Culture exists whether we like it or not. As soon as people gather and communicate and try to accomplish something, roles are established and culture is born. 

It can be tempting to provide caveats because it feels like it mitigates risk. “If I only had more time. I hope this is what you want. Happy to change anything you don’t like.” But when you understand that the words and tone with which you present your work greatly affects the way your client perceives your work, it’s easy to see how caveats actually increase risk.

Some weeks it feels like I’m crushing it. Other weeks it feels like I’m just getting through. On weeks when I feel like I’m crushing it, it’s really easy to write these blogs. But during weeks I feel like I’m just getting through, my confidence wanes, and it becomes hard to write these blogs.

It’s not the uncontrollable things in life that say anything profound about you.

With a single lamp on in the bedroom, a makeshift desk, and pop punk music loud in my headphones, my special workspace was born. Working so hard under stress wasn’t supposed to be easy or fun. So I made it fun.

They have a classic html style website to give their brand a timeless feel. Confused by their website? Want a discount? Want to return something? Too bad. They know their brand and they don’t compromise. Are they losing sales by not having a clear “buy now” button? Absolutely. Would John Mayer be so into them if they weren’t so exclusive? Absolutely not.

If your business is more subjective, focus on brand marketing. Highlight the priceless elements of your product. Is there a community your customers can connect with? Will it make them feel accomplished? Could it help them find love?

Most companies feel guilty about the purposeful exclusivity and pushy sales tactics, so they fall somewhere in the middle. Most companies are willing to give up a few dollars every year to make sure their customers have good things to say. They’re also willing to let go of a perfect brand feel to make sure they’re driving sales every month.

Do you ever wish you had 40 hours per week to work on your creative project? You could probably make some real progress if you did. Well, guess what? If you had 40 hours per week, you would fail. Let me explain.

Being a creative isn’t something you are because you know how to use the tools. Everyone can use the tools. Photoshop costs less than Netflix. Get over yourself. What makes you a creative is creating every day.

Try this out for your next project. When you find the key customer desire, wrote it on a sticky note and put it on your desk where you can see it. With every idea, ask yourself, “does this help people achieve their key desire?” If yes, keep it. If no, try again.

Usually it was a 7:15 wake up, a walk to a coffee shop, a chapter of a book, breakfast, and at my desk at 9:30. But when coffee shops closed, people stopped emailing, and sadness sunk in, my routine became burdensome. So I stopped.

Some clients are very comfortable letting go of the reigns. Some prefer a tight grip on the wheel. Some creatives thrive with near total freedom. Some creatives execute tight creatives well. There’s no right or wrong way, there are only good fits and bad fits. 

Making schedules chronologically often leads to procrastination. There’s no date it needs to launch, which often means it will never launch. Picking an arbitrary date in the future on which you will launch your project, and working backwards from there is a surefire way to actually launch it. Whether it’s perfect or not.

Chuck captained the customer experience from the second people walked in the door. Eye contact, a strong hello, a conversation starter, a free coffee sample. He really wanted people to love coffee as much as he did.

After one of these starter questions, I try to ask their opinion on whatever they told me. If they talk about where they’re from, I ask if they like it there. If they talk about the host, I ask what they think of her.

If you have a few important pieces of information to get across within an email, use bullet points. Important points buried inside of sentences are hard for people to extract.

This month I produced 4 videos. 9 shoot days, 20+ talent, 10+ locations. I’m still doing it actually. I’m headed out to Joshua Tree later today for a camping scene. Needless to say, it’s been pretty stressful. 

What if what you love is not that cool? It’s easy for other people to make content about international travel, or pop music, or major sports. But what if you’re into furniture restoration, or miniature painting, or luxury pens?

If you’re looking to grow an audience online, make sure you’re doing something you love. That’s the only way it will be sustainable