Nerv with Ryan Williams (Mushrooms, Mycology, and Mycellium)

Scott Belsky knows the secret for making your ideas happen. And today I chat with him about his book "Making Ideas Happen," his company Behance (that sold to Adobe) and his passion for helping to empower the creative world. Scott offers insights and advice for anyone aiming to launch and executve their ideas.

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In the influencer economy we all have ideas. And every day we are all executing on our businesses ideas, while also building ourselves as businesses. Scott and I discuss how there is no such thing as "idea meritocracy" and that ideas don't happen by accident. Ideas happen by a series of forces. While big ideas happen when a team executives and sticks together.

We also dive into the importance of building a solid team and how Scott executes his ideas like the 99u conference. In the end, Scott oversee roughly 70 employees at Adobe/Behance and his team is critical to getting his ideas to happen.

In the world where everyone and anyone can launch a product, blog, podcast or new company, why do some people's ideas succeed? While others' ideas fail? We talk about Scott's advice for early idea creation. Scott advises "to make something that needs to exist." And know the difference between a feature and a business. He also suggests bootstrapping your idea "incrementally" can behoove you and your business. Rather than going to raise a bunch of investment money.

Like many in the influencer economy, Scott is mission-centric and his ideas manifest in different products, but the message is always the same. Behance, 99u and Making Ideas Happen have the same values and are all cut from the same cloth. That helps him launch many ideas in different mediums. I know it sounds obvious, but unless you see it in action it, it's easier said then executed on.

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We covered a lot of ground:

• We talk about doers and dreamers - and how they need to collaborate with one another
• And how doers need to kill off 97% of new ideas for companies and groups brought by dreamers
• How you need to build the right team in order to make your ideas happen
• How Scott launched the 99u conference and makes it happen because of his team
• How the 99U is a conference NOT about ideas. It's about making your ideas come to life and talking about how you made your idea.
• Why Scott thinks business school is overrated
• How "Genius is "1% inspiration and 99% Perspiration" (A famous Thomas Edison quote)
• How creative people have great ideas but they look for media attention or raise outside capital too early and their idea fails.
• The Creative Compromise
• How we all have the ability to make our ideas happen

Quotes from Scott:

"Creativity is genuine interest combined with initiative."

"When you optimize for (Press/Media) headlines, you will optimize yourself to the ground."

"You have to build something sustainable that has its own culture and spirit. That's what takes the team coming together."

"We get too involved in ideas themselves. We are fascinated or too much in love with ideas themselves. We need to declare war against excessive creativity."

Scott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky

Behance: https://www.behance.net

99u: http://99u.com

Hrishikesh Hirway is a musician, story-teller, and podcast host who hosts Song Exploder, a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, telling the story of how they were made. He has had inspiring and loved musicians such as U2, Björk, Postal Service and Spoon on the show. Hrishikesh is a podcast mastercraftsman and we talk in depth about his creative process and how he launched his idea to the world. We dive into how he created one of the most successful music podcasts.

As a podcast listener Song Exploder invites you into the mindset and framework of some of the bigger touring acts and indie artists in the music world. You can hear Wilco's Jeff Wilco explain what inspired him to write the song Magnetized. Or U2's The Edge breaking down the process for how the music was written for U2's song Cedarwood Road, and Bono looks back at his life growing up in Dublin where he was inspired to write the song. And Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello shares the District Sleeps Alone Tonight, and talks about his instruments, his influences, and accidentally making a loop out of Jenny Lewis's backing vocals.

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Hrishikesh doesn't ask the artists about their big hit singles or world-wide hits. The songs are often personal and intimate tracks, composed and created by the artist. Song Exploder is an intimate and personal window into the world of how artists create, write, and score the songs that people love.

Hrishikesh talks in depth about how he created the idea for Song Exploder, launched it to the world with the help of Jesse Thorn the Maximum Fun (a podcast network) and is thriving as part of the Radiotopia network.

And I want to give a high five to my friends Kerri Hoffman and Maggie Taylor at PRX

If you like this episode, feel free to tag @songexploder (https://twitter.com/songexploder) on Twitter to give Rishi some love.

Song Exploder: http://songexploder.net/

RadioTopia: http://www.radiotopia.fm/

PRX: http://www.prx.org/

Ryan Williams' Influencer Economy website: http://www.influencereconomy.com/

David Nihill like many people, was terrified of public speaking. But unlike most people, to conquer his fear of speaking in front of groups, David spent a year studying and performing stand-up. After performing at The Improv, The Comedy Store, & Cobb's he realized that anyone can be funny when giving a talk. Yes, that means even you, or someone that thinks they aren't funny. He also learned that even people who hated public speaking like himself, could also become a great public speaker while being funny.

David has created a 7 step framework to help normal people become better and funnier public speakers. His books is called: Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker. David studied Stand-up comedians, the group of people who are the best public speakers in the world. And what he learned is that we all can be funny giving a public speech, even people who are deftly afraid of crowds.

I'm a former stand-up comedian and I know how terrified I was performing in front of crowds. But to this day, I give better presentations to bosses, work crowds better during talks and I give funnier speeches based on my stand-up comedy practice. I'm not recommending you go sign-up for open mic comedy nights to get funnier and more comfortable in front of crowds. Instead, I recommend listening to this episode and reading Davd's book. In this episode you will learn:

Listen to the Stories from the Influencer Economy archives: http://www.influencereconomy.com/

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• How to write funny material based on your own experiences to be funny when giving a talk
• How to open your talk with a funny story or personal anecdote
• How to connect with audiences to improve your story-telling style
• How to draw on real-life experiences to get a crowd to laugh at the beginning of your talk
• How to use David's tips to create a "memory palace" to remember every part of your story when on stage
• A simple secret to using "call-backs," which means you make a mention of a topic previously covered when giving a talk
• How to rehearse spontaneity by practicing jokes that will appear to be "off the cuff" to anyone watching you talk
• How to get the host to sell you when making your introduction before your talk
• How to deliver the right balance of jokes to control a room of people

Veronica Belmont is a renaissance woman who does it all. She's like the Jay-Z for the tech world, a true hyphenate. She's a producer/host/present for all things digital and television. Since 2006, she has worked on projects for Gizmodo, CNET, Discovery Digital, Sony Play Station, the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary pre-show.

I have attended SXSW for years and met Veronica this past year in Austin, TX. She was hosting a meetup for Sword and Laser her genre fiction podcast with Tom Merritt. In this episode we talk about the importance of meeting your community In Real Life (IRL). It's critical for people to meet their customers, fans, & community and face to face.

Veronica is a former World of War Craft gamer who has met her gamer friends off-line for years. Veronica equates fan meet-ups to seeing the gamers IRL that she used to meet for drinks and happy hours in her gaming days.

Veronica also wanted to be an expert at something from an early age. She's now an expert in numerous areas including technology, genre fiction and internet culture. We talk about an early life experience, and how she chatted with her Mom about cultivating her expertise shaped her career in more ways than she realized.

Veronica has years of technology, business and marketing advice that she shares in this episode of The Influencer Economy. Our website: http://www.influencereconomy.com/

Links of topics we discussed:

You can watch Veronica on her current weekly show: Dear Veronica for Engadget

The Sword and Laser podcast with Tom Merritt:Sword & Laser

Vaginal Fantasy Book club: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/62938-vaginal-fantasy-book-club

Tom Merritt: http://www.tommerritt.com/

Emerson College: http://www.emerson.edu/

Sloane Davidson, the founder of The Causemopolitan, chatted with Ryan about her journey as a social entrepreneur and about her “giving philosophy” for life. Sloane is also the author the Giving Manifesto, and has pioneered the category of “Cause-Filled Living.” She is the real deal, and through her writing, helps people find more meaning in their business relationships and friendships. She details the launching of the Causemopolitan and how she writes her personal essays and grows her community.

Sloane is an new class of entrepreneur, who has defined her career on her own terms. One of her most memorable quotes from the podcast was: “The things I have done and not gotten paid for, have by far impacted me the most and made me feel alive. They have brought me the greatest connections and opportunities.” Sloane and Ryan discuss the upside of working on passion projects and pursuing work outside of your day-job. They agree that often these projects lead you to to more satisfaction and can shape your career in un-imaginable ways. Many times Sloane has re-booted and re-launched her professional live, through creating value for the world.

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Sloane was named a top influencer at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative and "Top Woman to Follow" on Twitter by Forbes. She has also raised more than $1.5 million dollars for non-profits, including creating the Gulf Coast Benefit, an effort to support Gulf Coast communities after the BP oil spill.

Subscribe to The Causemopolitan: www.thecausemopolitan.com/signup

Giving Manifesto: - Listen to the episode for a discount code for a free copy! galore.cc

Sloane’s website: sloanedavidson.com

Sloane on Twitter: twitter.com/sloane

Learn from her email newsletter successes: us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2822bb515...d=de7d1607f7