I want to welcome you to the 200th episode of our podcast. Unlocking your world of creativity,

Who would've thought two years ago, that we would sustain this momentum of interviewing 200 creatives from around the world, and how they get inspired. It's been wonderful.

You know, I set out to learn by interviewing authors musicians, restaurant tours, marketeers scientists, and actors; I even interviewed a celebrity dentist from "Extreme Makeover."

I wanted to invite a few of the guests to give you an update on what they're currently doing. so you're going to hear in this episode messages from many of the creatives that we've talked to, but I also thought I'd give you kind of a six-point recap of my main takeaways and it inspired me.

I'll be doing a future episode on some of the takeaways from all these interviews, but I thought for now I would give you six points.

1. Number one is that all of the great creatives I've talked to had a signature method, there was some process or style that they could name and describe and document and teach that became their own brand of creativity.
2. Number two, they have resilience. They don't just brush off rejection, but instead, they have a true drive to fulfill what they think is a creative dream. And even on the level of a mission, these creatives literally didn't take no for an answer. They learned from their mistakes. They adjust to advance, but this persistence and resilience was something I was really inspired by.
3. The third thing I took away was the collaboration. these creatives sought collaborators that they could work with, who would complement their craft, and who could accelerate their art. It might be a producer, it might be another artist. It might be a songwriter to complement their, you know, a lyricist to complement their song. So there might be another rock band to interview, and there might be other writers to collaborate with.
4. Number four was a grasp of the numbers, the data, the finances, you know, successful creators viewed their craft as an enterprise, a business that also needed financial management, even profit and loss. So I spoke with an accountant. I spoke with, producers who were focused on the financial management side, not just the creative production. I talk to people who taught classes, even on pricing your services, to get an idea that we don't just get paid by the hour or by the download. But by the value of our creative work,
5. number five is that we have contingency plans. There's a sense of what if we know we're going to face obstacles. So we have to have backup ideas, several angles. We have to try even in times of difficulty. So I was impressed by the creatives who, you know, tried one way and went one medium and tried another one or that somebody might have even tried a pseudonym, or I tried to perform under one name and I decided to go back to my original name. All of these stories were quite inspiring.
6. number six, the last thing I took away was the leadership that we not only admire leaders and emulate leaders in our industries, but also leaders in all industries, but also people who embrace their own leadership and recognize they need to serve as a role model and an example to others. And that might be speaking to you that says, you know, you can look outside your craft, but what about inside to see what sort of mentorship and leadership you could provide?

So enjoy these conversations and updates from the guests.

also, remember, and I mentioned this at the end of almost every episode, I do have an eBook of about 12 or so interviews from our very first series of "a world of creativity," plus some bonus content. And this is the full eBook. This is 200-plus pages of interviews. You can find it at my website, mark-stinson.com. It's right on the homepage, easy to download the PDF of the full eBook of the world of creativity.

Hey, by the way, the next episode will be highlights of all the music we've featured in our podcast. So I hope you'll come along then, but for now enjoy these guest messages from:

Christof Zürn - linkedin.com/in/creativecompanion

Deborah Claire Procter - linkedin.com/in/deborahclaireprocter ; clearinsight.co.uk 

Dennis Morrison - linkedin.com/in/dennismorrison ; audiencemagnet.com

G Mark Phillips - linkedin.com/in/gmarkphillips

Angela Soffe - linkedin.com/in/angelasoffe ; https://www.angelasoffe.com/

Mark Graban - linkedin.com/in/mgraban ; markgraban.com/ 

Yiqing Zhau - linkedin.com/in/yiqing-zhao-329a11a6 ; coaching.yiqingzhao.com 

Diego Kolsky - linkedin.com/in/diegokolsky ; diegokolsky.com 

Jude Warne - https://judewarne.com/

Wayne Mullins - linkedin.com/in/fireyourself ; UglyMugMarketing.com

Rebecca De Ornelas - linkedin.com/in/rebecca-de-ornelas ; https://www.yourstoryartisan.com/