Converge: The Business of Creativity Podcast with Dane Sanders

If you consider yourself to be a creative type, you probably find that it’s easy to have great ideas for things you’d love to try or projects you want to do in the future, but you struggle to actually make things happen. Even if you organize yourself and your time pretty well, the fact is everyday life has a way of creeping in from all sides and crowding out a good chunk of our plans. That’s why Tiago Forte has developed the idea of a second brain, a revolutionary idea that makes it...

Mako’s paintings have been described as a rebellion against the speed of the internet and an antidote to time. In fact, the New York Times refers to his work as a form of “Slow Art”. Rather than using conventional paint, Mako uses various pulverized minerals, applied layer by layer to create huge finished works that can only truly be seen and appreciated when the viewer is able to slow down and observe the painting for longer periods of time. It can take over 10 minutes to begin to see the...

Gerald Leonard has had a diverse career filled with creative pursuits and technical education. The magic happened when Gerald was able to draw a throughline from the success of small jazz ensembles to the success of tech teams and businesses. It all came down to knowing how and when to lead. When you’ve played for years or spent that time developing your IT skills, you become an expert. While those skills are absolutely necessary for success in your chosen field, you also need an...

Today’s conversation with Tim Arnold explores the gray areas that organization leaders encounter when faced with questions that don’t have black and white answers. We seem to be conditioned from an early age to see life in terms of either/or, right and wrong, good and evil, especially when it comes to problem solving. And there’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s an incredibly useful tool for leaders to have. But what about the gray areas? What if polarizing the issue only makes it...

Amit Gupta is an entrepreneur, writer, and serial optimist. He’s also a personal friend of Dane’s, and in this episode, Dane and Amit discuss the past, the present, and - with Amit’s own brand of optimistic clarity - the future. Amit is, in his own words a “relatively successful entrepreneur”, though we would argue his success is more than relative. Among other various startups, he is the founder of Photojojo, an online photography store which he sold in 2014 after recovering from an...

Jaz Ampaw-Farr is no stranger to feeling like an outsider. In this podcast, Jaz shares her personal story from her earliest days as a girl who seemingly had no name, to where she is now as a wife and mother, successful businesswoman, and survivor. Jaz’s keystone message is that you need to believe that you belong. It’s a feeling that we can cultivate, what she calls a habit. This habit/feeling has little to do with data or evidence, although those can sometimes intersect with our thoughts...

Focusmate is all about distraction-free productivity. As a creative entrepreneur, you often get pulled away from your work because of the other things you need to do to keep your business running. Taylor founded the company on the principle that working with others and being “held accountable” for your productivity leads to improved work. And it took off. As the company’s popularity rose, Taylor found himself in the same position as his clients. Today, we talk about the rise of Focusmate...

Cloverleaf uses popular assessments to create a slow drip of insights that can significantly change how you approach your career. No one thinks and communicates the same way. By understanding your audience and team members on a deeper level, you can be a better manager, enterprise leader, and coach. Kirsten talks about how recognizing different people’s strengths can build a foundation of understanding. By leaning into your strengths and confronting your weaknesses at work, you can create...

Jerzy lives by his own philosophy, and that is “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.” It’s a simple, easily applicable mantra to for all of us to live by. As somewhat of a Renaissance Man in his post Olympic life, Jerzy dabbles in a lot of different areas to truly embrace his philosophy on life. His passion is infectious and you can’t help but be inspired by his message, his story and his constant pursuit of becoming better. His interests and knowledge range from elite fitness...

Corbett Barr’s career spanned from helping Fortune 500 companies to becoming an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley to life-changing events in Mexico that changed his life. For Barr, pursuing a new career in the internet world is about audience-first, genuine connection, and creation. From blogging, Barr found a way to represent himself online, without social media and bosses dictating how and where he should promote his work. So much of the world has changed since the invention of the web. With...

Greg McKeown joins to discuss the idea that pursuing less actually produces more– or put simply, “Essentialism”. He outlines the framework of this philosophy with the tenets, “Explore, Eliminate, Execute”, and dives into how they can positively affect your personal, spiritual, and vocational life. Listen to the whole interview with Greg McKeown for a deep dive into the life-changing philosophy of Essentialism on this episode of Converge. You'll also get a sneak peak into McKweon's book...

The Meaning of Work Before the time of remote jobs, work was two things: the place you go, and the things you do. When working remote grew in popularity, Sam saw a need for meeting those individuals want for inspiration and community. The issue with this was that what works for some doesn't work for others. For some, a coffee shop environment is the perfect setting, but sometimes, there is a need for something quieter or calmer. Local Influences One reason that Deskpass is different from...

Time Many entrepreneurs always find themselves plugged in with no way to disconnect. For some, they want to look at their business and say I owned this business not work for it. For others, they simply want more freedom within their work at their business. No matter which category you fall into, Trainual can help you make the best use of your time within business. What does Trainual do? The step between you doing something yourself and delegating it to someone else to grow your business...

Mission When it comes to finding your mission as a business, it is more than just what you're delivering. It involves finding something that is bigger than what you're delivering. Your mission needs to be something that motivates people, makes them feel good about what they're doing, and realize the bigger picture of their role in your business. For having a mission driven organization, it starts with the executive level commitment that expands to all employees and then further outside...

Tension Between Challenge and Support Jeremie discusses with us how there is a time when you need challenge, but there is also a time when you need support. As a leader and an individual, it can be hard finding that balance point between the two. When you find it, you're able to create an intentional transfer of knowledge, wisdom, and skills. In there, you have to find the balance between served and leading to be able to both challenge and support others. The Five Circles of...

Feeling Alive Living and being alive is more than just existing. The two ways to die are not really living or by killing yourself taking too many risks. There is a balance to living in the tension point between order and chaos. When you feel alive, that is when you find freedom. Freedom is the actual experience of being alive and being untethered by concepts of reality. The path to freedom is to realize that there is something inside you advocating for freedom. It is your story. Addiction...

The Start of Speaking When it comes to speaking, the only thing between you and to chance to share your voice is learning how the industry works. Grant spent a lot of time questioning and following speakers to acquire the knowledge that he then applied to his life. Do not disqualify yourself before even starting the process. There is a big misconception that to be a speaker, you need an energetic, external, and charismatic personality. Through his years of speaking, Grant has seen that that...

Your Story Each of us has a story to share that starts at birth and goes into this very moment. Both consciously and unconsciously, we push parts of our stories aside. We do this because we find them either uncomfortable, painful, or so overwhelming that we cannot deal with them in that moment. Andy’s background in trauma and abuse helps him to help people understand why their trauma is causing this push. People are often afraid of looking back simply because they are scared of what they...

Background Josh is a full time researcher and author who started off at a big company analyzing if their online advertising was actually working. His research developed into putting together a strategy of determining what works for the company when it comes to things of the advertising nature. Josh’s job eventually changed to advising entrepreneurs and small businesses primarily during their early stages. Early Stages of Entrepreneurship For an entrepreneur, Josh says that the early...

A Narrative many can relate to Most people who read a business book are actually interested in business, making it a very segmented market. Chris wrote an inspirational business book- but in the fiction genre. Money Tree is a narrative about an individual named Jake; he has a lot of financial pressure even with a good job. Jake is a relatable character as he has a great work ethic and a decent job, but he is struggling under the weight of debt. Do you find yourself relating to Jake? This...