Just One Joey: January 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

Schools, Get Rid Of Textbooks

Say what?!?!

Yup. I said it.

I think schools should get rid of text books.

Gone.

Adios.

Hasta la bye-bye.

Seriously.

I mean, let’s be honest, the way the first week of the new presidency has gone, if we project out a couple years, I could see some government mandated book burning anyways. But that is neither here nor there.

Whether or not we HAVE to get rid of textbooks, we SHOULD get rid of textbooks.

To be more specific, we should get rid of all textbooks, but only in high school.

The Elimination Of High School Textbooks

Before I get in to the disgusting numbers, let’s start with some practicality.

Because of phones and the internet, we will never need to remember facts again.

Who was the 29th president of the United States? Google it.

What does chlorophyll do? Google it.

How do you do I find the exact value of tan (s + t) given that sin s = 1/4, with s in quadrant 2, and sin t = -1/2, with t in quadrant 4?

WTF is that?

Google, tan. Google, sin. Google, exact value. Google, trigonometry and quadrants. Google, Kahn Academy and watch videos on trigonometry. Aaaaaannnnnnd done. Thank you very much Mr. Google.

See?

What the hell do you need textbooks for?

In fact, if we are trying to get our students to be more prepared for the real world, wouldn’t we want them to have the ability to find formulas and solutions on their own anyways? How many text books do you have at work? I would put my money on one. It is a general, literal explanation of your job, and it does you little more than no good because your job involves so much more than anything they could ever write in a textbook. Sort of like real textbooks. What a kawinki-dink!

So what do you do?

You search, you research, you talk to people, you get answers, and you solve the problem.

Why not start that with 9th graders?

Not only do they do it anyways (mostly looking up stupid s***, scanning Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.), but they need to know how to do it to be successful in life.

The earlier they are practicing (deliberately) the better, right? So when they get older and their boss needs a spread sheet, or a power point, or whatever crap they need for work, the employee can say, “got it.” Then run back to their office and figure out how in the hell to do it, just like we all do.

To be honest, my whole job is looking up how to do things. I see a picture I like, or an effect that is new, an editing trick, or a marketing technique, and I look it up. I learn how to do it, then I apply it for my clients.

What happens even more often, just like the employee described above, a client says, “I really like this, can you do that?” What is my answer 99.99% time? Of course! Then I run home and look it up, sweating, hoping I can actually do it!

There are no text books for life.

I move that we don’t need text books in high school either.

Can teachers write problems? Yes.

Are teachers experts in their given subject matter? Yes (you hope).

So why do we need books?

In fact, if teachers have to come up with their own problems, I bet the homework load would go WAY down. It’s not as easy to give 50 geometry problems if you are writing them out yourself. I think homework is stupid anyways. I like the reverse homework strategy. Do all the work in class, and get research based homework. Learn at home, where special instruction is not needed. Just gather information for when you have a teacher to explain it to you.

Ok. So there is the practical reason.

Now for the…..

Dolla Bills Yall!

Get ready to puke, or crap your pants. Either way, do not read this section on a full stomach.

Lots of numbers here (big ones).

Here we go.

The average text book cost: $68 (I think this is low, but I will roll with it)

The average number of academic classes per student: 5 (PE, Art, sports, etc. Probably don’t have text books. Unless you have a real hard ass PE teacher. If you do, adjust the numbers in the formula below).

Here is the first part of the equation: 68 (avg. cost of books) x 5 (avg. number of academic classes) = 340

That means a text book, per academic class, per student, per year = $340.

“But wait (says the school district employee. Insert whinny, annoying voice here), we have a 7 year cycle on textbooks in California, so that number is much lower!”

Fair enough.

So let’s adjust the formula: 340 (books per year)/7 (how often they update textbooks in years) = $48.57 per year, per student.

Not bad, huh? Not even $50 per student on textbooks! Yay, budget!!

(This is the point where I normally would say, you get what you pay for, but this next section’s numbers are so high, I will refrain).

To continue…..

The current number of high school students in California (including continuation, alternative, and community schools): 1,891,060

Now, take the $48.57 (book cost per year, per student) and x by 1,891, 060

So…

$48.57 x 1,891,060 = $92,140,204.20

$92 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

PER YEAR!!!!!

EVERY YEAR!!!!!

Have you said holy s*** yet?

I did, and I wrote it!

HOLY S***!!!!

And that is one year!!!

I already said that, didn’t I?

How much would the state be saving in a 7 year textbook cycle?

Great question.

Hold on to your hats: $644,981,429.40!!!

ALMOST $650 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

Is there even a swear word for that?

I didn’t think so.

This is where you just stare and drool.

I’ll wait.

Wipe your face.

Savings For The Biggest School Districts In California

I am going to make this simple. I am just going to multiply the $48.57 by the number of high school students in the given school districts.

Here we go. The savings per year, for 3 of the biggest districts in California.

Los Angeles Unified: $7,407,264.99

San Diego Unified: $1,450,057.35

San Francisco Unified: $768,425.97

Keep in mind, this is per year. If we expand these out for the 7 year textbook cycle, the numbers are ridiculous.

LAUSD: $51,850,854.93

SDUSD: $10,150,401.45

SFUSD: $5,378,981.79

Think Of The Possibilities

What could your district do with all of that extra money?

More teachers? Better teachers? More programs? Better programs? Unbelievable technology for your school site? Sports programs that have been cut? Art programs? Music? Maybe you give the students a stipend to buy novels, biographies, and autobiographies to help them customize their learning. Maybe invest in tablets for them all so the books are cheaper?

Do what your kids need the most! The possibilities are endless! Think of what this could mean for your district, your community, and your city?

I know this will start small, a school or two, but I know it will grow. Why? Because all of these kids are on their damn phones all the time looking up s** they don’t know anyways. Why not take advantage of that and apply it to school?

The question almost answers itself, I know.

I can’t wait to hear about this being developed. I know it will happen. Some ideas are too good to pass up.

Good luck all you crazy ones, misfits, and rebels.

It’s time to change the world.

Public School Marketing Ideas For 2017

I can’t think of an “industry” that needs this more, especially in California, where sky rocketing home prices, combined with the influx of charter schools is creating a steep decline in the public school population.

It’s sad.

As a product of public schooling all the way through my M.A. (that’s a masters, not Massachusetts. That wouldn’t even make sense), I hate to see it lose its footing the way it has.

We have great public school, with great public school teachers, but something has to change, and fast.

That’s why I am writing this essay, to help the public schools of California, and may be the rest of the country as well. With Betsy DeVos at the helm, you guys will need all the help you can get, and then some. Yikes!

The Strategy

Become a company, at least in the marketing and advertising aspect.

Apple. Nike. Mercedes.

What do they have that you don’t? Money. Just kidding.

A marketing department, duh!

There is no need for a whole division of new employees, but there should be 3–5 in every school district, where all they do, 365 days a year, is produce content for your school district. Get you out there in any and every way, all over the internet.

Think about it.

There are no limitations to the amount of content you could create for an entire school district. Hell, if you want to get serious, have a marketing director at each school.

The whole concept of bell to bell is over, or it needs to be over, if you want a shot at saving this system. Go outside the school hours, off the campus, and on to the phones (cell phones, we aren’t starting a call center here).

The longer you wait, the harder it will be to recover.

The Possibilities

The goals? Content every single day, in as many ways as possible.

Photos, videos, short-films, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, books, seminars (whew), on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Music.ly, YouTube, Medium, Quora, LinkedIn and anything else that pops up in the next few years.

Do everything. Be everywhere.

Videos/Short-films/Documentaries/Vlogs:

1. Stories of students, teachers, workers, parents, former students, a school’s history, etc.

2. Create a TV show. Create multiple TV shows. Life of a high schooler, life of a teacher, etc. Change it up every semester. Like Hard Knocks, but school. (We all know what Hard Knocks is, right? Good).

3. A sports show. Make your own ESPN. Get footage from photo/video students for all of the sporting events and make your own show. Have hosts, tell stories, or just copy FS1 and ESPN!

4. Have subject matter vlogs. There is no reason why a district can’t create their own Khan Academy. Each subject/grade level shares the duty (*snicker) of creating the content. Explanations, videos, charts, etc. Hell, there should be a video post of all of the explanations from class that day online for students to be able to reference anyways. It would be great for the students and hold the teachers more accountable to actually teaching.

Blogs/Books/Podcasts

1. You are inundated with experts. Use their knowledge to create. Blogs on different subject matter, podcasts for those kids who can’t read (they exist, I’m sorry). Give, give, give content, expertise, information, value.

2. Create a Q&A podcast. Teachers answer students’ questions in a particular subject or lesson, then it is up there for all to see! Helping future students forever!

3. Once you get enough Qs and As, you compile it to create a book. Experts write so they can share their expertise. Could you imagine if a parent received a book (available on Kindle and Audible of course) at the beginning of each year describing what the students would be learning, changes they would be going through both physically and emotionally, and getting you prepared for everything? It would be amazing!!

I know what you teachers are going to say, “But we do stuff like that already! We have meetings, we help kids. Waaah.” That’s great, but your school or school district is losing kids every single year, it’s time to step up your game.

Ugh, I know what the other teachers are going to say too, “but my school has a waiting list! We are doing fine!” Wrong, you are not. You are in the “rich” area of your district and parents think your school is better because of that. They think there are better teachers in the wealthier areas, because the “scores” are higher. That is not the case at all. Your students are nerds. If you were really good, you could go downtown and kick ass there too. Not going to happen? That’s what I thought. Just admit that you are limited, and that you are not the only school in the district. Team effort here people.

The Socials

Be on everything.

I mean, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (and their stories), Snapchat (especially this), Music.ly, etc.

Take your new-fangled media department, and divide them throughout the district. Take pics of students learning, kids having fun, teachers teaching, snaps, stories, boomerangs (Instagram), etc. Do it all. Go where the people are. Be relatable. Be on their phone, not just bell to bell. Not just the parent letter home each week, the conference once a semester, the discipline call, or the open house night. Be there. Every single day. Let them see you. Let them see that you see them. Everyone is important, everyone is a star in your district. Share, share, share, give, teach, learn, inspire!

Seminars

Forget the lame parent nights, give seminars on important stuff for kids and parents in general. Have it in a centrally located venue. Invite the community. Invite experts. Share knowledge other than when the cookie drive is. There are so many questions, districts need to own it more. I know they have parent meetings, but really it’s just a check mark.

“See! We did it! Our parents are informed now!”

Really?

How many peoples showed up?

3.5? (was 4, one left early).

People show up when they are given value. No one there? No value being offered. At least not real value.

Seriously, would you go to some of the meetings you have? HELL NO!

So why would they?

You get the outcome you deserve, not the one you want. It’s obvious when you do something because you have to (and there is a lot of that). Stop blowing smoke up the parents’ ass. Hell, stop blowing smoke up your own ass that what you are doing is valuable and working. The proof is in the pudding, and in the numbers.

The New You

Stop putting ads on Pandora. I don’t want to see the 8 Ivy League kids from your district, each one coincidentally a different race (so we all feel included) on my movie screen at the mall. Stop taking half ass measures with half ass effort and half ass results. It’s not working. You are losing full classes of kids from each school every year. How long are you doing to do the same ol thing?

Hopefully you think about this over the weekend, get a little fire going, and take charge of your schools and your district.

Develop a media team (not teachers on their spare time, that’s stupid), rally the teachers, and get going.

Oh, and teachers, stop looking at your dumb ass contracted hours and work like you actually give a shit about your students, school, and job. Unions are only good for the weakest link. Hopefully that’s not you. If you are mad about that last statement, it probably is.

Let’s do this.

Good luck!

Joey

MediaMedia

The Spectacular Snapchat Spectacles

I am advising all my clients to get these.

Every single one of them.

Why?

I will tell you that in a minute.

How? Is the better question right now.

How indeed?

As of right now, I need to wait 17 hrs. just to find out where I can buy them. That’s right, where in the world is the Snapchat Spectacles bot? Because that’s the only place you can buy it. I mean, besides paying double or triple on EBay or Amazon. To be honest, double or triple would be good. It’s the shady people selling you something other than Spectacles that I would be really worried about. There are some real jerks out there. You are better off following a one-eyed yellow box around the country.

That’s what I am going to do.

Why?

To best explain this, I will tell you my pitch to a local Bay Area restaurant. They haven’t signed on with my company MediaMedia (www.mediamedia.biz) just yet, but it is only a matter of time (positive thinking or alternative facts? We shall see).

The company is SmokeEaters (www.smoke-eaters.com), based in Santa Clara, California.

They are a great wings, beer, burger, sports bar-type restaurant. They have a hot wings contest called The Hellfire Challenge that had TV personality Adam Richman (Man V. Food) puking on the side of the building. These wings are hot. Like, make you puke and feel like your face is melting off hot.

Anyways,

I think this restaurant is the perfect environment for Spectacles.

Why?

I know what you are thinking, how many times am I going to pose that question without answering?

Alright, alright. Here you go:

They have 3 locations, tons of employees, a great atmosphere, they are always packed, and they have

The Hellfire Challenge.

The combination of Spectacles, a Snapchat takeover, and lots of different waiters, waitresses, bartenders, managers, etc. is the ideal situation to take a company, on the coattails of the fastest and most attention grabbing Social, in to the stratosphere. But even with all of the hype, Snapchat is still grossly underutilized by businesses. The sad thing is, there are so many companies, even in Silicon Valley, that do a horrible job online (which is why I have a business).

Jumping on the coattails of Snapchat, combined with strategic marketing on Facebook and Instagram, could have this, 3 restaurant company, on the tipping point of franchising all over the state and country.

That’s the power of the Web 2.0. That’s the power I have all my clients tap in to.

Strategy

They already have 16k followers/likes between Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. Their Instagram isn’t linked on their webpage, which would probably give that number a bump (come on guys. I’m here, I can help). If they posted their brand spanking new Snapcode on their current Socials, and posted it all over their three restaurants (I suggest custom coasters), the follows would take off immediately.

Next, they act like a relay team. Each night, a new person gets the glasses. Obviously you will not be giving it to the introvert, unless they have a very keen eye. Each employee “takes over” for the night offering their followers a fresh perspective and making the followers experience different every day.

Exciting, true reality TV.

Big games, big moments in the games, The Hellfire Challenge, delicious food, cold drinks, happy people, tons of fun, all on your Snapchat, and broadcasted for the world to see.

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

Facebook Live all of the Hellfire challenges, because there is nothing more entertaining than people willingly torturing themselves (Jackass 1, 2, & 3), and you have yourself a recipe for amazingness (not really a word, but it fits, so it stays).

The Waiting Game

Now all I need to do is wait until tomorrow morning to see if I am bot hunting or not.

I can’t wait.

If you are already using them, I would love to hear your story!

Have a great rest of your week everyone.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Brian Solis

Ready to get your mind blown? I didn’t know who Brian Solis was before this interview, but I want to know everything about him now. Take everything you know about running a business, creating AND consuming products and throw it all away. This guy is in the business of changing everything (in a good way).

I have taken his interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one they are on.

Please enjoy.

The Market Has Never Been Busier. How Do I Differentiate?

I know what you think I am going to say, “You need to think outside the box.” Well, you are wrong. You need to re-think what is “in” and “out” of the box all together.

You need to change the rules.

Re-think everything. Re-evaluate everything. Re-build everything.

Sound a little daunting? I know. But it is the way things are in 2017, and it’s projecting out exponentially in the near and distant future. Everything is different now.

The world revolves around the consumer. Companies aren’t selling products, they are selling experiences, with the customers at the center of it all. Everything revolves around them. We are living in an Ego-system ecosystem.

How Do We Adjust To This New Consumer?

Great question.

We need to start designing the experience just as much if not more than the actual product or service itself.

First we need to articulate what an experience even is: It is an emotional reaction to a moment.

What is that moment in relationship to you? Whatever you want it to be. You create the moment(s) by tapping in to raw human emotion.

It is not good enough to be good anymore. In fact, it’s not good enough to be great. You have to understand the role you want to be in a customer’s life and then create around that. It is a whole new level of connecting.

In order to do that you need to ask yourself a few questions. What do you do very well? What do you do better than anyone else? Now, how can you turn that in to an ecosystem for the Ego-System? How will people talk about you? Before they interact with you directly? After they interact with you? How do you follow up with customers? How do you appeal to new ones? What do you want someone to feel after they are done with you?

All of your answers are opportunities to create magic.

It is all about relationships. You need to be intentional about everything you do. It all has a role, a purpose, a context, and connectability. This new outlook will change everything from design to marketing. When you really look at people and what is relevant to them, how they are experiencing things, it gives you the gift of empathy. That empathy gifts you an entirely new perspective. You must engage with people in the way that they are wired, the way they want to interact.

Once you understand the nuances of the customer, and their experience, you understand how you can be better, and what is possible. It is a human-based design because you are designing for humans, not a group.

I Am Not Tech Savvy, How Do I Innovate?

It’s not about tech. In fact, innovation rarely starts with the technology. The experience you want to create develops the technology. Everything is open for something different. Everything. People don’t stop to ask why enough. Why is this that way? Why do we do it like this? How else could this be done? We just take things at face value, or how “it’s always been done.”

It’s time to reinvent based on the people we are trying to serve. Instead of just tacking on to the old technology, the old way of doing things, we need to start looking at a consumer’s experience with us holistically. Think of every single possible experience a customer can have and build to that. We haven’t done that in the past, so you will automatically be thinking innovatively.

Stop looking within your market for innovative ideas. Truly innovative ideas come from elsewhere and are brought back, merged with what you already have, and creates something new. That is true innovation.

Don’t take anything for granted. Legacy thinking doesn’t work. Outside the box thinking doesn’t work. All you are doing is putting yourself in to a different box because you haven’t changed the rules. Innovation starts outside the norms. You have to start with the customer experience before you work on the technology. The horses pull the cart, not the other way around. That way, your innovation will always have intent.

No matter what you are building or creating, you will never achieve greatness without completely exposing yourself.

Quotes

What is an experience?

People will forget what you did, they will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you

made them feel.” Maya Angelou

We need to ask more why, and what if.

Innovation starts outside the norms.

Brian Solis Links

BrianSolis.com

Books

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Friday, January 20, 2017

30 Days Of Genius Blog: James Altucher

Perspective is one of the most important things in life. It changes everything. One of the most unique perspectives on life has to belong to James Altucher. He is constantly questioning, learning, reinventing, and taking everything he has experienced to help others (through brutal honesty and insight) with their own experiences. I am a huge fan of his, and was thrilled to be able to write this.

Please enjoy.

I Am Too Scared To Quit My Job And Follow My Passion. What Do I Do?

That works out great, because you shouldn’t quit your job yet anyways. Honestly, you may not quit your job ever!

The important thing is actually doing the thing you love. Just because you don’t leave your job to pursue your passion doesn’t mean you should use that as an excuse to not pursue it at all.

Get what I am saying?

This is the greatest time ever to be anything you want. Not only are there less gatekeepers because of the internet, efficiency through technology is consuming more jobs every day. You might as well do something you love, because your job will most likely be taken by either a new program, or a robot.

Cheers!

Don’t look at it as a bad thing, because it really isn’t. What do you do with this slightly gloomy outlook on your job security? My suggestion is to write down 10 ideas a day that have to do with your “passion,” whatever that is. I do this in the morning, you can do it when it works for you, but do it. What you will find is the more ideas you have, the more you flex this idea muscle, the better the ideas get, and more frequently. Don’t worry, most of your ideas will be bad, but some will be great. This will speed up the process of getting all the bad ideas out of your head to make room for the good ones.

As you come up with actionable (hopefully good) ideas, you start implementing and experimenting. If you think of anything great that was ever invented, it is really just a series of mini experiments. It’s actually the best way to learn. Experiment, fail, learn, think, experiment, fail, learn, etc.

This is why you don’t quit your job. You need to mitigate the risk of this new endeavor. Having money come in is part of that mitigation. What you need to do is focus on your down time (nights and weekends), or the time when it looks like you are at your desk working (not that any of you do that), and create your passion project then.

The best job to do this? Night security. Why? Because no one is doing anything at night, you are the only one there, and no one is watching you because you are the one watching them. See? Perfect!

The keys are action and repetition. The more you create, the more creative you become. It’s just how it is. Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Why? Because that guy is REALLY good at that one kick. You just need to figure out your kick.

What If I Don’t Have The Equipment To Create The Way You Want To?

That’s just an excuse.

Seriously.

One of the greatest movies of all times, Star Wars, was filmed on a camera worse than the one on my phone, or your phone, or pretty much anyone else with a phone. Try and wrap your head around that.

Star Wars.

Just create.

Tech is better than it was 20 years ago. There are less gatekeepers than there were 20 years ago. There is more information out there than ever. Just create. Tell your story through the medium of your choice. Storytelling is the oldest art form in the world. For the rest of your life, and the rest of everyone’s life, you will always find media for storytelling. It’s been around for 70,000 years. It may look different. It may be on cave walls, then newspapers, then TV, now on your phones, but it’s still storytelling.

Keep your expectations low, achieve them, and then set your expectations a little higher. The goal should be creation, ideas, experimenting, and reinventing. That’s how you develop something great, something you can quit your job over.

Where Should I Start?

Advice is autobiography.

I will tell you what I do, and hopefully you can use some of it for yourself.

I believe that everything compounds. The more you do it, the better (or worse) it gets. I have 4 daily practices that I do, well, daily. They help me immensely in my personal as well as business life.

Here they are:

1. I do something for my health. This could be a walk, a run, as long as it is physical and you get your body moving.

2. I do something creative. For me, it is most likely writing, but it could be painting, singing, whatever you want. Just create.

3. I practice gratitude. Not easy gratitude, like your kids or health. Nope, difficult gratitude. Take the thing that sucked the most yesterday or today and find the goodness in it. It is not always easy, but it can do amazing things for you mentally and emotionally.

4. I do something for my relationships. This can be kids, parents, friends, anything. Do something that builds or reinforces the relationships in your life.

Figure out what you are doing when you are doing well and keep doing that. Then figure out what you are doing when you are doing bad, and figure out how you get back to the “good” faster.

Easier said than done, but remember that we all have ups and downs, the key is to figure them out and stay up as much as possible. It’s better for you and everyone around you.

Quotes

My motto is, “I’m an idiot.”

Almost by definition, you have to have a side gig.

You can constantly find media for storytelling.

You only learn through experiences. I would tell my former self, “go f** yourself.” You need to learn on your own.

James Altucher Links

Website

Choose Yourself

Reinvent Yourself

His phone number (seriously): 1.203.512.2161

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Tina Roth Eisenberg

Looking for the epitome of a creative entrepreneur? Look no further than Tina Roth Eisenberg. She is an artist herself, she brings artists together, and she creates businesses and apps to help other artists. She is an inspirational woman, surrounding herself with inspirational people, and she shares some of her brilliant insights here.

I have taken her interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one there are on.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Become A Professional Creative?

Be self-sufficient. I think that is very important for a professional creative. If you are waiting around for someone to tell you what to do or how to do it, you will be waiting around a lot. For myself, and the people I work with, you need to be self-sufficient. That self-sufficiency comes from a hunger to create, explore, and try new things. Without that, I feel like you will only have a creative hobby.

I work with people with drive, because in the end, that is what is going to allow you to sustain a career. The desire to do good work, that can work well with others, are the people that will make it.

Don’t know if you are a self-starter? A self-motivator? What are your side projects? Self-starters have many interests and side projects. It shows initiative and hustle, two vital things in the creative world. Combine that with humility, and excitement around your craft, and you have a great formula.

Is There A Right Way To Develop A Side Project?

Yes! Don’t look at it as something that needs to develop. Remember, this is your passion. If you look at it as a business right away you will be less willing to experiment, have a greater fear of failure, and will make decisions based on money instead of love. Your decisions should be based around what you want to do, what you want to fix, and what you want to solve. When it comes from an authentic place, it provides a different energy to those that come in contact with it.

That being said, if your side project involves other people, set up a general foundation. For example, if your project involves four people, decide on how to split potential profits. ¼ for each? 20% in to the pot and divide the remaining 80%? Things like that will save headaches down the road, and potentially even relationships.

How Do I Know If It’s The Right Thing To Work On? That I Truly Love It?

That’s easy, you never have to ask yourself that question. If you love something you never have to question if you truly love it.

You need to know what works for you and recognize what you are good at. Once you focus on what you are good at, and love, you will start to develop super-powers around it, and people will react to it differently. There is something about passion and love that changes the way art looks and feels.

An important thing to remember is your passion and love need protection and nourishment. If you are inspired, if you are curious, surround yourself with curious and inspired people. Work with people that are passionate and excited about what they do. You will feed off each other and the product or art will reap the benefits. Enthusiasm is infectious.

Quotes

Enthusiasm is infectious. Confidence is impressive.

Curious people are inspired people.

I want to make something I love for people that love it.

Tina Roth Eisenberg Links

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Monday, January 9, 2017

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Neil Strauss

When you meet someone at a different level in their perspective, it is best to take notice. Neil Strauss has seen a lot, lived a lot, paid attention, and learned. His wisdom on life and creativity pour out in this interview. Limiting it to an hour is a shame. Good thing he is an introspective, share the dirt kind of an author, so we can delve as deep in to his knowledge as we want through his books. A fascinating guy.

Please enjoy.

Forget Zero To One As A Business, How Do I Go Zero To One As An Artist?

If you are struggling even getting started there is a reason. You are allowing your limiting beliefs to keep you at the starting line. I consider “one” being the day you share your art. There are artists that don’t create because they are waiting for everything to be perfect, and there are artists that create, and adjust, and wait, and change, and end up sitting on the project without ever releasing it. If you are in either of those situations, you are allowing your limiting beliefs to get the better of you.

You need to embrace your fears, accept them, and do them anyways.

I think it is extremely important to recognize exactly what your limiting beliefs are, recognize that they are not true and not your voice, accept them, and either deal with them or reprogram yourself to get passed them. That will be vital for you to get to “one.”

Let me address the two different types of “zeros.” I think there is a true zero, an artist that hasn’t really created anything, and there is a 0.9, an artist that just hasn’t shared.

For the true zeros, just create. I love projects where I only know the beginning. Where it goes from there? Who knows? That’s the art. That is creativity. Don’t question it. Whenever you do, you are dampening the actual creativity. Don’t focus on the outcome. Don’t focus on anything outside of the actual creating. Not knowing how something will turn out feels good. It gives you a chance to explore. If you knew the outcome, why would you do it? Give yourself the chance to surprise yourself. Start exploring, go with the path and see where it leads you. Don’t resist where the propulsion is leading you either. You can’t realistically plan out where your art is going to be, who it is going to please, how successful it will be, so don’t focus on it. Everything that takes away from your focus on the creativity is taking away from the creativity.

Now for the 0.9 artists I have a quote, “When you throw a pebble in to the culture you have no idea where the ripples will go.”

Just share.

Please.

When you take too long to release a project you change. When you change, your view on the art changes. It should be a moment in time. It will never be perfect. Do your best, and let it go, see what happens, and start working on the next project.

Your inner critic is a monster, telling you it’s not good enough. Are you strong enough to silence that voice and produce anyways? Don’t fear judgement and criticizing. Do your best and be comfortable with that. Placing yourself in uncertainty is a very confident place to be.

Once you silence the inner dialogue, give yourself a deadline. Nothing crazy, not tomorrow, but a reasonable deadline, and stick with it.

Having that deadline is huge for a creative. You could sit on something for years without one, and how much better would it be? I’ve had stories that I had to write in 2 weeks that were better than stories I had years to write. It pushes you, streamlines your thinking, and will build up your creativity.

Listen, notice, pay attention, and then share.

Don’t plan too much, don’t focus on this style or that style too much. Don’t limit your creativity at all. Just create. Just explore. Then share.

You can spend your whole life trying to get everything just right.

But honestly? What is just right anyways?

Let it go.

Get going.

Quotes

I’m always thinking about the next thing, not where I’ve been.

Storytelling is teaching through metaphor.

The first question in an interview sets the tone: you know something, you are connected, but not too

connected.

Honesty equals a book.