Seanwes Podcast

I had to take off another week from the podcast to finish producing my Learn Lettering courses. While that meant canceling the normal recording schedule with Ben, I was able to record an episode with my good friend Matt when he was over last week so you still have a show! We talk about effective product launches, backwards-building products, the non-threat of competitors, the benefits of collaboration and networking, necessary sacrifices, and go behind the scenes on the production of Learn Lettering.

One of the most common responses I received after sending out the question, "What is the biggest challenge you have in pursuing your passion full time?" was "Fear of failure." Today, we dissect failure, and get to the deeper issues of the mindset needed to face this fear. We talk about why there is no such thing as a person who is a failure or a person who is a success.

My brother randomly stopped by my house the other day. His visit was unexpected, but welcome. After a few minutes of catching up, he asked for my advice on college—specifically, if it was worth his while. Now, my brother is a phenomenally talented pianist. He has a day job, but he’s planning to move on from it soon and he’s wondering if he should go to college or pursue his passion in music. He doesn’t particularly have anything he wants to go to college for, it’s more that he feels he needs a goal of some sort in this coming season of his life. In this episode, I recap with Ben the conversation I had with my brother. We get to talking about the reasons for and against college, how to make your own path if you don’t go to college, and I decide to finally go into detail on my strict No-Debt Mentality.

Scarcity Mindset is operating out of fear. It results in making compromising decisions because you are scared that you won't be able to pay your immediate bills. It's a good thing to live within your means. But it’s a bad thing to allow scarcity to breed shortsightedness and keep you focused only on the now. Scarcity Mindset only ever breeds more of the same. You won’t ever get ahead of it. You have to start by making decisions. You have to start by changing the way that you think even when you’re not where you want to be yet. We talk about how to adopt a success-oriented mindset.

We want to say "Yes" to good things. A great project with awesome people? Yes! An opportunity to speak? Yes! Create an awesome product on the side? Of course! But saying "Yes" to too many good things can leave us in a place where we don't have the freedom to say yes to something that would be great. Margin decreases stress. Margin helps you look at your current projects objectively and plan for the future. Margin enables you to act on spur-of-the-moment inspiration. We look at how to create margin, how much margin is enough, and if there's such thing as too much.

Pre-sales can be an effective way of getting something built that you might not have the capital for, but I think people often don't consider the costs. I see a lot of people jumping to the pre-sale model without weighing the pros and cons. You have to remember that the WHOLE experience is a part of your product. That includes wait time just as much as it includes the quality of materials that you use. We talk about bootstrapping and why it's not just for people that already have large audiences.

What's the point of putting my voice out there? Wouldn't my blog post just be a drop in the bucket of more experienced writers and more qualified authors who have written entire books on the topics I'm speaking about? I share why YOUR VOICE matters, why the internet is skewing your perception, and why competitors are not the enemy. You'll learn how to repurpose an existing message in such a way that it will resonate with a new audience. Get ready to find and embrace your own unique style.

I'm rushing out for a flight as I type this, but rather than leave you empty handed, I figured I'd be crazy and record the talk I'll be giving this weekend so you can listen from the comfort of your homes. I share my journey, cover The Overlap Technique in depth, and provide a bit more info about my upcoming book. Do yourself a favor and listen in. Enjoy!

We revisit a favorite topic, this time with some tangible insight and practical, day-to-day tips. We talk about breaking down pursuits into individual components to be able to find new learning resources and why most people don't want to do Deliberate Practice. You'll hear advice on how to get seasoned artists and professionals to give you high quality critiques, and exactly what to do to find the things you should be working on.

What do you do when you're passionate about many things? Maybe you like design, but you're also fond of lettering, and—hold the phone—you're a musician too and you love making music! As creative people, it can feel really overwhelming having enthusiasm for many different pursuits. We take a more conversational approach to todays show and talk through some of the challenges we face as creative people, embracing the current season you're in, welcoming the limitations it brings, and why it's ok that we can't do everything at once.

Do you have a big project you're having trouble completing? Are you feeling a lack of motivation when it comes to something you really want to be working on? We evaluate why you're stuck, what to do in order to get past it, and how to identify the optimal time to act in the future to prevent loss of motivation from happening.

We dedicate a show to answering a listener question on using The One Concept Approach in a subjective field like illustration. We talk about how to reposition the project's value conversation and how to develop a unique style. We all want the same two things: to do our best work and to have our client accept it. I explain how to make both a reality.

Originally broadcasted in live video, we were joined by our wives, Laci and Rachel, to go behind the scenes on what it’s like as a married couples with freelance & entrepreneurial careers—from both perspectives. We answered questions from podcast feedback as well as from listeners in the live chat. Many of us self-employed, married business owners struggle with the same challenges, but it seems like not much time is dedicated to talking about them. We got real in this show.

I keep seeing the topic of pricing come up and felt it was in need of revisiting. In this fiery episode, you'll hear how to set your baseline price and why you don't stop there. I explain the reason I never ask for budgets, and why it doesn't matter that other people charge less than you. You're going to hear me give specific numbers and real prices in this episode. If you're ready to stop being a commodity and get paid what you deserve, this show is for you.

Taking your passion full time isn't something that happens overnight. But making a living from what you love to do can be done regardless of what it is. It's simply going to take hard work. A lot of people don't recognize the opportunity they have to pursue their passion because it comes in the form of a chance to do hard work. We talk about why this is worth it in the long run, and how The Overlap Technique will help you guard your passion and keep it from drying up when it becomes your full time job.

We live in a society that provides immediate gratification for sharing our stream of consciousness. When we're working on a project, it's tempting to share each and every step publicly because we know we'll get a quick shot of dopamine when we do. However, I believe that "high" comes at the expense of our potential growth. The tendency to put things out really quick to get that immediate gratification is keeping us from sticking with things for a longer duration. We explore how to restructure this mindset so that we are able to stay motivated enough to complete long terms projects and also look at what driven and not driven people both have in common.

As a self-described chronic creator, I find myself producing incessantly. Last year I phased out of client work (after taking on way too many commissioned projects) only to load myself up with even more self-initiated ones. I've been working overtime towards a certain goal I have in mind for the past 6 months with the full intent to take it easy after I achieve it. However, a friend asked me a question the other week that gave me pause. He said, "Do you think you're even capable of taking it easy?" The profundity struck me. Was I really able to scale back? Am I really psyching myself out to think I could slow down? Or am I addicted to the busyness?

You're a maker. You love to create and you love to produce. Maybe it's writing, maybe it's design, maybe it's art—most likely you share your creations through various outlets like social media or your own blog. What you probably don't use is an email list. "Email list? Email's dead though, isn't it?" Hardly! Did you check yours today? Thought so. Even if you already have an email list, I'm going to show you how to not only grow it but also utilize it in a way that will revolutionize your exposure and breed unprecedented loyalty with your audience. Are you ready to invest? Oh yes, it is indeed an investment and no mere one at that. But it's one that's going to give you the biggest return you've ever seen. Are you ready to put in the effort? Let's begin.

You have an idea. A really, really good idea. Seriously, it could be big. You're scared to tell someone about it though. After all, this idea is worth a lot, right? I hate to break it to you, but no. It's not worth a lot at all. In fact: it's completely worthless. The sooner you understand why, the sooner you'll be on your way to creating actual value. I'll also show you how to get people to notice when you launch something.

Establishing your brand as one of quality enables you to price on the value you're delivering to your customers. We look at highlighting your unique selling points to distinguish yourself from competitors and break into a higher market where you can demand greater prices. I talk about the limitations and constraints of selling within an external ecosystem and how you can make more money by selling less on your own website.