Slingshot: A Side Project Saved My Startup [Creativity Series #15]

$Side Projects [Creativity Series #2]: Creative side projects are powerful ways to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, we hear the story of Neil Pasricha, creator of 1000AwesomeThings.com, a TED speaker, and author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, including The Book of Awesome. LINKS TO KNOW:  Neil's Twitter: [twitter.com/1000awesome](http://twitter.com/1000awesome) Neil's TED talk: [https://www.ted.com/talks/neil\_pasricha\_the\_3\_a\_s\_of\_awesome?language=en](https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome?language=en) Neil's new book: [http://goo.gl/sKAxzL](http://goo.gl/sKAxzL) Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) for all episodes plus other goodies and behind-the-scenes content. SUBSCRIBE: Jay's Twitter: [twitter.com/jayacunzo](Twitter.com/jayacunzo) Show Behind-the-Scenes: [Snapchat.com/add$

Slingshot: Carving the White Whale [Creativity Series #3]: Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects are powerful ways to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Erik Devaney talks about carving the white whale. LINKS TO KNOW:  Erik's Twitter: [twitter.com/bardofboston](http://twitter.com/bardofboston) Erik's Medium article: [https://medium.com/@bardofboston/carving-the-white-whale-7cf0a830b9da](https://medium.com/@bardofboston/carving-the-white-whale-7cf0a830b9da) SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at [unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) Jay's Twitter: [twitter.com/jayacunzo](Twitter.com/jayacunzo) Show Behind-the-Scenes: [Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) SUPPORT FOR THIS by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

33 min listen

On the Making of Unthinkable: While we're on hiatus from releasing new episodes, here's a closer look at the thinking and inspiration behind making the show. Be sure to subscribe at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) for our emails each Monday morning -- we're sharing the entire framework and process behind making the show run while we tinker on new episodes! SUBSCRIBE: [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) BEHIND-THE-SCENES: [http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) SAY HI: [http://twitter.com/jayacunzo](http://twitter.com/jayacunzo) TODAY'S EPISODE SYNDICATED FROM: [https://soundcloud.com/louderthanwordsjohnbonini](https://soundcloud.com/louderthanwordsjohnbonini) by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

56 min listen

Slingshot: I'm No Spider-Man [Creativity Series #17]: SUBSCRIBE at [unthinkable.fm](https://unthinkable.fm "http://unthinkable.fm") to get a quick note every Monday morning containing new episodes, exclusive bonus content, and new experiments to join. TODAY: Tom O'Keefe is one of the most well-known people in all of Boston. But ask people around town if they know Tom O'Keefe, and they'll say no. This is the story of a simple side project that vaulted Tom from behind-the-scenes in his work to front-and-center, including invites to Fenway Park parties, free rooms at Mohegan Sun, and the radio industry wishing they were as influential as Tom. (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: Tom's Twitter: [twitter.com/bostontweet](https://twitter.com/bostontweet "http://twitter.com/bostontweet") Tom's Snapchat: [snapchat. by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

10 min listen

Slingshot: Scott Belsky & Behance [Creativity Series #11]: The story of how Scott Belsky created Behance, a global community of creatives focused on making ideas happen. (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: [Behance.com](Behance.com) Scott's Twitter: [twitter.com/scottbelsky](twitter.com/scottbelsky) SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Get a note from Jay every Monday morning, plus links to the newest episode of Unthinkable. Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES Follow Jay on Twitter: [twitter.com/jayacunzo](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjayacunzo "http://twitter.com/jayacunzo") or Snapchat: [Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2FSnapchat.com%2Fadd%2Fjayacunzo "http://Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo") TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

7 min listen

A Message From Jay: A message from Jay about the future of Unthinkable. Be sure to subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm). by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

9 min listen

Slingshot: The Cooper Review [Creativity Series #9]: Slingshots are a mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects is a powerful way to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Sarah Cooper talks about her journey from acting to Google to making the leap pursuing her comedic writing full-time. She parodies business culture, and she's built a nice audience for herself ... but what happens when your creative aspirations differ from what your audience expects from you? LINKS TO KNOW: [TheCooperReview.com](TheCooperReview.com) Sarah's Twitter: [twitter.com/sarahcpr](https://twitter.com/sarahcpr "https://twitter.com/sarahcpr") [10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings](http://thecooperreview.com/10-tricks-appear-smart-meetings/) SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

18 min listen

The Muse Is An Excuse [Creativity Series #6] by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

36 min listen

Slingshot: A Side Project Saved My Startup [Creativity Series #15]: FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT + CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS: Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Funthinkable.fm "http://unthinkable.fm") to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: Hear the story of a creative side project that saved a startup. Crew co-founder and CEO Mikael Cho talks about Unsplash.com, a photography side project that now boasts billions of photo views each month and salvaged a startup heading for bankruptcy. The project is so widely used today that a photo on the site gets viewed more times than a photo on the cover of TIME Magazine ... but it all started with a ridiculously small amount of time and an even smaller budget. LINKS TO KNOW: [unsplash.com](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Funsplash.com "http://unsplash.com") Mikael's company: [crew.co](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcrew.co "http://crew.co") Mikael's Twitter: [twitte by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

8 min listen

Comfortable Being Uncomfortable [Creativity Series #16]: FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT + CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS: Subscribe at http://unthinkable.fm to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: As humans, we're wired to seek out experiences that make us feel comfortable. But in order to hone our intuition and follow it in our creative work, we need to constantly make ourselves slightly UNcomfortable. We need to push outside our comfort zone to grow and create better and better work. Today, we go outside our echo chamber to hear a story from Jim Mourey, professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago, about how he made guests at his mom's BBQ uncomfortable to change the amount of food they ate. Then, we hear from Tim Washer, creative director of Cisco and a comedian who trained under Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert's lead writer, on why you need to constantly follow the fear. LINKS TO KNOW: Jim Mourey's site: [http://www.jimmourey.com by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

26 min listen

Art of the Unfinished [Creativity Series #18]: FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT: Subscribe at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: Your creative intuition is a powerful guide. So why does it occasionally seem like you're wandering in circles, unable to move past a single piece of a project? It just doesn't feel like you can get it RIGHT, so you keep agonizing over that part of the work. Today, we learn about the Art of the Unfinished. We assume that, to ship something successful, we need to share only the good stuff, the completed stuff. But new Unthinkable contributor Cara Hogan joins us to share a story that refutes that -- the story of the George Washington painting on the US dollar bill. Then, we hear from two product managers, Adam Sigel and Karen Rubin, about how they involve others in their process. If your default setting is to believe your ideas are wrong, how do you keep shipping by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

26 min listen

In on the Secret [Creativity Series #20]: Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](unthinkable.fm) to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning about trusting your intuition. TODAY: If you're going to reject conventional thinking and instead trust your intuition, you'll find yourself sharing tons of ideas with others. But this can feel scary, like our ideas are secrets we'd prefer to keep inside. And when someone shoots them down, we assume they just don't "get it." But what if the point of sharing our ideas is NOT to get the approval of others? Today, we go outside our echo chamber with Unthinkable contributor Andrew Littlefield to hear the story of an unusual art project in Brooklyn. Then, we talk to internet legend and creator of PostSecret.com, Frank Warren, to hear the story of his epic project. LINKS TO KNOW: Andrew Littlefield: [twitter.com/FSUAndrew](twitter.com/FSUAndrew) Oliver Warden: [twitter.com/robotbigfoot](twitter.com/robotbigfoot) Frank Warren by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

28 min listen

Craft-Driven [Creativity Series #4]: When you agonize over the act of creation itself -- for its own sake, not for some ulterior motive or end result -- good things happen. But in the business world, whether in marketing or as an entrepreneur or freelancer, that mentality is surprisingly rare. So what do you call that behavior when someome wants to skip right to the end result, craft be damned? There's a word for it -- a behavior we need to avoid if we want to be truly creative in our careers. In this episode, we hear the story of Alessandro "San" Bellino, owner of Gracenote Coffee, an espresso bar in downtown Boston. He takes us deep into his approach to his craft, where we'll learn what really matters and get inspired for attacking our own work. LINKS TO KNOW:  Gracenote's Twitter: [twitter.com/gracenoteboston](twitter.com/gracenoteboston) The Coffee Trike's Twitter: [twitter.com/TheCoffeeTrike](https://twitter.com/TheCoffeeTrike) SUBSCRIBE: by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

37 min listen

Slingshot: The Danger Booth [Creativity Series #7]: Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects is a powerful way to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Zac Wolf and Becca Goldring discuss their award-winning open-air photo booth, The Danger Booth. LINKS TO KNOW:  Zac's Twitter: twitter.com/zacxwolf Becca's Twitter: twitter.com/Becca\_Bakes TheDangerBooth.com ZacXWolf.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org TOPICS DISCUSSED:  Creativity  Photography Side Projects Entrepreneurship Sales Boston by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

26 min listen

$Slingshot: The Danger Booth [Creativity Series #7]: Slingshots are a new mini-series within the Unthinkable show where we go deep into a creative side project that winds up someplace surprising. Tinkering on side projects is a powerful way to slingshot our careers forward as content marketers, writers, designers, podcasters, videographers, and any kind of creative. In this episode, Zac Wolf and Becca Goldring discuss their award-winning open-air photo booth, The Danger Booth. LINKS TO KNOW:  Zac's Twitter: twitter.com/zacxwolf Becca's Twitter: twitter.com/Becca\_Bakes TheDangerBooth.com ZacXWolf.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW: Join the newsletter at unthinkable.fm Jay's Twitter: twitter.com/jayacunzo Show Behind-the-Scenes: Snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE: RightSideShirts.org TOPICS DISCUSSED:  Creativity  Photography Side Projects Entrepreneurship Sales Boston$

Best Practices [Creativity Series #26]: Join our Unthinkable journey -- each week, a new hypothesis for what it takes to trust your intuition and suceed. Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Funthinkable.fm "http://unthinkable.fm") or text TRUST to 444999. TODAY: If you want to break from convention and follow your intuition, where does that leave all those best practices out there? It's so easy to follow a list or do what someone else says works. But what if best practices aren't even the best? Go outside the echo chamber with the story of a football coach bucking the trend and finding success -- and hear why his peers STILL think he's crazy, despite mountains of data from Harvard PhDs saying otherwise. Then, hear the story of Mike Brown and Death Wish Coffee -- and hear about the cardinal sin he committed early on that actually wound up HELPING his brand grow. LINKS TO KNOW: Andrew Littlefield: [http://twitter.com/fsuandrew](htt by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

24 min listen

The Bias to Act [Creativity Series #14]: FOR EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT: Subscribe at [unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm "http://unthinkable.fm") to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning. TODAY: Too often, creative people idolize the IDEA of being creative. But our jobs aren't to "be creative." Our jobs are to CREATE. In other words, we need a bias to act. But that's much easier said than done. Until you hear our stories today... Today, we go outside the echo chamber with executive coach Heather Legge. Although she coaches some of the most powerful women in business, she uses a subtle trick pulled from -- of all things -- golf, in order to build creative momentum for her clients. Then, in our feature story, we hear from a side project master: Alec Brownstein, creative director at Dollar Shave Club. His experiments have shaken the internet, getting passed around the big agency world on Madison Ave, inside Google globally, and all around the world. by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

24 min listen

Think Smaller [Creativity Series #24]: Subscribe at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) to get our weekly hypothesis answering one question, explored through story: What does it take to trust your intuition? TODAY: We assume creativity has to be big. We need to tackle broad, sweeping ideals, produce massive, industry-leading projects, and find deep, life-affirming meaning in our work. But what if to get all that, we need to think smaller? Today, we go outside our echo chamber with James Miller, creator of the project A Small Fiction. Then, we hear the story of Larry Smith and the Six Word Memoir project. LINKS TO KNOW: A Small Fiction on Twitter: [http://twitter.com/asmallfiction](http://twitter.com/asmallfiction) The tweet discussed: [https://twitter.com/ASmallFiction/status/659251935199891456](https://twitter.com/ASmallFiction/status/659251935199891456) Larry Smith on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/larrysmith](https://twitter.com/larrys by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

20 min listen

Slingshot: The Odyssey of Writing a Book [Creativity Series #21]: GET THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION from this episode -- subscribe at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) before October 30, 2016. TODAY: Jonathan Fields has written several books, hosts a top podcast, and speaks all over the world. By most measures, he's "made it." But his latest book, How to Live a Good Life, caused him to question everything he knew about writing. In this episode, he recounts the odyssey of writing the book and shares what he learned studying the most successful authors in business. He also geeks out about the most exciting part of reading great writing -- and the weird reaction we all seem to share when we encounter it. (Slingshots are short stories about a creative side project that led somewhere surprising or unexpected. They run every other week as part of Unthinkable.) LINKS TO KNOW: Jonathan's new book is available here: [https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Good-Life-Surpr by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

10 min listen

Facing Yourself [Intuition Series #4]: Richard's side project started with that familiar feeling when you just can't wait to see people's reactions. But in this case, it was his own reaction that surprised this serial side hustler. SUBSCRIBE at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) FEEDBACK ON THE SHOW? - Email [jay@unthinkable.fm](mailto:jay@unthinkable.fm) - Tweet [http://twitter.com/jayacunzo](http://twitter.com/jayacunzo) - Snap [http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) - Insta [http://instagram.com/jacunzo](http://instagram.com/jacunzo) LINKS TO KNOW: Richard's side project: [http://theuserisdrunk.com](http://theuserisdrunk.com) Richard on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/richlitt](https://twitter.com/richlitt) TOPICS DISCUSSED: Creativity Web Development User Experience Design Side Projects Alcoholism HubSpot Hacker News Startups by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

9 min listen

Jumping the Shark [Creativity Series #22]: Subscribe at [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) to get a quick note from Jay every Monday morning about trusting your intuition. TODAY: Why do some people seem totally fine using tactics that make us nauseous? If we're going to trust our intuition, then often times, that means rejecting some of the gimmicks and hacks and cheats that others don't seem to mind using. Why the gap in thinking? How can we make sense of that? And how does it change our behavior? Today, we go outside our echo chamber with Emily Hirshey, a writer on Ashton Kutcher's Netflix show, The Ranch. Then we hear the story of two veteran content marketers who completely rejected one of the most common -- if gimmicky -- B2B marketing tactics. LINKS TO KNOW: Emily Hirshey on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/emilyhirshey](https://twitter.com/emilyhirshey) The Ranch on Netflix: [https://www.netflix.com/title/80077977](https://www.netflix.c by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

25 min listen

Just Ship It [Intuition Series #8]: We hear the phrase a lot, from friends, bosses, clients, peers: JUST SHIP IT! Just ship your work already. But should you? COULD you? Is this idea friend ... or foe? Today we go exploring the topic of shippin' it, and shippin' it good. Stories about Chris Piascik, an illustrator who has published a new drawing every single weekday since 2007, and Andrea Fryrear, a newly-minted author who wrote her book in 6 months and got her start writing 5 articles every week for work. We care about craft. And results. We want to make it GREAT. But also done. Let's make sense of this hairy idea today. It's Unthinkable. \>\> Get the Unthinkable Monday AM email by subscribing [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) FEEDBACK // WORK WITH JAY: [jay@unthinkable.fm](mailto:jay@unthinkable.fm) [http://twitter.com/jayacunzo](http://twitter.com/jayacunzo) [http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) [h by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

17 min listen

$Just Ship It [Intuition Series #8]: We hear the phrase a lot, from friends, bosses, clients, peers: JUST SHIP IT! Just ship your work already. But should you? COULD you? Is this idea friend ... or foe? Today we go exploring the topic of shippin' it, and shippin' it good. Stories about Chris Piascik, an illustrator who has published a new drawing every single weekday since 2007, and Andrea Fryrear, a newly-minted author who wrote her book in 6 months and got her start writing 5 articles every week for work. We care about craft. And results. We want to make it GREAT. But also done. Let's make sense of this hairy idea today. It's Unthinkable. \>\> Get the Unthinkable Monday AM email by subscribing [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) FEEDBACK // WORK WITH JAY: [jay@unthinkable.fm](mailto:jay@unthinkable.fm) [http://twitter.com/jayacunzo](http://twitter.com/jayacunzo) [http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) [h$

Behind-the-Scenes Making the Show: This week, go behind-the-scenes with the making of Unthinkable with Jay and executive producer Andrew Davis, as the two discuss the thinking behind the show, the audience they're out to serve, and why Jay wants to be the Anthony Bourdain of business content. Get Monday's email: [http://unthinkable.fm](http://unthinkable.fm) Follow Jay on Twitter: [http://twitter.com/jayacunzo](http://twitter.com/jayacunzo) Follow Andrew on Twitter: [http://twitter.com/drewdavishere](http://twitter.com/drewdavishere) Get daily behind-the-scenes thoughts & moments, plus Jay's One-a-Day On My Way series sharing daily lessons learned: [http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo](http://snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo) by Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

45 min listen

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Slingshot: A Side Project Saved My Startup [Creativity Series #15]

Slingshot: A Side Project Saved My Startup [Creativity Series #15]

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