Season 1 – MC05: Bottling Success with Jason Zook

What this episode covers

In Episode 5 of the Mindful Creator, I chat with Jason Zook (formerly Surfrapp) to discuss whether formulas for success are ever truly transferrable. Jason is a rather unconventional and dynamically creative entrepreneur who founded IWearYourShirt , a company that used sponsored t-shirts to promote businesses through social media. Jason has also auctioned off his last name twice and just published a book chronicling his entrepreneurial journey. The book, Creativity For Sale , is a really interesting experiment in independent publishing. Jason raised over $75,000 through sponsorships – including front and back cover and several hundred pages – before a single word was written or a copy sold. In today’s episode, Jason and I discuss whether formulas for success are transferrable, why creative entrepreneurs are often obsessed with distilling formula of those who have hustled before them, the myth of the one-size-fits-all path to success and more. Link Love SponsorMyBook – Jason Zook Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together – Pam Slim There is no formula for success – Brett Henley treehouse In this Episode * Whether success formulas are every truly transferrable, and why artists and creators are often obsessed with bottling or distilling formulas from those who have hustled before them. * How Jason has unconventionally approached the creative process and how we continually reinvents himself. * Why our vision of success is just fucked. * We predicate success on all the wrong ideas of what it means to achieve, to accomplish, to cross that proverbial finish line. This pulls us out of alignment, but it also pulls us into unhealthy relationships with how we define success individually. * Why we start to look more and more externally for answers to our struggles so that maybe we can get there quicker. If we cut a few corners with a few out of the box tricks from successful vets before us and poof, magic success win. * Being successful vs. being creative * The impatience that comes with comparing our journey to those who succeeded before us and those we admire * Why pining for success before the work is done is a dangerous distraction. * The myth of the “one size fits all” path to success (there is no magic bullet that will slay the struggle with one shot) * Why so much of the creation/consumption engine on the web has become about the abstract and how this ties into our obsession with success formulas. * How to distill what you learn from other creators, experts, etc. and make it your own. * People are craving more and more real, more handcrafted, more authenticity that isn’t just a buzzword but a genuine connection between product, maker and consumer. * It’s not all about scalability – we still have to create something compelling, useful, etc. to last in this noisy idea market. * Bottling success may grant keys to the kingdom, but will it win the hearts and minds of your people? Thanks for listening! If you can please take a moment to subscribe and leave an honest rating and review of the show on iTunes,

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.