Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

SUBSCRIBE at unthinkable.fm to get a quick note every Monday morning containing new episodes, exclusive bonus content, and new experiments to join. TODAY: Tom O'Keefe is one of the most well-known people in all of Boston. But ask people around town if they know Tom O'Keefe, and they'll say no. This is the story of a simple side project that vaulted Tom from behind-the-scenes in his work to front-and-center, including invites to Fenway Park parties, free rooms at Mohegan Sun, and the radio industry wishing they were as influential as Tom. (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: Tom's Twitter: twitter.com/bostontweet Tom's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/bostontweet Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo TOPICS DISCUSSED: Business Restaurants Radio Baseball Red Sox Public Speaking Marketing Media Twitter Entrepreneurship Startups 2008 Crash Technology Creativity Intuition Boston

FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT + CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS: Subscribe at http://unthinkable.fm to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: As humans, we're wired to seek out experiences that make us feel comfortable. But in order to hone our intuition and follow it in our creative work, we need to constantly make ourselves slightly UNcomfortable. We need to push outside our comfort zone to grow and create better and better work. Today, we go outside our echo chamber to hear a story from Jim Mourey, professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago, about how he made guests at his mom's BBQ uncomfortable to change the amount of food they ate. Then, we hear from Tim Washer, creative director of Cisco and a comedian who trained under Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert's lead writer, on why you need to constantly follow the fear. LINKS TO KNOW: Jim Mourey's site: http://www.jimmourey.com/ Tim Washer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/timwasher Tim Washer's speaker page: monumentalshift.com/tim-washer Jay's Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Marketing Intuition Standup Comedy Art Psychology Cultural Fluency Academia Creativity Craft Content Marketing

FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT + CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS: Subscribe at unthinkable.fm to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: Hear the story of a creative side project that saved a startup. Crew co-founder and CEO Mikael Cho talks about Unsplash.com, a photography side project that now boasts billions of photo views each month and salvaged a startup heading for bankruptcy. The project is so widely used today that a photo on the site gets viewed more times than a photo on the cover of TIME Magazine ... but it all started with a ridiculously small amount of time and an even smaller budget. LINKS TO KNOW: unsplash.com Mikael's company: crew.co Mikael's Twitter: twitter.com/mikaelcho Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo TOPICS DISCUSSED: Side Projects Startups Photography Creativity Craft Intuition Art Technology Content Marketing

FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT: Subscribe at unthinkable.fm to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: Too often, creative people idolize the IDEA of being creative. But our jobs aren't to "be creative." Our jobs are to CREATE. In other words, we need a bias to act. But that's much easier said than done. Until you hear our stories today... Today, we go outside the echo chamber with executive coach Heather Legge. Although she coaches some of the most powerful women in business, she uses a subtle trick pulled from -- of all things -- golf, in order to build creative momentum for her clients. Then, in our feature story, we hear from a side project master: Alec Brownstein, creative director at Dollar Shave Club. His experiments have shaken the internet, getting passed around the big agency world on Madison Ave, inside Google globally, and all around the world. LINKS TO KNOW: Heather Legge's site: http://www.envisionsuccessinc.com/ Heather Legge's Twitter: https://twitter.com/esiresults Alec Brownstein's site: http://alecbrownstein.com/project.php?cat=3 Alec Brownstein's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jusfonzin The Google Job Experiment explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FRwCs99DWg Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Momentum Google Dollar Shave Club Golf Mitt Romney Side Projects Creativity Craft Intuition Art

SUBSCRIBE: unthinkable.fm to get a quick note every Monday morning containing new episodes, exclusive bonus content, and new experiments to join. TODAY: Scott Monty is one of the world's most forward-thinking marketing minds. He spends his time helping big brands evolve, whether that was in-house at Ford or today as a consultant. So why is he so obsessed with the past? And what is he doing building a side project that historians and NBA players alike seem to love? (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: Scott's side project: http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/ Scott's newsletter and related mini-podcast: http://fullmontyshow.com/ Scott's Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottmonty Jay's Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo TOPICS DISCUSSED: Marketing Media Newsletters Technology Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Blogging Podcasting Creativity Intuition

SUBSCRIBE AT unthinkable.fm to get a quick note every Monday morning containing new episodes, exclusive bonus content, and new experiments to join. TODAY: In a noisy world like ours, you don't just want to be the best of the best. You want to be the only one who does what you do. Today on the show, we explore the need to zig when others zag -- the need to own some white space and be original rather than incrementally beat others who do something similar. First, we talk about penguins. Because, I mean...penguins. Then we go outside the echo chamber for some tropical house music from DJ Viceroy. Then we hear the story of writer and marketer Finn Dowling of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, as well as Eddie the Terrible -- a tiny dog at the shelter that got some big internet fame, all because of one very hilarious blog post. LINKS TO KNOW: Far Side penguin comic: goo.gl/WuhnTk Viceroy's music: @viceroymusic Viceroy's site: www.viceroymusic.com/ Eddie the Terrible blog post: hssvacc.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-full…e-reasons.html Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Jay's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Penguins Music Grateful Dead Rock and Roll The Far Side Cartoons DJ Viceroy Tropical House Writing Blogging Viral Content Creativity Craft Intuition Art

While we're on hiatus from releasing new episodes, here's a closer look at the thinking and inspiration behind making the show. Be sure to subscribe at http://unthinkable.fm for our emails each Monday morning -- we're sharing the entire framework and process behind making the show run while we tinker on new episodes! SUBSCRIBE: http://unthinkable.fm BEHIND-THE-SCENES: http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SAY HI: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo TODAY'S EPISODE SYNDICATED FROM: https://soundcloud.com/louderthanwordsjohnbonini

A message from Jay about the future of Unthinkable. Be sure to subscribe at unthinkable.fm.

The story of how Scott Belsky created Behance, a global community of creatives focused on making ideas happen. (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: Behance.com Scott's Twitter: twitter.com/scottbelsky SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Get a note from Jay every Monday morning, plus links to the newest episode of Unthinkable. Subscribe at unthinkable.fm GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES Follow Jay on Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo or Snapchat: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Tech Startups Design Designers Portfolios Venture Capital Uber Pinterest Warby Parker Creative Missions Product Design User Experience (UX)

Betting your career on your creativity means you'll have your fair share of saving bad ideas (or "polishing turds" as you'll hear in one of our stories). It also requires the ability to look past the obvious and see the potential for something better or higher quality or generally more creative. It requires you to see beauty in the broken. Today, we look at these ideas from multiple angles. First, I wrestle with some leftovers (BONUS: you get a recipe out of this episode!). Then, we go outside the echo chamber to hear the curious case of the Warriors -- starting in a very bad place. Then we hear the story of entrepreneur John Marsh, whose career journey looks a lot more like a detour. LINKS TO KNOW: John Marsh: www.linkedin.com/in/john-marsh-1576069 John Marsh's real estate business: http://www.liveopelika.com/ New York Times piece on the Warriors: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/magazine/what-happened-when-venture-capitalists-took-over-the-golden-state-warriors.html?_r=0 SUBSCRIBE TO UNTHINKABLE Get a simple note written by Jay every Monday morning along with the new episode -- subscribe at http://unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Behind-the-Scenes making Unthinkable: http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: http://RightSideShirts.org - Empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Craft Creativity NBA Basketball Golden State Warriors Joe Lacob Stephen Curry Draymond Green Michael Jordan Real Estate Online Marketing Lead Generation Used Cars Small Businesses Entrepreneurship Suicide Depression Drugs Redemption Cooking Restaurants

Slingshots are a mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects is a powerful way to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Sarah Cooper talks about her journey from acting to Google to making the leap pursuing her comedic writing full-time. She parodies business culture, and she's built a nice audience for herself ... but what happens when your creative aspirations differ from what your audience expects from you? LINKS TO KNOW: TheCooperReview.com Sarah's Twitter: twitter.com/sarahcpr 10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Comedy Standup Side Projects Entrepreneurship Blogging Meetings Corporate Culture Books Startups Silicon Valley San Francisco New York Running Writing

People driven by their creative craft often spend hours agonizing and obsessing over the details of a project. Why? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? How do we know when to actually ship the work? And what does it take in order to operate with that level of detail in a business world often based on seeking shortcuts and cutting corners? Today, we go outside the echo chamber for the story of Niko at Granny's Pie Factory to find out why creative people operate with this extreme care for the details, then we hear about Macaela, Cory, and the team at Newfangled about how and why a creator can be both obsessively connected to a project AND ready to ship it. LINKS TO KNOW: Granny's Pie Factory: grannyspiefactory.com Newfangled: newfangledstudios.com SUBSCRIBE: Join the list at unthinkable.fm for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Behind-the-Scenes making Unthinkable: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Pies Craft Family Business Small Business Cooking Sauce Video Audio Live Action Creative Direction Beeple Dailies Design Macaela Vandermost Niko Harovas Newfangled Studios Content Marketing Brand Marketing

Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects is a powerful way to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Zac Wolf and Becca Goldring discuss their award-winning open-air photo booth, The Danger Booth. LINKS TO KNOW: Zac's Twitter: twitter.com/zacxwolf Becca's Twitter: twitter.com/Becca_Bakes TheDangerBooth.com ZacXWolf.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Photography Side Projects Entrepreneurship Sales Boston Weddings Startup Business Growth Dogs

For thousands of years, humans have invoked "The Muse" (or any of the nine Muses) to inspire creativity within them. But are we thinking about creative inspiration the wrong way? Also, a major announcement is made by one of our guest's on this episode, featuring legendary creative thinkers. Today, we go outside the echo chamber with Elliott Bell of The Muse to think about career coaching and what we can learn about the creative muse. Then, Chase Jarvis - world-famous photographer and the CEO of CreativeLive - shares a story from his childhood, debunks some myths around creativity and inspiration, and shares a HUGE announcement with us. LINKS TO KNOW: Elliott's Twitter: twitter.com/ellbell9 The Muse: www.themuse.com Chase's Twitter: twitter.com/chasejarvis Chase's Snapchat: snapchat.com/add/chasejarvis CreativeLive: creativelive.com 30 Days of Genius: creativelive.com/30daysofgenius SUBSCRIBE: Join the list at unthinkable.fm for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Behind-the-Scenes making Unthinkable: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity The Muse Creative Inspiration Education Career Culinary School Iron Chef Coffee Photography Design Writing Mark Cuban Seth Godin Richard Branson Arianna Huffington Brene Brown EduTech Genius

Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects are powerful ways to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Dan Milano talks about the comedy group and video project, Wooden Nickel Shorts. LINKS TO KNOW: Dan's Twitter: twitter.com/DanMilanoHere Wooden Nickel Shorts: youtube.com/user/WoodenNickelShorts SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Comedy Video Production Video Editing Saturday Night Live Twilight Google Plus Hollywood Yetis Side Projects

When you agonize over the act of creation itself -- for its own sake, not for some ulterior motive or end result -- good things happen. But in the business world, whether in marketing or as an entrepreneur or freelancer, that mentality is surprisingly rare. So what do you call that behavior when someome wants to skip right to the end result, craft be damned? There's a word for it -- a behavior we need to avoid if we want to be truly creative in our careers. In this episode, we hear the story of Alessandro "San" Bellino, owner of Gracenote Coffee, an espresso bar in downtown Boston. He takes us deep into his approach to his craft, where we'll learn what really matters and get inspired for attacking our own work. LINKS TO KNOW: Gracenote's Twitter: twitter.com/gracenoteboston The Coffee Trike's Twitter: twitter.com/TheCoffeeTrike SUBSCRIBE: Join the list at unthinkable.fm for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Behind-the-Scenes making Unthinkable: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Coffee Espresso Ice Cream Italy Culture Employee Happiness Management Boston Craftsmanship The Coffee Trike Gracenote Coffee Consciousness Focus Work/Life Balance Being Craft-Driven Game Theory Game Mechanics Intrinsic Motivation

Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects are powerful ways to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Erik Devaney talks about carving the white whale. LINKS TO KNOW: Erik's Twitter: twitter.com/bardofboston Erik's Medium article: https://medium.com/@bardofboston/carving-the-white-whale-7cf0a830b9da SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Craftsmanship Moby Dick Customer Personas Marketing Content Marketing Side Projects Wood Carving HubSpot Medium Netflix Procrastination Writing

Creative side projects are powerful ways to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, we hear the story of Neil Pasricha, creator of 1000AwesomeThings.com, a TED speaker, and author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, including The Book of Awesome. LINKS TO KNOW: Neil's Twitter: twitter.com/1000awesome Neil's TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome?language=en Neil's new book: http://goo.gl/sKAxzL Subscribe at unthinkable.fm for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. SUBSCRIBE: Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need. TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Blogging Career Growth Content Marketing Risk-Taking Daily Routines Books Writing TED Talks Space Exploration Awesome Things The Book of Awesome The Happiness Equation

In the official launch of Unthinkable, we'll tackle the bizarre but huge debate of quality vs. quantity in marketing. Plus, creator & host Jay Acunzo shares the theme of the show and why it's time to finally, mercifully, start being loud about our one true desire -- to create great content for a living. We'll go outside the marketing echo-chamber to the smartest place on the planet, as well as hear from a prolific content creator who would make most marketers blush. LINKS TO KNOW: Subscribe at unthinkable.fm for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. @jayacunzo & UnthinkableFM snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo facebook.com/UnthinkableFM SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org - empowering kids to be more creative and helping art programs in need.

See you soon! Be sure to subscribe at Unthinkable.fm to get episodes as soon as they launch, plus other exclusive content, goodies, and behind-the-scenes. Twitter: @UnthinkableFM @JayAcunzo