Do More Cool Shit

Play is an essential way in which to get some of your best work done. Go out for a walk, throw a frisbee, go to a theatre show instead of doing the dishes one night, you will thank yourself. You will feel that energy. 

The idea of playing at something new is even more interesting, the idea that we are challenging ourselves and learning is crucial. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, talks about the flow state and that is when we are truly engaged in a process and one of the ways to find yourself in that state of flow is to engage in play. To have fun. 

If you are listening to this episode right now I am certain there is a vast number of you who are already experiencing some form of burn out and you don't even know it. You need to turn to someone, ask them about your level of burnout and how you can introduce a bit of play into your life. 

Go find your sense of excitement and challenge again, in any manner that may look like to you. 

Doubt can be a huge block for many creatives. Vince introduces us to the idea of a doubt door, how to identify when the door is present and what to do about kicking it open. Vince has been quickly building a great balance between play and work and is finding that MANY people are finding his approach to be a HUGE breath of fresh air. Vince is an animator and social worker creating a world of fun and learning in such a unique and open and honest manner.

One of the main ways to combat a doubt door getting in your way is to truly think about and live an authentic life. Truly knowing yourself, what excites you, what bothers you, all of that stuff and much more can lead to your ability to try more things. The more things you try and the less doubt you have you will absolutely enjoy the journey you are on.

Do yourself a favour and get over and watch Vince and the wild and the serious and the fun that is over on http://twitch.tv/cartoontherapy

As always thanks for the listen and/or the watch. If you would like to connect on any of the cool shit you are doing or anything else please reach out over at: http://domorecoolshit.com

Music created and performed by: Doug Wallace. 

Expectations absolutely CAN suck, mainly because they can keep you in that stage or dreaming and idolizing the future for a very long time. Over time if we stay in that state long enough we can become dissatisfied with the now and the reality. We can become unhappy. Hell we can even become depressed. So how do we stop this? Well, we need to truly understand that expectations can suck. There are 3 main reasons that they suck:

1. Everything will ALWAYS take longer than you think.
2. They are NOT reality.
3. They can let you down.

So how do we combat this? How do we stay happy and grateful and moving forward while still trying to get grow and achieve things in our life?

By living in the now. By making sure that you truly understand who YOU are and what YOU want out of life. This will be an ebb and flow, it will almost never be a straight path. But understanding that there is a journey, that it is a long and changing journey, and that in reality there is no true END to our search and our accomplishments will help with this. By living in reality, by pausing, by looking around and seeing how far you have already come and wha t you have and who YOU are right now in this very moment is really friggin' cool. By allowing yourself to sit in that for a moment, you will be happier and you will be motivated, your flame will grow stronger. By giving your spark a bit of oxygen you will be propelled forward each and every day to take the next step. All of these things will help you in your creative pursuits.

If you listened to the whole episode I hope you really do try the exercise of changing your expectations into reality. To really figure out what steps TODAY you need to take. If you are struggling with that, let me know. Drop me a note over on: https://domorecoolshit.com/ I love talking about that stuff and helping people move the needled just a wee bit every day. You got this! 

Rachel from episode 56: https://www.twitch.tv/babe_rosss
Vince upcoming in episode 58: https://www.twitch.tv/cartoontherapy

Ps. I'm sorry, but I never found that clip of the older make marker being interviewed in his studio when he was talking about "what the hell else would I be doing everyday if I wasn't making marks." If you ever find it or any other great clips please never hesitate to drop me a line or send me a link. I love capturing all of them. 

Thanks for listening. Go do some more cool shit! 

All music is created and performed by: Doug Wallace.

Rachel Schneider is an incredibly talented artist who has built up a wonderful community, brings hilarity, passion, and wonderful teaching to life through her practice. I found Rachel a few years ago on twitch.tv/babe_rosss and it is always incredible experience being in there.

I was so excited to have this conversation and to bring this conversation to you. We covered so many topics in this episode. We spent a great deal of time talking about the feeling of the first sale, the importance of persistence, the value of just ONE person believing in you, all the way to a much bigger and deeper conversation about expectations vs reality. Rachel has been on a continual path of learning about putting her work on a pedestal and about creating and releasing the work. Rachel shares so many of the lessons she has learned along the way as well as the lessons she is still working on right now.

This was an honour to have this conversation and I'm so excited you will get to be inspired by Rachel. Please make sure and go check out one of her streams and  you absolutely have to go and check out all of her art and merch - you will be blown away at her talent.


If you make it to the end - let me know how you did with the exercise that Rachel and I talk about.

As always check out https://www.domorecoolshit.com/ and let me know what you are working on. 

All music created by: Doug Wallace.  

Thanks as always for listening and for all of the amazing feedback you all are giving along this journey. Happy creating! 

I am very passionate about pricing your work correctly because that is what will sustain you in the long run. If you're not making enough money as a creative then you will have to find another form of income to live from and then the world loses another great person putting cool shit in the world. We can't have that, I won't stand for it. So thank you for believing in yourself and listening all the way through on this episode.

The tips in this episode are things that absolutely have to be worked on and practiced over time but everyone can get them and you CAN and WILL make money with your craft. Other people have done it, why not you?

In this episode I talk more about trusting your gut, working backwards, history and experience, how expensive some stuff can be, and most of all HOW and WHY to test pricing.

I wish you all the best of luck and if you listened all the way through on this one, I look forward to being hit someday soon.

If you ever want to talk further drop me a note on the website: https://domorecoolshit.com/

This is the account I was talking about where the welders have to guess what they are worth: https://www.tiktok.com/@westernweldingacademy

Music provided by: Doug Wallace

First, the coolest shit Gareth has ever done is NOT build a website but it was fun to see where those early lessons took him. How about building a great supportive business, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities, supporting a number of causes and so much more. 

If you've ever wondered how to make money as a creative this is the episode for you. Gareth Davies has built a truly unique business, MakerHouse, that has supported hundreds of makers and creatives. We talk about the very smart journey Gareth took to building a brick and mortar business. Starting with a pop up shop allowed him and his team to grow into the flourishing business that MakerHouse is now.

I think many of you listening who are making and creating will be so interested to hear Gareth talk about how to get into stores and how to make money with your products. We go over production time, pricing, packaging and everything in between.  Gareth has such great insights into how to get started.

We also spent a lot of time talking about traditional paths, small learning steps, failures, how to prepare for failures, how to deal with risk taking, successes, confidence all of which should help motivate you to take your next steps.

So much truly great advice from Gareth. I hope you really enjoy this episode and getting everything out of it that you need.

Visit MakerHouse and see the hundreds of products from the hundreds of other creatives and makers that Gareth gets to work with: https://makerhouse.com/

Of course I would love to hear more about what you are doing so drop me a line over at https://www.domorecoolshit.com/

And if you enjoyed this episode please do give it a like, rate the podcast, share it with a friend. I appreciate all of you folks out there doing cool shit. 

Music by: Doug Wallace

If you want to achieve things in life, even the small things you have to have a plan, a goal, some kind of road map to help you determine how to get there. And holy,, are we ever bad at drawing these road maps. We give ourselves all kinds of detours and make excuses about why our horse and buggy won't get us to where we want to go. "I want to be healthier" "I want to be a full time creative" "I want to read more" these are all examples of great dreams but really shitty goals. Goals need specifics. So the next time you sit down to think about what YOU really want out of life you better include some of the micro-goals. These micro-goals are what make up much of the path forward, the pursuit, which is what will really bring you the most pleasure when making, working on, and achieving your goals. 


Now is your time to think about what YOU really want, to make it specific, and to go after your big lofty goals. Why now? Because, why not now? You deserve it. 

I hope you feel inspired. I hope you feel energized. I hope you make all your tiny micro-goals that will get you to your big goal and that you keep upping the game every time. 


Music by: Doug Wallace 

Remember when your mind was free to wander and to dream and had almost no grown up limitations or influences. What a magical time that was. What a TRUE time that was. We lose some of that innocence along the way and we forget about some of our earlier, crazier dreams...that's a shame. Well I know one young woman who kept true to her childhood dreams. Sure she meandered, but who hasn't. Leah Gibson found her way back to one of her earliest childhood loves, flowers. In this episode I sit down with Leah for an amazing conversation where we talk about her journey, about taking time, lots of time to truly understand what in life it is she wants and how she is living that life much much sooner than she thought she would.

Leah took a leap without any prior knowledge (a trend that seems to be coming again, more and more in the future) as to what it was she was doing or how she would be doing it. It wasn't a big leap but it was in fact a leap nonetheless. Now today Leah is serving clients from all over the world in many different ways. Leah is helping making people's days better with flowers, fashion, and so much more.

We spent a fair bit of time talking about diversifying income, about taking small steps that won't bankrupt you, about how the uncertainty and the asynchronous habits of nature are such a wonderful metaphor for life.  Leah encourages us to surrender to the creative process went it strikes and to enjoy a good accidental path every now and again.


Leah Gibson
Website: https://www.homebodyfloral.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homebody_/

If you enjoyed any part of this or if you took some value from it please don't hesitate to drop me a note and tell me all about it.

DMCS
Website: https://www.domorecoolshit.com/

This is honestly one of the hardest episodes I have ever attempted to put together. Authenticity is an incredibly difficult topic to cover and an even harder thing to achieve in life. Are you authentic with yourself? Are you authentic with others? Are you authentic in all situations and aspects in your life? Probably not, and I have to say first, that is OKAY. Acknowledge that and sit with that. Since day one of being raised as a child we are conditioned to start adapting and being kind and making sure that others are feeling good, even if it goes against what we want and need. Our whole life then is a battle between our adaptive self and our authentic self. Finding a balance is crucial to becoming happier in life. I will share all kinds of stories and studies that help me come to this conclusion. 

I will also give you a few small exercises and ask you a few questions to help guide you in your quest for authenticity. I hope you enjoy this episode and I hope you take some time in your life to help you better understand who YOU ARE as a person and life the life YOU WANT. When you do this, you will give yourself more time and energy to do more cool shit in this planet! 

Some of the things that helped me make this episode are listed below: 

• Why You Can’t Stop Wearing a Mask
• The basics of authenticity
• Develop Authenticity: 20 Ways to Be a More Authentic Person
• Trait Self and True Self: Cross-Role Variation in the Big-Five Personality Traits and Its Relations With Psychological Authenticity and Subjective Well-Being
• The Study of Authenticity (Positive Psychology Series #3)
• Middle age and 'slowing this whole mess down', with Aaron Draplin
  When it's time to start over...(Audrey Ember)
• Dr. K Chats with @aliabdaal
  
  
  

Thanks as always for giving this a listen. I look forward to hearing what cool shit you are working on. 

Music composed and performed by: Doug Wallace

So many journey's in life can be long without us even knowing it. What happens when we end up at a destination that we truly love and that truly aligns with us? Well in this case, a lot of onesies, a gong, a kazoo, the threat of art happening and a lot of people having a good time and feeling better about their day. This is only a small glimpse into what happens when you find your authentic self with Brenda Dunn (artinjest.)

In this, the 50th episode I sit down with my partner that I do life with and we cover a lot of territory. We talk about everything in Brenda's journey from studying art, to putting that creative artistic world to the side to  work in the corporate world only to then return to the creative world with a whole new perspective and vision. No one could have predicted where and how Brenda would end up but she is there now and loving it. Some of the things that helped Brenda's journey along the way was her ability to hold off ego, be of service when needed, to work with a community and include others in the process of creation, saying no compassionately and wholly,  and so much more. 

I hope that as you listen to this episode you continue to really think about WHO YOU ARE as a human and what YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE.

If you want to get more of this energy join Brenda over on Twitch every Monday (3pm ET), Wednesday (5pm ET), and Friday (12pm ET) https://www.twitch.tv/artinjest



All music provided by Doug Wallace.