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Chris-Scott-Work-Podcast-Interview

Hey guys! This is the first episode to go straight to iTunes! Huge news! And I owe you a thank you. If you went and downloaded/reviewed/rated any episode in iTunes, you helped to get The Work Podcast featured on the New and Noteworthy page! So grateful for that. Mostly, I’m just excited that I can’t hide from the podcast anymore. Now it’s something real and out there for the world to see. Thanks for helping me get over that wall. Keep telling people and if you haven’t subscribed, you may do so here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-work-blog-podcast/id990702032

Speaking of getting over walls, that’s something I talk to Chris Scott about on today’s show! Chris is a creative entrepreneur who makes stuff that makes it easier for creative entrepreneurs to make money 🙂

He’s the man behind the successful iPad App Preveal, which helps professional photographers to sell wall art to their clients. He also is the CEO of Salesographer.com which teaches photographers about in-person sales. And he just launched a brand new website, SwiftGalleries.com, which is an online sales tool to make it easier for photographers to sell art to their clients and easier for the clients to actually see what their images will look like on their walls before they buy it. 

He makes stuff.

We got into some pretty real topics on the show such as: fear, failure, suffering from idea paralysis, maintaining your health as an entrepreneur, work/life balance. All kinds of stuff!

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Wednesday!

Show Notes:

iPad app to help Pro Photographers sell wall art- getpreveal.com
Online Sales Tool for Pro Photographers- SwiftGalleries.com
Sales Education Software for Photographers- Salesographer.com

Get in tough with Chris Scott on Twitter: @chrisgscott – twitter.com/chrisgscott

Books we mentioned:

Do The Work by Steven Pressfield:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/193689…=IKFVECAT6NA3H3QO

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

www.amazon.com/gp/product/159315…=FH76JLUBGF6O2IZC

About me:
www.jenandchriscreed.com

pk6fx5.pk6fx5.chriscreedblog.com

Twitter:
@chriscreed- twitter.com/chriscreed

Subscribe:

feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundclo…758/sounds.rss

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  • Chris Scott - Thanks for having me on the podcast. Always a great joy talking to you about work and life and art and the intersection of them all.ReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - Always, always a pleasure to talk with you my friend. Thank you again for coming on!ReplyCancel

You know what’s cool about art? It doesn’t have to be right. We were walking around The Met this weekend and overheard a woman critiquing a piece of art. She was talking about how the perspective was all off and the proportions, they were just… “not right.” Then I looked around at all the pieces of art, some of which were made hundreds of years ago, and thought “How cool is it that a painting that is ‘not right’ is hanging up in the largest art museum in the United States?!” (the 2nd largest in the world!)

New-York-City-SkylineArt doesn’t have to be right, it just has to exist. If it connects with the right people at the right time then it’s done it’s job. Even if the right people is you and the right time is when you made it, it still gets to be called art. Don’t let the thought that what you’re making is not good or not right keep you from making stuff. We’re a generation of comparison but it’s a sickness that will stop your best work from happening if you allow it to.

Happy Wednesday!

Chris

P.S. Here’s an extended audio version of this post!

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If the mountains are here for a reason it’s to remind us that we’re small but we are made to create big things. Things that are beautiful and grand.

I heard someone say once “The world will never benefit from you playing small.” And the mountains give evidence of that fact. You’re not called to play small. So don’t.

 

Happy Tuesday!
Chris

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I’ve been scared to start writing again. Scared because I was afraid it had been too long. Scared because I didn’t know what to say about my absence since it was really just that I stopped making writing a priority. Then I realized what I wanted to say:

Well, I’m here now.
Iceland-Reynisdrangar

It’s a common myth, really. Thinking that it’s too late, or you’ve waited too long and now everybody else is ahead of you so you might as well just keep doing nothing. You hear it all the time from people talking about things like Twitter, Instagram, or podcasts: “Yeah, sure, they were able to build a platform with that but it’s probably too late for me to start.” False. It’s never too late to help people. It’s never too late to share your art. It’s never too late to make something. All you have to do is show up and say “Well, I’m here now.”

Please be here. The work you do is important and it’s worth sharing.

—————-

I am here now but Jeesh it’s been a long time! Sorry about that! Please know that you’ve been missed! For the past couple of months I’ve been recharging, refocusing, and refining. We’ve been traveling and planning retreats for creative professionals and all of those things have been good and amazing. I’ll definitely be sharing more of those experiences with you guys in the coming weeks!

Make something today!

Happy Wednesday, folks!

Chris

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I’m reading Todd Henry’s newest book Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day. I’m about a quarter of the way through and loving everything about it. Todd writes very well to people who make stuff for a living like you and me. The title of the book itself immediately reminds us of the fact of our mortality. Because as we all know, and as Todd points out, we have a finite amount of time on this earth. “Don’t go to your grave with your best work left inside you.” Keeping that in mind should give a sense of urgency to your work today 🙂

The section that captured my thoughts this morning was about “Creative Inversion.” Creative Inversion is what Todd defines as having “more work coming out than you have inspiration coming in.” It’s when you’re stretched thin but you can’t stop because your work is what puts food on your table. It’s working without any creative fuel left in the tank. A quote from the book:

“This struggle plays out daily for designers, writers, and others who have to continuously turn their thoughts into tangible value [side note: if you’re wondering if “others” means you? it does.]. Because of the never-ending outflow of new work, it’s a struggle to stay ahead of the insatiable need for ideas, and in truth many succumb to cranking out work that fits the bill but is nothing to write home about.”
– Todd Henry, Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Everyday

If there’s anything that I don’t want to be said about my work, it’s that “it fits the bill.” Who would want that one their gravestone? I want mine to read “Holy sh*t this dude made awesome, kick-ass work and he didn’t hold back.” Because work that simply fits the bill is not the work we were meant to do. Your job is not to make work simply because it’s what you do. Your job is to make work that is real, that matters, because you’re doing all of this for a reason. Fight for that reason. 

fits-the-bill

Fitting the bill will always be unseen, unremembered, and unremarkable. Don’t make work that simply “fits the bill.” Make work that shreds the bill. Fight like hell to escape the cycle of “Creative Inversion.” Build strategies to make sure you’re being fed creatively. I highly recommend this book and Todd’s first book The Accidental Creative, which I have reference many many times, for more help with these strategies. You can also, check out his podcast (and impressive 10 year back catalog) here.

Happy Thursday!

Chris

Question: What important work are you doing today?
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