The Future Belongs to Creators

Productivity and output are two of the most important areas on which creators can focus. As a show dedicated to helping creators take charge of their future, we thought it was time for a discussion about the habits that help creators become more productive and more efficient with their work and life.

Today’s episode features James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones and Ryan Delk, CEO & co-founder of Primer, a homeschool with a mission to build the learning experience your children deserve. 

We had a great discussion about the habits and strategies that yield the most output in their creative endeavors, and we get to the heart of what it means to be productive. 

Main Takeaways

• Surround yourself with like-minded people you can connect with. Decide who you will say “yes” to and start building a genuine connection early. Be persistent in a friendly way; don’t take “no” personally
• Take care of yourself. Focus on sleep, diet, and exercise and try not to be on your phone all of the time. 
• The “1% better everyday” concept applies to almost anything you’re trying to improve in your life.
• Be balanced and intentional with your work and your life. Be prepared for meetings and set aside intentional family time as often as you can.

Links

• Ryan Delk
• James Clear
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
• Pull Up Podcast

Creator of the Day

• CJ McCollum
• Angela Jiang
• Eugene Wei

Resource of the Day

• The Clear Habit Journal
• Primer

Thought of the Day

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As a creator, you should know how to identify the activities that make money. However, selling something doesn’t always mean having a physical product. In this day and age, creators like you have the power to use technology to your advantage.

Any kind of product, as long as it adds value, is something people will buy. And if your product solves a problem or makes things easier for others, consider it sold.

Today, we’re talking about high-demand product ideas you could choose to sell or implement in your own business.

Product Ideas

• Ebooks
  • “Fill-in-the-blanks” titles work best. Examples include: ___________ Handbook, Bootstrapping ___________, Mastering ___________,  etc.
  • Essays, how-tos, and stories are great ideas for this category, as well.
• Design Assets (stock photos, video, music)
  • Create things that give people shortcuts. If you can build an audience around your skillset, you’ll definitely get traction.
• Recorded Albums
  • These can be sold together with other design assets. Nostalgia and exclusivity are two things you can consider for this category.
• Journalism
  • A deep dive into a specific story can be a standalone product.
• Printables, Workbooks, and Journals
  • Planners and checklists work best.
• Package Offerings
  • A basic package can be a series of simple templates for people to follow. Example: A spreadsheet for cash flow or income statements that makes your accounting easier.
• Giftable Items
  • Take a current product and tweak it to become a giftable one.
• Templates and Scripts
  • Website templates, themes, and newsletters work well.
• Online Courses
  • Teach everything you know! The more specialized your knowledge, the more unique value it has.

Creator of the Day

• Polina Marinova

Resources of the Day

• Business Wars
• The Profile

Thought Of The Day

Links

• High-demand eCommerce product ideas to sell in 2020

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Setting up your own business can be tedious, especially when it’s time to hire your first employees.  When you start the hiring process, there are many factors to consider. What qualities should you look for in potential candidates? How do you determine base salary? How do you handle raises and promotions?

Today, we answer those questions, and more!

Today’s Questions

• What do we need to do on the tax and legal side to get our business set up? And when should we do this in our entrepreneurial journey?
• Will there ever be a mobile app version of ConvertKit?
• What are your thoughts on transitioning a free product (ebook/pdf/etc) to a paid one?
• Do you offer your employees a raise before they need to ask for it?
• Can you talk about the top qualities or experiences you look for in a prospective employee?
• You mentioned the Highlands Ability Battery before. I am currently doing it and I’d like to know if you’ve done it too?
• What book is on your nightstand?
• Have you ever had some big injustice happen in your business like betrayal/unfair lawsuits/dealings, etc.? How did you work through it?

Links

• Highlands Ability Battery
• Radford Data and Analytics
• Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott

Creators of the Day

• Jenny Bailiff (Science Mom)
• The Shires

Resources of the Day

• Everything Is F*cked: A Book about Hope by Mark Manson
• Closer to the Ground: An outdoor family's year on the water, in the woods and at the table by Dylan Tomine
• Origin: A Novel by Dan Brown
  
  

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One of the easiest ways to start a podcast is to start an interview show. However, most people are not good at interviewing. The upside is, interviewing is a skill, and it can be learned.

As a podcast interviewer, it’s imperative to have a genuine interest in your guest and what they do — your listeners can sense this as you speak. And that’s just the first step.

Today, we talk about the ins and outs of interviewing, and tips for getting better at it.

Main Takeaways

• Interviewing is a skill and it can be learned. However, don’t just do interviews to make the count; be sure to be mindful of how you’re doing it, and track your progress.
• Having a genuine interest in your guest and being endlessly curious about them and their story is key. 
• Interview people who are aligned with the moral of the show and who will be interesting to your listeners.
• Prepare like a professional. Great interviewers take time to prepare. Do your research, listen to your guest’s past interviews, write down the possible gaps, and use those gaps to outline your interview.
• Ask about a story, and about transformation. These two things can turn a boring interview into a great one.
• Introduce your guest well. A bio is very helpful, but don’t just read the bio. Great stories don’t have to start at the beginning. Touch on a driving force first and then lead the interview.

Creator of the Day

• Jerry Colonna
• Logic

Resource of the Day

• The Turnaround
• Power Your Podcast with Storytelling
  
  

Thought Of The Day

Links

• How to Become a World-Class Podcast Interviewer
• Tim Ferris
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Bullseye Podcast
  
  

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Sometimes the questions we get are tough and thought-provoking and we try not to shy away from them. It’s always good to push ourselves to dig deeper when the questions challenge us. 

Today, we answer questions about how to promote yourself genuinely, whether or not the customer is always right, how to do a crash course in design, how we’ve changed as ConvertKit has grown, and more!

Today’s Questions

• How do you promote yourself and your product in a genuine way? What are the best practices to cold call others? 
• They say the customer is always right. What asterisks would you put on the saying, if any?
• Can you please talk about how your experience/skills/creativity complement each other with regard to how you two run ConvertKit?
• ​A few weeks back, Barrett mentioned giving himself a 20-hour crash course in graphic design. I'd like to do the same thing. How would you design this? 
• From the point you started making money on your own to now having a company that makes almost $2M per month, how have your identities/characters changed?
• Pat Flynn's email today was about entrepreneurs and facing returning to school decisions in the wake of COVID. What thoughts do you have for people trying to decide what to do and balancing business?

Links

• From Impossible to Inevitable by Jason Lemkin and Aaron Ross
• How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast! by Josh Kaufman
• Figma
• Meet Edgar
• Laura Reder on Twitter
• Creator Sessions

Creator of the Day

• Paperbell
• Pinch Of Yum

Resource of the Day

• Typespiration
• Expertise: Why You Need it & How to Get it by Barrett Brooks

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As the second half of the year begins, it’s important to ensure that you set yourself up for success. It’s been an unconventional year so far, to say the least. But as we settle into this adjusted way of life, we need to better plan for what’s to come.

Having a process, no matter how small, will get you closer to the goals you want to achieve. However, accountability is key in achieving your goals, both to yourself and others. Today we talk about everything we’re doing to get ready for the second half of 2020, as well as some actionable items to help you in your own planning. 

Main Takeaways

• Take inventory of your accomplishments to date. This will help you determine if your goals for the rest of the year are attainable.
• Set up your goals in the format of Objective > Key Results > Commentary. This will help you see what you were trying to accomplish and what actually happened - which is the best kind of insight into your business. 
• Look for a peer group or a mentor to help talk through the results,  or lack thereof. This will bring good insights to the surface. 
• Break down your goals into their component parts and figure out where you need to pivot to achieve them. 
• Figure out what you need to say no to (including other goals) in order to get your most important goals back on track.

Creator of the Day

• Teddy Williams Jr. 
• American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee

Resource of the Day

• Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer

Thought Of The Day

Links

• The Future Belongs to Creators 058 — A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving your Minimum Viable Income
• Powells.com

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Filling in for Barrett today is the wonderful Haley Janicek. Haley is the head of the Creator Sessions series here at ConvertKit. Today, we answer questions about who are our dream creators for Creator Sessions, some of our upcoming creator sessions, and more!

Today’s Questions

• Are you using past creators for future installments of Creator Sessions?
• Who is on your dream list and your realistic list of creators to have on Creator Sessions?
• What are some upcoming Creator Sessions?

Links

• Matt Kearney Creator Session
• Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer
• Tiny Desk NPR
• Creator Sessions
  
  

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Nathan is taking some much-needed vacation time, so, filling in for him is one of our great designers, Charli Prangley. She leads the creative side of our marketing team and we’re excited to have her on the show. 

Today, we answer questions about pricing for international clients, how to balance full-time work with a side hustle, areas of professional improvement, and more!

Today’s Questions

• In terms of freelance work, how do you go about tackling pricing when working for international clients? 
• How did you find ConvertKit and why did you want to work there?
• How has ConvertKit Commerce Beta been going? What is the initial response? 
• How do you balance full-time work with a thriving side hustle?
• How do you start and invite people to join you on something new you’re building when you’re not sure exactly what it will look like yet? 
• Could you talk about any differences between redesigning the ConvertKit homepage versus more typical projects? Maybe tips for working with higher-ranking stakeholders?
• How many people at ConvertKit have a specialist background and how many are generalists?
• What has it been like to step back into creator mode?
• What do each of you wish you were better at professionally?

Creators of the Day

• The Sorry Girls
• Krista Tippet

Resources of the Day

• Descript
• The Most Meaningful Job of Your Career Workshop

Links

• Charlie Marie
• Figma

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We’re getting close to the launch of ConvertKit Commerce, so today we’re talking about it in more detail. As a teaser, we’re going to show you some cool tricks! 

Though this episode has a lot of great information about product launches in general, it’s focused on the ins and outs of ConvertKit Commerce, so be sure to check out the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XExDysTfEU. 

Main Takeaways

• We are a “help creators earn a living” company, not an email company. That’s why we’re so excited to bring you ConvertKit Commerce. We want to help you leverage our platform to earn a living doing what you love.
• Try dropping little hints of your product launch inside of your regular content to build up to a full launch over time. 
• Set a deadline for your launch. Don’t spend forever tweaking. You can always iterate on your launch and improve as you go. 

Links

• Authority: Become an Expert, Build a Following, and Gain Financial Independence by Nathan Barry
• Nathan’s Instagram Post
• Ep 008 — How to Create and Launch a Course in 72 hours
• Ep 061 on YouTube

Creators of the Day

• Mat Kearney
• Wait But Why

Resources of the Day

• American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

Thought of the Day

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Both of us have products dropping in the near future and we’d love to make you aware of them. Nathan’s book Authority is getting a refresh and is available now at nathanbarry.com. Barrett will be hosting a workshop on finding meaningful work, applying for those jobs, and getting the subsequent interview. Release details forthcoming, so stay tuned!

Today, we answer questions about how to write copy that pops, how to formalize company values, knowing what you want, and more!

Today’s Questions

• When you’re writing, how do you make the important parts of your content pop?
• Can you recommend a framework or exercise to formalize our company’s mission and values?
• Will ConvertKit Commerce offer embeddable, customizable “Buy” buttons?
• How will people be selected for the beta and what’s the criteria to be a tester?
• In regards to Baremetrics, why have ConvertKit's fees been at $0 since June 23, 2020? Is that a bug?
• ​Will it be possible to buy a "Default to Generosity" t-shirt anytime soon? 
• Do you guys know what you truly want? If yes, how did you find out? If not, what are you doing to constantly find your path when there are so many options?

Links

• Authority: Become an Expert, Build a Following, and Gain Financial Independence by Nathan Barry
• What’s your system for establishing principles? by Nathan Barry
• Convert Kit Commerce

Thought of the Day

Start building your audience for free

With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

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