PODCAST · business
botanical studies of internet magic
by kening zhu
on creative alchemy, world-building + the internet
-
34
34. architecting your digital abundance
I'd like to share 5 distilled principles that transformed how I inhabit my business -- as a living ecosystem that centers my creative energy, above all else. learning, evolving, and embodying these principles took me so many years. I'll share the journey and the hard lessons I learned in the process, and map these principles onto a 12 week itinerary for my new course, Digital Abundance -- as an alchemical process for deep re-alignment and re-imagining of what your business can become, this next season. 🧧 Digital Abundance begins March 16 -referencedmy business is a hammock I weave by handunderworld business practicesmoney juice cleanse~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
33
33. creative wealth is wealth
today, I'm explicitly naming the paradigm shift that changed everything for me -- the belief that my creative energy is the source of my material abundance. my creativity is not a liability, a luxury, or a burden; it is my greatest resource. I'll be naming the wound -- I'll share the story of working through shame, exile, and the long, lonely journey of risking everything for a vision. I'll tell you how I came to the idea of "the artist entrepreneur," how I realized that my artist child needed to grow up, and hold the chariot reins of my life. we'll explore 4 forms of abundance -- inner,d art, web worlds, and money -- and how they feed into each other. 🧧 Digital Abundance starts March 16 -referencedthe way of the artist entrepreneurthe art of finding my pathwhy worldbuilding is wealthbuilding~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
32
32. business words I never use
when thinking (or talking) about my business, there's at least twenty words I don't use -- many of them super basic, like "marketing," "sales," "landing page," "launch," or "productivity" ... even "goals." I've rewritten my own creative business dictionary -- because language shapes our relationship to our worlds. I'll list the words, and tell you what words I use instead. rewriting my language helps me recreate my entire paradigm -- to create a business that values agency over manipulation, ecosystem webs over linear metrics -- and grow a system that I actually love, and want to live in. 🧧 Digital Abundance starts March 16 -referencedtranscendence of the productivity addictsharing space camp build a labyrinth, not a funnel~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
31
31. community as creative practice
I love making art in the void, and I've felt called to build a community. this calling is probably precisely because I have such a complicated relationship with community. I've run away from them. I've chosen self-exile. I've swung from hyper-independence to over-responsibility. in this episode, I'll share how I'm thinking of shaping my community as creative companionship, bounded by shared questing. I'll explore my four guiding values for a community -- like caring for a garden, weaving a dream catcher, or making an infinite feast. A community can be a living creative practice that feeds our inner worlds. *🦋 join Labyrinth Library, starting Feb 16🧧 explore Digital Abundance, starting March 16-referenceda hermit growing creative communitymake art in the void make art for no audience~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
30
30. spring itinerary for the unknown
today is an atmospheric map for our slow transition from winter into spring — through the archetypes of Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. we'll explore how to work with these energies in deepening into the creative life.I'll share why thinking in seasons has become such an important practice for me, and my intentions for this coming season, along with personal life context. we'll dive into the three archetypes and their grounding theme words: Pisces (dreaming), Aries (instinct), Taurus (embodying), as well as the questions they invite us to contemplate. this itinerary is the 12 week map for season 2 of Labyrinth Library, which opens Monday.*🦋 join Labyrinth Library,🧧 explore Digital Abundance, starting March 16🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
29
29. the work is the medicine you need.
this is about trusting in the work you need, and how creating from necessity is a form of creative power, because it keeps you close to what's vital, alive, and electric -- more than any "should" energy ever could. I'll explore how generative discomfort can be used as fuel for excavating creative potential, and how to sense into what's ready to be metabolized -- into medicine. I'll share concrete examples from my 11 years of obsessions, and leave you with questions to contemplate. *🦋 join Labyrinth Library🧧 explore my March course, Digital Abundance🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse~mentioned:the process is the way~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
28
28. money as creative practice
changing your relationship to money is not a 10 step checklist, it's tending to an ongoing practice -- with curiosity and tenderness -- as you do with your creative work. I'll share my own personal stories and significant reframes -- money as a circle, as feminine force, as a child of your creative energy. I'll walk you through my 7 practices for working with money -- and invite you to see money as a portal for working with your sense of resourcedness, enoughness, worthiness to receive, and your power to claim what you desire. *🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~mentioned:curated money stories money is a circle, process, practicecreative energy is the mother of money~💌 receive my newsletters🌳 explore my courses✨ visit my web world
-
27
27. make art the center of your world
part 3 of a mini-seriesremember that your art is not an afterthought -- it is the center that holds everything. it's the life source that feeds your creative world. in this episode, I'll examine the ways we're taught to think about the binary of art vs. business -- and propose my third way of deep integration. this means allowing your artist child to grow up -- and claim their voice, power, and leadership in the material world. I'll share how two forms of artist energy can exist in a business, and the importance of creating containers that actually allow your creative self to thrive. I'll leave you with guiding questions to consider on how to integrate your artist energy into your work. *🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~mentioned:the way of the artist entrepreneurmake art for no audience (EP. 8) ~💌 receive my newsletters✨ visit my web world 🌳 explore my courses
-
26
26. make an offering, weave your web
part 2 of a mini-serieswhen tending to my business, I bring it back to two practices -- making offerings, and weaving my web. I share how I think about offerings as sacred containers, organic shapes, and potent distillations of your creative energy -- into usable form. I'll talk about weaving your web as an energetically efficient, long-term strategy that builds your body of work, and invites people into your world. this episode is about all perspective shifts -- to reimagining business as a generative, potent creative practice. *🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~mentioned:my business is a hammock I weave by handthe way of the artist entrepreneurbuild a labyrinth, not a funnel~💌 receive my newsletters✨ visit my web world 🌳 explore my courses
-
25
25. make the work, share the work
to begin the new year, I’m creating a 3 part mini-series with grounding anchors; minimalist instructions for navigating the uncertainties of the creative life. when in doubt, or overwhelmed, or stuck in overthinking, all you need to focus on is this — make the work, share the work. this is the equivalent of (in meditation), returning to the body, and the breath. I’ll explore my 4 guiding principles (agency, process/pleasure, regenerativity, authenticity), and we’ll discuss the nuance of each word — what is “work?” what does it mean to “make?” what does “sharing” mean? my hope is that this episode will give you a gentle nudge to just do / make / share the damn thing — and learn your way in the process — whatever your thing is. 🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~💌 receive my newletters✨ visit my web world 🌳 explore my courses
-
24
24. underworld business practices
the vast majority of business advice has never worked for me, not because it was wrong, but because it didn't align with my energy, and the way I wanted to exist in the world. it took me years to build my own operating system -- a model for business that didn't make me want to burn it all down, ghost everything, and just get a day job. I realized that I run my business like a super scorpio -- lunar, cyclical, waiting behind veils, operating from the depths. Far from being a weakness, that it's my greatest power. I'm calling this my"underworld business practices" -- and today, I've distilled them down into 8 parts to share with you. 🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~💌 receive my letters✨ visit my web world 🌳 explore my courses
-
23
23. i am an artist in the wild
who gives us the right to call ourselves "artists"? where do you source your sense of legitimacy and validity from? how do you face the voices of imposter syndrome and not-enoughness? in this episode, we'll unpack the gap between self-perception, other-perception, and the daily process/practice of being an artist. I'll share why claiming yourself as an artist in the wild -- beyond all institutional validation -- is the most powerful thing you can do. you don't owe anyone an explanation. 🧧 explore my new course, Digital Abundance🧃 take 7 days of Money Juice Cleanse🦋 join Labyrinth Library, winter season ~💌 receive my letters🗺️ visit my web world ✨ 1:1 advising ~ liminal leap🌳 explore all my courses
-
22
22. spiraling into your changing center
one of the most significant shifts I've ever had is letting go of linear (ladder-like) models of external success -- in order to put my own journey, process, and energy at the center. but, how do you do that, if you don't know what's at your center, or if your center is always changing? I'll explore facets of this question through the metaphor of a labyrinth as journey -- how to dance with seasonal cycles, moving between structure and spontaneity, and focus on just taking the next step forwards. 🦋 explore labyrinth library, a seasonal community~ 🗺️ visit my web world 💌 receive my letters✨ 1:1 advising ~ liminal leap🌳 explore my courses
-
21
21. doubt is my companion monster
I've had a very long, tumultuous relationship with self-doubt -- as my number one enemy, a villianous monster, a generous teacher, a loyal friend, and a companion for the twisty, dark paths of the creative life. today, I'll share my own relationship with doubt, and offer a reframe for what doubt is -- not as contamination, or poison, not as something to fight or run away from, but as a essential friction for your life. I'll suggest a 3 part practice to work with doubt -- by creating spaciousness and containers to hold it, and to keep moving forwards, even (or especially) with doubt by your side. ~🦋 explore labyrinth library✨ imagine a liminal leap🌳 browse my courses🗺️ visit my web world 💌 receive my letters
-
20
20. clarity is a bird I follow home
there is a difference between wanting clarity, and wanting permission. or certainty. or safety. clarity isn't something external that I wait to happen to me (like good weather conditions), but a moving, fluid energy that I'm in conversation with -- like a bird. sometimes I see it. sometimes it's gone. I'll explore why clarity feels so crucial for the pathless path, how people see me as having a lot of "clarity" (when in fact, I experience it as something different). I'll share what questions I ask myself for cultivating a deeper relationship to clarity. ~ 🦋 explore labyrinth library, a seasonal community🌳 explore my courses & offerings🗺️ visit my web world 💌 receive my letters
-
19
19. autumn itinerary for the unknown
hello there, after a summer. this episode is on why being with the unknown is at the heart and core of all imaginative, wilderness work -- through your inner life, creative life, digital life, and business. today, I'll share my syllabus-itinerary for navigating uncertainty through the autumnal astrological archetypes of Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius -- aka, how to hold complex truths, walk through the darkness, and find joy in the quest. -this is my itinerary for the first season of Labyrinth Library -- an ongoing seasonal community and teaching vessel for mystery work. we begin September 29. explore more here.mentioned: truth is a glittering glacierthe visual slides of this episode (youtube) ~🏡 visit my website 🌳 explore my courses & offerings 💌 receive my letters
-
18
18. digital silence as practice
this is about escaping the noise of platforms and constant connectivity. I reflect on why acclimating to digital silence can feel stark, lonely, and hard, at first. it's like how the body feels on "airplane mode," or when when waking up in a forest after a decade in a cramped city apartment. in this episode, I explore how and why platforms (by design) turn us into static noise. I share my personal experiments on digital minimalism and solitude -- as a way of practicing more presence and here/now-ness, wherever you are. this is a meditation on digital silence as a rich landscape, showing you a deeper way into the self. related12 experiments in digital freedom (from 2020, in Japan)a day without screens (2020) why I don't use email or social media before noon (from 2016, back when I was still on social)~🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 receive my letters
-
17
17. transcendence of a productivity addict
I spent many years needing to feel “productive” everyday — a word that was programmed into me, and which I clung to — but which felt wholly insufficient in trying to measure creative work, especially when self-employed. in this episode, I’ll tell you my journey — from being a productivity addict, to rejecting all imposed structures, to slowly, over time, reimagining what a sustainable, regenerative system actually looks and feels like.I made this podcast shortly after creating my zine, in preparation for teaching a new course, Creative Systems. 📓 Zine: Deconstructing the Productivity Machine (download)🪺 Creative Systems Course (self-paced study)also mentioned: The Serviceberry: an Economy of Abundance (essay) by Robin Wall KimmererA Moody Creative’s Guide to Work Overwhelm ~💌 sign up for my letters🏡 explore house on the webs course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world
-
16
16. digital presence is a place
hello again, after a few months break. during my retreat, I thought a lot about what being "present" online means. I'll propose that digital presence isn't dependent on your labor or content production, but about cultivating a digital container that holds your energy. I'll explore:choosing inner rhythms over consistency pressurefreedom from treating yourself as a means of productionembodying the permission to be absentwhy content batching doesn't really work for mehow time works differently on the internetaccumulating wormholes to past selvesdigital spaces as vessels for presence~💌 sign up for my letters🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world
-
15
15. no fear of being seen
on untangling the fear of being seen -- and understanding where the desire to hide (in your creative work, life, or your digital expressions) comes from, and exploring how to release it. we'll dive into: the practice of un-hiding yourselfthe tension of being different being present is more important than being public deliberately curating your safe zones facing your imaginary shadow gaze why making art in public -- IS the practicing seeing yourselfbecoming the loving, attentive gaze ~🌱 additional resourcesmake art for no audiencemake art in the voidthe internet as a creative practice~🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
14
14. making a home on the internet
inhabiting a home on the internet is really about making space to be yourself, in public. you resist the digital flattening of the self and, instead, grow a wild ecosystem. how? first, through committing to your creative practice. in this episode, we’ll explore: what it means to inhabit a space my three step, cyclical processes for growing a digital home -- create, curate, carve paths. why focus on creation first, before structuring Q&A: how often do you need to maintain a website? Q&A: will things look jarring side by side? and more… I hope this episode gives you a sense of permission and possibility for growing and tending to a creative world of your own. 🌱 additional resourcesbuild a labyrinth, not a funnelhouse on the webs: introductionhouse on the webs: day 0 incubation workbuild a world, not an audience the internet as a creative practice~🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
13
13. the anatomy of a digital world
this week, I’ll deconstruct and translate the concept of website as digital world into concrete design elements, and give you a poetic reframing of how to think about each piece of your website under the philosophy of world-building — we’ll explore: the website as a body to inhabit the atmosphere of a world — vision / brand / world logic places & destinations — homepage & subpages the garden for creative growing things — blog CMS 4 pathways of traveling — navigation & links this episode is about the big-picture vision of imagining and building a website world, and making your creative home in a digital body. 🌱 additional resources house on the webs: introductionhouse on the webs: day 0 incubation workhow to build a world: a cyclical guideways of seeing by john berger ~ 🌸 read the text transcript of this episode 🗺️ visit me on my website-world 💌 sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
12
12. your website is not a brochure
why your website doesn’t have to be a brochure that compartmentalizes your infinite self — into three glossy pages. I’ll put these two frameworks side by side: “website as brochure” vs. “website as a digital garden-home-world”, and explore: why we feel pressured to turn ourselves into brochures the ethos and intention to sell / show / prove / substantiate — versus the intention to exist, inhabit, and be how brochure-like websites compartmentalize and limit the self into a marketing “niche” on building a nourishing garden-world to hold the multi-dimensional, expansive creative self — and invites visitors to linger why building a rich digital world to share your creative wealth is the key to inviting in prosperity ~🌱 additional resourceshouse on the webs courseinfinite possibilities for a digital worldhow to build a world: a cyclical guide why world-building is wealth-buildingthe internet i long to visit, inhabit, and build ~🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
11
11. the joy of missing out on platforms
this episode is about my approach to cultivating a creative and business life outside of all social/content platforms (including Substack and Youtube) -- and feeling excited about it. this is not a critique of platforms so much as a portrait of alternative possibilities: we’ll explore: why platforms are like cruise boats - seemingly “easy” and “effortless” by promising all the amenities you’d ever need (while keeping you locked in). alternatives frameworks and approaches to (1) building community (2) being discovered (3) “monetization” (4) content creation/distribution why embrace making art alone; why being hard to find is not a bad thing the power of embodying your individual essence — centering in your creative process outside of the validation loop of platforms 🌱 additional resourceshow I share my work as an introverted artistoff the grid: leaving social media without losing all your clientsbuild a world, not an audiencewhy world-building is wealth-buildingmake art for no audiencemake art in the void~🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
10
10. sharing your work as creative release
on a radically different way to relate to sharing your work on the internet — how to see sharing as a part of the creative process, not separate from it. I’ll explore the shifts in perspective that unlocked the act of showing up as myself, in public. we’ll explore:emotional resistance to sharing your work — swimming through feelings of overwhelm, creative stuckness, and guilt. sharing as being in energetic flow with the world sharing as creative release & death cycle sharing as cultivating creative self worth sharing as an act of surrender my 4 guidelines for more effortless and easeful sharing I’ll explain why I think sharing your work is NOT about the audience, or for “the other” — it’s first and foremost — for ourselves, and our creative flow. ~🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
9
09. the internet as a creative practice
this week’s episode is about inhabiting yourself on the internet — by relating to it as a public vessel for your ongoing creative self. I’ll explore: the opposite of internet as creative practice -- the internet as performance, as a strategy game, and as obligation seeing the internet as a genre-defying infinity canvas for your creative expressions how being in public is about allowing yourself to be seeninternet as a portal for manifesting new visions and worlds this episode is an expansion of a post I wrote a few months ago with the same title.~🏡 explore house on the webs course🌀 explore creative systems course🪷 inquire about advising sessions💧 water my world 💌 sign up for my letters
-
8
08. make art for no audience
this episode is all about deconstructing and letting go of the pressure to “build an audience.” I’ll disentangle the practice of being an artist — from the byproduct of having an audience — and share how finding freedom from that pressure creates a well of personal power (and paradoxically, will magnetize your audience). we'll explore: three sources of pressure: (1) artist recognition as legitimacy (2) the digital age of visibility (3) the inner artist child a core guiding question to distill your commitment to your art the practice of power as seeing yourself — and the other reframing the audience as witness & travel companion to your journey additional resources: build a world, not an audience the obscurus as a wounded artist child ~ 🌸 read the text transcript of this episode 🗺️ visit me on my website-world 💌 sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
7
07. the process is the way
this is my guiding principle 101: my devotion to process. I’ll unpack why I believe that process is the magic key to anything you want to create— in art, business, money, and the self. I explore: how our product / outcome / results obsessed culture disempowers and suffocates art, business, money, and the self — from the perspective of process vs. product-based thinking how embracing your process is the shortcut to anything process as the practice of utmost authenticity and power -- 🌸 read the text transcript of this episode 🗺️ visit me on my website-world 💌 sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
6
06. at home in the world as my artist self
this is my last chapter of sharing my wayfinding journey (for now) — in which I share how I stopped traveling, decided to make a home in Istanbul, and slowly learned to show up as my artist self — in relationship, and in the world. I’ll untangle: why I clung onto hermitude, and resisted being in relationship (with any "other") what I had to let go of: emotional storms + binary thinking what I was afraid of (regression, and losing myself) a “what if” that unlocked everything for me choosing to show up as my uncompromising artist self a slow emergence of philosophies and processes this episode is about integration, metamorphosis, and the act of returning to the world — and allowing myself to be seen. -- read the text transcript of this episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
5
05. the wandering way of the artist hermit
this episode is about leaping into the void. then, living in the leaps. I share my story of leaving NYC, slow traveling the world during a pandemic, and the treasures I found, deep within my artist-hermit self. from being suffocated by pressure — to creating from presence embracing a life without plans, goals, or expectations a digital detox to silence the noise in my head why make art even if no one sees it?! devotion to creation as a practice of inhaling + exhaling life. house on the webs - website as a garden, house, a world I carry with me, everywhere I go this is Chapter 4 of my wayfinding journey, in which I gave myself the medicine, deprogramming, and creative/spiritual retreat I so desperately needed, and, in the process, discovered within me an inexhaustible power and desire to make art, no matter what. 🌸 -- read the text transcript of this episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
4
04. how do I survive as a creative and not hate myself?
this week's chapter on my wayfinding journey is about my years of the creative hustle, in which I tortured myself with the question: “how do I survive as a creative, and not hate myself?" I’ll explore: my personal distillations of the prescribed / trailmarked paths of success — for writers, visual artists, and business owners how I thought something was wrong with me for not climbing those ladders (and what I realized instead) the illusion of safety + promise of conditional success… (that is, if you just override the self) why “means to an end” thinking doesn’t work for me how and why process is my guiding compass instead this is about my Jump #3: from new creative entrepreneur trying to follow a 10-step plan of "shoulds"… to jumping into the void of my artist-hermit self. -- read the text for this podcast episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
3
03. this is a one way road
A very personal account of the extreme feelings that lead me to quit my full time / part time jobs, and commit to working for myself. This is a continuation of my series on wayfinding (my series of jumps into the void), featuring Jump #2: from aspiring writer with a 9-5 job — to deciding to become an entrepreneur. I’ll explore these topics: the ever-present feeling of wasting my life life as a recovering good asian daughter / repressed creative / secret obscurus the idea of energetic reciprocity as an embodied feeling the notion that in order to feel safe, you must compromise yourself an infinite earning potential as a metaphor for expansion the desire to give 100% to the work that belonged to me escaping the cycle of job samsara My “one way road” was more like a deeply anxiety-provoking, messy, uncertain, tangled wandering in the dark. but I’ll explain why it was (and still is) worth every second. -- read the text for this podcast episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
2
02. throwing away the iron rice bowl
the "Iron Rice Bowl" is a Chinese metaphor for job security and stability (aka, what we, as artists and entrepreneurs, didn’t exactly choose.) this is a beginning of a series about wayfinding, in which I’ll share the phases of my own decade long journey, from (almost) the very beginning. I’m unveiling the ghosts of my head, and untangling a few themes: inherited cultural blueprints of what “success” means immigrant Chinese-American values, and de-programming quitting the marathon of accomplishment & prestige the SOS alarm bell of panic on choosing to be a writer, with a 9-5 day job. then, I begin to open the question: if not Iron Rice Bowl, then what? *** read the text for this podcast episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
-
1
01. hello friend, welcome
an introduction; an opening of themes and unspooling of threads: 🌱 botanical -- plant life as a metaphor for creation 🪁 studies -- a way of curiosity, growth, and discovery 🏕 internet -- a space to inhabit, build, and be 🪼 magic -- the power of energetics and creativity *** read text and notes for this podcast episode visit me on my website-world sign up for my weekly newsletter
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
on creative alchemy, world-building + the internet
HOSTED BY
kening zhu
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...