show.

It is highly unlikely you are ever going to be forced to listen to a podcast on a topic that you don’t enjoy. On a platform like Twitter or Facebook, however, you never know when a rant about taxes, politics, or religion, is going to pop up in those activity feeds.

Podcasting hasn’t reached bubble status yet. It hasn’t jumped any proverbial sharks (although I personally think jumping sharks sounds kind of cool). It’s a wide-open playing field that’s gaining a lot of great attention and momentum, and is becoming more accessible than ever.

 

Why should you think about starting your own podcast?

When I started the Invisible Office Hours podcast with my co-host Paul Jarvis, it was because we knew we had more to say. There are a lot of people who talk about the sunshine and rainbows of entrepreneurship and working for yourself, but there are not enough people who talk about the difficult times, the struggles, the self-doubt, and the real aspects of making money. We set out to use podcasting as a forum to share our unique perspectives on topics we were passionate about.

If you have something worth saying, a podcast is one of the few mediums where you can do that with emotions and tone.

As someone who does their fair share of writing, sometimes I know my tone and emotions just aren’t coming out the way I want them to via words on a screen. This is very different on a podcast. You can vomit your emotions onto your microphone and your listeners will be able to hear them and consume them as you intended.

Podcasting gives you an opportunity to reach an entire untapped segment of your target audience. It also gives you a chance to create a deeper connection with your existing audience. From personal experience, I can attest to both of these things.

Starting new things is fun! The ability to produce and distribute a podcast isn’t quite as easy as starting a blog, but it’s not at the difficulty level of installing an IKEA file cabinet. (I’ll share my experiences about setting up a podcast in a moment.) I personally really enjoy the process of creating a new episode of a podcast. There’s something about speaking into a microphone that comes much more naturally for me than typing words on a page. And even though I have quite a bit of video recording experience, recording audio removes an entire layer from that process that causes headaches (and requires a lot more equipment, time, and skills).

 

Podcasting can generate revenue!

If you’ve listened to any of the popular podcasts (Serial or $100 MBA) you’ve probably heard them mentioning sponsors. I know I hear the company names MailChimp, SquareSpace, Audible, HostGator, and others all the time. I have friends who make $100 per episode on their daily podcasts. That’s $36,500 in revenue per year! Not too shabby. Oh, and I know other folks who make $1,000–$2,000 per sponsorship mention in their shows.

As someone who has had quite a bit of experience with sponsorships over the years (2,000+ sponsors under my belt!), I can attest the value of a great sponsorship relationship.

If you’re sharing a message that brings people value and you can make money promoting a company that aligns with your message, it can be incredibly beneficial to both parties. Granted, if you had a podcast about entrepreneurship, you probably wouldn’t want to talk about sponsors like Victoria’s Secret or Yankee Candle (I don’t think those companies actually sponsor podcasts, but you get what I’m saying).

There are other ways to generate revenue with a podcast as well:

Lewis Howes is a former professional athlete and two sport All-American. He also happens to be a salsa dancer and host of the popular podcast School of Greatness. Lewis has created a thriving community of over 500 members in the School of Greatness Academy and has thousands of customers for his other online programs, workshops, and live events. All of these businesses are fueled by Lewis’ email list, which has grown 4x because of his podcast.

Want to find new clients?

Grant Baldwin is a writer, speaker, and self-proclaimed lover of ice cream. While not enjoying a bowl of Rocky Road, he hosts the How Did You Get Into That podcast. Grant has also seen his email list grow because of his podcast, but he has also seen increases in advertising revenue, digital course sales, coaching clients, and the non-measurable benefits of networking and relationship building with the guests he has on his podcast.

How about selling products?

Justin Jackson is a developer, writer, and product-creating-machine. Through his intriguing Build and Launch podcast, Justin generated $12,049 in revenue in just two months. Each week Justin launched a new mini-product (books, plugins, and software) through his podcast. Justin continues to generate new income from his podcast every month, even when he’s not producing new episodes.

And I can personally attest to making money from a podcast. The Invisible Office Hours podcast I mentioned earlier generated over $3,400 per episode in revenue during the 12-week second season of the show. We took a handful of products we’d already created, paired with a few unique discounts from companies we know and love, and sold the “Bundle of Awesome.” Our expenses were almost non-existent and our podcast brought in over $40,000 in just three months. Not too shabby!

 

How can you start your own podcast?

I’m not going to go into great detail about starting a podcast because Pat Flynn and Chris Ducker have both already done a great job of that. I will, however, give you a brief overview of the podcasting process I use and have enjoyed.

For recording podcast episodes:

Microphones: I’ve used RODE’s products for years. Their microphones are extremely well made, durable, and come in all shapes and sizes. I own the RODE Podcaster (at-home recording), RODE NT-USB (travel recording), and the RODE Smart Lav (also travel recording).
Audio Recording: I use Quicktime Player (on a Mac). It couldn’t be easier to setup and start recording with Quicktime.
Audio Editing/Engineering: Depending on the podcast, I’ll either outsource the audio engineering of my podcast to a professional (which ranges from $30 – $100 per episode) or I’ll use Final Cut Pro X.

For hosting and publishing podcast episodes:

Hosting: I use Soundcloud and absolutely love the experience. The Pro Unlimited account is only $15 per month and well worth every penny. It connects directly with iTunes and gives you stats for any downloads/listens outside of iTunes.
Publishing: Again, this is where Soundcloud comes in to play. They give you an RSS feed, which you can submit to iTunes (once) and they’ll handle the rest.
Analytics: This isn’t required, but I use the free service PodTrac. It’s an additional piece of code that goes on your RSS feed that you submit to iTunes (once). It, to the best of known abilities, shows you downloads in iTunes (iTunes doesn’t give you any statistics).

There are a bunch of podcasting publishing platforms popping up. Like anything else, I’d look to friends who have podcasts and ask them for their recommendations. Do a little due diligence and see what podcasting setup feels right for you.

 

Getting in the New & Noteworthy Section of iTunes

I’m not going to lie to you and say these next few paragraphs are guaranteed to work. What I am going to tell you is that they worked well for me and anyone I’ve helped start and publish a new podcast in iTunes.

Why should you care about the New & Noteworthy section? Because it’s a guaranteed window of additional promotion to the front page of whatever category your podcast fits into. This is hugely beneficial to growing your listenership early on and creating some awesome credibility for you and your podcast.

Step 1: Build an email list or spreadsheet of contacts first

Before your podcast gets recorded or uploaded anywhere, you should be building a list of people you can reach out to on the first day your podcast goes live. If you already have an active email list you can tap, awesome. If you don’t, start building one. You can (and should) use your existing contacts and let them know you’re about to launch a new podcast and would their help with it when it launches.

Step 2: Record at least three podcast episodes before launch

This isn’t mandatory at all, but it certainly seems to help. Why? iTunes seems to value the time spent listening to your podcast episodes. What’s going to increase that time on your launch day? Having more than one episode to listen to!

Step 3: Know that iTunes can take 2–4 days to show your podcast

Once you submit your podcast RSS link to iTunes (via this really outdated form), it can take 2–4 days to have your podcast show up. Be prepared for this! Especially as it relates to this next step…

Step 4: Get people ready and pick a launch date

Whether it’s on social media, your email list, or the secret underground group you belong to, let people know when your podcast is going live. You’ll want to pick a launch date and ensure it’s after the 2–4 day time window from iTunes. If you set a date and get people ready for it, your chances of getting them to help you with reviews (which I’ll get to in a second) and listens drastically increases.

*Bonus: Having a podcast launch party is also a great idea! You can do it virtually through live video or in-person.

Step 5: Launch day!

Your podcast (with multiple episodes) is up on iTunes, it’s time to tell the world … but what do you tell them? iTunes values two things above all else: Subscriptions and Reviews. In the email you’re going to send to your email list (or list of contacts) share the link to your brand-spanking-new podcast and ask people to hit the Subscribe button and leave a review of your show. It should go without saying that you’ll want to nudge them to actually listen to the show as well (albeit, your friends and fans should want to do this for you because you’re creating something of value for them). Don’t be afraid to hunker down and send 50–100 personalized emails as well. Your first day is an important day for subscribes and reviews.

Step 6: Create and share future episodes consistently

All platforms enjoy consistent content creators. iTunes is no different. Whether you’re doing a daily, two days per week, or weekly show, make sure to stay consistent early on. Hopefully you’ve planned ahead and are recording episodes well in advance of their release. This is a great habit to get into and keeps your consistent content schedule intact.

After those six steps, it’s really out of your hands. Yes, you’ll want to share your new show on social media, but those platforms aren’t great at getting people to take action and do something (especially two things: subscribe and leave a review). You should definitely send another email to your list the day after launch to remind them to keep helping you out. If you have reviews to share, those tend to encourage people who are weary about reviewing something.

I mentioned Chris Ducker earlier. He wrote a solid article about his experience with New & Noteworthy here. It’s not a one-size-fits-all formula, but these steps seem to work. And remember, you only get 8 weeks to be featured in New & Noteworthy, so make the best use of that time and promote your show!

 

Some final thoughts about podcasting

Create something worth listening to. Don’t just start a podcast to start one. Do some research into the topic you want to discuss and see who’s already discussing it. It’s not a problem if there are people already in the space—competition simply means people are already interested in that topic. What’s your unique way of talking about a certain topic? Pour as much of your own personality into your show as you can.

Quality over quantity! Yes it’s cliché, but it rings extremely true with podcasting. Your show needs to sound good, and making that happen isn’t hard or expensive. Invest in a good microphone and either learn how to do simple audio engineering or pay a professional to do it. Invest in your show and it will pay dividends.

Good podcasts don’t stop at pushing their audio content out into the world. Good podcasts keep the experience going somewhere else and build a loyal base of fans/friends/followers.

Your podcast should be a conduit to something else. Whether that’s an email list, your website, your business, etc. Who knows how long iTunes is going to be the king of the podcasting space. If you rely heavily on iTunes and they make an algorithm change (or just get rid of podcasting), you don’t be want to be up the up the creek without a paddle.

The post Podcasting, so hot right now. Podcasting. appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Start A Business Right Now With Less Than $20

If I were to start a new business right now and had no experience, no connections, no specific idea, and very little money, here’s exactly what I’d do.

Step 1: Find an idea

I think everyone has something they can build a business around. Where do you find this idea? It lives in a curious place between something you’re passionate about, something you know something about, and something you’re willing to put effort into.

Notice I didn’t say “find your passion.” Just starting a business around a passion won’t cut it. Unless you’ve built a tribe of equally passionate people, you’re only going to be building something for yourself. That’s definitely not a bad thing, however, this article is about starting a business from scratch.

Grab a piece of paper and make a three-column list. Don’t create an Excel or Google spreadsheet. Write this list out by hand. There’s something about the process of physically writing down ideas that creates more opportunities for ideas. Remove all other distractions and try to focus on this task for 15–20 minutes (maximum). Let’s call this exercise “Thrusness,” because naming things is fun and helps boost creative thinking.

The three columns to fill out for Thrusness are as follows:

1. 10 things you like doing that involve some form of work (example: painting, writing, singing, building furniture, coding websites, helping old ladies cross the street, etc.).

2. 10 ways you could put your work out into the world (example: online course, in-person class, e-commerce website, retail store, series of books, videos, etc.).

3. Review the first two columns and in the third column try to write 10 business ideas down. One could be to teach a class about painting. One could be to create an e-commerce store that sells unique furniture. Just jot down 10 ideas.

I want to be crystal clear in this next point.

You may NOT find your big idea during this first exercise. That’s okay!

This phase is similar to writing the first draft of anything—book, article, whatever. It will probably suck. The point is to go through the motions and allow space for your brain to start doing what it does.

If you’re feeling advanced, feel free to sit down with another person or two and do a No Bad Ideas Brainstorming exercise.

 

Step 2: Read a few non-fiction books

The book I highly recommend to anyone starting a business in the time we live in (the digital age) is The Lean Startup by Eric Reis. Eric’s book will not excite and wow you. (Hey, I’m being honest.) But what it will do is show you the ropes on creating a business in our current fast-paced landscape (not the industrial age of old).

Another book I’d highly recommend is Pam Slim’s Body of Work. This book really helped me when I closed the doors on IWearYourShirt and wasn’t sure what the hell I was going to do with my life. Pam has some fantastic exercises that you can do right in the pages of the book (so I’d recommend going paperback on this one, sorry Kindlers).

One last book is… any book by Seth Godin. Any single one. I think he’s written 452 by now. Seth is insanely smart and his books have as much practical knowledge as they contain inspiration. Do yourself a favor and pick one up.

A note on reading books: Don’t overdo it and don’t let reading drag on forever. A lot of people will get lost consuming content from other people. They’ll go down an endless rabbit hole of consumption because it’s easier than actually building something or starting something of their own. Limit how many books you can read and the amount of time you can read them. Whether you have a 9-to-5 job, 13 children, or are generally too busy to read, you should be able to read three books in the span of two weeks.

 

Step 3: Ignore your thoughts of self-doubt

If you don’t have any issues with self doubt and have an idea or two or sixteen, move on to step five. Go ahead, skip ahead.

If you are struggling with self-doubt, I want to tell you one important thing: You are not alone! We all struggle with defeating thoughts, especially when it relates to creating a business.

Will anyone like this idea?

Will anyone buy my stuff?

Will people think my business is dumb?

Will I ever make any money?

Will people talk negatively about my idea?

Will I end up naked, homeless, starving, and trapped in a pit of scorpions if I start this business??

You are not alone if you have these thoughts.

One of the ways I’ve overcome self-doubt—and try to help other people to overcome it—is to only judge myself after I’ve put something out into the world. Self-doubt tends to build and fester before you share something, but typically dissipates once you’ve put something out there. And the more you put out into the world, the easier it becomes to have less self-doubt.

It’s kind of like doing anything challenging in life. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

If you decided tomorrow that you wanted to become an Oscar Winning Actor/Actress, you’d totally understand that you’d have to take acting lessons, gain acting experience, and hone your craft over and over again (potentially for years). It takes time. It takes effort. It takes screwing up. The same is true for any type of creation or business. You just need to start and not focus too much on trying to be perfect.

Done is better than perfect! (Someone way smarter than me said that.)

Try to limit the crutches you lean on when you have fear or doubts. Whether that’s over consuming content, distracting yourself with video games, or whatever your vice may be. By limiting how much you can escape, you force yourself to take action. It also helps you appreciate each article/book/thing you consume that much more, because you know you are limiting yourself so you can share your own gifts with the world.

 

Step 4: Did you come up with an idea yet?

If you did, awesome, skip to step five.

If you didn’t, repeat step one. If you still didn’t come up with an idea, go on a long walk or hike without your phone or any technology. Get away from any electronic distractions and let your mind wander. Space allows for creation.

Let’s assume you have some type of business idea by this point. It doesn’t matter if the idea is “good” or “bad” right now. Those words are actually irrelevant when starting a business. SnapChat exists and is valued at $3B (with a B!). Ideas are a dime a dozen, the trick is what’s coming in the next few steps…

 

Step 5: Identify and find your potential customers

When you’re first trying to find your potential customers, especially if they aren’t already on an email list you have, connected to you on social media, etc, it can be a daunting task. Don’t let self-doubt rear it’s ugly head right now. Just accept the fact that finding and building an audience can take time and effort. If you’re afraid of putting in time and effort you probably should stop reading this article right now and go watch a few videos on YouTube.

I want to make it crystal clear that customers are not followers, subscribers, fans, or otherwise. Customers are typically complete strangers who will give you money for something you’re doing on the Internet.

Finding your potential customers looks something like this:

1. Send personalized emails to your friends and family saying something along the lines of “I’m thinking about start a business selling XYZ thing to ABC person. Do you know anyone who might be interested in talking with me about this? I’m not trying to sell anything at the moment, I just want to talk to a potential customer and get some feedback.”

Important: Do not mass email this type of request out. Actually, scratch that, just don’t ever mass email people.

2. Search Google for forums, blogs, anything related to your idea. Unless you’re creating something that’s never ever ever been done before (which I don’t recommend for your first business), there will be people already talking about what your business is about.

3. Share information freely about your business in multiple places to attract your potential customers (subreddits, Medium, forums/blogs, LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, local meetups, events, etc.).

4. Competition is a GOOD thing. Why? Because that means there’s already a market for your product. There are already people who’ve purchased the thing you are going to try to sell. That’s good, I promise you.

This is not the time to compare yourself to existing business owners or to accept unsolicited feedback from people. Feedback is dangerous. It must only be taken seriously when it comes from people who have experience doing what you are doing or are your potential customer. Feedback from anyone else can wait.

 

Step 6: Have actual conversations with people

Once you find your customers, have real conversations with them. If you can, sit down with people at coffee shops. Skype or other video chat services will work, but make sure you’re face-to-face.

The conversations you have with potential customers should go something like this:

Ask lots of questions and do lots of listening.
Do not try to sell this person on anything yet, but gauge their willingness to buy and price threshold (if you’re ready to do that).
Identity their pain points.
Take lots of notes.
Find patterns.

When you talk with people in person, or over Skype, you can hear their tone. You can understand how deeply something bothers them. You can really get a sense for what is most important to them. You can’t get that via an email or survey (there’s no tone identifier).

Make sure when you’re talking with people you aren’t dominating the conversations. You should be guiding the conversation to get the information you need to build your business.

 

Step 7: Build the smallest, simplest version of your business

We live in a time of wild business valuations, venture capitalists galore, and stats that say 9 out of 10 business owners fail in their first year.

You shouldn’t need funding for you first business. Heck, even if it is your 14th business, you should probably still build a prototype or simplified version of your business before trying to get funding.

I started my IWearYourShirt business with a $150 Flip Video Camera and about $100 in plastic hangers. I bartered to get a website built. I took a photographer to a $30 lunch to get some professional photos taken. The term for this is “bootstrap.” You should do this to the best of your ability.

The one thing I wish I would have started with my business was an email list. Social platforms change, the email algorithm doesn’t change. If you can offer value to someone and have the ability to send an email to their inbox consistently, you’ll build trust and strong relationships. This is the one marketing strategy I’d advise every single person reading this article to do.

It’s because they over-spend, they over-market, they over-commit, and they stop iterating. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in business is making assumptions and holding on to them like they’re precious diamonds. Swallow your pride, listen to your customers, take feedback from your critics (if they have experience doing what you’re trying to do), and be open to making changes.

With all of that said, start with the smallest, simplest version of your business. You might have a feature list for an iPhone app that’s 20 items long. Cool. Keep that somewhere safe, but start with two or three of the items. Get people using your app. Get people paying for it. See what your customers are actually doing and saying.

No matter what you are trying to build, start small, and just get a version of what you’re building out into the world.

 

Step 8: Don’t over-promote in the beginning, scale slowly

Many people want to come out of the gates with a kick-ass marketing and promotion strategy. They want all the media appearances, all the tech articles, all the things. Your business isn’t ready for this stuff. You need to focus on honing, shaping, molding your business with your first paying customers. Focus on building something so good that your first customers bring in your second set of customers. If that doesn’t happen, you’re doing something wrong.

No amount of marketing, PR, advertising, will trump the power of word-of-mouth. Build something worth talking about and worth sharing. If your business isn’t worth talking about or sharing, why are you wasting your time working on it?

I see people all the time doing marketing and advertising when they know their product or service isn’t working well. I’ve even asked them why they’re trying to bring in new customers while their business isn’t quite ready. Their answer? “We’ll fix that stuff later, we just need revenue coming in the door.” WRONG.

I’m all for getting people to pay for things before they’re launched. My friends Omar and Nicole pre-sold memberships to Webinar Ninja before the software even existed! But once you’re business is out in the world, you don’t need to be promoting it until your customers are happy, there are no support complaints, and you feel comfortable with the state of the business.

 

Step 9: Give a crap

Honestly this should be step 1, but I figured it would be a nice way to round things out.

If you don’t give a crap about the business you are building or the customers your business will be serving, then you should stop what you’re doing immediately. That type of business may work for some people, but not for me and not for the people I’d like to be talking to via these articles.

Caring about your customers and your business is not a tactic. It’s not a tip. It’s not a hack. It’s something that should be engrained in you because you’re a good human being, and you want your business to make someone’s life better or to help make the world a better place. I’m not saying you need to create the next Red Cross or UNICEF, but your business should solve problems for people and improve their lives in some way.

If you don’t give a crap, then move on. If you’ve started a business and you’re thinking about walking away, but don’t know if it’s the right time, ask yourself this question: “Do I give a crap about this?” If the honest answer is “no,” then it’s time to close up shop. If the answer is “yes,” take a break, do some soul-searching, dig in and fix whatever is broken.

You can do this. Your idea is good enough. You are good enough. You just need to put in the time, effort, and be willing to stick with it.

All business owners struggle at one time or another. Some in the beginning. Some near the end. Some struggle constantly. As long as you care about what you are doing and it brings you and your customers value, then you should fight through the tough times.

Getting started in business is easier than it’s ever been. The trick is to just get started.

The post Start A Business Right Now With Less Than $20 appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

How To Start A Business Right Now

If I were to start a new business right now and had no experience, no connections, no specific idea, and very little money, here’s exactly what I’d do.

Step 1: Find an idea

I think everyone has something they can build a business around. Where do you find this idea? It lives in a curious place between something you’re passionate about, something you know something about, and something you’re willing to put effort into.

Notice I didn’t say “find your passion.” Just starting a business around a passion won’t cut it. Unless you’ve built a tribe of equally passionate people, you’re only going to be building something for yourself. That’s definitely not a bad thing, however, this article is about starting a business from scratch.

Grab a piece of paper and make a three-column list. Don’t create an Excel or Google spreadsheet. Write this list out by hand. There’s something about the process of physically writing down ideas that creates more opportunities for ideas. Remove all other distractions and try to focus on this task for 15–20 minutes (maximum). Let’s call this exercise “Thrusness,” because naming things is fun and helps boost creative thinking.

The three columns to fill out for Thrusness are as follows:

1. 10 things you like doing that involve some form of work (example: painting, writing, singing, building furniture, coding websites, helping old ladies cross the street, etc.).

2. 10 ways you could put your work out into the world (example: online course, in-person class, e-commerce website, retail store, series of books, videos, etc.).

3. Review the first two columns and in the third column try to write 10 business ideas down. One could be to teach a class about painting. One could be to create an e-commerce store that sells unique furniture. Just jot down 10 ideas.

I want to be crystal clear in this next point.

You may NOT find your big idea during this first exercise. That’s okay!

This phase is similar to writing the first draft of anything—book, article, whatever. It will probably suck. The point is to go through the motions and allow space for your brain to start doing what it does.

If you’re feeling advanced, feel free to sit down with another person or two and do a No Bad Ideas Brainstorming exercise.

 

Step 2: Read a few non-fiction books

The book I highly recommend to anyone starting a business in the time we live in (the digital age) is The Lean Startup by Eric Reis. Eric’s book will not excite and wow you. (Hey, I’m being honest.) But what it will do is show you the ropes on creating a business in our current fast-paced landscape (not the industrial age of old).

Another book I’d highly recommend is Pam Slim’s Body of Work. This book really helped me when I closed the doors on IWearYourShirt and wasn’t sure what the hell I was going to do with my life. Pam has some fantastic exercises that you can do right in the pages of the book (so I’d recommend going paperback on this one, sorry Kindlers).

One last book is… any book by Seth Godin. Any single one. I think he’s written 452 by now. Seth is insanely smart and his books have as much practical knowledge as they contain inspiration. Do yourself a favor and pick one up.

A note on reading books: Don’t overdo it and don’t let reading drag on forever. A lot of people will get lost consuming content from other people. They’ll go down an endless rabbit hole of consumption because it’s easier than actually building something or starting something of their own. Limit how many books you can read and the amount of time you can read them. Whether you have a 9-to-5 job, 13 children, or are generally too busy to read, you should be able to read three books in the span of two weeks.

 

Step 3: Ignore your thoughts of self-doubt

If you don’t have any issues with self doubt and have an idea or two or sixteen, move on to step five. Go ahead, skip ahead.

If you are struggling with self-doubt, I want to tell you one important thing: You are not alone! We all struggle with defeating thoughts, especially when it relates to creating a business.

Will anyone like this idea?

Will anyone buy my stuff?

Will people think my business is dumb?

Will I ever make any money?

Will people talk negatively about my idea?

Will I end up naked, homeless, starving, and trapped in a pit of scorpions if I start this business??

You are not alone if you have these thoughts.

One of the ways I’ve overcome self-doubt—and try to help other people to overcome it—is to only judge myself after I’ve put something out into the world. Self-doubt tends to build and fester before you share something, but typically dissipates once you’ve put something out there. And the more you put out into the world, the easier it becomes to have less self-doubt.

It’s kind of like doing anything challenging in life. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

If you decided tomorrow that you wanted to become an Oscar Winning Actor/Actress, you’d totally understand that you’d have to take acting lessons, gain acting experience, and hone your craft over and over again (potentially for years). It takes time. It takes effort. It takes screwing up. The same is true for any type of creation or business. You just need to start and not focus too much on trying to be perfect.

Done is better than perfect! (Someone way smarter than me said that.)

Try to limit the crutches you lean on when you have fear or doubts. Whether that’s over consuming content, distracting yourself with video games, or whatever your vice may be. By limiting how much you can escape, you force yourself to take action. It also helps you appreciate each article/book/thing you consume that much more, because you know you are limiting yourself so you can share your own gifts with the world.

 

Step 4: Did you come up with an idea yet?

If you did, awesome, skip to step five.

If you didn’t, repeat step one. If you still didn’t come up with an idea, go on a long walk or hike without your phone or any technology. Get away from any electronic distractions and let your mind wander. Space allows for creation.

Let’s assume you have some type of business idea by this point. It doesn’t matter if the idea is “good” or “bad” right now. Those words are actually irrelevant when starting a business. SnapChat exists and is valued at $3B (with a B!). Ideas are a dime a dozen, the trick is what’s coming in the next few steps…

 

Step 5: Identify and find your potential customers

When you’re first trying to find your potential customers, especially if they aren’t already on an email list you have, connected to you on social media, etc, it can be a daunting task. Don’t let self-doubt rear it’s ugly head right now. Just accept the fact that finding and building an audience can take time and effort. If you’re afraid of putting in time and effort you probably should stop reading this article right now and go watch a few videos on YouTube.

I want to make it crystal clear that customers are not followers, subscribers, fans, or otherwise. Customers are typically complete strangers who will give you money for something you’re doing on the Internet.

Finding your potential customers looks something like this:

1. Send personalized emails to your friends and family saying something along the lines of “I’m thinking about start a business selling XYZ thing to ABC person. Do you know anyone who might be interested in talking with me about this? I’m not trying to sell anything at the moment, I just want to talk to a potential customer and get some feedback.”

Important: Do not mass email this type of request out. Actually, scratch that, just don’t ever mass email people.

2. Search Google for forums, blogs, anything related to your idea. Unless you’re creating something that’s never ever ever been done before (which I don’t recommend for your first business), there will be people already talking about what your business is about.

3. Share information freely about your business in multiple places to attract your potential customers (subreddits, Medium, forums/blogs, LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, local meetups, events, etc.).

4. Competition is a GOOD thing. Why? Because that means there’s already a market for your product. There are already people who’ve purchased the thing you are going to try to sell. That’s good, I promise you.

This is not the time to compare yourself to existing business owners or to accept unsolicited feedback from people. Feedback is dangerous. It must only be taken seriously when it comes from people who have experience doing what you are doing or are your potential customer. Feedback from anyone else can wait.

 

Step 6: Have actual conversations with people

Once you find your customers, have real conversations with them. If you can, sit down with people at coffee shops. Skype or other video chat services will work, but make sure you’re face-to-face.

The conversations you have with potential customers should go something like this:

Ask lots of questions and do lots of listening.
Do not try to sell this person on anything yet, but gauge their willingness to buy and price threshold (if you’re ready to do that).
Identity their pain points.
Take lots of notes.
Find patterns.

When you talk with people in person, or over Skype, you can hear their tone. You can understand how deeply something bothers them. You can really get a sense for what is most important to them. You can’t get that via an email or survey (there’s no tone identifier).

Make sure when you’re talking with people you aren’t dominating the conversations. You should be guiding the conversation to get the information you need to build your business.

 

Step 7: Build the smallest, simplest version of your business

We live in a time of wild business valuations, venture capitalists galore, and stats that say 9 out of 10 business owners fail in their first year.

You shouldn’t need funding for you first business. Heck, even if it is your 14th business, you should probably still build a prototype or simplified version of your business before trying to get funding.

I started my IWearYourShirt business with a $150 Flip Video Camera and about $100 in plastic hangers. I bartered to get a website built. I took a photographer to a $30 lunch to get some professional photos taken. The term for this is “bootstrap.” You should do this to the best of your ability.

The one thing I wish I would have started with my business was an email list. Social platforms change, the email algorithm doesn’t change. If you can offer value to someone and have the ability to send an email to their inbox consistently, you’ll build trust and strong relationships. This is the one marketing strategy I’d advise every single person reading this article to do.

It’s because they over-spend, they over-market, they over-commit, and they stop iterating. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in business is making assumptions and holding on to them like they’re precious diamonds. Swallow your pride, listen to your customers, take feedback from your critics (if they have experience doing what you’re trying to do), and be open to making changes.

With all of that said, start with the smallest, simplest version of your business. You might have a feature list for an iPhone app that’s 20 items long. Cool. Keep that somewhere safe, but start with two or three of the items. Get people using your app. Get people paying for it. See what your customers are actually doing and saying.

No matter what you are trying to build, start small, and just get a version of what you’re building out into the world.

 

Step 8: Don’t over-promote in the beginning, scale slowly

Many people want to come out of the gates with a kick-ass marketing and promotion strategy. They want all the media appearances, all the tech articles, all the things. Your business isn’t ready for this stuff. You need to focus on honing, shaping, molding your business with your first paying customers. Focus on building something so good that your first customers bring in your second set of customers. If that doesn’t happen, you’re doing something wrong.

No amount of marketing, PR, advertising, will trump the power of word-of-mouth. Build something worth talking about and worth sharing. If your business isn’t worth talking about or sharing, why are you wasting your time working on it?

I see people all the time doing marketing and advertising when they know their product or service isn’t working well. I’ve even asked them why they’re trying to bring in new customers while their business isn’t quite ready. Their answer? “We’ll fix that stuff later, we just need revenue coming in the door.” WRONG.

I’m all for getting people to pay for things before they’re launched. My friends Omar and Nicole pre-sold memberships to Webinar Ninja before the software even existed! But once you’re business is out in the world, you don’t need to be promoting it until your customers are happy, there are no support complaints, and you feel comfortable with the state of the business.

 

Step 9: Give a crap

Honestly this should be step 1, but I figured it would be a nice way to round things out.

If you don’t give a crap about the business you are building or the customers your business will be serving, then you should stop what you’re doing immediately. That type of business may work for some people, but not for me and not for the people I’d like to be talking to via these articles.

Caring about your customers and your business is not a tactic. It’s not a tip. It’s not a hack. It’s something that should be engrained in you because you’re a good human being, and you want your business to make someone’s life better or to help make the world a better place. I’m not saying you need to create the next Red Cross or UNICEF, but your business should solve problems for people and improve their lives in some way.

If you don’t give a crap, then move on. If you’ve started a business and you’re thinking about walking away, but don’t know if it’s the right time, ask yourself this question: “Do I give a crap about this?” If the honest answer is “no,” then it’s time to close up shop. If the answer is “yes,” take a break, do some soul-searching, dig in and fix whatever is broken.

You can do this. Your idea is good enough. You are good enough. You just need to put in the time, effort, and be willing to stick with it.

All business owners struggle at one time or another. Some in the beginning. Some near the end. Some struggle constantly. As long as you care about what you are doing and it brings you and your customers value, then you should fight through the tough times.

Getting started in business is easier than it’s ever been. The trick is to just get started.

The post How To Start A Business Right Now appeared first on Jason Does Stuff.

Find The Secrets To Consistent Creation

Discover what is getting in your way of being creative and actively avoid it.

// This article was originally written for the Crew Blog. You can read it, with some additional fun visuals here.

Creativity is not just for artists, musicians, writers, and designers. We are all creative, but the folks who are known for it have spent time cultivating it, failing at it, and working at it.

It’s easy to look at any famous creative person and think that they’re naturally creative. It’s easy to assume their work just appeared and didn’t take hours/months/years of painstaking dedication. Much like the idea of “overnight success,” creativity is viewed as something that just happens. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. I’m here to share some examples of how anyone can cultivate and grow their creativity muscle.

You see, creativity is a muscle. Not an actual muscle like the ones bodybuilders sculpt and tone, but a muscle in the metaphorical sense. Some of us are born with the ability to barely workout yet look like a Greek god (assuming that we all view Greek gods as muscular genetic freaks). But alas, the majority of us aren’t so lucky and have to work incredibly hard to build muscle. The important thing is that the potential is there inside of all of us. You just have to really want it.

I’d like to share three ways you can increase your creativity. None of them cost you a single penny and all of them can be done right now.

#1 “No Bad Ideas” Brainstorming

One way to work the creative muscle is to do an exercise I like to call “No Bad Ideas Brainstorming.” I break this exercise down in detail here, but I’ll briefly explain how you can do it right now with minimal effort.

You need another person, but no more than a group of 4–6 people.
Ideally you’ll gather in person.
Grab a pen and paper, or use a whiteboard if you have one.
For 30 minutes, just riff on ideas and don’t criticize a single thing. No idea thrown out is a bad idea!
After 30 minutes of back and forth, reassess all your ideas. Do a broad sweep and see what stands out. Take 15 minutes to do this.
Once you have your broad sweep done, get critical with your ideas and see what’s staring you in the face. What idea stands out to you and your partner/group? Which one or ones do you want to pursue?

Much like exercise, if you were to put in the work and do “No Bad Ideas Brainstorming” often, you’d come up with lots of creative ideas.

When it comes to being creative, you need to get out of your own way. Let’s stick with the muscle metaphor and talk about getting in shape or losing weight. Yes, you have the option to eat a delicious cheeseburger with all the toppings, a large order of french fries, and a sugar-filled beverage, but consuming those things won’t get you in shape. By eating a poor diet, you’re limiting your own ability to get in shape. We all know that it’s possible to use willpower to overcome poor lifestyle habits but when it comes to being creative things get a bit more nebulous. There isn’t a real cheeseburger, fried potato stick, or soft drink staring you in the face.

You need to discover what is getting in your way of being creative and actively avoid it. You don’t expect six-pack abs to just show up with no effort, so why would you expect creativity to do the same? Trusting the process and putting in the work is the easiest way to keep you from putting up roadblocks in front of your creativity.

#2 Venture Outside Your Bubble

Too often we stay where we’re comfortable. Don’t feel bad, as human beings we’re pre-wired with a pack mentality. We consume content from the same people on the same platforms. We steer clear of topics we deem controversial. We simply go through the motions and try to avoid discomfort like it’s the Bubonic plague.

Well I’m here to tell you that merely going through the motions will never help you become more creative or generate your next amazing idea. I’m also here to tell you that you absolutely cannot catch the Bubonic plague just by venturing beyond your invisible line of comfort.

To be truly creative you must push yourself beyond your comfort zone. You have to move into uncharted territory. Lucky for you, we live in a time when information is unbelievably accessible.

We used to have to seek out inspiration. If you wanted to see priceless art, you had to go to a gallery or look at books filled with photos. Nowadays you can slide your phone out of your pocket, tap a glass screen, and you have images of all of the world’s greatest art just a few clicks away. How can you possibly be impressed and inspired by things that take almost zero effort to seek out?

I’d like to challenge you to ask your friends on social media, email, or even in real life, to share what things they read on a daily basis for inspiration. You may find a bit of overlap, but something tells me you’ll find a lot of new resources that you never would have thought to read or investigate. And I know it may sound crazy, but read books! Especially non-fiction (although fiction can be a good source of inspiration, too). Just consume new and different content than you normally wouldn’t, even if it’s only 30 minutes per day.

It’s no secret that we’re over-inundated with notifications, pop-ups, alerts, unread icons, blah blah blah. Everyone knows we live in a society with too much information being thrown at us. Yet people don’t realize you can do things the same way you’ve always done them, especially as it relates to creative thinking and coming up with new ideas.

Think about this for a moment: When was the last time you had a great idea, thought, or revelation while you were elbows deep in scrolling through your inbox or newsfeed on Facebook? It doesn’t happen. Random ideas occur in the shower, in the bathroom, on a walk, in deep conversation with someone, right before bed, right when you wake up, or any area in your life where you give your brain a little bit of space to do what it does best.

#3 You Must Allow For Space

We’re not talking about Neil deGrasse Tyson here, although, he could be a great source of information for #2 if you’re looking to get inspired. Not planetary space, but mental space.

If it’s as easy as just giving your brain some mental space, why aren’t all of us coming up with the next printing press, light bulb, or iPhone? Because it takes more space than most of us are willing to allow. An uncomfortable amount, in fact.

A few years ago, I ran a business that was fueled by creative ideas. The amount of content created in that business on a day-to-day basis was overwhelming, but there seemed to be an endless amount of ideas. Looking back, I now realize why there were always ideas to be had—I allowed for space to fill up my creativity bucket.

On days when I would feel myself getting low on creative energy or ideas, I’d take a walk on the beach with my dog or my girlfriend. I wouldn’t bring technology and I’d just let my brain wander. I wouldn’t always come up with great ideas while on the walk, but what did happen was that it set my brain in motion. The creativity muscle was put to work behind the scenes. It could have been days, weeks, or even months later, but a great idea would pop in my mind. These ideas didn’t come out of nowhere, they came out of the process of allowing for space.

Whether you have a beach, a path by your house, a hiking trail, or a forest, find a quiet place without noise or distractions. Personally, I’ve found that actually moving around and being outdoors allows the most mental space.

Remember, allowing for space doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a cabin in the woods for weeks on end. It could be as simple as a 10 minute walk every day. Or maybe even some (prepare for a dirty, over-and-incorrectly used word) meditation.

There’s One Important Final Step For Becoming More Creative

Simply having ideas doesn’t make you creative. We don’t remember famous inventors for all the inventions they thought of but never brought to life (they do have a ton of those though). We remember famous inventors for the things they actually built and created.

True creativity comes when ideas are given a chance to live. Because once an idea is alive, it sets in motion the opportunity for momentum. And momentum begets momentum.

Give yourself the space, practice, and daily intention to become more creative.

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