First, the coolest shit Gareth has ever done is NOT build a website but it was fun to see where those early lessons took him. How about building a great supportive business, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities, supporting a number of causes and so much more.

If you've ever wondered how to make money as a creative this is the episode for you. Gareth Davies has built a truly unique business, MakerHouse, that has supported hundreds of makers and creatives. We talk about the very smart journey Gareth took to building a brick and mortar business. Starting with a pop up shop allowed him and his team to grow into the flourishing business that MakerHouse is now.

I think many of you listening who are making and creating will be so interested to hear Gareth talk about how to get into stores and how to make money with your products. We go over production time, pricing, packaging and everything in between. Gareth has such great insights into how to get started.

We also spent a lot of time talking about traditional paths, small learning steps, failures, how to prepare for failures, how to deal with risk taking, successes, confidence all of which should help motivate you to take your next steps.

So much truly great advice from Gareth. I hope you really enjoy this episode and getting everything out of it that you need.

Visit MakerHouse and see the hundreds of products from the hundreds of other creatives and makers that Gareth gets to work with: https://makerhouse.com/

Of course I would love to hear more about what you are doing so drop me a line over at https://www.domorecoolshit.com/

And if you enjoyed this episode please do give it a like, rate the podcast, share it with a friend. I appreciate all of you folks out there doing cool shit.

Music by: Doug Wallace

If you want to achieve things in life, even the small things you have to have a plan, a goal, some kind of road map to help you determine how to get there. And holy,, are we ever bad at drawing these road maps. We give ourselves all kinds of detours and make excuses about why our horse and buggy won't get us to where we want to go. "I want to be healthier" "I want to be a full time creative" "I want to read more" these are all examples of great dreams but really shitty goals. Goals need specifics. So the next time you sit down to think about what YOU really want out of life you better include some of the micro-goals. These micro-goals are what make up much of the path forward, the pursuit, which is what will really bring you the most pleasure when making, working on, and achieving your goals.


Now is your time to think about what YOU really want, to make it specific, and to go after your big lofty goals. Why now? Because, why not now? You deserve it.

I hope you feel inspired. I hope you feel energized. I hope you make all your tiny micro-goals that will get you to your big goal and that you keep upping the game every time.


Music by: Doug Wallace

Remember when your mind was free to wander and to dream and had almost no grown up limitations or influences. What a magical time that was. What a TRUE time that was. We lose some of that innocence along the way and we forget about some of our earlier, crazier dreams...that's a shame. Well I know one young woman who kept true to her childhood dreams. Sure she meandered, but who hasn't. Leah Gibson found her way back to one of her earliest childhood loves, flowers. In this episode I sit down with Leah for an amazing conversation where we talk about her journey, about taking time, lots of time to truly understand what in life it is she wants and how she is living that life much much sooner than she thought she would.

Leah took a leap without any prior knowledge (a trend that seems to be coming again, more and more in the future) as to what it was she was doing or how she would be doing it. It wasn't a big leap but it was in fact a leap nonetheless. Now today Leah is serving clients from all over the world in many different ways. Leah is helping making people's days better with flowers, fashion, and so much more.

We spent a fair bit of time talking about diversifying income, about taking small steps that won't bankrupt you, about how the uncertainty and the asynchronous habits of nature are such a wonderful metaphor for life. Leah encourages us to surrender to the creative process went it strikes and to enjoy a good accidental path every now and again.


Leah Gibson
Website: https://www.homebodyfloral.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homebody_/

If you enjoyed any part of this or if you took some value from it please don't hesitate to drop me a note and tell me all about it.

DMCS
Website: https://www.domorecoolshit.com/

This is honestly one of the hardest episodes I have ever attempted to put together. Authenticity is an incredibly difficult topic to cover and an even harder thing to achieve in life. Are you authentic with yourself? Are you authentic with others? Are you authentic in all situations and aspects in your life? Probably not, and I have to say first, that is OKAY. Acknowledge that and sit with that. Since day one of being raised as a child we are conditioned to start adapting and being kind and making sure that others are feeling good, even if it goes against what we want and need. Our whole life then is a battle between our adaptive self and our authentic self. Finding a balance is crucial to becoming happier in life. I will share all kinds of stories and studies that help me come to this conclusion.

I will also give you a few small exercises and ask you a few questions to help guide you in your quest for authenticity. I hope you enjoy this episode and I hope you take some time in your life to help you better understand who YOU ARE as a person and life the life YOU WANT. When you do this, you will give yourself more time and energy to do more cool shit in this planet!

Some of the things that helped me make this episode are listed below:

• Why You Can’t Stop Wearing a Mask
• The basics of authenticity
• Develop Authenticity: 20 Ways to Be a More Authentic Person
• Trait Self and True Self: Cross-Role Variation in the Big-Five Personality Traits and Its Relations With Psychological Authenticity and Subjective Well-Being
• The Study of Authenticity (Positive Psychology Series #3)
• Middle age and 'slowing this whole mess down', with Aaron Draplin
  When it's time to start over...(Audrey Ember)
• Dr. K Chats with @aliabdaal
  
  
  

Thanks as always for giving this a listen. I look forward to hearing what cool shit you are working on.

Music composed and performed by: Doug Wallace

So many journey's in life can be long without us even knowing it. What happens when we end up at a destination that we truly love and that truly aligns with us? Well in this case, a lot of onesies, a gong, a kazoo, the threat of art happening and a lot of people having a good time and feeling better about their day. This is only a small glimpse into what happens when you find your authentic self with Brenda Dunn (artinjest.)

In this, the 50th episode I sit down with my partner that I do life with and we cover a lot of territory. We talk about everything in Brenda's journey from studying art, to putting that creative artistic world to the side to work in the corporate world only to then return to the creative world with a whole new perspective and vision. No one could have predicted where and how Brenda would end up but she is there now and loving it. Some of the things that helped Brenda's journey along the way was her ability to hold off ego, be of service when needed, to work with a community and include others in the process of creation, saying no compassionately and wholly, and so much more.

I hope that as you listen to this episode you continue to really think about WHO YOU ARE as a human and what YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE.

If you want to get more of this energy join Brenda over on Twitch every Monday (3pm ET), Wednesday (5pm ET), and Friday (12pm ET) https://www.twitch.tv/artinjest



All music provided by Doug Wallace.

How is it that we can all think of the very best of intentions but somehow only about 50% of the time take the appropriate actions? When and where does this gap come into play?

That's exactly what this episode is all about, is helping to close that gap so that even more of your best well planned intentions become achieved action.

My challenge this week is for you to make a list of 10 things that you care deeply about, let that soak in for a bit, then cut that list down to 5 things, again wait for a few minutes then cut that list down to 3 of the most important things in your life. Are your daily actions aligned with those 3 things? If they are, then great! If they aren't then it's time to re-evaluate and to make smaller more manageable goals.

One of the best ways to understand the Intention-Action gap more in depth is with this study that I spoke about during the episode: Intention-Action Gap Study

A very important takeaway from this episode that I am hoping you will accept is to just evaluate and acknowledge the actions in life that you take, no judgement, no feeling about them just ACKNOWLEDGE them. Only after you acknowledge all of them and compare them with your list can you begin to understand if they FIT or DON'T FIT within your life and what you want from YOUR LIFE.

If you want something really badly in life what are you willing to put your head in the sand for? IF you are willing to do everything and anything to serve that goal then that's how you know it belongs in your top 3 and how you can make that gap much much smaller.

Another thing I hope you take away from this episode is that it is OK to change what your priorities are and to RE-EVALUATE often.

Longer videos of the clips in this episode:
1. Alan Watts
2. Ricky Nuttall
3. Adam Gallagher aka. Valspire Family

Come tell me what your top 3 intentions right now over at domorecoolshit.com

Music provided by: Doug Wallace

What in the heck does skateboarding have to do with life or with creativity? Well when you listen to Andrew Szeto speak, it turns out a lot. Skateboarding can fuel a passion to try new things, to be ok with failure, to find your crew, to find a mentor, to open and close all kinds of doors, it can do a lot of things to help with how we see the world.

On this episode I had the absolutely pleasure to have an in depth conversation with Andrew Szeto who is a skateboarder, a youtuber, a shop owner, a photographer, a videographer, a woodworker, an overall curious kind of doer of things. Seriously go check out some of his links (down below) and see for yourself.

Two of the major things I took away from this conversation and that I think you will as well is:

1. Hold on to your curiosity.
2. Make things for yourself.

If you do both of these things you will find yourself trying all kinds of new things creative things with much greater ease.

My challenge to you after you listen to this episode is that you ask yourself what is your version of skateboarding? What in your life can you draw many lessons from?

https://www.youtube.com/AndrewSzeto
https://instagram.com/szetoszeto

Music provided by the very talented Doug Wallace

Optimism is NOT positivity. Had to get that out the way right away because I hear people groaning already, so stuff that thought.

Optimistic thinking is really hard to do but it is so necessary in your life. Optimism is the undying belief that the future is bright. Times and life can have a million obstacles and be very rocky but you can come out in the end whole. Optimism is one of the greatest practices you can take to help make your creative practice and just life overall better. You will feel better, you will take more risks, you will take more shots, and by taking more shots you will definitely achieve more goals. One of the greatest points in this episode I cover is how Steph Curry, an NBA basketball player, has taken well over 3 millions three point shots and has only made a total of 3700+ in his career. Now I say 3700, maybe that sounds like a lot or maybe it doesn't to you but that doesn't matter, he is the most accomplished 3 point shooter of all time and he definitely wouldn't be if he stopped shooting because he doesn't make "very many" compared to how many he takes. Read all that again, wild shit. Imagine if you had a bit of Steph's resilience in your life, what you could achieve?

Optimism is about giving yourself the chance to keep creating, to keep making, to keep putting stuff out there.

I am in your corner. I hope you keep looking for what matters to you in your life and keep imagining and working towards the outcomes in life that you want.



Check out J.J. Ellis and his abstract art: https://www.instagram.com/jjellisart/