Author: Dan Blank

Today I want to talk about the way I’m changing how I work, and how this change is a direct response to the challenges many of you face, and the goals you hope to achieve.

The Two Things Standing in Your Way

The other week, I asked my email subscribers what their biggest creative fear was. While those who responded described their fear in slightly different ways, a common theme emerged. When it comes to accomplishing their creative goals in 2016, the most common fear is this:

“That life will get in the way. That I will become distracted by competing demands on my time, lose focus, won’t get to the creative work I dream of.”

Sound familiar? I hear this type of confession again and again in my work with writers and creative professionals. Challenges that always come up are:

1. Distractions. And not insignificant distractions, but real responsibilities: family, day job, health, etc.
2. Time. The hours, the days, the months, the years seem to slip through their fingers. Dreams seem to be forever unfulfilled because days pass by and suddenly all you have to show for it is exhaustion.

Missing Your One Shot at Success

I have worked with so many creative professionals as they work towards the moment when they are launching their work. For instance, after years of hard work, their book is finally being publishing.

But many, when they’re ready to launch, are basically freaking out because they don’t want to miss their shot at success.

It seems as though everything is on the line. It’s not just the chance they’ve waited for to create something, but the success of this thing feels so closely tied to their identity as a person.

This feeling can become overwhelming: If your thing fails, then you as a person, fail.

Of course, that’s bullshit, but many of us tend to internalize our emotions this way. Especially at a time when we have invited the world to experience our most personal work — i.e. around the publication of our book, launch of our idea, or unveiling of our art. This is when you are screaming, “Hey look at me, my book is finally here!” — and then seconds later want to say, “Um, well, don’t look too closely at me. Because if it fails, I don’t want to feel the judgment of your eyes. Or the judgment of my own eyes in the mirror.”

So how do we solve for this? This pressure that we feel when we have that one shot at success? Too often, we tend seek out two things:

1. Shortcuts
2. Hacks

We look for a genius idea that will save us hundreds of hours, avoid embarrassment by failing, and delivers instant success.

We take free webinar after free webinar. Go to conferences. Read books on how to launch our thing. Take courses. And while all of these things are good, I hear from a lot of people that they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of ideas presented to them. They are left with hundreds of competing ideas floating around in their head.

The result? They try too many vanilla “best practices” and set vague goals based on what others tell them they should want.

They wait for the key insight to happen — whereby the process of launching their work and finding their audience suddenly feels easy and accessible.

But the reality is that ACTION is what matters, not waiting to hear the simple hack or shortcut that will magically deliver an audience to you. Action, at the moment when you are the most terrified, lonely, and confused because this is your big moment. Action, when it seems like everything is on the line.

The other week I wrote about filmmaker Casey Neistat, and his wisdom fits in here as well: that in the creative process, the idea is the least valuable part. Execution of that idea is the only thing that matters:

“Ideas are the easiest part. But realizing [that idea] is unbelievably hard.”

That doesn’t just apply to you creating the work itself — in this example, a book — but also in how you ensure that book finds an audience. The solution is not a shortcut or a hack, but to get clear about your goals, your focus, and commit. Not to follow the hundreds of conflicting pieces of advice you hear, but craft a path that is truly your own to reach the people who will love your work.

Part of me fully understands that I don’t have to tell any of you this. Each of you is out there saying back to me, “But Dan, I have committed. Years ago. And it’s still hard. I’m still swamped. Time and distraction still trip me up.”

Which brings me to…

I’m Changing How I Work

So I’m changing how I work with private clients. I spent a few months with my friend and colleague Jennie Nash rebuilding my consulting process from the ground up. We were solving for the stuff listed above, with a simple prompt:

“How can I ensure my clients make the most of their big chance?”

So I took the foundation for what has worked over the past five years, and supercharged it. I thought about the key phases. The steps that should be completed each week. And mostly, I thought about how my team and I can take the work off of my client’s plate and onto mine.

To not just provide a great strategy, but to do the work alongside them. To remove distraction by executing the steps with them. To give them clear direction so they will feel less muddled and lonely in the process of creating and launching their dreams.

It comes down to this:  My team and I will become YOUR team. We will do the work with you. And we will ensure you don’t fail when you have your one big shot.

The new way I work is called Build a Better Audience. Below is the basic outline of my six key phases. Even if you never even consider hiring me, I think you can leverage the process for your own success:

If you want details into the process, click here.

What Success Looks Like

In developing the program, I have been digging back into the hundreds of experiences I have had with clients in the past five years. If you want to see the reality of what this process looks like, here are some case studies of how strategy meets reality:

• Case Study: Launching a Bestseller, with Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
• Case Study: Successfully Funding a $40,000 Kickstarter Campaign, with Sarah Towle
• Case Study: Establishing the Habits that Led to the TODAY Show, with Teri Case
• Case Study: Clarifying Voice and Moving a Career to the Next Level, with Kelly DuMar
• Case Study: Finding Time to Create with, Vanessa M.
• This is my story of building a successful career as a creative professional

As you approach your own work, the key thing that you get to decide is what you want your story to be. The story not just of the work you create, but how you share it with the world.

I’d love to help you in that process. Email me to let me know how I can best do that.

Thanks!
-Dan

I have two simple questions today, and I would love for you to email me and let me know:

1. What is your biggest fear regarding your creative work in 2016?
2. What is your greatest hope for it?

Please email me at dan@wegrowmedia.com with your answers.

I will kick this off by answering the questions myself below:

What is my biggest fear regarding my creative work in 2016? That all of my clever ideas won’t work. That, despite my best efforts, other people’s messages will resonate with those I want to reach more than my own. That, even though I deeply believe in the work I do, that I will squander the opportunity by either investing my energy in the wrong things, or worse: diminish its edge and focus by trying to make it appeal to too broad of an audience. That I will be less honest publicly than I could, maybe because I am trying to protect myself, maybe because I think it will make my ideas more appealing. And yes, I’m afraid that others will simply be smarter, more clever, more helpful, more amazing, and work harder than I did.

What is my greatest hope for my creative work in 2016? That I can help other creative people move to the next level. That I don’t just inspire them, but that my work actually has an affect in their lives that changes things for the better. And let’s face it, I want to feel that I have moved things for myself to that next level too. That my message and my daily work has a renewed sense of clarity. And that people SEE and FEEL that clarity — that it resonates better than it has in the past. That an underlying sense of momentum permeates the year, and that while everything I try won’t work, that one of my ideas will become a breakout success. And that this will open up a path that no longer seems so fraught with weeds, dead ends, and cliffs. That it leads to a new landscape filled with amazingly creative folks. And that this landscape is filled with people taking ACTIONS to fulfill the vision they have for their work.

So why am I asking you these questions? Because I want to better serve you in 2016. Better newsletters & blogs that speak to your needs; better courses and services; better, well, Better Dan.

And I can’t do that unless you tell me the stuff that you most hope to achieve with your creative work, or the biggest roadblocks to your creative work.

So please consider letting me know.

Thanks!
-Dan

Heads up: there are just a handful of spots left in my mastermind group that begins on November 4th. Join me and a group of creative professionals to move your career to the next level. More info and registration here. Onto today’s post…

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Great art requires limitations.

Too little time.
The wrong materials.
Ideas that won’t work.
An accident.
Bad luck.
Clever ideas that don’t take.
Devastating setbacks.

If you look at nearly every great work of art, you will find this. In great books, music, visual art, performance art, crafts, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Yet, too often, with our own creative ideas, we pretend two things are true:

1. That I have a unique challenge that makes it impossible for my work to thrive. Perhaps it is raising kids, a health issue, a full-time job, relationship challenges, or something else. The mantra of failure is “If I only didn’t have this limitation.”
2. That we lack the right tools to get it done. We tell ourselves that if only we knew the exact tools that our heroes used, then we could find success. We ask brand of chair our writing heroes write in. What paint brush does an inspiring artist use. What effects pedal does the guitarist use.

These are both lies. (sorry)

Lies we tell ourselves that justify the disappointment that success in our art and craft is more complicated and takes longer than we had hoped.

I listened to a podcast the other day with someone who said that every day, he has all of these “million dollar ideas.” He described a couple with complete enthusiasm, as if he was sitting on a pot of gold.

The problem: the idea is cheap, the work is expensive: the time and energy it takes to try to make it a reality. The gumption to work through the bad luck, the false starts, the clever ideas that don’t actually work.

Today I would like to talk about how producing great work is about embracing your limits, devoting yourself to a process, and working with the tools you have at your disposal right now, even if you fear they are inadequate for the job at hand.

Let’s look at a couple of examples to frame our discussion:

The Crappiest Guitar in the World

A 2012 article in The New York Times called Jack White “possibly the greatest guitarist of his generation.” For a decade as Jack crafted music in The White Stripes, this was his guitar of choice, a 1964 plastic guitar which was originally sold at Montgomery Ward as a discount option for someone who couldn’t afford a “real” guitar — a Gibson or Fender that cost 2x to 4x this price.

It’s a piece of junk. It’s actually made of fiberglass, not a great material for a guitar. It’s hollow, it doesn’t have a truss rod (which ensures the instrument is in precise alignment), and it only has 20 frets (whereas others tend to have 22 or more.) It’s a poser — the pickups are disguised to look like more impressive humbuckers. They aren’t.

In interviews, Jack has talked about his belief in constraints, and how he likes to feel that he is fighting the instrument in order to make great music.

Yet, Jack has had astounding success critically and in terms of audience size and record sales. Jack says:

“If you want it easy, buy a brand new Les Paul or a brand new Stratocaster.”

What is astounding is how many people do have a gorgeous Les Paul or Stratocaster and barely learn to play it, and never follow through to craft original music that they dream of. They dabble, they half-ass it, and this beautiful tool collects dust while Jack White finds success with a 50 year plastic guitar.

For these people, the purchase of the guitar itself was the biggest — and final — step they took toward their goals. It’s akin to buying a self-help book that you never read. Or signing up for a gym membership on January 1st that you never show up for.

The tool is a tiny part of success.
The process is what matters most.

The Outdated Tennis Racket

You find examples of this throughout different professions, not just creative fields. Tennis legend Jimmy Connors stuck with an outdated tennis racket long after his contemporaries moved on to better designs.

When he began using the Wilson T2000 racket, he was a bold leader venturing out into uncharted territory.

But quickly new materials and designs emerged as the 70s and 80s progressed that were wildly better than the steel Wilson T-2000 with it’s tiny surface area.

One instructor described why they used the T3000 (the next version of the racket) to instruct students:

“I teach with it exclusively. The small head, the [heavy] weight, it’s so unforgiving you can’t get away with anything. You’re forced to hit the ball correctly.”

Again, the limits are what Jimmy and this instructor seeks out, in order to reach their goals.

Finding Your Process

Too often, when it comes to bridging the gap between our vision and our reality, we bemoan our challenges. Our boundaries. Our limits.

And we shouldn’t, we should embrace them.

For example, this week I had two conversations with different people about their desire to run workshops within schools. Each had asked me for any recommendations of little known websites that can help them connect with schools.

My response was two-fold:

1. No, I don’t know of any secret website that easily places authors into schools. I’m not saying that doesn’t exist, I’m just saying it’s not simple, and I was ignorant of a particular website that would do that.
2. You are sitting on a mountain of resources to find out more about how schools place local authors into speaking and workshop opportunities: speak to people at your local schools, libraries and bookstores. Then go to five surrounding school districts and do the same. Your community likely has a number of organizations that serve kids in different ways, from Boy Scouts to churches to a wide variety of other programs. Your community is filled with nonprofits focused on education and kids. You are likely connected to lots of local parents and community organizers on Facebook already. These resources are literally right in front of you the moment you leave your house. Start there.

Can they do more? Of course: talk to other authors who have run workshops in schools. Seek them out. Ask them questions. But my point was as simple as this Arthur Ashe quote:

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
– Arthur Ashe

That alone will get you 95% further than all of the other authors who refuse to leave Google in their hunt to close the gap between their dream and their reality.

We often like to think it is about finding the easy way. The secret tips, the insider access, the tools that make it easy.

Instead, it is about establishing your own process of working within — and embracing — the limits you have.

Great work requires limitations.

What limitations are you trying to work past with your work?

Thanks.
-Dan

I’m offering a rare opportunity to engage with me personally through an 8-week mastermind program that will focus your creative business for success in 2016.

Every year I go through a system of analysis that serves as the backbone for my company, WeGrowMedia. This is now a five-year-old venture, and each year it has been a six-figure business. I do not say that to gloat or show off, because the truth is, it is a huge responsibility. I work my butt off to make this business a success, to ensure I am doing work that meaningfully helps others, and that supports my wife and son. And let’s face it, luck is a huge factor here as well.

I have never offered access to my planning system before. This process is, without a doubt, the foundation for planning my revenue growth each year.

This year, I am opening up my planning phase and sharing it with others through a public mastermind program. To show you the process I go through, and give you advice on how to grow your revenue as a creative professional.

WHAT WE FOCUS ON

I’ll start by saying that I only work with creative professionals. These are writers, crafters, designers, artists, entrepreneurs, and others whose work is not just about earning money, but about creating something special that will enrich the lives of others.

It is about craft, art, and an almost magical connection that happens when their vision sparks something in the hearts and minds of those who receive it. If you are reading this, that’s probably you.

But let’s face it, the money part is a big deal for you as well. And it’s difficult to figure out that part of it.

You have the “creative” part of “creative professional” down, but feel like you need more growth in the “professional” part.

The WeGrowMedia Mastermind focuses on the following:

• The products and services you offer.
• The business and money parts of your creative career.
• Developing momentum with your work.
• Honing your vision to focus intensely on a few key things that will lead to growth and make your vision a reality. So much of this process is about saying “yes” to a few key things, and “no” to hundreds of others.

We will move through four phases outlined below, each of which are meant to help you focus your products and your business on what will resonate with your vision, and what will resonate with your customers.

HOW THIS WORKS

This is not a course — it is a collaboration. A mastermind group is traditionally a group of like-minded people who come together to help one another brainstorm and focus. That is what this is, with an added layer, which is that I will be guiding you through my planning system.

The WeGrowMedia Mastermind program runs from November 4th to January 3rd. We will move through four bi-weekly prompts in that time:

1. Collect (Nov 4 – 17): Here we collect all of the insights about what is working for you already, what isn’t, what people love, and what fell flat. We collect data, do research, and look all of the elephants in the room right in the eye. This is about putting it all on the table and getting practical.
2. Organize (Nov 18 – Dec 1): Here we make order from chaos. At this phase, you likely have a big mess of ideas, a bunch of gaps between what you know and insights you hope to have. So we begin moving pieces around. We brainstorm. We establish a point of clarity that will give focus to your entire 2016.
3. Analyze (Dec 2 – 15): Now we connect the dots. We take little ideas and make them big. We take 20 seemingly must-have tasks and cut them down to three. We hack through all of the stuff that feels overwhelming, and make a commitment. We double down on the ideas and the vision that makes your heart sing. This is about saying “no” to 100 things so that you can say “yes” to the one part of your creative work that matters most.
4. Plan (Dec 16 – Jan 3): Here we put dates on the calendar. You identify clear steps you need to take, when they will be taken, and develop backup plan after backup plan to ensure you don’t fail.

In each phase, I talk about the goal, how I do it, and clear ACTIONS you need to take. That’s right, none of this is reading course material or doing homework — it is all about taking action.

My goal? Not to begin January 1, 2016 with vague resolutions, but to begin it with a clear focus and ready to take action. Through this mastermind, you will identify specific products and services you will be rolling out, when you will launch them, and how. This would equally apply to what you already offer (books, art, consulting, workshops, digital products), or crafting new ones that you come up with in the mastermind.

This bears repeating: You do not get loads of course material — you get prompts and actions to take. You are given a structure by which to collaborate with me and others in the mastermind. Nothing else. This is about action. Period.

You don’t have to show up anywhere on any particular day or time (because I understand the holidays are busy), but you will have constant access to the group (and myself) via these powerful collaboration tools.

1. Weekly video updates from me. This is where I talk you through key steps to be taking, and how I execute on my planning system. I will not talk in theory, but in terms of practical steps, sharing with you how I am doing this myself.
   
2. Shared Trello to-do lists. These will keep your actions focused and accountable. Each week, you create a handful of specific tasks and we keep you accountable to them. Everyone in the Mastermind can see your tasks, and you can see ours. Not sure what actions to take? Well, you will be looking over our shoulders to get ideas.
   
3. A private Slack chat group. This is basically a 24/7 instant messaging system for small teams. This is where you can brainstorm ideas, share insights, cry for help, and feel a sense of collaboration in what can be an otherwise lonely process.
   

Are you worried about how to use these tools? Don’t. These are things my team and I use every single day, and are a core way that collaborative groups work. They are easy to get the hang of, and after all, we are here to help you out along the way!

That is the real value here: collaboration. You will have me and others in the mastermind providing feedback on your goals, helping provide direction, giving feedback, and pulling you out of the hole when you feel stuck and lost.

Each week, I will provide feedback on your tasks, your progress, and your direction. And I will also tell you when you are losing focus or biting off more than you can chew. So much of this process is about clarity and focus. Taking simple actions consistently, not getting bogged down.

My role is to be a coach in this process. You get to watch what I do, I give you direction, observe and suggest corrections. But I’ll be clear: it is YOU on the playing field. I’m not out there to do the work for you, or hold your hand when you are stalling. My feedback will be short and to the point. This is about taking action when it matters.

WHO THIS IS FOR

This is for the creative professional who wants to take the business side of their craft more seriously. Who wants to have a clearer plan for 2016 in terms of products, services, and revenue. Who may have had some success selling their work, but felt it was mere luck, not the product of a well-executed plan.

I work with writers, artists, designers, crafters, entrepreneurs and anyone who is doing creative work that is deeply meaningful to their audience.

And I will absolutely say, this is about living up to your creative vision. A big part of my process is indeed about getting clearer about the meaning and experiences I am creating for others. The business side is meant to honor that, not derail it.

WHY THIS PROGRAM MATTERS

Let me share a few ways that this program is different from anything else I have offered before (and from what most others offer):

• Very often, people sell you “content,” such as course material, when a key ingredient to success is collaboration. This mastermind is about that collaboration: relationships with others that keep us focused and accountable.Consider why it costs $75 to join a gym for an entire month, but $75 to hire a personal trainer for a single hour. Just joining a gym gives you access to tools, but hiring a personal trainer gives you access to insights and a personalized system. Most people don’t show up to the gym on an average day, but they nearly always show up to an appointment with a personal trainer. It is a commitment, and assurance to get the job done.This mastermind is that commitment. I am waiting at the gym for you to show up. Don’t leave me — and your creative vision — hanging.
• I do this work during the holidays on purpose, because it is a time of reflection where we assess what matters, and make a clear plan of action that begins January 1. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t take you three weeks to cook a single turkey dinner, and it doesn’t take you 4 weeks to buy presents.Yet many people I talk to are “too busy” during the holidays to do business planning. They say they will start it in January, along with that diet they have been restarting every year for 20 years.

  I do this system during the holidays to leverage the things that the holidays are already stirring within me: reflections on what matters most. For many of us, we see family during the holidays, we take time off, and (good or bad) lots of stuff is stirred up from our past. Use this. Use this reflective mindset to fuel your business planning. To ensure you are on track to do work that deeply matters to you.

  And let’s be honest here — not everyone loves the holidays. It can stir up identity conflicts, trauma, family crisis, and so much else. Again, use that. Planning how to make your creative work sustainable via revenue streams is very much about the identity you create for yourself in the world, and how you will affect the lives of others. If you have strong feelings about that, good! I love that. Even if they are conflicted emotions, that is way better than just rotely going through the motions. This should be a process filled with passion. I want you to be fighting for something you are creating, not allowing a turkey dinner to derail your creative vision.

  (Disclaimer: No, I am not a heartless machine. I love Thanksgiving and turkey as much as anyone. But I simply don’t write off an entire season of creative planning because of it.)

• There is no refund policy on this program. When you sign up, you are making a commitment not only to me, but to yourself. Take action, or else lose your investment. This is a no excuses program. If you don’t do the work, you will hear it from me. One term you will hear a lot in this program is the following: “No half-assing it.” (Sorry for the language.) Why do I use this term? Because most creative ventures fail not because they aren’t engaging ideas, but because the person half-asses it. They do it part way. They give up at the drop of a hat.
   
  This program is a half-ass free zone.

  If you have creative work that is deeply meaningful to you, whether it is full-time or part-time, I’m challenging you to stop treating your profession like a hobby.If you have a day job, I would bet that you would never consider showing up late for work. Or show up only three days per week to a job where you’re expected to be there five days per week. Or you wouldn’t just leave mid-day from the job because you didn’t feel inspired to do it.

  Yet, this is how people “show up” for their creative vision. For their creative career.

This program isn’t for everyone.

I’m accepting a really limited number of participants because I want to ensure we have a solid group of people ready to take action. And I’ll be honest — we will be spending the holidays together, so I want it to be fun, not just productive. I talk through what you can expect in this video:

Want in? Apply now. If you are accepted, there is a $499 total fee for the two-month program, payable in two parts (one payment of $249 at registration and one payment of $250 in December).

Instead of a “Register Now” button, I have an application for you. I want to get a sense of your vision and challenges before I allow you to join the group. This is not meant to be judgy — that is not my goal. I simply want to ensure this group is filled with a group of passionate creative people ready to take action.

UPDATE: THE CURRENT MASTERMIND CAN BE FOUND HERE.

My most recent guest post on WriterUnboxed focuses on how difficult the path to success for creatives really is, and makes the following point:

Spend less time reacting to other people’s expectations, and instead, become great at something that no one else even thought of.

The post shares two compelling examples of this. Read it here.

Thanks.
-Dan