Apr 03

Addiction, Reinvention, and Finding Ultra with Endurance Athlete Rich Roll

Rich Roll is a New York Times best selling author, endurance athlete, parent and beautiful human being. He first came across my radar a few years ago when he completed FIVE Iron Mans in five consecutive days. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, finished off with a marathon in one day — TIMES 5 DAYS!! On the show, we dive into reinvention, overcoming addiction and depression, explore plant based diets, and his spiritual... read more ›
1.5K reads
Mar 13

Rainn Wilson on Creativity, Faith and Making Work that Matters

Rainn Wilson is best known for his legendary role as Dwight in TV’s award-winning show "The Office,” but he’s also a movie actor, a best selling author, the founder of media company SoulPancake, founder a non profit called Lidé Haiti, an amazing human….and a self-professed sci-fi and fantasy nerd! In this episode Rainn takes us on journey through his early life and into his ideas on art and creativity, hard work, parenting and spirituality. We... read more ›
2.1K reads
Jan 23

Creative Cockroaches, Standing Out + the Truth About Your Best Creative Work

A short while ago I had the great pleasure of taking the stage at the Seattle Interactive Conference with my dear friend and creative superstar Cal Mcallister (Founder, Wexley School for Girls + Paper Crane Factory) for a very pointed conversation on inspiration, unlocking your best creative work, and how the eff to stand out in today’s noisy, crowded market.  Hint:  it’s not what you think. IMHO this conversation oozes with value specifically because both... read more ›
1.6K reads
Dec 19

Yes Is For Wimps. Get Used To Hearing “NO”.

If you're already a professional creator, then you know that you had to hear a lot of "no" for every "yes". If you're not yet a pro, or perhaps more importantly if you are a pro whose enjoyed a taste of success, then hear this: Get Used To Hearing "No". Quite honestly, understanding this will be some of the best medicine you'll ever take - because once you get it...you GET it, and it will... read more ›
14.8K reads
Dec 05
Oct 24

You Are Your Habits with Julien Smith

Julien Smith is a long-time friend and familiar face on the podcast. I first brought him on in 2013 to talk about why not caring about what others think is a useful skill to have as a creator in any field (translation: he penned a LEGENDARY blog post called 'the subtle art of not giving a f*$k' - which went crazy viral and later inspired a best selling book by Mark Manson...). And now Julien is BAAACK…this... read more ›
1.9K reads
Oct 10

The Most Important Conversation About Life… Death with Michael Hebb

Michael Hebb is an artist, activist, restaurateur, long time friend of mine and probably the closest thing that comes to an expert on death. He is a hyphenated renegade, seemingly more comfortable swimming upstream and addressing taboo subjects than he is going with the crowd. He co-founded Portland’s unsanctioned underground food movement, was my co-conspirator for Songs for Eating and Drinking, and he recently wrote a powerful book about death that will change the way... read more ›
2K reads
Sep 05

An audience of ONE is all it takes

QUESTION:  What if you only made work that YOU loved, and you were certain that you would be paid top dollar if you did...Would you do it?  Of course! Most sane creators / entrepreneurs would jump at the opportunity - and such is the topic of Srinivas Rao’s new book: An Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity For Its Own Sake.  The problem is, so many of us are watering down our work making it for someone... read more ›
1.1K reads
Aug 22

Start Before You’re Ready — with Humans of New York’s Brandon Stanton 

If you don’t know Brandon, you definitely know his work. Brandon is the creator of Humans of New York which has accumulated over 25 million followers and has since evolve to include two NYT-bestselling books (Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories) and a Humans of New York show on Facebook Watch. It has also spawned an entire genre of similar blogs, photo projects, with thousands of aspiring creators having been inspired by HONY’s... read more ›
3.2K reads
Aug 15

Stop Trying To Get Everyone To Like Your Work

When I talk to creators and survey the industry landscape, I see a zillion creators trying to have all their work liked by all the people. This comes from our social animal DNA, but it's the completely wrong approach to success - whether that be measured by your work being licensed, sold, etc, or by getting hired, shown, talked about, displayed, whatever. Simply said, by trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one,... read more ›
17K reads