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A beginner’s guide to asking
Most of the time, it’s okay to be nosy. A more polite way to describe that is curiosity. If you make eye contact, wave, and say, “Excuse me,” you are off to a good start. Learn to ask indirectly. Feel out when to push and when to pull back. Know when to offer to put…
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Always ask
People can recommend incredible restaurants. They can bend rules for you. They can help make an exception or offer leniency. With their experience, they can suggest more expansive possibilities than you could have imagined. All you have to do is one thing: Ask. Always ask.
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Speak directly with your customers
One of the privileges of my early career was working with Ryan Leslie on the project that became Superphone. In short, Ryan noticed that because artists couldn’t communicate with fans, they had to pay for publicity, paid ads, and promotion whenever they released new work. Ryan decided he was going to communicate directly with fans…
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Your friends, your customers, and your work
When I first released the manuscript that became Creative Doing, it was on Gumroad under the title There Is No Right Way to Do This. It was a PDF I sold for $29.99 CAD. The first 22 people to buy it were my friends. Out of the first 50, I don’t recognize three people’s email…
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Scrap paper is powerful because it’s friendly
Many of us are comfortable singing in the shower, humming a song at the office, or doing karaoke with friends. Singing comes naturally—you want to sing—because the conditions make it so. When you consider performing a song on stage, in front of an audience, the conditions change. It wouldn’t feel so natural to do that…
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On AI music and writing
A few days ago, I heard a song I liked at a restaurant. I tried finding it with Shazam. Even after a few tries, nothing came up. When I asked the staff, they told me it was probably AI music. They enjoyed putting it on as relaxing ambient music, and said it was good for…