Unmistakable Creative - Candid Conversations with Creative Entrepreneurs and Insanely Interesting People

Many of you mention time management as one of your biggest challenges.  In our second episode of BlogcastFM Backstage, we had an extensive discussion about time management. Everybody has the same 24 hours in a day, so the question is, "What are you doing with that time?" It really comes down to optimizing your free time and doing things consistently. David also manages to turn Kim Kardashian's wedding into a useful marketing lesson. Here are just a few of the highlights from our conversation: * Why SXSW is No Longer the Ideal Place to Launch Your New App (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BlogcastFM-Backstage-300x300.jpg) * The "Online Celebrity" - And How They Impact Your Behavior * How to Tackle Your Time Management Issues * Srini's Secret on How to Use a Short Attention Span Toward More Efficiency * Using "Activation Energy" to Cultivate Good Habits and Stop Bad Ones * Our Favorite Productivity Apps Apps Mentioned Include: * Mailbox (http://www.mailboxapp.com/) * Evernote (http://www.evernote.com) * Worfklowy (http://www.workflowy.com) * Macjournal (https://www.marinersoftware.com/products/macjournal/) * Lift (http://lift.do/) * Freshbooks (https://blogcastfm.freshbooks.com/refer/www) Resources Mentioned Include: * Evernote Essentials  (https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=11538&c=ib&aff=79021) (use the promo code BLOGCAST and get 15% off) * The Action Method (http://www.actionmethod.com) * 22 Rules of Storytelling  (http://aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/) If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/760A4) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

Dan Martell came highly recommended by multiple people as somebody we should have on the show. So when his outreach people reached out to me about having him on the show, it was a no-brainer. He's been incredibly successful starting and selling multiple businesses. Here are some of the highlights from our chat: * Mistakes that Dan Made with His Early Entrepreneurial Efforts (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BIO_-_Headshot-300x225.jpg) * The Multiple Types of Entrepreneurs in the World * Why There is No Right Time to Do Anything  * Why Marketplaces for Expertise Are a New Way of Doing Business * The Importance of Making the World a Better Place with Your Entrepreneurial Efforts * Learning How to Overcome Fear in Your Entrepreneurial Efforts * Asking Whether What You're Working On is Worthy of Your Life * The Worst Case Scenario for Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs * Why Selling Is An Essential Skill for Any Business Owner * How Dan Used His Personal Brand to Connect with Influential Startup Founders * Why Corporate Blogs Are So Boring - and How to Fix Them * Making the Transition from Social Media Maven to Investor/Advisor * What Dan Looks for in Companies He Invests In * Looking at the Launch of Clarity.FM * The C-100 List You Should Create * One Question That You Can Ask at Any Networking Event  Tweetable Insights Include: * Decide from day 1 that you want build something big and meaningful (Click to Tweet (http://tinyurl.com/ao6tw7r)) * Most entrepreneurs or companies are created in down economies (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/nu892)) * Early adopters can be key to building a great business  (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/vSedq)) Dan Martell (http://www.danmartell.com/) is a Canadian entrepreneur living in San Francisco. He's the CEO and Founder of Clarity (https://clarity.fm/home). He previously co-founded Flowtown (Acquired ’11), Spheric Technologies (Acquired ’08), and is a mentor at 500Startup and GrowLabs and is an angel investor in 15 others. You can follow him on twitter @danmartell (https://twitter.com/danmartell). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/m1Kd2) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)  

Five months ago, I discovered AJ Leon. The minute I did, I was hooked on his work and immediately got on in touch with him about making his first appearance on BlogcastFM. Usually I don't bring back a guest until it's been at least a  year since we had them on the show. See How to Be A Remarkable Misfit with AJ Leon (http://blogcastfm.com/blogcastfm/how-to-be-a-remarkable-misfit-with-aj-leon/). But AJ has done so much since our last interview, that I figured we had to bring him back for a second appearance. Here are just a few of the highlights from our latest chat: * What Gave AJ the Courage to Turn Down a Significant Salary Raise (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/71518e18ed2112be8c5fe26c373dd560.jpeg) * Dealing with the Reactions of Other People When You Chase Your Dreams * The Power of a Business that Is Not Inherently Scalable * The Difference Between Quantifiable and Qualitative Measurements * Tactics for Creating a Cult Following * The Downside of Following Templates and Formulas * How to Cultivate a Profitable Expression of Your Message * The Multiple Layers Within a Product and Messages * Why AJ Started a Print Magazine in a World that's Increasingly Digital * The Importance of Pairing with the Right Sponsors * How AJ Has leveraged the Tribe to Fund His Projects * Why AJ Made His Price Something that Anybody Could Afford * How AJ Uses a Small Group of People to Determine Whether Projects Should Be Launched * What Resulted in a Kickstarter Campaign Getting Funded in a Few Hours * The Advantage of Letting Your Tribe Know About Your Activities * A Look into the Misfit Conference and How it Developed Tweetable Insights Include: * Even a moment spent at the behest of somebody else's opinion of you is not worth it  (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/eqAe2)) * It's more about the ideas, not the transaction that may happen (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/R63fV)) * If you make more money, but you're average, who gives a shit? (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/2c25h)) * I don't have a proclivity towards infinite scalability. I don't care about being famous (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/8nL75)) * I like being in the corner coffee shop of the web (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/BLU47)) * In your one and only life, when it's over, what will you have represented? (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/wGSF5)) AJ Leon (http://aj-leon.com/) is a nomad around the world and makes things happen. He writes about the Pursuit of Everything and is currently traveling around the entire world in 1,080 days. You can follow him on twitter @ajleon (https://twitter.com/ajleon). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/Tyea0) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

(http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BlogcastFM-Backstage-300x300.jpg)Today, we're thrilled to share our pilot episode of BlogcastFM Backstage, a weekly look behind-the-scenes where you'll hear our insights, opinions, and tips for how to grow your blog. Here are just a few of the things we discussed: * The Official Rules of the BlogcastFM Drinking Game * Why Facebook's Other Messages Make Us Cringe * How You Can Send Mark Zuckerberg a Message for Just $100 * Why David's Birthday is His Favorite Day on Facebook * Lessons from TV Shows that You Can Apply to Your Business  * How to Create List Posts from Your Existing Content * A Simple Way to Take Existing Content and Create Videos * How to Create an E-Book Faster than You Ever Thought Possible * Creating a Worksheet From an Existing Post to Increase Your Opt-Ins * Using Your Archives to Create an Autoresponders * How to Take Every Question You're Asked and Use It to Create Content * A Quick Peak  at The Small Army Strategy * Sign Up for the Newsletter (http://blogcastfm.com/newsletter/) to get the Free Worksheet If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/dKjLq) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

A few months back, we had Sarah Robinson here as a guest on BlogcastFM. While we were talking on gchat one day, she mentioned of a friend of hers named Laura Garnett. Laura turned to be full of brilliant insights on thriving in your career. Here are just a few of the highlights from our chat: * Why Your Dream Job is Something that Doesn't Exist  (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Twitter2.jpg) * What Enables People to Get Things Done at Crazy Levels * The Beliefs that Are Key Ingredients to Success * The Power of Having Challenges In Your Life * How the Things You Think Are Best for You Can Turn into Bad Habits * The 3 Distinct Stages in Your Zone of Genius * Why Famous and Wildly Successful People Are Not Lucky  * The 5 Keys to Building a Genius Brand * Why You Can't Blindly Take Advice from People  * What It Takes to Operate in Your Genius * Some Amusing Thoughts on What It Would Be Like for Me to Interview Bill Clinton * Making Money in Your Zone of Genius * Why You Shouldn't Take On Any Work Just for Money  * Optimizing Your Web Site to Land Speaking Engagements Tweetable Insights Include: http://tinyurl.com/bha68wj * Having a job that you don't like is a habit (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/WnNMb)) * Your greatest passion is generally linked to a challenge that you've conquered in your life (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/17SH4)) * When you're building a brand for yourself, you're creating an experience for others (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/OBaNm)) * Get Support not Advice. Advice comes through someone else's worldview.  (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/740GF)) * We asses what's possible for ourselves based on what we've seen for others   (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/dgMNe)) * You have to enjoy the process, not the outcome (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/MtaTS)) Resources Mentioned Include: * Stumbling on Happiness (http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/1400077427) * The Big Leap (http://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361) * Flow (http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0061339202) Laura Garnett (http://www.lauragarnett.com/) is a talent strategist and leadership activator. Her mission is to create a world where all of us walk into the office happy, confident, and deeply committed. You can follow her on twitter @garnettl (https://twitter.com/garnettl). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/7d9cP) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

We had Charlie as a guest on the show in the early days of BlogcastFM. See Charlie Gilkey on Turning Your Blog into a Real Business, Networking, and Collaboration (http://blogcastfm.com/blogcastfm/charlie-gilkey/). Since then, he's been busy making quite a ruckus.  In this interview, you'll get a very eye-opening and refreshing look into the content creation process. Here are some highlights from our most recent chat: * How  Philosophy Informs Charlie's Content (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/charlie-gilkey.jpg) * Figuring How a Business Supports Our Collective Thriving * Integrating Your Previous Experience Into Your Brand and Content  * Leveraging Your Life Experiences to Tell Stories and Create Content * The Problem with Reverse Engineering Your Successful Posts  * Why You Need to Have a Context for Your Numbers and Metrics * What You Need to Think About In Terms of Long-Term Impact * Why the Need for Approval Kills Your Ability to Create * The Power of Writing 50 Posts to Start Your Blog * Why You Need to Focus Your Efforts on Action * Articulating the Core Elements of Your Brand Statement  * Learning to Recognize When You Need Help * Finding the Simplicity and Building from There  * The Power of Asking People Why They Connect with You * Why the Thing You Stand for Will Change * The Content Doppler Effect and Why You Need to Be Aware of It * An Early Glimpse into Charlie's Next Book * Writing Something That Serves the People Who Show Up for You Resources Mentioned Include: * How to not Show up like an A-list Blogger (http://www.productiveflourishing.com/how-not-to-show-up-like-an-a-list-blogger/) * The Accidental Creative (http://www.accidentalcreative.com/) * Making Ideas Happen  (http://www.amazon.com/Making-Ideas-Happen-Overcoming-Obstacles/dp/1591844118) Tweetable Insights Include: * Your brand creates an emotive connection between you and your readers (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/bUfx8)) * Tweets and status updates don't change lives. They interrupt them (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/Sfa1m)) *  A lot of bloggers get too obsessed with the numbers without understanding what they mean (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/42if1)) * We can do powerful things in the world, but it requires execution (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/P_9HI)) Charlie Gilkey (http://www.productiveflourishing.com/) helps people and organizations start finishing the stuff that matters. He is a coach, consultant, writer, speaker, teacher, and superhero cultivator. You can follow him on twitter @CharlieGilkey (https://twitter.com/CharlieGilkey). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/3b2SK) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

A few weeks ago, I met Ryan Holiday for dinner and he gave me a very interesting list of people he thought would be perfect guests for BlogcastFM. One of those people was Patrick Vlaskovits. Patrick has been applying The Lean Startup methodology to his business efforts long before it became mainstream. The success of his self-published book eventually resulted in the publication of the Lean Entrepreneur. Here are some of the highlights from our chat: * Finding the Courage to Listen to the Universe About Your Calling (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/APV-New-272x300.png) * The Hidden Risks of Working at a Large, Stable Company * Lessons Learned from a High-Paying Corporate Job * How to Make a Career Transition Despite Your Constraints * The Power of Starting a Project of Any Kind  * Learning to Recognize When Your Business is Not Scalable * Why Testing Out Your Ideas Won't Cause Anything Fatal to Happen  * How to Conduct Experiments that Enable You to Fail, But Stay in the Game * The Seeds that Resulted in the Publication of The Lean Entrepreneur * Applying the Principles of Lean Entrepreneurship to a Lifestyle Business * Understanding Where You are on the Innovation Spectrum * Learning to Launch a Minimum Viable Product * How to Tweak an Offer that Fails  * Why Doing Talks is a Really Great Way to Test the Material in Your Book * How The Lean Startup Book Tour Got Sponsored * Why You Have to Be Willing to Do the Really Ugly Parts of Entrepreneurship Resources + People  Mentioned Include: * Ira Glass Video on Taste Tweetable Insights Include: * I believe very soon, we're all going to have multiple careers (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/ba70M)) * It's a myth that people go out and hit home runs every time (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/w5u1e)) * For truly disruptive innovation, best practices don't exist (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/4HLf1)) * Publishing a book is just the start of a conversation (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/4v6A0)) Patrick Vlaskovits (http://vlaskovits.com/) is an entrepreneur and author. Founded two startups.  Both dead-pooled. Wrote a book called The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development (http://custdev.com/). Working on a few startup projects right now, and am also a co-organizer of the Los Angeles Lean Startup Circle (http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/). You can follow him on twitter @pv (https://twitter.com/pv). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/Qg34Y) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

I came across Lee LeFever's work when I saw Scott Berkun mention his book. So I decided to do some digging and I was intrigued by what I found.  So I reached out to him and asked if he would talk to us about his book, The Art of Explanation. Here are some highlights from our chat: * Lee's Early Experiences Building Online Communities (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/4fcc204542a282eae806ba6df7184463.jpeg) * The Power of Turning Your Blog Posts Into Videos * The Keys to Effectively Cultivating Community * Why We're All Living in a Social Media Bubble * Tactics to Encourage Participation in Online Communities * How Lee Evolved His Skill Set into a Full Blown Business * A Look into Evolving into a Licensing Business  * Why Talking Heads Are Not the Only Way to Do Video * Transitioning from a Service-Based Business to a Product-Based Business * Why You Need to Make Bets that Could Pay Off in the Future * The 3 Essential Elements of Explanation * Telling Stories in a Way that Enables People to Relate to You * An Incredibly Useful Process for Organizing Projects * Why the Marketing Plan for the Book Started 6 Months Before the Book Was Out Tweetable Insights Include: * The best communities are made from people who have a passion for something (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/2r9T8)) * Never forget to build context into your explanation  (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/7L7Kk)) * It's not your idea, but the the world where your idea lives. Forest first, then trees (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/tlU1_)) Lee LeFever (http://leelefever.com/) is Founder of Common Craft, Author of The Art of Explanation. Dog lover, flavor chaser, early adopter. You can follow him on twitter @leelefever (https://twitter.com/leelefever). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/c9fcq) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)

It always puts a smile on my face when I learn that one of our listeners is having success with their entrepreneurial efforts. Zeke emailed me to tell me a bit more about his story, and I knew that he would be a fantastic guest. It's a bit like International Week here on BlogcastFM since you've got two interviews with cool accents. Here are some highlights from our chat: * How Zeke Sold His First Several Businesses (http://blogcastfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/zeke-full-body-square-283x300.jpeg) * The Realization that Zeke Wasn't Building Sustainable Businesesses * Recognizing the Parts of Your Business that You're Good At * The Start, Grow, and Sell Cycles in Each of Zeke's Businesses * How Zeke Sold His First Three Businesses to His Employees * Why Meeting in Person is Essential to Getting the Attention of Well Known People * How Zeke Leverages LinkedIn to Meet Other CEOs for Lunch on a Weekly Basis * Why Relationship Marketing is Not a Numbers Game * The Peaks, Plateaus, and Valleys of Entrepreneurship  * The Importance of Using Each Day to Plant Seeds * Why You Need to Be a Trendsetter in Your Industry  * The Multiple Formats of Content that You Can Use to Market Your Business * Structuring Your Business So It Can Be Sold  * How to Create Systems for Your Business and Improve Them * The 3 Criteria that Zeke Uses to Determine Whether Something is Worth Delegating  Tweetable Insights Include: * Growth is not linear. You're not Always Growing (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/eR3fb)) * When things are not working out, you can't obsess about what's not working (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/7ls2V)) * Sometimes a good idea comes from a stupid idea (Click to Tweet (http://clicktotweet.com/y63dD)) Zeke Camusio is the founder of Digital Aptitude and a serial entrepreneur who’s started four successful companies in the last ten years. He just might be the hardest-working guy in the digital marketing business, and he’s determined to make sure our clients get amazing results and value. You can follow him on twitter @ZekeCamusio (https://twitter.com/ZekeCamusio). If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here (http://clicktotweet.com/YdtG1) to post it to Twitter. Oh, and we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blogcastfm-the-bloggers-podcast/id352721366)