Escape from Cubicle Nation Podcast
Advice, support and encouragement to stop being a corporate prisoner and start your own business
Soul-wrenching insight on creative blocks from The War of Art I was stunned and awed this weekend when I read a great book on creative blocks called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  Best known as a novelist of books such as The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, and The Last of the Amazons, Pressfield writes a short but exquisite analysis of the source, purpose and solution to creative blocks.  It was published in 2002, but is a timeless classic for anyone who feels blocked from starting anything.

I chose a few key concepts to explore, including:
  1. What is resistance?
  2. What is its aim?
  3. What is a quick way to overcome it?
I share some juicy passages from the book, which REALLY got me fired up to stop procrasinating and get moving on long-stalled creative projects.  Here is a little taste:

"Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.  It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole.  Resistance is protean.  It will assume any form, if that's what it takes to deceive you.  It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man.  Resistance has no conscience.  It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned.  If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get.  Resistance is always lying, and always full of shit."

I am very curious what your experience has been with creative blocks, and what you have done to move past them.  Please share at the blog! www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

P.S.  Yes, you heard a little bit of 2-year old screaming in the back of this episode ... I didn't have the time to re-do or edit the recording, so forgive my imperfection as a sign of DO-ING to slay the dragon.  :)
Direct download: warofart.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 4:42pm MST

Striking a balance between being rich and being famous People are drawn to entrepreneurship for a variety of reasons including work/life flexibility, the opportunity to contribute something meaningful to the world, the chance to make a lot of money or the platform to get known as an expert in your field.

Regardless of your intentions, chances are you want to make money at what you do, and use the benefits of press and publicity to market your efforts.  In my shorthand, I call this getting rich and famous, even if in your humble definition this means being able to pay your light bill on time and getting a one-line mention in your local paper.

Many first-time entrepreneurs struggle to balance the effort it takes to get rich with the effort it takes to get famous.  So in this podcast, I share 5 tips including:
  1. Spend time defining your niche
    So that you know exactly who you are trying to target, and which problems they have.
  2. Create a product road map
    So that you define what you are going to develop in what order and focus your efforts.
  3. Create the infrastructure to support your product from first contact to product delivery and follow up
    So you don't alienate your hard-won customers with crappy service.
  4. Tie your fame-garnering efforts to your niche
    So that you don't become known as the boring, generic person who knows a little about a lot of stuff.
  5. Always direct people to your product page
    So that you leverage media exposure to make sales AND get famous.
Please share your getting rich and famous stories at the blog -- www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.
Direct download: richandfamous.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:58pm MST