I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Some connections only happen in person
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Last month, we hosted our conference, Craft + Commerce, in Boise, and it was a fantastic few days (I uploaded a new vlog I’d love for you to check out). What made me so excited was seeing people make connections and build relationships with other creators that will go on to change their lives and businesses. Every person in my mastermind group is someone I first met at an event. There’s something about getting in person that just accelerates things more than you ever could online. During the week, I was recording an episode of the podcast with Pat Flynn, and I asked him about our mutual friend, Thomas Frank. Thomas told me that years ago, he wanted to get on Pat's show. He emailed Pat directly several times and sent him things he'd made, but he never heard back. So he started going to the same conferences Pat went to—and he kept going, year after year, until they got to know each other in person. Then one day, randomly, Pat invited him on the show. When I told Pat, he was surprised. His inbox was super busy and he had no idea Thomas ever reached out or wanted to be on the show. “That's crazy,” he said. “I didn't know that. I just invited him on because I wanted him on the show.” Sometimes all it takes is getting around someone in person enough times that they come to the idea on their own. In fact, that happened to me. Dustin Riechmann walked up to me at Craft + Commerce a few years ago and asked me to come on his podcast. I said no. But he came back the next year, we got to know each other, and eventually I said yes. That ended up being the single most successful interview of his whole career. He told me he made more than $140,000 from that episode alone in the first 90 days. Another special moment that happened at the conference was at the speaker dinner. I looked around and realized the group of us who started a mastermind together eight years ago were all there. Still friends, and still building businesses we started next to each other. Events like this are really meaningful to me because they changed my life. It’s why I started Craft + Commerce, to bring all of my favorite things about conferences together into one place. But whether you join us next year or not—and of course, we’d love to have you—I want to encourage you to go to events in your area. They could be meetups or conferences (and it doesn’t have to be ours), but if you make an effort to attend, I promise you’ll be glad you did. The thing is, I can say a sentence like that but it doesn’t really resonate unless you’ve experienced it before. The words just kind of land flat. So rather than tell you, I want to show you the difference events like these can make by collecting a bunch of great stories from creators who shared how getting in person and building relationships has changed their lives. And that’s what’s in the vlog I uploaded this morning. Go check it out: PODCAST#1 Speaking Coach Explains How to Master SpeakingI had the best speaking coach I know on the podcast. Mike Pacchione has coached every speaker at Craft + Commerce, including me, and his whole aim is for the audience to forget they're watching a speech at all. In this episode, he walks through how to build a compelling story and how to take a talk from good to great. We cover:
Watch or listen to episode » RECORDING STUDIOKit Studios NYC: New professional podcast and creator studio in ManhattanRecording a podcast in New York can be challenging. You don't have a lot of space in your apartment and studio time runs hundreds of dollars an hour. So what if it were easy? We just opened Kit Studios NYC in the Flatiron District. Six unique studios for every vibe you could want—ready for podcasts and video the second you walk in. Completely free to use when you're on Kit's Creator or Creator Pro plan. X POSTRotary phone that talks to AIKaren X. Cheng hooked up a 1920s rotary phone to an AI agent. She just picks up the receiver, asks a question, and the answer appears on a mechanical display behind her. She built the whole thing with Cursor. Just watch it. —Nathan P.S. Forbes did a piece on our conference: Inside Kit’s Creator Conference: Craft + Commerce |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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