This is the episode where you get to ask me anything about being a creative director. I do a deep dive into what creative directors do, how to break into the industry, and my thoughts on AI and its effect on the creator economy. 

Download the 10 affirmations that changed my life.

Follow Justin on Instagram and tell me what you think of the episode.

Preorder my new guided journal The Reset Workbook.

Order Joy Bombs affirmations cards.

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This is the episode where I talk about creative careers. We talk about defining success on your own terms, calendar blocking, and the power of self-initiated projects.

Related Links:

Download the 10 affirmations that changed my life.

Follow Justin on Instagram and tell me what you think of the episode.

Preorder my new guided journal The Reset Workbook.

Order Joy Bombs affirmations cards.

Here’s the full transcript:

Breaking News: You spend a third of your life on your career. Here’s your permission to make it something you actually kinda like and not something you feel like you need to just endure. 

This is Justin and you’re listening to SoCurious About, a weekly podcast about creativity, marketing and joyful living. 

And today I’m so curious about the creator economy, so I gathered 9 thoughts how to build your creative career. 

But before we dive in, over the past 15 years, I’ve worn every hat you can imagine as a creative professional. 

I’ve had job titles like graphic designer, web designer, social media manager, creative director, director of marketing, photographer, illustrator, and communications manager… 

High key, if there was an opportunity to flex my creative muscles, I jumped at the opportunity.

And through the combination of personal projects, life experience, and meaningful self-work, I have my fair share of career advice for creative professionals. 

In today’s episode, I’m going to give you nine pieces of advice to help you stay inspired, focused, and productive in your creative career.

1. Success can have so many different meanings for creative professionals. And you get to define what success means to you.

Don’t chase after someone else’s dream. 

Instead establish what success means for you and build a life you love. 

That might mean letting go of specific job titles or focusing less on breaking six figures, if you prefer to prioritize work/life balance.

It might mean committing to the hustle and grind for a specific period of time, so you can become that high powered executive.

It could also mean working an easy job you don’t love, so you have time to work on your creative interests without the need to monetize them. 

In life, there are no right or wrong answers. 

We just make decisions. And then based on the results we make changes. 

So take all that pressure off and sit down so you can think about what truly makes you happy. 

2. Eat the frog first thing every single day.

This aphorism originally comes from a Mark Twain quote: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

I love this phrase so much because depending on the season of my life, I can definitely be the time of person that puts off the most important work and instead focus on the things that feel the most fun. 

But this is an important reminder. 

Instead of procrastinating, do the one task you’re dreading first so you can get out of the way. 

This frees up mental space and allows you to be more creative for the rest of the day.

Now in reality, I don’t fully follow this. 

I’m a morning person and so my mornings are often found writing new content or doing illustrations. 7-8:30am is my time to do the things that make me happy and feel a little more creative. 

But around 9:00am, as the day truly begins, that’s when I do the most boring, most annoying or most mentally taxing. Because I’m fresh and ready to tackle something challenging. 

3. No one will advocate for you if you aren’t willing to advocate for yourself.

It’s easy to assume that people are hyper-aware of your interests, needs, and expectations. But you have to remember that your coworkers and manager are dealing with their own set of goals and objectives.

It’s your job to remind them of the good work that you’re doing, the growth that you’ve made, and your goals for the future.

This comes up a lot in corporate culture especially. When you’re working on team focused projects, there will often come times when you need to set some clear and healthy boundaries. 

One tool that helped me was adding meeting blocks for deep work and lunch to my work calendar. 

Let’s be clear, I love lunch. I’ve never been the type of person that can feed themselves while cycling through emails. 

Lunch for me is a beautifu experience where for ideally 30- 45 minutes, I can disconnect from the rest of my responsibilities and reset before getting back to the hustle of the work day. 

But when I first moved to Austin, I worked at a company that was so meetings heavy that I barely had time to grab a glass of water, let alone have a moment to eat the second most important meal of the day. 

Is breakfast even the most important meal of the day or was that just a campaign to sell more Kellog cereal. 

To combat this culture, I made sure to add calendar blocks for an hour or two where I could catch my breath and refocus. Sometimes they would have to put a meeting over the block, but generally it helped with my personal overwhelm. 

4. You have to have an emergency savings fund… ideally in a high-yield account.

In the creative industry, even the most secure jobs can be volatile. 

Save money for rainy days so that you don’t have the financial pressure of being without a consistent salary if you’re laid off. 

I am not a professional financial advisor and this is not financial advice. 

But let me tell you.Most savings accounts arae trash. They charge you to hold your money as if they arent making tons of money off the fact that they are holding so much money at one time. 

I switched my savings account to a high yield savings account and it became joyful to look at my account and see that instead of the pennies a month I was used to, I would see an extra 30-40$ a month. 

And as the account got bigger and bigger and biger that number continued to grow. 

The best money non-advice I can give. Because I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice. 

So the best non-financial advice I can give is that you should live below your means. Put 10% directly into savings and live off the rest. And as you start to make more money, put even more money into the savings account.

This habit started for me when I was making 28K and literally sleeping on a foam mattress in my first apartment. 

But it’s stuck with me into my current big age. 

And this principle eventually helped me to have my year of rest and relaxation, where I took a 13 month sabbatical to write my upcoming guided journal, the Reset Workbook. 

5. No one can actually multitask – everybody is lying about this.

The best way to complete a project effectively and efficiently is to give it your full focus. 

Make a to-do list at the beginning of the week and take projects one step at a time. 

This will lead to a higher quality of work overall and a defined sense of actively getting things done.

I know different brains work differently.

And for some people, playing a podcast while working in excel helps them think better. 

But for me, I prefer working in hyper-focused bursts – where I can zone in on a project (hopefully find a flow state) and fully knock it out.

To do this, I pursue the smallest amount of distractions as possible. 

But then after those sessions of deep work, I stop progress and step away from the computer to take a real break. 

Like why would you take 4 hours to work on a task when you could really just focus for 1 hour and then spend 3 hours doing something  you actually would prefer doing instead. 

I don’t know maybe its just me. 

6. Work hard enough to get the job done well, but not so hard that it directly affects your health or your relationships.

One of the challenges of working in your zone of genius is deciding when to stop working. 

It’s important to create things that your clients will love and that you’re proud of, but sometimes pushing for perfection is a waste of energy and time.

Sometimes good is good enough. 

So make sure to prioritize all the aspects of your life that matter to you: health, fitness, quality time with friends and family, self-care, and hobbies.

One of the most interesting things I’ve seen in my creative career is that people that are single in the workforce are thought of as having to take on greater amounts of work because they don’t have kids or a spouse to take care of. 

Let me tell you in big bold language. 

Me going to grab catchup drinks with my homies is important to me. 

Me having a quiet evening in my house listening to Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, while I moonwalk through my apartment is important to me. 

Me having the time and space to disconnect from the important work that I do so that I can come back joyful and refreshed is important to me. 

And the things that are important to me are the key to having true work life harmony. 

So I’m going to advocate for my needs. 

I might work on one weekend, but best believe I’m taking a long weekend as soon as I can to make up for it. 

Oooh this next thought is a good one about money. 

7. Always ask for $5-10,000 more than what they offered.

After multiple rounds of interviews, it’s easy to just be happy that you got a new creative job. 

But you could be leaving money on the table if you’re not negotiating for more pay when you get the offer. 

It’s always worth countering the offer to see if there’s some wiggle room in the budget.

Here’s a somewhat bummer story that puts this into context. Because I learned this the hard way.

When I got my first job in advertising, I took the first amount they gave me. 

It was 28K. I still can’t believe that. I made 28K and was able to support myself which would literally be impossible today. Well I was barely supporting myself. I was sleeping on a foam mattress on the floor. And eating Wendy’s 4 for 4 meals. 

But when I went to the next job, they were like, we can offer you 28K. 

I don’t even think I considered it before I blurted out. I need to make 36K so I can pay rent. 

That was probably not the most professional way to say it. 

And to be honest, I was immediately mortified. 

But they accepted my offer. 

Now here’s the annoying part. A woman that was also my friend, started a job around the same time. 

And she accepted the 28K. So two people, same job. One a man that asked for an 8K increase and a woman that didn’t.

That’s messed up. The world should absolutely not be that way .

Ask for more money. They worst they can do is say no. 

They already want to hire you. 

8. Make time for creative exploration in your creative process.

With a demanding full-time creative job, it can be hard to make time for creative exploration.

Growth and development doesn’t happen by accident. 

It’s a decision you have to make for yourself. 

With tight deadlines and lots of projects, you have to carve out time to continue to grow in your creative career.

Take time to create just because you want to create.

 Watch tutorials. Go to conferences. Connect with like-minded creatives. 

Inspiration is something you have to continually seek, even if it means doing it when you’re not on the clock.

This is the true difference between the good and the great. 

I’ve mentored so many creative professionals over the course of my career and the major difference between the good and the great is that the great are always practicing and learning. THey enjoy it and want to do it all the time. They are committed to growing. 

This last piece of advice is perhaps the most important. 

At least for me. 

9. If no one will hire you to do the work that you want to do, you can make it your side hustle.

Sometimes the only way you can actually build experience is to commit to learning a new skill on your own time. This is the beauty and the challenge of being a creative professional. You need experience to get the job, but often times in order to get experience, you have to start on your own.

If you’re trying to break into a new field, build new portfolio pieces that connect with the work you’re looking for. 

As a creative person its not always the degree that gets the job.

Often times its the portfolio and experience. 

Once you have a portfolio, search for contract work or create self-initiated projects that help you become better at your craft.

The good news though is that you can always build the portfolio piece. You can always build the experience. It takes a little more effort and a little more time, but you can do the thing. 

—

Okay we did it. 9 thoughts on building your creative career. 

I’m thankful yet again to have the opportunity to spend a little time with you. 

And I’m looking forward to chatting soon. 

You’re pretty cool people. 

If you’re feeling adorable, I would love for you to leave a five start review on whatever podcast platform you’re using. If it’s Spotify, it’s one simple click that could help get this podcast in front of new people. 

If you’re feeling super adorable, you can follow me on instagram at justinmadethat. 

That’s all I got. Let’s chat next week. 

This is the podcast episode where I do a deep dive on how to make a vision board. We talk about EPIC Goals, you get a sneak peek of what I want to achieve before the end of this year, and you learn the secret of how I make my goals a reality.

Here’s the full transcript:

Breaking News: You don’t have to wait to the new year to set some new goals. High key: I’ve moved beyond new year, new me. Now it’s new day, new me. 

This is Justin and you’re listening to SoCurious About, a weekly podcast about creativity, marketing and joyful living. 

And today I’m so curious about how to create a vision board to design your ideal life. 

But before we dive in, I have a confession: Ya boy has super thick glasses 

Like thicker than thick 

Like I wouldn’t;t have survived if I was born in any other time period 

And because I grew up in the 90s, I was doomed to be a nerd. But fortunately there was one specific popculture nerd that I connected with. And I’m pretty sure you know who it is. Mr. Steve Urkel of family matters. 

Did I do that impression.

So you’ve seen this show I’m sure. Its about a happy family and their terrifying next door neighbor that creates unnecessary chaos and stalks their teen daughter, Laura Winslow. 

But they try to make it cute. Cause its a sitcom. 

But there’s a world where this is actually just a scary ass movie where you have to kill your next door neighbor cause they doing too much. 

But so I’m a nerd and of course I commiserate with Steve Urkel. 

But then there’s this one episode where Steve drinks this glowing liquid and essentially turns into a teenage heart throb by lowering the octave of his voice, taking off his suspenders, and obviously removing his glasses. 

Because not having glasses means you’re hot at least in the 90s. 

Oooh that reminds me, I need to watch she’s all that again. 

Even though I’m sure if I rewatch that movie today I will discover how problematic it actually was. 

So Steve drink this glowing liquid and like he’s now a professional model and Laura Winslow falls in love. 

And I remember my little kid brain being like, I’m gonna wear these contacts and get a Sean John oversized suit and I’m going to be the most popular man in the world. 

The show ultimately was really about Steve chilling out a bit and learning to love himself more. But this was my first introduction to the idea that you can design your life. You can make any changes you see fit. 

And as I’ve aged and matured those goals are less about being the most popular kid in high school and instead are about living a balanced intentional life that provides me with sustainable joy. 

Now on a scale from zero to woo woo, I’m much more on the practical tactics side. Although my friend Jason texted me after a previous episode and was like: Dude, you’re the most woo woo person I know. 

And I’m like, yes, I’m the most woo woo person you know. 

But of the woo woo people I know, lol, I’m like a business man in an oversized sean john suit. 

But I’ll admit it, you got me, I believe that you can manifest your ideal life without needing to burn sage or realign your chakras. 

We all have big and small changes we want to make in our life.

And change starts with believing that everything you desire is possible. 

It will take effort —sometimes lots of effort. 

But the new energy you crave starts with making a plan. 

For me, building a vision board is a useful tool for designing your ideal life. 

And I’m not joking the things you write down can become a reality. I am the living embodiment of that truth. 

My 2022 vision board said speaker, podcaster, and published author and while they have come in unexpected ways — sometimes very different than how I expected them to come to fruition. They did actually all happen. 

I had my first paid virtual speaking gig with an agency and taught about self care and emotional intelligence in the workplace. 

I launched this podcast.. which it still blows my mind how scary this is

And I got a book deal because a person on my email list shared my self published book with her boss. And the next thing I know, ya boy has the Reset Workbook launching in December 2023. 

And to all those things i say to the universe. Thank you. More please. 

So let’s talk about my process for building a vision board because real talk I do things kinda different. 

1. Step one is to start with a journaling exercise to recap the last three months.

It’s nice to do annual planning, but more and more I’m becoming an advocate for quarterly planning as a tool to break down the year into more bitesized chunks. 

So I like to make a list of all the things I’ve accomplished both big and small. 

And I separate this into a few categories: 

Relationships

Finances

Work and Career 

Home

Emotional Wellbeing 

Social Life and Hobbies 

And I go through everything that comes to mind as big wins this year. 

This is valuable for so many reasons. 

First it reminds you of all the hard work that you’ve done. And gives you an opportunity to celebrate all those small wins along the way. 

And just so we’re clear for context, I write everything down on that list. For me, it would include some of the bigger things like launching the joy bombs affirmation cards – which was low key one of the hardest things I’ve done in the past few years. 

But I also like to recap some of the more mundane things. One of which I’m super proud of this quarter is I have been cooking a lot more at home and spending a lot less money on Uber Eats. 

I still hate cooking – we talked about this. But I’m doing it, so I’m proud. 

I have also walked more this quarter than the previous quarter which is a feat because I have been nursing a knee injury that I’ve been doing a lot of exercises to heal. And somehow I have lifted weights more than I have in any other year of my life. 

The big one though is that I’ve been doing a much better job of calling my friends or shooting catchup texts to reconnect. 

Last quarter one of my biggest goals was to spend more quality time with the people I care about despite where they live in the world. And while it can be challenging to keep up with the long distance besties, its something that I genuinely want to cultivate more and more. 

These are small, but mighty accomplishments that genuinely matter to me.  

2. The next step is to brainstorm and prioritize your goals.

Based on the things that I accomplished in the past three months, I start to brainstorm the things that I want to accomplish in the next three months. 

First I create a list of all my biggest picture goals and write them out on a piece of paper. 

Then I narrow down to the most important 3-5 goals for that quarter.

Recently, I’ve been really trying to narrow my focus more and more, so that I’m focusing on only the most important things and ideally letting go of the things that are nice to haves, but not quite as important. 

So I’ll give you the inside scope on my big picture goals for myself over the next three months. 

As we dive into the last quarter of the year, this is what feels like the true beginning of my personal pivot. I’m not fully sure if I even know what that means in actuality. But I can say, I’m passionate about making more physical products and getting lots more speaking opportunities. So in an ideal world it would be less client facing work and hopefully over the course of 2024 becoming my own number one client.

So my goals: 

I want to do everything in my power to have successful book lauch for the Reset Workbook. Specifically, and this is still hard for my brain to even wrap around, my goal is 4000 sales between December and January. So how do I get there. 

First, I’m doubling down on social media and I’m setting the SUPER ambitious goal of posting at least 5 times a week on Instagram and Tiktok, with an emphasis on short form video.

We haven’t talked about this, but making video is hard for me. I can be self conscious sometimes about being the onscreen talent. 

But more than that, sometimes I freak out because I dont have the technical chops that I want to make the level of content that I’d like to make. It’s funny because I still have done it.

I usually do short bursts of intense content creation. But I want to figure out a system for me that works and allows me to be super consistent leading up and through the book launch. 

Second, I’m focusing a lot of intention on email newsletter growth. I’ve been running the weekly reset newsletter now for nearly 4 years, which is wild to even think about. But I love it because after doing the newsletter for so many years, I feel like it has pushed me to continuously write, draw, and refine my point of view on the world. 

That in and of itself is spectacular. But I also feel like the messages resonate and help some people get inspired to make tiny changes in their lives. That genuinely sets my soul on fire. 

Third, I am fully committed to continuing to increase the quality of this podcast. 

My assumption is that if you’re listening to this, you’re probably on my newsletter. And I felt like one of the best ways to be able to forge even deeper connection with you all was to hang out for 20 minutes a week and talk about the things that have been going on in my life. 

And honestly, it’s fun. Like I genuinely enjoy being able to sit down with a cup of iced coffee no milk no sugar. Grab my microphone and chat through the things that are on my mind. 

So that will absolutely continue. But I also want to focus on ways to expand the audience and deepen the connection

Finally, I want to get my Joy Bombs affirmation cards, as well as a few upcoming products onto Amazon. 

I’ve been really thinking a lot lately about distribution channels and how often I myself will buy something from Amazon because I can check out with one click. And I think there’s a huge opportunity for growth once i commit to that channel.

Yea, those are the biggest ones. But I imagine inside of each of those goals there are a lot of tiny steps I’ll have to work on to truly take action. 

Low key, I’m freaking out about it internally, but I’m trying my best to just break it up into bite sized chunks so I don’t think too deeply about any specific action plan. 

Pnce I’ve established the top level goals then I start working on specificity. 

I outline the steps necessary to achieve the individual goals and if necessary start to cut down on some of the goals. 

I feel like I need to do a full episode on my EPIC goal setting process, but the short version is that goals should be specific and in alignment with your personal values. 

Quickly thought the EPIC Goals framework starts by answering these questions: 

Essential – is it absolutely worth doing right now 

Purpose-driven – Does it align with my purpose and values 

Identifiable – Can I easily identify what success looks like to me?

Clearly Defined – Do I know when to do it and for how long. 

I know everyone probably knows SMART Goals, but what I think is different here is that we’re really connecting the goal with our own personal why and for me that makes it more likely for me to want to achieve the thing. 

When somethin g connects with my greater purpose its easier for me to want to follow through on it. 

Step three is where I choose a word or phrase to focus on for the quarter.

I start by brainstorming words and phrases that represent the way that I want to feel during that time period. 

I try to make it an actionable word that makes me feel inspired. 

Some past phrases and words I’ve used were: 

Create and Conquer – The phrase I used when I launched my freelance design business 

Build the Dream – The year that I decided I wanted to be a Creative Director at an ad agency 

Fresh Start – For when I committed to moving to Austin Tx from new orleans.  

2022’s focus was my year of alignment – shaking off the old patterns and building new pattens. 

And right now the phrase that resonates the most for me is Intentional Growth 

Cause baby we’re on the growth trajectory now. 

What did Cardi B say- if its up then its stuck

I’m not fully sure what that means, but Cardi you’re right.

If it’s up then its stuck!

And that brings us to the final step. Once you’ve picked a word or a phase for the quarter, I like to fill a poster board or a canvas with words that support that vision.

And this is really where the fun is. 

I’ll add in my most important goals to this vision board.

I’ll work in descriptors for the way I want to feel. I’ll even add in some big number goals 

But the key difference for is that I don’t use images. I use words and phrases for everything. And I try to handwrite everything myself. 

For me there is a certain magic that we hold in our handwriting. 

So the process of thinking about it and writing it all down. It just feels like it invites the universe to make that thing happen. To make it a reality even faster than I could even imagine. 

And once you’ve created your vision board, it’s important to display it prominently and regularly check in on your progress. 

And this is simple, like I’ll try to at least once a week and really sit with it and see if i feel like I’m still on track. 

Am I truly experiencing the words on this vision board or is it time to start thinking about making a new board that more closely aligns with how my vision has changed. 

We are consistently changing people and it’s okay to decide over the course of a few months that your vision has changed and even decide that you want to chase after new goals. 

So that brings us to the end of this episode. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor and share it with one friend. That is one of the best ways for this show to grow. 

If you feeling real cute you can follow ya boy on instagram at justinmadethat. And this is your permission to slide in my DMs and let me know what you think. 

That’s all I got for today. 

I’ll hit you up next week.