Years ago, I met a famous podcaster and introduced myself as a blogger. The first thing he said was, “People still do that?” This was 2015. At the time, I took offense as I had built my entire career off of blogging. Now, I’m asking the same: Do people still blog? Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash Not really. Not exactly. Not the way they used to. Blogging was once a community. It used to be a place for people to express themselves—a testing grounds of sorts, a way for would-be writers to see if they had what it took to go the distance. It was a shot at sharing a big idea a ..read more

Some things must end so other things may begin.  In this final episode of The Portfolio Life, Jeff discusses what a portfolio life is and shares the lessons he’s learned over the course of producing the podcast.  Lessons learned: Your first stab at a new medium is rarely very good. You learn as you go. Finding your voice requires experimentation.  How you end something is directly correlated to how you begin the next thing. We invite you to check out our new podcast, Hey Creator! at https://goinswriter.com/hey ..read more

On The Portfolio Life this week, I’m chatting with Peak Performance Expert, Eric Partaker. Eric helps entrepreneurs become better leaders using behavioral science and techniques from the worlds of elite sports and the military, where peak performance is key. Eric is the author of the new book The 3 Alarms: A Simple System to Transform Your Health, Wealth, and Relationships Forever. Check out his website at www.ericpartaker.com. What we’re talking about: How dedicated effort, planning, and tenacity help you achieve your goals How a medical emergency on an airplane changed the course of Eric’s ..read more

On The Portfolio Life this week, I’m talking to Elida Field, a professional artist whose work has been featured in the White House and on magazine covers. She’s currently working on her first book, Nobody Dies in Art Class. To learn more about her work, check out www.elidaart.com   What we’re talking about: How reaching out to other artists and influencers can help you grow. Why so many people have preconceived beliefs that they’re not “artists” when they really are, and how you can fight against that negative belief. What happens when children realize that their parents are just pe ..read more

We're at the end of the 5-day Paid to Create challenge and so far, we’ve identified why we create, the importance of making money off our art, how to know what to sell, and to whom. Now, it’s time to sell ..read more

Before you figure out what you want to sell, you need to first figure out what people are willing to pay for. Your job is to create something unique, something that at first meets a felt need of a person but then, in some way, goes beyond what they thought they wanted ..read more

To start a business, you need more than passion. Getting paid to create really is about getting clear on what people want. Before we get into the super practical work of actually accepting money from other people, we need to get clear on what we have to offer ..read more

There are, I think, roughly three kinds of creators in this world, each with their own path. Today, I want to share with you two things. First is the three kinds of creators, and the second is the path to building an organization around your work ..read more

Why do we create? To share a thought: an idea, a story, a paradigm. To help another person, perhaps, simply by saying something others are unwilling to say. This week, I'm hosting a free, 5-day challenge to get you to take action. My goal for you is to go from zero to one. To get unstuck in a significant way that will allow you to create momentum in your work so that you can finally get paid to create. To find out more, check out goinswriter.com/paidtocreate ..read more

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what words can do. They can cut a person down or lift them up. They can overwhelm another with beauty or devastate their soul. I am always searching for the words that want to be said because when you find them, they can change everything ..read more