In today’s interview episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk with serial entrepreneur Joan Yabani about her projects here in the United States and Ghana, Africa. She shares her entire journey and how it has affected her choices, the importance of improving her skills and being indispensable, her crock pot mentality when it comes to working on projects, and what it is like to work in an emerging market. As you have heard in the opening to this show for some time now, big ideas are important to me, and what Joan shares in this interview is a clear example of what it looks like to not only chase big ideas, but to actually bring them to life.

The other day I got an email from friend of the show, gough, a filmmaker from Australia, announcing the release of his latest film on BeernutsProductions.com: How To Land That Dream Job. Naturally, I had to have him on again to not only talk about his 17th film, but to also share about his soup to beer nuts approach to making films. We talk about how his need to be organized as a blind man is the foundation of his creative process, what he learned in the making of this film, how his viewers help him to up his game, and how we all need to be more open-minded in our cinema choices.

As I was preparing for today’s episode, I couldn’t help but ask an important question inspired by my conversation with Sheima Hassanlou, a surfing documentary and two books I’m reading by Maria Popova and Guy Kawasaki: How do I level up? On one level I’m producing the best work of my career, but on another I’m a little stagnant. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to share a few quotes and six insights into how to level up.

You are in for a treat in today’s interview episode of Getting Work To Work. Have you ever wondered how you are going to grow your creative business? Sheima Hassanlou of Crimson + Cognac shares her philosophy of business development she learned from an obsession with high-end hospitality and cocktail culture: being of service to your guests. Throughout the episode we talk about how failure is not an option, the importance of working on your mindset, and her fearless pursuit of offering up ideas in hope of being in service of people around her. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode as much as I did.

I’ve heard it said that creativity is a finite resource. Everything we work on, all of the projects we create, drain our limited supply of fuel that is in our tanks. As I think about the things that fill up my creativity fuel tank, I can’t help but reflect upon the tank itself: Does it have the capacity to not only fuel the work I am doing, but also supply the energy for my life? Deep thoughts in today’s episode of Getting Work To Work.

I’m intrigued by a question that has been asked by many after Avengers: Endgame obliterated the box office and Game of Thrones neared its end: now what? It’s also a question that many creative professionals ask after finishing a project that has consumed their time, energy, and creative discipline: now what? In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to explore what that question and its subsequent answers mean for us as both consumers and creators.

In today’s interview episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk with Maneesh Sethi, the founder/CEO/Chief Evangelist for Pavlok, a company that produces hardware, software, and services that help people change their habits for good. Throughout this conversation, Maneesh shares stories and insights into how pleasure and pain affect both good and bad habits, why it’s a miracle we have any willpower at all, how wearable products differ from digital content, and why networking is a form of a compound effect.

How did you learn the steps you follow to create your art and craft? I’m fascinated with process and a quote from Austin Kleon’s weekly newsletter inspired this thought: Is it better to have a sequential process you follow like a machine every time or do you allow yourself to circle and find “things that might have been overlooked”? I’m going to explore these questions through the lens of sequential non-linearity; incorporating both linearity and non-linearity on purpose.

I’m wrestling with something this morning: How valuable is experience? As creative professionals and entrepreneurs, we prize the experience that comes when we spend time producing work and pursuing our craft, but is that all we need? Challenged by a quote from Story by Robert McKee, I’m going to explore the importance of both experience and what McKee describes as “deep reflection on our reactions to life.”

In today's interview episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk with Mark Pomerville, an award-winning media producer, editor, and visual storyteller about the limitless nature of the storytelling experience. We also touch on what it means to take creative risks, the value and worth of every creative project regardless of the size, and how creativity and family can actually work together for one another's benefit.