It seems strange to want to be a speaker and not know the why, what, or who behind the drive. There’s an adrenaline rush when you get to connect with an audience, but you’ll fall flat without enough self-awareness.

As a full-time speaker, Grant Baldwin has presented at 400+ engagements to over 350,000 people. Grant knows his purpose, his message, and the best target market.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Grant and I talk about becoming a better speaker and a practical way to make a living with your message. Listen in as we discuss trial by fire and a specific audience that forces any speaker to improve.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you are reading this via email, please click here).

You can also listen via iTunes or on Stitcher.

The art of making a bold ask

A few months ago, we got the great idea to host the first ever Tribe Conference just outside of Nashville. Besides a venue and attendees, one of the essential elements of a conference is speakers.

For anyone who watched the closing keynote live or online via the stream, you know Grant killed it. He had the daunting task of being last in a lineup of great speakers and he brought us all home in style.

What you may not know is that I didn’t ask Grant to speak at Tribe Conference. In fact, before that afternoon at The Factory I’d never seen Grant speak live before.

So how did Grant land the closing keynote? He asked. There’s a little more to it than that, but making the ask played a major factor in Grant speaking at our event.

Grant has proven himself for years as a competent speaker with a portfolio of experience and skills. And perhaps even more valuable than that, we’re friends. Grant invested in relationship with no ulterior motives a year before Tribe Conference was even planned.

One of the things I find most interesting about successful speakers is their hustle for relationships. Even full-time speakers will give presentations for free knowing the return on that investment will pay strong dividends down the road.

I think Grant said it best during our interview:

Don’t go after gigs. Go after relationships.
—Grant Baldwin

Show highlights

In this episode, Grant and I discuss:

• The best thing about being a speaker
• What practice does to prepare you for spontaneity
• A trade secret to create a foolproof cue card
• Practical ways to make a living with your message
• Continuing the conversation around your content
• Two essential marketing tools for every public speaker
• How doing free gigs leads to large paid audiences
• The art of hunting down leads
• One type of speaker event planners want to book
• Diversifying your portfolio of work

Quotes and Takeaways

• ”Nothing compares to getting in front of a live audience. It’s all theory until you get on stage.” —Grant Baldwin
• The best speeches are practiced and rehearsed, but not scripted.
• “People won’t know that you’re a speaker if you don’t tell them you’re a speaker.” —Grant Baldwin
• You really don’t become something until you start doing it and acting like it.
• “You want to be as good offstage as you’re onstage.” —Grant Baldwin
• “Everybody starts at the same spot. Everybody starts at zero.” —Grant Baldwin

Resources

• Booked and Paid to Speak webinar with Grant and Jeff
• Get Started as a Speaker free course
• How Did You Get Into That? podcast with Grant Baldwin

The Internet is full of cat videos, bad lip readings, and hilarious memes. All good things, of course. But, believe it or not, there’s actually some useful stuff online, too.

Photo Credit: insomniac via Compfight cc

When I set out to start my own online course, I didn’t know much about online education. All I knew was I wanted to deliver a quality learning experience to my readers that went beyond the scope of my blog. And that was about it.

Then in an interview, I heard entrepreneur Ramit Sethi say that before you can charge a certain amount for a information product, you better be willing to pay that much. In this case, he was saying, “Don’t charge $2000 for a course until you spend $2000 and see what a $2000 product looks like.”

So, I started signing up for online courses. And boy, did I learn some things.

The Internet has changed education

This is not like when you were in college and the professor gave you a long, complicated URL to remember to post a weekly assignment. And it’s not like those foreign language correspondence classes you took in high school because no one in your small town taught Latin.

Things have changed. Big time. Now, an online course can be comparable to a real, live educational experience. In fact, sometimes it’s even better.

Let’s say you didn’t go to college. Or maybe like a lot of people you got a degree in one field of study and then figured out what you actually wanted to do. What now?

Well, you used to have two options:

• Go back to school and get your degree. In other words, return to the system that didn’t work in the first place.
• Read a lot of books and teach yourself (AKA the Good Will Hunting route).

Number 1 is often expensive and doesn’t guarantee you success in the marketplace (which is usually why people go this route). And Number Two is hard. it doesn’t work for people who need a teacher, someone to walk them through the process (and that’s most of us).

So what’s there left to do? Until a few years ago, nothing.

5 reasons to get serious about online learning

The web is exploding with legitimate, online education opportunities. But, you wonder, how can I trust this whole Internet thing with all its cat videos and memes? Good question.

Here are five reasons why you should get serious about online education:

1. Online courses are less expensive. For a fraction of the cost, you can now get a University-level learning experience taught by industry experts. That is, if you take the right kind of classes (I’ll talk more about that in a minute).
2. Online courses are more results-oriented. Since you’re likely giving money to someone you’ve never met, online educators are motivated to help you get the results you want (instead of simply teaching dry theory). Their reputations are on the line, after all.
3. Technology makes the experience of an online course more exciting. Instead of attending a couple 45-minute lectures per week, you now get worksheets, discussion forums, and interactive presentations.
4. The classrooms are cooler. You no longer have to grab a sack lunch and spend a half-day at your local community college, sitting in a cold, dimly-lit room. You can go attend class right in your living room — whenever you want.
5. You get to keep the course. This might be my favorite reason. As opposed to traditional education where you the only keepsakes you get are the overpriced textbook and a three-ring notebook full of illegible scribbles, many online courses let you keep a lot of the course material (including the lessons).

If you haven’t considered taking an online course, I seriously think you should. But, and this is important, don’t just sign up for any class that comes along. There’s a lot of swindlers out there (who probably made the cat videos).

Criteria for a good online course

Here’s what to look for:

• Credentials. Has the teacher achieved what she claims she has an expertise in? In other words, if you’re taking a course on how to get published, is a published author teaching it? Or at least someone who has had real-life experience in that industry? If other marks of legitimacy (i.e. licenses and such) are needed for what you want to learn, make sure she has those, too.
• Testimonials. What do other students say about the course? Don’t just read the landing page copy, though; find some people who have gone through the class and will give you their honest opinion.
• Access to the teacher. This is up to you, but I recommend taking a course that gives you some personal access to the teacher. That may mean live video chats or conference calls with other students. Or it could be personal email access when you get stuck. It really depends on the teacher and the material.
• Discussion opportunities. One of the best parts of an online course is the opportunity to connect with other students who are going through the same experience as you (this is the best part of any educational experience). Does the course have a forum or Facebook group, a place to ask questions and get help from their peers?
• Refund policy. Just like with college, there should be an initial period of time in which you have the freedom to drop your class, if it isn’t what you’d hoped. A 30- to 60-day money-back guarantee is pretty standard.

Notice that I didn’t include price in this list of criteria, and there’s a reason for that. There is no set standard for what an online course should cost. Many four-week courses are $200–$500, but then others range for six to 12 months may cost thousands of dollars.

It depends on your field and what kind of value you place on the information. Just know that taking this course online is typically going to be cheaper than paying for it in person.

“I could do better…”

If you’ve ever taken an online course, you may have noticed that there are some skunks out there.

One thing I noticed is these classes weren’t always worth my money or what I was expecting. There was a lot of hype at the front end, but then when it came time to take the class, the quality was sub-par.

This disappointed and frustrated me. It seemed like some people were using their marketing savviness to take advantage of people who really wanted to learn. I kept saying to myself, “I could do better.”

So one day, I did.

If you find yourself saying the same thing, maybe you should, too. Because it’s not enough to simply say things should be better. Sometimes, we have to be the change we want to see in the world (someone wise said that, I think). Sometimes, our frustration is a sign of what we ought to be doing and aren’t.

To learn everything you need to know to start your own online course, check out Course Builder’s Laboratory from my friend Danny Iny. Don’t wait, though. It’s only available for the next week. To learn more, watch the video below.

Have you ever taken an online course? What was your experience? Share in the comments.

Michael Port, a New York Times best-selling author and inspiring speaker, trains anyone with a message to authentically present their best self in each performance of their life.

Often, we overshare in the name of authenticity while complaining that our voice can’t be heard amidst the noise. When we finally get the spotlight, we fall flat on our faces or tremble with fear. The good news is we don’t have to.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Michael and I talk about how to communicate better whether you’re standing on stage, recording a podcast, at a job interview, or presenting to your coworkers.

Listen in as we discuss the hazards of natural communicators and why the gift of gab is a curse.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you are reading this via email, please click here).

You can also listen via iTunes or on Stitcher.

Practice defines performance

When you start writing people may ask you to speak. I gave my first talk after becoming a blogger (because those are the same thing, right?) and thought “I’ll do this once. And if it goes well, I’ll do it again.”

In college I debated and did some stage acting so I felt like there was some performance experience to fall back on in delivering this presentation.

After preparing my slides the night before, I stood on stage and delivered a 90-minute talk that was supposed to fit in an hour slot. Fortunately, I got some laughs and a few people came up to thank me at the end.

However, I went back and watched the video a few months afterwards. It was horrible. It was painful to watch and it went on for way too long. A performance often feels different than it looks in front of people.

One of the things I found most interesting from the conversation with Michael is that a great performer is rarely the most entertaining. It’s good to make your audience laugh, but you have to give them something more.

Show highlights

In this episode, we discuss:

• One of the most powerful, creative tools
• The first principle of performance
• How the greatest performers in the world are the most authentic
• Why the world doesn’t need to see every aspect of your life
• The balance between authenticity and knowing what not to reveal
• Deciding how you want to be known
• One reason public speaking is intimidating to writers
• How to avoid wasting your audience’s time
• The worst way to reduce anxiety during a performance
• What you must do after introducing an idea
• Investing in the rehearsal process
• Getting comfortable with discomfort
• Understanding a bad choice is better than no choice

Quotes and Takeaways

• “What we do today will lead us to where we are tomorrow.” —Michael Port
• “We play roles all the time whether we realize it or not.” —Michael Port
• “Self-expression comes from a deep sense of self-understanding.” —Michael Port
• “Everything we do says something about us.” —Michael Port
• “You can’t be a critic and a performer.” —Michael Port
• “The big idea doesn’t have to be different to make a difference.” —Michael Port

Resources

• Steal the Show by Michael Port
• Seth Godin interview with Brian Koppleman on The Moment
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown

In what role are you trying to steal the show? How can you better prepare for the next performance? Share in the comments.

Art for art’s sake was a creed of the 20th century bohemians, and on the surface, it sounds like a good idea. We should not create work that is function or commercial, the argument goes, but rather because it is a noble pursuit in itself. After all, what creative would confess to wanting to make as much money as possible off her art? That just sounds greedy.

But at the same time, what writer, designer, or musician wants to be irrelevant or ignored? Who really longs for their work to not be discovered? No, what we fear is that in somehow caring about marketing, we might lose the purity of the art. And that’s a valid concern, but not an entirely rational one.

We have, I think, this idea that the more impoverished and unpopular a creative person is, the better their work will be. But that’s a limiting belief. Sure, some artists were poor, but others were rich. Some were social outcasts and others were incredibly charismatic. In other words, there is no such thing as a typical artist.

Today, I hear more and more writers scorning the need to blog or tweet or build an email list. They want to avoid being “self-promotional.” But artists have always had to worry about how get their work to spread. That’s part of the job.

In 1872, George Sand, a French novelist, wrote that the artist has a “duty to find an adequate expression to convey it to as many souls as possible.” To put it more succinctly, art needs an audience.

Money is a means, not a master

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to become a sleazebag to be a successful artist. You don’t have to, as I think we all fear, sell out or starve. There is a middle ground in which you can use money to make art.

Here’s how Elizabeth Hyde Stevens, author of Make Money, Make Art: Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career, says it:

If we examine Henson’s work in earnest, we can find an inextricable quality running through it, a constant that we can rightly call character… Now, Jim Henson was always a willing participant in the marketplace, and as Malcolm Gladwell points out in The Tipping Point, Grover began as an IBM spokesman. Which is certainly true, and Rowlf the Dog did films for corporate meetings. He sold typewriters door-to-door in Henson’s early “meeting films,” a peculiar subgenre of the commercial designed for business-to-business sales pitches. It’s all there on YouTube.

Gladwell argues that “Sesame Street” was an extension of these commercials, but he’s got it the wrong way around. It’s the commercials that embody the ethos of “Sesame Street.” I laughed—forcefully, involuntarily and out loud—at one reel in which a character was shot at point blank because he said he didn’t use the product. Later, I couldn’t even remember the product’s name.

These works are not just making a buck for the buck’s sake. There’s a willfulness in them, a refusal to ever place the market’s demands above one’s own values.

In other words, money makes a better means than a master. Don’t give it too much importance in creative work. Sure, we need money to keep the lights on and buy supplies, but it’s not everything. As Steven Pressfield says, “Money buys you another season to create.” It gives you time, which gives you options.

When you leverage the systems available to you to create enduring work, as Henson did, you create the kind of art that impacts a culture. You join the ranks of those who were able to change the world by being both creative and entrepreneurial.

It’s a challenge, of course, to be both a marketer and an artist, but one that many creatives are taking advantage of today. The opportunity to do creative work that also pays the bills is unprecedented with the access we have to tools and technology those before us have never had.

To ignore this chance would do a disservice to their hard work. And as long as we leverage these tools in a way that doesn’t compromise our character, we honor their legacy.

Which brings us to an important subject: email lists.

3 reasons you should build an email list

It’s an odd transition to go from talking about Muppets to Mailchimp, but artists have always had to figure out how to get heard. And today, we have an incredible tool that many are still misusing or just not using at all.

I believe email marketing is the single best tool for an artist today. It is what TV was to Jim Henson and what movie theaters were to Walt Disney: an opportunity to be heard. My email list is my most important asset and most powerful creative tool (which was I decided to make some important changes to it recently).

So if you want to do creative work for a living and aren’t building an email list, you’re missing out. Here’s why:

1. An email list gives you permission. The hardest part of doing creative work is getting people to want to listen to you in the first place. When someone signs up for your email list, they’re giving you permission to communicate with them. That is incredibly powerful. You don’t have to wonder what people want to hear or if they’re going to censure you. In essence, you can say whatever you want. And if people stick around, you know your message is resonating. If not, they’ll tell you. It takes the guesswork out of figuring out “what the market wants.”
2. An email list gives you attention. Having an email list is like having your very own art museum where you control what work gets shown. It’s the best way to have the most control over who gets to hear what you have to say. You don’t have to worry about playing the political game of appeasing editors and performing for gatekeepers. You are now the gatekeeper. And of course, there is a tremendous amount of responsibility that comes with this, but you never have to worry about not being heard again.
3. An email list makes you money. We all know money isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing either (pardon the double negative). Money gives you freedom. And the verdict is in: the best way to make a living with your words is with an email list.

Of course, there are examples of writers and artists who succeed without an email list. But in my opinion, they are now the exception, not the rule. Having an email list not only gives you permission and attention, it gives you an advantage. You don’t have to wonder if people will listen to you, but when. It takes out all the guesswork.

So why would you even want to try doing creative work with your hands tied when you don’t have to?

For years, I avoided doing this, but when I finally got serious about growing my email list, everything changed. I reached more people, made more money, and got a better idea of what ideas were worth sharing with my audience.

Embracing the power of an email list will change your creative career forever, I promise. That’s why I hosted this free online workshop on list-building with my friend Bryan Harris, who knows more about this stuff than anyone I know. Check it out.

Resources

• Weekend at Kermie’s
• Make Art Make Money
• Why You Should Start Building Your Email List Now
• 5 Ways to Build a Powerful Email List
• Free Email List-building Workshop
• Try Aweber Email Marketing for 30 Days
• Giveaway: James Patterson’s Writing Course

Do you think art needs an audience, or is art for art’s sake enough? Share in the comments.

The Internet provides the means for anyone to write, market, and launch their own book. Anyone who thinks they are a writer can self-publish a mediocre title with relative ease.

People who fool themselves into believing they’ve found a secret hack to writing success are cheating. And in the long run, cheaters never win.

You wouldn’t want a neurosurgeon who cheated off his classmates to operate on you. Nor do you want to read a book written by someone who disrespects the craft.

There are no shortcuts to becoming a writer.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Steven Pressfield, Shawn Coyne and I talk about the Resistance, what it’s like to write a New York Times bestseller, why rejection is healthy, and how we can find meaning and direction in our work as authors.

Listen in as we discuss the origin of The War of Art, why the ease of digital publishing is dangerous, and interesting aspects of the writer-editor relationship.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you are reading this via email, please click here).

You can also listen via iTunes or on Stitcher.

The priceless quality of an incredible editor

The Art of Work, is outperforming all of my previous books combined. The reason is simple. I found a great editor who helped me understand my own ideas with better clarity and context.

I’ve talked before about the key to building your tribe revolving around the concept of finding the “sweet spot”. The intersection of your passion and skill with what the market values.

While writing The Art of Work, I was passionate about the topic and skilled in the concepts. My editor helped me distill the message so it resonated with readers. We make a great team.

One of the things I found most interesting about Steven and Shawn is their authenticity with each other and their audience. They are not afraid to challenge conventional thinking and share their “secrets” with whoever will listen.

“The more we can teach each other… the better we’re going to be inspired to innovate and make better stories.” —Shawn Coyne

Show highlights

In this episode, we discuss:

• The self-destructive nature of writers
• Why an editor is instrumental in crafting a significant book
• How writers self-sabotage their greatest work
• Understanding the tension between what you want to write and what the reader values
• Focusing on a target market and branching out from there
• The genius behind giving away 10,000 copies of your book
• Navigating the tension between showing up for your muse and applying proven formulas
• Why not chasing the New York Times best-seller status is a brilliant move
• Three simple tenants of launching an indie publisher
• The myth of the Internet as a magic tool
• What it means to be a “working writer”
• Making your analytical and creative side work together
• How genre works to manage your audience’s expectations
• Traditional publishing vs self-publishing

Quotes and Takeaways

• ”To learn your craft requires a lot of intense effort.” —Shawn Coyne
• “Tension is part of the fun.” —Shawn Coyne
• “A lot of times you don’t even know who your market is.” — Steven Pressfield
• “I always get up in the morning and grind it out every day.” —Steven Pressfield
• “You have to pay your dues.” —Steven Pressfield
• Failure helps you hone your craft.

Resources

• The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• The Authentic Swing by Steven Pressfield
• The Lion’s Gate by Steven Pressfield
• The Art of Work by Jeff Goins

The first news came several days ago when I received an email from the leader of one of my online mastermind groups, with the subject line: “Brian and his family might be dead.” It was 4:30 in the afternoon. I ignored the email.

That evening, just before my son’s bedtime, I gave in to the nasty habit of checking email when I wasn’t supposed to be working and saw a long string of replies to that first email. That’s weird, I thought. All this for something that was surely a joke.

It wasn’t a joke. Brian and his family were all dead. And sadly, we would soon find out that the cause for what the police called an “apparent murder-suicide” was our friend. Brian killed his family. And then he killed himself.

I knew Brian. Not well, but I had met him before. We chatted about life and business and even shared about our families. He was a nice guy. So how does any of this make sense?

It doesn’t.

A few days later, another member of that same small group of entrepreneurs sent a followup email saying, “The bad news keeps coming: Scott Dinsmore passed away yesterday climbing Kilimanjaro.” This time, I didn’t ignore it. It was true. Scott, another friend from the Internet, had died.

He was on month eight of a year-long, around-the-world adventure with his wife Chelsea. He had just written a blog post announcing he was taking some time to disconnect from technology to be fully present to this adventure he was living.

“Death is still an enemy”

Brian was in his late 40s. Scott was 32. Neither should have died, if you can ever say someone “should” die. And the truth is I don’t know how to process this. I’m feeling a bit numb, I guess, about the whole thing. It doesn’t seem real.

Brian, in the time that I knew him, was always smiling. He was quiet and pensive, more reserved than many members in the group that we both belonged to. To me, he seemed sensitive, like someone would rather listen than talk your ear off. From what I could tell, he was a happy person.

Scott was gregarious. In the words of a friend, he was a “Bro,” a jock who belonged to all the right clubs and sports in high school. But beneath that bravado was someone who was inquisitive and curious and surprisingly humble. He always had more questions than answers. He believed anything was possible and could never wipe that sometimes-ridiculous smile off his face. I liked Scott.

At this point, I am supposed to tell you that some good has come from all this tragedy. But I don’t think that’s fair, and it may not even be true. All too often, I think, we try to glorify death, try to minimize its destructive effects on our lives and pretend that it doesn’t wound us so.

But that is not how you grieve. And that is not how you heal.

I remember once at a funeral, my old pastor was eulogizing his mother-in-law and said the Bible said death was the last enemy to be defeated, “but death is still an enemy.” Those words give me comfort now when I don’t know what I should be feeling. There’s something important, I suppose, in having an antagonist in any great story. It helps you remember that what you’re fighting for is worth the battle. Without an enemy, it’s hard to know what’s really at stake.

The confusion

The first time I experienced death in a very personal way, was when I was a Junior in high school. Doug, one of the most popular kids in my class, suddenly collapsed on the gym floor and died.

We were not close friends, but we had known each other since we were kids. It’s a strange feeling when someone you know dies, especially when that someone seems untouchable, a person to whom nothing bad could ever happen. That was Doug. Tall and blonde and always dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch with his hair perfectly styled, he was who every girl wanted and who every guy wanted to be.

When he died, my friends and I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t celebrate his death as some who had their own wounds to deal with, did And we didn’t spend days crying uncontrollably or sulking through the halls of the school, as his friends understandably did. We were caught somewhere in the middle. We knew this death mattered, but we didn’t know what to do with it.

And that’s often the worst part of grief: the confusion.

We weren’t going to pretend we knew Doug better than we did. That seemed dishonest. But neither could we just go on with life as if nothing had happened. We knew something did. And it was weighing on us, even if we weren’t quite sure what “it” was.

So we went bowling. Just to get out of the house, we’d call up several people and go bowl two or three games, eat nachos, and hang out. We didn’t talk about Doug, didn’t talk about much at all, and certainly didn’t try to comfort one another. We just stayed in each other’s company, which may be the greatest comfort of all.

Years later, I would learn of the ancient rite of shiva, a Jewish custom in which the members of a community sit together with those who are grieving. The point, as far as I understand it, is not to say nice things about someone you didn’t know, eat a casserole, and leave before you miss the evening news. It’s to be together. For a full week, your family and friends sit with you.

That’s what we, a group of nominal Protestants, were doing in the bowling alley three times a week. We were sitting shiva.

The clarity

Some time around then, another person I knew died. It was an old friend’s brother. He died in a horrible car accident, and the rumor around town was drugs were involved. A month or so later, the second of three brothers took his own life. The family was devastated.

My friend and I were no longer close, so it felt weird when my dad suggested we walk across town to give our condolences. I didn’t want to go. “That’s just what you do,” he said. When we knocked on the door, I wasn’t sure what we would say. How could we comfort this woman who had experienced such profound loss?

As my friend’s mom opened the door, my dad started talking from somewhere inside him I didn’t know existed. The piece of the monologue that I will never forget was:

You know, God is our Father. And when one of his children dies, it grieves him. He is grieving with us.

It wasn’t preachy or condemning or anything like that. The woman nodded and said thank-you, and we turned around and walked home. And that was it. I don’t remember us attending church in those days, but I do remember never having felt more proud of my dad.

When someone we know dies, we want to try to understand why, and that desire can create a lot of confusion. But there is a comfort in knowing that when you lose someone, in spite of what you feel, you are not alone.

For me, it helps to remember that death is an enemy, and that every great story has one. But that does not make death great or even good. Of course, there are some who will try to explain away the sadness with pictures of loved ones “looking down on us as angels from above.” And that may or may not be true.

But death is still an enemy.

There are others who would convinced us that we are all just soup and these silly emotions we feel when someone transitions from one state of being to another is our un-evolved consciousness playing tricks on us. And that may or may not be true. But death is still an enemy.

Recently, I reread a book from my childhood called The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. The book is about a bridge that collapses in Peru in the 18th Century, randomly killing five people. The tragedy is witnessed by a monk who was just about to step out onto the bridge and is left wondering, as we all tend to do when bad things happen: Was there some purpose behind this, or was it all an accident?

The truth is always more complicated. The narrator concludes:

But soon we shall die and all memory of these five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

Last night, I heard that TED.com decided to feature Scott Dinsmore’s talk on finding work you love on their homepage later this week. This was a dream of Scott’s and the result of his fans petitioning in light of his untimely death. So I suppose you could say that good things do come from bad and that life can spring from death. But I wish you could have one without the other.

More on grief

• Scott Dinsmore I will Miss You Forever
• Scott Dinsmore, I Miss You Deeply
• Two Good Friends
• When an Internet Friend Dies

Photo Credit: virtualwayfarer via Compfight cc

Emailing you whenever I want helps me. It gets me in your inbox more often, allows me to express myself more frequently, and lets me sell you things. None of those are necessarily bad reasons, but they aren’t very compelling, are they?

So I’m changing everything. And here are my promises to you:

• I will respect your permission and try to share useful content. Once a week, I’ll send a newsletter of the latest from me. And whenever I have really big news (like a new course, free webinar, a book), I’ll send more than one weekly email.
• I will spend an entire week writing my best content and deliver it to you every Monday along with other useful links and resources. My goal will be fewer, better messages.
• I will give my best to the community and try to give more than I take as much as possible.

All of this is subject to change, of course, but I promise to tell you before I make any changes. I’m going to continue to blog when I have something to say (probably 2-3 times per week), but I’m also going to spend more time writing for other blogs and magazines, as that was how I got my start.

Getting back to my roots

This really goes back to my roots of blogging. I launched this blog, creating content for it every day for an entire year. Halfway through the first year, I started an email list. Since I was already writing seven blog posts a week, I wondered what value I could add to a newsletter.

So every Sunday morning, I’d wake up early and write an original thought on writing, influence, or creativity that I’d share with the tribe. People loved it. But as I became a dad and life got busier (and I got better about boundaries on the weekend), I decided to streamline everything. I stopped blogging as much and started sending an email newsletter with the blog post to everyone.

Suddenly, some weekly subscribers were getting three emails per week. I did this, quite frankly, because I had no margin to write a newsletter on a Sunday morning. Since so many wanted links to my newsletters, it just made sense to blog it.

But the Internet changed, and people are now busier than ever. And unless you’re a news site (or Seth Godin), it’s hard to get away with sending an email to your list every day. Of course, some people are doing this, and that’s fine. I’ve heard quite clearly from my readers than anything more than twice a week sounds like noise.

So I’m listening and taking action.

Content isn’t king (the audience is)

When I tested this idea with some readers on Twitter just to see what they thought, I didn’t hear any objections. There was nobody saying, “I want you to send me more email.” Some were saying twice a week and some said once, but nobody said, “You’re sending me three emails, but I’d love eight.”

Nobody. That spoke to me.

So I decided to change everything, because I couldn’t find a good reason to not at least try it. And the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. What if sending fewer emails gave me more time to create higher quality content? What if it allowed me to connect at a deeper level with my tribe? What if this bought me some margin to work on my next book?

Giving myself permission to break this unspoken rule started to excite me. And in that respect, I think it’s a win/win. But honestly, even if it was just a win for you, the reader, that’s reason enough to do it. Often, I think marketers get selfish about the way they interface with their audience, without acknowledging that they are in this very position because of their audience. That seems wrong.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not a doormat, and I do have boundaries. I can’t promise I’ll reply to every email or read every 50,000-word manuscript people send me. But I got into a bad habit of making decisions without first considering what effect they would have on my audience.

Now, I’m trying to get back to the center.

Three core values of this community

Along those lines, I’ve chosen three core values that will guide this blog and community moving forward. They are:

1. Connection over interruption. Every time I send an email or post content, I’ll ask myself, “Do I have the right to share this? Does this help connect readers with something that helps them?” If not, I won’t share it.
2. Quality over frequency. Instead of running my mouth every time I have something to say, I pledge to only publish my best work when it is both interesting and helpful.
3. Impact over profit. In any business, there are always more opportunities to maximize profit. But that’s never been very motivating to me. So I’m recalibrating my business to focus more on the people that run it (i.e. my team) and make it possible to continue (the community, i.e. you).

Personally, I plan to model these myself. But I hope that you, as a member of this community, will consider joining me. I’m excited about the opportunities to invest more time into creating video content, writing elsewhere, and doing other fun things.

If this resonates, maybe you should consider changing something that you thought could never change. This isn’t just a nice idea. It’s a smarter way to market your work. I’m convinced of it. And maybe it’s a smart move for you, too, if you’re in the business of building an audience.

My hypothesis is this will increase open rates, increase trust with readers, and decrease the amount unsubscribes. But those reasons aside, it feels like I’m taking better care of my community, which is a reward in itself.

Free resources and giveaways

• If you haven’t downloaded my eBook, “The Beginner’s Guide to Building an Audience” you should get it. It will get you started on your journey of earning the attention your work deserves.
• This week, I’m giving away a Kindle HDX (thanks to BookGrabbr).
• If you’re looking to get started with an email marketing platform, check out my guide to building an email list. I also recommend using Aweber to manage your email lists and contacts.

You can also listen to the audio version of this post or find it on iTunes.

What change could you make to focus on building connection and community? Share in the comments.

You are not stuck on an assembly line. You have varied interests, talents, education, and skills. The trick is to find where a few key elements intersect and empower you to become more than a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of some.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Andy and I talk about the resurgence of polymaths and what it means for creatives. Listen in as we discuss why every entrepreneur ought to think like a polymath.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you are reading this via email, please click here).

You can also listen via iTunes or on Stitcher.

Follow what fascinates you

If you’re finding yourself struggling with mastering one skill, you may need to develop a few complementary skills. There are opportunity costs in tackling three things versus one thing every day. But if you pick the right few things to do, the results far outweigh the costs.

I am a writer who uses technology and business to spread ideas. Those three areas: creativity, technology, and business, work together to establish the portfolio life not unlike the polymaths of the Renaissance.

Technology (and marketing) take the form of blogging, and social media, and podcasting. The business side involves making things sustainable so that I can make a living and enjoy the freedom to be more creative, write books, and try new things.

I’m not a master of these skills, but their combination creates something unique from what other people do, which causes the work to stand out.

There are complementary areas of interests that can strengthen your existing skills if only you just give yourself permission to do more than one thing.

You might just find that you end up doing that one thing much better when you begin borrowing from other disciplines.

Show highlights

In this episode, Andy and I discuss:

• Redefining mastery and how your craft is not just one thing
• Why mastering a solitary skill is outdated
• The forgotten versatility of Leonardo da Vinci
• What it means to be a polymath
• Fearing the challenge of multiplying mastery
• A secret of “full-time” writers
• Discovering a hidden energy in task switching
• What the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have in common with a rich and influential family of bankers
• A new area of skill I want to explore

Quotes and Takeaways

• Give yourself permission to do more than one thing.
• Complementary areas of interest can strengthen your existing skill set.
• Follow what fascinates you within self-imposed limitations.
• Forget about mastery. Widen your reach.
• When you are unique, you give people something to talk about.

Resources

• The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson
• Business Brilliant by Lewis Schiff
• Designing Your Own Apprenticeship: How to Build a Team of Mentors

I love that. She’s given up on the veneer of a life captured on Instagram and rejected the promise of fulfillment a city can bring. Instead, she’s embracing the life she has to live right now and discovering some extraordinary lessons in the process.

For some reason, I couldn’t help but think about my recent post on Medium on networks and how Hemingway’s move to Paris changed his life and career. But for every Hemingway in Paris, there’s a Bronte in rural Haworth.

As I’ve said before, creative success does not happen in isolation. So what network did the Bronte sisters have access to, living in rural England in the 1850s? Certainly not the host of influential artists and authors Hemingway had in Paris in the 1920s. What was the team of mentors that led to their inarguable contribution to the world of literature? Who did they have?

Well, they had each other. And in light of my friend’s book, I am left wondering:

The other weekend, I hosted a conference of 150 people from all over who had come together to learn how to build an audience around their messages. At the conference, we kept bringing up the metaphor of the “table.” For us, this meant the place where life is shared and lives are changed. We had people sit at round tables and told them to discuss each speech delivered from stage, sharing what they learned and helping one another apply the lessons.

One takeaway was the table you’re called to may not be a new network. Often, the place where breakthrough happens is the place you find yourself in right now. And that little idea changes everything.

Accidental apprenticeships

In the Middle Ages, we had a different way of getting experience and gaining access to networks.

Under the apprenticeship system, a person worked for free in exchange for an education. The student often lived in the same house as the teacher. This was the way a person became a professional — it was a totally immersive process — and it began as early as age twelve.

After completing the first stage of apprenticeship, the student, now called a “journeyman,” could venture out and travel to other cities for work. What a journeyman could not do, though, was take on apprentices. That right was reserved only for masters.

In many ways, a journeyman was still a student, though now able to be paid. To be a journeyman meant applying the techniques your teacher had passed down to see if they worked in the real world. It was a test, to see if you had what it took.

There was a certain amount of restlessness to being a journeyman. After a season of wandering, you had to submit a master work to the local guild and if they found it worthy, you were accepted in the guild, becoming a master. If not, you might have to wander forever.

How long do you think this process of apprenticeship took? How long to learn a new trade, practice it, and eventually earn the right to teach others?

A far cry from the modern two-month internship today, an apprenticeship took at least ten years. It was an excellent way of learning a skill under the guidance of someone wiser and more experienced. But in modern times, this ancient art of diving deep into a craft has but disappeared.

Now, the responsibility for reaching your potential is up to you.

This is more than a challenge; it’s a cruel taunt. Pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps can only take us so far, and despite what we’ve heard, there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. We are all products of our environment, influenced by the people we encounter and the places we live. In other words, we need help. So how do we find it?

Finding your calling will not happen without the aid and assistance of others. Every story of success is, in fact, a story of community. Some people will help you willingly, while others may contribute to your education on accident. But if you are wise, you can use it all.

This is what I call an “accidental apprenticeship.” Here’s how it works.

Designing your own apprenticeship

Three years ago, three people I barely knew got together and decided they wanted to start a mastermind group. Each asked three other people, and that’s how the twelve of us started getting to meet every week. We’ve been doing it ever since.

Honestly, this was not the table I hoped to be invited to. I didn’t even know it existed. But this group has been the source of my greatest professional and personal growth in the past decade. Finding your own network may lead to a similar breakthrough. Just remember these three steps:

1. Decide what you want to learn. Try to get as specific as possible. Listen to your life and pay attention to what it says. Once you get clear on this, share it with people you know so that you can get connected to others who want similar things.
2. Identify a community you can learn from. Don’t look for a single mentor; look for a group of them. Most mentoring is not between individuals but amongst peers. Even in the Middle Ages, this was often the case. In the studio of a master, there were sometimes a dozen students all working together under the tutelage of a teacher but also learning from each other.
3. Use the collective resources of the group to help everyone reach their goals. If the group is not already meeting together, then it’s your job to call them together. Help everyone understand what each individual brings to the table and encourage them to share their talents.

This was what the Bronte sisters did for each other. They didn’t have access to the world’s greatest writing teachers, so they became the network they needed. They created their own group of mentors that would help them succeed, writing stories as little girls and sharing them with one another.

I think the lesson here is obvious: Don’t neglect the opportunity you have to create the network you need with the people who are already around you.

Don’t miss where you are right now

At the Tribe Conference, when we were saying goodbyes on the last day, I was happy to see people who sat together all weekend exchanging phone numbers and email addresses. They got it. Community creates opportunity. And if that’s true, then one of the best things we can do is create more communities.

Sometimes, I think, we get the wrong idea when we see people who succeed because of their network. We think the largest groups with access to the most important people are where growth happens. But often, success is the result of everyday effort multiplied by a small group of people.

We forget that when Hemingway went to Paris, the world didn’t yet know who Gertrude Stein or Ezra Pound was. James Joyce was only beginning his literary career. And Paris was just a cheap place to live.

When you think about your Paris, that place where your greatest growth happens, try to remind yourself that these places can happen anywhere — in the hustle and bustle of 1920s Paris, the rural farmland of 1850s England, and all points in between.

And as you consider who should be sitting at your table, that small group of people who will transform your life, remember these people do not have to be famous. They just have to be committed. What makes a group special is not the prestige of any single member but the collective wisdom it shares. This is where that old quote by Margaret Mead still rings true:

When we gather around any given table, we create community. And we can always squeeze in one more chair. If you don’t have a seat yet, then you just might be the one who is supposed to call everyone together.

In case you missed our little gathering, here are some snapshots as told by the attendees themselves:

• Sketchnotes from Tribe Conference 2015 by Matt Ragland
• Tribe Conference by Ashley Espinoza
• Masters in the Art of Caring by Jo Higgins Michael
• Why I Left Tribe Conference in Tears by Haley McManigal
• The Story of How I Got What I Wanted: A Seat at the Table by Brianna Lamberson
• Where I’m From by Kate Spears
• Find Your Tribe by Jeff & Julia Woods
• I Went to a Writing Conference and I Left a Better Parent by Sarah Connatser
• A Journey to Be! by Kathy Burrus
• I Survived the Tribe Conference of 2015 by David Villalva
• Claiming Your Power as a Writer by Sonia Simone
• The Transformative Effect of a Well-Built Brand Statement by Pamela Wilson

Resources

• To read more about the Bronte sisters and how they helped each other become great writers, check out Bounce by Matthew Syed.
• To learn more about accidental apprenticeships and how they work practically, listen to this podcast I did on apprenticeship.
• To learn how to create your own mastermind group, listen to this podcast.

What’s one thing that you could do today to start creating the kind of community you need? Share in the comments.

It all comes down to people. By hiring the right people, Disney establishes a strong foundation of talented, passionate people who deliver a signature experience for their visitors. But a slow, intentional hiring process is only the beginning. There’s still training, culture creation, and taking risks.

Our guest today was the mastermind behind all of that for many, many years.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Lee Cockerell and I talk about his journey from working as a banquet waiter to ending his career as the Head of Operations for Disney theme parks in the U.S. Listen in as we talk about how Lee used a positive attitude and self-discipline to move forward in life.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you are reading this via email, please click here).

You can also listen via iTunes or on Stitcher.

Clarity is everything

Any parent knows the frustration of repeating yourself to your kids. Everything from cleaning their room, to remembering to flush the toilet, to keeping their elbows off the table. Retention requires repetition.

However, if your communication isn’t clear it doesn’t matter how often you repeat yourself. The same thing applies to our work.

At Disney theme parks you rarely see a confused guest. There are maps, signs, and cast members everywhere. Each attraction is clearly marked and guests know where to find food and fun. Clarity is key.

Show highlights

In this episode, Lee and I discuss:

• Starting a new job with zero experience
• Launching a Disney Park in Paris without speaking French
• The immeasurable benefits of traveling and living abroad
• How changing your environment leads to person growth
• Two essential characteristics of versatility
• The detrimental impact of a bad attitude
• Cultivating discipline as a competitive advantage
• Creating a legacy of character
• The positive correlation between hard work and satisfaction
• Avoiding survival mode and the fear of getting stuck
• An integral key to forging a successful career path
• The courage to step up and take the risks
• Intentionally spending time on activities that provide value
• Three truths to unlocking time management magic
• Big struggles of time management for teams
• Clarity as the secret sauce

Quotes and Takeaways

• ”Do the hard things. It will make life easier for you.” —Lee Cockerell
• “You don’t realize how much you don’t know until you get into a new situation” —Lee Cockerell
• “If you have a good attitude and you’re organized, you can get by for a long time” —Lee Cockerell
• “Learn to have resilience, be organized, and keep your promises.” —Lee Cockerell
• “A life without risks is a shame. The fun is out there on the edge.” —Lee Cockerell
• “Be a person who doesn’t have to know everything.” —Lee Cockerell
• “Manage like a mother. They’re tough, but they’re looking out for you.” —Lee Cockerell

Resources

• Creating Disney Magic podcast with Lee Cockerell and Jody Maberry
• Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney by Lee Cockerell
• The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service by Lee Cockerell
• Time Management Magic: How To Get More Done Every Day And Move From Surviving To Thriving by Lee Cockerell
• Thrive15.com (Use promo code “magic” for 30 days free)