One of the most difficult things for a group of people to do is to change and move forward. 

You’re the kind of person that wants to see legitimate growth and advancement, but you’re probably stuck wondering how because none of those ice-breakers or programs are getting you anywhere with your team. If you want to boost morale and inspire change, you’ve got to do things differently.

When people have been thinking and doing things for a long period of time, it becomes habit and the critical thinking skills get turned off. To start the growth process, you need to learn to cultivate those critical thinking skills in your people.

It can sure feel easy to remain the same, but the reality is that the cost of remaining the same is far more than the cost of change. You don’t see AT&T manufacturing rotary phones anymore, do you?

We all can have the tendency to slip into the monotony of just going through the motions, but especially if you are leading a group of people, the responsibility falls on you to help get these people going! The overall mood of a group  will drag in the mud when the routine is the same and the expectations are either too low or too high.

So how do you go about fixing this problem?

Here are four simple ways to improve the morale of your organization and help them to advance forward.

Part of the problem that many companies and leaders run into is that they are too often run like a dictatorship, not a team. The only people building pyramids are slaves and the only ones inside of them are dead.

If you want real, healthy people on your team, you need to be able to loosen that iron grip and give your people the freedom to question everything that doesn’t directly conflict with your vision or your core values.

Encourage your people to ask good questions and demonstrate integrity by actually answering them to the best of your ability.

You do everyone a disservice by trying to answer a question you don’t really know the answer to.

If you don’t know the answer, be honest and say so. Not only will your team respect you for your honesty, but they will also view you as someone who has enough integrity to admit that they don’t know everything. Nobody likes fakery — so just be real with your team and let them poke at those well-guarded traditions of yours.

Doing this is often uncomfortable for leaders, but it is one of the most valuable and vital practices to jump start the process of legitimate growth.

If letting your team question you and your methods didn’t make you uncomfortable, this one almost certainly will.

One of the main issues that companies run into is that there is a glaring lack of differing perspectives.

This is often due to the fact that any kind of critical thinking is discouraged and replaced with routine and the ‘assembly line’ mentality. You can remedy a good deal of this by letting your employees ask you questions about why you do things the way you do them, what your vision is, etc.

But more importantly, you can address even more of it by you being the one asking the questions:

• “What do you think of the direction our company/group/church/business is going?”
• “Have you had any ideas on how we could improve x, y, or z?”
• “If you could change anything about this company/group/church/business, what would it be and why?”
• “Do you actually enjoy working with this company/group/church/business? Why or why not?
• “What would you like to see happen here over the next 6 months? The next year?”

Once you’ve asked your team what their thoughts are, take note of their answers and do your best to evaluate them with your leadership team and apply the ones that align with your business goals. 

Don’t write anything off - you never know when an off-the-wall idea from the janitor in February might save you millions in October.

Learning to give your people the grace to mess up is one of the most empowering and encouraging things you can do for them. Not only will they view you as someone who is empathetic and legitimately cares for their well-being and success, but it will also help you view other situations in your life through the lens of extending people the benefit of the doubt.

As you give that grace to others, you can expect them to do the same for you. Part of giving grace for mistakes is also giving your team a safe environment to work in. 

This is absolutely vital to facilitate lasting change.

When people are in a safe environment that demonstrates forgiveness for the mistakes that will surely be made along the way, they will be more prone to think creatively and critically about how to solve problems.

Their minds will be less bogged down with fear of failure and will thrive instead as they have the freedom to experiment, grow, and learn.

Let yourself become known as someone who is well able to look past mistakes and extends a helping hand to those who need it, rather than one who condemns every slip-up and looks down upon those who aren’t measuring up.

It will dramatically improve not only morale but also the quality and quantity of the work produced.

Lastly, as you endeavor to bring about legitimate and lasting change for the future, you’ll need to paint a long term, positive vision to show your people where it is that you want to go. More importantly than just casting that vision, however, is taking action.

There is so much talk and hype that takes place in every sphere of society, but it is the ones who actually follow through on what they have promised that really get the job done and see legitimate change take place.

When you share your vision with your clients, your company, or your group, make sure to be as detailed as possible…paint a picture with your words and if you can, draw or design mockups of the new product you want to develop and post them up in highly visible areas as you begin the process of implementing the changes.

By putting the goal in front of you and your group in a visual way, it affords you all the opportunity to envision the success that you have planned.

It has often and rightly been said, “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit your mark”.

Same principle here.

Show them where you want to go, and work together with those on your team by tapping into their strengths and outsource anything that you cannot do quickly and efficiently.

Do these few things and do them well, and you are right on the road to seeing the overall morale of your team improve and the desired changes you want to bring about unfold before your eyes.

(Last but not least, special thanks for the cartoon hilarity provided by Dan Piraro, Wayno, & Bizarro Comics)

When you are working on building anything on your own or trying to form new, better habits, it is imperative to keep in mind that great things are not done suddenly or by accident.

They’re done one step at a time, and they are done on purpose.

Jim Rohn once said, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

“Success” is not an accidental occurrence.

“Overnight success” is a complete myth.

Behind every artist or entrepreneur or business that you look up to is a well-trodden path of struggle, trial and error, discipline, focus, years and years of obscurity, and work.

You will arrive at your goals only when you become intentional about doing as such and have so organized your life and your focus that achieving them becomes inevitable.

We designed this poster a number of years ago and have had it hanging up in our office as a constant reminder that this is about discipline and focus first, long before it is about “feeling” inspired.

It is a constant reminder that “success” at any level is always about putting in the work and the discipline required to get it done.

Inspiration usually arrives when you show up, sit down and get to work.

There are highs, there are lows, and there are plateaus.

Most of the journey will often feel like the plateau…where you feel like you’re not getting anywhere.

Those are the moments that are the most important - because it’s where you learn that it’s not about the highs or the lows as much as it’s about learning to enjoy the process and getting better at your craft.

(For more on this particular bit, make sure to check out Mastery by George Leonard.)

It’s where you learn to lean in and do your art - whatever that is for you - for the sake of doing your art.

It’s where the rubber meets the road and you discover what you actually are doing all of this for in the first place.

It’s where you have to put in the work to remind yourself why you first got started on that album, or that book, or that campaign, or that painting, or that dissertation, or that research project.

It’s where you have to be one to remind yourself what is really important to you instead of looking for a quick fix or a microwave solution.

In order to see the kinds of results that you currently might only be dreaming about, you’ve got to put in the work and you’ve got to do so in a way that coincides with regular, intentional periods of rest.

You can make it easier on yourself by recognizing that it is the discipline of showing up day in and day out that gives you the strength to handle the success that you are working towards.

It might not feel glamorous (…in fact, I can all but guarantee that it will NOT feel glamorous) – but you will be able to look behind you as time goes on and say to yourself, “Wow - look at all that I’ve built and created and the connections I’ve made in the process.”

So don’t quit just because it might feel like you’re not getting anywhere.

The journey is the point…one step, one brush stroke, one word, one customer at a time.

Enjoy the ride.

What I’m Reading:

I read George Leonard’s book Mastery about a year ago and have been revisiting the concepts in it a good bit recently. He talks at length about how our collective addiction to climactic moments of triumph and success do great damage to the cultivation of our own skills, our environment, and our society…and more importantly, how to remedy it.

You can pick up a copy of the book here.

Thanks for reading - we hope this has inspired you and encouraged you to keep creating.

We regularly put out content to help creators and business owners learn better ways to bring their art and ideas into the world.

Feel free to subscribe below and we’ll be in touch soon.

Have an awesome day and keep making cool stuff!

We all have days where we just aren’t feeling like doing much of anything.

On those days, I find it’s usually best to make it a point to do something fun and relaxing.

You know, instead of trying to force yourself to power through things that you’re having a really difficult time focusing on.

Don’t just sit and stare at a screen when you feel like you simply can’t write.

Don’t just stare blankly at an empty canvas and continue to get frustrated with yourself.

It isn’t worth it.

More and more research continues to show that if you want to live a long, full and successful creative career that one of the best things you can do for yourself is learn how to rest effectively.

Change the scenery - go for a walk - do something you enjoy.

Even a fifteen minute breather from staring at that paperwork or your tax returns or your bank account or your project will do you a world of good when you’re in a creative slump.

This isn’t about looking for inspiration - it isn’t about procrastinating - it’s about learning to work with your natural rhythms and the creative process.

Our subconscious minds are constantly working in the background looking for solutions to problems we are facing.

How many times have you actually solved a problem that you’ve been struggling with by continuing to just try and force the answer to come to you?

Probably not that many.

I know for me anyway, the answers that I am usually seeking will arrive in a sort of “a-ha!” moment when I am doing something else.

(This is one of the reasons that I always keep something to write with nearby - or apps on my phone that make it easy for me to record ideas when they show up in an organized matter. Evernote is one great option.)

Sometimes the best thing you can do to fix the problems you are facing is to take a break and remind yourself that we work to live - we don’t live to work.

Give yourself the grace to take yourself and your work less seriously. 

You likely will find that the quality and quantity of what you make will improve dramatically when you are intentional not just about the work that you do…but the rest that you take as you do it.

What I’m Reading:

I have been reading Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less recently and cannot recommend it enough for those of you who run any kind of creative business or are at any level are interested in “doing your own thing”.

The insights in it are invaluable and very timely.

You can pick up a copy of the new paperback here and connect with Alex at his website.

Thanks for reading - we hope this has inspired you and encouraged you to keep creating.

We regularly put out content to help creators and business owners learn better ways to bring their art and ideas into the world.

Feel free to subscribe below and we’ll be in touch soon.

Have an awesome day and keep making cool stuff!

First things first:
If you don’t even try to reach out to people that you look up to, you’ll never know what could come of it.

Bizarro is one of the most popular comic-strips of all time and Dan’s work (along with Gary Larson of “The Far Side”) was a huge inspiration for me as a kid.

It blew my mind that someone who was drawing goofy cartoons that poked fun at our society was making some kind of a living with their art - let alone as wide-spread as Bizarro. 

Fun fact - as of January of 2018, Dan has been doing Bizarro comics 7 days-a-week for 33 years. His work is in over a dozen different countries and over 350 newspapers!

If you do any kind of “creative” work, I am sure you probably thought the same thing I did: “That’s MINDBLOWING.”

It shows the power of the focused, intentional discipline that is often required to sustain any kind of “creative” career.

(The ‘discipline’ aspect of this stuff is the part that not many people like to talk about because very few like to hear that this stuff is work - but all those thousands of hours of practice really do add up after a while!)

First, I’d like to share the process I used to make this interview happen - because I find that a lot of artists and entrepreneurs are afraid to reach out to people that they perceive to be more “successful” than them.

I have also found that very often, those who have been doing creative work for any length of time are almost always more than willing to share with you from their wisdom and years of experience if you are genuinely interested in pursuing a similar career of mastering something that is currently just a hobby.

You’ve just got to get over your fear of reaching out to them and the worry you have about feeling/looking stupid if they say no, don’t respond, etc.

(As an aside, here’s a good post from Seth Godin on this issue if you’re interested)

I’ve also found that it often pays off to get a little creative and have some fun with the way you reach out to people who are much busier and “more successful” than you.

For example, below is the image I sent to Dan when reaching out to him for the first time about doing this interview.

I had done a pencil & pen sketch of the above cartoon in some of my random creative time and thought it would be fun to digitize and mix with the comic-strip look since Bizarro is syndicated in so many newspapers.

Could I have gone with a traditional message or an e-mail? Sure.

But that would be boring and would likely get lost in a sea of other messages and requests - especially since people are so busy these days. The thing is, it doesn’t take a whole lot of special effort to get someone’s attention if you put in a little bit more creative thinking than the average Joe or Jill.

Below is the sketch it started with. You should note that I drew this on January 8th of 2017 - which means this blog post you’re reading now is over a year in the making.

(Could I have gotten it out sooner? Sure. But life happens sometimes and one of the biggest things I can encourage you with is to give your creative ideas time to “simmer” if they need to)

I am a big believer in creating win-win opportunities and making it easy for those I want to connect with to participate in projects I’m working on.

In this case, all Dan had to do was answer a few questions in any spare time that he had - and I made sure to let him know that if he didn’t want to answer any of the questions that it was no big deal.

Within a few days after sending the image above, Dan had asked me to send over the interview questions.

It’s taken me a little while to get this interview published, but I wanted to share with you a bit of background before getting to the interview itself.

Let this inspire you to not think small when it comes to who you want to work with…especially when it pertains to those who inspire you!

Below is the interview where Dan talks about how he discovered his unique style / voice as an artist and his advice for other artists and “creative types” who want to challenge the status quo and make a living with their art.

It never ceases to amaze me the opportunities that can be created if you’re just willing to go a little bit further than everybody else.

Enjoy the interview!

DAN:

As a young college dropout (after one semester) I began looking for ways to make a living as an artist. I wanted to be a painter but didn’t know how to turn that into enough money to live on so I fell into commercial illustration.

That was lucrative but I disliked it intensely. After a few years of it, I stumbled upon the idea of being a cartoonist. I was already creating cartoons to amuse myself, and my friends and coworkers liked what I was doing so I began sending my scribbles off to newspaper syndicates in hopes of getting a contract.

After a couple of years of mailing stuff out every few months, in 1985 I got a contract with Chronicle Features, a small syndicate that is no longer in business.

I was thrilled to get signed but profoundly disappointed by two things:

1. How little money there is in a syndicated cartoon feature until you have a LOT of client newspapers.

2. How long it takes to build up a decent list. (Usually quite a few years.)

So suddenly I had a full time job in advertising that I hated and a full time job writing and drawing seven cartoons a week in my spare time that wasn’t making enough money to even pay my electric bill each month.

I was working my ass off and barely getting by.

Back to your original question, I look back at my early work and honestly wonder how I got syndicated and what people saw in it.

To my mind, the first couple of years of Bizarro were half-assed jokes badly drawn. And yet, somehow I was fortunate enough to garner some regular readers and stay in the few papers I had until I could build a more lucrative client list.

Around year three I began to hit a better stride with my artwork and I can see a marked improvement. Over the long haul, I also began to better understand how to write and draw funnier, and I think I continue to improve in both of those areas.

I guess the key is that I’ve never been satisfied enough with my work to “phone it in” so I continue to improve, and that’s the important part to me.

In other art forms, I’ve created a few oil paintings that I’m very proud of but haven’t painted enough in my life to really hit my stride and find out who I am as a painter. I just don’t have the time.

I hope to do that in the next few years as I transition toward retiring from syndication and becoming a full time fine artist.

DAN:

In the olden days, newspaper cartoonists had to worry about offending their readers so unless they were editorial cartoonists, most felt is was better to keep their opinions to themselves.

I’ve never been very good at that and have lost a lot of readers with my political and social opinions, but fortunately, the market has changed.

Either way…

I personally think the best creators of any kind of art (music, literature, drama, cartoons, etc.) are those who share themselves honestly and courageously and don’t try to do what they think will be popular or acceptable. 

A word of warning: 

You will get hate mail, so you have to develop a thick skin to the insults of strangers.

DAN:

Good luck. Making a living from the arts is one of the hardest things to achieve, so don’t get your hopes up.

Instead of angling for money, create things you love and enjoy the process without a lot of attachment to the end result.

If your work is fresh and honest, you might get lucky, find an audience, and make some money from it someday.

In the meantime, you’ll need a job that doesn’t make you want to kill yourself every Monday morning.

DAN:

These days the first thing I do when I wake up each morning is fight off the dread I feel about the unbelievable insanity of a Trump presidency.

And I’m not exaggerating.

I truly wish that were not the first thing on my mind each day, but it is.

Next, I summon the courage to get out of bed and go to my studio where I drink a hot beverage and try to write gags.

First thing in the morning is the only time I can write new material. After that I read emails, surf the web for news stories that interest me, that sort of thing.

I spend the rest of the day actually creating the art for my next set of comics.

DAN:

I’m working toward finding a way to monetize my 32-years-worth of cartoons so I can retire from the 365-new-ideas-per-year grind of syndication and spend what time I have left on fine art.

But that’s not what you had in mind when you asked that question.

I recently published a book of what I think is pretty wonderful art under the guise of it being a coloring book for adults.

Even if you don’t want to color it, I’m confident anyone who likes surrealism or cartoons will get a lot out of every page.

I really poured myself into it.

You can get it pretty much anywhere books are sold online or off but here’s a link.

Thanks for reading this interview - we hope that it has inspired you and that you’ve gleaned some wisdom from Dan’s many years of experience in the creative field.

We regularly put out content to help creators and aspiring creators learn better ways to bring their art into the world.

Feel free to subscribe below and we’ll be in touch soon.

Have an awesome day and keep creating!

To create something of any kind can often feel much like the task of a brave knight choosing to face down the dragon that stands between him and his prize.

The dragon taunts the knight, whispering in a voice that only he can usually hear, and somehow…somehow…that damned dragon knows exactly what the knight’s greatest weakness is.

It usually boils down to the ever-familiar impostor syndrome - that nagging feeling of “Who do I think I am?”

The dragon uses it against him, of course. It tells him that he will never accomplish that which he has set his heart upon, or that he will never defeat the monstrosity that stands before him.

…but every now and then, something rises up within the heart of the knight. Something causes him to march onward despite that resistance.

He lifts his sword in defiance of the beast before him and makes a decision that defines him.

He decides to face his greatest fear and charge to meet it head on.

He sets his heart to the task of slaying that which has vanquished many before him and relegated them into shadows of who they were born to be.

And as he raises his weapon of choice to end the tyranny of the creature that stands between him and victory, a million thoughts fly through his head:

“What if I don’t succeed?”

“Will I survive this encounter?”

“Where will I end up if I fail?”

“Will my loved ones be hurt if I fail?”

“What will happen to them if I succeed?”

“Am I a fool for even thinking I could accomplish this?”

“So many have tried and failed before me - who do I think I am?“

It is the answer to that last question that makes all the difference.

In any creative endeavor, one question should permeate all that you are setting yourself out to do:

“Who do I think I am?”

The way that you answer that question will define the very essence of everything you create.

Do you just believe yourself to be just another average person, trying to fit in with the status quo?

Then you will never create anything beyond average.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

Do you see someone who is the sum total of your past failures?

Or do you see someone who has learned the art of forgiving yourself?

To create is to release into the world a reflection of who we think ourselves to be and the way that we perceive the world around us.

Whether that is a rant on social media, a beautiful piece of art, or a song that we decide to compose, these things all would not exist without the willingness of the creator to slay the dragon of uncertainty that says, “You can’t do this - who do you think you are?”

It is not an easy thing to keep releasing content out into the world these days - especially when there is so much incessant noise that is constantly clamoring for people’s attention.

The work of a content creator, a blogger, a producer, an artist…it can be mind-numbingly frustrating at times because it can be difficult to be seen, and if no one sees it, it can seem like no one cares - and deep down, we all want to know that our work is appreciated.

We all want to know that what we are doing inherently matters.

We all want to be aware that the work we are doing in this world is making a positive difference.

We all are born creative and are full of creative self-expression when we’re young - and as we grow older the pressure to conform and fit in can often choke the life and creativity out of us.

I’ve spent the last several years of my life working at allowing myself to dream and imagine again. What about you?

Do you ever just let your mind wander and imagine all of the possibilities of a life that is fulfilling, vibrant, and abundant in joy and creativity?

Picasso has often been quoted as saying “Every child is an artist - the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

There’s that dragon again.

Will you create, despite the resistance that you will certainly face?

Will you pull out that sword, rusty though it may be, and learn to wield it well?

It will take time.

It will take a lot of practice.

And you will fail. Probably more times than you would like to. But whether or not you stay stuck there is up to you.

The question is - will you allow those failures to define you?

Or will you allow them to refine you?

You are not the sum total of your failures.

You are not the result of the mistakes you have made.

Your current circumstances may be the result of the choices you have made - but circumstances can change quite quickly when you make a decision to change your outlook on those circumstances.

When you choose to recognize that failure is part of the process of success - part of the process of unlocking and unleashing your own creativity - it is much easier to move forward despite it.

When you choose to be thankful for what you have, where you are, and what you’ve accomplished so far - instead of looking for all of the reasons to be frustrated with yourself, it is much easier to continue creating and slaying that dragon.

Sometimes all you need is a little encouragement to keep moving forward.

I hope I have done that for you today.

One of the things that we struggled with in the early days of starting our business was learning how to establish healthy boundaries around the amount of creative work and energy we would put in for a potential lead before the checks and contracts were signed.

Over the years, thanks to some great advice from a number of mentors, obsessively reading countless personal development and business books, a lot of frustrating experiences, and more late-nights worrying about just-the-right-way to handle a request for more spec or free work…we had to make the decision to learn how to say no and establish better client expectations in a variety of ways.

If you’ve been doing any kind of “creative work” for any significant amount of time, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It can feel “mean” at first - especially when people want to basically just get information out of you so they can take it to their second cousin Charlie and have him execute on your ideas (badly) for free.

Over the years and with experience you eventually figure out that you can’t run a profitable creative business that way, so you have to figure out how to protect yourself and your creative energy from those who would seek to just take advantage of you and your willingness to give away your skillset for free or cheap.

With that all said, let’s get down to it.

This is how we work:

1. We have all of our leads fill out our contact form.

In it we ask a number of the questions that we need to know from just about everyone before we’ll say yes to a project. That is usually things like their budget, their deadlines, what kinds of past experiences they’ve had with designers, and any reasons why the project they’re inquiring about hasn’t come to fruition yet.

(That could be anything from budget constraints to having that one board member who still thinks the best use of advertising budgets is paying for ads in the Yellow Pages.)

We use something called “conditional logic” in our forms that allows us to ask additional questions based on certain answers. So for example, if someone says they want to “pick our brain”, we immediately direct them to a section in our form that informs them that we are available for hire on an hourly consulting basis. We use a premium contact form software that allows us to charge clients right then and there.

Again, if you’ve been in the creative field for any length of time, you know that it is your knowledge of how to bring ideas to life that people come to you for…whether that is photography, video production, graphic design, web design, logo design and branding, app development…you name it, it doesn’t matter. If you want to do this stuff on your own at any level, you’re going to have to figure out ways that work for you to charge what you’re worth and get good at asking for the sale.

The key here is setting up boundaries that keep out the people who are just looking to waste your time or get something for nothing. We have been at this long enough that we have to be much more selective about the things we say yes to or we would never get anything done for our paying clients. Those are the people who help us keep the lights on and food on the table.

You always are free to do pro-bono work - but you will find quickly if you don’t start putting your foot down about that kind of thing, everyone will happily take your advice and your creative energy for free…which eventually will lead to you feeling resentful and frustrated at yourself and them - when really, it’s just an issue of your own.

Asking good questions with your initial contact form or intake process and being much more selective how you handle that first point of contact with potential clients is a life saver - especially when you learn to automate it so that it just runs in the background.

(For the advanced user, you can even set these things up to plug into your CRM [customer relationship management] software or build your own with things like IFTTT.com and Zapier.com. If you’re interested in getting help with setting up your own automation systems, feel free to reach out to us.)

2. We set up a free initial 15-20 minute consultation to see if we would be a good fit and to get a better understanding of the project scope.

This is another way that we have automated our systems and built a funnel that helps us stay focused on the creative aspects of our work so that we don’t have to deal with so much of the minutiae of running the business side of things.

We use an appointment booking software that is plugged into our calendars so that after a lead has filled out our contact form, they are directed to set up an appointment with us to chat about their project. We have that software integrated into our site so that our potential clients have a unique and consistent experience when they are on our page.

This eliminates insane amounts of time going back and forth asking the same questions over and over - like, “When works for you? Where should we meet? What are we going to talk about? Etc.” If you don’t think this is a big deal, I’d challenge you to start a timer every time you go to book an appointment with someone and then consider how often you end up having to do that over the course of a year.

After that, just imagine what else you could do with all the time you’d save by not having to go through that hassle. I can’t recommend enough looking into something like this if you are regularly booking appointments or selling services or products.

(If you click this link you’ll get a discount on the software that we use. Full disclosure, it is my own affiliate link but I wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t a huge time saver)

Anyway, during the free consultation, we ask for any clarification on specifics that are unclear in their responses to our initial contact form and feel out whether or not it would be a project that we’d be able and willing to take on.

This part is extremely important: we do not give away many specifics of how we would solve their specific problems during this free consultation. 

You cannot run a creative or design business like a charity.

This is what they are coming to us for in the first place. We spend most of the time during the free consultation asking questions and informing the potential client whether or not we could solve their creative problems.

We also will share some of our price ranges for our services right up front in order to be clear from the start what their investment would look like if we choose to work together. Oftentimes leads will want specifics of pricing - and if you’ve been at this game long enough you know it’s not always the easiest thing in the world to give a number right off the bat without more information of what you’d be working with, the scope of the project, etc.

We address this issue by sharing a wide range of price options that they can expect and let them know it depends on what features, benefits, etc. that they will want and the scope of the work, deadlines, and all of that fun stuff.

If it turns out that we aren’t a good fit for whatever reason, we always recommend books that they should read or other resources that could help them solve their creative problems.

This creates good will between us even if we don’t end up working together - you never know when that could come back around. We have had plenty of people come back and hire us over the years who initially didn’t for whatever reason.

If it’s a project that doesn’t require a lot of initial meetings or custom R&D like branding / logo design, we get their verbal agreement on our prices, get the ball rolling and we’re off to the races. We’ve built different automated systems for simplifying this process - like our Brand Builder survey that helps them think big picture and long term about their style and what they want their brand to look like.

If it is something we want to move forward on that requires additional planning, research and development like book publishing/book cover design, video production, web design, long term consulting contracts, etc. we move on to step #3. 

3. We set up a paid consultation for 1 - 2 hours

Oftentimes leads will come to us who have already developed a good bit of their brand or business but aren’t sure where to go next and we also aren’t quite sure if we will be a good fit to help bring their projects to completion. In order to nail down some of those specifics, as well as to make sure that we are paid for our time and expertise, we set up a paid consultation to go over the raw materials that we’d be working with.

Think of it like the potential client has a box full of puzzle pieces and they aren’t quite sure how to put them together yet. In our initial paid consultations, we spread all those puzzle pieces out and figure out the best course of action to move things forward.

This would be things like their logo, their existing content, their general ideas of what they want to do, any notes they’ve jotted down, their business plan, etc.

Oftentimes leads will come to us who think they just need a website when in reality they need to start at the beginning and get a logo first. We believe that your logo is the visual foundation of your brand since it ideally should appear on everything you’re doing and it helps create a sense of consistency and professionalism in the work that you do.

Other times a potential client thinks they need a whole new website when in reality they just need some coaching or consulting. 

Whatever it is, we help them come up with a game plan for moving forward and it is in these consultations that we share more details and specifics about how we would go about taking action, how we’d envision helping their company, software that we would recommend checking out, and what our next steps for working together would look like.

We only started implementing this paid consultation into our work flow in the last year or so and it dramatically changes the dynamic of the working relationship.

First, it eliminates the time wasters, the takers and the people who just want to shop around almost immediately.

Second, it forces you to remind yourself that you are valuable and that your work is worth it - as is the blood, sweat, years and tears it took to get you to where you are.

Third, it establishes you as a professional and communicates very clearly that you do not work for free.

We need to get our industry back from the people who have spent so much money and time devaluing what we do and distilling creativity down to a commodity.

Sure, you can get a logo for $5 from some intern somewhere who hasn’t figured this stuff out yet or who is using the same 10 or 15 template logos for every client - but is that really the kind of foundation you want to build your brand on?

Of course not. 

Either way - I hope this has been useful for you to get a bit of an overview of how we work and why we do things the way we do in our business.

Obviously, this is written in the context of running a “creative” business…however, the principles remain the same regardless of what industry you’re in.

If you’re even remotely considering going into business for yourself at some point, try to keep these things in mind from the get-go and you’ll save yourself a myriad of headaches, excessive swearing, and frustrating, sleepless nights.

(And as always, if there is anything we can do to help you bring your creative or business ideas to life, just reach out and let us know!)

One of your main resources that you can’t get back is time.

When I first set out to do the entrepreneurial thing, I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that what I was doing working 3-4 jobs just to try and make ends meet wasn’t working.

The economy was shit, jobs were hard to come by (even with a degree), and everything felt really uncertain. This was in 2008-2009. I was just about to get married and even with working as much as I was, I still wasn’t making ends meet. I knew I had to change something.

So I started learning everything I could about how to start and run a business. I read almost obsessively about how to go from concept to reality. I asked so many questions from so many different people - those who had gone before me and succeeded - and those who had gone before me and failed. I made it a point to take copious amounts of notes and I listened to podcast after podcast from “successful” people.

It wasn’t long before I knew that this was going to be a long haul. I knew that it was going to take me much longer than I would care to think about to achieve the kind of financial freedom and “success” that I was aiming at - especially being over $60,000 in student loan debt. (Don’t borrow money for school, kids. It’s a trap.)

But I also knew that I was coming across similar themes in every business and personal development book that I read. Time, and time, and time again the authors would insist that my mindset was far more important than my current results. So I did what I could to cultivate healthier, more optimistic mindsets over time.

I intentionally surrounded myself with people who were aiming at the same kinds of goals as I was, and chose to believe that no matter what happened, anything was better than putting in 40-60 hours of work per week at a variety of jobs taking orders from bosses who didn’t give a damn about much more than the bottom line on their profit and loss statements.

It got to a point where I made the decision that no matter how long it took, I was going to get to a place where I’d be able to be the one calling the shots about how much I was worth, what I would charge for my services, and the kinds of people I would work with and when.

It has not been an easy journey - not by a long shot - but I also have found through the process that one of the biggest questions I faced (and still face) is what to do with all that extra time during the week that I’m not sitting in a cubicle or driving to and from a typical job. 

Some of that time I spend sleeping in. Some of it I spend working on projects. Other times I spend it playing games with my wife. Still other times I find myself scrolling mindlessly on social media instead of getting to work and doing the creative things that actually bring us income and make sure our bills are paid.

Whatever the answer to that question for you - if you do decide to go into business for yourself you’ll find quickly how difficult it can be to know what to do next when no one is telling you what to do. 

If you’re stuck in a job that you hate and find yourself wondering what it would be like to start and run your own business, one of the biggest questions, if not the biggest question that you’ll need to answer is what you’ll be doing with all that extra time you have in a week.

In the video below I talk a bit about that and offer some perspective to consider.

You are a creative genius.

You might not believe it right now, but if you are even reading these words, you have learned a skill that many people around the world have yet to grasp - and that is the skill of reading.

Through that skill, you are able to educate yourself on a wide variety of topics - and especially if you’re out of college or no longer in high school, you’ll realize something pretty quickly: that you are the one who is stuck trying to figure out what to learn next when you don’t have teachers or bosses or parents or pastors or some other authority figure telling you what you should be learning.

You can handle this in a few ways - and probably the most common way is to avoid self-education altogether. That is, unless you’re just mindlessly “feeding” on the barrage of information that is spewed at you from a wide variety of news “feeds” (see the parallel? What do you feed your brain on?), popular media, or social media and modern celebrity gossip.

There’s another way you can handle this dillemma of self-education, and that is deciding that you want to learn about things that make you come alive and that you really believe in.

Maybe you want to actually figure out how to make a living doing what you love or with your art. If you are going to do any kind of meaningful creative work - whether that is release an album, create your own blog, write your own books, start your own business, or get serious about rebuilding broken relationships in your life - you’re going to have to start limiting your information intake and increase your creative output.

One of the things that is the most mind-blowing to me about the world we live in is how much we are able to do and create with very little overhead cost or “higher education” training.

However, we’re all so easily distracted by all of the zillions of different bits of information that we consume on a daily, hourly, or minute-by-minute basis on social media or in our wide variety of news feeds.

We all can literally have mini production studios in our pockets with all the different apps and things you can use on your smart phones and tablets to create original content like videos, blog posts (that can be repurposed and turned into books), and so much more.

A significant portion of the original content that we create starts out on our mobile devices - and a whole lot of it is stuff that we produce entirely on our phones or tablets.

Think about that for a minute.

Major filmmakers like Martin Scorcese and musicians like Hans Zimmer are using some of the same gear or devices to create their works of art that you most likely have right now.

The question is: What are you DOING with them?

Are you spending all of your time just consuming, consuming, consuming? Swiping, double-tapping, and doing the modern-day version of “channel-flipping” (for those of you who remember that dinosaur called the television)?

Or are you learning how to leverage these miracles of modern technology as creative expressions of who you are and what you’re passionate about?

My biggest encouragement to you going into 2018 and as you pursue your creative career or as you are struggling to figure out how to get the word out about what you do is this: stop scrolling and go make something.

The returns on the investment of your time is well worth it, and very well could be the what launches you into a life that most others only dream about.

Below are a couple of videos - one that hammers home more of the points made above and the other one is a behind the scenes look at how we put all this stuff together.

Let us know if you have any questions or would like some coaching or practical help bringing your creative ideas to life!

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”

- Émile Zola –

So many people are going around wanting to be social media gurus…when they could be learning how to create and build something tangible that they can talk about on various platforms up to and including social media. They want the glitz and the glam but so much of it can be a sham.

What I’m interested in seeing is the actual value that some of these folks are creating or wanting to create instead of just trying to do what everyone else is doing because it’s trendy.

What I’m interested in, and what your audience is interested in, is your story.

I started a blog a number of years ago before “going viral” was really a thing people were trying to do…we reached a pretty sizable audience and the amount of stuff that you learn working with that many people at that level is an important part of the journey.

The topic was more controversial and focused largely on asking hard questions about faith and such that we weren’t allowed to ask (or were too afraid to ask) growing up in church.

It caused a lot of internet arguments and I had to really pull back from it because it got too intense and I found myself spending more time feeling the need to prove how right I was instead of diving deep into more important things like understanding, compassion, love, hope, etc.

Our design agency wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for some of the people who initially we met through that blog - and the skills we learned running it.

I think ultimately if folks are taught some of the practicals of understanding finance and business in general though, the rest will follow. People who are posers will always show up but when the rubber meets the road and the bills need to get paid, you gotta either put up or shut up.

It can be brutal and it can often feel like a 24/7 job. The people who are looking for glitz and glam because they think running a business that depends largely on digital and internet marketing is easy or because they watched a webinar and suddenly think they’re experts are in for a rude awakening.

In a nutshell, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

I’m largely just at a point where I’m not even thinking about or worrying about growth - I’m focused on building my business, reaching who I can, where I’m at, with what I’ve got.

The constant pursuit of more is a fruitless endeavor that only ends in disappointment. Contentment and commitment to the people who are already listening is the only key that I’ve found to be really workable at any stage of the game.

You can usually chart the process from employee to entrepreneur - and it often goes through a lot of valleys and other trendy things instead of doing the hard internal work and personal and professional development required to find and create some kind of unique value.

It requires obsessive amounts of learning, reading, practice, failing, more practice, more failing, and dots of success along the way.

You know if you’ve been at this silly game of paper-chasing that we all play long enough that there are days where you’re on the floor wondering how the hell you’re going to pay your rent.

A lot of the writing/content that I do addresses that aspect of it because I’ve not hit that stage where all my bills are always paid and all my debts are paid off.

I’m definitely further along than I was 5-10 years ago and we’ve had some real successes and have had the honor and privilege of working with some of the best in our industry and some of the smartest people in the world - but we have also some really rough spots with family, health issues, and life things.

That’s the stuff that a lot of folks shy away from talking about because it’s messy.

It’d be really easy for me to take photos of myself with a giant smile on my face and paint pretty pictures for everyone who’s watching to make it seem like we’re rolling deep and making millions. There’s plenty of folks who I have literally seen Photoshopping money into their hands in an attempt to sell some product or service that they’re pitching.

I only know this because I am a designer and know what to look for.

The frustrating thing is that most people don’t. Most people don’t know how much they’re manipulated every day by shady marketers who only care about making a dollar.

You have to be seriously skeptical of anything you see on a screen or in print or on the radio or on a video because you can literally make just about anything seem real these days just with your cell phone.

My biggest encouragement to you is this: learn the craft of the creative arts. Learn as much as you can about how to tap into your own inherent creativity.

The things that technology can do these days and is already doing WILL replace millions and millions of jobs - and if you’re reading this right now and are working at some corporation or for some other business - the chances are probably much higher than would make you feel comfortable that your job is one of those.

I was at the grocery store yesterday and noticed that they had replaced a major section of the traditional checkout aisles with self-checkouts.

Prices have gone up, there are less humans working the aisles, and you’re required to basically do more work to get the groceries you picked up.

They’re turning you into subconscious employees at these stores.

If you only have one major source of income - (spelled J-O-B) - then the biggest encouragement I have for you is to learn everything you can about how to CREATE wealth for yourself and your family.

Learn how to CREATE income - not how to go earn it and how to be better at landing job interviews. That’s all fine and good - but what happens when your entire industry gets leveled by automation?

Or 3D printing?

Or autonomous vehicles that no longer need human drivers?

This stuff isn’t science fiction - it’s happening right now.

That’s why I so strongly recommend pursuing tapping into your own inherent creativity. Learn how to make things that only you can make - that come from the depths of your soul and who you are.

Learn how to share your story in a way that people are willing to pay to hear it…whether in books, video, filmmaking, art, or otherwise.

Your story is important, and your whole life will change when you invest the time and energy into it that is required in order to really make a living doing what you love and sharing that story.

(…Or in some cases, even just finding out what that is that you love and would rather be doing instead of shuffling papers, booking appointments, or filling in spreadsheets all day for someone who’s making a hell of a lot more money than you.)

Don’t build your life or your career around something that can be automated or taken away from you.

If you commit yourself to life-long learning, you’ll have no shortage of opportunities when entire industries get disrupted by those who are focused on creating a new world instead of spending all their time and energy trying to maintain the status quo of the old one.

Every day we are bombarded with hundreds of thousands of thoughts.

They can come via the endless array of advertising that we are subjected to in our daily lives.

They can come from past arguments that we have had with people we care about.

Or they can come from things we were told when we were much, much younger.

Regardless of where those thoughts come from, it would do all of us well to realize that the things we do are a by-product of the things we think.

If you didn’t believe you could walk, you would never try.

In the same way, if you don’t think that you can accomplish whatever it is that you are attempting right now, there’s a pretty good chance that you won’t even bother moving forward with it.

Our thoughts make up the things that we do - and learning how to get rid of toxic thinking is a life-long journey that all of us can benefit from.

When those seemingly random thoughts come flying through your mind at a million miles an hour - the ones that tell you that you’ll never amount to anything and that you’re just going to be a miserable failure - that is the time to get intentional about your thinking.

That is the time to put your foot down and make an active decision to change your thought patterns.

One of the easiest ways I have found to snap out of those nasty moods is to create something. Whether that is a new piece of art, music or writing - it doesn’t matter.

The act of creativity will push aside those negative emotions and thought patterns in a relatively short period of time.

Reading also has helped me immensely to get rid of that “stinking thinking”.

Make the choice today to stay focused on what is important to you.

When those nasty thoughts show up, decide to defy the things they say to you - because you’re bigger than the sum of the bad things that have happened to you.

You do not have to let negative thoughts define who you are.

When I’ve got a creative project to work on for our clients, “getting in the zone” is super important.

If you’ve done any kind of “design for hire” type stuff over the years, or even any kind of creative project really, you know what I’m talking about. I could easily spend several hours just pacing around my house trying to find that magic jolt of inspiration that will suddenly make everything *click*.

Other times, it’s almost as if whatever creative muse-like forces that are floating around in the unknown parts of our reality just suddenly start dropping ideas left and right.

Or was that the cup of coffee I just had earlier? Who knows, right?

What it really boils down to though, at least for me, is that I don’t have time to wait around for inspiration to show up. I have had to figure out ways to find inspiration anywhere I can get it, especially when working on deadlines for clients (and myself).

Over the years I have found a number of different tactics that work pretty well for shortening the amount of time that it takes me to “get in the zone”.

One of them involves spending a little bit of time getting in my clients’ heads and asking them questions that force “out of the box” thinking.

In this video, I share some of those tips and offer some quick encouragement to anyone who is working at making their creativity work for them instead of the other way around.

You may not be a logo designer, and you may not run a creative agency, but it still will at least encourage you to think a little differently about the creative process and some ways to jump-start your own!

Enjoy.

I deleted Twitter, Facebook, and most other social media apps a few months ago and my life is much better now.

I don’t mean better in a “everything is going super awesome all the time” kind of way, but more in a “I don’t feel like I need to be constantly aware of what everyone else is doing or saying all the time” kind of way…especially with all the vitriol and crazyness going on across various platforms these days.

I turned off notifications on all of them at least two years ago - but it got to a point, especially in 2016, where enough was enough.

These things are distraction engines designed for profit by people that do not care about you - and as someone who regularly is creating media in various capacities (video, writing, art, photos, graphics, music, etc.) I know how easy it can be to manipulate people’s perception.

It’s scary, to be quite frank with you. (As a sidenote, I cannot recommend enough that you learn how to create your own multimedia - it takes a long time to get good at it - but you are much better equipped to have a healthy skepticism of just about everything you see, hear, or read.)

You know you’ve been there.

You wake up and first thing you do is check X number of places to see who said something to you while you were sleeping.

Remember the days when we didn’t have pop up windows in real life?

When we didn’t have things buzzing for our attention and distracting us every moment of every day?

I do. It’s vague, but it’s there.

The “do not disturb” feature on your devices is one of the best things you can use but sometimes that’s not even enough - especially if you have a consistently growing online following and are working to build a business and make money online.

So I deleted them.

It was the only way to untether myself from feeling like I had to constantly check in with everyone and everything.

When I deleted the apps, I was instantly filled with this fear that somehow I would miss out on something incredibly important.

I’m sure you know about that one too. Don’t lie to yourself - that’s what it is!

Then of course there is all the passive-aggressive manipulation from the social media giants and their marketing departments that subtly tries to make you feel guilty for unsubscribing or leaving their platform or deleting their app or turning off their notifications or any number of things that keep YOU in control of the information that you want to consume and WHEN you want to consume it.

What do I mean by that?

You know what I mean - the buttons that don’t just say “No thanks” but instead say things like, “No thanks, I’m a stupid moron and I’m totally cool with staying stupid and not subscribing to your super fantastic e-mail list because I’m lazy/stupid/poor/don’t like cats, etc.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand those kinds of things. And at least for me, it guarantees an instantaneous disrespect towards whoever is saying or doing it.

It just about ensures that I won’t subscribe to the content they’re sharing.

Why?

Because if you have to use fear, guilt and manipulation to get and retain my attention, then I don’t want what you are selling.

Period.

There were a few times that I reinstalled them and made excuses why I needed to. But they were always just excuses.

It was then that I realized, “Okay, this needs to stop.”

Of the apps that I needed to keep have now been moved to inconvenient places on my devices. I put them intentionally out of reach and in a folder marked AVOID in all caps.

That has helped immensely.

Now, when I’m on social media - I have trained my brain and my devices to remind me of the things that are important to me - because at the end of the day, these giant tech companies come and go.

In an era when our data and every action we take is cataloged, tagged, stored, analyzed, and sold to the highest bidder, this is one of a number of ways that I’ve found helps take control back from the crazy-makers in our lives.

Sure, you can curate your feed and use ad-blockers and only follow certain people - but have you noticed how often these apps are adding new things to flash into your subconscious to try and get your attention even AFTER you’ve done all that work?

I’ve tried a bunch of things to get on top of this stuff and have found that by far the one thing that has helped more than anything else is to learn to be very intentional about the kinds of information I consume.

I hope these tips helps you stay more focused, encouraged, and creating instead of distracted, afraid, and constantly consuming!

Today I spoke with best-selling author D.R. Silva who has generated over $10,000 in sales of his self-published books.

We talked about the creative process, the struggles that we face as artists, authors, and business owners, and some things that we would do differently if we were starting over.

When it comes to marketing and selling your book (or any art form, for that matter), there are a few things we recommend keeping in mind after years of creating and selling content online.

You can read the interview in its entirety and get some great recommendations for your own creative projects below.

RYAN:

The creative process is something I’ve always been fascinated by - and more specifically the fact that of every high-performing “creative” person I know, they all wrestle with similar things when it comes to putting out new types of work. For me - and I think for a lot of people - the hardest part is usually just getting started. Turning off the phones, email and app notifications, and sitting and staring at that blinking cursor on a blank page.

I also know that if I’m not careful, I can have a tendency to overcomplicate things that really are quite simple when you get down to it. It always starts the same. I stare at the screen or the canvas and just start throwing something on it. It usually doesn’t take long form that point to at least get some kind of starting point, even if you don’t end up using what you originally started with.

However, when the ‘creative block’ hits it can often feel like a freight train.

So for you, when it comes to publishing your own books, can you tell me about a time that you really struggled to get started but then overcame it - and a little bit about how you did that?

RYAN:

I know for me one of the things that is probably one of my biggest struggles is the fact that if I wanted to, I could just sit around all day and make new things and come up with new ideas. It’s the follow through and wrapping up something to the point that I’m ready to share it with the world that I often get tripped up.

One of the phrases that I heard a lot from working with other authors and speakers throughout the years is that the initial creation is the EASY part. The hard part is often figuring out the best way to stay connected with the audience you want to reach in a way that is meaningful, tangible, and consistent.

I first heard this from Rick Frishman of Morgan James Publishing and Author 101 University - and his advice has stuck with me since the first time I heard it.

For me, if I could go back and start over, I would spend a lot more time and energy building my own platform, my own website, and utilizing my own mailing list rather than spending so much time on social media.

How do you go about dealing with the hard part of promoting your work in a way that feels genuine and resonates with your audience?

DANIEL:

My #1 intention is to be honest with people, and not come off as if I’ve got all my shit together. That was difficult for a couple of years as I struggled to balance that with all the things I was learning about marketing, selling yourself and social proof.

As you might guess by the titles of my books, I come from a church background, in which many of the leaders were placed on pedestals and were often looked at as being above the rest of the people, whether because of their education or their position. As a result they were hard to approach, talk to, and relate to.

If I had problems, I didn’t feel like I could approach those leaders directly and say, “Here’s exactly what I’m dealing with, how do I fix it?” I was too busy worrying about phrasing it in a way that was acceptable to that environment. Most of the time I just didn’t bring it up at all, which is what leads to that thing where everyone walks around faking a smile and pretending everything is okay. I don’t want to do that, and I don’t want others to do that with me.

For that reason, I decided very early on when I started to gain influence with people that I wouldn’t allow myself to be placed on a pedestal.

That’s actually something I learned from watching you years ago, because that was probably the biggest thing that stood out to me when I met you. You were very intentional, and made it a big point to tell people, “Hey! I’m just a normal guy with a vision! I don’t have anything more than you have, you can do the same thing I’m doing!” It took the boundaries out of my mind, where I no longer thought in terms of “I can’t do that because I don’t have the gifts or the education they have.”

That approach to being honest, and just being human with other humans became one of the most vital roles in promoting my work because people know up front that I’m on their level. I’m not speaking from a higher place of education, or anything like that. I’m speaking as a person who is figuring this stuff out just like they are, and the invitation is open to grow with me.

By the book reviews and emails I’ve received, that is what has resonated with and helped people the most.

DANIEL:

My biggest suggestion would be to write things down so you can prioritize them.

This is VITAL in maintaining your sanity when you have a gold rush of ideas constantly going through your head.

Here are a few of my ideas/goals:

1. I want to write another book
2. I want to finish recording my album
3. I want to do live shows and tour
4. I want to get signed to a label (namely, Procrastinate! Music Traitors, because it’s founded by the members of my all time favorite band, Brand New)
5. I want to make a video game
6. I want to learn more about graphic design

Each of those ideas has a lot more ideas nested inside of them, so it can get really overwhelming really fast. Then it seems tempting to do a little of each of them so you can build them up together. Except I’ve tried that for years and I end up not doing much of any of them. “You can’t serve two masters,” as they say!

So pick one. Which one? For me, I’ve decided to focus on my writing, keeping my website up-to-date with new content, and working on my books. Why did I pick that? Because after weighing the pros and cons of pursuing each of the above, I realized that out of them, writing is what I have the most knowledge in, and it’s what I can do effectively without having to spend too much time educating myself.

In short, it will give me the greatest return on my investment of time because the groundwork for it has already been laid. I have the network, I have the fan-base, I have the reputation, and I want to invest my time into those things, specifically the people who have stuck with me over the years.

On the other hand, while I’ve spent a lot of time making music over the past 13 years, I haven’t spent a lot of time promoting it. As a result, in order to get anywhere with it I would have to invest a lot of time just in building the foundation. I’ll most certainly end up doing that at some point, but first I need something that can continue to be sustainable in the background while I focus on that.

Again, that would be my writing because it’s the thing I’ve put most of my focus on over the years; it’s the thing that’s already built.

It doesn’t always come down to “What am I most passionate about?” It often comes down to “What am I the best at right now, and how can I use that as a stepping stone to fund my way to the next thing?”

It’s easy to lay out that path when you write your ideas down, because then you can physically rearrange them. On the contrary when it’s all in your head it’s like trying to catch and arrange millions of specs of dust by order of their size. How do you do that when they’re always moving?

Thoughts are always moving, writing them down is what causes them to stand still. That will help you draw out the path you need to take to get to wherever you want to go.

DANIEL:

• Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Yeah, you read that right. There was someone, and not just any someone, but THE ROMAN EMPEROR who thought to tell Mozart that his music-writing ability wasn’t good enough. So even Mozart had to figure out how to overcome rejection.

You’re not the only one who struggles with self-worth as an artist in whatever craft you are in. We all do.

Everyone has to deal with rejection. Everyone has to deal with things not turning out the way that they expect them to.

Everyone, even the people you look up to the most and those throughout human history who have achieved great things have to deal with getting told by people they respect that they’re not good enough.

For me, it’s not so much being told that I’m not good enough that bothers me as much as when people simply ignore me.

It is one of my biggest pet peeves to be ignored. Especially in a day and age when you know damn well that everyone has their smart phone wired to their hip or fused into the palms of their hands.

I hate when I am trying to get in touch with someone - whether it is a client, a friend, or a business partner and I know that they have seen my message but just have chosen to not respond.

Have you ever tried to get in touch with someone over a period of several days and they have full-on ignored you - yet they’re regularly posting on their social media accounts, and when you see them the next time they have their phone out the entire time?

Yeah. Pet peeve numero uno for this guy.

I admit it - I’ve got a patience problem.

And I know that there have been times that I have marked messages to read later that have just slipped my mind. We all do it.

I can’t control people. I can’t control what they choose to do or not do.

But what I am learning to do is to take more control of how I choose to respond when things don’t turn out the way that I necessarily would like them to.

I don’t want to feel so attached to the outcomes that I have pictured in my head.

There have been so many times that I have gotten incredibly frustrated when people haven’t responded to me on the time table that I would like them to (namely, DROP EVERYTHING AND RESPOND TO ME RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OH MY GOD THIS IS AN EMERGENCY AND I NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU IMMEDIATELY).

I despise when people contact me in that manner. So why should I expect others to respond to me as if I’m the only person that is on their radar right now?

(If you’re thinking, ‘Well, you shouldn’t!’ I think you may be onto something. But you do it too!)

I hate it. It’s something that I have wrestled with for as long as I can remember. This idea that the world revolves around me and my problems and my ideas and my business and my frustrations and me oh my, me, me, me.

I guess in some ways my world does revolve around me. Obviously I don’t know what it’s like to live in anyone else’s head.

I can empathize with people quite easily - but I also have to be careful to keep that under control because otherwise I can end up picking up problems that simply are not mine to carry.

So I guess that’s what it really boils down to for me at this stage in my life. Learning to lean into patience and trusting that everything that is worthwhile takes time to build and create.

Every strong, impressive building that you have ever seen or will see took time to plan, outline, and erect. Every strong building needs a strong foundation.

I’m trying to trust that when I’m not seeing things happen the way that I’d like them to, that there’s something else that I could be learning in the midst of that waiting game that I hate so much.

A little perspective makes all the difference in the world…and recognizing that sometimes, the opinions of others simply don’t matter when you are in your element and creating what makes you come alive.

If Mozart had listened to that Emperor…if Mozart hadn’t pushed through the fear and the pain and the rejection and the anger and the resentment and the bitterness that he surely felt towards this very-important-person who chose to ignore and discard his talent and brilliance…his work would have never graced your ears.

“Thanks for letting me weigh in on the question of whether someone should buy or rent. It’s a common conundrum and one that millennials think about a lot as they pass the 30-year mark (#howdoIadult).

That question should always be looked at in the context of what makes the most financial sense for you in your current stage of life, and in the location you live…given the fact that you need housing of some kind.

So let’s back up and start with this - if you’re alive, chances are you need to pay for lodging.

Accommodation for you and your stuff. And there’s a cost associated with that.

Yes sure, you could couch surf or live in mom’s basement for free, or maybe camp under a bridge.

But practically speaking, your average adult in today’s society will pay for shelter of some kind. 

So if you start with that premise, the next question is, what makes the most sense for you at this point in your life and in the housing market where you currently live?

In other words, what’s the most efficient use of your dollar that also brings your lifestyle needs into play?

And of course, that’s not a simple question and it doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer.

(For extra fun, the answer for you will change over the years as your situation changes.)

Let’s start with the financial aspect of this question. Well, wait a second, I feel a rant coming on…

Can I just stand on my little soapbox here and lecture about the crap that people spout on this topic? You’ve heard them - the people who repeat old platitudes like that you’re throwing your money away on rent, or you should buy as much house as you can afford.

These “experts” don’t understand personal finance and shouldn’t be giving out advice. No matter how smart they are or how much education they have, your average person is a blithering idiot when it comes to applying their brain power to their bank accounts*.

“Most people suck at money,” …to quote Mr Money Mustache (…and here’s a link to a talk he gave this summer at the World Domination Summit in Portland: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2016/10/10/how-to-be-happy-rich-and-save-the-world/).

OK, rant over for now.

How about some actual math?

My favorite way to think about this is to use a calculator like this one from the NY Times.

Go to a site like Zillow.com to help you get property tax numbers and other costs of home ownership in your area as needed.

And then, just plug and play. Eye-opening, no?

Because for crying out loud, don’t get me started on just comparing the monthly rental on an apartment with the monthly mortgage payment on a house.

As if that’s the end of the story.

That’s no comparison at all.

Rent and utilities payments are pretty much all you’re going to pay to live in someone else’s property when you rent.

The costs are predictable and recur on a known schedule.

Not so much with a house!

Houses come with a big pile of expenses like property taxes and insurance, repairs, maintenance, landscaping, HOA dues, replacements, and if-it’s-not-one-thing-it’s-another.

These costs (plus the interest on the mortgage) may or may not be cheaper than a monthly rental payment.

And the idea that a house increases in value over time? Maybe. No guarantees.

Let’s move on to the more subjective issues in play here. The upside of renting is flexibility and lack of hassle (renters usually don’t maintain and repair things).

The downside is loss of control (the landlords can sell the place, they can raise rents, they can make other changes without consulting you).

The upside of property ownership is stability and control (you’re in charge here!) and the downside is that it’s harder to be nimble (you can’t just give a 30-day notice and move on whenever you feel like it).

Another downside is that you are at the whim of your local market and local economy, and if things go south, it is harder to sell when you might like to.