The Chase Jarvis Live Show

Julien Smith is a long-time friend and familiar face on the podcast. I first brought him on in 2013 to talk about why not caring about what others think is a useful skill to have as a creator in any field (translation: he penned a LEGENDARY blog post called 'the subtle art of not giving a f*$k' - which went crazy viral and later inspired a best selling book by Mark Manson...).  And now Julien is BAAACK…this time talking about both his best selling books (The Flinch, and Trust Agents) and…drumroll please... his latest startup venture called Breather - an amazing service the provides on-demand meeting and studio space all across North America, which has raised more than $100M to date.  When I need recording studios for the podcast on short notice in LA or NYC?  I use Breather.  A quick headshot where you don’t want to rent a photo studio for $3000.  Yep, Breather again.  $150 bucks.  You get the picture. But more than anything,  this episode is simply rich with a dose of reality that all of us creators and entr

Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, and early investor in companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Periscope, and others. He also co-founded Behance in 2006, sold it to Adobe in 2012 and recently became Adobe’s Chief Product Officer.  But more than his list of accomplishments, Scott is a passionate advocate for creativity. He has that rare perspective of the world-class artist and entrepreneur with the ability to communicate VERY clearly about the ups, the downs of the messy middle. ... And that just so happens to be the title of his new bestselling book which just dropped last week. In this episode of the podcast, we go deep into that book, The Messy Middle:  finding your way through the most crucial part of any bold venture. It doesn’t take long to realize that as creators we love to talk about the thrilling start of something new, and our victorious - or fiery - end! Yet, what we need to be talking about (and nobody is…) is the crazy ups and downs that are inevitable in anything worth doing.  The MIDDLE i

Michael Hebb is an artist, activist, restaurateur, long time friend of mine and probably the closest thing that comes to an expert on death. He is a hyphenated renegade, seemingly more comfortable swimming upstream and addressing taboo subjects than he is going with the crowd. He co-founded Portland’s unsanctioned underground food movement, was my co-conspirator for Songs for Eating and Drinking, and he recently wrote a powerful book about death that will change the way you view life. Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner) is a tactical guide for having the most important conversations with yourself and your loved ones about what you want when you die, but more importantly what you want out of life. This book and this conversation is about tapping into the human experience to help you live a more fulfilled and creative life. Thinking and talking about death will make you laugh more, bring you perspective and clarity onto your life, and will bring you closer to those around you.  You'll also be glad to know, Yo

Scott Harrison is the founder and CEO of one of my favorite non-profits:  charity:water which has brought clean water to 8.49 million people around the world. They’ve raised $320 million to date—and put it to good work. Scott just released his first book Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World and it’s about time. He’s an incredible storyteller and, both in his book and in this episode of the podcast, he shares stories of personal struggles, vices, darkest times and their ensuing transformation with vulnerability and openness. This episode is also a crash course in marketing through story. Scott’s rowdy past as a nightclub promoter taught him how to get people excited about joining his party, and he brought those skills to charity: water. He shares many of his tactics, and foundational frameworks about how to reinvent an industry through language and transparency. In this episode, you'll also be glad to know: If you feel lost, morally bankrupt, or you’re on

You know him, you love him, you’ve heard him here before… today’s podcast guest is A DEAR friend and a legend by any measure. It’s the one and only, Mr. Tim Ferriss!  Author of five #1 New York Times best sellers, including his most recent Tribe of Mentors, star of his own TV show The Tim Ferriss Experiment, and host of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, The Tim Ferriss Show which has over 300 million downloads to date. In today's episode, we focus on Tim’s shift from writing as a central pillar of creation to a world where his podcast is central to most of the other media he creates (books, videos, blog posts etc). To say that this episode is “rich” with insight would be a dramatic understatement. In this episode we tear into… - WHO are his epic guests, how does he choose and land them? - WHY is he focused on his podcast? There’s some really good reasons... - HOW he does it…exactly what’s his workflow and key equipment - WHEN / where and all the rest of it ;)  Tim also has mastered the ability

One of the world’s most powerful women in business, Beth Comstock, recently left a 27 year career at GE as their Chief Marketing Officer and Vice Chair to go in a completely different direction - to a new life beyond the enterprise-exec world where her new areas of focus include writing, art, exploration and discovery.  Rarely do we see or hear of these evolutions - where someone like Beth who is so accomplished in big business reveals very publicly and vulnerably that she’s just excited to “do something new” and figure it all out along the way.  It’s simultaneously brilliant, empowering, and refreshing all at the same time.  And that’s in part what makes this episode of the podcast so extraordinary.  We talk about this journey she’s been on and this is among her very first interviews where she share’s key insights from her new book Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and The Power of Change. If you are interested in transformation, leadership, overcoming fear or the intersection of creativity and busine

Detlef Schrempf is certainly a hometown hero for myself and my 90’s Seattle basketball brethren...but he’s also a living example of a self-described “awkward” kid who, after stumbling his way into basketball as a teenager, discovered something he loved...and pursued it. Schrempf went on to play at pinnacle of his sport where he was a 2-time Olympian and a 3-time NBA All Star with the Seattle SuperSonics. That said, we learn in this interview that Detlef won’t be defined *just* by his career as a professional athlete... but also by his role as a father, a husband, and a role model in his community.  Of course I wanted Detlef on to talk about what it takes to be an elite athlete as the show is always aiming to get insights from the worlds top performers, but what really emerged from this episode is his sagedom on all things personal growth, community and how to think about choosing priorities in life. In today's episode: Whether you’re playing sports or building a business, your team needs to have the right b

QUESTION:  What if you only made work that YOU loved, and you were certain that you would be paid top dollar if you did...Would you do it?  Of course! Most sane creators / entrepreneurs would jump at the opportunity - and such is the topic of Srinivas Rao’s new book: An Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity For Its Own Sake.  The problem is, so many of us are watering down our work making it for someone else. In fact, the path to our best work is digging deeper into who you’re creating for and what happens when you create art for yourself. In this episode we also cover… "If you’re going to take the time to learn to use a tool, take the time to make something with that tool…"  This is a fascinating POV I’d never heard before, but it keeps us creators in the building mode vs the procrastinating mode.  How to take your art+career+future into your own hands…  Srini’s view is that we must put our focus and effort into the things that you can control. You can’t control follower count, you can’t control Facebook’s

When it comes to career trajectories, Jack Conte is my brotha from anotha mothA !!  Our paths could not be more similar.... He started his career as a musician, was a YouTuber making videos, and turned tech entrepreneur by co-founding Patreon, an incredible tool for artists to get paid directly by their fans (just like Beethoven used to…) You are going to love this conversation. Jack’s career — be it in music, videos, or business, has been forged by embracing that there’s a *different* way to do it all. Today more than ever before, there are a million ways to win at anything your heart desires.  The road less traveled isn’t a well lit path... you are bound to fall on your face a few times, BUT those who do find success will largely have done it THEIR OWN WAY.  In Jack’s words, “If you’re questioning whether to keep going or if it’s time to give up, keep going…”  and in turn, give this episode a listen to the end- you’ll be glad you did. In this episode: Imposter syndrome exists in even the most successful pe

If you don’t know Brandon, you definitely know his work. Brandon is the creator of Humans of New York which has accumulated over 20 million followers worldwide and turned into two NYT-bestselling books (Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories). It has also spawned an entire genre of similar blogs. Hundreds of aspiring documentarians have followed in HONY’s footsteps, telling the stories of countries, cities, and communities across the world. During a PhotoWeek session we had at CreativeLive, Brandon shared his story from getting fired at a job he hated to selling everything to move to New York to try to be a photographer. Brandon shares what he has learned along the journey of interviewing thousands of people and how they have shaped his storytelling. If you love this episode, you might also want to check out the video version of this talk to see some of the photos he shares during his talk. You can do that by logging onto creativelive.com and searching “Brandon Stanton”. In today's episode: There

Don’t make what “everyone” will like or do what “everyone” else is doing. Instead, make/do/follow/lead/create things you love. In this episode, As a social being, it’s natural for you to want everyone to like you and your work. Reject that natural feeling. There’s a 3 step process for finding success as a creative. 1: Create what you love. 2: Relentlessly share the work that you create. 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2. If your work is priced appropriately, you don’t need 10,000 people to love your work. You can make a living from 10, or 20, or 100 paying customers. Focus on getting people to fall in love with your work, one person at a time. Enjoy! Today's episode is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world's largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts -- Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times

Danielle Krysa is the author of Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk, Creative Block, and Collage, all published by Chronicle Books. She is also the creator of the contemporary art blog The Jealous Curator. Danielle gave a talk at the CreativeLive studios on the Inner Critic, and shares a particular story that I think many of us can relate to. We all deal with the voice in our life that tells us what what we’re creating is not good, will never amount to anything, or how we’ll never make any money from it. This talk is a huge inspiration for anyone who’s suffered a creative block and battled critics (internal or external). I know you will love Danielle’s vulnerability and break through your creative battles with the tactics she has garnered from her personal struggle and prolific creators, alike. She references her keynote a bit through this talk, so if you want a bit more context be sure to watch the full episode in full living color on CreativeLive https://cr8.lv/2vsQg8d In this episode, Your inner critic is a l

You know Gregory Heisler, or at the very least, you've seen his work. Gregory is a prolific photographer best known for his 70 cover portraits for TIME Magazine and has graced the pages of Life, Esquire, Fortune, GQ, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and The New York Times Magazine.  We recently had the pleasure of hosting Gregory in our CreativeLive studios to present his talk on embracing one’s own uniqueness. Now, I attend a lot of keynotes, speeches, and presentations. Not often do I stand in the audience yelling “PREACH!” like I was during Gregory’s presentation. His thoughts on prioritizing the expression of your own voice, vision and style over technique is spot on and follows the career path of so many professional and prolific creators in my circle. Listen in, take heed, and let me know what you think. If you'd like to see the video version of this talk, you can watch it for FREE here: https://cr8.lv/2v39iS2 A few topics from this episode, * Making what you can’t help but make is how you find your own unique

This week on the show we’ve got serial entrepreneur, marketer extraordinaire and SEO genius Rand Fishkin. Among other things, the guy is an online content legend, having built the legendary MOZ, one of the first online resources / communities helping creators optimize for SEO (yes search engine optimization...aka if you make content, it's helping your people find you on the internet) and now he’s got a new company you’ve gotta know about, and a new BOOK, called Lost & Founder - aimed at helping all of us creators and entrepreneurs find our way.  SUCH A USEFUL BOOK.  But even more than the “what” Rand does…it’s the HOW he does it that I find completely extraordinary.  Everything, it seems, has been non-traditional.  From college dropout to serial entrepreneur.  Join us on this conversational journey as we dispel startup culture tropes, ‘best practices' and fight back against “traditional” wisdom. A few topics from this episode: * There are three key components to building successful and enjoyable content:

Today’s episode is a little subdued. Stripped down. Straight talk. Just you and me. We’re going deep into one of the biggest secrets I’ve learned about photography (or really ANY craft). If you’re looking to stand out, innovate, or generally get new and fresh ideas, this episode is for you. In this episode: * Take your art to the next level by adding something outside of its inherent form. An example would be if you’re a photographer, try adding text like stories or poetry that helps connect with your image. * Use Edward de Bono’s design technique to harness creativity on demand by taking elements from a completely disparate subject and injecting it into your art. * If you don’t want to be treated like a commodity, don’t act like one. Enjoy! Today's episode is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world's largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curate

Meet Jordy, a 23 year old soccer player and student, who’s trying to find his way and figure out what to shoot for after college and how to get there. He’s optimistic, excited, and at a crossroads in his life. He’s just like I was at his age, and is probably just like you are now or have been in the past. In this raw, gritty, intimate, and windy 28 minute conversation we talk about what it takes to create success through chasing your dreams. We talk about the importance of checking in with yourself to make sure you’re still chasing what’s important to you. And we talk about the importance of taking action. Audio purists beware: This is recorded outside on Jordy's iPhone. There’s wind noise and it takes over at times, but ultimately we decided to release this because I’m interested in providing access to more personal, raw, deep authentic conversations like this.  In this episode:  * Having a variety of interests is great, but if you’re trying to build an audience, you need to narrow your focus of what you’re

Summer is in full swing (or winter snow season for my southern friends) and you’re busy, I get it. That’s why this week I’m hooking you up with a powerhouse of short and sweet creative guidance from my man, Austin Kleon up on the podcast today. If you're not familiar with Austin's work, definitely check out some of his best-selling books like Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work! Austin is a full spectrum mentor when it comes to harnessing creativity and this week we are chatting about the next important step in your creative process: sharing that work.  In this episode: * Sharing your work keeps you honest to yourself and to your audience. There is outer accountability baked in to the process of sharing your work which forces you to continue creating more work. * Sharing your work and sharing your process is the most authentic promotion of what you’re making. You are putting in the time to create the art.. Finish the job by hitting “publish”. * Community is a natural byproduct of sharing your work. If you

I have always believed in the notion that there’s a creator in all of us, and that includes those in engineering, coding, and literally every other discipline. Today I’m bringing you another exciting guest from the technology field, Ryan Carson. Not only is Ryan “in technology”, but Ryan is the Founder and CEO of Treehouse, whose mission is to help people get great jobs by teaching them how to code. Ryan and I talk about how he got started, and like many of us it has been a path of exploration, failure, and self-discovery. His grassroots efforts started with small actions in community building which grew to a worldwide network all while working as a developer. He shares how he’s used skills learned and earned along the way and has some great mindset shifts and tactical advice for your creative career - all the way from how to find your WHY to getting your first sale. In this episode, * Nothing is big right away. If you want to start a movement or create a successful product, start by solving a problem you car

Not too long ago I had the opportunity to sit down with a group of CreativeLive students attending a special week of programming in our Seattle studios. This conversation was never intended to be published, but after listening to this intimate conversation with some fellow creators, I had to share it. One of the things I really love about having students in the studio is 1:1 interaction and that non-tangible exchange that happens when a group of people gets together. I mean let's face it, the internet can be a mixed bag. It’s sometimes hard to ask important questions. It’s been hugely beneficial for me to seek out and find safe communities where I can learn, explore, and ask questions that I might otherwise be afraid to ask, and this is something I recommend all of you find, too. In this conversation we explore: * To find your niche and truly differentiate yourself, you need to make art that no one else can make. Show the world how you see the world. * If you want to make money with your art but don’t enjoy t

Nigel Barker is an internationally renowned photographer, model, entrepreneur, TV star and author. You’ve seen him as a judge and photographer for 18 seasons on America’s Next Top Model, starring alongside Naomi Campbell on The Face, and as the host of Top Photographer. His entrepreneurial pursuits include having his own furniture line with Art Van Furniture, being the Artistic Director of the menswear brand Flag & Anthem, and co-founding the NYC gym, The Dog Pound. Oh yeah, and he’s published two books- The Beauty Equation and the New York Times best seller, Models of Influence. The dude stays busy. In our conversation, Nigel shares a few great stories of how he used the resources he had access to to get his career off the ground, how he thinks about the progression of his career, and how he stays passionate about every day of work. You’re going to love it. In this episode, * Nigel didn’t get a degree in photography; he looked outside of photography and outside of fashion for inspiration and career guida