Via Ad Teachings

But I have lots to learn. Some days, my ideas feel dislocated from the problems I’m trying solve. Other times, my solutions are big and exciting, but need large investments of time and money—difficult to justify on a raw idea.

My experience with Unreasonable at Sea helped me find a new way to tackle these problems.

Unreasonable at Sea

Unreasonable at Sea is an accelerator program with a unique format. Participants from eleven promising companies board a ship where they receive world-class mentorship. They dock in thirteen countries across the globe where they develop experiments for penetrating that nations’ market.

When the cruise liner arrived in Shanghai I was among the local entrepreneurs helping Unreasonable at Sea’s startups create experiments for China’s market.

While the companies I worked with were fascinating—I’d like to share the process we used to create experiments. George Kembel, founder of Stanford’s d.school, facilitated our discussions using what he calls ‘design thinking.’

The Design Thinking Process

Kembel knows that creativity matters (his passion for the topic has brought tears to his eyes in past lectures). His experience as a CEO, venture capitalist, and teacher was clear as he laid out this strategy to approach problems, develop solutions and lower risk.

Many of his students at the d.school use this blueprint to build successful companies in a very short time period.

1. EmpathizeEngage with the problem in the real world. Disrupt your assumptions and explore for details with an open mind.
2. DefineUse your new insights to define what the problem is.
3. IdeateBrainstorm as many different ways to solve the problem as possible.
4. Rapid PrototypingDevelop a simple prototype as fast as possible.
5. Rapid TestingQuickly put your prototype in the world to see how well it might do as a fully developed solution.
6. Repeat
   Adapt and improve both working and unfinished solutions.

My notes from the Unreasonable at Sea event in Shanghai

How This Process Improves Results

While empathizing can take time, the rest of the design thinking process pushes you to ship quickly. There is great value hidden in this orientation towards action.

• Speed allows you to build on small wins and gain momentum.
• Inversely, unexpected results aren’t hard to recover from since you don’t lose large sums of time or money. You learn from the road bumps and immediately apply that knowledge to your next test.

Watch how empathizing changed how these entrepreneurs see a problem.

Now What?

Will this process help you? Tell me how in comments.

-Ami

P.S. Unreasonable at Sea is one of many companies founded by Daniel Epstein, a hugely inspirational young entrepreneur. At 26 he is on Forbes’ list of ‘Top 30 Impact Entrepeneurs.’ Kudos, Daniel, on conquering the world with your passion.

My big sister Maliha is having her first baby right now!! I’m sure she’d love your positive vibes if you have any to spare =)

Me, in Shanghai, using Google Chat to speak to my family, in Vancouver, who are Skyping with her in Costa Rica. It’s a mind bending game of Chinese telephone!

Update

I have a new nephew! Baby Fayr arrived somewhere after 4am CST without complications. =)
Read the full (seriously insane) birth story on my sister Natalia’s blog.

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Thank you, all you mad ones.

18 Essential Mac Applications

1. Evernote 

   Easily the most useful piece of software on my computer (I talk about it often). I think of it as my reference cabinet for cataloging ideas, inspiration, photo shoot locations, important documents, manuals and guides. It’s also where I do a lot of my planning and writing.

2. Things 

   Another app I don’t know what I’d do without. If a to-do pops into my head, it goes right into Things. Knowing you won’t forgot your tasks means you don’t think about them unnecessarily. This clears room between your ears for creative thoughts to emerge. Not the cheapest, but worth every penny.

3. TextExpander 

   Over the years you can waste days retyping the same thing over and over. TextExpander allows me to make codes that expand into larger text blocks (in any program). This saves me from repeat typing emails, addresses, HTML, etc.. To see how much time you’ve saved, go to Open TextExpander > Statistics.

4. Quicksilver 

   I use this app so much I almost forgot to mention it. Quicksilver quietly runs behind the scenes—allowing me to quickly pull up apps in the fewest keyboard strokes. Just as a chef arranges his workstation to reduce wasted energy, other professionals (like pro creatives) conserve time with programs like this.

5. Flycut 

   Flycut keeps a record of the last 40 things I copied so I don’t overwrite my clipboard by mistake.

6. Dropbox 

   Dropbox’s free cloud storage has always been loveable—but now that other programs (including Things and TextExpander) are utilizing it, it’s practically obligatory. Great for sharing files with clients and friends. Use this referral link to get your first 500MB free.

7. RescueTime 

   I use RescueTime to analyse my productivity, set goals and block distracting sites when I need to get focussed. This type of data-gathering may seem kind of invasive—but it’s private and immensely useful.

   

   Just a segment of RescueTIme’s data on how I spent last week

8. Adobe Lightroom 4 

   I’ve used Lightroom since it was in its first beta and have loved every release. This is where I catalog all my photos and do 90% of my editing.

9. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended 

   If my images need more detailed retouching, this is where it happens. Photoshop is also where I build some of the graphics that you see on this blog.

10. Apple Mail

    Handles all three of my email addresses without a problem.

11. Apple iCal

    I use iCal to manage no less than 9 calendars (which live on various Google servers). It’s not always perfect, but it works well most of the time.

12. Apple Time Machine

    Set up to regularly back-up my hard drive to my Drobo.

13. Transmission 

    A clean and simple BitTorrent client.

14. Skype 

    Where I do most of my web-conferencing with clients and collaborators. It’s also the place I make funny faces at my nieces and nephew back home.

15. Genius 

    I’m currently attempting to learn Mandarin. This is the cue card program I use to catalog my vocabulary and test my skills.

16. Astrill
    I recommend getting a VPN for the added security and location-sensitive perks (like US Netflix, Hulu and BBC iPlayer).

    That being said, Astrill’s service is spotty and I’m ready to jump ship for another VPN service when my plan runs out in April (recommendations are welcome)! It made the list because I’ve used it every day for the last 8 months to get around the “great firewall” of China.

17. Google Chrome 

    My browser of choice.

18. Google Chat
    Google Chat has the smartest video chat interface I’ve ever seen. Sadly, I don’t get to use this as much as I’d like since Skype dominates the web-conferencing world.

    What I do use all the time is the free calling to Canadian/US numbers. I just flip my VPN to a North American network and, voilà, free long distance from anywhere in the world! You can call from Gmail, but I recommend this plugin which sits in your menu bar so you can make calls without opening Chrome.

Warning: Consider Workflow Before Tools

As professional creatives we must be intentional about the way we approach our business, art and lifestyle. Don’t adopt new tools just for the hell of it! In the same breath, don’t coast through life on default mode. Be flexible and improve your workflow and toolkit when it makes sense to do so.

Seeing as I’m writing to you from my home office in Shanghai, it seems fitting to finish with this Lǎozǐ quote.

“Strategy without tactics is a slow route to victory and tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” 

Which of these applications do you think will be most helpful to you? Let me know in the comments section below.

And don’t forget to subscribe to receive free out-of-the-box resources for fearless creatives!

My plan will be ready, but I’m scared to start because I’m scared to fail. Resistance grinds my resolve like brakes on railway tracks, sparks flying until I’ve lost momentum and I am stuck. On those days I re-watch this video.

F.I.L.D.I.

Let’s push past.

And if this video does something for you, share it and bookmark it (you may need it again).

Here’s a tradition that’s been all but replaced by photography and large format printing. This short documentary, commissioned by Stella Artois, shows the passion it takes to be a commercial mural painter today.

A Reminder From A Dying Breed Of Artists

The few painters in this trade still endure lengthy apprentice-master relationships before touching a brush. This is their passion and they commit to learning it thoroughly over many years.

This guild-like approach is rare in today’s world. The patience required of the apprentices is even more remarkable in our hyper-speed world. But the choice to keep a lasting respect for our work is available to all of us—we should take it.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect (Here’s What Does)

There are stages when my photographic skills stop improving. All creatives experience these lulls from time to time. But if we are equipped with a real respect for our craft, we can recognize and do battle with what Joshua Foer calls “OK Plateaus.”

Foer has written a best-selling book full of strategies for developing expertise. During a lecture for 99U, he gave an example of an OK Plateau seen in typing.

When we first begin to type, we push ourselves to get faster and more accurate. But as soon as we reach a comfortable speed, we stop improving despite continued “practice” (a.k.a. logging hours on Facebook).

While simply practicing is ineffective, Foer found he could overcome this OK Plateau by turning off his brain’s autopilot and training with intention.

The OK Plateau That Fearless Creatives Must Overcome

Foer’s typing accomplishments may seem trivial—but the principle is game-changing if applied to the OK Plateau creatives experience when:

1) Our clients are happy, and,
2) Our skills aren’t being challenged by our peers.

If we intentionally push ourselves when we don’t have to, then we don’t just improve. We also give a message to our community that we care about what we do. And with that comes unexpected opportunities.

Mixing old-world commitment with modern business acumen is a simple recipe to success. It’s not easy, but the alternative is waiting to be replaced by someone with more drive.

Are You In An OK Plateau?

Have you experienced an OK Plateau in your craft? Let me know by commenting below!
Also, if you enjoyed the videos above, join me on Facebook on Twitter for more video links like these.

Hats off to Stella Artois for commissioning the documentary and to Dom for the link.

This episode reveals the creative process behind Martin Schoeller’s and Matthew Modine’s most memorable images. Discover details on the controversial breastfeeding cover for Time Magazine, camera tips from Stanley Kubrick and more.

I particularly like Schoeller’s story about scotch-taping Steve Carell’s head for an image (at 13:44). He ends the anecdote by saying, “Sometimes you have to wait for the publicist to disappear to pull out your best ideas”—supporting my theory that all successful photographers are at least a bit devious!

You can watch more episodes of Capture for free on Reserve’s Youtube Channel.

Leave A Comment

Do you find it helpful to learn how successful artists approach their work? Let me know in the comment section below.

Source: A Photo Editor 

There are times when I find someone else’s images and they leave me breathless in a swimming-at-the-bottom-of-a-pool kind of way. Deep, aching breaths. And I know I’m no where near that level of oxygen deprivation.

 

There are moments I battle with myself because I don’t know if I’ll ever have that thing in me….

 

But then. And this is a pretty big BUT. But then I’m reminded (usually by JD) that talent is nothing without ambition…and the smallest bit of talent can be carried on the wings of sheer desire and hard work.

So many photographers trigger that inexplicable ache in my lungs and heart. It’s good to be reminded that, even if I never reach their level, dedication and perseverance isn’t wasted. Thanks Jasmine (and JD)!

Does this quote resonate with you? Let me know by commenting below.

Olympian Alexa Loo with trainer Lucinda Jagger (for Best Health Magazine). How hard did she train to get those arms!?

When I’m wavering I look to athletes like Alexa for inspiration. No athlete has ever made it into the Olympics on talent alone. It takes a colossal amount of dedication and passion to do the things worth doing.

This game takes grit—but succeeding at it takes more. Here are sixteen things that all new creative freelancers should do more of.

1. Create More

A common problem for new freelancers is a lack of paid work. Use this time to experiment on personal projects. Create without boundaries while developing your skill set. By regularly self-commissioning your dream projects you are more likely to land similar work.

2. Share More

Ira Glass once talked about a gap that beginners feel when they start making creative work: that period when your work isn’t as good as your taste. The easiest thing to do here is to quit and hide your work from the world. Resist this. “Do a huge volume of work,” then share as much of it as possible.

3. Collaborate More

Freelancing is a lonesome affair if you stay isolated. Inversely, there are few things more thrilling than collaborating with a capable crew. Assemble teams of artists who are better than you—they will push you to improve.

4. Network More

Get in the habit of building new relationships with your peers. Interact with other creative freelancers through online communities and local meetups. These friends will help you keep your sanity by providing understanding, advice and the occasional referral.

5. Ask More

It’s fun to learn about your craft. Google is brimming of how-tos for photographers, designers and film makers. It’s harder to find business and customer service advice that is specific to your situation.

Access this information by asking the freelancers who working at the top of your field. Take people you respect out for a meal and learn from their story. If they’re receptive, request pricing advice, past invoices, estimates, contracts and contacts.

Be discerning! Learn from people’s mistakes as much as you do from their most brilliant ideas. Don’t attempt to duplicate anyone’s path—piece together your own.

6. Read More

Not a big reader? Become one. I recommend starting with Getting Things Done, How To Win Friends and Influence People and Do The Work.
  

You should also use Google Reader to follow bloggers who are producing quality resources.

7. Plan More

Define your goals and make plans for achieving them. I began my business by writing down my dreams (and strategies) for the first three months, year and three years. They were lofty ambitions, but looking back almost all of them came true.

8. Specialize More

Casting a wide net makes you look like an amateur. I’ll quote myself from my recent post on the benefits of specializing.

“To be recognized as an expert, focus on the niche that you are intensely passionate about. You’re much more likely to get hired, stay excited by your work and attract like-minded people.”

9. Target More

Once you’ve figured out your niche, the next step is to find your target audience. A good way to go about this is to create a ‘brand persona.’ Describe your ideal client in minute detail: where does he shop, eat, live, work and play? How old is he and what does he believe in?

After answering these questions, give your brand persona a face and a name and tack his picture to the office wall. From now on, every business decision begins with the question, “What will my brand persona think?”

10. Refer More

Occasionally you will receive inquiries that don’t fit your services, rates or availability. Use these opportunities to give quality referrals. Connecting a client to a capable artist is an easy way to get in karma’s good book.

11. Blog More

The world’s most successful brands lead tribes by connecting like-minded people. If you want to create a strong brand around your new business, use blogging as a primary tool in leading your tribe. Discover what keeps your readers up at night, then write about that consistently.

12. Listen More

Building a tribe requires listening skills. Talk less and discover the dreams, fears and frustrations of your clients and peers.

13. Help More

It’s not enough to simply ask for guidance and support—you need to give it. After all the listening you’ve done, find ways to help people realize those dreams, quell those fears, and turn frustrations into delight.

14. Streamline More

One striking difference between a hobbyist and a successful professional is the amount of time they spend on a project. Running a business requires learning the fastest methods to arrive at a desired outcome, and doing it that way every time. By systematizing early you’re less likely to burn out and better positioned for growth.

15. Charge More

Professionals believe in the value of their services; respect your work and charge accordingly. One smart method for earning more is to use pricing packages. I learned a lot from Lawrence Chan’s Creative Pricing and Packaging for Photographers (the information is applicable to all entrepreneurs).

16. Smile More

There’s a remarkable number of brooding freelancers out there—yet it’s often the positive minded people who gain success the fastest. If your success depends on attracting clients, mentors and followers, it makes sense to be cheerful.

You wouldn’t be on this journey if the challenges of creative freelancing didn’t conjure up authentic excitement. Focus on and express that energy; it’s magnetic and makes life more enjoyable.

Which of these points do you find most daunting? Let me know in comments.

Become A Fearless Creative

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