Category: Creator Confidential
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“Quarter million a year, and that don’t bounce”
That’s from “Untouchable,” when Pusha T talks about working as the president of Ye’s record label GOOD Music. His boast was in the salary he’d be earning working in a powerful role at a cutting edge record label, and not relying on the fickle income of music and the struggle of staying relevant in an…
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To all the dreams I dreamed before
When I look back at my teenage years, I think about how many opportunities I missed. Most of the time, I didn’t even hear about the opportunities or appreciate how important they were and how much they could change my life, so I didn’t develop my senses for it. The ones I did hear about,…
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How I write every day
As I’d written before, I’d been chugging along with my blog at the beginning of the year trying a very fixed weekly schedule and style guide. A day after the 100 Day Project started, I decided to try to write every day. When I’m busy, it just takes a couple of minutes and I basically…
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To bolster your confidence, work on your positioning
Yesterday I read something that connected a lot of dots for me, so much so that I wanted to share it the excerpts at my blog right away. For starters, there are two general hunches—or “myths”—that I’ve been trying to untangle and unpack amongst many others. The first is: Confidence, innate or manufactured, creates an…
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How to distribute your writing
A friend approached me a week ago or so with a really great long-form article he’d published. 3,000 words, really in-depth, oozing industry expertise. I wasn’t even part of the industry and I enjoyed it. He asked me for suggestions, and my main question was: What’s the plan for people finding this piece? Our minds…
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Executives who can execute
Some companies need their executives to merely make good decisions; they take in information, influence budgets, and hire. These same companies—usually huge ones with tens of thousands of employees—are the ones who max out their headcount and hire contingent workers and freelancers, agencies and services companies, and research companies, to actually do most of the…
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Why I stopped calling myself a “freelance writer”
Several years ago, the CEO of a prominent product development services company approached me to help out with copywriting and publicity. I had started my own editorial studio, Wonder Shuttle, and gave myself the job title of creative director. That didn’t matter much, because most of my network still knew me as a freelance writer.…
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Audiences in the arenas
It used to be that spectating was the only way to experience creative work. Stadiums, arenas, and theaters are based on this premise. People who spectate are known as the audience. Spectating is still an incredibly popular activity—just look at Twitch. Sure, I listen to podcasts, I watch films and TV, and I read. I…
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Hard Work, Plus
In September 2007, J. Cole stood outside Roc-the-Mic studios in the rain for 2 hours waiting for Jay-Z to hand him a beats tape for American Gangster. The second Jay-Z saw it, he said, “I don’t want that, give it to one of them.” That’s why self-promotion is, understandably, one of the most dislikeable parts…
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Reiterate
Wonder Shuttle is an editorial studio that works with companies to turn their team’s knowledge into additional hires at lower costs. It’s a way to make an impact with content, beyond marketing. I started Wonder Shuttle in 2013 and publicly launched it in 2014. From 2016 to 2018, I worked with Shopify and its enterprise…