Conscious Creators — Make A Life Through Your Art Without Selling Your Soul

If you don't have self-awareness, you think you are God and can do everything. And I'm sure many entrepreneurs have tried that and we all fail when we try to do everything because there are things I'm really good at and things I'm terrible at. And I think if you've got some awareness of that, it makes it a lot easier to hire the right people to do the things you suck at - Juliet Starrett

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Juliet Starrett (@julietstarrett). Juliet is the Co-founder and CEO of The Ready State. She is also the founder of the nonprofit Stand Up Kids. In this conversation, they discuss building a business as a couple, self-awareness, taking smart risks in a career, and stories from running and building businesses for more than a decade.

Find the show notes of the episode here - https://www.creators.show

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA

Show Notes:

00:51 - How Sachit and Juliet met at the Baby Bathwater Institute

04:11 - Why Juliet left her career as a lawyer and chose to be an entrepreneur

16:25 - Two strategies on navigating risky career decisions

18:40 - How Juliet and Kelly cultivate a mindset of entrepreneurship in their kids

21:24 - What most people get wrong about the 4-Hour Workweek

22:14 - Tools to become more self-aware

26:17 - Lessons from building and managing a team

30:41 - Juliet’s strengths as an entrepreneur and manager

34:35 - Lessons and stories from running a business with a spouse

40:02 - How they balance their different ambitions

41:25 - The inspiration behind the rebrand for The Ready State

48:46 - What next for The Ready State and Juliet

Look at everything with curiosity. Look at everything with an open mind. Don't take shortcuts. I think that is so important when you are building something because it's important to have that north star. Sometimes that can change but how you get there is always gonna change. — Dave Nemetz

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Entrepreneur, Startup Advisor, and Angel Investor – Dave Nemetz (@davenemetz). Dave is the founder of Bleacher Report and Inverse (both acquired). In this conversation, they discuss Web 3 and its impact on media companies, building a small team as a creator, his journey of building and selling companies, and lessons from entrepreneurship.

Find the show notes of the episode here - https://www.creators.show

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the Creators MBA

Resources mentioned:

Creator, meet operator - Dave Nemetz

Founder - Creator - Investor - Dave Nemetz

Show Notes:

01:03 -  Building a media company in Web3 and how it will be different

14:23 -  Web 3 and investing world

17:58 - Projects that Dave is excited about and invested in

23:13 - What inspired him to be a creator

25:01 - The insecurities that stopped him from becoming a creator earlier

27:43 - Difference being a creator vs running a big company

29:36 - Examples of creators with small teams and overview of their operations

31:11 - The steps of building a great team

33:55 - Patterns in Founders - Creators - Investors

38:56 - Start of Bleacher Report during a trip across Europe

44:30  - The pivotal decisions that made Bleacher Report successful

51:16 - How he spent his time between Bleacher and Inverse

54:22 - Tools that helped during his wandering phase

57:37 - Difference in environment and approaches during building: Bleacher Vs Inverse

67:04 - Philosophies and guiding principle of Dave's to navigate entrepreneurship

71:35 - How to be focused even after being successful

73:00 - Final thoughts

”Your subconscious’ job is for you to be alive tomorrow. It's not for you to be successful. So it wants you to be fed. It wants to have a roof over your head, and it wants you to have a partner, and to reproduce effectively. So long as all of those things are in place, more success could potentially bring risk because it's changed, and your subconscious doesn't particularly like change.” — Elliot Roe

Our guest is Elliot Roe (@ElliotRoe1), a leading expert in Mindset Optimization for High Performers and the world’s #1 Mindset Coach for poker players. In just the last 3 years his poker clients have won over $50,000,000 and nearly every major tournament title, including the World Series of Poker Main Event. His clientele also includes Olympic Medalists, UFC champions, Hollywood actors, business executives, and wall street traders. In this episode listen to hear:

• How self-sabotage is preventing you from unlocking your full potential
• Why recommendations and referrals are the best recognition for a coach
• Growth mindset and navigating competitive environments
• How to face challenges in a team of high performers

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get in touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Books mentioned:

“Relentless” by Tim S. Grover

Show Notes

• 01:04 - The methods Elliot uses to unlock the full potential of top performers
• 04:18 - About the levels of self-sabotage and its implications on performance
• 06:29 - How Elliot’s career path took a turn, and the lessons learned
• 08:41 - The importance of having recommendations, besides knowledge, for coaching
• 10:39 - Why rapport is the biggest factor in deciding the success of coaching business
• 13:53 - Different approaches and types of coaching
• 15:58 - On setting up the process and how to build a relationship for success
• 19:16 - What lies behind the mindset of becoming the best
• 21:52 - How not to be overwhelmed with success and competition
• 25:34 - Why growth mindset is the game-changer
• 27:47 - The challenges when building a team of high performers
• 31:48 - How people’s mental program hold them back and Elliot’s way of dealing with it
• 34:49 - What it really takes to become one of the best in your field
• 36:48 - The importance of a coach
• 39:06 - How he practices his own coaching methods to stay on top
• 41:26 - The benefits of regression hypnotherapy
• 45:54 - Why the subtle clues are crucial for progress both personally and professionally
• 49:22 - How he puts into practice deep regression vs. pressure during the hypnotherapy process
• 51:51 - The difference between Audio vs. Video sessions
• 53:17 - About the idea, criteria and requirements of setting your own coaching business
• 57:15 - How Elliot manages with the coaching ecosystem
• 59:58 - Why the prices on the coaching market should match the value offered
• 64:54 - The essence of building a good reputation in this industry
• 66:58 - Elliot’s advice on mindset growth and optimization for constant progress

Tweetable Quotes

“If you have the knowledge of what you need to do, but you're not doing those things, that's where it's a mindset issue. And that's why you'd be working with a mindset coach.” - Elliot Roe

“The idea that that failure is something to accept and it's part of the process. There are a lot of people who get stuck on this idea. If I fail, it is wrong, they create a fear of failure and then they don't put in a 100% effort.”- Elliot Roe

“The high-performers have more of that growth mindset and they accept that failure is just a route to success. It's just something to learn from.” - Elliot Roe

“If you have someone who is literally as driven, as motivated as you are, probably they're not going to stay working with you for that long because it's very difficult.”- Elliot Roe

"The good performer can get away with blaming the staff and the high-performer will take responsibility and then try and learn the lessons from it. It's the fixed versus growth mindset.” - Elliot Roe

“Doing that deep emotional work makes a significant difference in the chances of reaching that level of success."- Elliot Roe

“The very simplistic program running from the seven-year-old you that was embarrassed in front of the class still thinks it's keeping you safe rather than thinking it's being a detriment to you.” - Elliot Roe

“You want your issues. You've learned your issues. So if you say I'm an angry person, you've just learned to be angry. If you think you're an anxious person you've learned to be anxious. If you look at life from that framing, it gives you a lot more space to evolve than if you look at things that you're just fixed as a certain way.” - Elliot Roe

About Our Guest

Elliot Roe (@ElliotRoe1) is a leading expert in Mindset Optimization for High Performers and is the world’s #1 Mindset Coach for poker players. In just the last 3 years his poker clients have won over $50,000,000 and nearly every major tournament title, including the World Series of Poker Main Event. His clientele also includes Olympic Medalists, UFC Champions, Hollywood Actors, Business executives, and wall street traders.

From his early days, in his twenties, he realized he had a fear of flying. This prevented him to be a part of some amazing experiences, on top of feeling embarrassed and stupid from knowing that fear was holding him back. One of Elliot’s friends, trying to help him, suggested hypnotherapy as a solution. Skeptical in the beginning but ready for digging the root of the problem, he opened up to the memory that was holding him back.

Returning to his travel freedom, free of stress and anxiety, Elliot signed up for hypnotherapy training, since it had such a huge impact on his life, so much so, he felt compelled to pay it forward. The passion he has had to this day is seeing others achieve their maximum potential.

His unique mindset coaching system leverages the power of hypnotherapy to eliminate fears and breakthrough mental roadblocks allowing you to operate in a state of peak performance every day.

You can get in touch with him on his website or twitter, or on the #1 Mindset App: Primed Mind.

“I came to realize that as the influencer, you’re your own best marketer, you’re your own best advocate, you know your audience best, you know your content best, and people want to hear from you anyway.” – Tessa Arias

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and strategies to grow and monetize your audience.

In today’s episode, Tessa Arias, founder of Handle the Heat, shares her experience going from a hobby-blogger to published author and social influencer. What I love about Tessa’s background is she’s grown a platform online mostly organically, reaching audience numbers that a lot of my friends who spend a ton on paid ads aren’t even able to reach. 

We also get super tactical into her experience working with sponsors and partnerships and how Tessa now acts as an advisor for companies wanting to work with influencers. We close with her experience going back into the world of publishing and why she’s self-publishing her next cookbook.

Actions: 

1. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review.
2. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — click here to send a Tweet directly to Tessa and Sachit or find Tessa on Instagram. 
3. Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses.

Episode Highlights: 

• Tessa began as a hobby blogger with no expectations of making money, until she was offered a book deal in 2012.
• Even though she was making money from her website, she didn’t feel like it was a real business, so she started attending Masterminds to learn more.
• Tessa found she needed the emotional support of having a team of like-minded people around her.
• Someone can have a six or seven-figure business, but hate their business and not feel fulfilled by their life.
• Find groups and resources where you’re actually getting advice and tools that you can implement.
• Surround yourself with people who understand and respect that you are the one who knows your business and yourself the best.
• Bringing someone else into your business forces you to operate at a higher level.
• You don’t need to post on major job sites; look within your own community first. For example, Tessa hired through Instagram at first.
• When hiring, Tessa suggests you ask them to tell a story about a time they overcame a challenge, and ask them their opinion about something trivial to see that they can make a commitment and not be a yes-person.
• Tessa realized she was approaching burnout when she stopped feeling excited about her work.
• Growing your business depends on being flexible and adapting to the changing online landscape.
• Tessa challenged herself to post something every quarter that is more controversial or more personal and that scares her.
• If you buy a course online, make sure you have an accountability buddy to do it.
• Her past experiences with sponsored posts were formulaic and based on how other food bloggers did it, but she learned from Sachit and others how to build larger partnerships and create relationships from sponsorships.
• Through her success with building partnership relationships, Tessa has become a case study and an advisor for how brands should work with influencers.
• Tessa learned to ask open-ended questions of her sponsors to understand how their organizations work so she learns what would work best for both of them.
• No one opens Instagram excited to see sponsored content, so you should prioritize sponsorships that work with content you already post organically and that you care about and whose products you use.
• Question your assumptions that something has to be done a certain way.
• Sell your own content to your audience and remind them of the work that goes into it.
• The most important fundamental skills you need to be a successful published author are marketing and sales.
• Tessa is writing a second cookbook but is self-publishing it.
• The hardest part is marketing the book for pre-sale while creating it in order to fund it at the same time.
• Don’t do something you don’t like just to see if it’ll be successful, because if it is successful, you’ll have to continue doing something you hate.
• If you’re bored with your content and the content others in your niche are putting out, do something surprising.
• Tessa’s favorite part of her job is the ability to do whatever she wants when she wants to and to structure her day how she feels comfortable.

3 Key Takeaways:

1. Give yourself the space to be creative and stay recharged and excited about your work.
2. It’s important to build relationships with sponsorships, partnerships, and PR representatives.
3. You can have a big impact on every person who takes the time to follow, subscribe, or comment.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think the biggest thing for me was realizing I couldn’t do it by myself and I didn’t want to do it by myself. Owning an online business can be really isolating, you’re not in a room full of people unless you choose to be.” –Tessa Arias
• “Following someone else’s definition of success means that you have no intention or vision for yourself.” –Tessa Arias
• “The things I complain to my friends about in private, sometimes, those conversations need to be made public, because you’re going to find your true fans and followers.” –Tessa Arias
• “Working with a sponsor gives you resources that you wouldn’t have otherwise.” –Tessa Arias
• “I came to realize that as the influencer, you’re your own best marketer, you’re your own best advocate, you know your audience best, you know your content best, and people want to hear from you anyway.” –Tessa Arias
• “When you feel like you’re at a plateau, do something surprising to yourself and for your audience.” –Tessa Arias

Resources Mentioned:

• Later: Post scheduler for Instagram
• Tailwind: Pinterest and Instagram scheduler
• Tessa’s Blog: Handletheheat.com 
• Find Tessa: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Actions: 

1. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review.
2. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — click here to send a Tweet directly to Tessa and Sachit or find Tessa on Instagram. 
3. Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses.

Today's episode is a bit different! I'm excited to announce the launch of the CreatorsMBA; a 3-week online program that helps creators (podcasters, authors, YouTubers, newsletter writers, Instagram's, and more) with the mindsets, tools and skills they need to get paid and grow their business sustainably.

Today's episode is an excerpt from the program on how to get and keep sponsors (full video with slides included here).

The rise of the Creators' Economy and the recent changes by Apple's around privacy has created a massive gap in the market.

Brands are actively looking for podcasters, influencers, and creators to collaborate and there's a multi-billion dollar ad market that's ripe for disruption.

This post will teach how to take advantage of this change, based on our experience helping creators generate millions in sponsorship revenue.

The best part, they've done this while keeping creative control and without feeling like they're selling out.

In this excerpt from our full course module, we cover the following topics:

• How to find the right partner for your audience
• Understanding ROI and what brands are looking for
• How to help brands improve their ROI to increase your earnings
• How many partnerships do you actually need? (you'll be surprised)
• Why you should say NO to brands that don't align with your audience

Whether you're running a blog, a podcast, a newsletter or an IG/YouTube page, this excerpt will help you sign partnerships with top brands. Enjoy!

“No matter how clueless you might feel, someone else out there is willing to help you and can teach you something. One of the best decisions I've made, being able to let go and say, Hey, I don't know how to do this. Let me ask someone who does know how to do this.” — Thanh Pham

Thanh Pham (@asianefficiency), the Founder of Asian Efficiency, is our guest today. In 2008, he dropped out of college and started as an entry-level marketing associate at a life coaching business in Los Angeles, CA. Through sheer hard work, working long days and his commitment for excellence, they promoted him to be the VP of marketing. This is where he realized he had to work smarter and be more productive with the limited time he had. Today he sits with me to share his journey and success. Tune in to learn:

• The mindset switch creators have to make to intertwine personal stories with their brand
• How to onboard and match multiple personalities on the team when their talents’ variety
• The core principles of establishing happiness in your workflow
• How a 4 day work week led to an improvement in employee NPS
• How to build a team of cross-functional generalists
• How to implement a systematic approach to hire people and upgrade their skill set to be efficiently productive
• Why you should never be discouraged to ask for help to grow your business

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get in touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Books and resources mentioned in the podcast:

“Scaling up”  by Verne Harnish

“Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat”  by Michael Masterson

“WHO” by Geoff Smart

“Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose”  by Tony Hsieh

How to Get Started with An Executive Assistant w/ Tim Francis (TPS190)

Show Notes

• 01:59 - About the switch in the mindset that creators have to make
• 05:05 - On telling personal stories through your brand, and the drawbacks
• 06:30 - The core principles of the brand as a pillar of success and stability/consistency
• 09:20 - What a variety of characters can bring to the quality of work and relations
• 13:01 - How being interested and indirectly present in different industries can be an eye opening experience for you
• 17:50 - Why you should apply challenges and other insights to your way of work
• 20:37 - How to find the winning intersection of skills and characters
• 24:08 - Charting the growth of business step by step with Thanh, from operational/business to team perspective
• 28:47 - Diving into the tips & tricks on hiring an EA
• 31:14 - The detail/explicit process behind the decision making guidelines on your path to efficiency
• 35:18 - How to identify and implement the specific principles of your own happiness
• 40:01 - The scheme in organizing your personal life
• 42:46 - About Thanh’s journey through hiring and delegating, including his strategic approach
• 49:08 - What does the systematic process of building a team look like for Thanh? An original perspective on a mix of skills.
• 55:43 - The Individual Development Programme as a way to growth by upgrading your skill set
• 58:13 - What is the DNA meeting?
• 60:54 - How you can learn from mistakes, from Thanh’s point of view
• 65:54 - The insider story on recruiting and building the relation with the COO of Asian Efficiency
• 72:13 - Why is it important for Thanh to create a bigger number of SOPs every month?
• 74:17 - What are the tradeoffs of growing a business?
• 79:41 - How he benefits from the parties hosted by him
• 84:36 - The social psychology behind paying the bill
• 88:00 - On the challenges of understanding the female mind from a male perspective
• 90:04 - Why feeling clueless should not discourage you ever?

Tweetable Quotes

“I teach people how to be productive at work and in life. And so I'm always looking for people who have a passion for productivity and have a passion for teaching or how.”- Thanh Pham

“In the beginning phases, it's all about scaling yourself. Meaning you're the one who knows everything. So the more time you can free up for yourself. The more you can grow. Right?”- Thanh Pham

“I'm happy to lose face if we can preserve the relationship where the contact or the other person feels good about themselves. And so that to me is always very important.” - Thanh Pham

“When I think about strategy for my personal life, what I would try to maximize for is essential to happiness. I'm trying to maximize unique experiences, memory, and ultimately happiness.” - Thanh Pham

“I really want to communicate to everyone that hiring is a skill like anything else that you can get better at.” - Thanh Pham

“Ask yourself at least once a year if you go through every single person in your company, you ask yourself, would I rehire this person again?” - Thanh Pham

“The quality of our happiness comes from the relationships we have with people and the better relationships we have, the happier we are.” - Thanh Pham

“I want to build more deeper, meaningful relationships with people and actually get to know them as people, not who they are, what they do for work, but actually know their stories, what they believe in what they stand for, what their hopes and aspirations are, you know, who they were when they were little kids, that kind of stuff.” - Thanh Pham

“I'm just learning as we're going and people know that it's all done in good fun, and that we're all learning from each other. And to me, that's the most important thing about being open-minded enough to learn about different perspectives that I would never think.” - Thanh Pham

About Our Guest

Thanh Pham (@asianefficiency) is the Founder of Asian Efficiency. In 2008, he dropped out of college and started as an entry-level marketing associate at a life coaching business in Los Angeles, CA. Through sheer hard work, working long days and his commitment for excellence, they promoted him to be the VP of marketing. Facing failures on the way to the top he realized he had to work smarter and be more productive with the limited time he had.

Today, he has the No.1 podcast on productivity, called “The Productivity Show” where he shares his vast knowledge and expertise on productivity, time management, and efficiency to achieve your goals in record time. He also holds the top spot with his blog on Productivity & Time Management.

Having established the foundational set of principles, Thanh has mastered the optimal efficiency, and in 2011 founded Asian Efficiency, the No.1 personal efficiency platform in the world.

Thanh is regarded as a thought leader in the field of productivity. Forbes, The Guardian, Fast Company and Inc.com have all written about him. Thanh is passionate about assisting people in completing their to-do lists by lunchtime, allowing them to maximize their productivity. He believes that getting things done should not require sacrificing one's health or personal life.

As a thought leader who gives lectures on productivity, efficiency, and time management all around the world you can contact him on his website or his Instagram account.

"I think there's a difference between being scared that it's going to leave, than being respectful that it's going to be over. when you respect it, you have time and space in your heart to actually enjoy the experience. When you're scared of it, that's the only feeling that you have." — Will Matthews

Will Matthews is a former professional football player who played for the Detroit Lions in the NFL turned entrepreneur, and a musician. In this soulful conversation, Will shares his story of playing in the NFL, starting from early childhood and then transitioning to music and business. Here's some of what we cover:

• How “What do you want to be when you grow up?” can define or inspire you at an early age
• Will takes us behind the curtains of the NFL with personal stories, including playing with the 0.1% of the 0.1%
• He talks about the wisdom he gained on and off the football field
• Why you should follow your passion and life goals without compromising your values
• He takes us deeper into his music world and opens up with a melody

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get it touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Show Notes

• 01:03 - Why Will chose the football career
• 03:15 - How he decided to pursue sport over medicine
• 06:32 - The life lessons that arise from pain and defeat, and the art of overcoming it
• 13:03 - About the psychological journey through the overwhelming opportunities in life
• 13:27 - How Will dealt with his first impression of the business aspect of NFL
• 20:50 - The feeling he had while playing in the stadium for the first time in the team
• 22:26 - How the implications of the precious time spent with his sons reflect across all events in his everyday life
• 27:52 - Will’s personal insights behind being a professional NFL player
• 32:15 - What are his favorite fun memories on and off-field
• 34:33 - On his acquired wisdom as a part of a sports team
• 38:20 - Why he made the transition from football to music
• 42:21 - How he found a way to channel his passion for music
• 44:34 - Will’s view on finding your path w/o diminishing your own values
• 48:38 - On changing the goal post on what failure and success look like through changing the perspective of what life really is
• 50:41 - About sharing the same universal feeling of connection whether famous or not, and the human aspect in every approach
• 54:33 - The marketing strategy behind the media personas
• 56:25 - What are Will’s future plans

Tweetable Quotes

“I had a lot of energy, football helped me get it out and I made friends. And then when I got a little older, I found out that girls like football players too, so well, that's that then? Huh?” - Will Matthews

“People don't have a history with pain and overcoming pain. So I feel the difference between people who have” - Will Matthews

“Life needs texture, and we can do good or bad, whether I win the deal or lose the deal” - Will Matthews

“If you want to change the machine, the thing that you're passionate about, you're called to, I would say you need to get inside of it from inside. You can be the person to make the decisions, to help change things for other people.” - Will Matthews

“I think you have time in your heart to actually enjoy the experience when you're scared of it.” - Will Matthews

“I think everybody aspires to be the anomaly. And I think that there are a few of them.” - Will Matthews

“My guitar was a way that I channeled all of that energy outside of football that needed to be put somewhere that creative energy.” - Will Matthews

“When you can do what you want to do, don't let a dream die because you don't have time, let everything live, go after it and be great” - Will Matthews

“All I want to do is take something that's good and make it great.” - Will Matthews

About Our Guest

A self-professed "challenge junky" Will Matthews has an appetite for winning. That's why whether it's commercial real estate, consulting, speaking, or advocacy Will brings his A-game and gets the job done. A strategic business leader and entrepreneur who believes in creating win-win solutions for businesses and the communities they support. He cares about mental health, racial equity, and economic responsibility, driven to live at the cross-section of profit and purpose. In another life, Will played football for the Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) and spent his pro career with the Detroit Lions (@Lions). When he is not charting into the unknown, he focuses on physical health, giving back, writing music, and being a family man.

Will has teamed up with his friends at Notley Tide to put a series of events together aimed at helping business leaders, influencers, and decision-makers gain a deeper understanding of equity in the workplace.

He is also proud to be the 2020 NAMIWalks Honorary Chair. NAMI advocates for mental health for all.

“Any idea is a hypothetical solution to a problem. It is basically spending time to figure out if your solution to the problem is the right problem to solve first of all”— Hiten Shah

Our guest today is Hiten Shah (@hnshah), co-Founder and CEO at Nira. Hiten has started multiple software companies since 2003 including Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Nira. Here are some of the topics we discuss:

• Two approaches to entrepreneurship — the difference between pirates vs. explorers
• Hiten talks about his own approach and helps you understand which one you should choose
• Finding the courage to be disliked in order to progress
• His personal development journey and how it's reflected in his professional life
• Product development and Hiten’s approach to solutions and problems
• Why you should base your product on people’s stories over what they say they want

Just a quick note: this episode was recorded last year (2020).

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here, and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get it touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Show Notes

• 01:14 - Building a business as a Pirate vs. Explorer
• 03:29 - How innovation can happen
• 06:01 - The building of business with Hiten’s explorer tendencies and the pioneering outcomes
• 11:41 - The importance of self-awareness, being genuine to yourself as a framework
• 16:47 - How you can value yourself more while respecting your personal goals
• 21:53 - Why is better to have a conversation, or when is better to ask a friend than to ask Google
• 23:28 - The Ups and Downs of building a business
• 28:26 - How to get rid of stress by finding the answer within yourself
• 34:46 - Your way to finding a path to be non-judgmental
• 35:44 - The implications of self-awareness on pirates vs. explorers
• 37:17 - What Hiten wants other founders to know to progress professionally and personally
• 43:12 - The style of content on Hiten’s blog and research work, and his intentions behind it
• 48:35 - Tips for self-care while on the emotional startup rollercoaster
• 52:50 - How does the process of developing a framework for a product look like for Hiten
• 56:55 - The role of stories in defining the audience and their problems, and how to reach a solution
• 64:00 - Should you use intuition or stories or data on the product development journey?
• 66:52 - The principle of “measure twice, cut once” as a way of dealing with confirmation bias
• 69:58 - The power of talking on a podcast vs 1:1 conversation for learning and advice for current and potential funders
• 76:51 - On getting the right answer when facing with a conflicting advice
• 77:24 - How by being an example he can be of the biggest help
• 81:20 - The future envisioned by Hiten

Tweetable Quotes

"You can tell when someone is self-aware because they are able to clearly articulate why they are doing something, and how they are doing." — Hiten Shah

“A pirate wants to see what’s out there in order to copy it. An explorer wants to see what’s out there in order to go against it and do the opposite.” — Hiten Shah

“In reality, our collective experiences don’t exist, there is only individualistic experience, which means we are all dreaming.” — Hiten Shah

“The impact you can have on yourself and self-improvement on your mental health to understand what triggers you and why, and digging into it, is tremendous in order to look at actions as an observer, instead of a participant.” — Hiten Shah

“The more prescriptive you are about the things you’re doing, the more you keep it as close to business as possible and not personal.” — Hiten Shah

“The children were taught to live with certainty, and that is not the world we live in anymore.” — Hiten Shah

“Great product developers are good at intuitively knowing the problem, not intuitively knowing the solution.” — Hiten Shah

“You save your creativity for the solution. Don’t push your creativity on the problems.” — Hiten Shah

About Our Guest

Hiten Shah (@hnshah) is the Co-Founder and CEO at Nira. He has started multiple software companies since 2003 including Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Nira. He also has a blog Hitenism in which he shares all the news and personal knowledge for anyone interested in SaaS businesses.

Hiten builds data-driven solutions to help online businesses make better business decisions at KissMetrics. Hiten Shah serves as a Venture Advisor at 15Five, Inc., SpacePencil Inc., and Lean Startup Machine Inc. He serves as Advisor of Bitium Inc. Additionally, he Co-Founded Crazy Egg & Quick Sprout, an analytics tool that visualizes the user experience on a website. He serves as a Consultant of 500 Startups. Hiten Shah served as Advisor of CatchFree, Inc., iSocket, Inc., and Drumbi Inc. he advises startups about metrics, product & marketing. He started on the Internet by founding an Internet marketing consultancy, ACS. Hiten Shah serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of Recurly, Inc. He serves as a Member of the Advisory Board at DailyFeats, Inc. He serves as a Member of the Advisory Board at Classy, Inc.

“Unfortunately, humans today are operating on an open-loop system, where every action you take is without feedback"— Josh Clemente

A mechanical engineer and CrossFit-L2 trainer Josh Clemente (@joshuasforrest) is the founder and president of the breakthrough company for health, wellness, and fitness, Levels. Josh shapes the future by helping you gain insight on your metabolic health through personalized data. The life journey he takes us on starts with his work at SpaceX, and tells of inspiring stories, challenges and success. Here are some of the topics we discuss:

• Why curiosity and courage will lead you to success. Josh talks about his life journey from FBI to Space X
• What ignited the spark in him to take the wellness journey
• He opens about his personal struggles and solutions
• He talks about his work at Levels, how it all started and kept getting better
• Why everyday decisions have an impact on your health
• Josh talks about the holistic wellness approach with the help of bio-wearables
• How insights from data can be used for a greater good

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get it touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Show Notes

• 0:30 - The time when Josh was building assault machines for the FBI
• 3:00 - Story of how Josh got a job at SpaceX
• 7:13 - What are the lessons learned from FBI and Space X that Josh applied to his personal and professional life?
• 9:32 - How Josh is applying Elon Muck's first principles to build Levels?
• 13:07 - Why is there a stigma around using technology in the health industry?
• 15:58 - A high stakes work with tight deadlines redirecting him to holistic wellness, and a new look at life
• 21:12 - Hurdles and problems Josh faced in moving from Space X to Levels
• 24:56 - The secret behind a great team. How do people connect to deliver impressive results and scalable solutions?
• 27:42 - How Josh got comfortable working with people better and smarter than him and why he thinks it is necessary to work with people who are smarter than you?
• 29:19 - What mistakes you can learn from Josh and people working on Levels
• 32:00 - The power of never giving up and settling for being practical rather than passionate
• 36:18 - Original conversations on the straightforward road to success with Sam, his co-founder at Levels
• 38:07 - The process of building a network in health and wellness
• 41:02 - The process behind building a product like Levels and how to actually use data to take some actions.
• 43:09 - Example of a surprising product decision that led to changing actions for the users
• 46:27 - Learnings and insights by studying data on metabolism.
• 51:49 - Prevention as a purpose of medicine by being in control of your health based on data and the future implications of it.
• 55:04 - What is the line regarding the amount of data people should have to make an informed decision and not create panic in their heads
• 57:22 - The future of bio-wearables in all walks of life
• 61:04 - How are homeschooling and building teams correlated?
• 61:06 - The funny story behind his nickname GQ

Tweetable Quotes

“We want LeBron James in a game wearing the Level's logo because that demonstrates this is not a technology that you need to be embarrassed of.  It's a tech that you're wearing to be the best you can be and to completely take control of your lifestyle.” - Josh Clemente

“When was the last time you used your own health information to make a decision? The answer is inevitably never” - Josh Clemente

“I just thought I need better information. I have no objective data that is guiding my decisions every day. And that's just crazy. I mean, who knows if I'm getting healthier or less healthy every single day.” - Josh Clemente

“As I got deeper and deeper into the data, it was just crazy how straight forward the connections were between glucose dysfunction, insulin dysfunction, and like all of the chronic illnesses that the US and in all developing countries are rampantly, sort of causing mortality.” - Josh Clemente

“Having a large dataset is not useful, but having really targeted insights built on huge amounts of data is” - Josh Clemente

“If you want to do something and  you don't understand why something is done, the way that it is, start from the basic principles, don't get caught up in any of the fluff and distraction of what someone else has done” - Josh Clemente

About Our Guest

A mechanical engineer and CrossFit-L2 trainer Josh Clemente (@joshuasforrest) is the founder and president of the breakthrough company for health, wellness, and fitness, Levels. Josh shapes the future by helping you gain insight on your metabolic health through personalized data. The life journey he takes us on starts with his work at SpaceX, and tells of inspiring stories, challenges and success.

In 2019, Josh founded Levels, continuing his personal quest in the professional health sphere. In 2010, he left SpaceX after almost 6 years in the role of Lead Life Support Systems Engineer. Defining the future of nutrition technology and metabolic fitness, and focusing on health as the road to happiness, Josh truly shows us what it means to follow our passion.

“ I think it is incredibly important to always remember that art can not save us. Art will not save us. Art is not the means... art is not the vehicle that changes the material lived conditions of people's lives." — Deana Haggag

In today's episode, we're speaking with Deana Haggag (@dhaggag), Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She's also the former President & CEO of United States Artists where she helped develop Artist Relief, a $25 million emergency initiative to support artists facing dire financial circumstances due to COVID-19.

We're also joined by Shreya Patel, model turned writer, actress, and filmmaker who is my co-founder on the lovespreads.org project (this podcast was originally recorded for that, and is being published on Conscious Creators). Here are some of the topics we discuss:

• Why art is impactful, but can not save us
• Deana talks about our own responsibility to take accountability for our actions
• She takes us on her life journey from her childhood
• We dive into the aspects that built her into the person she is today
• She talks about the her work supporting artists at United States Artists; including the $25 Million Artist Relief Fund
• How money alone doesn't make people happy, but poverty will kill them
• How Covid-19 impacted the way artists create and distribute their art

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and improve your business and life.

Like this show? Support us by following the show, leaving a review here and helping us spread the word by sharing the pod with one (or three) friends: https://refer.fm/creators

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA where we show you how to get paid to create online: http://www.creatorsmba.com

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta, and get it touch if you have any questions or ideas related to the show: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

• Sachit

Show Notes

• 0:24 - How we should think about justice for indigenous groups
• 3:51 - How art has an impact and influences everyday culture
• 6:13 - The responsibility of an artist and role of art
• 10:05 - Why art is powerful, but can't save us
• 13:29 - Deana's life journey and what led her to United States Artists
• 15:55 - How her childhood set her life values today
• 22:22 - Why we need to be mindful of micro-aggressions and their impact on communities
• 23:45 - How she frames her professional career for her immigrant parents
• 26:32 - What drew her to art
• 28:32 - Her work as CEO of United States Artists
• 31:28 - How United States Artist is changing the lives of artists
• 36:24 - How Covid-19 impacted the way artists create and distribute their art
• 40:42 - How she helps spread love in the world
• 43:26 - How you can support artists and what the future looks like for United States Artist

Tweetable Quotes

"And it's just really, the magnitude of this moment hits me every day. Years from now, we'll be looking back at these heroes who are just fighting with their lives to change our country. And so I think my particular context is about time. That we have opened the doors on these very critical conversations as an entire nation” - Deana Haggag

“I guess I feel like what artists do for me is they, they make language, they tell stories. They document what it was like to be alive at any particular moment. So much of what we know about other civilizations and other times, and other people is like via the mechanism that is art-making right.” - Deana Haggag

“And right now a lot of families and a lot of institutions and a lot of politicians need a new language and a new story and a new way to frame the world. And I think artists can frame for us the things we never thought possible. The things we actually could not see by the mechanism of how they make things in the world.” - Deana Haggag

“Art can't solve the world's problems, but art can hold it.” - Deana Haggag

About Our Guests

Deana Haggag is a Program Officer in Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Prior to joining the foundation in May 2021, she was the President & CEO of United States Artists, a national arts funding organization based in Chicago, IL. During her tenure, USA saw unprecedented growth, expanding its Fellowship award program, launching the Berresford Prize, and developing coalition efforts to advance support for individual artists most notably including Artist Relief, a $25 million emergency initiative to support artists facing dire financial circumstances due to COVID-19, and Disability Futures, an initiative aimed at increasing the visibility of disabled creative practitioners across disciplines and geography and elevating their voices individually and collectively. Before joining USA in February 2017, she was the Executive Director of The Contemporary, a nomadic and non-collecting art museum in Baltimore, MD, for four years.

In addition to her leadership roles, Deana lectures extensively, consults on various art initiatives, contributes to cultural publications, and has taught at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Towson University. She is on the Boards of The Underground Museum and Pillars Fund, as well as the Artistic Director's Council of Prospect.5 and Advisory Council of Recess. She received her MFA in Curatorial Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA from Rutgers University in Art History and Philosophy. Additionally, she completed the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program in 2020, Stanford Impact Program for Arts Leaders in 2018, and was a Salzburg Global Fellow for Young Cultural Innovators in 2015. Among other honors, she was most recently named a 2020 YBCA 100 Honoree.

She is a disabled first-generation Egyptian-American Muslim woman of Afro-Arab descent. She currently lives on Munsee Lenape land, known today as Brooklyn, New York.

Shreya Patel is a model turned writer, actress, and filmmaker. She’s a graduate of the Second City Conservatory and can be seen in hit shows such as Mrs. America and Grand Army.

Her directorial debut, the documentary Girl Up, brings light to domestic violence and human trafficking in Toronto and has been partnered with Toronto International Film Festival to showcase at Civic Action Summit.

During this pandemic, she has gathered 66 countries made a documentary called Unity - #LOVESPREADS Faster Than Virus showcasing the plight of the human spirit.

Following Unity, Shreya directed a music video called Freedom Dance which hit over 12 million views on YouTube. The music video features a global cast showcasing what their inner freedom looks like during the lockdown. Rolling Stones India has reported about it too.

Currently, she is working on a web series called Layla is Relevant.