Herbert Lui – Page 45 – Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

You vs. the parasite

I did bookkeeping for my first year of business. One year was enough for me. It was boring and very spreadsheet–heavy, and I knew I never wanted to do it again. So I did what I thought savvy entrepreneurs called “delegating.” I hired a bookkeeping and accounting firm to do it for me, and I…

Herbert Lui

February 5, 2025

Creator Confidential, Life, Turning Stories

To know vs. to do

The team at Basecamp recently did a six-week sprint to improve the product’s onboarding flow. They did a bunch of stuff and shipped it. The result was a 30% increase in conversion rate. “What happened?!” you might ask them. “How? What’s the best practice?” They don’t know. They don’t care. “The point wasn’t to know,…

Herbert Lui

February 4, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential

“Never do nothing”

It was earlier in his life, perhaps when he worked in finance, that Dave Spitz picked up a belief: “If you do everything on your to-do list, you’re succeeding. If you don’t, you’re failing.” Dave quit finance and eventually started California Strength, a training facility for Olympic weightlifting. While he owns a gym, he doesn’t…

Herbert Lui

February 3, 2025

Creativity, Expectations, Life, Turning Stories

One chance

Dan Sullivan is a coach for entrepreneurs. He asks every prospective client a question, “If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?” It’s a…

Herbert Lui

February 2, 2025

Creator Confidential, Expectations, Life, Turning Stories

What’s the point?

“What’s the point in planning, if it could all end at any time?” Dustin Gorton survived the Columbine massacre at age 18. He learned how fleeting life can be that day. A blog attributes a powerful reflection to him, penned when he turned 36. It reads, “I came away with the [lesson that] death is…

Herbert Lui

February 1, 2025

A Matter of Time, Expectations, Life, Turning Stories

Blogging for smaller audiences and deeper connections

Making good work requires making mistakes. It’s never a straight path to the final work. If a lot of people see your creative work all the time, then it’ll be more difficult for you to make imperfect work. You won’t have space to tinker and experiment so much. You won’t even just be able to…

Herbert Lui

January 31, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion, Revision, Turning Stories

Three stories about emotional reactions

1. Anthony de Mello writes in Awareness: Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, “Very well, I’ve understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!” The patient replies, “Thank you very much, Doctor,…

Herbert Lui

January 30, 2025

Creativity, Expectations, Life, Turning Stories

Chipping away

I used to drop everything to focus on a single project at a time. I would try to do all the tasks as soon as possible, in the hopes of getting it done and out of the way so I could relax. For example, if I had an administrative project, I told myself I’d just…

Herbert Lui

January 29, 2025

A Matter of Time, Creator Confidential, Life, Turning Stories

Good prose

The lyrics from a good song will put your feelings into words better than you could have. That’s really the songwriter’s only job. Similarly, the prose from a blog post, article, or book should put your feelings into words better than you could have as well. A good piece of prose should energize you and…

Herbert Lui

January 28, 2025

Creativity

Discouragement is a test

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a sports commentator. I enjoyed watching sports, and I liked talking, so that sounded like a sweet job. My family gave me a hard reality check: How many people were there on TV that looked like me? How often did such job opportunities open up? What…

Herbert Lui

January 27, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories