Creative Contact w/ Kia Orion

WHAT’S GOOD Y’ALL?

back with another episode of the podcast. some big news this week and ideas i’m stoked to talk about.

first things first.

BIZ. I’m launching the new cohort of my Beat Bootcamp and couldn’t be more stoked to get this cracking. if you’re interested i’ll have a lot more information coming down the pipeline. but shoot me a message [email protected] and let’s level your production ALL THE WAY UP.

second.

podcast is going to take a new direction. i’ll still have these personal episodes, because i like showing y’all behind the scenes of life and biz. dropping my life lessons learned from that week on ya asses.

but also going to be interviewing a lot more music producers and creative folks. getting back into the interviews, so if that’s what you prefer there will be more soon to come!

thanks for sticking around and riding with the boy. means a lot.

KO

back at it! sorry for the late upload y’all. but...life. you feel me?

gearing up with a new direction for the tunes and the online courses and also got some DOPE takeaways for y’all.

let’s get into the biggest takeaways this week-

(starting at the 8 minute mark…)

STORYBRAND

-what’s the story your business is telling? hit pain points and give customer 3 steps. analyze your message and give a direct call to action.

-spell out the stakes. then show what your life will look like with me

here’s what can be won or lost.

-the answer to confusion is always no. go ask random people in a starbucks. is your message clear?

INTERVIEW WITH RYAN HOLIDAY ON IMPACT THEORY

-events that happen are objective, but we assign meaning to them. not good or bad, it’s our perception.

-wanting to be perfect is a crutch to not starting. we internalize what other people assign to our narrative.

-we all end up in the same place. alexander the great and his mule driver are buried in the same ground. strive for greatness. but take some time to enjoy the process.

always love. thank you for tuning in as always!

KO

OOOOWEEEE we really about to get it. This episode got some GEMS from Levi Strauss, Gary V, and Tim Ferriss.

In terms of Kilo we got some fun updates for y’all. Went to Pai with friends this past week and got weird in the mountains. Then came back home and have been more focused than I’ve been in a long time.

Feel like I’ve finally figured out some secret sauce and stoked to share it with y’all.

OK, on to the takeaways:

(STARTING AT 12 MINUTES)

Levi Strauss-

-Parable of the farmer: CAN’T ASSIGN MEANING TO SHIT

-A fine line between the shiny object and not adapting. NETFLIX. Started as a DVD mail order business. wtf!?

-What do you disagree with. Are you willing to something new? Breakthroughs don’t happen from doing what you’re already comfortable with. It’s not until you try something new that you’re allowed new ways of thinking.

GV- 

-You have to love the process. It’s not a race, and if you’re doing shit for other people you’ve already lost.

Lily Singh-

-Do what you love.

-Did Youtube for 8 years and then finally is now able to run her own late night TV show.

BACK IN ACTION. My mom came to visit me in Thailand and we had an absolute blast. But now it’s back to work!

TL;DR if you want to skip all my personal bullshit I get into the top takeaways around 11:30.

The biggest takeaways this week come from Tim Ferriss, Jason Fried, and Ryan Holiday on stillness. Here are a few that really resonated with me:

Tim Ferriss Q&A-

-If you can not be happy with what you have, nothing you ever get will make you happy.

-Different is better than better. Can you combine two things? Skill stacking. Joe Rogan. He’s a comedian, but he’s also the MMA health guy.

Jason Fried interview with Peter Attia-

-What opportunities are you missing by saying yes? When you say yes to something you’re actually saying no to a thousand other things. Yes is easy. It’s agreeable. No is difficult. But people appreciate honesty. Especially if it’s something in the future.

-Goals. Do they matter? Maybe not. Because if you run a 6 minute mile but you were supposed to run 6:06 then you’re disappointed. But it’s all self imposed suffering. And even if you do make the 6 minute mile...then you set another goal. And another goal. Rather than appreciating the process.

Ryan Holiday interview on the Ground Up Show-

-Stillness is the key. Ties into less about being busy. And more about appreciating the moment.

If you have questions or content you want to share PLEASE don’t be afraid to send it my way! I’m everywhere online @kiaorion or you can email me: [email protected].

New week, let’s get it!

Comin FRESH off a Buddhism retreat your boy got hella takeaways for y’all this week.

Back in Chiang Mai and couldn’t be more stoked. Forgot how easy and comfortable life is here.

I hit y’all with a quick (or not so quick: let’s be real) life update and then dive into the takeaways from the learning this week.

Here are some of the biggest things I learned this week, as well as the content that I learned ‘em from.

BUDDHISM-

-We’re the cause of our own pain. Nothing in life is permanent, and you can’t take it with you.

-you have to be selfish to be selfless. minimalism and simplicity.

-freedom is the ultimate happiness.

-Karma. it’s not about doing good in this life and then going to heaven and hell. that your life is what matters. how you live will determine your outcome.

JOSEPH GORDIN LEVITT TED TALK

AMAZING INTERVIEW ON SLEEP

-took george lucas 40 years to make 4 billion. it took Ambien about 2 years.

-every animal sleeps. if it weren’t important than wouldn’t we have evolved out of it by now?

RAMIT SETHI ON CHOOSING YOUR AUDIENCE 

Honorable mention:

CHASE JARVIS on Jordan Harbinger’s Show

-one. precious. life.

-creativity is a habit not a skill. so many shoulds in life. so many choices. you just gotta pick something and run with it.

-fear of letting people down. it’s unsafe.

-our narrative. we’ve told people what we’re doing for so long do we actually mean it? trade in the map for the compass.

---

Overall it was a great week and a bit of a game changer in terms of spirituality and perspective.

Questions? Recommendations? Get at me! [email protected] or @kiaorion everywhere else.

Work hard. Dream big. Eat your vegetables. Let’s get it!

new episode. new gems. esketit.

I recorded this a few hours before heading back to chiang mai for the fall. listened to some LIFE CHANGING podcasts this past week and i’m stoked to share the takeaways with y’all.

the takeaways and episodes learned this week:

Noah Kagan interview

-don’t think about how to create a subscription business. think about what you could offer people they’d be excited to pay you money for

-keep it simple. how can you test your idea and start making money now?

Social Media Marketing World on Personal Branding

-find your uniqueness and exploit it for the service of others

-find the middle ground. what the world needs you to be vs who you were designed to be

-who you seek to serve is who you once were

-different is better than better

Rich Roll podcast with David Epstein

-continue to experiment, you don’t have to only be good at one thing

-coaches don’t tell. they help you reflect on your own weaknesses

-van gogh died and only sold one painting in his life. his work has now sold over $1 billion

going to give this style a shot, if you dig it let me know! you can email me ([email protected]) or slide in the DM. i’m @kiaorion everywhere. 

thanks for being a part of this process with your boy.

WHATUP!

Your boy is back in action, comin in hot with another episode of the new podcast.

I’m bringing you a life update and the top 4 most helpful/interesting things I learned over the last week.

The show starts with personal Kia adventures: last week in Vietnam, getting my ass kicked by my trainer, being grateful af, and…writing a book?

Then we dive in headfirst. Topics on the episode this week are:

14:25: Some strategies to help with fear/your inner critic

22:28: Your focus is your superpower (and how you fuckin it up)

30:23: Sleep tips from Why we Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker

32:00: Jack Conte CEO of Patreon on how to execute on decisions. Ideas don’t matter nearly as much as execution.

Thank you for tuning in, means more than you know. If you've got any interesting content you want to send my way I'm all ears!

LET'S GET IT

OK y’all. it’s time to switch shit up. i’ve been on a real mission lately to re-evaluate where i’m at in my life and where i’m going. because of this i’ve been learning a LOT. and in order to make the most out of these shows i thought it would be cool to synthesize the top 4 things i learned this last week into one place for you.

These are the three interviews I heard this last week that were a game changer:

Dr. Joe Dispenza on mindset

Tom Bilyeu on Short story long

Seth Godin interview

going to give this style a shot, if you dig it let me know! you can email me ([email protected]) or slide in the DM. i’m @kiaorion everywhere. thanks for being a part of this process with your boy.

ooweeooo! it has been a minute. your boy took a hiatus from the podcast for a bit. but we diving back in. i'm still in SE asia so it won't be as interview based. i recently made the decision to pursue my career as an artist more full time. so this will be an outlet to document that journey. i'm capturing it in video for youtube and figured i'd give folks the option to listen to if they'd rather not have to see my scruffy mug. so i'll be uploading again weekly. it might even take a new direction that i haven't even thought of yet. who knows. life is messy. why not have some fun with it? 

alright here goes. i've been posting weekly about the journey but this weeks is especially in depth. .

not so much a weekly update as a psychological review. been digging deep lately. questioning my true intentions, long-held beliefs, and doing an overall re-evaluation of where we’re taking this thing.

maybe it’s because i’m pushing 30, maybe it’s because being out here has bought me time to think. but working through some shit and felt compelled to share the process with you.

still going to be making beats (you already know. if you need music hit the batphone) but switching my focus toward my own joints. think i’ve been working on the beats because it’s much more lucrative and less vulnerable.

in this episode i share some of my past failures (we’ll call them lessons) struggling to be an independent artist, and some of the left over residue i’m still working through. there’s a lot to unpack there in terms of identity, but realize the only way to get through that fear is just to do it more.

i keep trying to build businesses so that i have time to work on my own tracks. i think i’m guilty of doing that a lot. maybe we all do. “first i’ll do this and THEN i’ll be able to do what i really want”. it’s like...why not just do what you want to do...now? i felt the same about traveling. “i’ll have my career first, retire, and THEN i can go travel”. instead, let’s find a way to engineer this thing so we can cut to the chase.

before you know it life happens. and the shit goes hella fast. Ferris Bueller ain’t playin. i realize that i don’t need to build a biz to have the time, because i already have the time. the teaching isn’t going anywhere. if i can do that indefinitely, what am i waiting for?

i’m at a point where i can make beats i dig. my vocal mixing is far from perfect but constantly working on it and seeing progress. so going to try and write more jams. get back in the habit of using those other music muscles. hopefully with some creativity and elbow grease i can get momentum going.

appreciate all of you who have supported and continue to share your perspective on this adventure. taking it one day at a time. grateful to have the opportunity to even do the damn thing 🙏

I don’t even know where to start with these show notes…

This is the hardest I’ve ever worked to get someone on the podcast. I am so stoked to finally drop this joint. In honor of Mother’s day this was one of the rare moments I’ve been able to record with my mom. It’s crazy that I’m almost 30 and I’m just now beginning to understand how much this woman sacrificed for me and my big bro. When I take the time to reflect on it I can now start to see how her parenting continues to affect me even at this stage in my life. I’ve always felt loved, which I now understand is so incredibly rare. And I attribute that to the way she raised us. 

My folks brought the two of us up in an old farm house in upstate NY. It was an eye-sore they paid $300 a year for, but it was surrounded by woods and had a pond with a dock, which is why I’m sure I remember it more regal than it was. 

In this episode ma shares stories (and some serious parenting gems) about that beginning chapter and what followed. We talk about how she used to create boardgames when we couldn’t afford ‘em, me terrorizing my older brother in our youth, and what it was like being a mom to a knucklehead who was trying to play Halo 2 professionally (still haven’t given up on this dream tbh). 

I still don’t know how I got so lucky to have my mom as my best friend, but I thank my lucky stars every god damn day. 

Happy Mother’s Day, Ma. 

P.S. If you enjoy this episode PLEASE send my mom a DM on instagram (@jaa17) and say so. I’m going to try and get a part 2 down the line, and I’m pretty sure the only way she’ll let me record her again is if we’re able to rally some support/guilt her into it.