Getting Work To Work

Ben Burns is the digital director of Blind and is instrumental in creating The Futur alongside Chris Do. If you haven’t heard of The Futur they are creating phenomenal educational materials for creative professionals. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, Ben and I talk about his journey from design school to being a veteran and Narcotics Agent, how being a non-creative sparked his creative career, and how fear is holding you back in growing your creative business. Ben also shares his excitement for Nerf guns and yes, I bought one after this episode.

For years, I looked at the amount of overgrown vegetation in my backyard, saw the size of my yard debris bin, and realized that I would never make a dent. I would fill the bin in about 10-15 minutes and then wait two weeks until it got emptied. A friend came over and said, "Okay, start making piles. We'll make one in the back and in the front. Then you can figure out what to do with them." My honest response: "You can do that?" In this extended episode of Getting Work To Work, I connect my yard maintenance story to the 10 barriers that often hold creative professionals back and how we can work to overcome them by making metaphorical piles.

Dene Grigar is a digital artist, professor and director of the Creative Media & Digital Culture Program at Washington State University Vancouver. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about the lessons learned in her almost 40 year career as an educator, the importance of superpowers, the impact of her program on the Vancouver community, electronic literature, and the Electronic Literature Organization's move to Vancouver, WA.

My life has been transformed by learning how to ask for what I want. Whether it's a new project, an interview for Getting Work To Work, or scheduling a meeting, asking is a fundamental skill to life and business. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk about how I have learned to ask people for what I need, share a story about a friend helping me with yard work, and share five ways to ask for what you want.

Erika Bartlett is an artist, event and project manager, and community advocate for artists and business. She is the co-creator of Arts+Biz Quarterly, a board member of Arts of Clark County, and currently has a show at Angst Gallery in Vancouver, WA. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about the importance of community, art as meditation, David Lynch, and how art and business can work together. Near the end of the episode, Erika mentions the next Arts+Biz event as being on July 30th, but it is actually on July 20th.

I wasn't expecting to learn much on my vacation, but the biggest lesson I learned came from my friend's father-in-law: "Chris, we work hard, so that we can play hard, which then refuels us to work hard." In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk about play and how it impacts our work, is essential for our growth, and is an antidote to boredom and monotony.

Matt Cole and I go way back to the early days of middle school and high school. Back then we didn't really hang in the same circles, but today we find ourselves both building creative businesses. Matt is a designer/creative director for Revere, a start-up hybrid branding and design studio. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about the importance of creativity and curiosity, the design heroes that got him into design, why he encourages young artists and designers, and why design should always be fun.

No matter where I go, I'm always looking up, down, and around. I want to see the scenery, the details, and not miss anything. On a recent trip, I was sitting in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre and looked up and saw the most beautiful ceiling. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk about different ways we can look up and share six ways you can remember to keep looking up.

John Oates is a Brand Designer at Focus Lab and a lover of keyboard shortcuts. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about how John keeps pushing himself to learn new skills, his defiance in choosing a niche, and his design heroes that got him going early in his career and today keep pushing him to new heights.

I'm generally a fearful person. I often fear failure, the unknown, and even success. Leading up to my recent vacation, I was full of fear because this trip was going to be different. I had to rent a car, drive in LA traffic, and do things outside of my comfort zone. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk about overcoming fear and five ways you can fight fear as you engage in new experiences.