Love Your Work

Phil Thompson (@Cape_Horn_CHI) is the illustrator and business mind behind Cape Horn Illustration, which sells Chicago wall art. Today we have a great discussion on making art that sells.

Phil's portfolio of products includes maps of microbreweries in Chicago, marathon maps for all of the major marathons, and "home portraits." His work has been featured on the sets of major motion pictures like "The Big Sick," and "Blockers."

Phil also happens to be my mastermind partner. We've been talking every two weeks about how to balance our individual artistic visions with what the market wants. We've learned a lot in our conversations, and I'm really excited to be sharing Phil and his work with you today.

Today, we'll talk about:

• How do you "validate" your art. Hear about Phil's first experiments in selling his artwork online. What did he learn from his first success, and what did he learn from his first big failure?
• How do you make your art marketable? Learn to think about what your art does for someone. How does that translate into sales?
• How can you turn your interests into profitable art? I love how Phil has been able to take his curiosities – whether it's running marathons or learning about Chicago architecture – and he's been able to use those curiosities to fuel profitable art.

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 http://weebly.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/phil-thompson/

You heard me talk last week about morning routines, with the co-author of My Morning Routine, Benjamin Spall. I have a new morning routine I've been practicing this year, and it's been giving me some of my best ideas yet. The amazing part is I'm able to do this routine before I even get out of bed.

I'll tell you why in this essay.

Sponsors

http://earthclassmail.com http://weebly.com/loveyourwork

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

Benjamin Spall is co-author of the new book, My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired. He and his co-author have interviewed 300 successful people from business, fitness, and the arts. People like Biz Stone, Arianna Huffington, General Stanley McCrystal, and Marie Kondo.

The way you spend your first hour of your day sets the tone for the rest of your day. But there seems to be endless ways to you can spend this precious time. Should you meditate? Go for a jog? Do some writing?

Oh, and I'm in the book as well (page 132). They interviewed me about my morning routine, and my evening routine. I'll tell you why I wear the dorkiest orange goggles imaginable before bed.

They've looked for the patterns amongst successful people to find out the things you'll hear about in this conversation. Things like:

• What time do successful people get up in the morning? You hear a lot of talk about getting up at 4 a.m.. Is that the norm?
• How do successful people manage technology to get the most out of their days? You'll hear a tip from a former Love Your Work guest, Nir Eyal.
• And if you haven't optimized your morning routine, the options can be overwhelming. How can you start making lasting changes now?

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com http://weebly.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/morning-routines-podcast/

Clear prioritization inspires clear action. But how do you decide what's the most important todo item to tackle first? For me, I like to listen to my body.

It's the subject of this week's essay.

Sponsors

http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/listen-body-podcast

You've heard about the importance of working with people who come from different perspectives. But will that automatically lead to great work?

It's not so simple. Our guest today, Shane Snow, was curious about why diverse teams are supposedly so powerful, when they're in fact hard to pull off.

That's why he wrote this new book, Dream Teams. In this book, Shane really breaks down what makes a truly great team. How can you have just the right amount of conflict to have better ideas and go farther as a team, without the relationships turning sour.

Even though I work by myself, I really enjoyed this book. It's full of great stories of dream teams throughout history, and it really made me think about how to seek out differing perspectives in improving the work I do.

In this conversation, Shane and I talk about:

• Do we always have better ideas working with a team? What are the key components of making something great as a group?
• We also talk a lot about writing. How did Shane turn his curiosity for one subject, into a marketable idea about Dream Teams?
• We also trade tips about how we do research for the books we write. Hear exactly Shane and my different approaches to doing research and collecting ideas to write about.

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/shane-snow-interview/

I have a new book! STEEM is revolutionizing the way creators get paid. I've cashed out over $4,000 from writing on the STEEM blockchain. The most amazing thing is – nobody had to pay me a dime.

You heard me interview STEEM co-creator Ned Scott on episode 71. I explained how to make money on STEEM on episode 110. This short read is an updated and slightly expanded version of that free episode.

Grab the new book – on Kindle, Paperback, or Audible – at kadavy.net/steembook

If you've heard about stoic philosophy, you've heard about Seneca. Stoicism is in many ways about being indifferent to pleasure or pain. One thing that's pleasurable is getting free things. Free things like Facebook.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the mainstream is really waking up to the true cost of "free." If something is supposedly "free," you're paying for it in some other way, whether that's with your data, or just the opportunity costs of your attention. As you'll see, even Seneca knew that almost 2,000 years ago.

I've of course talked many times on this podcast about the broken economics of media. With Nir Eyal on episode 21, also on episode 22 when I talked about The Behavioral Revolution, and many many other times.

I wrote this article two years ago, but with everything going on in the collective conscious, I thought it would be a good time to dig it out and share it on the podcast.

It might help you reframe the idea of "free" in your mind, and make smart choices that make you the person you want to be.

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/seneca-facebook-podcast/

Tim Kasher's (@timkasher) work is deeply embedded in my creative DNA. When I was a young 20-something sitting in a cubicle in Omaha, Nebraska, Tim's work and his success was there to inspire me to find my own creative voice.

Tim is one of the pioneers of indie music. He's the frontman of Cursive. Of all of the Cursive songs out there, you're most likely to have heard "The Recluse."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JcFgL2qO9Y

The Recluse is on Cursive's most successful album. The Ugly Organ recently passed its 15-year anniversary, and has sold an amazing 170,000 copies.

Before Cursive, Tim was in a band with Conor Oberst, of the band Bright Eyes, called Commander Venus. After leaving Commander Venus to focus on Cursive, Tim also started a folk band, The Good Life.

Omaha in the mid 90's and early 2000's was an indie-rock fan's paradise. Artists like Kasher and Oberst cross-pollinated. They started producing their own cassettes, and eventually formed the label Saddle Creek Records, featuring bands like Bright Eyes and The Faint.

The success of Saddle Creek records was a sign of the times. The Internet was allowing great music to spread. They could use lower-cost production and distribution, and communication for spreading their music and booking shows, and a cluster of kids from Nebraska could build a fanbase around the world.

I personally always found the story of Saddle Creek records and Tim Kasher inspiring. When the world was telling me to live one way, it seemed like the band members of the various Saddle Creek bands were always underfoot in any bar I stepped into. They were there to remind me you could do things your way, no matter where you're from.

I guess that message was still with me when I left Silicon Valley, and as I moved to Colombia to double down on writing and making this podcast. The message that you can "make it" anywhere. You can get by on the power of your ideas.

I also love that Tim isn't afraid to follow what interests him. He was brave to split genres between Cursive and The Good Life, and now he's branching off into other crafts. He recently wrote, directed, and produced his first feature film, No Resolution. Following the theme of dysfunctional relationships you'll often hear in Tim's lyrics, No Resolution is about a rift between an engaged couple on a particular New Year's Eve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f6Uzn6LgOI

Since Tim is multi-talented, he couldn't stop at writing and making an entire film, he even made a soundtrack to go along with it.

I'm thrilled to have Tim Kasher on the show. This is a great conversation for anyone looking to find their creative voice, and the courage to follow their unique path. Learn:

• How does Tim think about genre? Fitting the confines of a genre can water your creative work down, but it can also help it find an audience.
• How did Tim avoid the "sophomore slump?" He had to push himself to find his creative truth.
• How does Tim follow his many interests? You can worry that you're spreading yourself thin, but Tim wanted to pave the way for other artists to do what's interesting to them.

Clips you'll hear during the interview are The Martyr, and Art Is Hard.

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 http://weebly.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tim-kasher-podcast-interview/

I was forced to leave Colombia, but now I'm back. Thanks everyone for the help over the past week. I'll explain shortly what happened, and what my situation is now.

If you're interested in an even more in-depth, though somewhat redundant overview, delivered after a good night's sleep, watch this Facebook live.

If you've been considering supporting the show, now is still a good time. This snafu has disrupted much of the past month, and will require more travel and expense to keep things going as normal. You can donate at http://kadavy.net/donate.

I'm also accepting the following cryptocurrencies:

bitcoin:3FKfyxtQ8wUww4XxGF9EZ6ukKzbPqCe3aQ

ethereum:0xE3CF82Feb6B83b18E37b472017e2a660d33B6fe0

monero:43AV7YumpkB4eAPgv3uMpW63svuqaM1C8ZdEoPvZe76wU8gxZYsdiqSEB4TJUTkD3s7rmHzoxdEubBY7qNzyEAFf3HC4Knp

Human productivity has its limits. You can only type so fast. You can only fill out a spreadsheet so fast. But creativity is infinite. It takes no time to have an idea, but not all ideas are created equal.

Traditional productivity and creative productivity seem to be at odds with each other. This week's essay explores why productivity is limited, and creativity is infinite.

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/creativity-infinite-podcast/