Perspective Podcast | Fuel For Your Mind & Creative Grind

Attract Opportunities Through Gratitude I'm the kind of person who will tell you thank you twice for something then proceed to tell you again an hour later. Not only that, I have zero issues with dishing out a hug or two when someone makes my day. You've officially been warned so be prepared to get uncomfortable if we ever meet. This may annoy people, but I'd rather be the person who says thank you too much than the person who doesn't at all. With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I not only want to show some public gratitude but also want to challenge your way of thinking as we close off 2017. What I talk about many people won't be open to nor agree with and that's totes okay. This show is meant to challenge the lens of how you see the world, hence the name Perspective Podcast. I'm a very open-minded person. However, growing up I was extremely narrow-minded. Believing only what people closest to me influenced me to believe. I was closed off to anything that challenged my way of thinking. Yet I was always a thankf

I'll level with you, I've been a bit of a conference whore in 2017. All for good reasons as I mentioned in episode 49, conferences help you find your people. Another reason is to scope out conferences that I'd like to speak at one day as not all conferences are the same. As I wrap up 2017, I just attended my final conference of the year in Austin, TX. The event was the first Pop-Up Crop Conference held by my good friend Matt Dawson of Studio Gray / Stay Gray Pony Boy along with his wife, Ariadne. I've talked about Crop Conference in Baton Rouge in the past and had Matt on to tell his story in episode 37. Pop-Up Crop is a different story as it was a one-day event filled with powerhouse creatives who either spoke or taught a workshop. The lineup was stacked with speakers like Jason Craig, Lauren Dickens, Steve Wolf, Brian Steely and Aaron Draplin. I had a chance to speak on the Goodtype Panel with Brooke Robinson (Goodtype creator, Bobby Dixon and Drew Lakin. Industry Print Shop not only sponsored the conferenc

Focus on the Next Play Back in the day, I played wide receiver for my high school football team. On a cold Friday night under the lights, we hosted the Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars. It was a big game for me as it was one of my final senior home games and I was trying to get recruited to play college ball. Everything started off great for us as I caught a few catches on the opening drive and we scored on the first possession. After that, things started to fall apart. On the next drive, I dropped an easy pass and began getting in my own head. I dropped the ball again a few plays later which was completely out of character as I had around two drops the entire season. Self-Destructing Finally, I had a complete breakdown. They punted it on 4th down and as I was back deep to receive the kick. I remember watching the ball hang in the air forever as it soared toward me. It felt like an eternity and gave me plenty of time to psych myself out that I could drop it...which is exactly what I did. I ended up muffing the pu

Ready to Dance? As you know I want this show to encourage you to carve out time to build something for yourself whether that’s outside a day job or other life commitments. This show also exists to have the hard conversations we as creatives find it easier to neglect. Today is definitely one of those hard conversations but I think it’s extremely important to bring to light. As you know I deal with anxiety every day, but other times I go through episodes of brain fog and depression. These used to be things I never talked about, but sharing it helps me work through them and allows people like you to know you’re not alone. This is the exact reason for having today’s guest Brad Weaver and Tara Victoria on the show. These two are partners that live in Atlanta doing Content Strategy, product design and branding for lifestyle brands through their business The Banner Years. Recently we linked up at Circles Conference as they were the keynote closing talk. The Shore: Be a Lighthouse The focus of the talk was to bring a

Creatives are Dangerous I'm a small city dude from Iowa and I need to get out of my bubble to find my people. I find my people by getting out of my comfort zone and heading to conferences across the United States. This past week, I flew solo to Creative Works Conference in Memphis, TN. I heard great things about the conference last year so I kept it on my radar. When they finally dropped the lineup, I literally bought my attendee ticket along with workshops within 10 minutes. In my personal opinion, this lineup was stacked. Josh Horton and Dan Price did an incredible job putting this together. I got to take workshops with lettering legends Ken Barber and Erik Marinovich for only $5o a piece! The speakers were some of the people I looked up to most including Ken, Erik, Andy J. Miller of the Creative Pep Talk Podcast, Ghostly Ferns, Rogie King & Justin Mezzell of Super Team Deluxe to name a few. Not to mention the vendor market flooded with goods from Strawcastle, Josh Emrich, Clark Orr, Mama's Sauce, Frenc

Split Focus & Superman Syndrome I feel I’m pretty in touch with my audience at times. I know the majority of my listeners and readers are trying to figure out where to start or how to continue pursuing their creative work. I basically just said it in my intro. The reoccurring pattern from my newsletter shows people like you want to know how to make time to focus on something outside of your daily commitments. Today, I was going to write about the power of focusing on a project that you both enjoy and are relatively good at. I wanted to write about how to get started with experimenting and catching a pulse to see if it was the right direction to pursue. However, this ended up turning into me possibly oversharing how my split focus has guided me to the current roadblock I’ve found myself at. Yes, I’m going to share the benefits of what focus can do for your creative pursuits, but I'm no expert. I fell I can best share how split focus and doing too much can negatively impact your life as well. Poop on a Plat

A Global Conglomerate Design Studio With a motto  like “Show up until there is nothing left to do,” it's evident that the Forefathers Group aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. They have a distinguished style that peppers both vintage snake oil and Americana with a hefty dose of creative steroids. It's helped them quickly begin to carve out their corner of the design industry while working thousands of miles apart. The Forefather's trio is made up of: Matthew Portland Hay who is the developer / tax wizard casting coded spells out of New Jersey. Jonden Jackson who is the web & print designer / product engineering juggernaut reigning out of Oklahoma. Emir Ayouni who is the illustrator sorcerer dishing magic and mischief out of Sweden. Working remote can have it's challenges, yet somehow they offer a buffet of design services such as: Design Strategy 101 Responsive Branding Illustrations Web Design Web Development Print Design Package Design Animation Developing Your Own Style Today on the show, we go

Find Comfort in Discomfort The other day I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast and he had Jamie Foxx on as a guest. I’ve always been a fan of Jamie because well…it’s Jamie Foxx. What can’t that dude do? However, what really blew me away was when he shared how he got into music. He used to throw these huge parties for people like P Diddy which led him to linking up with rising artists like Jay-Z and The Neptunes. This then led to him building a studio in the back of his house and artists had to perform any time they were new and visiting. One day some kid with a backpack on came in and killed his session. He then proceeded to tell Jamie he had the perfect song for him to sing on. This surprised Jamie because he never saw himself in that light before. This kid was Kanye West and the song was Slow Jamz in 2004. Jamie thought the song was a bust, but 6–8 weeks later it was the #1 song in the country. Following this song, Jamie blew up in the rap and R&B scene. He goes on record stating, “When your opportun

"Your identity is not in what you do, therefore fail often, fail freely, learn and experiment. And take your successes in each of those failures because there is one." This is the kind of encouragement Alicja Colon (yes, like the fragrance) brings to the table. Not only is she an epic photographer / paper crafter extraordinaire, but I think her strongest traits come in prioritizing what’s most important to her in life like family, friends and guiding other creatives. Alicja works her magic in Savannah, GA and is also the Commerical Photographer at Focus Labs who build thoughtful identities and experiences to elevate and empower organizations. She brings timeless advice to this episode and this is the deepest conversation this podcast has delivered to date. We go in depth about: Staying on your creative path Discovering new passions and niches along the way The long road of losing your identity The danger of having success be defined by the work you create Practical steps for: Reclaiming your who (

How many times in life have you talked yourself out of something? How many times has that inner critic convinced you, “there’s no way you can do that, it’s impossible.” I spent the majority of my life letting my inner critic drag me down. It’s taken a long time for me to get to the point where I can object and stand up for myself. Why not me? Why can’t I be a successful artist / designer in my tiny corner of Iowa? Why can’t I become a professional podcaster or a traveling keynote speaker? Why not me? On those days where I’m convinced, it just feels like I’m going in the right direction. There are some days you’re just feeling it like the universe is this divine source of creative intuition and it’s nudging you along the path you’re supposed to follow. I’m pretty sure this is how Kobe was feeling the day he dropped 81 points on the Raptors (I’m a huge Laker fan if you didn’t know). On most days, however, it doesn’t come so easy. My mind automatically defaults to doubt so it takes A LOT of effort and A LOT of r

This week on the show we have the talented designer, illustrator, speaker and just a kickass friend, Jason Craig. Jason operates out of  Augusta, GA and currently is the Senior Designer for the Westobou Festival in Augusta. He and I go back 3 years as we originally linked up through Instagram and then met each other at Creative South 2015. That year he was a speaker and I was blown away by his story telling and presence on the stage, let alone his artwork. Fast forward to today and he's become a mentor and someone I can rely on to give it to me straight and cut through the bullshit. In this episode, we dive deep into: his backstory and all the design jobs he's been involved in how he gets inspired and executes those ideas instead of sitting on them how creating from conflict can fuel your artwork and give you a voice the reason people confuse passion with struggle being paralyzed by perfection and how repetition is the answer leaving yourself open to opportunity the fact that there is no limited finite amoun

Finding Time to Build For Yourself I don’t want to be the guy who stands on a soapbox giving advice. Rather, I want to be the person who shares what works and what doesn’t work for me as I figure things out on my own creative path. Maybe you’ll find something that you should or shouldn’t apply to your own method of madness. If you’re listening to the show then I’m taking a stab at the fact that you’re like me. You want to build something, something that’s your own. Something you can be proud of and enjoy doing along the way. Something you can leave behind for other people to enjoy. Finding time to build for yourself can be difficult. Especially when you are building something for someone else full time with a day job or have kids and other commitments. That’s what today’s topic is about as it comes directly from Shane Donaldson aka @Rustic_Overtones who signed up for my newsletter at Perspective-CollectiveTeam.com. When you sign up you get an onboarding email question asking “What is your biggest struggle whe

Lincoln Design Co. This week on the show I'm stoked to bring you Lincoln Design Co. I’ve been following these dudes work religiously since I discovered them on Instagram about a year and a half ago. I was lucky enough to meet up with them at Crop Conference and get them on the show with their crazy schedule. Lincoln Design Co is a Brand Design & Creative Agency who works with the likes of Nike, Element Skateboards, Harley, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Disney, Nerf, Hot Wheels, Tony Hawk, Nickelodeon, yadda yadda I could keep on going but you get the point. These dudes are the shit and I feel very honored to get to share a bit of their story and background with you today. In this episode, Dan Janssen and company talk about: building Lincoln Design Co. from the previous Soup Graphics. organizing a killer on-site / remote team of illustrators and designers. how they got started whether they had the traditional design education or not. managing large client with tight turnaround times. making time for brand

A Memo From Scotty: 3 Years of Weekly Content Can Lead to Fatigue In 2017 I started the year off the with the motto, "Do Less But Better." Unfortunately, I am human and have been horrible at sticking to this mantra. Over the past 3 years, I've been putting out weekly content like a drawing, blog post or audio. Weekly content is all I know but trying to manage this with: the day job doing freelance maintaining relationships with my wife, family and friends has begun to take a toll on me, not to mention all the other things I seem to fit within my schedule. Sometimes it can feel like an endless cycle, like when do I get a break? This past April was absolutely ridiculous with all the traveling and teaching a workshop at Creative South and speaking at Crop Conference. The months and preparation leading up to it were intense as well. I told myself that May would be different and I would slow down and enjoy myself. Next thing you know, I book up any free time I have with freelance and side projects. Saf

A Defeated Mindset Makes It Hard to Start Or Stick With It Do you deal with projecting defeat and tell yourself: I want to make money from my talents but don’t know where to start? I don’t know what I’m doing, why start when I won't get anywhere? We all want to be successful but this foreshadowed failure can stop you from even starting or sticking with it. How can you silence that inner critic and pick a road to start down? Honestly, I think the majority of us creative have no idea where we are headed—me especially. Each year, the road seems to drastically change but the hardest thing I ever did was to start. The second hardest thing I’ve done is stick with it. With a defeated mindset, it makes it hard for things to ever change and evolve if you don’t take the first step and begin in a blind direction. I think when you’ve made up your mind that you have to be successful and make money off your creative pursuits that you’re setting yourself up for defeat. I want to give you 3 ways to take the pressure off yo

The Power of No & the Value of Your Time This past April at Creative South, I got to listen to a panel discussion by Marc Hemeon and Joel Beukelman of Design Inc. which links companies and freelancers together. Scratch that, according to Marc, design panels suck so they turned it into a quirky session about 70ish Life and Business Lessons for Designers. What made it even more enjoyable was the Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme music in the background along with the energy and humor they injected into the presentation. One of the biggest takeaways that punched me in the gut was when they said: “If it’s not a Hell Yes, then it’s a Hell No.” This spoke volumes to how I used to take on work simply out of financial scarcity or due to feeling obligated. I want this episode to drive home the fact that saying no creates more time for the work that excites you. Listening to this episode better be a hell yes to you. The Power of No Why is it so hard to say no to people? For me, it always landed into two buckets:

Give it Time to Grow & Tilt the Scales in Your Favor This week on the show we have a very special guest who just got done hosting an amazing conference called Crop in Baton Rouge. Matt Dawson is a talented designer and connector who creates under the name Stay Gray Ponyboy in Atlanta. He is a shining example of someone who put in the work and used the power of side projects to build a name for himself. He’s not only an insanely talented individual but he’s grown into becoming a really good friend of mine and I can’t wait to share his story with you. Stumbling into Graphic Design Growing up, Matt was always involved with sports, music and drawing. As he approached college, he thought landscape architecture sounded appealing and was involved in that for 3.5 years out of the 5-year program. Outside of class, he found himself constantly using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to make band collateral like posters and merch. Little did he know he was getting started in a career of graphic design. It finally dawne

See Your Small Wins As Milestones & Give Yourself Some Credit In 2016 I had one of the biggest career shifting experiences…in which I vaguely remember. It was my second time ever public speaking and this time was in front of a packed house at Creative South. I’m talking about 600–800 people. Safe to say I blacked out for the majority of the 45-minute talk as my nerves were at an all-time high. I brought a lot of energy, was really vulnerable and shared a part of me that many didn't know. I can humbly say that when it was done, I got an unexpected standing ovation as the 9 am opening slot could be considered the hangover spot. Sadly, to this day I can barely remember that moment. When I got home, I immediately went to work on the next project I had lined up. It was a huge win in my life yet I was so focused on what was next that I failed to enjoy and reflect on the moment and it passed. Honestly, it kind of haunts but it made me realize I’ve been horrible at celebrating wins in life—big or small. Its been

 The Fastest Path Isn't Always the Best Path Imagine you’re on the highway taking things at your own pace. On your left, you notice one lane seems to be moving faster. Obviously, this intrigues you because who doesn’t want to get to their final destination quicker? As you merge into that left lane, other cars seem to notice the quickened pace as well. Soon many cars swerve into that lane to get around the slow pokes who are just cruisin’. It’s chaotic following so many cars at this high speed and next thing you know you miss your exit. Now you’re on a new path competing with everyone else to get to someone else’s “desired destination” quicker. Sometimes on your creative path, it’s easy to swerve into someone else’s lane. You see them blowing up quickly so why can’t you jump on the trend too? I admit I’m guilty of this as I saw someone else’s success as an opportunity to get in the fast lane for similar success. It got me to the point where I wasn’t creating for me like I had my entire life before social media

The Beauty of Being a Human Being 4 years ago, my girlfriend (which is my wife now :) ) and I got into a mini argument late one night. It was nothing really, but when I was alone getting my mind off it, I started feeling weird. First, my throat felt like it was swelling shut. Next, I had the overwhelming feeling of having a pallet of bricks on my chest. My heart felt like it was about to explode and the room began to go black all around me. Safe to say I was freaking out and Emily had to run me to the emergency room. Turns out I was having a massive panic attack. Looking back on it now it seems a bit silly but I thought I was dying. The stress and pressure I had put myself under for years finally caught up with me. For months I kept this to myself as I thought I was going crazy. I felt I would be considered weak and any reputation I had built for myself would crumble. Sadly, many of us bottle up these demons as we pursue a creative career. At the end of the day, you’re a human being. It’s okay to feel not oka