A few years ago I was in New York with friends, and they decided to see Hamilton on Broadway. They asked if I wanted to join. I said no. Why? Because Hamilton wasn’t cool to me.

You know the difference you can make for someone’s project in a day, or even just a few hours. Yet we have a hard time believing other creatives could do the same for us. This is walking. This is the left foot and the right foot of commanding larger budgets for your projects: invest in quality, then get more money.

Work is a battle. We face distraction and demotivation on all sides. When we encounter a block, the question arises...should I stop? Should I take a little break? Should I work on something else?

If you’ve been on Instagram for a few years, your followers are probably made up of people you know. Friends, family, acquaintances. This creates a strange scenario if you’re thinking about posting consistent content to grow your audience.

Business podcasters try to convince us to spend time with people who have more money than us. But if my wife and brothers and best friend aren’t millionaires, what am I supposed to do? Stop spending time with them?

To see my "self" not as myself but as another “self” that I control. One I must listen to and choose to work with and be kind to. But one who is another one. One who is not me, but instead, a future me, or a past me, or a parallel me—all who have, at one point, asked me to drive them…

I posted more than 100 short-form videos last year. And I’ll post 365 more videos this year. How am I so confident, even though my motivation is dwindling? It’s because I don’t rely on motivation. I rely on a system.

On November 28th, 2023, I had 2400 followers on Instagram. By December 23rd, I had 10,000. By January 12th—20,000. February 5th—30,000. Next week, I’ll likely hit 40,000.

Guess what? I’m bored of it already.

The Freewrite Alpha is a romantic machine. It looks and sounds like a typewriter. It can go off the grid. It’s the kind of thing you can hammer away on at a coffee shop and turn the heads of a few hipsters.

I don’t brush my teeth every day, but once a year I spend all day brushing them to remove all the plaque at once. Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? Yet we apply this strategy to many areas of our lives.

I often encounter photographers, graphic designers, and writers who refuse to post short-form video content. They miss the old days of Instagram, when images were king, and their content performed without them having to try very hard.

When a client trusts you, you can follow your vision to an interesting creative end.

When a client trusts you, they'll happily pay more to work with you, instead of your competition.

When a client trusts you, they'll buy you the time you need to do a good job, and even understand when there are delays.

“Generation Alpha” has been emerging as a term on the internet in recent months. Lots of people saw a viral video titled “The world isn’t ready for Gen Alpha.” It showed two twelve year olds saying funny words while subtly bullying each other.

Jesse Itzler’s net worth is over $200M. But early in his career, he almost gave away 10% of his future earnings in exchange for a $10,000 loan.

You can either say “Well, I tried,” and accept the plausible deniability. It isn’t in your court anymore after all. Other people dropped the ball, yeah? It’s not on you, right? Or you can take radical responsibility.

“When you set giant, unrealistic goals, the delta between the actions you’re currently taking and the actions you would need to take to reach that giant goal become glaringly obvious.”

It was fascinating to see the impact that even a 15-minute delay to his nap schedule had on his ability to cope. Small changes in his diet and dinner schedule were detrimental to his ability to stave off a meltdown. It got me thinking that we aren’t so different.

Photographers and videographers (and all sorts of creative freelancers) spend tons of time tinkering with their portfolios, hoping that big brands will notice. What they don’t realize is that big brands are searching for something beyond just good work.

Have you touched a duck before? Have the majority of people touched ducks before? Then why do we say “get your ducks in a row” so often?

One of my videos is earning tens of thousands of views on Instagram. And counting. Amidst the scramble to respond to comments and messages, I’ve pulled a few lessons from this experience that I’d like to share.