A Live Fireside Chat with Jay Acunzo

Creativity is the ability to generate ideas, inventions, and new ways of thinking and solving problems. It is a key element in the success of any business or organization. Creativity is not just about ideas but also about how you think about your work and what you do with your ideas. It’s not just about being creative with words but also about being creative with numbers and visuals. It’s not just about coming up with new ways of doing things; it’s about using those new approaches to solve problems or make improvements to current processes.

In this episode, host of the Long Game podcast Alex Birkett together with Jay Acunzo discuss the benefits of having a content calendar and a self-renewing system to prevent writer’s block and improve creativity.

Jay Acunzo who is a powerful voice in the marketing industry and an evangelist for creativity,  helps makers and marketers create content that resonates deeper by being more effective storytellers. He’s worked in marketing roles at Google, ESPN, HubSpot, and the VC firm NextView, and has developed, hosted, or consulted on original shows for clients like Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Help Scout, and Drift. ” He worked on continent HubSpot as well as the next few ventures, and today he’s an author of the great book Breaking the Wheel Show, host of the Unthinkable Podcast, and Brand Consultant, discussing various topics related to creativity and content creation.

The conversation highlights the importance of discipline, creativity, and authenticity in content creation, encouraging individuals to find their unique voice and approach They emphasize the importance of creating content that resonates with the intended audience and embracing rigor and care in the creative process. 

Topics

• Lessons Jay Learnt To Get the Roots of Someone’s Personality
• Going in a Story You Know and Coming Out Portraying the Deepest Meaning
• What Mediocre vs Great Looks Like
• How To Find Writers Who Care
• Non-Response Buyers
• ChatGPT Content
• Developing Posture in the Age of AI
• Practice in Content Creation
• Quote on Quote Niching Down vs Composite of a Person
• What Makes Jay Passionate About Empowering Creativity and Creativity

Show Links

• Visit The Long Game for more amazing podcast content
• Connect with Omniscient Digital on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Alex Birkett on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Jay Acunzo on LinkedIn

Listen to the podcast:

Key Takeaways:

[07:41] Lessons Jay Learnt To Get the Roots of Someone’s Personality

Know the story you are trying to tell before you tell it

“Yeah. I mean the big part is know the story you’re trying to tell before you tell it. Know the thing, know the reason, the purpose that they’re there for. You know, I’m, I’m writing a like an essay for my newsletter tomorrow, which is about something called super stories just made up word that I created when I’m like, okay, this story can be told multiple ways and I can extract multiple different insights. So I don’t need to find six different stories to bring this on the road with me when I show up at things like this. Or talk to my podcast listeners or write to my newsletter subscribers or tweet or post a LinkedIn. One story can have multiple variations with multiple insights, meaning it can resonate just as deeply in multiple mediums to multiple audiences. So like, you act prolific, you appear prolific, but you know, it’s like I have a small bag of stories.”

[13:46] Going in a Story You Know and Coming Out Portraying the Deepest Meaning

It’s not just a container to tamp down your creativity. It’s a way to focus it

“But as you talk to them and, and like, this didn’t happen in this episode’s case, but it happens a lot. I’m like, oh, there’s actually an entirely different lesson here. So I’m willing to like break from that rundown and try something new. Or when we plan episodes, we’re like, Hey, I know we have this rundown. What if we did it this way instead? So it’s not just, it’s not just a container to tamp down your creativity. It’s a way to focus it where you’re like, I’m gonna re-engineer off a base or with purpose. Um, like another analogy here is in public speaking, people go, I don’t wanna sound rehearsed. And I’m like, great, you have two choices, don’t rehearse at all. And risk sounding sloppy and forgetting things and staring at your slides. You won’t sound rehearsed, but you’ll also be sloppy and ineffective or rehearse a ton because you’ll internalize it to the point mm-hmm.”

[17:23] What Mediocre vs Great Looks Like

You can’t just wait around for quality to happen. You gotta go and ship your work

“It does matter. And like when you do the book writing thing, you do tend to visit those things. Like, let’s start at the definition, let’s start in the sciences. Like I’m talking about creative resonance. What is resonance in the sciences? Like, you do weird things like that. But I think for our purposes, like to go back to work today, it’s really important that we stop making these excuses. Like when I show up publicly and I’m like, we need to create quality things, people, what does quality even mean? Or like, yeah, but you can’t, you can’t just like wait around for quality to happen. You gotta go and ship your work. And I’m like, and no one said ship one thing a year. Like, I didn’t, I didn’t say that. You know, I think the best realization that one can have is that quality and quantity sit on different spectra, which”

[22:48] How To Find Writers Who Care

People should have the motivation to make intrinsic desire to just create amazing stuff that they love, and others love

“I’d read about SEO. I’m like, all due respect, no, you would not <laugh>. Um, what would you actually write about? What I wanted to see was not the correct answer. What I wanted to see was this initial like moment of lighting up where they were like, oh, this is the dream project I’ve been waiting for. Even if they were like, you know what? I wouldn’t be a blogger. I’d be a podcaster or a YouTuber, whatever. Like, I wanna see the motivation to make this intrinsic desire to just create amazing stuff that they love, and others love. And if I didn’t see that, I would try and chip away a little bit to reach it. Cuz maybe they’re just stiff in the interview. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> situation or No, it’s”

[30:17] Non-Response Buyers

It’s not about content. That’s not the job. The content is to create connection

“All this influence is coming my way. All this trust has been earned just because of that. I, I say, yes, we’d probably want that. Okay. So we should probably start on that end of the spectrum and see how close we can get. But instead what we’re doing is we’re just chickens with our heads cut off sometimes through no fault of our own most times, right? Because we serve multiple stakeholders. A great example is every content team I’ve ever led before in-house, it’s been years, like seven or eight years now. But when I was in-house managing content teams, I was acutely aware that like my job was to beat back peers who thought of my writers as buttons they wish they could push. And out came a blog post, guess what? Someone invented a button you can push and outcomes lots and lots of content, blog posts included. And so what do you see is you see the gorging on that desire, that base desire because people think it’s about content. It’s not, I am a content creator. I love this stuff. I’m a writer. I’m a podcaster. I’m a sp this is what I do. And even I’m admitting it’s not about content. That’s not the job. The content is to create connection. That’s actually the job, right? Do that focus on that. The content should be informed by that end, end result. That’s the only goal that really matters for us.”

[31:30] ChatGPT Content

People who don’t think chat GPT is useful haven’t learned how to use it well. People who think chat GPT-created content is good haven’t learned to write well

“Five or six of us. Really honest. Really? No, no. Audience talk and shop big ideas and small, everything’s welcome. We’re all peers around the content table, around the creator round table. Um, and today, like couple hours ago, one of our members who was a, a, a coach and a photographer and and a writer, he was saying, you know, I, I use these tools, these AI tools and I hadn’t summed it up to my friends as to why. And he found a tweet and I wish I could cite who said it. Cause I thought it was a smart take. Which was basically, uh, people who don’t think chat G P T is is useful, haven’t learned how to use it. Well. People who think chat G P T created content is good, haven’t learned to write well.”

[38:41] Developing Posture in the Age of AI

Within the mocking around, you find yourself

“Like, I, I think I said this on your podcast, but like I started to joke that the whole mean girls thing, like on Wednesdays we wear pink. Why? I don’t know. I guess cuz it’s Wednesday. On Fridays I ship why? It’s not cuz I feel great. It’s not cuz I’m inspired. It’s not. Cuz this is genius. It’s not because I know this will drive a result or go viral. It’s not cuz some guru told me to do it. It’s because it’s Friday. And on Fridays I ship that is I want us to have a mean girl’s attitude about our craft, about the practice. Because within the mucking around you find yourself, and where I get concerned is people go, we can all be editors, we can skip the mucking around. Right. Just, just skip it entirely. And the people who use these tools, well they’re just guiding the mess.”

[46:03] Practice in Content Creation

It’s okay not to use the tool. It’s okay to use the tool. It’s about the outcome, which is that connection with an audience.

“Yeah, no, it, I think it’s salt mine. Um, I’m, I’m fairly certain it’s salt mine, but I don’t think what we should be taking our cues from, is this stuff spreading on social media as it relates to these AI tools? I think what we should be looking for are who are the artisans that we admire who are creating at a higher level than us? What have they done? What is their behavior, their skillset like? And can I mimic that on my own? Like, oh, they have a recurring practice. Okay, can I do that alone? Or do I need an assistant? Do I need a helper? Right? What am I trying to do? Where am I trying to go? What skills do I wanna develop? And then you decide, is this the tool I use? Maybe not. Right? Like, it’s okay, it’s okay not to use the tool. It’s okay to use the tool. It’s about the outcome, which is that connection with an audience.”

[51:20] Quote on Quote Niching Down vs Composite of a Person

The power of niching down. It’s just one way to essentially create up use, create useful friction for your brand

“I develop premise led, IP driven shows, and here’s all the things those are good for. Right? And if you’re like reading this and you’re like, well this doesn’t make any sense at all. We’re like, Nope. The boss wants it a different way. No worries. I wish you a ton of luck, but we’re gonna be a bad fit. You know? So, and then on the sales call, I’m gut checking that. So basically what I’m doing is you’re coming to me saying, I want a podcast cuz I’m a B2B brand or an author. And I’m like, I’d love to talk, talk you out of this. And if you get through that friction, we’re amazing fits. And not only do I enjoy the work more, but I have to spend less time like convincing both pre-sale and post. Um, so that’s like the power of nicheing down. It’s just one way to essentially create up use, create useful friction for your brand.”

[56:41] What Makes Jay Passionate About Empowering Creativity 

Create work that feels more like you

“And it sounds really silly to say, but at the core of all my work is I want you to create work that feels more like you, because I think that’s wonderful for business and all the aims they’re in, but mostly it’s because you get to create the things that you wish existed. And I know this sounds trite, but like, we’re gonna die someday if you wanna do that, when are you going to do that? So I don’t think we can wait. I don’t think it all can happen like in some magical retirement scenario. I think it’s like, can we get closer to, in our work, making the things that we wish existed and be able to put our names to it and go to bed at night being like, that was really satisfying.”

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