Love Your Work

Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) loves software products. He wanted to share new software products with other people who love software products.

So, he started a little email list. There were a few dozen people on the list. They were submitting products to the email list, so Ryan got to learn about new products every day.

But the email list grew rapidly. Once it got to a few hundred subscribers, Ryan decided it was a time to build a site.

Three years later, Ryan sold his site, ProductHunt, for about $20 million.

I don't spend much time in Silicon Valley these days, but I've at least heard that Ryan Hoover is kind of the golden child of the valley. He's perfectly executed building ProductHunt, and most importantly, building the community that drives ProductHunt.

And I think you'll notice in this conversation. I actually got kind of frustrated talking to Ryan. He seems to have always made the right decisions. I think some people are able to do that, but I'm not one of them.

I think it's actually hard to learn from people who do things right. That's why, on Love Your Work I'm always digging for the ways my guests have changed over the years, and where they went wrong along the way. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel you can learn more from hearing about how someone changed than about how they executed everything right.

In any case, Ryan's story is a great example of how you can build something explosive by starting with something you're curious about, and building a genuine community around it.

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/ryan-hoover-interview/

Learn how to hijack habits you don't want, and replace them with habits you do want.

I'll specifically be talking about how to replace a Facebook habit with a book-reading habit. That's what I did, and that's what worked for me. But, you can try this with any habits you want to hijack.

This article originally appeared on Medium. You can follow me at kadavy.net/medium

Don't forget to take the Love Your Work survey for a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card: http://kadavy.net/survey

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/hijack-habits-podcast/

One day, Joanna Wiebe (@copyhackers) was hanging out on a web forum, helping a few startup founders with their copy. The next thing she knew, she had an inbox filled with requests for her help.

So many people needed her copy help, that she couldn't help them all, so Joanna released some ebooks, under the name Copy Hackers, and made about $30,000 right away.

Since then, Joanna has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs with their copy. But the more time she spent writing copy, the more she realized that all writers struggle with one thing: facing the blank page.

Joanna has built a new app, called Airstory, to help serious writers collect together all of the pieces that make good writing, and make it happen.

I immediately found it interesting, I've learned the hard way over the years that writing is not linear. Airstory helps bring the research and collaboration components of writing into a single cohesive experience.

Joanna and I will talk more about how to keep the creative process going smoothly. Plus, she'll share some great tips on doing customer research – I especially like her hack of combing through Amazon reviews.

Learn how, by following her passion, improvising with what she had, and facing her fears, Joanna has gone from her day job, to an information business, to building Airstory.

Take the listener survey (before April 7) for a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card: http://kadavy.net/survey

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/joanna-wiebe-interview/

How do you feel first thing in the morning? If you're human, you're probably at least a little bit groggy. You aren't thinking straight, you can't focus. You're a wasted morning just waiting to happen.

So, the first thing you do is reach for the coffee.

I have a suggestion that may help you get more out of your mornings. Are you ready for this? I think you'll hate me for it.

Well, I think you should let the coffee wait.

I promise, I can explain. You see, that groggy feeling you have in the morning. You can do some amazing things in that state.

It's the subject of this week's episode. This article originally appeared on Medium. You can follow me on Medium at kadavy.net/medium.

Before I begin, how would you like a $20 Amazon Gift Card? Sound good? Well, I'm GIVING AWAY a $20 Amazon Gift Card every Friday from March 10th until April 7th. All you have to do is go to kadavy.net/survey and answer our short listener survey to be entered to win.

It's seriously short. It will take you less than two minutes. I promise.

Remember, I'm giving away a gift card EVERY WEEK, so, the sooner you answer the survey, the more chances you get to win. You only have to answer the survey once, and you'll get up to 5 chances to win.

This episode comes out March 9th, so if you go to kadavy.net/survey and answer the survey RIGHT NOW, you'll have a very high chance of winning a $20 Amazon gift card, because I'm giving away a gift card TOMORROW.

Again, go to kadavy.net/survey for a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift card.

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/write-first-coffee-later/

Peter Bragiel wanted his own travel show. So, he got a camera and started traveling.

At first, not much happened. Peter Bragiel just kept stowing the tapes away in a box.

But, eventually, his adventures got bigger, and his videos got better. He's travelled the entire trans-Siberian railway, he's canoed the entire Mississippi river, and he even rode a tiny scooter, with a maximum speed of 29 miles-per-hour, across the United States. Peter's adventures are released on his YouTube channel, under the brand In-Transit TV.

And Peter makes a living off of these travel videos. He's worked with brands such as Range Rover and American Express. He also learned Spanish using Rosetta Stone, as preparation for a sponsored trip to Cuba. (He ended up crashing a vintage car during the shoot. You'll hear about that, and what they did about it.)

This week's episode is a great story about making dreams happen. How did Peter finally get the courage to publish his videos? How does he plan bigger and bigger trips? Why did Peter – who worked as a runway model in Milan, and an actor in Los Angeles – reject the gatekeepers and choose himself?

I can't help but feel, after listening to this conversation, that Peter and I are a lot alike. It seems like he has always felt compelled to travel and make videos, even if it didn't immediately make sense. I know I'm always spending hours on things that don't immediately make sense.

I especially liked hearing about how things he wrote in his journal years ago, eventually came to light. I think this is important to be aware of. Your subconscious is always trying to tell you something about your destiny, so it pays to listen.

Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/treehouse

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/peter-bragiel-interview/

Rejection hurts. Sometimes it hurts a little more than other times, but it still does hurt.

But, rejection is a part of life. If you never get rejected, you're not really trying. In 2016, I quadrupled my creative output. But, I got rejected harder and more frequently than any year before. I'm hoping for bigger and better rejections in 2017.

I reviewed my 2016 rejections, and it didn't feel good. I had to relive them all at once. But, it was a valuable exercise, and — if nothing else—you can take some sadistic pleasure in reading about them.

Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbookshttp://kadavy.net/treehouse

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/top-rejections-podcast/

Hugh MacLeod (@hughcards) is a hero of mine, who helped me find my own path.

It was 2004, I was sitting in a gray cubicle in Nebraska. And I discovered a PDF on the Internet called "How to be creative." I read it, and it was one of the most moving and inspiring things I had ever read.

You know how sometimes you read something and you're like "yes! That's exactly what I was thinking! Except I didn't have words for it." This little PDF was like that for me. It was subversive, and edgy, and bold, and spoke to the non-conformist part of me that wanted to live outside of the template.

And it had these brilliant little cartoons in it. They were all the same format. And small. Very small.

It turns out they were all drawn on the back of business cards. Hugh MacLeod, the man behind this PDF had been drawing these cartoons for 7 years by this point.

I came across his blog, called Gaping Void, and found more bold thinking and brilliant cartoons there. It was one of the blogs that inspired me to start my blog in 2004. I even put it in my "blog roll."

You see, there was no Twitter or Facebook, so that's how you would connect people and ideas. You'd just put a link to their blog on your blog. And that's how you would say "listen to this person. This person has things to say."

Since then, Hugh's cartoons have been seen everywhere. He's built a consulting business around the cartoons, helping companies define and express their culture. Companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Volkswagon, Zappos, eBay, and Intel. Hugh even illustrated a book with Seth Godin.

Well, I'm very excited to be connecting you with Hugh MacLeod's ideas today. Listen to this interview to discover how to overcome perfection paralysis in your work. How do you discover your creative DNA? How do you fill your work with the universal truths of human experience, to make it resonate with others. And ultimately, how, and why, do work that serves others.

Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbookshttp://kadavy.net/blogtutorial http://kadavy.net/treehouse

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/hugh-macleod-interview/

I talked about minimalism with some of my guests. I talked about it with Craig Benzine on episode 39, and with James Altucher on episode 53.

I'm not an extreme minimalist. I don't count the number of things that I own, trying to keep the number down. I consider myself to be a practical minimalist. I have just enough things to improve my focus, but I don't have so many things that it hurts my focus.

I recently went minimalist when I sold most of my things and moved to Colombia. In this episode, I'll share just how being a practical minimalist helps me focus.

This post originally appeared on Medium. You can find it and follow me at kadavy.net/medium

Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/treehouse

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/practical-minimalism-focus-pod/

Vinnie Lauria found his calling after backpacking around Asia.

He had just sold a company. He had just gotten married. He feared that if he spent a year traveling, he'd run out of money, and he'd run out of momentum. He worried it would be career suicide.

But his wife, Kristine, pushed him to seize the day. They sold everything, gave up their apartment in The Mission and hopped on a one way flight across the Pacific, planning to come back in a year.

Throughout his travels, Vinnie kept doing what he does best. He was meeting entrepreneurs everywhere he went – Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, India, you name it – all over Asia.

Along the way, he stumbled across a unique opportunity. He noticed there was a gap in funding for entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. All of the Venture Capital firms were risk averse, and didn't invest with a Silicon Valley mindset. Meanwhile, there was an explosion of early-stage startups hungry for funding.

So, with no investment experience to speak of, Vinnie partnered up with some friends and started a Venture Capital firm. Golden Gate Ventures is an early-stage VC firm in Southeast Asia. They've invested $60 in over 30 companies in 7 countries, including TradeGecko and Redmart.

He and Kristine now live in Singapore, with their two children. They never did move back to San Francisco.

Vinnie is a really close friend of mine. A year after I moved to California, I was pretty lost. I didn't like living in San Jose, and I didn't like the direction my startup was going in. I couldn't bear to give up and move back to Nebraska. Meanwhile San Francisco was just up the road, if only I had the courage to make the move.

Around that time, I met Vinnie, and spent a lot of time with him and his now wife, Kristine. They were both adventurous, and had a bold perspective on living life. I did move up to San Francisco, and fulfilled a life-long dream of living in a bustling city.

Vinnie always offered inspiration when I needed it. You'll see he's not afraid to do things that many people consider risky. He values adventure, and he's a big advocate of putting yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to succeed. As Vinnie likes to say "when you jump, the net appears."

Listen to this episode for inspiration on making big changes in your life. Vinnie will share his story of quitting a secure job at IBM and moving across the country with no plan. We'll talk about how he used to live and work with as many as 12 people in a 3-bedroom apartment. He'll share his unique methods for managing the roughly 1,000 new people he meets every year, and how best to connect them. Overall, you'll hear how a guy from Long Island ended up founding a VC firm in Singapore.

Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/ac http://kadavy.net/treehouse

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/vinnie-lauria-interview/

We're well into 2017 now, and I've been reflecting on 2016. It was a great year. In fact, I more than quadrupled my creative output. I'm just talking about words published here. I'm not even talking about the weekly episodes I published here on Love Your Work. Almost every episode of Love Your Work so far has been in 2016. I spent much of 2016 experimenting with some methods of optimizing my creative output, and I'll be sharing them today. This post originally appeared on Medium. You can find it and follow me at kadavy.net/medium Sponsors http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/4x-creative-productivity-podcast/