In this landmark 300th episode, the host is joined by past guests, each on a distinctive creative journey.

Guest Introductions:

1. Nikki Nash - Author of "Market Your Genius."

- Successfully published with Hay House despite unconventional methods.

- Engaged in consulting, focusing on coaching businesses and community building.

Highlights:

- Reflects on the success of her book, "Market Your Genius," connecting her with a broader audience.

- Emphasizes the importance of building a community and sustainable coaching businesses.

- Plans to relaunch her accelerator program in 2024.

Key Takeaways:

- Approach connections by offering service and support without immediate expectations.

- Building relationships by being present and available, even without an agenda.

2. Boris Meshkov - Filmmaker and video producer based in Bangkok, Thailand.

- Recently completed his first short film, gaining attention at a local film meeting.

Highlights:

- Overcame challenges with limited resources and time constraints.

- Showcased the film at a local event, gaining positive feedback.

- Attracted interest from producers and investors for future projects.

Key Takeaways:

- Overcoming limitations with creativity and resourcefulness in filmmaking.

- Leveraging local events and showcases to connect with industry professionals.

3. Marlene Sharp - Involved in animation and Japanese animation production.

- Connected with Rich Magallanes from Nickelodeon through industry events.

Discussion Highlights:

- Shares the experience of attending networking "shindigs" organized by Rich.

- Emphasizes the value of spontaneous gatherings for industry professionals.

Key Takeaways:

- The importance of spontaneous gatherings for networking in the creative industry.

- The value of being part of a community, connecting with professionals in the field.

4. Allyson Hernandez - Author and creator of the musical "A Ballad of Dreams."

- Released an audiobook combined with a concept album of the musical.

- Raised $70,000 to produce an industry reading in New York.

Highlights:

- Started as a book, later transformed into a musical.

- Recorded 17 songs from the musical in a studio.

- Combined an audiobook with the concept album for a unique experience.

Takeaway:

- Creativity can take unexpected turns; pivoting and adapting is crucial in the creative process.

5. Michaell Magrutsche - Author of "The Smart of Art."

- Advocates for the true value of art: creation, perception, and exposure.

- Emphasizes the importance of sharing creativity with others.

Highlights:

- Art's true value lies in creation, perception, and exposure.

- Encourages artists to embrace their unique creativity.

- Highlights the importance of sharing creative work with others.

Takeaway:

- The true value of art lies in creating, perceiving, and exposing; creativity is a discipline that should be practiced.

6. Elizabeth Hanson - Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Dramafy.

- Manages an audio drama streaming service with nearly 250 shows.

- Focused on improving user experience and technology for creators.

Highlights:

- Expanded to nearly 250 shows on the streaming service.

- Focused on improving technology, including a new player and mobile apps.

- Seeking collaborations and more content in areas like children's shows and romances.

Takeaway:

- Audio dramas require more scripting, sound design, and scoring than audiobooks; Dramafy is seeking collaborations, especially in children's content and romances.

7. Erik Cabral - Podcast host, focused on storytelling and the human aspect of podcasting.

- Stresses the enduring importance of storytelling in podcasting.

- Encourages podcasters to focus on their mission and purpose.

Highlights:

- Storytelling remains the core of podcasting's appeal.

- Stresses the importance of serving the audience and staying focused on mission.

- Recalls the collaborative and learning aspect of early podcasting Zoom calls.

Takeaway:

- Storytelling is timeless and central to podcasting success; podcasters should focus on their mission and purpose.

8. Anne Jacoby - Author of "Born to Create," launching February 20

- Specializes in fostering creativity in the workplace.

- Shifted from content creation to coaching creative teams and executives.

Highlights:

- Merged practicality and narrative in her book "Born to Create."

- Shifted to coaching creative teams and executives.

- Emphasizes the discipline of creativity as a daily practice.

Takeaway:

- Creativity is inherent in everyone and should be tapped into daily as a discipline; creativity can be practiced and cultivated throughout life.

Conclusion:

In this diverse episode, the guests share insights into their creative journeys, emphasizing the significance of community, service-oriented connections, and the unexpected opportunities that arise in the world of creativity. Whether in animation, book publishing, filmmaking, or other creative realms, each guest provides a unique perspective on navigating the enriching landscape of creative endeavors.

Thanks to all our guests over the years. And to our sponsor, Exact Rush, LLC

Exact Rush B

  Welcome back, friends, to our podcast, Unlocking Your World of Creativity. We are at episode 300. Who would have thought more than three years ago, that we'd still be rocking and rolling I just started a podcast thinking this'll be something fun to meet new people and talk to people in the middle of a pandemic. But it's turned out to be a worldwide party every week and sometimes several times a week.

so welcome everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome to everyone.

Yeah. Nikki, maybe we could get started with you. We, back then we were talking about a new book, which now it's been out for over two years, but a new book, Market Your Genius. How are you doing marketing your genius?

I'm doing well.

It was, I think writing that book and releasing it into the world is still one of my favorite things that I've ever done. And it was so much fun and I really, I got the opportunity to meet you because of it because I made podcasting a strong intention. So we're, I feel like an OG now when you're going back,

wE were there when it all started.

Oh, but yeah, I also think about you were Barbie pink before pink was really a thing. I remember your backdrop, your book cover. I think you might have even been wearing a pink outfit, you were all in Barbie pink before it was the

thing. I was and it what's so funny about it is apparently pink became my color because I had these pink blazer that I always wear to conferences and I think I had these pink pumps that I always wore not at the same time, but I had I always apparently had something hot pink on and I never really thought of that and then people started saying that when they thought of me like when they heard Nicki Nash, they thought of hot pink.

And so I originally went with a different cover for the book. Yeah. And then I shopped it around my book publisher, they had someone do some cover designs. I think it was orange. I showed it to people and they're like, when it's not you, like you're pink. I was like, all right, looks like we're good.

I had to call them back and say, I know I told you I did not want a pink book. But apparently my audience is where the heck is the pinks. So we got to

give the people what they want. Yeah,

exactly. I need this book to be pink. I'm sorry that I steered you in the wrong direction.

I love that and it was all to support your coaching practice and your other business endeavors.

Did you find the kind of lift you were in the credibility people say, sometimes the book is the calling card or the entree to bigger things and then combining that with a podcast.

Yes, absolutely. I think for me there's definitely, the book has definitely opened up other opportunities for me.

I think just Hay House is my book publisher. And so just that in and of itself has connected me with really great people, which is nice. But I looked at the book as a lead magnet. So inside the book, I have a. What do I call it? A companion course. And so every day to this day, I have new people joining my email list just because they've picked up the book or somebody gave them the book or they found it at the library or something, and they're just going to the website to get the materials that go with each chapter.

And That's one of the most fun things for me because it's nice to see who's picking it up. I always ask automatic emails go out, but I get their responses when I ask what they're up to, things along those lines, and it's a lot of fun.

And I'm glad you reminded me about the Hay House connection.

And in almost every podcast, I'm fascinated by the connections, just the who knows who and how you got the book deal to begin with. Remind us of that story.

Oh, my goodness. Okay. So people are like, how did you get this book deal? And I'm like, I broke every rule that is out there on how to get a book deal.

That's what happened. I was told by tons of people who I had met who had traditionally published book deals that I had to significantly grow my audience and I had to do all of these things. And I was like, okay, cool. Thank you. Was at a Brendan Burchard event, and he had mentioned that he should be able to see what your goals are by looking at your calendar, and I realized that my goal was to write a book, and if somebody looked at my calendar, it was anything but writing a book, and so I kind of OD'd on book And I was like how do I get a book published?

If I got it published by someone, it's going to be Hay House. And I set that intention. I found this article that to this day, I can't find about this woman who said, here's how I got my Hay House book deal. And at the time Hay House was doing live events. And if you went to the live event, it was paid.

They gave you the opportunity to submit a book proposal without having an agent and all of that stuff. And so I said, all right, I'm going to. Send them my book proposal and they're going to choose me and I went to the event. I was sick as a dog, but I pulled it together. I got the microphone at some point.

I don't know what I said because I must have. If people believe in channeling or something like I don't know who the heck was speaking, but people clapped and then I had people come up to me saying, oh my gosh, they're so going to give you a book deal. Still don't know what I said. Really wish it was recorded so I could watch it.

But the head of editorial. gave me her business card, told me to connect with her, and that kind of started everything. And she made me promise to submit my book proposal. I did. And then Reed Tracy, who is the CEO of Hay House called me to let me know they were taking my book. And it was, It's a whole nother story, but somehow I also got a mentorship with Reed and one other person for three months before that.

And on the last day of mentoring, he found out that they're taking my book and he called me back and was like, I know we just got off the phone for our final mentoring goal, but I just found out where we're picking up your book. And I literally ran around. The house screaming and then unmuted myself and was like, Oh, that's delightful.

I'm so glad to be a part of the family. So after I did my happy dance screaming, I was like, now calmly respond. So that's my story.

Yes. A lot of fun things. So between the book coming out and today, I actually ended up taking a lot of consulting projects for seven and eight figure coaching businesses and helping them with marketing, client retention whole like customer experience, this whole thing.

Sounds like a lot of fun. People who are listening to this podcast are looking for partnerships and collaborations of all kinds.

What kind of encouragement can you give people to team up with somebody who's got some similar goals?

Yeah, I highly recommend it. I think the biggest thing about collaborating is to always come with the givers mindset. And really, the more that you're thinking about how can I help folks without often without expecting anything in return, like collaborations and amazing opportunities will happen for you.

And then if you are looking for specific collaborations, Yeah. Tell every tell people about it. Be intentional about it. The more that you speak about how you want a collaboration or a partner, the more likely it is going to happen. My business partner, I've known her for almost eight years. I told her I wanted a business partner two years before we became business partners.

And I wasn't even thinking about her specifically at the time. And we work really well together and it works out and we've done other collaborations since and it's really about being a person who naturally gives and then also being intentional if you have something in mind that you'd like to.

Bring into reality from a collaboration standpoint.

Yeah, sounds fantastic. There's a lot of intentionality Vision boarding goal setting. It's all there, isn't it? Just taking the call say yes. Yes. Yeah

say yes

I love that. It's great catching up with you. Boris. Welcome. You're in Bangkok, Thailand.

I talked to Boris just a few weeks after I talked with you, Nikki, and he was in Saigon at the time, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam at the time doing some great work. I saw some of the videos and I had just been to Vietnam myself a little bit before that. And I said, Boris seems like the kind of guy I want to catch up with.

What are you up to, Boris?

Yeah, thanks Mark for having me on your podcast again. It's really an unexpected pleasure. Yeah, you bet. Yeah here I am now in Bangkok, Thailand, but still in Southeast Asia for me the past Eight years were three years in China, two years in Vietnam, and now two years here in Bangkok, Thailand, and I'm enjoying it.

Since we talked last time, yeah, I was sharing about my film goals and like the beginning of my path, but now you contacted me at the very right time. Like last month, I finished my first short film and showcased it, screened it here in Bangkok. And , I'm ready to share my experience, how it went.

I love that. And tell us about the film.

Yeah, I've looking for this opportunity for several years to make a proper, decent short film. And in Vietnam, I had some success in working with film directors and other productions, but I didn't have a chance to shoot my own movie.

And Bangkok treated me really well this time. So all the scripts, all the concepts that I built in Vietnam, I am working on it right now here in Bangkok. sO after one and a half year after moving here. Literally last month, I got a chance to have a camera for 12 hours. For free with crew, with equipment and so whatsoever, it was just a Facebook post saying Hey, we are looking for the project, but the catch is we have to do it in one week.

I'm just going to make a movie in a week.

Yeah. I will what else I gotta do. So I had some scripts ready already prepared some short scripts that are easy to film in 12 hours. We got it prepared. I got some actors already that worked with me before. We have some trust, some chemistry in working together.

And I got a really good location. Everything went pretty well. We got two weeks after that to edit before the deadline. And in two weeks I did it sharp, right on time, with no problems. It was scary how smooth it went.

I love that. And were you able to get was funding an issue? Were you able to get the money to make the film?

Lucky that you got the film crew.

yEah. That was already half, half of the budget. If you get the camera and the crew. And all the equipments, that was a gift from above, definitely. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, the actors, they just supported and they were really into the script.

They really liked the style and the filming itself. Of course, they did it for free. Locations also we cut the corners did it's a property so I still paid some money for for the fake blood. It's a horror movie There's a lot of blood and I paid for some security for the location because we were filming in the Under the highway passage on the parking lot and at night it can be a little sketchy.

So we Hired some protection

for that. Yeah, and that's a budget. You don't skimp on security

Better safe than sorry. Yes After the movie was done, we showcased it to local producers. Somehow opportunity came by itself as well. Last week there was a big film meeting in Bangkok. Bunch of producers, actors, and directors from different companies, from Hollywood, India, from all over the place.

Yeah, they were meeting together and I got really lucky to show my movie in there and boom Yeah, even if you submit your film for the festivals and just the audience watches it so here it was the juice the filmmaker community juice and Yeah, I showed the movie to the right people after the screening was done.

The reaction was amazing people loved it everybody was shaking my hand, sharing the contact. Hey, Boris what's your next movie? I'm an actor. I'm a, I'm an artist. Yeah, it was hard to remember all the names. I love that. And the main point, yeah, for two big producers and two investors, they actually got in touch with me.

They said that really like my work and they're ready to discuss some future projects. That's Are waiting to be executed since the start of development in Vietnam,

that must feel really good.

Oh my God. It's cool. It's once in a lifetime experience.

Yeah. And it has that kind of perseverance and resilience tone to it.

It's I'm just going to keep working on my craft until somebody sees it. That's what I learned.

Just keep your door open. Get ready for the moment that it will definitely come. No matter how long you wait, no matter how long you struggle, it will definitely come to you.

Yes. Nikki reiterated that a moment ago.

So we're just going to buy our phones and wait for those phones to ring for sure. Yeah. Marlene, let's bring you into our conversation here. Last time we talked back in February, almost a year ago now. I also met the pink poodle of your pink poodle productions.

First of all, I would, I feel like I would like to donate my Interview time to Nikki and Boris because I feel like they have much more interesting stories.

Oh, no, no much more interesting success stories and especially Nikki who is my soulmate in the color pink clearly. This was meant to be that we're on the same . Yes. Yes indeed. And I am so fascinated with your story, Nikki, about Hay House. My therapist has recommended no end of books for, to me from Hay House.

So I am a frequent reader and man of the entire catalog. So kudos to you on that, and I, you can bet that I will be seeking you out after this over and Boris, my goodness. Having a film career in Thailand, and I'm guessing that you're not originally from Thailand, so what a, an achievement.

I, I can't even believe it. I do have a company called Pink Poodle Productions, so it does fit in somewhat. It comes all the way around. That's right. With Nikki, marlene's

involved in animation and Japanese animation. So we got the Asia connection going there.

But all the animation both from scripting and voicing and, production. And Marlene, we just discovered the Small World connection with Rich over at Nickelodeon in the last

couple

weeks. That's right! That is right. Yes, Rich Magalanes is a friend of mine who, who turned up on Mark's podcast and that was really delightful to see him on there.

Shout out to Rich. I hope you're listening and if not I'm coming to get you.

There you go. And he pretty much offered that his door is open and, he keeps his lunch and a cocktail, calendar clear for just these kinds of connections.

Oh, did he tell you about the

shindigs? Yes.

Have you been to

a shindig? Yes, I have. And it was Really outstanding. So Rich, just a little backstory for those of you who might not know who he is of a fellow animation producer. He lives here in Los Angeles, which is where I am. And so I know him from the kids entertainment business, and he had a long career at Nickelodeon, I believe after Nickelodeon.

He might have been at Saban Brands. Yes. Okay. So we're pals, but during the pandemic, I guess he was just itching to get back out and network with people because he's, he is very charismatic and he's great in person. So the minute the the air cleared and he was able to host a live event, he just went for it.

And he reserved this room at a bar and grill in North Hollywood and just. willy nilly sent out invitations to everybody that he knew in the industry. And he's done, I think three of them now. I went to the one back in January or February, but he's done a few. And it was really just so wonderful to reconnect with all former colleagues and meet new people and so forth.

And there was no other purpose except. Reconnecting and networking and it was come as you are, bring your friends. It was like a teenage spontaneous gathering, because that's not what we're teens. We all work in kids entertainment, more or less. And the

fact that it was all comers, I think he told me that he was expecting 10 or 12 people because people really weren't going out yet.

And I think, I don't know, 50 people came and the next one was even bigger. It's I got to get a bigger room. It's just these things and isn't it the lesson? I think the thing I took away from that whole thing and Marlene, you know better than any of us, but that just going out. Just being in the room, it's like I met a writer, I met a voice, I met a producer, you're just gonna make the connections if you put yourself out there sometimes.

Yeah, and that is definitely a benefit of living in Los Angeles. You because going out might just constitute going to the grocery store as you never

know. You're gonna be a veggie aisle.

Oh I had a wonderful experience at Trader Joe's a couple months ago. I'm working on social media for a non profit That I won't get into the ins and outs of it.

But anyway, I was thinking, this is so bizarre, but I was meeting with a collaborator before my grocery store, my, before my visit to Trader Joe's. And we were just talking about potential collaborators. We were thinking of we wanted to do some social media posts with. People who are on procedural shows, like Law and Order or NCIS, like those types of things.

We were thinking like, oh, if we could interview somebody who worked on one of those shows or something. But we didn't, the two of us come from the world of kids entertainment, so we're working a little bit outside of our, realm of expertise. I'm not kidding you. I went to Trader Joe's and in the parking lot, I saw Titus Welliver, who is the star of Bosch which has been going for a million seasons on Amazon.

And I saw him because, his tattoos are very recognizable. So that's how I knew it was him. I saw him in the parking lot. yanked the wheel over to park in the nearest parking spot and I ran to the store and I said, Titus! And I did cog a little bit of a stir. There were some people who he was shopping unobtrusively until I came in.

Yeah,

minding his own

business. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I, you would think after all these years in the business, I'd be able to Be more subtle, but alas, no, but but I got to talk to him and give him my card and tell him what I was working on and saying, Oh my God, we were just my collaborator and I were just talking about other collabs that we could do with people like you and this and that.

And he was very sweet and open. Now, nothing has come of that, but

that's one of those, you never know when it's gonna pop.

And I even still good things are coming from that experience because I have this delightful story to tell on the podcast. Exactly. It's

perfect. Yeah. And Boris, I couldn't help but think about, the right place at the right time experience you had showing your short.

But when you said, what do I do now with all these connections? Now I'm sure you, you have a lot of ideas, but you may want to get some tips from Nikki. Now it says, how do you I won't say leverage in a bad way, but leverage of lifting, how do you take these connections and make them something now?

I would like to hear to market your genius

nikki's story is already quite inspiring and educating. So yeah, good job, Nikki.

Yeah. Nikki, what would you do if you were in Borsa's shoes in terms of, Hey, I've made these, the dream connections that I wanted. I got in front of the people.

Where do you take it?

Yeah, I honestly, I would go back to something I said earlier, and I would check in and see how you can serve them, see what they're working on, what's next for them, if, are you able to make connections for them that may not seem huge to you, but it helps them, it makes their lives easier and better, and I think One of the things about today is I don't know if it's a mentality or if it's the easy access with social media and the Internet that's been around for a while, but people tend to be always contacting and reaching out because they want something they want to sell you something they want you to do something.

And so I think there's a lot of value when. Particularly if you don't have anything that you need from them right now is to just show up and ask how you can be of service and that's something that goes a long way because when you do have something in mind people are way more likely to support you just because you're their friend, because you're there for them, because you don't need anything.

Like you're there when you don't need anything. You essentially don't want to be the friend that only calls when they want something. You want to be the friend that's there all the time, even if you're just starting a friendship. And so I think that's probably the biggest thing that I would start doing.

And honestly, it's a big part of why when I started my podcast, I started having guests because I had friends that did Hey, come speak on my stage. Hey, I connected you with folks and I really wanted to be able to support my friends and help them get their message out there. So I just started saying, Hey, you want to come on my podcast?

I don't need anything. I don't need anything else, but I think you're magic. And I'd love to support you in any way, shape or form. So I think that's incredibly helpful.

Such a good inside out, looking to serve rather than try to get your next gig. Love that. Guys, it's been great catching up

this is like my virtual coffee hour right here. And you always hear that question. If you can have coffee with anyone I've had 300 guests that I'd love to go back and have coffee with, but at least the four of us got together today. Yes. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Fantastic. And now we all know each other.

We have and of course with you too, Mark, but we can network with each other. All kinds of good has come from this experience.

Ooh. All right.

We're just enjoying our family reunion of past guests on Unlocking Your World of Creativity. And we're really dialing the clock back today. But, people that I talk to months apart, and then, wow, what would happen if we get them back together? Won't this be fun? So I'm talking to Allison Hernandez, and her book, Her musical, her music Ballad of Dreams.

Yeah. yeah, I love thinking about the circuitous nature of my journey because it just But one of my girlfriends and I were saying the other day, whatever I think the next step should be, it's going to be the opposite of that.

So that's just my theme now for my artistic process is whatever I think is next, no, scratch that, it's going to be something. I totally haven't even thought of yet. So yeah, in the past year let's say we released the album. So a concept album of the actual music that's out on wherever you stream music, Spotify, Apple, YouTube Amazon.

So that was a really fun process getting in the recording studio with a bunch of friends and producers. And we recorded 17 songs from the musical. And then a girlfriend of mine, another actress friend of our, of mine, we recorded an audio book in our closet, as you do now, or as we did during COVID my closet has the best acoustics, so she recorded all the all of the chapters that the character's name is Rose, from Rose's perspective, and I recorded and narrated the Audrey character. . So the audio book is out on audible and then we combined the concept album with the audio book. So while you're listening to the audio book, you can also hear the music that we recorded woven throughout. So those are two new pieces of the pie that are out there in the world. That you can listen to and experience.

And then in this past year, I went back to the musical the crux of the story worked with a dramaturg to really pull the best parts of my prior script and then the novel version of the story and combine them. And then I put a producer hat on and I raised. 70, 000. And I produced an industry reading in New York.

We had two amazing weeks of rehearsals with a bunch of Broadway stars work with music arrangers and directors and having stage managers and a general manager and a full true creative team of collaborators and got to perform and do that show that I wrote and composed and wore all the hats for two weeks, which was which was just.

Life fulfilling and amazing and there was so much love in the room. So yeah, that's what I've been working on.

And what a, testament. Two, two parts. I take away from this. First of all, I've had so many authors, writers, singer, songwriters say that the story is the point. The medium is just the way you tell the story and it can go across mediums and so forth.

And that's certainly something I take away. But boy, the other is the perseverance, the resilience, the, I own this story and it's part of me and you weren't going to be stopped, were you? No,

that's not in my DNA,

And I think of our other mutual podcast friends, Salisha Thomas, who was like, I'm going to get to Broadway, and you were like, I'm going to get this doggone thing on Broadway.

You got it. Yeah. Whatever it takes. And so the irony is because my story has been unexpected of what comes next. is I did this reading and I thought, we invited producers and investors and regional theaters and the feedback that I'm getting. It's not about Broadway. It's this should be a TV show.

So now I'm pivoting yet again on my journey of what is not what I thought would be next. And so now I'm diving into the world of TV and I created a TV treatment and I'm going to start taking, writing classes for TV to learn how to adapt to this piece of work yet again. Through a different medium, but I'm really excited about it because I love I love TV probably almost as much as I love theater.

so I'm excited of, what to learn because I'm just a dork about learning but learning a new medium, both visually storytelling and also including the music in it like it's going to be a musical TV show somehow. So

when you're talking about connections, and I always ask people about the collaboration part of this, it's your baby for sure, but listen, just in the last 10 minutes, you've mentioned like, I don't know, 20 people that you had to team up with to make this happen.

And I can guarantee it's going to be a long many collaborations to get on TV in whatever streaming or a series form this turns out to be right. What is your. Approach or even I guess your advice for listeners on seeking out and being open to collaboration.

Yeah I think, creativity can be really lonely when you are a solo artist.

And when you get to start sharing your work with others is when it starts to be so much more fun where there's a give and take. Where there's a this idea built on this idea where, someone, when I started working with a dramaturg and director, it's like she brought her 20 plus years of Broadway directing, to the table and things that I wouldn't have even imagined were possible to create on stage, she knew was possible.

I think it's also. Getting with people that you already know and love makes it so much more fun relationships are everything in every industry. So when you get to work with your friends, when you get to work with people that you really respect. that just made it so much more joyful.

So I would always start with, who do you know? And who do you know, who knows someone who you should know? And that's really how all of my collaborators came into my orbit were through relationships.

And have you found like I have that six degrees of separation that's so far gone. If you're more than two because you're definitely right.

There is always somebody you are one step away from saying make a call.

Yes, exactly. And I would much rather work with someone who a good friend has referred and has worked with them before. And I also think. The collaborative process is a little bit like a marriage and trying before you buy, date before you get married go on a few dates before you decide that you really want to work with this person because, yeah, it is your baby and creative relationships can be great.

Really challenging and hard. So making sure that you gel creatively and not just don't creatively, but you delve from like having similar work ethics in terms of, how you like to work or what you say a deadline means, are you really going to get it done by then? And your communication process.

How do you give feedback? How do you receive feedback, especially when it's on your work that you've created? I think all of those are really important variables. When you're building your creative team.

Yes. Fantastic. Allison, where can we connect with you and keep following your work? Everybody's going to want to know what the next turn is.

Yes,

absolutely. Ballot of dreams. com is my website for all things ballot of dreams. You can follow me on Instagram, Alison underscore Hernandez, extra. Yeah. So that's me.

It's going to be so fun. Thanks for coming on the reunion, Michael, let's pick up where Alison leaves off there. And that is you've got a pretty provocative claiming the true value of art that you've been espousing.

And I think about what Alison is talking about, producing the work, getting the story out. I read a blog of yours that artists who are interested in how their art works are just wasting their time. It sounds like a glorified hobby, but if you're really aware and you want to put your art into something.

And get it out there, you've got to be a little bit more what wider thinking.

The art, what does art really require? Art doesn't want anything other than you create, you perceiving it and creating it and exposing it. So there's three things. So if I think about a painting right now, I'm going to paint it real quick and show it to you, Mark.

And that's all I need to do. Obviously we have now technology that we can show it to more people. And if it is my art, like Alison, it was her thing, her conversation with a non physical that she got that story in. And if she would just say, Oh, I'm just gonna do something that is famous and do a new version of that play, she wouldn't have that power to, it's not Oh I'm stubborn.

You cannot be stubborn when it's not yours. When you take somebody else's. So you always have to create, you have to be aware why you create, how you created it and be very, conscious milk, the moment I always tell every artist milk, the moment of creation, because if you focus on the outcome, you gonna miss all the magic that you have.

And you have so much magical moments. And I know so many artists like literally 90%. That have the most magical creation time, music painting poetry, and then the book doesn't work. The film doesn't work. It's not successful. And it eliminates. all the magic that they had and said, Oh, that's irrelevant.

And they actually disconnect further from their own expression, because every human is one of one of 8 billion, and you have to express yourself. You also consume. But you also have to express yourself. Why? To expand your perception. Because every human, look at your family, has a different view on life.

Even if you're all grown up in the same family. It's so

interesting that you talk about disconnecting from the work or the book or what have you. Is that so many people, and you've heard this before too I'm just writing this book for myself. Or I'm just doing the paintings for myself as if you don't plan to show anybody.

Are you really keeping your creativity under wraps if you don't allow it to be seen?

You have to to show it. This is one thing of art is, if you just want to create, then it's a hobby. But if you experience art, you have to create whatever comes in, your inspiration, writing a play, writing a musical, writing a, painting a picture. And then you have to expose it at least to somebody, you can't, it's like going, you're going out you're dressing up in a suit and everything. And then you don't go out, you just go out and sit in your room.

Why do you dress yourself up? And be creative in how you present yourself as a lady, for example, right? Do you make yourself up and then you sit at home and stay at the wall? No, you've got to go out to express. You don't have to go out to a million people. You're not Beyonce or whatever, but you have to go out to see at least your date, your friends.

While you're going out and the same with art, you gotta show it to somebody because it's in the self perception of you think you look great and in the perception of others, how you look that you discover more of who you are because you, when you, for example, say, okay, I've got to get this red.

handkerchief here and then the people, make a stupid comment on the red handkerchief because I thought it they will like it. Then I know next time I better go with what I like a green one or a blue one and not worry about never worry. Rick Rubin says that always. Don't worry about the people make the best that you can.

And all you can as an artist is to do the mess and then let it go. Yes,

but it's no wonder we question ourselves, though. Will they like my red scarf? I was Alison. When did you pass the threshold of this is a great family story. I really like it. It means a lot to me. But what if I put it out there? What if I write a book?

What if I try to get it on a Broadway? And what if people don't find it as compelling as I did? There must have been a point where you passed that.

Oh, yes. I think I kept circling around it, it felt a force that just had to come out of me. And so to Michael's point, I really didn't care if people liked it or not.

I knew that I had to tell the story and I knew that I had to write this music because it just wouldn't stop coming out of me. So once it finally stopped, once like the, the valve was turned off, it was like I can't just stop working on this thing. What's the next step and what's the next step is to share it with someone.

The next step is to give it to someone to read. The next step is to, this was like pre COVID. Get 10 friends together in a room in New York and read it and hear it out loud, not for having an audience, but to share it and to get that first level of feedback. What do you think? Is this a thing?

Is this actually a musical? I don't know.

Yes. Yeah. And Michael, I recently heard that Rick Rubin interview and just to twist it and continue it a little bit, he did say, don't worry about the audience because if you're writing to please the audience, you won't make the best work because you're trying to please somebody else.

But if you make. The work as passionate as you are about it, then that's what the audience will love. so It was a counterintuitive. The more you put of yourself into it, the more the audience will appreciate

it, right? And never think about, they got to like the red versus the green or the higher pitch, or they like some violins better or whatever.

Never do this. You got to get off. I always when I teach artists, I say. You've got to get off on your own work. If you get, if you wouldn't work drive, if you wouldn't buy your own work, how can you ask somebody else to pay? And see, if you don't make something that say, Oh my God, if I could just buy this, I would buy this if, because it is not available.

That's how you create art. If you don't like it, I know so many painters, they said, would you hang this out? Would you buy, would you pay a thousand dollars for this? Not five hundred dollars. Would you pay five hundred dollars for this painting? They said, no. I said, why are you even, then don't even put it out.

Yeah. Yes. And the boy that I tell you, the pricing across all creative industries, right? And you mentioned that thousand dollars. Somebody says I painted this. I'm going to sell it for a hundred dollars. Why not a thousand? Why not 10, 000? Why are you judging it to be worth a hundred?

So we're prejudging our work all the time, aren't we?

Yeah. And that's why it's better to have somebody where I say, Hey, Mark, can you sell this for me? It's have somebody else to do it for you. That's a better thing. Because they know the market, they're probably better also dancing in the system market, what's best and they can push it better.

They can use their creativity to sell you a product better. But I know, what's the Lagerfeld the designer, he never asked anybody. He just said, what would you pay? And if you say the wrong number, you wouldn't get him, obviously, if you said, okay do Chanel a collection new and we get a pay you a thousand dollars, he would say, okay, see you later.

Thank you very much. Yeah. So he never, he did this alone, but he's one of the few that really did a perfect pricing for himself.

I don't have goals because I don't make goals because when I make goals that I'm doing exactly what I said, I'm going to push, I'm going to push the I'm saying I want this.

And when you want something, you're not here. Fulfillment is with other humans that you experience with other humans every moment. So I'm not right now thinking, Oh my God, my dog, I need to do this. I need to do that. I'm right here with you fully. And that gives you a hundred percent of me. And that's why I don't make because 96 percent or 97 percent of new year's resolutions are never held.

So it is a tremendous thing of. Of self shaming and self guilting when you try to say, I know next, next year I'm going to do, I wanted to, I've seven books written and I wanted to finish that six, which is almost finished. They're both finished basically. And I thought I'm going to finish the AI book first.

And then something else came up and and it's like Allison saying, it pulls you and you feel it's more right to do that, instead of going right away to a television, so it gets you somewhere. And I think when you're in touch with us, life is way easier.

It's just easier.

And to be available for those opportunities. You're right. Sometimes you think you have these 10 goals and this one other thing comes up. You're like I'm too busy for that. Yeah. So just to be available. Michael, where do we find you and follow your work coming forward?

Simple Michael m.com.

Michael with two lss michael m.com, and you get everything. That's my music, my art, my writings, my interviews everything. Yes, everything you can

Well, we've been talking about multi hyphenate creativity. It seems that including both of you. The creative people always seem to have a lot of slashes and hyphens and multiple titles.

And it's I can't fit it all on my LinkedIn, cause it's this long. Why do you think that is that we have so many creative interests going?

Because it comes up like Alison said that really very well. She said, I did this. And then I was fulfilled with this, but there was still something missing.

If there wasn't fulfilled with anything, then Allison would say, okay, I got the Tony for my play. And that's it. Check. It looks for another play. Yeah. Could

you move your camera a little bit so we can see the Tony?

Oh wait. I have, I've manifested.

Oh, this, I love this. This is better than the vision board.

This is the vision

Tony. Yep. I have that right there.

So I think that's why you have half. You think this is, and when you are creative. You go with what comes in, you dance with that energy and the energy, if the, if you're non physical cannot get you correctly, you go the way and you have to pick something up on that way.

If Alison would have gone right to television, she would be embarrassed. She has had so many experiences now that she's confident to get into the television. And I think we all suffer from this as artists. We have to have a lot of confidence because business people have confidence. And but we are not a business.

We are more the, we are more the magicians and everything, but we have to also get the self esteem about our uniqueness. And once we have that, then it's easier for us to, and so people, start this and hyphen slash and whatever just to try to do the best thing they

can.

Fantastic. It's been great catching up with you both. And what a great reunion here and keep us posted on how it's going. We'd love to follow up and see how the work is progressing and see what the next steps are. And what were you saying? Yes to, along the year. Yeah. Yeah. What new relationships.

And if you have other people you think I'd be talking to on the podcast, send them along. That'd be great.

I will. All right. You can always again, and I think it's good to have a groups discussions too, Mark. I think that's a good thing.

I gotta go look up your book, Michael. I'm super intrigued.

My podcast is free. It's 30 seconds and it will really, it will make you happier creating and more aware. And your self-esteem and self-confidence will go up immediately. It's 30 seconds only. I thought the idea

of a 32nd podcast was brilliant.

Yeah. Give us a little inspiration and then we're back to work. And a

question. Yeah. It's a statement of mine. It's not a stolen, everything is from me and there's a question and you, every Saturday you hear it and let it percolate. You don't even have to have an answer. I love that.

So good. Thanks a lot to Michael and Alison for jumping in on our reunion party here. A reunion of past guests.

Elizabeth is co founder and chief creative officer at Dramafy. It's an audio drama streaming service.

And I thought it was such a fascinating concept when we introduced ourselves Elizabeth. So what have you been doing since we talked back in a gosh, almost a year and a half

now? Tech is the big bugaboo, right? So honestly, what we've been doing is we've been continuing to produce we've got nearly 250 shows on the site now And the biggest thing that we've been doing over the last oh nine months or so, maybe even a year is creating new tech.

We've got a new player out. We're going to have new mobile apps for our creators. We're going to have, we have a new backend that we're beta testing right now. Excuse me. So at the end of this year of Q4, we should have all of that deployed and up and running because we really, when we first did this, it was.

And And the new player is wicked fast. So that's nice. So that's basically what we've been doing.

That's great. And I know when you started, as I recall, it's streaming, it's audio drama. It's all the things that aren't quite integrated into our daily lives. But boy, you think about it now.

It's all about it.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm really pleased because that, that we've been able to Honestly last this long and because tech startups, especially when you don't have a gazillion dollars it's really hard bootstrapping is hard, a lot of bending over a lot of straps and boots.

Cause we're going to really hit, we're going to hit social media. We're going to hit YouTube. We're going to hit Tik TOK because and again, in a year and a half, a lot has changed in the whole podcasting world as to how listeners get their content. And I went to podcast movement this past August and I was flabbergasted how many.

Listeners get their content from YouTube. Yes. Listen to podcasts on YouTube.

And I know they've just launched a ability to, plug your RSS feed into YouTube and much more seamless. So beyond the tech, Elizabeth, with the user experience and all, but what about the creative work? How have the shows developed in the very, you've got a wide range of genres.

Yeah, we do. Most of our, 95 percent of our content comes from independent producers, it's fun to see what people are working on. At first it was mostly fantasy, but we've got a lot of faith based things now and a lot of dramas coming our way. We personally are starting to co produce with some of our creators.

We've got a new production of Pride and Prejudice that we're going to be recording with a company in the UK. And that's going to come in. We're going to record that in February and then probably a couple months later that will come out. We've got a clean romance that we're doing with the creator, John Lagenbaugh, from who created Brass, which is a very good steampunk show on Dramafy.

And I'm really excited about the collaborations because you get to spread out the work. And we can, we also get to help with the limited resources we have, but to help the creators. And as we all know, money is always so hard

to come by. There may be some of those creators listening, and I also think about authors who are thinking maybe I should do an audiobook. Perhaps they ought to be considering an audio drama. What's the difference in your mind?

tHere's actually, there's a lot. And it's, there's a lot of work in an audio drama. An audiobook is basically narration and it's one person usually playing all the parts of all the characters, just changing up their voices.

And then if, some people will put a few, we'll put some underscoring underneath it to give it some depth and a few sound effects. But with audio drama, it's pretty much a picture without words. So it's fully scripted. Some have narration, some most don't have narration. And it's fully scored and fully sound designed and that takes time.

I had to start learning how to sound design just out of necessity.

Yes. And thinking about the potential. Collaborations, potential contributions. Who would you hope to attract in the coming year?

Oh, that's a really good question, because I've thought a lot about this. I would love to have more children's content. wE're looking at a couple of a couple of shows, but we don't really have a lot of children's content. And I'm talking like interesting, not my little pony stuff though, that has a lot of merit to it, intelligent children's stuff like dinotopia we have and dinotopia is great.

And it's extraordinarily popular. Romances. I would love to have some more romances. Because I think there's a huge market. I didn't even know how big the clean romance market was, and it's huge. So I'm thinking about doing a Western as well, because I've, one of the things that I'm finding is that if you got a screenplay out there and It's a good screenplay, but you haven't been able to get a producer interested in it.

Screenplays are great to adapt into audio dramas. They really are.

Fantastic. I know people are going to want to reach out to you, number one, to connect with Dramafy and listen to some of the shows, but perhaps find out how they might contribute and collaborate with you. Where can we find you?

Elizabeth at Dramafy. com. It's pretty easy.

Thanks for coming on our little reunion virtual coffee here. It's great to catch up with you.

Thanks so much. My dog thanks you too. That's right. We

thank the whole

household.

Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. It's good to see you again.

Welcome Eric. How are you doing?

I'm fantastic. Mark's always good to see you and to check in once in a while, right? It's been too long,

man. Way too long. It has been too long. And as you came on, I am imagining in the back of my mind a Lizzo song playing right now because and everybody doing high fives and hands on the ceiling kind of thing.

We're checking our nails. We're feeling good with Lizzo in the background. For copyright reasons,

we can't do that. We're

not doing that right now. But we're hearing it in our heads. And that isn't that good enough. Nobody, no government official can take that away from me right now. But Eric, you had put together just a fantastic series.

Of these pod max events and now you're continuing with your own company on air brands but there was a culture there was a community and I thought I was joining these things to learn how to be a better interviewer and get a better microphone and You know count my analytics better and all that kind of stuff, but you were really trying to focus on the people and the stories is that where we are in podcasting now?

Isn't the story the king still?

Absolutely, dude. I think story withstands the test of time, go to scripture, you go anywhere. We've been telling stories around campfires and passing on legends and family and all this stuff. So yeah, that transcends. I think we often get caught up in, and thank you for this and thank you and so great.

I'm honored to be here with you guys. But yeah, we get talk, we caught up in the tactics of it. And less about what we're going to talk about, and how we're going to

serve. Yes. And as I recall, we were on these zoom calls. Because we couldn't get together at the moment back then, but I think we had 25, 50 one time and all comers, some people had never been on a podcast, let alone had one.

But then you had bestselling authors, John David Mann David Meltzer, some of these names. And we were just all learning from each other, weren't we?

Yeah, it was such an opportunity, we didn't put our heads down and, crawl under the carpet or anything during those times we figured out that people need each other, right?

And that was amazing because I didn't realize that, thought leaders that I admired and looked up to, like Hal Elrod, Dave Meltzer, you mentioned, all these people that were coming to our events, they had nowhere to speak, right? Everything was shut down. I had no idea. I could not have predicted that I just wanted to, meet with you and a bunch of our friends.

And all of a sudden yeah, these amazing people were coming in and pouring into the community, which I didn't realize was a community at the time. Yeah, things happened for a reason. And you don't realize it. In the moments but then when you reflect on it, you're like, Oh, wow, that happened.

That's pretty cool. But I think if we always go forward with the best intentions good will come of

it. Yes. Bring us up to date. What have you been doing since? And how has your own brand evolved?

Yeah, I appreciate that. And I'm curious to hear from Anne as well, but the PodMax events have brought so much fruit that I had to focus on the company that was keeping the lights on, basically.

PodMax was, if anything, a break even. As anyone who runs events knows it's pretty, it's a heavy lift, organizationally, just logistics, all of those things come to play. We still love doing events but we have not run one in, in, in years. So the focus is really, truly At this point, personal branding, because what I found that people who were starting podcasts don't necessarily have the clarity needed before starting one, it's like writing a book and saying, I want to write a book.

Okay, cool. What's your book about? I don't really know. Yeah. So you go, okay, why don't you create an outline? Why don't you think about what the goal is and what do you want to do with that? It's the same thing. People podcast and I just go, I'm a ready fire. I'm a fire ready aim. And then they get.

Three months, six months in, and they realize, yeah, this is hard work. And they don't have the goal or the purpose established or clear in their mind. So then they go away. They fade. It's hard. It's really hard. It's a lot of work. So I've over the years realized I need to focus on people's mission, their purpose.

What do they want to do in life? And then work backwards from there. It's Oh, okay. So now let's build your podcast. Let's build your brand based off of your mission. And if you don't know what your mission is let's work on that. Let's figure out what that

is. That's a good place to bring you in and because your full focus has been companies and their missions, but also how to bring the people's.

Their own flavor because nobody just wants to work for a company that tells them what to do all the time. That's good. That's gone. That's history,

right?

Yeah, I think that's ancient history. Eric, you're speaking my language. I think it's the vision mission values, right? The purpose, organizational purpose, that north star, the way I like to call it is so critical for creating a creative culture.

And one that's engaged and where people feel really fired up to come to work. That's what we're all after, right? Is that kind of heartbeat. So I spent a lot of time working with organizations on that and I'm about to launch a

book.

So I was going to say, I hope the book comes up. Yes.

Fantastic. That's so exciting. Yeah, born

to create February 20th is the launch date. And it's been a big labor of love, but yeah, Eric, it's so funny. The writing the book process was a multi year journey for me to get that clarity and to be I don't know to have a real vision with how I wanted to communicate this narrative, which is bringing more creativity in the workplace and how important that is today.

Yeah. Congratulations.

How has that evolved for you and how did that really contribute to your book process? If I could think about that. Yeah. Yeah.

It's so interesting. I think. When you think about long form, like a book, people actually read books anymore, right? You have to have those tools that really feel accessible and that you can lift and shift and apply in different environments.

And so I really did focus on how can this feel practical, but also have a really strong narrative where they're learning from the stories of artists and entrepreneurs and business leaders who are creative. And there's a compelling story there. But then how can they apply that to their life as a creative leader or as an organizational leader, what are those frameworks to apply?

So I think that was how I merged the two ideas together and actually created a long form piece of content. The work that I do has evolved. I really do a lot more coaching nowadays with, It's either creative teams or executives who want to be more creative in their leadership. It's been a really fun evolution and really fulfilling work.

So I'm in a good spot.

So good, Eric, thinking about those stories and that content and that inspiration in the podcast format people tell me all the time, Oh, there's 3 million podcasts. I don't think there's really 3 million that are active, real. Engaging with listeners, but I think about the format where it's like I'm going to give you whether it's five minutes to 55 minutes of a platform to get your story out there.

And can people really organize their thoughts, focus their thoughts, respond to the questions, that takes a lot of preparation and skill that I don't know if people appreciate that or not, they think I'll turn the microphone on, they'll ask me some questions and then, I'll get notoriety.

Yeah it's harder than it seems, right? Whether you're starting one or guesting on a podcast. Like you said, it takes some organization some prep work for sure. It's it's not easy. It's like saying, I'm going to be a stand up comedian. I'm going to go to open mic. Anyone who's ever tried that, aside from the.

The fear of public speaking the thoughts on the fly, being witty or funny and all that stuff, if it doesn't come naturally for you it's work, it's a muscle that you could build over time for sure. But just like writing in any skillset it's, it takes some level of creativity, to Ann's point I'm really curious about it and my podcast.

Hosting I have to fight that muscle because I want to ask her a bunch of questions. And I have all these thoughts as she's speaking. I'm like, Oh, let's go. I want to go down that rabbit hole. I'm like, no, this is Mark shows. It's so difficult, right? As that's

the beauty of the reunion. We're just standing here having drinks.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I

don't know about the people in the background there.

They, these people aren't going to go anywhere. This coffee shop, they haven't moved in years, but

to To merge the two things I think that as adults, as we get older, We often forget are the creative side of ourselves.

And, I'm a creative at heart. That was my profession when I was in corporate America for 21 years. So I finally left and I was like, Oh, I'm going to go become a real estate investor, which was not creative. There were aspects of it where you had to be creative with financing and things, but in terms of like visuals, I ended up creating A multimedia creative agency because that's what I knew and that's where my purpose lies and my superpower.

But what I'm getting at and I'd love to hear Anne's perspective as well is it's really just tapping into, if you have children, especially I have young ones, nine and six, and it's that's what we forget. Like I see them getting older and there's already beginning to forget.

That creativity that lies just within their nature. And as adults, it's like, how do we put ourselves in positions and environments and situations where that's what we tap into? Cause that's where we find the most joy. Cause that is in our DNA. We have to be creative. Yes.

And Eric, I don't want to freak you out, but I also have a nine and a six year old.

We

need to continue talking. Are they girls?

That's all meant to be

older girl, younger boy. Oh, wow. Amazing.

Crazy. But yes, what you're saying, Eric really rings true to me that even creativity is a discipline that can be practiced. And I think that's. Something that's often lost where people think, Oh, I'm just going to wait for this spark to come from on high.

And, I'm going to, it's going to move me. The spirit's going to move me, but it's really a discipline. And if you think about creative practices, these are daily habits that you need to build in. And I think it's accessible to everyone. And it's just learning how you code and reverse engineer.

How am I going to access this fire within me so that I can apply it in different circumstances, but yes it's a discipline.

And I had a guest the other day say, ultimately, it's it is the curiosity and you're talking about, I just want to ask more. I just want to wonder. I just want to dig deep.

We call it going down rabbit holes because we just can't stop ourselves. Sometimes, but I thought the other interesting point that this guest made, Daniela Marzeman, Was that there is the listening component, but then there's the translating, that we said, we always say, yeah, I know what you mean.

It's you couldn't possibly really know what I mean from that little short answer, or that one thing I wrote. And so that continued follow up and that continued, tell me more. What do you mean? How does that affect your life? That's the curiosity we could pursue a lot more, I think.

Yeah, and I think that comes through in the story and being a really effective storyteller enables people to find those connection points. It feels relatable. I can imagine Eric six and nine year old because I know that, right? I live that. And so it's finding those points of connection that is a real skill and can be brought into different places in our

work.

What's ahead for you, Eric? We'll start with you. What's in your crystal ball for the new year?

Oh, thanks for asking. It's really, I've only become to recently discover that you can set goals and you can do all this, New Year's resolution stuff, which anyone who comes into the personal development space realizes that we're setting ourselves up for failure many times when we do that.

And it's really about number one is production. So like focusing, because as creators, we could tend to like chase many shiny objects, right? So I've built a lot of different things. But it's about reduction and. And, like in the culinary universe, we, when you reduce things get better, more pure, like more, more flavorful.

So that's one word. And then the second thing is relationships. That's why I'm here. I'm already starting my goals now because, I want to reconnect with you, Mark. I want to reconnect with people. That I had really close ties and relationships with and just because life and business happens you, you find your way and then hopefully the ships come back at support.

And relationships is really my focus next year. So reduction relationships and we'll see where that

takes us. Fantastic. And give us a little periscope of what's ahead for you. Yeah.

Other than the book launch I'm going to steal from you, Eric. I love the picking the two words. I love setting an intention.

And I think although creativity will always be my big banner, I think the two words for me are connection. Connections like this connection was with other folks who are trying to make a positive impact in the world. And then the second word is service. I've worked with incredible clients in my business.

I will continue to serve them, but I really want to shift my focus to how I can be of more service to those who are underserved more in need, those communities that could really benefit from an extra boost. So I really want to draw my

attention there. Yeah, fantastic. Both of you have this I think of it as the saying, yes.

And that's where your reduction has to come in, because I love to say yes to everything. And in fact, I see opportunity everywhere. It's like yesterday it was this and today it's this and tomorrow I'm sure I'll have another call. It's wow, that's fantastic. But to really go deeper and it's not transactional.

It's not the idea of the day. It's what is the direction that you want to take meaningful.

I'm sure you guys have heard this, Mark just to piggyback on what you're saying in, saying yes to everything, especially I remember those days, when I first left corporate, it was like so exciting.

I was like, Oh my gosh, I can do whatever I want. No one's telling me what to do which is also a terrible

thing. We're also worried about getting the next gig. So I better say yes to this one.

And there's definitely a phase in business where you have to say yes to everything. But then over time you realize as you start to do what you do best and hopefully serve to a degree where you're really bringing a lot of value to these clients or whoever you're serving.

To the point where. You have to reduce, you have to start saying no, because now I've adopted the mantra of, every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. So you know that whether it's time with our children not working on a client, or being with family, whatever it is yeah, I'm blessed to be to that, in that phase of life and business where, oh, now I'm recognizing, oh, I'm going to say yes to that, but What's going to suffer as a result.

Yeah. Being conscious of that opportunity cost. Yeah. Yes.

100%. So good.

It's been great spending time. Oh, my, my intention for the year let me take a quick gander at my vision boards back here. I do a new vision board all too often. And it's again, pretty pictures sometimes, but I want to continue and this sounds cliche being that we're on a podcast right now, but being a voice.

For this kind of creativity and even further, maybe for some higher level consciousness spiritual practices caring, self care, caring for others. And I think there's not enough voices for that. And so if I can, and if it's not my voice, we'll bring somebody else to the other microphone and let them share.

But I feel like I have a channel, or two. That let some people say some good things because the world really needs some good vibes right now. Mark,

since this is your 300th and we should be celebrating you as well here. Are there a couple of things that happen as a result of the podcast that never would have happened if you didn't?

Create this platform.

Yeah, sure. I've been invited to other podcasts that I don't think, because we made some of these friendships, connections, relationships. But there, there will be a book or two. You think about 300 episodes. There's a lot of good people in there. And I've done some greatest hits from the musicians.

I've learned a lot about artists. And again, Went to Nashville to meet a couple of them, been to L. A. to meet a couple of guests live. Once the world started opening up relationships happened. And I thought they might, because I'm not afraid to get on the plane and go to L. A., and meet people live.

Some people don't want to do that, so they hide behind this podcasting thing. But, so I would say, meeting New, cool, creative people. And then as what I was saying, the voice, if I can tell their stories in a book that says here's the lessons I learned, from 250, 300 creatives worldwide that's pretty fun.

I've also talked to people in countries I couldn't find on the map. So when I said it was going to be the world of creativity and then I really found that , this is, this could be a thing. Find countries. When you talk to people in places that you wouldn't know about otherwise.

And then again, a couple months ago I went to Oslo to meet some of them. So it was fun. I would say that's the doors that have opened for me, Eric. Amazing. And I, and that's why I wanted to have you on. I just, I wouldn't be the podcaster I am today without those few interactions. Cause mainly, and I tell every episode, I say this, that it's the confidence.

to get our work out in the world. And so the practice was the confidence, it's like I can do this. I can talk to these people. I've never had much of an imposter syndrome. My, my ego is pretty strong. Those who know me will agree, but it's been fun. It's awesome. I love the mention

of

creative confidence because I think that is a real barrier for a lot of incredibly creative people is that kind of self regulation, self editing, self criticism.

It's so easy to do. And how do you break through to, to connect and find that connection that's authentic without feeling that imposter syndrome that you talked about?

Yes, exactly. Fantastic. I can't thank you guys enough for coming by our virtual reunion here. And catching up with people from New York, to LA, all the way even to Bangkok, Thailand.

Congrats, Mark. Yeah.

Yeah. Congrats, Mark.. Thank you.

It's amazing, dude. I'm so happy

for you. Thank you. And listeners, thank you. This podcast wouldn't happen without you turning in week over week and learning about all these creative lessons that we gather from the guests.