The key becomes following up with your network to remind them that you exist. If you’re top of mind for 50-100 people in hiring positions, then you’re bound to get work. Today, I’m going to show you the exact system I use to keep track of, and follow up with my network on a monthly basis.

I sat with my head in my hands. Tears welled up in my eyes. My laptop was on the coffee table in front of me. I grabbed a couch pillow, buried my face in it, and screamed. 

In order to be more productive, I think of myself as two bees: a queen bee and a worker bee. Queen bee thinks. Worker bee does. Finding the right balance between being a queen bee and a worker bee is at the core of efficiently creating meaningful work.

Anyone can be a commercial producer if they can communicate clearly and make decisions efficiently.  Time is only on your side if you use it, so get to work on finding a crew and a location as soon as you can. 

3. Jump straight into the action. In pitch decks and creative treatments, people feel like they need to ramp up into the action.

Other freelancers who do exactly what you do will likely be your most profitable connections–they’re not competition!
Find freelance friends and ask them what they charge.
Investments that increase your productivity and teach you new skills are the best investments you can make early on.

1. Pitches have a much higher chance of success when you have a previous relationship with the person you’re pitching to.
2. The person you’re pitching to knows their business front and back, which means they also know when you’re simply pretending to understand theirs.

In his book Hero On A Mission, self-development author Donald Miller says that deadlines force action, in stories and in marketing. He says, “Storytellers use the tool of expiring time to ramp up the drama. Without a ticking clock, a story gets boring.”

One thing we kept hearing from our guests was that the thousands of dollars they spent on the trip was well worth it. And judging by the fact that our first one sold out in a matter of days, I’d say we could have charged 50-100% more for it, and still sold out.

It’s easier to transfer success from one area to another than it is to build success in multiple areas at the same time.

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. What I’ve learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head.”

The cheapest way to learn any new art form is to study what has already been created. Too often, we wait for permission to learn something new. We dream about finding a great teacher. We fret about the money and time needed to complete school. But we forget that the very best examples of the art we want to create are openly available to us.

I’m on vacation this week, working on my book and soaking up the Costa Rican sun. Please enjoy this curation of past podcast content. I’ll see you next week!

Three reasons why you should start freelancing tonight, even if it’s only part-time, or one single project.

How to learn from smart people, how to get your ideas heard, and much more.

As creators, we’re often tepted to push ourselves as fast and far as we can go. We want to create and deliver as much as we can. We want to say “yes.” Because we love the work! But maybe it pays to leave a little bit of hustle on the table. Maybe it pays to build in some margin.

If there’s skin in the game, people are involved. They’re engaged. They’re interested.

There are a lot of things you can consider when deciding whether or not to switch careers: money, stress, time, opportunity, passion. I can’t tell you what your life and family requires from you. But I can tell you that the career you’re most likely to be successful in is the one you get lost in.

If you’re producing a creative project, there are a thousand ways to get it done. For a while, these decisions paralyzed me. That was until I saw a funny meme.

As creators, the temptation of complexity is great. We think that if we can play something, or shoot something, or write something that most others simply couldn’t, our work will be meaningful to people. To some degree, this is true. But if we take a long, hard, honest look at the art that has really shaped our culture…we discover how simple it is.