Just Keep Learning

Marley uses the hashtag "Get Jaxxed " when it comes to challenging her audience to build a bigger brand. It’s a brilliant catchphrase, that shows her powerful skillset in language and marketing.It’s definitely a great summary of her own brand too.Her current business is a joint venture with her husband, Steve, called "Youtube Lead Machine". They specialize in helping clients create organic youtube content that turns into leads for their business, while growing their authority.Figure Out Your Dreams And GoalsMarley explains how turning your passions and interests into a career, or at least part of a career, like a side hustle is very realistic. But, it needs to start with organic, intrinsic pursuits so that you actually love it. Be sure to connect things you are good at, to what you enjoy and make sure that people need, or want it.We talked about the fact that every person has a different path to success. Some people might want to go very niche with their content, some may want to stay a little broader and others somewhere in between. Or, some of us might not even know yet.Overcoming Adversity On The JourneyThe name ‘Jaxx’ actually means someone who can overcome any obstacle that comes their way. One of the ways she overcomes obstacles and achieves her goals is something she learned from Tony Robbins. The life lesson that had the greatest impact on Marley was learning that if you change the story you tell yourself, then you’ll be able to shift toward the life you want.The idea of “Be, Do, Have” is a mental framework for success that Marley leans on. She explained that we need to be the type of person who would achieve the things we want to have. We need to be that type of person first. Then we do the things that person does and finally, we will receive what that person gets. But it first starts with defining our identity. Deciding who we are. Fighting The Money MonsterMany of us, maybe even most of us grow up with confusion around money. Marley was no different. She talks about getting more and more comfortable with the value and positive aspects of money.She shares about overcoming money blocks, understanding how to make more, getting more comfortable earning more, charging more, and also spending more.Money is simply a “thank you” for the value we receive, and we should think about our investments this way as well. We should not be scared to make investments in life. Instead of asking “what is the cost of this?” Ask, “What is the cost of not doing this?” It may just be that not spending the money would be worse.Finding Balance And FlowMarley works hard. But more impressive is her ability to play hard, and relax as well. We talked about the importance of work, life, and creative balance. She shares how her goal is a state of flow in life. Can we maintain focus on what our passion currently is, while not overdoing it and burning out?Not getting caught up in the “have to-do’s” but rather maintaining focus on the get-to-do’s” is a key to life.As always, we talked about a bunch of fun topics; school; learning for the sake of accomplishing grades and passing tests, vs learning for enjoyment; learning how to learn; divorce, cancer, wellness, grief and creating impact in the time we have on earth.Tips On Entrepreneurship At it’s core business is all about relationships, networking and exchanges of value for an agreed upon compensation, whether in partnerships, or in client deals and customers.Your success all starts with identity, habits and routines. Who are you, who do you want to be and how do those people act, what do they do?Take yourself to attractive character school (how to create simple, but effective setups for the best quality video creation, how to stand for the brand values that are true to you, how to speak, on camera, or off camera, crafting a message, how to deliver the message in a way that people want to hear more.)Learn how to live in the moment and enjoy the process of creating your hobby, side hustle, or career. Find excitement in figuring out the path, as opposed to the attainment of the goal.Study the routines, steps and habits of people who have achieved similar goals already. Create as the unique person you are, but decide what can you steal from them that will help you on your journey.Choose mentors that already have the thing that you want, whether it’s an accomplishment in the industry or a lifestyle you would like. Learn from them, but also start teaching others to give back. As far as business systems go, it’s always specific to the situation, but overall, it’s a matter of creating content that is compelling and attracts an audience. Then, generate leads, nurture and support those leads, and a certain percentage will become customers. Fulfill your promise to them, possibly upsell and resell to your best clients by providing more of what they need.Never try to be someone else. There is so much noise out there we could be tempted to copy someone, but you need to stay true to yourself. D

Think of something you want to do. Now, ask why haven’t you started yet? If you were able to take ownership of your decisions, you would be. So what’s getting in the way?Many clients I work with, especially teens, feel overwhelmed by the pressure put on them to have a goal in life. The last word they want to hear is “goal-setting”.But, why is this?Simply put, many of us aren’t ready to take ownership over our dreams. This happens for a couple reasons.**For the full written version of the episode see the transcript. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

I love this quote from writer, T.S. Eliot:“Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure that is what you feel.”It's simple to go through life doing things that other people want us to do.It’s simple, but not easy.Many of us make decisions, whether we realize it or not, based on the thinking of other people.This is really common.So, armed with the knowledge that this is often the case, we should stop and ask ourselves, “is this what I want?”When it comes to achieving our goals, it’s important to make sure we are ready to own our decisions.**For the full written version of episode see the transcript. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Mariam grew millions of followers on social media by creating hilarious, fun-loving content that puts a smile on your face. She paints characters on her face. Using the characters she makes them dance, sing and tell stories across social media.We talked about painting, monetizing artwork, and life lessons learned along the way. Mariam was a great painter, but to take on this venture she had to learn. She had to learn how to paint her own face. She had to figure out what styles and supplies worked best. Developing a skincare routine was super important too, given she paints her face a few times per week.Mariam hardly used social media before, and according to her was not tech savvy at all. But now she is able to create a ton of great content. She is busy, but still manages to pump out videos, with art, edited clips, and sound, while posting to multiple platforms and engaging with her audience.The necessary evil of growing on socials is well worth it if you can maintain a positive attitude. Along these lines, we talked about dealing with haters, coming up with ideas, and sharing what the audience wants to consume v.s what you want to make.Seasons Of LifeWe actually got talking about life in general. How does one balance life when they are a creator, but also a professional, partner, and parent?Mariam shares her belief in being open to new possibilities and living with your values as the foundation first. It’s about being in alignment in each season of life.This is clear in her story. She went from traditional painting on canvas to sharing art online. She also, all of a sudden, became a really popular influencer. Mariam shares how important it is to try different things. Then, you can see if they are aligned with your values, but also figure out if people are appreciating the work. If you like it and an audience likes it, then you have a match.It was awesome hearing Mariam open up about these seasons of life we all go through. She has had to face a lot of change in life. Growing up in difficult circumstances that she shares about made her a resilient person. She was an elite basketball player with many other big dreams. Now, here she is as an online, social media, artist. Mariam is a big believer that it is important we recognize we can shift our identities and recreate ourselves many times. If we have a new project, or goal we need to see ourselves as that new person.8 Tips On Success As An ArtistBeauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don’t get discouraged because you think you aren’t good enough, or other people are “better than you”. Art is super subjective, keep going.There are no rules when it comes to creating. Keep trying various mediums. Combine styles, learn from different role models and over time your style will develop.When it comes to selling art, remember that people don’t tend to buy, or remember the actual piece. In most cases, they are buying from a person they connect with.Be willing to create more of what your audience wants. This only happens when you get to know your community and craft something they will love. Balance what you want to create with what they want you to create.Avoid burnout by managing expectations and priorities often. Shoot for the moon, but recognize that we are human and we need to find some way to be healthy and get rest. Push yourself, your skills, and your marketing. But not too hard. Only do what you can easily recover from by tomorrow.Re-evaluate your habits and actions. Check-in with your time management, your overall goal, and how much your daily actions map toward the big goal. A few times a year, decide if you should slow down, speed up, or pivot.Continue to build leverage you own by growing on social media, and creating a website, vlog, blog, or podcast.To monetize it takes consistent brand building combined with research and empathy. Always be thinking of different ways that you can make money and try one at a time. Ads, sponsorships, books, courses, downloads, cameos, birthdays, paintings, prints, freelance, paint by number, puzzles, clothing, NFT’s, murals, etc. Once you have a sustainable income stream that’s automated, start trying another.Memorable Quotes“When you work on something, the joy in life is in progress. So you want to feel like you're progressing. You don't want the same thing over and over again.”“Don’t put yourself in a box. It's okay to try a bunch of things until something catches traction and sits well with you. If it’s something you would love to make money doing, ask how can I create a brand for this?”“Something you do in art is called a concentration. I like to look at each stage of life, like it is my current concentration. This is the medium I am focused on, but I can change it at any moment.”“Most people are not going to pay $4,500 for a painting, but they might pay $65 for a print about the same size. So figuring out what works for different people in your audience and serving their needs is important.”Follow MariamYouTube @MariamM

For the longest time, I pursued goals because I thought they were the right things to chase, not really knowing if I personally, truly believed in them. I quit working in the fitness industry to pursue a career as a teacher.I did my Masters in Educational Leadership & Learning.I climbed the ladder of formal rewards to become a Principal in schools.While I’m grateful for many of these accomplishments, in each of them there was an element of “this is what I am supposed to do”. It wasn’t until I was well into creating the Just Keep Learning Podcast that I realized how different it feels to pursue the goal that I personally am driven by. And I want that exact same feeling for you. In order to have that exact same feeling though, it can help to understand a bit about why we may not be in control in the first place.**For the full written version of episode see the transcript. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

To be clear on our big dreams, we need to know where we are in four main areas.These are like gas tanks for our goals. We want to keep them as full as possible.Once we’re all fueled up we can decide where we want to go.**For the full written version of episode see the transcript. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Do you know your big dream? If you know your big dream then you’re getting somewhere. But are you certain?If you don’t know your big dream, then the first step before goal setting, planning, and productivity, should be to figure it out. The first step to figure it out is to understand what might be getting in the way.Once we are aware of our dreamblockers and make progress towards eliminating them we can take the steps toward figuring out our big dream.FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Benjamin Allen only started sharing his music since COVID. In the last few years he’s grown a pretty large audience of loyal fans who love his music. In this episode, we talk about how to be effective creating music, the mindset, and the lifestyle that must exist around it when it’s not your full-time gig (yet).We hear how Ben got into music in the first place as a youngster. He is one of those musically inclined people, who always appreciated the art, but never really took it seriously. He found success as a competitive goalie in hockey, but mid way through the teen years decided music was the greater passion.Ben shares a behind the scenes glimpse into his personal development, fitness routines and wellness. A big part of his wisdom comes from the need to juggle making enough money to pay the bills while still pursuing music with enough momentum and consistency. We chatted about dealing with haters and building personal confidence. It’s so important as a foundation for new musicians to be able to stand in their own self-esteem. This can also be helped by surrounding yourself with good people.We heard all about how Ben looks at song writing. He gives us a great rundown of his own music production. We get to hear from mindset, to idea, to creating, editing and publishing, all of the steps he takes to create an album.15 Things To Think About If You Want To Become A SingerListen to a lot of music, from multiple genres. Some just for enjoyment and to get the vibe, but also to identify song structure, and learn to recognize different elements that appear in songs.Focus on songwriting. Even though production can make something, almost anyone sound great, it’s still the actual song that is most important. Focus on writing things that resonate with your audience and always work to get better at songwriting. The most important element of writing the song is creating relatability and connection with the listener. They should be able to use the themes, but put their own people, experiences and emotions into the story.Songwriting success is a lot about repetitions, you just have to write your first one hundred songs as quickly as possible, listen to and read other songs, but most importantly write as much as you can, read them back and continue to improve. When it’s time to sit down and create, make, or get an instrumental and then hum different melodies over top of it, and once you find a rythm that sounds good, start adding words to it, especially finishing words that you might want to rhyme. The most important part of a song is the melody. You can create a song, and people might know zero of the words, but if they get the melody stuck in their head it can still be memorable.From those first lyrics and energy a concept, themes, and story will then develop. You’ll learn bars, song structure, and chord progressions over time, but essentially most songs will fit a similar structure of 8 bars for a verse, 4 bars pre-chorus and 8 bars for the chorus. Steal like an artist by studying what others have done that works, appreciating what you connect with and borrowing ideas that you then make original.Always writing to instrumental, even when you’re coming up with ideas can be helpful because it keeps you cautious of the number of syllables and phrases you can fit into your song.You don’t need a fancy studio to be successful. You can add pieces to the production over time, as you make money invest in your instruments, software and tech that will help you create. But people can make good music from a phone, or tablet these days and improve equipment and spaces over time. In fact, it’s probably best to scale your gear with your creativity and abilities, because it will be a better fit as you continue to level up.The basic equipment you should start with is a device that can run a digital audio workspace such as GarageBand, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, or any of the others depending on your budget. If you are recording vocals you will want a half decent microphone, but just as important understand a little bit about the acoustics of the room you record in. The microphone can be plug and play, for under a couple hundred dollars to start.Once you have a song you are happy with, similar to a podcast these days, if you would like to share it across many different streaming services, then it’s best to use a distribution service that will send your track out to all of the different platforms.When it comes to marketing your music, it’s important to create a community. It’s also really helpful to make micro content, clips and shorts that could go viral. Share the melody, parts of the hook, snippets from your lyrics, as well as behind the scenes making it and the meaning of the track as much as possible.Pre-saves and downloads on day one are also huge for artists. The more your audience hops on a track before and right at the time of release, the more momentum it gives the algorithm and the more a streaming service will help serve

To summarize, it’s important to pursue our passion. It may be for money, it may be for fun, or an ever changing combination of the two, it might be for 5 minutes a day, or ten hours, but make sure you are pursuing it. Make your career decisions based on what you feel gives you the greatest advantage in a literal sense as well, at least, just find a way to pay the bills so to speak. Now, way, way, way more important than passion, or work is the pursuit of meaning. Most of us go about life without intention and clarity about what gives us true MEANING. Now I could talk through it with you, but I can’t figure it out for you. Remember, it’s an individual experience and an organic, evolving one, hah, sort of like a maze as we talked about in the most recent solo episode. Go back and give that a listen if you feel frustrated. But, either way the best thing we can do is ask questions, make decisions, and ask more questions. You will never know what brings you the most meaning until you start asking:Are you working on a project that motivates you?Do you engage with a group that you enjoy collaborating with?Does your work, in some way(s) serve others?Do you have to persevere and solve challenging problems?FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Brianna Ansaldo is an audio, music and podcasting genius. Shes share her experience through this life journey. Brianna went from learning guitar as a little kid, creating music, becoming a singer, editing audio, and eventually podcasting. Even though podcasting came later, she was always into the audio world, right from when she was a little kid. She now owns a podcast production and marketing company called Bamby Media.Brianna, known also as her company name Bamby Media, explained how being a creative person is a lifelong journey. It is ok to switch mediums. It is ok to take a break. Following your intuition and giving yourself permission to make what you want to make, when you want to make it is underrated. One of Brianna’s strengths is understanding that we should not overthink. Instead, build systems, or habits that allow you to have little creative bursts throughout your day. Focus on the inputs, what you do, the actions you take. If you focus on results you can be persuaded from doing the things you truly love. Or the things that are more in line with your values and desires. By focusing on what we do, how we do it and above all why we do it, all things that we can decide, we are able to create with more vitality. Audio MasterclassesBrianna shared some great insight for those wondering how to become a singer. She gave us honestly a mini masterclass in how to start singing and pursue that dream. She shares some tips on how anyone can get good at singing at any age if they want to.She is multi passionate, so we took the opportunity to discuss a bit about each of her skills. Entrepreneurship, freelancing, how to make money for yourself, and building her own successful business, dealing with it growing and still finding balance were all important themes.Brianna never gives in to excuses. She multitasked as a new mom, lives away from family, and had a busy husband. But, she simply decided that she wanted the goal of podcasting and entrepreneurship enough to get it done no matter what. We talked about this time management and building a business during nap cycles as she put it. How do we pursue our big dreams when we have so many other responsibilities? Clearly it worked out as her partner actually left being a doctor to come work together on the Bamby Media brand.Naturally, we talked a lot about podcasting. She is definitely an expert in everything from creation, production, to distribution, marketing and monetization. So we talked podcasting for quite a while. One of the most interesting topics was the metrics you can expect with a brand new show and how to grow.10 Things To Think About When Starting Music Or SingingWhen starting to sing, focus on the breath, posture and warm up exercises making sure our facial bones are in a healthy position and that our diaphragm is effective is half the battlePractice with drills, because repetition will help you intrinsically understand your vocal range, how high and how low can you make sounds, and what it feels like to sing from a more intuitive, deeper understanding that will hold up under pressure, or nerves.It’s all about a willingness to be patient, to look stupid, to try and fail, but learn and keep going.Once you feel like you understand the basic concept of singing a great way to practice can be to make a list of your favourite songs you’d like to sing, use a music player, with headphones on and practice singing them, progress to having half headphones on and then finally taking headphones off. Don’t stay attached to one song for long, be sure to practice with various songs at the same time. To start songwriting, practice writing poetry because it doesn’t have to be attached to music, or limited by bars. It can be so helpful to explore short form storytelling, when do you want something to rhyme?Don’t be attached to an outcome. Perfectionism will creep in if you worry about how something will sound, or what people will think. Don’t limit your creativity. Get good at noticing things and create from a place of genuine curiosity.Once you can write in general, shift some of your activity to creating some simple chord progressions on instruments like guitar, piano, or humming and while you create a beat in your head, start to think of themes that come to mind, topics you could write about and then slowly start adding words to compliment the melody and turn poetry into song.There are many benefits to singing, songwriting and creating music as a hobby, however as a career, it can be very difficult to succeed. If you want to have it be a career, you should be so passionate about it that you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. You also, depending on financial situation may need to make a lot of sacrifice and find ways to pay bills while you continue to put in the work.If you do want this to be an actual career, then you have to learn to market your music. Beyond improving your skills and creating good songs you need to learn to put yourself out there often and

In today’s episode, inspired by music lyrics, I’ll tell you about the importance of mazes in our life, a funny story of taking a kiddo in a wheelchair through an outdoor maze, how it taught me a lot about goals and how we can learn to be even better at getting out of mazes.There are many tools that help us learn to live a good life. Some are more obvious, but others are a bit hidden. I find song lyrics is one of those sneaky tools that can teach us a lot about life. Pay attention to the words from great songwriters and see what they mean to you. You’ll have no choice but to reflect and think from time to time.Within 24 hours I heard two songs that used lines about mazes, John Mayer’s, Daughters: “just like a maze, where all of the walls all continually change”. And Mac Miller’s Ladders: “Maybe we inside the maze, somehow we gotta find a way, no matter how many miles it takes”This really reminded me that life goals are an evolving maze for all of us. Not too many variables tend to stay the same. These changes and ever-evolving challenges don’t need to be stressful. A maze can be a lot of fun if we treat it like a game the way we do as kids.FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

In this episode, we will hear some amazing poetry from one of my favorite poets (sidenote: please be sure to go support his work) and we will learn why both apologizing and forgiving should happen quickly if we want to achieve our goals.One of my favorite poems, called “how to be a person” by Shane Koyczan states this beautifully. We'll hear a little piece of this poem and I'll share my own learning about forgiveness and apologizing. Why it's important and how we can get better at both.FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Daniel believes strongly that we are all naturally creative, compassionate, committed, and highly capable creators. He does many things, and at the heart of his goals and passion is musical theatre. He gave us a mini masterclass about storytelling through music. He didn’t find it cool as a kid, but perhaps because he didn’t “get it” at that point. It would be cool to see kids appreciate theatre from a young age, like any other creative medium, singing, dance, filmmaking.Daniel is a refreshing creative, because he doesn’t just follow the norms online. We talked about coming to terms with being a multi passionate person, versus having a single niche. He gives some great advice for people struggling with this challenge of being multi passionate.We are all just one person. But that one person can have many ideas and interests. Once Daniel found a connection between his passions, a throughline, he was able to live with more calm and coherence. This connection comes from defining the underlying meaning, or calling is. Make your meaning your foundation that all of your interests sit on top of.We are creatives because we have stories to tell. It’s fun to have all of the accomplishments too. Results can be amazing, but only if the passion and purpose are there first. In that way we can work on a project for 18 years with no fame, or fortune because it was a life raft for our own mental health.There were a few topics that are tough to discuss, but provide a tiny silver lining. Death, illness, addiction, social media, influencers and capitalism all came up. Daniel understands that in many ways capitalism ruins things. We talked about the dark side of social media, sharing our messages and how inhumane our marketing can be. Turning humans and our relationships into commodities. Companies profit by providing the addictive properties of social media that can make us do crazy things for a like. Yet, we can connect with each other through social media for relationships and a good causes.A fascinating and important topic was neuro-marketing, especially to children. It’s scary how many big brands and gurus market specifically to kids and teens to take advantage of the vulnerability of their minds. Yet, if we want to spread an incredible message like a new book we have that can help a lot of people, marketing is the path to have it spread.Another incredibly sad, yet hopeful part of our conversation was about autoimmune disease, addiction and the myth of normal. The myth of normal is the title of Daniel, and his father Gabor’s best-selling book. We discussed the real world challenges of scaling important messages such as normalizing illness in our body, or mind and how illness should not be normalized. How we as a society misunderstand, and disrespect the developmental needs of our children in favour of a toxic environment. In many ways humans confuse “normal” with natural and this keeps us sick emotionally, physically, and socially. Mainstream medicine, big companies, they aren’t going to be part of the solution. So we need to take it upon ourselves to figure out what should be our normal?We also had a more lighthearted brainstorm about the similarities between Jordan Peterson and his dad, Gabor. How do people become fans of both personalities when on the surface they have such different views?At the root of this a conversation is really the importance of doctors and health care practictioners working to share the truth. That our mindbody exist together, not separate. That our illnesses are a product of a cumuluative, contextual environment and that we need to keep learning to fight the ego of institutions. Regardless of our differences, we need to support each other in creating a less toxic environment.One of the throughlines in the foundation of David’s work is his ability to simply live a good life. Perhaps, through his mentoring, he is even better at achieving this for others and so we talked about some of the tools and concepts he would recommend people do to live a healthy, happy life.6 Tips For Living Your Best LifeLearn to suffer well. Don’t prolong suffering, but don’t deny it either. Everyone of us, in having a human experience will have moments of suffering. Instead of asking “why” we need to shift our thinking to squeezing the wisdom from it. What can we learn from this? How can I grow from this?Don’t believe everything you are told, or even think. Be a critical thinker. Question everything. Realize you are the one making meaning out of your life. We all see ourselves and our story with a virtual reality helmet on, but it’s important to allow that helmet to crack, let some light in, change the way we see things as we become more and more enlightened and make personal changes accordingly.Context matters more than content. Any details, facts and stories can be viewed from different perspectives. Two people with very similar circumstances, or results can have entirely different experiences, positive, or negative, dep

If we are to achieve our goals we will be able to live in a state of abundance much of the time. Even the greatest of thinking minds can find themselves in a pity party. But most of them are pretty good at getting out of it. One way I find helpful is to appreciate how miniscule I am in the grand scheme of things. Appreciating that if we attend a football game we are just one of 100,000 people in that venue, that the earth itself, let alone me is a teeny tiny speck on the universe reminds me not to take myself too seriously.Check out this episode, or the episode transcript to learn how Van Wilder and The JOKER can teach us a lot about life.FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Huw Davies tried many different traditional jobs and while he gained experience with each one he never found the work he wanted to do for life. This was especially clear when the manager he aspired to be like told him that he will end up stuck doing work he would rather not do if he kept on that path. Huw literally searched ‘how to make money online’ and came across a ton of different side hustle ideas. He tried selling on EBay, investing, flipping, and eventually found some success with selling digital books. Huw created a crazy and inspiring schedule to help him keep his day job and build security on the side. He was getting up at 5 Am, putting in work on e-books until he had to head to work and spent every break and evening he could writing. In the first year he managed to create over sixty books. Between these products and his investing he had financial promise. At this point his day job started getting in the way.As he discovered the FIRE (financial independence retire early) community and knew he was making some reasonable solo income he decided to go all in as an entrepreneur. The important thing Huw did was ensure he had some financial success starting to scale, reduced expenses and stayed productive when it came to creating money making opportunities that allowed him to increase his investments over time.We got into talking about death and how powerful its reminders can be. There is a certain part of society that focuses so much on pension, retirement and future living. But what happens if we don’t make it there? At the same time we need to be able to pay bills, and fulfill certain duties, so how do we strike a balance and live our best life now?Huw shared quite a bit about his path to early retirement. We heard about stock selection compared to index funds, building passive income and the wisdom that anyone can apply to become financially free. Most of it is common sense, but really clear and quite possible for the majority of people. One of the most interesting conversations was about minimalism. Both mental and physical clutter can bring about so much more stress and anxiety than necessary. Huw shared his resources for learning how to be more minimalist and how he applies it. The real truth is taking things away actually adds to our life if we do it right. Clear evidence of growth mindset was a big part of this episode. I really appreciated how Huw shared the fact that he never saw himself as creative. He did an exercise at work where he ranked not only lowest of everyone at his company in terms of creative ability, but he actually scored a negative. Yet, he now creates content for a living and has really developed many creative strengths. Lost in all of this potentially is how many incredible tips Huw gives when it comes to being a content creator. He told us how little experience he had. He told us how he was introverted and struggled with comfort on camera. He shared the fact that as his platforms grew he received more and more hate. What is very clear though is that he is good at growing a following, so his ideas were very helpful.So much edutainment. How to build creative confidence and become a content creator. How to retire early with financial freedom and how to be a successful entrepreneur. How to use grief, death and the challenges of life to make us better, not worse.9 Tips For Financial FreedomIn any endeavor, you can find people who have accomplished what you want to accomplish and model your efforts after them. Learn from them. Read books, take course, and network with them if you can. Try side hustles. There are hundred of great ideas. But pick one, or pick a few and narrow it down to one. Once you pick one, go all in as much as you can in your spare time.If you can, focus on some of your passions that could be monetizable. Look at the insight of Ikigai and combine your interests with something the world needs.Realize it’s ok if you are bad with money. I was terrible with money. But that’s when it’s really important to start learning about how to grow true wealth. Be open to learning and improving your money mindset, whether it’s making more, saving more effectively, or investing.Learn from the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) community about how to grow your wealth and find financial freedom. Being part of a community of people making this effort can be really motivating.Learn to love delayed gratification. Nothing worthwhile will be accomplished overnight. So you might as well enjoy the process of really hard work and figuring it out while the results are still far away. But, remember that it is going to pay off.When it comes to investing focus on index funds, something that combines a bunch of steady and stable, yet growing companies. Not specific, single stock selection. Investing in markets should be a very long term play. Build a budget based off of your needs, not your wants. Continue to find ways that you can reduce spending and increase income.Appreciate that if

You can design your life, or at least parts of your life based on design thinking. The idea is simple, rather than going through life like a tumbleweed being blown around by the wind, going wherever life takes you, you design aspects of your life. In this episode we’ll look at two things, what is design thinking? And how can we apply it to design our life?Check out this episode, or the episode transcript to learn what design thinking is and how you apply it to make your life better! FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Are you a dreamer, or an overthinker? Then understanding the "Philosophy Of The Negative And Positive P’s" will really help you build momentum. It will help you make progress toward things that actually matter to you, instead of all the fluff we could get focused on.It often seems that there just isn’t enough time to accomplish what we want in life. That’s because it’s true. The reality is, if we are any bit of a dreamer or thinker, it will never happen. It is impossible to do everything we dream of since ideas are infinite. Yet, we have a very finite amount of time.For every one of us, our window of opportunity is bound by mortality. We have an individualized number of minutes to create what matters to us. The craziest part is that we know it is one specific amount of time, but we don’t even know how much time it is. If we attempt to “manage” this time, we will live in a constant state of worry over how much we have.Check out this episode, or the episode transcript to learn all about the helpful and hurtful P's. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Laughter is a good medicine, but learning is even better. Learning isn’t just fun. It can serve a powerful purpose. Today we’ll appreciate a bit more how learning can have an impact on both physical and mental health. To oversimplify, learning in the macro of our lives is good for us. It is healthy. We'll talk about the fact that learning can actually help us be physically healthier and share a couple books, The Myth of Normal & The Big Leap that help us appreciate this mind-body, learning connection. FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesLinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Cara grew up in the GTA of Canada, with a mother who really looked out for her well being. She was almost “overprotective”, but a game changer in her life when it came to helping her believe in her dreams and goals.Speaking of those goals, she is a successful actor and this started when another role model became a big influence in her life. She had a teacher see something special in her ability to act and helped her get started.We touched on some heartfelt topics about being able to integrate as creatives and some of the history of racism in the culture of creating content, such as Shakespeare. It was so fun to think that the real goal should be to come together to share creative experiences.Lifelong Learning As A CreativeCara is an intelligent and curious creative. Most importantly she loves to learn. She has a skillset beyond acting, as she also creates in spatial computing, music, NFTS and social media content.We often get in our own way when it comes to being an artist because we try to stay in our own lane. She shares a very healthy mindset when it comes to this because she never stopped learning new ways to be creative.Cara shared what it’s like to have fans, and a reputation as an actor. She also broke down the difference between video game, theatre and acting on camera.If you are someone with an interest in acting, then her tips will definitely be both entertaining and helpful.15 Things We Learned About ActingDefinitely the number one tip is practice a lot. Just keep practicing in whatever way, or combination of methods that you like.As an actor you are running a business. If you are going to be successful, you are selling yourself and selling your art.There are fewer and fewer gatekeepers, so don’t wait for permission to create. If you don’t have a current project, you can film something yourself, or with a group, that could become a feature, but no matter what will allow you to practice.Never stop improving. Acting is different than writing, or painting. You can’t create start to finish on your own and sell your product. As an actor, this will sound bad, but it’s a reality. You are a tool, to be used as a part of a bigger project. Remembering to be a tool that people want to use more and more will help you stay humble and achieve more opportunities. Networking is often underrated. The ability to be on people’s radar when they are casting, or putting together a project is valuable. It also helps that all stakeholders enjoy working with you. The more enjoyable you are to work with, as long as your art is good, the more work you’ll have.Build a community, or group of like minded, similar level creators to grow together with. Mentor, ask questions, solve problems and bounce ideas off of each other.Read scripts if you are serious about acting. This will help you learn to read what is trying to be conveyed in the writing. You will feel more comfortable connecting lines to the story, as well as memorization and comparing projects in general.Theatre is supposed to be a moment that you create, and then it’s gone. Theatre is awesome because you can feel energy while creating in a theatre, and a live audience lends itself to all kinds of actual reactions of 100’s of people in the same moment, like gasping, or crying. You don’t get that in film. In any live acting scenario, such as theatre, you can not fake knowing how to act. You have to know your lines, or be solid at improv, you have to know how to position yourself, and use your voice effectively. But, all of these things can be manipulated and supported when making a movie.In film, that’s different than theatre however, you will move people and have an impact, but they will experience that more privately, on any timeline, and then you may, or may not hear about it. They might reach out to say thank you about a project you shot seven years ago that they just watched.In movie making, if you have a strong story, director, director of photography, cinematographer and editor, then you don’t need good acting to create a powerful scene. This is why you can add a celebrity, or model to a movie, even if they have little experience and skills, and the shot will be fine. That is not the case with theatre.Sometimes a trained actor may over act, in which case it may be better to fill the role with a non-actor, just anyone random, but at the same time this can be a valuable lesson for seasoned actors to not try too hard to make something specific happen. Just know your objective and be more real.As a video game actor, it is unique as well because people feel they get to know you on a far deeper level, if they are playing you, or competing against you in a game, and so they form strong emotional connections and opinions. Some people hate you and some people love you.Books, resources, coaching, courses, it all can help. You don’t need it, but if you are serious about your craft, it could definitely help.Give your script, or lines a scaffold for you to anchor to. This is

Vitality is needed to dream big. In the last episode, we defined mindfulness and shared 21 quick mindfulness activities you could implement right away to help you live with more vitality. I wanted to start with that because it was actionable from day one. But understanding more about your mindset shift is really helpful to make large, lasting changes. So today we will dive a bit deeper into the science that helps us make a deeper mindset shift and hear some quick clips from a few gurus in the mindset space that really helps explain what I’m saying.FOLLOW JustinInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries LinkedIn - Justin I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

From today’s episode, you’ll learn why mindfulness is valuable, what it is and 21 simple mindful activities you could start right away. It’s important to point out that one should learn the science behind shifting your mindset, as well as more advanced meditation techniques, but I wanted to start with the most actionable stuff first. We can take a look at those elements in future episodes. Aright, mindfulness, here we go! What is it? How do you achieve it? Why does it matter? And what is one way to be successful in building mindfulness habits?FOLLOW JUSTIN JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Ryan Aka Sully Bop is a business owner, audio engineer, producer, rapper, DJ and podcast expert. While he is really multi-passionate, his monetized activities all revolve around sound, audio and voice. We get to hear all about the journey and thought process behind getting into things like rap and podcasting. Both mediums were new to him, but he connected with them immediately. From there he found a way to have both podcasting, and hip hop be things that he does for fun, as a passion, but also as a professional.So we talked about making hip hop music, and podcast production. Listening to Ryan share his stance on podcasting fundamentals was really valuable. Anyone wanting to start, or re-brand a podcast would benefit from these ideas. One of the sneaky tips that can help a lot was to outsource things you don’t enjoy as soon as possible.Ryan shared a bit about improving your audio and how to succeed as a hip hop artist. It was fun hearing about how he got into that medium a little later in life. It was also really helpful to learn about his workflow in that area because people struggle with the question, how do I get started? We talked a fair bit about the philosophy of life in general. Particularly around the notion that you can’t get time back. Ryan also brought up a good point that our mindset around time, money and environment is very much related to how we were raised. Overcoming barriers to be able to build wealth of time, and wealth financially is well worth it. Ryan shared some of his insight into the world of business as well. We learned about the business model he created to help other people start podcasts. It was quite the shift he made, which really came down to shifting his personality at the same time. He shares some insight into role models he looks up to, how he learns and the goals he has for the future.16 Things That Will Help You As A HipHop Artist, Podcaster, Or BothAlways, always, always start with a solid “why”. If you know why you are doing this, you will be less likely to give up.Creative success is a lot of work, and a long term commitment. Even if you outsource most elements, there will be times when it feels like too much.Build systems and habits that help you enjoy the process and stick to producing and publishing, even in difficult, or busy times.Don’t expect pro results with amateur execution. Of course it won’t be perfect at the beginning. But it’s a medium that takes so much time and energy, you might as well be as professional as possible from the beginning and just keep improving.Outsource things as soon as possible. Decide the main thing you don’t like doing and hire someone to do that for you as soon as you can. And then outsource the next things asap.Focus on your mindset. You must believe your work is having an impact. If you only look at early data you might think it’s not succeeding. But it’s a chicken and egg problem because you have to believe it’s being impactful first.Have a positive perspective. Create because you love it. So long as it is having an impact on one person, it is worth it. If one person tunes in and has their life changed, then your show is a success.The tools don’t matter. Your workflow will evolve. There are so many great tools from free, all the way to very expensive. But there is no one best recording platform, digital audio workspace, or microphone. Figure out the package that works from you and if something no longer works, try another one.Set micro and macro goals to work toward, but don’t worry about the results. It’s quite easy to get into top 10% of creators in the world. Anything beyond that will take a lot of patience, work and falling in love with the actual journey.There are many ways to build an audience and all of them can work. For marketing, you can look at what worked for others and copy that. But you truly need to figure out what works for you and then double and triple that.There are many ways to monetize, but don’t worry about that at first. It’s the same as business, you need traffic, or in this case an audience and then doors will open to make money. Much like marketing, don’t expect a golden rule, or plan. You have to figure out what works best for you. You have business, then you have podcasting, or music and then you have the podcasting, or music business. It all comes down to building leverage in the form of an engaged audience. Once you have, let’s say 1000-10000 downloads per month, depending on the industry, you can then start to approach brands and build partnerships, or create your own products and services to fuel the financial side of getting your art to really take off.Join a community that can support you as a creator. Whether it’s a super expensive mastermind, free online group, or a local meetup doesn’t really matter. Collaborating and building community in line with your passion and goals is a game changer. You will learn things much faster, and you will be way less likely to give up.Learn everything about your

Brendan brought some tremendous wisdom to this conversation. Many articles refer to him as worlds best “growth hacker”. But in this interview, we hear why that often has a negative connotation and the way he really views his work. Essentially, he builds systems that help people achieve their business growth and marketing objectives in the shortest amount of time possible.When asked what his thoughts were on building revenue streams vs creative when first starting out as an entrepreneur, he asked "if you were paid no money, would you still do it?" It’s so important to understand what your goal is when deciding what to work on next. Start by asking yourself, why do you want to do this? Do you actually want to?We got into the idea of building a foundation for being a business owner by understanding that question and more. There were two very consistent themes of this episode. Two Keys To Success In Life & BusinessFirst off, if you want to have business and financial success, all you have to do is solve people’s problems. Get better at problem solving. It really is that simple, if you get better at finding solutions to things that others struggle with and you continue to improve your ability to provide a solution then you will never have to worry about money.Secondly, everything comes down to communication. Your ability to sell your solutions is a perfect example. How do you let people know that you could really help them? Conflict resolution, leadership and collaboration all yield positive business and social media results. And each one of these topics result from good communication. So if you were to focus on a skill to improve, communication is always a good one.Brendan shared what he learned from working with social media stars like Taylor Swift, Jay Shetty and Prince EA. He tells us how first off it is very possible to start from scratch and build a massive following. But, it comes down to developing the ability to create a one to one connection with your audience. Many people think it’s a one to many platform and that is where they go wrong. We got into some great conversations about how to create hookpoints to grab attention in the first few seconds of a piece of content. We also discussed a few different ways you can make money from a social following. Brendan is by far one of the most well rounded, experienced leaders in the industry of online, social media driven business and it is a great episode to learn from for sure.10 Things To Remember For Business & Social Media MarketingStart with mindset. Learn where stress and anxiety come from and put strategies in place that work for you to build this mental foundation. Or else you will not succeed. Don't start a business just be cause you like the idea, or you see someone else doing it. You should have your own reason for starting that model and a purpose that drives you to keep going.Find a mentor that can provide you some specific expertise, help push you to be your best and be there to listen in the tough times.The first business specific step is to start with a problem in the world that you can solve. Always start there. Ask yourself, what problem do you see in the world around you that you have, or are motivated to find a solution for? Understand that everything comes down to communication. Sales, content creation, marketing, conflict resolution, leadership, and collaboration are all about communication. Keep improving communication and you will succeed.You don't need traditional sales, you can build marketing content and focus on service without ulterior motives and if you provide solutions for people they will simply want to consume your content, hire you, buy your product, without you having to talk them into something.Focus on building leverage by creating social media content that serves, not sells, your audience. Help them achieve goals through your content. Being selfless at the top of your funnel so to speak will lead to good connections, referrals and brand leverage as your following becomes bigger and more loyal.Study the top content marketing leaders in your industry (not the outliers). Determine what they are doing to reach your audience? What do they do well that you can borrow?In every interaction try to understand who somebody is, how they see the world, what they want to achieve, what are the greatest challenges to achieving that, and then provide solutions. Before you pour gas on the fire of content creation and marketing, figure out what type of content you can create that people want to share. Once you figure out what people want to share, then scale that as much as possible. Memorable Quotes“I am only successful because I identify peoples problems and I provide them with a solution to solve that problem.”" Everything comes down to communication. Sales, content creation, marketing, conflict resolution, leadership, and collaboration are all about communication."“I don't technically sell. People come to me with a problem and I connec

Kelsye has a wealth of knowledge to help the creative entrepreneur. We talked a lot about the importance of connecting and pursuing your passion, regardless of monetization.The first step is to discover the interests and at least do them. Whether it is full time, part time, hobby, or any where in between, the most important thing is that you pursue it.There were some very powerful moments in this episode. One of the early, heavy hitting and emotional topics revolved around regret and guilt. Kelsye shared how she felt guilty for being in the way of her moms dreams.This lead to some awesome conversation about supporting others in chasing their dreams. One of the worse things we can do as family members is hold people back from their ambitions. At the same time, we need to be brave enough to set the example by pursuing our own dreams.Kelsye shared a bit of her own challenging life experiences. We chatted about how with the right perspective, we can pivot difficult times into positive powers. We shared some ideas and anecdotes about this mindset. Talked a bit about trauma, the things that build our character and why it’s important to help people learn to take that stance.The Magic Of Thinking BiggerA lot of people who start a creative business start out thinking really small because they don’t feel they have permission to do more.This feeling holds people back and they often get stuck freelancing, or building tiny products to sell. Kelsye flips this concept around.She shares her strategy for building bigger, bolder ideas first. These ideas fuel the rest of your vision and goals. Through success at a higher level, with fewer people, you will actually be able to serve more people, faster.One of the most exciting things was discussing the ideas about building community within your audience. The bigger your list of engaged, active audience members the better. This should be step one!Kelsye shared some incredible tips on building your audience, marketing the right way and how to grow your own email, or text lists.To help more people, you have to be selfish and promote. Her expertise and strategy around building your creative business is really helpful for both people looking to get started, or already far along their journey of entrepreneurship.Kelsye shares a lot about sharing your work with others, and the necessary “evil” of self promotion that will help all of us be more successful. How To Reverse Engineer Your Big GoalsThere were some incredibly powerful points on how to manifest your big dreams and goals as well.Kelsye shared the idea of writing down your vision, and believing in that future accomplishment as though it actually already exists. Don't just think about it, actually do it now.Being thankful now, in the present, for things we want to exist our future is one of the most powerful actions we can take to achieving them in real time. Of course we need to put in the actions, but most crucial is feeling deeply that we’ve already achieved it. When it comes to those actions, we talked a bit about prioritization and the importance of protecting our time and energy. It’s valuable to find balance, because we want to collaborate with each other, and have some down time left over. So, figure out the most important, one, or two things tied to your work and make sure you focus eighty percent of your time on those things.15 Tips On Audience Growth And Creative Entrepreneurship First, it’s not “either-or”. It’s not either you become a creative entrepreneur, or you go to a job you hate. This is a false idea. There are so many different ways to create a comfortable lifestyle that fits your passion and direction. So the way for you to succeed, you as an individual is nuanced.Once you realize there are many ways to create a business you love, you have to decide what that success looks like to you and open up your own mind to deeply believe that it is possible for you.Build your personal business foundation by starting with a website, preferably in your name. You might switch projects, niches, and content strategy, but you will always exist. So be sure to have this foundation that allows for making many pivots, while still building lifelong growth.Regardless of your business model, in almost every case you are going to have to build an audience. Whether you create an app to sell, or you are a musician, you will have to build an audience around your messages.Don’t only build a passive audience of subscribers, friends and followers. Be sure to build a more active audience who is willing to share their contact information, such as email, or text number with you.The best way to grow your audience is to use other people’s audiences through collaboration and partnerships. By creating something radically helpful for their audience, they will want to put you on and share your work for you.Create an email newsletter list. Use a software as a service, like Mailchimp, or convert kit, to create your email list management, newsletter

Being multi-passionate would be an understatement for Jessica. We learned that she paints, does makeup, fashion, loves business, martial arts, marketing and of course, making lunches!Known as the Bento Box Queen, her “mommy makes lunches” style videos go viral, and as you’ll hear, that created a lot of attention. She’s continued to build a big following from that attention and turn it into a pretty big brand.A great lesson for any pursuing dreams, is that Jessica did not expect lunches to be her main thing. She was simply documenting, and hitting share. She actually made many videos, of all different styles, prior to finding success in the cooking and food space. It’s a great thing to remember. Keep creating, sharing and you never know when something great will come from it, as long as you get a bit better each day. Jessica is an inspiration for the modern content creator, because she simply shares what she loves doing.This is why she is such an incredible example of how a one person business can start out small, and organic overtime. When that viral moment comes it creates exponential success and could become your full time thing. She also focuses on making sure that you actually like what you create, because if you don’t then it’s not worth it.It was really interesting how a university degree in marketing was boring to her. Jessica also is an amazing example of transferable skills. Her learning has compounded over time to build a powerful personal brand.It could be her journalism background that helped her get comfortable on camera. Perhaps her art expertise that allows her to create brand tones that speak to people. She really does put it all together in crafting success.The way she creates is truly motivational as well. She uses no excuses, as a mom and partner, she doesn’t have a lot of downtime, but she manages it really well. She finds the most efficient ways to still create great content without overthinking, or over producing.We are really aligned on the mindset she has around creating even if you have zero followers. She talked about leaving a legacy, so that even if she never had a follower, her kids could see what she created, learn her recipes and have a visit with mom. The other thing that’s super cool is she probably gives back to other creators and props up “small” creators as much as anyone.14 Tips When Becoming A Viral Video CreatorMostly you have to make the content. Every aspect of the next bunch of steps will improve by making the content and publishing it. You will learn for yourself what works, what doesn’t work, and all of your own tips and tricks.Don’t just put out garbage, but focus on quantity over quality, because attention spans are so short for the majority of people today. And, it’s a lottery game. The more content you put out the more chances of you creating something that resonates and hits the jackpot. It might take a thousand videos until you get the one that one to finally go viral.Find the style and way that makes sense for you. If it is off camera, then do that, dancing, or not dancing, whatever works for you.Because platforms are starting to use more of an interest graph, instead of follower counts, means that creating around a topic, or theme, even if you have a small following can go viral, or trend and change your life.Don’t pigeonhole yourself into one, very specific niche. You can increase clarity and brand awareness by doing very focused things, but make sure it is what you love to share and that you have a way to share the other things you love as well.You don’t have to be fancy. When it comes to creating, use what you have. If you don’t have lights, be by the window. You don’t need a microphone, or camera because phones are so good these days. You can record in a closet if you have kids running around, or go for a quick walk and make something. It’s fine to build up to a studio, lights, cameras and blocks of creative time, but you probably won’t start there.If you have the capacity, or money to be on all platforms with quality, and create both short, form and long form content, then in theory doing everything is always the best plan. But that is rare. Most of us should really focus on one style and one platform to grow at first.You should be on all platforms at least as a profile. But, you don’t need more than a profile, with a few base level posts. And then focus on one platform for a significant period of time, or growth. Focus on a platform for a year, consistently and crosspost to the others.Pick the style and platform of your personal choice, it is your art that you are sharing. Do you want to do quick, vertical, face on, political rants, or would you rather long produced, edited, documentaries? Whatever you want to make that is authentically you is what you should create.Don’t overthinking publishing either. Push the content out. You don’t need a scheduler, or a regimen. You don’t need regular plans, scripts, or timelines. You don’t even need to be super

In this episode, we’ll learn how Kobe and his Mamba mentality can help us in figuring out our passions and dreams.It’s my birthday today, and while our birthdays should, maybe could be a fun time, it can bring up many different emotions. For me personally, I get deep feelings of survivor’s guilt. It can be so challenging to navigate this world, and yet so far, for another year I have made it. Don’t get me wrong, the feelings are mixed with great joy and gratitude. The fact that I have yet another year, or at least day to keep making things and sharing them. This is why I am so big on the idea of leaving a legacy. One legacy that helps me a lot is that of Kobe Bryant and his Mamba mentality.FOLLOW JUSTIN JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

We started out with some audience submitted questions that actually opened up some cool conversation. We learned things like favourite quotes, books and movies that he enjoys. We also got pretty deep talking about Ninja Turtle characters and how we are all best represented by one of them.We talked about clout chasers and why David was willing to come on JKL even though our show isn’t huge (yet). It lead to a really good conversation about values and why we collaborate as creatives.Semistupid is a big fan of TV and movies, so we probably brought up about a hundred different shows, or stories throughout the episode. Some really interesting wisdom, and discussion came from these examples.Listening to the journey that David went on as a creator is pretty cool. He started with a passion for filmmaking at a young age. But there was no real way to share his projects before social media became more popular. Old cameras, purely for the creative, was where he got started. That’s changed a lot now that he has created a ton of viral content across social media.Self-Help And Success For CreativesThe lifestyle around his creative life also went through transformations. He went from random videos as part of a creative partnership to building the brand Semistupid more as a solopreneur. He built better personal habits, daily routines and started to learn about building a business around his passion. I think our conversation about success was really interesting. A lot of people see the actual content that is shared on our pages. What they don’t see is all of the work that goes into it. People don’t appreciate the routine, systems and habits. The fact that David built Semistupid for like ten years before finding fame. There is so much that you don’t see from your favourite creatives. This could be depressing, but taken the right way it should be refreshing. Build patient, five to ten year goals and start crafting daily habits toward that vision. Love the process and great things will happen. We didn’t really go into the micro of filmmaking and content creation. Instead of how to make a video, we got more into how to succeed as a creator. How can you monetize and live off of your passion? How long will it take? What kind of lifestyle will you live as a creative entrepreneur.The self-help, personal development and productivity topics that we discussed was a pleasant surprise. For example, David is a great example of someone who actually maintains a solid morning ritual routine.We also hear a lot of awesome ideas for maintaining mental health as a creative and how to live that good life. David also shares many of the book resources that helped him become successful. Hope you enjoy and if you do, please pass it along to someone else.11 Things To Keep In Mind As A Content CreatorYou can do many things in life, but can’t do everything. Discovering your one thing at this moment in your life and focusing on it is really important.Create content because you truly enjoy it, and because you have values, or a message to share with your potential audience.Select one platform to focus on primarily, and then cross post to the others. Focus first on the one that connects you to the medium and audience you are most aligned with.Upload as much quality content to as many platforms as possible for you. That may be once a week to one platform. It may be 50 times per day to six platforms, but do what works best for you.Pick a name, hashtag, or brand that speaks to your values and what you stand for. But also that is available in the marketplace across the various platforms.Don’t be too big for anyone. But also don’t see your self as too small either. We aren’t above, or below each other, we are all creators.Collaborate with accounts similar in size. Sharing audiences can be a really good growth hack. But don’t hold out for bigger accounts. Work with other comparable creators and keep building your network.Develop habits that improves other areas of your life. Be sure to use a schedule, read, exercise, eat healthy, sleep well and do more activities that bring you vitality.Continually improve the systems that make your process more efficient. Most importantly build systems that increase your time and freedom.Develop a long term mindset. Anything worth achieving might take you 5, 10, 20 years, but if you know that’s the goal, then keep going. And if you want it, you will achieve it.It doesn’t need to be your big passion to be successful. That word is over used. You might be passionate about golf, or travel but not want to monetize those things. Find something you want to monetize that is enjoyable enough, that you will push yourself to succeed no matter what, but that you can monetize.Memorable Quotes“You gotta remember, the Ninja Turtles were teenagers. Like for Raph, his mature self will have tamed the beast, and been a very wise person, just gotta give him some time.”“I think a lot about memento mori, the idea that we are all going to die soon, th

“You must die” This D Word is the one thing we all have in common and without it we would be nothing more than robots, or laptops, used and then gone. When I’m in the mood for a nostalgic laugh I’ll watch Chris Farley, if I need inspiration to create listen to Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, and need that kick in the ass Randy Pausch. All people I’ve never met…. If we document, create and share then we are so much more. So what’s your legacy and where are you leaving it?JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

A “quote-unquote” perfect time will not arrive. You need to let good enough be good enough. It’s important to point out though, that you don’t need to strategize too early. In fact, strategy can often hold us back in the beginning. And there are three main ways that I want you to appreciate when something is “good enough”. Knowing on a deep level that A. you are good enough. B. your dream is good enough and C. the timing is good enough. JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

I like to say that the number one thing we do at Just Keep Learning is model a growth mindset. But what does that even mean? Now we could talk about this for many hours, and over the course of years I’m sure we will, but for this episode we’ll make sure that you have a clear grasp of the term and why it might be the most important skill you can develop. We’ll also look at a couple of myths when it comes to building a growth mindset. Three things that you should keep in mind when trying to live with a growth mindset.JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Her most recent book was called “Dream: Get Clarity & Create The Life You Want.” Clearly, she is a great spokesperson for the JKL brand and values. A lot of time manifestation gets a bad name, but I trust this interview will clear a few things up when it comes to getting what you want.Maya is one of the best dream manifestation coaches and business leaders ever. Ever. As the founder of Dream University and author of 15 great books on life goals, she is one of the best at helping you learn that “YOU are a creator once you can shake loose the grip that the ego has on you”. That’s a pretty incredible accomplishment given there are so many influential “dream big” authors, speakers and coaches. We talked about integrity and intention being the guiding principles of manifestation.She is an incredibly open and honest leader in the business world. As humble and wise as she is, there are a ton of business accolades that she could boast about. We talked a bit about business and career success. But much of the conversation was about life.We got into our major, recent experiences with grief, which wasn’t easy, but I think was an important part of the conversation. Specifically the importance of staying in the present moment. We also chatted about the fact that finding balance with grief is so valuable. We have to dig into our emotions, and trauma, but not so much that we beat ourselves up. Remember, if you’re struggling, there are people you can reach out to. Talking about it is really helpful. She shares a bit about building some celebrity notoriety, fame one might call it and deciding to close up shop for things she found more important in life. We learned about changing her name and shifting business passions for art passions, particularly as a painter. We talk about living on track and on purpose as individuals having a truly unique experience. Maya has an incredible level of wisdom that we can all learn from. Especially in the business world. It can be so easy to get caught up in things that aren’t truly impactful in this world. And being true to ourselves is the key. I absolutely love her take on discernment, the idea of being reflective enough to make decisions for ourselves. Maya shared her thoughts that many of us have “to-do” lists. But, in reality, most of us need “stop doing” lists instead. If we don’t know our values, and what actions mapped to them, then we can’t figure out what to do, and not to do. Given the choice, we should stay true to ourselves.She is such an inspiration for many reasons, but practicing what she preaches is definitely one of them. It takes a unique, confident person to use this discernment to walk away from an incredibly successful and growing business because it wasn’t suitable to who she wanted to be anymore. I love all of our interviews, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart. Hope you enjoy.20 Things To Keep In Mind When You Dream BigDevelop a creator mindset that allows you to dream. You have to understand that everyone who has achieved anything was no better than you. They just let their dreams come to them.Don’t wait. There will never be a better time to get started. That does not mean figure out the strategy, yet. That comes later. But, if you have a dream, go for it, start now.Get clear on your dreams. This tends to be the most challenging step for anyone, at any age, in any season of life. Not to over simplify, but our minds simply make up our dreams. They just come to us if we let them.Believe in your dreams. Prove that they are important enough to you by standing up to fear and doubt and choosing to believe in them. Not because they will come true for certain. Whatever is supposed to be will be, but because believing in them and their impact is important to you.Act on your dreams. Once you have clarity it can be addictive to talk about what you would, should or could do. But the universe will get behind your work once you put it into action. Stop telling your story. You are not your story. Your story will evolve and will even be completely different to different people, but it’s not something that you need to tell. Some times we get so stuck in past beliefs and we need to decide that they are no longer serving us. Move on from past stories by hitting your reset button and living in the moment.Enrol people in understanding your dream. You won’t achieve it alone, and the only way to find the support you need is to share the goal in a compelling way that builds a community that is bigger than you. Create culture and connection around your dream.Share your dream by building a community in two steps. First, inspire, and then invite. Most of us suck at inviting. Just think, what should you ask of people that is reasonable and will lead to making a change in the world?Build your dream team. Don’t ask for “too much”, but articulate your clear vision to others. Ask people to help in whatever way feels appropriate to that particular relationship and make it easy

Human beings are natural storytellers. We all tell stories all the time. We tell friends, family, and colleagues things that we witnessed, or things we did. And naturally we’re pretty darn good at it. We also connect with published stories. Think of any classic tale, Goldilocks and the three bears, maybe a movie like the Lion King, or the way a stand up comedian like Kevin Hart pulls us into a story about the time he was racing an ostrich. The interesting thing is, because storytelling comes so natural to us, it’s one of the things that we also overthink the most. I trust this episode will help remind us how simple storytelling can be. But first, why do we even want to talk about it?You can't teach without learning and can't learn without teaching. And storytelling plays a huge role for both. Fiction, or non fiction, we learn lessons from others through stories. And when we teach we craft stories to get our point across. Storytelling is something that could be infinitely studied and discussed. But one thing I’ve realized about getting better at storytelling is that every now and again it’s nice to look at a list of advice for storytelling as a refresher. No matter how good you might get at the craft, reviewing such reminders can be helpful. But first, what is a story? Neil Gaiman says “after all of the years of telling stories, the definition of a story, is “anything that keeps you interested in learning more and doesn’t leave you feeling cheated at the end”.For every one of these concepts, we could go on huge tangents and a million connections, in the future perhaps we can circle back to go in more detail on some specific ideas. But for now we’re just trying to remember some strategies to make our stories better? Check out these 15 ways to tell a better story. JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Jeremy shares how he took a meandering path in his professional life. This included being a musician, college for audio engineering, the nine to five, followed by an interest in travel, entrepreneurship and podcasting. He brings up his appreciation for extreme ownership that he borrows from Jocko Willink. We talk about the idea that getting into creative work mostly requires taking this extreme ownership, and a leap of faith. But, the important thing is to get started. Get into those early versions of your work and just keep going.Jeremy hosts a Podcast Marketing Academy where he coaches people through the process of building their audience. He also creates content that helps people develop their own creative confidence. Much of this comes through his newsletter creation. A surprise in the episode was how much writing Jeremy does to fuel his creativity and business success.We talk about the concepts that underlie a lot of creative success. We discussed curiosity, intuition and confidence. We also shared some insight as to how little the actual work we pursue at any given moment matters. What truly matters is the transferable skills and mindset we develop. Speaking of mindset, a lot of the conversation provided a glimpse into the mindset of the creative entrepreneur. If this is a goal of yours there will be a transformation from needing people to tell you what to do, all the way to feeling like you can figure things out on your own.Of course collaboration is still super important, something else that also came up. We talked about how growing on social media, or podcasting is similar to the hip hop industry in that you can put other people on to help them out. Sharing fan bases and audiences can really help each other grow in kind of a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship.This is one of the longest episodes to date, and it is great! Jeremy shares a lot of great marketing tips that are not scammy, or spammy. Jeremy Enns is the type of leader we need in entrepreneurship. No doubt, this is one of the most informative episodes when it comes to common sense marketing.15 Tips For Marketing Your PodcastUnderstand podcasts are long term projects. If the goal is to grow an audience that leads to monetizable success, realize this won’t happen right away.Do some quick research. Study your own ten favourite shows. Listen to and ask yourself, why are these effective? Why do these shows do well? What can I borrow from their style?Over time, develop your own unique brand characteristics and show style. Create the first episodes. The most important thing is to create and publish as soon as possible. You could do this by creating pilot episodes that are private to test with your audience at first, but either way you have to create the first shows.The version that becomes successful will not be your first version, or it will be drastically different from the first versions, so just get started and keep learning. Don’t attempt to plan out everything from beginning to end. Take action, learn and pivot.Be sure you learn, or hire someone to ensure that you are creating audio that sounds reasonably good. It’s not difficult, but takes some learning and is important.Create compelling content. This happens by getting the first 100 reps in as soon as possible because. If you pay attention to your audience, your skills will develop.If it’s an interview show, learn and practice what questions to ask and how to carry on a conversation that makes the episode emotional, entertaining and educational.The strategy to growth is to get audiences to see something about your show that makes them want to click play on the first episode. Always work on the show so that it is more than worth the audience’s time.Gone are the days of creating any show and growing an audience. It can still be done, but requires differentiation. What makes your show different for the listener? There may be a few successful shows in your niche that are similar, which you can use as an advantage if you find ways to stand out from the crowd.Once you have a differentiated show that is consistent, with good audio and a bit of a community, then you can have fun with marketing by getting in front of similar people and sharing your messages with them.Find similar audiences to the community you are building. Find new listeners in social media groups, newsletters and similar podcasts. Share your work and process, for free because you are a good person and good things will happen.You want new audience and community. When you post on social media, the people who see it, typically, are people who already follow you. So, posting is important, but should be no more than a quarter, twenty five percent of the way that you build your brand on social. Really focus on engaging, commenting, replying and participating in conversations, as opposed to simply sharing your content.Collaborate more. Focus on organic engagement with similar accounts on social media. Find other hosts, or bran

What is a big dream? I love this definition from Sharon Hull “it is the seed of possibility planted in the soul of a person, which calls them to pursue a unique path to realize their purpose.” Now as amazing as that is, it does sound heavy. And this is why dreaming big can be overwhelming. It is abstract. We daydream, we dream at night, and we dream when we envision goals. In this instance, when we say “dream big” we are referring to your ambitions. Even though our ambitions should excite us, they so often lead to more confusion and overwhelm. That is because in order to get there you have to go towards scary experiences. When we move toward scary experiences, dream blockers can enter. Things such as fear, doubt, perfectionism, regret, stress, and peer influence. In later episodes, we can go more in detail on the dream blockers, and defining our dreams, but for today, let’s lay the foundation for being less overwhelmed by dreaming big in the first place. In order to dream big, pursue your ambitions, and not be overwhelmed, it helps to keep eight things in mind. JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Have you heard the term Eudaimonia? It is what we should all strive for. True vitality & flourishing in life. Not any one emotion, but beyond emotion, it is a combination of living with virtue, and a deep focus on what you CAN control. This episode will remind us that we never know what is good, or bad. And living with a full appreciation of this is Eudaimonia. I want to get right into it, because this is more of a short story than anything and I think it speaks for itself. But what I will say is we can learn from any connections we have in life. Anyone, or anything we experience can bring about valuable lessons. This is mine from football.JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesJKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

We need to update our phones to the latest operating system and we need to do that with our minds too. If you are someone who feels stuck in life, or on a particular goal, then understanding the wisdom Ben shares in this episode will definitely help. He goes in great detail about improving our mind, body and spirit to align with our goals.This was a very inspiring conversation. If you listen to this episode and start putting in the work you will definitely make huge progress toward your goals. As a business and transformation coach, Ben focuses on the things that are within our control to give us the greatest chance of success. He is really helpful when it comes to learning to regulate our emotions. He tells us a story about the daydream he had that changed his trajectory in life. Envisions his happy family brought about feelings that weren’t aligned with how he felt. From this experience he decided it was time to course correct. To keep it simple, Ben works with each person as an individual. He also looks at the big, practical, holistic picture of them as a person. There is no one size fits all answer. He starts by asking what is your goal? Where do you want to go? Does your current belief system align with that destination? If not, then how can we start to bridge that gap?When it comes to being a life coach you learn so much about how to help other people more effectively. Ben shared a lot of his expertise in the area of coaching. This can help you if you get into coaching anyone else, or applying the principles to your own life. One of the cool concepts Ben shares is how to take a leap of faith make it more simple so it shifts into being a jump of faith, or a step of faith instead.Ben shares his wisdom on the mind, body and spirit connection. You might understand the physical fitness gym, but do you understand how to go to the mental fitness gym?He also shared how important the language we use is, especially with ourselves. It’s so important to to speak in a way that improves our lives, instead of making them more challenging. The words we use, in our self talk, or when describing our past, or future are a powerful indicator of success.Plans, purpose, productivity and success are all conscious representations of our unconscious programming.Ben calls it our “SOS”, subconscious operating system. This part of our mind and body is very important in laying a foundation for the things that we want in life. Like any operating system, on our phone, or computer, we always need to check to make sure we are fully up to date.This is a must listen episode! Ben shares a lot of analogies, such as picturing our lives as a car. He also shares some acronyms that we can use to keep our best life in mind. Hands down this is one of the most action packed episodes when it comes to helping you with goal setting.11 Things To Keep In Mind When Starting A BusinessRemember that your subconscious operating system of your mind, emotions and your words will impact how your conscious progress, goals and success is achieved.Always strengthen your mental fitness of imagination, voice and intuition.Find someone who you can lean on, who supports you unconditionally in pursuing your goals. When the going gets tough you’ll need them to pick you up.Don’t just observe past mistakes and failures. Use them as a learning tool to strengthen your intuition.Use the fruit farmer analogy. Make proper progress and the fruit will come. Maintain your soil by surrounding yourself with good people and environments. Keep watering by learning as much as you can about your niche and business. And get enough sun by finding purpose and meaning in the work you do.Don’t get on the hamster wheel of hustle. Take the time and patience to make sure you are going in the right direction. One step in the right direction is better than a hundred in the wrong direction.Things can change, but decide on the first direction you want to try. Is it a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, e-commerce store, course creation, subscription, freelance work, newsletter? Pick one to focus on at first.Once you know the first direction, look at similar business models. Learn from other companies, mentors, or heroes. Learn what they did well, not so well and get ideas from their experiences.Build a simple, one paragraph business plan and ask for feedback from people who understand entrepreneurship. Make some minor adjustments to the plan based on feedback and then get started asap.Create your MVP, Minimum Viable Product and bring it to market. Whether it’s your first piece of content, such as a blog post, or the first t-shirt, bring the concept to market, test it, and get more feedback.Continue to learn and pivot, but always remember that action is the most important thing.Memorable Quotes“Maybe the path I’m on was designed by others. It’s not the path that my souls wants to be on.”“When you’re nervous, focus on service.”“Are you your own worst critic? Or are you your own best cheerleader?”“I

In this solo episode, we hear from the superstar musician Ed Sheeran. He's sold hundreds of millions of dollars in music and yet his common sense approach to building skills can help any of us, with any skill we want to build. We also hear about the famous pottery parable where a professor tested the concept of quality vs quantity in his art class.JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

In episode two we get right into the learning! How can the Just Keep Learning Mindset will help you get over that annoying imposter syndrome feeling?We talk about the idea that we are all on our own journey. We also talk about Ariana Grande's song and what it can teach us about learning. Speaking of which we also mention why learning and being a kid for life is so much more important than school.JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

There is a bit of a back story as to how we got here, but first, welcome to the first ever JKL Solo episode. I trust these will really help you own those big dreams!This first episode will help you get over that annoying imposter syndrome feeling.Creating solo episodes is something that I have been putting off creating for over a year now. In this episode I share 4 reasons why I was scared to put out SOLOs.I share a couple of people who pushed me to be better and get over the fear of publishing on my own.And we get into the reasons why solo episodes might just be valuable after all. I also lay the foundation for the style of show, and the fact that I would LOVE for you to submit questions and topics on social media , or email. If you have feedback or an idea for the show, reach out here.JKL WEBSITEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just Tries I'm so happy you found this podcast. I am here to serve you, the creative solopreneur & aspiring content creator to get clarity on building your publishing business. Write a book, create a podcast, share content, and build a business, design the life of your dreams.Let's make it happen. You got this! See how we can work together. https://stan.store/justkeeplearning

Jake is a perfect example of the Just Keep Learning mindset. He started going through the traditional education and corporate system, but kept dreaming and reflecting. He went from engineering, a pivot to the insurance world, and eventually found that his heart was closely tied to business. This led to a classic side hustle grind of managing minutes on train rides to work, lunch time, the ride home, evenings and weekends to build some leverage. Through trial and error, a few failures and eventual successes he managed to make serial entrepreneur his career full time. He is the founder of 8 businesses and counting, many of which we discuss in this episode.He shares some pretty cool stories about how it wasn’t always that way. He started his first business making zero sales. Although, he learned how to better validate an idea. His second business actually brought in three sales through pre-selling, but then he refunded that revenue anyway, when he had to close down the business.One of Jake’s areas of expertise is in building niche sites and using blog posts to create organic traffic to the site. He essentially gives us a mini masterclass about the concept of starting a niche site. How to drive traffic, research keywords and ideas for monetization. Jake has an overall umbrella company that holds each of the micro, automated, niche businesses. Each of these separate businesses are case studies for his overall project, the entrepreneur ride along. This main business brought us together.At the Entrepreneur Ride Along he hosts a podcast, blogs, and coaches people to get started in their own business journey. This is where his personal brand and educational content on business specifically exists and can grow forever. We chat a lot about how to get clarity over your business ideas, how to create content and how to start generating revenue. Jake also reminds us that you don’t need to be everywhere doing everything online. Share your marketing content where it makes the most sense for you and your business. It was neat to hear him tell how he hardly uses social media channels to build his business. While social can be a great addition to your marketing, the ability to build a foundation on your site and rank on Google is more valuable with this business model. 10 Steps To Start Your First Online BusinessBrain dump and mind map. Think of all the things that you are passionate about, see opportunities in, problems you notice that maybe you could solve and what skills, or expertise you have.Narrow your list of hundreds of things down to a top thre. By going with your gut in terms of passion, but also in combination with overall validating keyword research, figure out, this actually a problem that people need help with? Do people actually search for this online?Find out if people actually care? Once you know there is overall search interest and volume of people who also see that as an important question, or problem, learn more about their pain points. Go deeper with your market research and ask potential clients in forums, messages, or groups.Know your personal marketing channels. Some businesses may use only email, or newsletter. Others might find that social media sharing is really important. If you have the budget, then maybe you are everywhere, all the time.Create your pillar content. This is the major content creation that you will start with. This could be a podcast, blog, or video creation that teaches and engages with an audience on a topic that your brand values. Build your community. Take a long term approach from day one to build your email list, and, or group as you continue to gain traction by relating to people who have similar pain points. Continue to find ways to bring your community together in fun ways.Ask for feedback. Engage with your community to learn what they think about possible product and service ideas and then create a minimum viable product. Don’t be afraid to get actual commitment to your ideas. If something will take a lot of your time to create, then you can always double check people will actually pay for that product, or service by giving them a pitch and having them actually pre-buy. If enough people show interest and you deem it worthwhile, then create it. Build a keyword strategy by using a service that shows you Google search data. Find search phrases that people use that not only have a high search volume, but when you look at the sites that rank on Google for those terms, you can compete with the authority of that website and rank for yourself. Build a continuous, feedback loop machine that allows you to identify content people want, create content, build an audience, identify pain points, provide solutions (free or paid), get feedback about what customers want, and repeat.Memorable Quotes“Don’t be afraid to be different. I wish I learned a lot sooner that I could be different and do my thing.”“I don't do a ton of social media. I focus primarily on blogging and one on one connection

Arielle talks about the journey of formal education in her life. She went from being more reserved and lacking confidence to finding her true passions and believing in herself more. She opens up about being diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability in her early years. This also lead to some traumatic memories of being removed from class for needing more help with math. Even though it’s meant to help, in her case, and probably most cases, it did more harm than good. Through post-secondary education and entering the workplace, she was able to better connect with her passions in the real world and her confidence grew. One of these big passions was geography. The other one, was podcasting. We talked about being a multi-passionate person and how it’s ok to have so many interests. We found out the extent of organization systems Arielle uses and some of her interests. She has many new passions from TikTok, to checking out new food, mapping, rollerblading, tennis, soccer, and of course anything new in the world of podcasting.Like always, there were some awesome surprise tidbits in the conversation. We learned how she broke her elbow and her Apple Watch called 911. Arielle also shared that she is pretty much vegan, loves storytelling and is a geography expert. Arielle has an incredible mindset and approach to life. She is the absolute definition of a lifelong learner.Memorable Quotes“If you have an idea for a podcast. Awesome. Great. Think about why it should be a podcast first.”“I Love Podcasts. When I started listening, I just became exposed to all of these new people and all of these new stories that I had not been aware of beforehand.”“I am constantly challenged to come up with new ideas. I love marketing concepts and I love connecting with people about how to tell their stories.”13 Things To Remember When You Start Your PodcastKnow your why. Not just from a philosophical, motivational standpoint. Know why it should be a podcast. Could it be a different medium? What about podcast specifically do you think is valuable to tell this story, or share this information? Make sure it is best as a podcast, it can be easier to test YouTube, or blogs first to see if you want to keep investing time and energy into it.Decide on a format. Is it going to be you interviewing a guest; you and a co host interviewing; you and someone else having a conversation; a panel of guest; or a solo, scripted show; or perhaps a combination? Get some clarity on the format, template and structure of an episode.If it’s an interview show make a long list of the people you would want to interview and send as many pitch emails as possible. You will get no’s, but no’s lead to yes’s and everything happens for a reason.Continually and consistently put out content to continue to grow your show. Creating traction comes from consistency, so be sure to build systems that allow you to bank episodes and upload regularly. Create your show like a podcast assembly line. What investments can you make up front for the show that allow for you to focus on what you do best, or to make things more streamlined? For example, hiring an editor can free you up to be the talent on the show. But, this also depends on the style of your show. With a regular conversation, the editing work is not complex, keep it simple, clean up the sound a bit, remove a few awkward pauses and hit publish. If you have a very pre-scripted, polished and produced series, then the editing will take hours to complete. It’s all about knowing what your brand message is when it comes to the style of creative you are going for. But overall being aware of how much time, or money you have to invest in the show and the next best investment is valuable.Over communication with your listeners is valuable because clarity is key. As you grow an audience and want to build a community there is no room for confusion. Publish with a rhythm and cadence that is clear and people can easily understand. When can people find the latest episode? Will you be changing formats and how will your audience know? You want to build connection by being transparent and involving your audience. Let them know what you are doing. If the audio is a bit messed up in an episode, let them know up front. If you are bringing two guests on instead of one, or doing some solo rants, let them know. Communicate any new developments, or challenges with your audience. The audio quality must be stellar. It is really hard to get away with audio that doesn’t sound good. Whether this means practicing editing tools, or hiring someone to do it for you, ensuring audio quality doesn’t interfere with listening enjoyment should be a top priority.Choose a podcast hosting site. There are many, but use one of the popular ones because it will be straightforward, user friendly and keep up with the times. Simplecast, Buzzsprout, and Libsyn are the top three. This site will take your episode uploads and distribute them across all of the podcast players.Tra

Steve Cody has started 18 businesses and clearly is a lifelong learner. He doesn’t make excuses and has built opportunities over the years with the attitude “where there is a will there’s a way.” This no excuse attitude was a big part of the episode, as he shares examples of how he learned to be independent and solve problems.Growing up in a household with a single mom, moving schools a lot and having to get started paying bills young he’s leveraged all of that into his character. Much of the episode is evidence about how much of an impact his mother had on him to becoming the businessman that he is. Learning how to aim for your big goals, try things you’ve never done and win, or learn, are great examples of such life lessons.We also get into the discussion around how to best help other youth who may be having to overcome odds and some ideas as a society on how we can make some changes. Steve is a great person to lead this charge because he understands first hand what some youth are going through. He brings up a great point that we really need to meet them where they are, because those who struggle just don’t know any different.Steve started his first business out of necessity to start pulling his weight with household bills. And before long he had scaled one business after the other. Building from one opportunity to the next, he went from a window cleaning business at fifteen, to rental businesses and eventually building tech companies. Steve takes us on quite the journey to share all of his entrepreneurial experience and how it’s similar to being a lifelong artist.Chatting about education and how Steve found that for him the best education was business was a really interesting part of the conversation. We discuss how to get clarity over your ideas, and why entrepreneurship may be the best lifestyle for many of us. The fact that Steve simply can not work in an environment with a boss was a very interesting thing to learn about as well. For many of us we have the same ideas, but don’t take that leap.We hear about his latest venture, “Bunking” which is a marketplace for shared living and travel of like-minded people. And we even learn about the fact that Steve and their family lost a son to addiction, something that he struggled with, but used as fuel to keep pushing as well. It’s tough to summarize an episode, because listening is always the best way to take it all in. There were many great moments, hope you enjoy!Memorable Quotes“There's no grand plan, I just kind of find problems in life and then work to solve them.”“If I look at myself and the way I was brought up, you don't even know good from bad.”“I'm not an artist, but I can imagine they love painting pictures and they get right into it. They have a vision and they want to see it through. I think an entrepreneur is a lot like that. We get this vision, we get excited and we want to see it through.”“It's a gift not wanting a boss.”6 Things To Keep In Mind On Your Entrepreneurial Journey There are different opinions, but loving what you do is a huge part of it. Loving what you do will allow you to be persistent and creative throughout the journey.Be an artist. Create your art by diving deep into problems you can solve.Be realistic and simple with the first business. What is a problem people have, will they pay you to solve it? Solve it, and keep solving it. Enjoy the excitement and energy of appreciating that collecting money is a matter of being rewarded fairly for helping people with their problems.Realize that a lot of other people’s success took way longer than you think, so don’t compare yourself to their path.Remember that the more you want, the tougher it will get, so be prepared to overcome challenges.Guest BioSteve was 15 years old when he launched his first company. He is currently the CEO and founder of Bunking. The company provides a marketplace and community to help people create shared living and travel experiences. He has a wealth of knowledge and truly understands the value of creating world class software, building stellar teams, and connecting communities around the world by providing everyone with equal access to online marketplaces. He is a tremendous speaker and retreat leader in the world of entrepreneurship as well, especially for youth. Having accumulated over 30 years of experience in building companies that have employed thousands and generated over $750 million in lifetime sales, Steve has had success in multiple industries including software, marketplaces, services, and rentals. But, he has also learned from failure and tragedy as much as triumph and is a great example of someone who lives that Just Keep Learning life.Best Modern Mobile Recording Site: SquadcastFOLLOW STEVELinkedIn - Steve CodyFOLLOW JUSTIN (JustTries)Website - JustTriesHOMEInstagram - @JustTriesYouTube - Just TriesTwitter - @JustTries_Tiktok - @justtriesPinterest - JustTriesFacebook - Just TriesCONNECT WITH JUST KEEP LEARNINGWebsite - JKLHOMEInstagram - @Jus

Alban shares his take on education and lets us know about growing up as a homeschool student. We talked about the importance of learning as opposed to the specific logistics. It’s pretty clear that homeschool really was a great fit for him. The main reason was because he was able to start with his interests and work out from there. The lessons here are definitely helpful when it comes to being a lifelong learner. This episode provides a great example of how important it is to staty patient when it comes to figuring out your path, or paths in life. We talked a bit about self awareness and decision making when it comes to careers. Alban started out as a teacher and a lawyer, but once he realized that the things he really wants in a career are less likely to be accomplished in these fields. He wanted to find a better balance between being dedicated to a career and the experiences he could have in other areas of his life. So, he pivoted. Inspired by roommates in the tech industry he set his sights on a similar path. It was fun getting into this concept of being self aware and how the answers are different for everyone. Alban tells us about coming to terms with the fact that he does below average work when there is less interest. He’s not that person that can just trick him self into doing something that is useless, or un interesting. In contrast, he is more likely above average when it comes to doing work that is of high interest to him. Many people get hooked by the golden handcuffs, but Alban left some short term money on the table to pursue things that were more intrinsically motivating to him. His path, for now, more specifically ended up being in the podcast niche. Alban became the head of marketing at Buzzsprout. He tells us about the company origin story, values and how he first became involved. We also learned the tips he would give someone starting a podcast for the first time. Alban is a genius when it comes to marketing and sharing a brand story, especially for podcasting, so there couldn’t be a better guest for the just keep learning show. He told us about head fake learning and marketing through educational content as opposed to just advertising. At Buzzsprout specifically this is about making podcasting as user friendly as possible. The goal should be for anyone and everyone to be able to upload consistently without any barriers. And he broke down the specific steps that he would take to start a new show and make it more shareable. He then shares his own origin story about getting into podcasting in general. The file size was something that was of great benefit when it came to consuming content while travelling the world. We hear about some shows that he listened to back in the day. We also get a glimpse as to why he has such a passion for the medium. Essentially, Alban is someone who appreciates the depth of relationships and the ability to use audio to build a connection is like no other platform. And, he even goes through his current podcast app to share recommendations of shows that he appreciates today. One of the most interesting and valuable things was hearing the common sense approach Alban takes to helping someone start with a show. He considers it a red flag when he gets the question, what's the most popular type of show to start? It’s clear the answer would be true crime, or comedy, because they get the most listens. But the most important question to ask is what are you motivated to share, or learn? That’s the type of show to start.It’s always tough to summarize all of the great moments in a full episode. For example, Alban was homeschooled, grew up in a family in the legal field, but broke that trend, became a tech marketing guru and has so much wisdom behind what he shares in this episode. As always, we got a bit vulnerable, discussed achievements, goal setting and how to just keep learning.Memorable Quotes“Home schooling was a lot of leaning into the areas that you enjoyed and finding new ways to explore the areas that you didn't.”“I was clear law would afford me a healthy salary. But it would cost me a lot of time, a lot of experiences. And I'd miss out on things I really wanted to be doing in life. And it wasn't the trade I wanted to make.”“It doesn't have to be a large group of people for you to find a core audience that's going to love your show. A lot of the best shows I've seen are people who are just totally tapping into what makes them them, and approaching that topic they enjoy in a unique way.”9 Reminders For Growing A Successful PodcastDon’t worry about virality, trying to be like another podcaster, or trending topics when it comes to picking a topic for your show.Choose a niche topic that is of high interest, importance and passion to you, that you could build a community around and see yourself growing for a long time.Choose a style by knowing your personality type and what you think will serve the audience best. An interview show, allows for the guest to carry the bulk

Blacka opened up about how this world is working through us, that we are all part of a purpose much greater than ourselves. When you pursue your dreams, it’s not the saying of you’ll never work a day in your life. It really is a lot of work, but the work is a lot more worth it. This whole pursuit is far bigger than us, than Blacka. Our goals, our purpose is bigger than ourselves.He talks about the cliche of a dancer when asked how long they’ve been doing it being their “whole life”. But, in his case this is very much the case. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York he was always raised on that Carribean culture of dance and music. In fact his close family was a popular group called New Kingston. He tells the story of getting more formally into dance and how it too started young, but really lead to a life long journey of learning everything about the art form that brought him to incredible places of success.Even though he was the breadwinner for the family, he shares how he made the tough decision to chase his dreams. The decision was made easier as he realized how much he hated the idea of living with regret and that he at least wanted to know that he had true answers as to whether it was possible to make a living doing what he loved. This is the key to chasing our big dreams.Blacka is a very philosophical leader in the creative and social media space whether he fully recognizes it or not. We talked about how poetic his responses can be. We also discussed how time does not truly exist and the fact that perfection is death. He shared that life goals are not about doing things perfect. Rather we should do things with integrity, and adjust up as we improve. Blacka really truly is a team player, which is evidenced by his NFT company as well. In many ways it is built around giving back. He does this by providing practical projects to companies who may be new to Web 3. For example, their venture Non-Fungible Tampons is geared toward alleviating the challenges people face around period poverty.Blacka started to realize the time, energy and resources he put into helping other artists succeed, even though it was fun, didn’t come back to him as the dancer, or choreographer. So, because he grew up around music as well, he began publishing his own music., so royalties from the music itself could support his career too. Since he already had fans all over the world, the success of his records came pretty quickly. The buss down challenge that came from one of his records became viral and people were balancing things on their heads to his music. He shares how a challenge like this can really ignite the sharing of music, and bring together a community of supporters. There was so much packed into this episode it’s hard to summarize. For example Blacka even has his own shoe line, so we talked about how to get started in that industry too. Dealing with adversity and seeing the upside to struggles was a big part of us covering his recent struggles with post concussion syndrome and having to take some time off from his passions. We got into lifelong learning, as well as goals we have for the future and why we do what we do.Memorable Quotes“Perfection is death”“Life is just about networking and meeting people”“There is no I in Team, no matter if you spell it forward or backward."Key To Marketing Your BrandIdentify your brand tones and when you want to use them. Know when to be serious, sympathetic, comedic or teach.Be aware of how you want to come across and how your audience is perceiving your message.Know your brands “why”, what is your mission and purpose? Know what value people gain from supporting your brand, what does your community get? Think of your brand as something you want to see in every grocery store, if it’s digital, you should aim to be able to see it all over the internet.Don’t get too hung up on supply and demand, or trends. Always be your authentic self. We shouldn’t be having to act on, and off when building a brand, everything builds through you, so be sure it’s sustainable.How To Succeed As A Musician Interact with the audience that you want to build before you release the music.As you build a community, involve them in the construction of songs, art and have them looking forward to upcoming music.Give, give, give, give, give and then release music and seek support. Don’t underestimate the art work of music. Create artwork for your single thinking about how it speaks to your brand values and that particular track. If you’re able to create video, adding that can really increase the interest and shareability of your audience, so find ways to create videos to accompany your music.Engage your audience by increasing emotion and attracting their senses, ears hearing great tunes, eyes seeing good visuals, heart holding nice feelings.Build your community by getting down into the trenches with your fans, off the stage and into the audience, build connection and trust by scaling the unscaleable of commenting back, havi

Jenny is someone who really understands how to pivot, keep learning and capitalize on new opportunities. She is great at understanding the creative and design process as it relates to creating content and business goals. She has built many different versions of her own personal brand. She’s written books, created podcasts, built e-commerce stores and more.She is a tremendous example of building trust with your audience by being true to yourself. Alongside her sister she has successfully built a number of different followings by focusing on camaraderie and serving her audience.We talked a lot about how she first got into business. Even though she went to college and has worked corporate 9 to 5’s she had a feeling that she wanted to be an entrepreneur. A mentor helped her make that decision by telling her to believe in herself, take the jump and build a parachute on the way down.She has a strength of identifying trends and deciding to double down on areas that are currently working. This goes for social media success, as well as entrepreneurship. She and her sister, Stephanie leveraged social media to scale a successful glitter, ecommerce business. At the same time she knows how to prioritize, because she retired from Tik Tok, their most lucrative platform to focus full time on NFT’s and Twitter. While it might seem like NFT’s have been around for a while because they became such a viral buzzword in the last year, they are still in early stages of adoption. Yet, she has been active in this aspect of Web 3 for quite some time. Jenny is building a successful brand tied to the blockchain and is both an avid collector and content creator in the space. She shares about how she got into NFTs through dapper labs NBA Topshot. We talked about Web3 definitions, like NFT, blockchain and acronyms such as “WAGMI”. We also got into her current take on the NFT market, how she evaluates projects and what she predicts in the future of the space. Jenny shared all about the possibilities that Non Fungible Tokens bring beyond just the art. There are monetary, investment vehicles, as well as simply proof of ownership, status symbols, access, and membership. We also discussed the NFT podcast she co-hosts and whether or not she has plan to build her own project in the future. Chatting about the possible negatives of the space, and her worries and fears was valuable as well, especially as it relates to safety and security.She is skilled in the area of social media, as a content creator, brand ambassador, and influencer marketing. She has experience from both sides of the equation. She has built her own audience, as well as supported her sister and other clients in building theirs, while securind brand deals. But, through her time working with Evaluate Market, she has also developed the skill set of searching for and providing brand deals to influencers.In this episode of Just Keep Learning, we talk about education and Jenny talks about how she did go to college. While she sees some benefit to formal schooling, she felt like she was mostly going through the motions. The goal was pretty much to get the credits and move on. Outside of school however, she loves to learn and has developed a passion for self learning, especially in business. This is why she knew ultimately she wanted to be her own boss.Safe to say that Jennifer Sutto, AKA Jenny From The Blockchain is a great leader online. She builds cool communities and would be a great mentor to those looking to scale their own dreams in the digital world. Hope you enjoy the episode!7 Tips For Creating Content To Build Your BusinessFind out what is fun for you, what are you good at, or enjoy that you can create?Make sure you won’t give up, what would you post about everyday without wanting to give up?What audience could your serve? Or what problem could you solve?Find some inspiration and take note of a few styles of content you would like to create.Don’t just create a broad platform at first. Be niche specific in the beginning as you train the algorithm to know what you are all about and build the right audience for you.Build community, interact by going live, create engagement opportunities with contest, giveaways, and comments. Get feedback and create more of what serves people best.Give it time, stay consistent, and give it time.Memorable Quotes“Sometimes you just have to jump without a parachute and figure it out along the way, especially for young people.”“I just like doing what's fun in life. This is literally your life. If you're working at a job that you don't like you could just quit and get another one. It's not that hard, but people make it hard on themselves, they create these mental roadblocks.”“I kind of worry for some people that get enticed by the idea of making money in the NFT space, rushing into things, focusing on money, and not worrying about passwords, or security.”Guest BioJennifer Sutto went from serving in a restaurant to speaking on stages and being well known

Kelsey Cole is another incredible example of putting values first when determining what to do in life. But, it wasn’t easy. It took a battle with mental illness and an existential crisis to bring about the change in career path that got her to where she is today. With a lot of experience in modern entrepreneurship and marketing, as well as life event’s she is a great mentor and role model.At the heart of Kelsey’s work is a strong desire to help people, especially women, become financially independent and empowered to live their best lives. Whatever that may be for you specifically, because everyone has a different answer. We discuss the struggle between being a starving artist to focus with conviction on your passion versus maintaining your nine to five job. Kelsey shares her own path to going from corporate job to starting a company. Kelsey demonstrates great bravery in the world of business. She focuses her energy in making entrepreneurship a positive space as it relates to women’s rights and mental health. In this episode she opens up about her own struggles with working in make dominated fields. As a busy person in both social media management, and cryptocurrency, she has seen her fair share of rude and innapropriate men.She does not go into detail, but it’s worth noting that it may be upsetting for some people to hear about the things that motivate her. She is in many ways motivated by negative experiences that led her to really appreciate and advocate for the Me Too Movement. Her own abuse and traumatic events have really been a foundation for the good she tries to bring to the world.Kelsey explains how being thorough and skeptical can really be a positive for entrepreneurs. If you have the right team and the right goals and action steps then not only will the work be more enjoyable, but it will be more successful. It also allows us to make sure that we are building things the right way. We want to make sure we trust things that we attach our names to. We don’t want to be known for being part of the snake oil that so often exists online.Naturally, learning was a big theme that ran through the episode. Kelsey shared her formal education experience. But she also mentioned that she prefers to self learn, and there is a learning style for everyone. She personally loves to stay up to date with the news cycle, especially in business and finance. This comes from a tip from her father that everything you need to know about the market’s can be traced back to the news, for better, or worse.In this episode of Just Keep Learning, Kelsey shares the definition of cryptocurrency, blockchain and the future of NFT’s. She also talks about building an empire, as opposed to a project in her efforts to build Yondomondo. There’s nothing to say that any NFT initiative will succeed, but at least she is trying to build a media empire through Web3 characters. She talks about how to start your own project, collaboration, and the importance of learning throughout the process. Marketing, whether it is for personal brands, companies, shows, or projects all comes down to the same thing. It comes down to serving first. Give, give, give, give give. If you provide value as your main focus, the money will follow. Build community, build your tribe and you will reap the rewards in the best way possible. Kelsey shared that cheat code to success and many others in this incredible episode of Just Keep Learning. Hope you like it! 8 Things To Keep In Mind As A FounderGive, give, give. In all aspects of your journey, never forget to be generous.Join a team first. It doesn’t need to be a long time, but working within another team is a great first step because you can learn so much from other founders.Build an engaged, family-like community.Focus on emotional connection, service, learning from your audience and bringing value.Identify your strengths and double down on them by making sure they are a big part of your daily effortIdentify your weaknesses and make sure you have people on your team that can compliment because they are strengths for them.Time is money, so find your one thing, your focus and manage your time to ensure the greatest impact.Build an empire, not just a product, project, or service, by focusing on trust, goodwill and karma over time.Memorable Quotes“Give. Give. Give. Give. Give. Serve first and you will reap the rewards”“Don’t ask me what I do? Ask me why I get up in the morning?”“When you show off the wrong things you become a target of negative energy. Be a good person and be humble throughout your journey to success.”Guest BioKelsey’s expertise is in taking complex ideas, and turning them into beloved brands that speak for themselves. She uses design and communication to open hearts and minds. The agency she co founded MVM Media provides lifestyle clients, events, and tech startups with digital ad campaigns. They’ve spent millions on behalf of clients, and made 10s of millions for clients online.She has incredible experi

Jacky is an inspiration to people in the areas of mental health, overcoming struggles and starting internet businesses. He shares with us all about the path that it took him to go from financial and mental struggles to being succesful in both business and building a powerful mindset.One of his most resilient success stories, was coined going from “wheelchair to dream chair”. This stems from an incident where he was let go from work and amidst his struggles to cope he was involved in an accident that left him paralyzed. Even though he was the most down on his luck and in financial debt more than he had ever been, and without work, not only did he overcome the 10% chance of walking again, but he also started and scaled a successful business. This launched his passion for helping people appreciate how they can own their paycheque.Jacky shares that when he was really struggling, he was inspired by his daughter to make some changes to his own mindset. This is when he found thought gurus like Tony Robbins, Jay Shetty and John Assaraf. Learning from these three leaders about how to control your mind, emotions and achieve your dreams was a big part of turning his life around.One of the strengths he brings to the conversation of achieving your goals is entrepreneurship. He talks about getting over the money blocks that get in the way. Understanding that once you understand how much money can lead to helping more people, then you can start to push for more and more success. Maybe doesn’t buy happiness, but the things that you can do with it can help make you and others happier.Jacky got into social media a lot later than many people do, but in a short time he has grown quite a loyal following. So, talking all about business, how to get into content creation, building attention and monetizing your work in a simple way was a big focus of our conversation. It can be difficult to summarize such great conversations. Throughout the episode we talked a lot about loss, mindset, collaboration and how to be a successful entrepreneur. No doubt his life experience, while at many times challenging, has become an inspiration to many. 8 Ways To Build Your Own Dream Chair As An EntrepreneurLive with gratitude for the past, present and future, so that you can maintain the mindset that the ups and downs of this life are not happening to you, rather they are happening for you.Do the hard work of building your tribe and nurturing that community like a family.Always be kind and generous to people you meet because networking is key.Don’t be afraid to ask questions and find support. Whether hired coaches, or free mentors and heroes, be sure to gain guidance from people who have been there before.Surround yourself with people pursuing similar goals and values, which will boost your own ideas, motivation and energy.Be consistent. It doesn’t matter so much what you could possibly do, what matters is that you do complete the most important things regularly. Maintain your purpose and remove limiting beliefs by having a very intrinsic, “why” that is important to you.Collaboration is the key to success. No matter the business model, or what you create, working on projects big, or small with others will help you prevent procrastination, be accountable and increase creativity.Memorable Quotes“Having a vision is not about perfection. It's about getting started.”“Life is not happening to you. It's happening for you.”“If you spend half an hour every single day before going to bed, building your side hustle for next 30, 60 or 90 days, I will guarantee you you will have a business in three months.”Guest BioPublished a few times in Forbers Magazine, Jaikishaan Sharma is often better known as “Jacky”. He is founder and CEO of Sharmaatricks which connects individuals interested in online business to learn and support one another. The company also connects people to money making opportunities online with the goal of helping them grow their own home based business.. Jacky also co founded an oil and perfume product line called J’YUG Australia, which sells fragrances online in the form of lotions, perfume, cologne, candles, mists and more. This was a perfect example of him combining his interest in scents with a passion for business and rolling it out.Jacky has more than 15 years of experience in sales and marketing, and has enjoyed many executive positions throughout his career. He has worked for Australis top Energy Providers, he was CEO of successful Direct Sales Agency in Australia and started a few of his own businesses.But in 2015, Jaikishaan hit rock-bottom when he made into an accident and got bound to the wheelchair. During this time he grew to appreciate the saying “The brighter the light, the darker the shadows.” You can go one of two ways. Either dwell in your darkness, or be inclined to spread as much light as you can.After going through severe depression, anxiety and stress, he decided to defy the odds. He started working on his mindset and belie

Jordan, aka Jordie Starbaby talks about breaking free of the traditional career mindset. She mentions one of her favorite lines from a movie is “you don’t come here to get jobs, you come here to create them.” It was this mindset that has led Jordan to being that badass boss beauty type throughout her entire career.She talks about growing up with a few childhood challenges. WIth regards to mental health, she battled depression and being able to maintain attention in school. Like anyone with a silver lining mindset though, she maintains that these struggles have built a lot of her character. Much of her attitude also came from being an only child, moving as a kid and the bullying that came along with simply trying to fit in at school.Jordan shared all about the school for performing arts that she attended. This school required a lot of sacrifice and commitment to attend because it was hours away. But, it was a huge factor in her development of creative confidence, an increasing interest in the arts and most importantly healthy social interactions. She made more friends and realized maybe she wasn’t the outcast that she thought she was at her homeschool. She also has a strong appreciation for the glaring differences between education and learning.She is an incredible role model for anyone interested in building a business, or storytelling. On the entrepreneurial side of her life, she has created her own fashion shows, social media marketing services, and media distribution platforms. On the more traditional art side she is a credited actor, writer and producer of both film and theater.Making the move from rural Connecticut to the big apple was one of those fairytale stories of focus for someone who loves to shine under the bright lights. There’s no doubt that she will keep busy building more and more business and creative ventures. But, the most exciting part is that she’s always open to helping others achieve their big dreams too. One of her areas of expertise is in making social media and content creation simple for people who are both new and experienced. She listed the reasons she likes and dislikes the most popular social media platforms and shared a case study of why it’s so valuable to invest time on LinkedIn especially today.Expertise doesn't have to be limited to business tips. Throughout the episode Jordan gave some amazing insight into dealing with a scattered mind. She shared some of her tips and tricks for keeping your ideas in check and making progress when you start to feel overwhelmed. 10 Ways To Prevent Feeling OverwhelmedSeek help if you need it. There is no weakness in going to therapy. Counseling and coaching can be proactive medicine as part of a self care routine.Accept that a certain level of depression and attention deficit can be a normal part of your character. But, also appreciate that there are actions specific to you that you can take to give yourself the best chance of thriving, not just surviving.Be proactive when planning ahead. Think in terms of projects and steps. Chunk larger tasks into smaller steps by working backwards from the end goal and work only on the next step at a time.Write down your ideas. Not because it’s a to-do list, or a diary, or a checklist per se, but simply because taking things into the physical written world helps to de clutter your mind.Create and use your second brain. This one is about writing, or typing things into action boards, checklists, and spreadsheets to keep track of your most important plans and data.Don’t rely on motivation, or energy. Instead rely on clarity, systems and habits in order to get your most valuable, high priority work done. Don’t worry about the other stuff.Make your systems visible. If it’s a goal board, save it on the background of your phone. A habit chart should be on a wall that’s visible multiple times per day. If you are creating a couple of “to-do” items for the day, put them on sticky notes.Celebrate small victories and accomplishments. The joy can not be in the final destination. You must find ways like checking things off, or scrapping your sticky notes, or ringing a bell, or dancing to a song every time you make the smallest of milestones so that you celebrate the entire process toward the end goal of your projects.Build a routine and daily schedule that keeps you on task and not confused about what you are supposed to be working on. This starts with selecting the right priority and setting your schedule accordingly.Find personal time for you, where you can check out of the project. When you are at work, be fully at work. When you are at play, or with friends and family, be fully present there. The idea of “balance” is a myth. Be fully unbalanced toward your current priority in the moment. Memorable Quotes“Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. A lot of people have glamorized being an entrepreneur without intake on what it means to be an entrepreneur.”“Be honest about what your goals are and what is yo

Episode NotesHelen tells the story of how she first became involved in working with inmates on death row. She let’s us hear how she got to know her first few clients and how tough it was. At times Helen chokes up thinking about the things she witnessed in her career that brought her to work with many people she would get to know quite well and then have to watch them be put to death in the electric chair.Her experiences on death row lead her to a life mission of trying to abolish the death penalty. It’s the old adage that while the crimes people commit are horrendous, two wrongs don’t make a right. Furthermore, there is a deep layer of systemic racism, poverty, and mental illness that creates a socio-economic link to those who are likely to end up on death row. The fact the death penalty was such a hot topic, combined with her personal experience, Sister Helen knew it was part of her mission to write a book in order to educate the public. Dead Man Walking was not only a best selling book, but it also went on to become an academy award-winning film, and popular theater play.Helen is a great role model for creating deep, intrinsic meaning in your work. She has been working tirelessly since the 1980’s toward educating people about murder, the death penalty, and compassion. She speaks openly in the episode about her struggles while doing this line of work and shares that the most challenging hurdle was figuring out how to support victim’s families. While it has been a lifelong seesaw, with many conflicts, no one could argue that she has done absolutely incredible work to remind all of us how we should strive to live our best lives.Sister Helen is an incredible storyteller, inspirational speaker, and teacher. While we spent the majority of time discussing death row and what it takes to have compassion for someone who has committed such terrible crimes, we also touched on a number of other subjects. We talked about the importance of learning, how to help people regain their lives if they’re given a second chance after jail, and how similar we are, no matter what people see on the outside.10 Things To Keep In Mind When It Comes To CompassionWe are all 99.9% identical. This connection between people is the secret of life. It is what makes everything hum and come to life.Empathy is an appreciation for others. You can not be “in their shoes”. You haven't been through what they've been through. You can hear what they’re saying and feel with you. You can walk with them, and go through things with them.Keep your promises. Most people who require forgiveness in the first place have trouble being trustworthy. Be sure to only make promises that you can keep. Keep your work, show consistency and do not waiver as you build trust.Be unconditional in your forgiveness. The root of “forgive” is the Latin word “perdonare,” meaning “to give completely, without reservation”. There is no need to hold back. Hurtful acts and forgiveness are two separate events.Be patient in waiting for “sorry”. The forgiver chooses when they feel sorry. Everyone heals according to their own timeline. You do not choose when someone forgives you. So be prepared to wait. But you can choose to forgive others and steer toward peace immediately.Every relationship is mutual. We’re not the wonderful, generous people, forgiving the poor, weak, wounded human beings. They give us a lot too. All human exchanges provide mutual gifts in some way.Create programs, groups, classes, or partnerships that allow for people to be on a similar playing field. There is so much unlevel ground and unfair advantages in society. Given equal circumstances you would be tested in a way that would lead you to do that too. So level the playing field when you forgive and get to know someone.Rewards and punishment won’t change the root cause of behavior. We must strive to keep innocent people safe. And, we must hold people accountable. The question is “what does accountability look like?” How do we define accountability? Remember that the wrongdoing is separate from the best course of action for next steps. Everyone has a reason, but not an excuse for their behavior. Some may have a learning disability, trauma, addiction, mental illness, poverty, lack of sleep, malnutrition, or immaturity. If your brain's ability for effective judgment is impaired. It’s impaired, as simple as that.Give everyone a voice and choice. There is dignity simply in being human. Not because of any results, or circumstances. But, simply in being human we should have input into our lives and decision making.Memorable Quotes“Find work and purpose in your life and do what you love. Do what you love. Let what you love be what you do to find purpose and do what you love. Not to try to make a lot of money and all that. Do what you love.”“Over 90% of people on death row were abused as kids. I mean, that's massive. And then one day they take it out on some innocent victim.”“When people rub us the wrong way, always be ask

Rick Kitagawa is considered an Inner Monster Wrangler. According to his experiences, his greatest strength is helping people wrangle that monster that holds us all back. He is great at helping people with imposter syndrome and achieving their big dreams. He coaches leaders, entrepreneurs and creatives to build confidence and strategies for success.Rick shares a bit about his upbringing and how it might not exactly be what people would think. We also touch on the debate about whether people should go to college, or not. Over the years, whether in business, social, or art, he has gone from scared of being judged, to being completely open about his own successes and failures.In this episode, we talked about content creation, especially when it comes to building courses and educational material. We discuss confidence, creativity, building business and how to stop stealing dreams from people. With so much experience and an appreciation for all forms of creativity and lifelong learning, Rick Kitigawa is the perfect JKL guest.Rick is a founder, speaker, NFT creator, business consultant, storyteller and artist. He is the type of person that will help make anyone’s life better just by working with him in any capacity. Just an all around really good person. Keep These Things In Mind When Creating Content And CoursesThere are a ton of snake oil salesmen in the online business world. But this is no reason to give up on your dream of being an educational leader in online business. It is important that we have more good people creating courses and content now more than ever before. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating your own business courses and content: Give it away. Give away ninety plus percent of your effort. The more we serve, the more we will get in return, but only if we truly serve first. Don’t stress about what to monetize, or not. Give it away and then when the time comes to build a strategy to monetize, you will know.Define what you’ll teach. We don’t have to focus on a niche in our lives overall, but being able to define a focus for what you want to teach people is really important. Each course, or mini business will have a specific focus. You can decide what your focus will be either by expertise, interests, or a combination of both.Ask your community. One of the most important ways that we can decide our vision for content we create, or products and services we sell is by asking our audience what they have questions about.People who pay are more likely to pay attention. It is really helpful to give away a lot of free content because let’s face it, the ability to learn in today’s day and age should be free. But, don’t underestimate the fact that some people need to put skin in the game in order to actually take the material, or course seriously.Have a price that suits your plan. You do not have to give into the idea that everything should be super expensive that you sell in order for it to be valued. But, it is also reasonable to have premium prices. It all comes down to knowing who you want to serve, what is the best price for them to pay and appreciating that when you take in revenue you can return it right back into surviving your community even better. So you may have a specific price plan for your customers, or you may have a value ladder that is accessible to anyone.Cater courses and content to different learning styles. Similar to the changing in price, if you want to help more people then make sure you teach with different methods. You may need to create audio, video, visual, and written content to help people learn in the way they learn best, at that moment.Engage people where they are at. Craft ways to ensure that there are equal entry points to the curriculum and content you are creating. Either split up your offers so that it is geared towards specific expertise and abilities. Or create the ability for the content to be flexible within it. Either way the progress should be individualized.Create unscalable learning moments. Synchronous learning opportunities, like real time projects, face to face meetings and live discussions may not be overly efficient when it comes to speed and convenience. But, in many cases these challenges, and peer to peer interactions are extremely valuable to the best learning. So make sure you have at least some live time opportunities and a community element. The community could exist in a group, or a channel, where people are able to work together whenever they need some peer interaction.Post clear instructions. When it comes to making sure people understand things like what your content can teach them, how to buy, how to succeed and how to follow the programs, don’t assume it is easy to figure out. Test this with your community, take constructive criticism, but more importantly, over communicate and constantly make it easier and easier for learners to succeed.Define due dates. It’s really common in such a fast pace world that we also fail to get things