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“Be ten cents more trusted, not ten cents less expensive.” You can try to win on price, or you can focus your efforts on more meaningful customer benefits. Inspired by Gitomer’s list of predictions for this year. “Get on with the real work of making real art in the real world.” Don’t dream about making art. Don’t talk about making art.Don’t read stories about other people making art. None of that will…

“Another human dream crushed by the uncompromising forces of reality.” The best part about reading The Onion is, every laugh out loud moment is underscored by so much truth, it’s almost scary. Thisarticle should be read by any artist who’s trying to make it. Prepare your heart. “It leaves a debris field of unwanted movements and bizarre behaviors.” Beautiful description of a devastating disorder. Can you imagine having no control over your own body?…

“They use every part of you like a buffalo.” That’s how MC Chris summarized his stint at Adult Swim. We should all be lucky enough to work and live that way. Firing on all cylinders, making use of everything we are and leaving no talent untapped. That’s how meaning is made, that’s how value is created. “That’s just one shelf in the room.” Finally saw Kevin Smith live this week. Laughed my…

“When your hobby transforms into your livelihood, you become a lot more pragmatic and a lot less romantic.” While researching the world of craft beer, I stumbled across this fascinating thread. Been there before. When our passion becomes our profession, a lot of the love and purity and joy of the work gets reduced to a task. We have to ask ourselves if it’s worth it. “The pain of having not…

“On most shows, the guest is a prop.” The hosts are just interviewing themselves.” Larry King is the last of the great interviewers. He asks short, smart, simple questions and shuts up. What a concept. I wish more podcasters and television hosts would heed his advice.  “You can’t blame the computer for what the producer does.” I appreciate Dave Grohl’s democratic stance on electronic music. It’s not an issue of technology, it’s…

“I’ve been looking at stains ever since I was seven, waiting for a message.” What I love about Tom Waits is that he was weird first. Long before the Internet became a digital pissing contest to prove whose life is more interesting, Tom was already doing his thing, in the analog world, just cuz. “Lots of generals but no troops.” In the past two years, I’ve fallen in love with manual labor. There’s…

“It only takes two and a half minutes to piss away your good will.” Conan talks about actors who become assholes when they’re forced into an unprotected setting. Fascinating. Never thought about that. I guess if you pretend to be other people all day, it’s probably hard to be yourself. “We’re not into math, we’re into feelings.” How can we think about logic in a time like this? How can we…

“A bottle of juice is not my friend.” Spot on criticism of the attempted anthropomorphism of brands. Nice try, random company I’ve never heard of. But my real friends don’t have to trick me into liking them. “Ambition drives people forward, relationships hold people back.” Brilliant article about the tradeoffs of community and career. You could argue either side. It all depends on which pronouns are most important to you.  “Having…

“As soon as you start talking about it, you’re messing with the magic.” Springsteen’s new book has a ton of great insight about the songwriting process. Personally, I think that’s the best part. Never having to explain your lyrics to anybody. “Collaboration is how most of our ancestors used to work and live.” I spent the first eleven years of my professional life creating art alone. But now, my pronouns have…

“It will be nice to not have to decide between food and marketing.” Stumbled across this interview with the founder of Stand Offer, a very cool crowd funding search engine. Paints an accurate picture of the sacrifices we make when we follow our own path. “Creativity is on its way back.” Clive Davis gives us hope that imagination, humanity’s greatest endowment, is not dead. Every morning when I discover new albums…