Tag: Motivation

Blog

How Seth Godin Changed My Life in Less Than 4 Seconds

March 11, 2016 By No Comments

Just recently, Seth Godin was back on the #AskGaryVee show. One phrase he said in passing has prompted this blog post, generated enormous value, and will be the the central purpose behind every blog post on the Create Something Awesome Today website from here on out.

One phrase. 4 seconds.

That’s all it took.

Remember a couple of blog posts back when I was talking about my mantra — What We Leave is Our Legacy? Well Seth has provided a deeper insight into that philosophy and has directly attached it to writing.

Simply put, he said “I try to blog or write every day as if it were my last.”

After watching the show, I went to sethgodin.com.

Clicked on his head.

(…yes, really.)

…and voila!

What was revealed to me was an anecdote, a thought, a tid bit, a piece of information every single day.

They weren’t long.

In fact, most of them were just over 100 words.

That’s it. 100 words.

One small blog post each and every day.

 

baseball at batIf you wanted to become the best player to ever wield a baseball bat, what would you need to do? Practice every day would be the obvious answer.

However, when you’re in the batting cages is your goal to hit a home run with every swing? Or is it to hit the ball with every swing? While we’d like to hit a home run every time we are at bat, the single most important thing you can do for your team to succeed is to simply get a base hit.

That’s all.

Hit the ball and land safely on first base. With enough base hits, you’ll score the points you need to win the game.

Now go get a base hit.

…and more importantly go get a base hit tomorrow, also.

Before you know it you’ll have won the game.

Tell me how you plan on creating small wins each and every day. Tweet me @erickhoxter or leave a comment below!

Blog

What We Leave is Our Legacy

February 10, 2016 By No Comments

 

What we leave is our legacy.

One of my favorite sayings.

When our time comes and we’re buried in the cold & lonely soil, what will those who’ve come to gather have to say? Positively or negatively, the end of your life will have had an effect on those closest to you as well as those around the world.

There are no do-overs and you’ll never know when your last goodbye will be…

You see, death has given me a reality check so big that I was forced to live the life that I want.

Allow me to explain…

My father was an absent parent throughout the most crucial years of my life. The only things I knew about him were health issues, excuses, and his love for his advertising and promotions company.

9 months after his 60th birthday he was in the hospital…again. Having not been around him for years I expected to be stone cold, emotionally. However, the moment I saw him on the bed, I crashed and wept. I left the room and wept for a man I didn’t really know too well for the majority of my life.

After his passing and the service I became reflective on any good things that I could remember. What I remember about him can be broken down into three things that have helped me as I develop personally and professionally and will help you as you imagine what people will remember about you when your time comes.

  1. Hustle. My father took a handful of pills and two shots every day and couldn’t even wear regular fit clothes. Despite that, he drove a 1990 Stanza with over 300,000 miles to school districts, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations pitching fundraiser ideas. He poured more money into that car than it was worth until the early 2000’s. He took action doing the things that he wanted. Despite his poor health, he made hundreds of thousands of dollars on his own doing what he loved. Nothing else mattered.
  2. Determination. We saw our father the most when we were younger. When he came over he and I would go over homework and play chess. Most of the time I never got to finish my homework because his thirst for knowledge and dedication to education meant reading the instructions, verbally defining the unorthodox words. If the definition wasn’t known, we would look up that definition in “The $40 Dictionary” (that name was given to the dictionary so we’d know the investment made on the dictionary was not to be taken for granted). If we didn’t know all of the words in the definition given we would look up that word and so on and so forth. It was tedious and digressive, however it was done for a point. That point is to better those around you
  3. Stubbornness. It’s one thing to have determination, but the will to never back down from the best is an entirely different thing. I remember playing chess with my father when I was maybe 7 or 8. I would play an absolutely disgusting blunder and I was forced to go back and verbally analyze the position and find a better move. Or sometimes he would turn the board around and I had to verbally analyze the position from the other perspective.

“The will to be great takes nothing short of a virtually irrational stubbornness.” – Tweet this quote!

We are all connected. The impact you have on another individual’s life will have an impact on another individual’s life which will then have an impact on another individual’s life. You live on in the actions that you took.

That is why it is important to understand that your dreams, your goals, your aspirations, your questions, and your passions cannot wait until tomorrow. How will you live today? How will the world be better off because you have lived? How much better will you feel having done the things in life that you’ve always wanted to do wanted to do?

Go Create Something Awesome Today… the world depends on it. You depend on it.

Tweet @erickhoxter

Podcast

CSAT Podcast: 007- Should You Ever Work For Free?

July 18, 2015 By No Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:39 — 34.2MB)

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CSAT Podcast 007: Should You Ever Work For Free?

Creatives like photographers, designers, writer and artists are approached sometimes to do free work or work in exchange for exposure.

This is a very important and controversial topic in the Creative Community. I feel that there are situations where it is appropriate, but I think that in most situations it should be the Creator who initiates it. I think that when companies ask for free work they are not valuing Creatives appropriately if they don’t find a meaningful way to compensate them.

When you’re just starting out as a creative you may be tempted to offer you work for free to get your feet wet, build your body of work and prove your value. The problem is that sometimes this leads to people taking advantages of you. Avoid clients who propose this when they engage you for services. It is one thing for you to offer your services for free, it is another for them to ask. Bartering, or trading is an exception to this as they are not asking for something in exchange for nothing…

When Is It Okay To Do Free Work?

If you are going to work for free, the first people you should offer this to are friends, family and people who have already invested in you and supported you. It is a great way to say thank you, know that they will appreciate what you’re doing and it is a good way to have a positive client experience and develop good/positive relationship habits.

Sometimes it’s okay to do it because you want to help someone that you know is going to do something positive in the world or you just want to make their day, especially a young person. I do this myself from time to time and I feel that it is a great way to invest in someone else. It was done for me at some point in my life, so I feel good paying it forward…

When Is It Not Okay To Do Free Work?

Many people have made the argument that if they want to do work for free and not charge people that is their right and their business. While on some level I can appreciate their argument… it’s a selfish argument. When people do that the are taking money and business away from people that actually need it.

If you love doing something as a hobby, don’t do give it to “clients” that someone else could be charging and appropriate fee to. Give it to a friend or family member or keep it to yourself if you don’t want to charge. You are literally hurting other people by giving it away.

This applies to active services and things that have a cost associated with them.

I give away free content and resources to create value for other people and from a marketing standpoint you could also do this to create interest in your paid offerings.  There is nothing wrong with a “Free Sample”.

You also shouldn’t let a client pressure you into doing work for free, or an employer if it is outside of the scope of your job duties or after hours. Many creatives make the mistake of doing side projects or extra work for free, giving up their own time or resources on the behalf of people who are not going to compensate them or appreciate them. Never allow yourself to be bullied in this way or taken advantage of.

Value yourself and respect your work enough to walk away from the situations. If you don’t feel you are in a position to do so, create a scenario where you are next time.

Recommended Reading for Creatives

Knowing how to handle yourself as a creative professional can be rough and while I try to put out as much content as I can, the truth is sometimes I don’t have all the answers… here is some recommended reading from bookshelf. There may be some information or advice in here that will make all the difference for you:

Freelancer’s Bible: http://amzn.to/1M28nne
Creative INC: http://amzn.to/1UV9id3
Show Your Work: http://amzn.to/1Hqtts8
Manage Your Day to Day: http://amzn.to/1UV9EAk
Make Your Mark: http://amzn.to/1SjyCW7

Create Awesome Challenge!

Create Value for Someone Without Them Asking You To! Find someone who you genuinely care about and want to invest in, someone who is doing something worthwhile that you think is Awesome! Offer them your time your talent and you sense of care and consideration. Take a look at the difference it makes in their life and the impact you had. See if you don’t feel more empowered and really think about how being able to have the luxury of making a difference for some made you feel. I honestly have had the experience of it making me appreciate the value of my abilities even more, and helped me be comfortable asking for what I truly believe I’m worth.

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