“Your relationship with a client shouldn’t end just because a project has been completed. Great clients are just as hard to find as great freelancers. When a gig goes well, both sides have a vested interest in staying in touch and looking for future opportunities to work together.”
“You’re not monetizing. You’re not extracting a resource from a passive thing and not drilling an oil well. Your audience is composed of other people, and if you want those people to give you value, you have to give them value in return.”
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” — Chauncey Depew
“My ideal day doesn’t require me to be rich or powerful or important. It just requires that I be good enough at something to sell my services on the open market and strong enough to say no to things that are beyond my needs. That is a privilege, and it’s more accessible than we think.”
“A well-told story makes people care, which is why your ability to tell stories is the key to attracting attention for your creations.”
“Put a reminder of your values front and center, whether that’s with a Post-it Note, a printout, or a computer screen background. That way, when you’re feeling overwhelmed and need to decide what to tackle next, you can use those values to help you decide what to do.”
“Reverse-engineer what you read. If it feels like good writing, what makes it good? If it’s awful, why?”
“Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”
“It’s easy to blame the digital world for our distractions, but in part it’s up to us to learn not only when to tune it out, but also how to use it wisely.”
“Inspired by the approach Disney took in developing the original Snow White film, the founders began looking at Airbnb not as just a website or a service but as a story, with a beginning, middle, and end.”