Love Your Work

Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) knows better than anyone: Sometimes, you're working hard on something, and it's just not happening. How do you decide whether to double down, or shut down?

This is what Nathan was asking himself two years after launching his email service, ConvertKit. He was bringing in only $1,500 a month, and he was losing customers every month.

It was time to decide: Double down, or shut down.

Today, ConvertKit brings in much more than $1,500 a month. They recently had their first million dollar month.

Spoiler alert: Instead of shutting down, Nathan did double down. Today, we'll analyze how he made that decision:

• When Nathan decided to double down, he had no idea if his business would succeed. How did Nathan – and his spouse – mentally prepare for the worst-case scenario?
• Nathan had to dig into his savings to the tune of $100,000 to double down on ConvertKit. What criteria did he use to know whether or not to quit.
• What was the one question Nathan asked himself that ultimately got him to double down?

This is a super valuable conversation. It's incredibly helpful if you've been working on a project that just isn't taking off. I've used this conversation myself to think about this podcast, how I define success, and how I should divvy up my own resources amongst my various projects.

(Note: Since recording this episode, ConvertKit has decided not to rebrand as Seva after all.)

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/nathan-barry-podcast/

It's no surprise that we procrastinate on things that we don't want to do. But why do we procrastinate on things we do want to do?: Our hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

I call it aspiration procrastination, and there's a fascinating theory from psychology that can help you understand why you put off your dreams, and what you can do about it. I'll talk about it in this week's episode.

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://gusto.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/aspiration-procrastination/

Steve Stewart was manager of the band Stone Temple Pilots. He guided them from being an unknown funk band to a multi-platinum powerhouse whose sound is synonymous with 90's grunge. With Steve by STP's side, they sold over 25 million records, for nearly half a billion dollars in sales.

But then the Internet happened. The record industry wasn't selling many CD's or records anymore. Fans were becoming a bigger part of helping music spread, and free music was key to the new success equation.

Steve had to stand by helplessly as big music industry players shot themselves in the foot, and tightened their budgets in the process. But now, Steve is trying to fill in the gap that free music created.

Now, imagine that Justin Bieber paid you. With Steve's new company, that could become true. Steve is now CEO of Vezt. With Vezt, music fans like you can buy a share of the future earnings of a song. So if you're a Justin Bieber fan, you could at some point buy a share of his song.

(In case you're wondering, you can't "short" a song, these aren't stocks you're buying.)

We're going to learn more about how that works in today's conversation. Find out:

• What artistic decisions did Stone Temple Pilots have to make in order to become a huge success? I take Steve back to the early days, and we find out why early-90's music critics have called him to apologize.
• How does Vezt fill in the hole that music-sharing created? Fans have become a part of the music promotion process, with Vezt, they'll start getting a piece of the pie.
• Blockchain companies are hot now, but the blockchain is not always relevant to the business model. What about blockchain technology makes Vezt possible?

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://gusto.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/steve-stewart-stone-temple-pilots-vezt/

You've heard the advice to find your passion. You've probably also heard the advice that finding your passion is bad advice.

But if you shouldn't "find" your passion, what should you do? Isn't passion important?

New research tells us exactly what is wrong with "finding" your passion. It's the subject of this week's article.

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/dont-find-your-passion/

Brave is a new browser that's reinventing the attention economy. Brave does block ads, but it's not just an ad blocker. It also blocks scripts that slow down your browsing experience, invade your privacy, and leave you vulnerable to hackers.

Since much of the internet currently runs on the ad-supported model, Brave doesn't stop there, with the blocking of ads. They've invented a cryptocurrency that could change creative monetization forever. You can use the Basic Attention Token, or BAT, to pay creators whose content you consume most – or, as a site owner, you can earn BAT. In fact, I've earned some BAT myself.

In the future, Brave says they will be paying you for browsing content. Now how does that work!? We'll talk about that and more in today's conversation. I'm talking to Jonathan Sampson (@bravesampson), who is Brave's Senior Developer Relations Specialist. We'll talk about:

• How did we end up with an internet where we need a browser like Brave. Brave's founder and CEO invented Javascript, yet Brave blocks a ton of Javascript. How did that happen?
• Brave claims to save you about $23 a month, and give you a browsing experience up to 8 times faster. Where do those gains come from?
• How is it possible that Brave could pay you for browsing the web? Where would the money come from, and who will be missing out on that money?

I've been using Brave regularly for a few months now, and I really enjoy it. As we'll talk about in this conversation, if you'd like to support the work I do, download Brave at kadavy.net/brave. If you stick with it for 30 days, Brave will reward me with $5 worth of BAT. Again, that's kadavy.net/brave.

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-brave-browser/

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Just ask me, as I'm on my temporary exile in Peru right now, since having my Colombian visa rejected.

If we can't plan something in our morning, if we can't plan something when we visit a website, then where do we get the idea that we can plan things as complex as our lives? Or as complex as a big project, such as a book?

When things don't go as planned, you get new information. You can use that information to make a new plan.

So, in this week's article, I'm suggesting that you make things not going as planned part of the plan. It can take you places you never expected to go.

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/plan-for-the-unplanned/

BJ Mendelson (@bjmendelson) is author of Privacy: And How to Get it Back. One of the key themes we've been exploring on Love Your Work over the past three years has been just how it is that creators get paid. This was certainly top of my mind when I doubled down on writing and podcasting and moved to Colombia with no clear business model in site.

To understand how creators get paid, we need to understand the entire economy of content. How does content get monetized, and how much or how little of that monetization makes it to creators?

We've talked about how the economics of content shape technology in my essay on the Behavioral Revolution. We've talked about how those economics promote digital distraction in conversations with Hooked author, Nir Eyal. We've talked about new models for monetization – such as cryptocurrency-based compensation – with Steemit CEO Ned Scott, and with Maneesh Sethi from Pavlok.

Today, we're going to dig into privacy. When you understand how your privacy is being invaded to keep the web running, it becomes more clear just where things will be going in the future, and what you can do as both a creator and consumer of content to make that a bright future for yourself and your fellow creator.

In this conversation, we'll learn:

• What are the ways that our privacy is invaded to keep the web running. Why does it matter?
• What can you do to protect your privacy, and encourage companies to search for other ways to monetize?
• Is the online advertising industry in for a day of reckoning? What trends should you, as a creative entrepreneur, be aware of?

Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bj-mendelson-privacy/

Socializing is good. But socializing as a default — out of some Fear Of Missing Out — is not good. If you can find the discipline to pursue your work, while others are just killing time, you will have mastered The Art of Staying In.

The Art of Staying In is deciding not to go out and socialize just because it's the default thing to do. Instead, you use that time and energy to take control of your life and your work.

If you master The Art of Staying In, two things will happen.

One, you'll suddenly have a lot more time and get a lot more done. And two, you'll suddenly be in control of your destiny.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stay-in-podcast/

Adam Conover (@adamconover) had good things going for him. He had just graduated from college, and his sketch comedy group was a hit. So many people were watching their videos! This was before YouTube, so they kept on having to find new places to host the videos, there was so much traffic.

But then the group broke up. At first, Adam wasn't worried. Since he had so much success, he figured he could easily build a career in comedy.

But he slowly learned that he was wrong. It was slow going.

Today, Adam has his own hit show, Adam Ruins Everything, on TruTV. On Adam Ruins Everything, Adam takes a well-researched and hilarious approach to straightening out popular myths and misconceptions.

Adam has "ruined" Tylenol, pure bred dogs, and diamond engagement rings, just to name a few things. Adam Ruins Everything starts its third season on TruTV this fall.

So what happened? How did Adam work his way back to success in comedy?

In this episode you'll learn:

• How did Adam discover that "ruining" things was his calling?
• What mindset did Adam have that helped him bounce back from failure to find success again?
• In businesses where personal connections are important, why does Adam tell you NOT to suck up to successful people.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]."

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/adam-conover-podcast/

After publishing my first book, it took me six years to publish my second book. After publishing my second book, it took me only six months to publish my fourth book. I published three books in the past six months, and I learned a ton along the way. I'm going to share it with you today.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/self-publishing-lessons/