Courtney M. McSwain

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Jake Thompson On…Faith & Work

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(Photo: Courtesy of Jake Thompson)

I had heard Jake Thompson’s name mentioned as someone to learn from when it comes to creating a meaningful brand. When I checked out the website for Compete Every Day, the company he founded and serves as chief encouragement officer for, I immediately knew why his was an example of great storytelling. Compete Every Day is a lifestyle brand that sells t-shirts and apparel; but spend just a few minutes on the website and its true mission of encouraging people to fight, every day, for their lives and dreams shines through more clearly than any t-shirt design. In following the story of Compete Every Day, I also began to observe how Jake weaves his own personal story and beliefs into the lifeblood of his company. Even when it comes to his own faith, Jake allows his personal beliefs to influence his work without alienating customers or team members who may believe differently. Even through his own Twitter page, Jake thoughtfully sends encouragement, sometimes through specific words of religious faith and sometimes not, but always with a sense of humility felt even through a 140-character tweet.

Curious about how Jake manages to integrate his faith and creative work, I reached out to him to get his thoughts, which he graciously shared in the following Q&A.

What role does faith play in your life as an entrepreneur and creative person?

It plays an integral role in anything I do. What you believe influences the lens through which you see the world. My goal has always been to create great art. Every artist’s goal is to create something great. It’s nearly impossible for someone to pour themselves into creating something that isn’t influenced by how they see the world, what they believe and how they see others.

Have you confronted challenges with incorporating your faith into your business or creative life?

Absolutely, especially when I started Compete Every Day early on. We did not want to be a religious brand – that was never our goal. [Our] message is not about a specific religion or belief – the idea for competing for your life, I feel, is universal. But it’s hard for it not to be influenced by how I believe, how I see things, how I love people. Understanding how you separate yourself from that is definitely a challenge. I want what I believe and how I see and love on people to influence the brand, but you also don’t want to completely alienate people who don’t see things your way.

It was really difficult at first to balance. I still think that a lot of the things we say and do are influenced by what I believe, because I think it’s hard to completely remove yourself from something you’ve created. At the same time, we’ve taken a religious agnostic stance on the brand itself because we aren’t saying this is the only group that gets this Compete Every Day message.

One of the first instances I had where I was really struggling with this [was when] we had a booth at the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. At the time we had a girls tank top that had the word “faith” on the front – which was very open ended in what [people] wanted that to mean. I had a lady come in and [she] asked me some specific religious questions: “Was it referred to Christianity or a Christian viewpoint?” My response to her was simply that it could be faith in what you believe, in what you’re doing on this earth, and what you believe your purpose is; it’s up to each person to decide how they want that to be displayed because they would be the one wearing it and telling the story when someone asks [about it]. She said, “Well, I wouldn’t wear it if it was something Christian based, but I love it. I want it, I believe in what I’m doing,” and so she grabbed it. Not ten minutes later, someone else walked in and bought it for completely opposite reasons. She wanted it for a Christian viewpoint; that’s what she felt it meant to her and wanted to talk about. At that moment, I realized we had a very fine line to walk because the message of Compete Every Day was applicable to so many different backgrounds and so many different beliefs.

Was there a time when you hit a wall on your journey? How did your faith help you overcome it?

The life of an entrepreneur is a constant roller coaster where you’re just trying to maintain stability. You’re not trying to get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. And when you own the business, you pour so much of your life and soul into it, that it’s really hard to pull your heart and soul out of it and look at things neutrally. So when you do get a victory you really take it to heart, and when you do have a failure, you take it more personally than someone else might in a professional setting.

I’ve had situations where I really wondered, “How are we going to get out of this financially? Are we ever going to make it?” That’s a struggle I think a lot of people deal with daily. I can admit that every so often I have those conversations about doubt and fear that creep into my mind, and I go back to my personal belief that I was born and blessed with certain abilities of encouragement, leadership and making an impact for my faith. So when I look at these tough situations, I try to remind myself of the bigger picture – of why I’m doing this.

In the darkest moments of when I question whether I have what it takes, it’s great to draw on the belief that I was put in this position to make an impact; I was given this blessing of a business and a message to share and I need to see it through. At the end of the day, it’s not about me; it’s about the impact that I can make. Having that faith is crucial for the toughest days, because the doubts and fears can always become a deafening noise in your head if you let them and you don’t focus on what’s really important – what your true mission is here on earth and what you’re trying to do.

Do you have conversations with other artists or changemakers about your faith? What have those conversations taught you?

Yes, from a standpoint of: How do you balance it? How do you create an environment influenced by what you believe, but at the same time not alienating individuals who don’t see things that way? I’ve had some great advice from guys who have built fantastic companies. [I’ve learned that] at the end of the day, you want to love on people. You want them to see the value you see in them. You want to remind them daily of how great they can be…if someone wants to have a conversation with me about what I believe, I’ll happily have that conversation with them. But day in and day out, I’m not trying to beat the door down on anybody. I’m not trying to impose what I believe on anybody. I’m just trying to love on people, respect people, remind people of how awesome they are. And in a world that’s so negative—just trying to pick [people] up a little bit every day.

What advice would you give other artists and changemakers on allowing their faith tradition into their creative or business lives?

The words you say [and] the actions you take daily tell people exactly what you believe about yourself, about them, about the world and about any higher power that you may or may not believe in. You want to take a position, in my opinion, where you integrate what you believe in how you do business ethically and morally; if you have a certain standard, you need to abide by that standard. At the same time, unless you’re outspoken that this is a religious company or brand, you don’t want to beat people over the head. I don’t think people have ever converted to one faith or another by getting yelled at, beaten over the head with something or told how terrible or how wrong they are. More often than not, it’s from someone loving on them, having genuine conversations with them and respecting them enough to care about their well-being.

It’s really about maintaining the consistency in your word and deed with the daily interactions with your team, with the products you produce and especially with the people in the community who support [your business]. It’s a fine line to walk, but I think if you have a diverse team that believes different things, but who are all committed to building that same organization, that product, that brand, they’ll find a way to work together.

Thank you Jake for sharing your story! Be sure to get some encouragement from Compete Every Day’s website, Twitter and Facebook pages. You can also connect with Jake Thompson on Facebook and Twitter.

Julian Kiganda On…Fear

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juliankigandaPhoto: Courtesy of Julian Kiganda

Speaker, writer and creative consultant Julian Kiganda is on a mission to inspire people to live boldly and fearlessly. Recently, Julian co-authored “Whose Shoes Are You Wearing? 12 Steps to Uncovering the Woman You Really Want to Be” along with her sister Christine K. St. Vil. Motivated by their own journey in overcoming fear to stay true to their creative calling, Julian and her sister felt the need to help others by sharing the discoveries they’ve made. In addition to her new book, Julian consults with individuals and companies on marketing, design and creating transformational brands.

Whether through writing or consulting, Julian frequently helps people confront their own fears in order to create more meaningful work, so she seemed like the perfect person to join me during this month’s deep dive on fear. Having worked with Julian on several occasions, I am always inspired by her willingness to take on new challenges in spite of fear, and so I’m excited to share her thoughts on how others can do the same.

What role does fear play in the life of a creative person?

Fear plays a role in just about every person’s life. My biggest fear is not getting out all of these amazing ideas that are in my head before I die. It’s less the fear of doing the work; I get excited by the challenge of doing something that I’ve never done before. [But] it’s more just making sure it gets out of my head. That really propels me to make things happen.

Has there been a time when you hit a wall of fear and overcame it? What happened and how did you persevere?

Always. I would say practice makes perfect. The more you confront your fears and address them, the easier it gets.

One of the biggest is the fear of rejection. I still find it a challenge to ask for help or approach people I really respect. Another is public speaking. People who meet me – they may not have any clue that I’m actually shy. But I had to really break out of that, because there are so many things that I have as part of my vision for my life, and I can’t afford to hide behind a keyboard all day. Earlier this year I was invited to speak at the United Nations for the International Day of Happiness. I had to give a spiel on how my life, my entrepreneurial spirit, and my community work have contributed to my happiness and how that applies to the general population. Initially I though, “Oh wow, this is the United Nations [with] all of these famous people.” [But] I’ve found the more I interact with people from different walks of life, cultures, backgrounds and levels of accomplishments, I’ve realized we’re all really alike. More often than not, we all have the same fears, the same wants and the same needs.

Now, I don’t get as nervous as I used to when I have to approach people of a certain status, because I’ve learned to recognize we share more commonalities than we do differences.

What practices help you deal with fear in your daily life as a creative person?

A couple of things. First, I stopped watching the news. I’ll catch snippets of things here and there on social media, but I stopped watching the news in general because it’s mostly bad and, I think, a way of creating fear mongering in the general population. I also figure if something bad is going to happen, it’s going to happen regardless of whether or not I know about it. There are certain things that I’ll hear about and research if they have to do with my own interests, but news for the sake of keeping up with crime and all the terrible things that are going on in the world – I avoid.

Secondly, I make sure I connect with people on a regular basis. As an independent consultant, it’s so easy to become isolated. I find that I have to meet with people regularly, one-on-one or group meetings, just to stay connected. I’m also pushing myself to attend different events and meet people who I’d like to have in my circle. One thing I’m pushing myself to do more now is actively seek out speaking engagements. With speaking, there’s that fear of, “Am I good enough?” Again, it comes down to realizing we all have a gift that’s meant to help other people. Once you realize what yours is, it makes it easier to push yourself to use that gift.

Do you have conversations with other artists & changemakers about fear? What lessons do you take away from those conversations?

I don’t know that we necessarily look at it as fear, because fear rears its ugly head in so many different ways. Often you’ll hear people talk about “haters.” You have people, very often on social media, who think they can say whatever they want and there are no repercussions. I definitely believe making nasty comments is a form of fear. I always say if you don’t have something nice to say it’s because you don’t feel good about yourself. If you’re puling someone else down, that’s a reflection of how you feel about yourself…you’re fearful that this other person is getting ahead while you’re not moving or aren’t where you want to be.

I work with people doing transformational branding and one of my philosophies is that your brand has to reflect what’s really going on inside. One of my clients has an amazing reputation in her industry and an incredible body of work, but she has not been advancing in her career the way she should. While trying to pinpoint what has kept her stuck, we realized it was fear. Transforming her brand meant that she would have to become more visible, and, because she had gained a lot of weight over the past few years from having kids, she felt uncomfortable. She was fearful of how she was going to be received, when in reality, her reputation precedes her.

Fear keeps so many people from fulfilling their purpose. The reality is that fear never leaves you, and it’s a good thing that it never does. I think fear is a motivator to keep you on your game and keep you doing your best, it’s just that some people learn how to manage fear better than others.

What advice would you give artists and changemakers on how to recognize and confront fear?

For me, step number one is having a very strong faith and spiritual connection. I can’t operate without that. When I wake up in the morning, I spend about thirty minutes in bed praying and meditating. I drop my daughter off at school, and on the way to school, we’re praying together. When I go to bed, I have my conversation with God; if I have energy I’ll write in my journal. So that’s the first thing – take care of your spiritual relationship and your relationship with self.

The second thing is journaling. Journaling allows you to get all of the thoughts out of your head that you may not otherwise be able to verbalize. In looking back at journals I’ve written in the past, I’ve been able to recognize my own negative behavioral patterns and pin point where they stemmed from. A lot of it came back to fear.

The third thing is being honest with yourself. I don’t believe you can truly overcome fear unless you’re willing to be real with yourself. You have to take off the masks you wear to keep people out; that space of vulnerability is where the true change happens. I became more fearless when I allowed myself to live more authentically and stopped putting on a mask for everyone. Thinking everyone has to like me and being worried about who’s going to say what – that’s not even a concern anymore. I’m very clear on who I am, what my gifts are and what my vision is.

The last big thing is to surround yourself with positive people and positive energy – people who are aspiring for greatness or are already there – so you can learn from them. Your circle makes a huge difference in how far you get in life.

Thanks Julian for sharing your story! Next week, I’ll review “Whose Shoes Are You Wearing? 12 Steps to Uncovering the Woman You Really Want to Be,” so be sure and come back for a closer look at Julian’s new book. Until then, connect with Julian at boldandfearless.me, on Twitter and Facebook.

Robyn Peel On…Celebrating Failure

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Robyn Peele ImagePhoto: Courtesy of Robyn Peel

This post is part of the Q&A series, “Artists & Changemakers On…,” where artists, creative entrepreneurs and social change agents share their thoughts on each month’s blog theme. Today I’m thrilled to have Robyn Peel share her thoughts on celebrating failure.

Robyn Peel is a coach, mentor and facilitator who wants everyone to live bold, meaningful and fulfilling lives. Like last week’s Q&A guests, I met Robyn while attending the Pioneer Nation conference earlier this year (seeing a pattern?). In truth, I owe Robyn a debt of gratitude for inspiring this month’s theme. It was while talking with her during one of the conference sessions that the idea of celebrating authentic failure – the genuine attempt at creation that completely bombs for one reason or another – began to crystallize. Robyn and I both agreed that, too often, we rush to judge people whose projects aren’t home runs the first time around instead of viewing failures as an opportunity to dissect the situation, figure out what went wrong and make adjustments for the next attempt.

Naturally, I had to invite Robyn to share her thoughts on celebrating failure for the blog this month. Here’s what she had to say.

What role does failure play in your creative work?

Over the past few years I have become much more willing to try things out with no expectation as to whether they will work or not. I use the word “play” when I am starting on something new, as it allows there to be more lightness about the journey. And it is almost impossible to fail at playing! I use this play as a time to explore and learn; to notice what works and what doesn’t and to learn from both. I believe we can always improve and grow in our lives. The things that work and the things that don’t will always teach us something.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learned on failure?

Failure is a perception not a reality. What one person deems a failure another person deems a success. And the way we respond to what doesn’t work will shape our future. The people who are seen as successful have a different attitude to trying and failing. They are willing to throw mud at the wall and see if it sticks. If it doesn’t they will try something new and see if that sticks. They just keep trying and trying and then one day will be deemed an overnight success!

I believe failure leads to innovation and change. We are not going to get something new if we are afraid to try and risk failing. We need to be bold and try things to get the brilliant and life-changing actions this world needs.

Have you ever celebrated one of your failures? What happened and why was that failure a good thing?

Last year I planned a “walk and talk” event where a group of people would come together to discuss a topic (Redefining Success) and walk through nature at the same time. It seemed to sit so well with my mantra: “Connect with Yourself, Connect with Others, Connect with Nature.” Rather ironically, with the topic as it was, no one turned up!

So I just did the walk myself and thought about what success meant for me. What once would have shattered my confidence – having no one show up at an event – became an opportunity for me to get clearer in my head about what I wanted in life and what success meant for me (and it isn’t about the numbers in any sense of that word – income, blog hits, number of clients or number of people at events). I embraced and celebrated that failure so much that when I came home so happy my partner presumed I’d had a great turnout!

What do you think keeps people from talking openly about failure?

Too often in the public arena and in the media people who fail are picked apart and dragged through the coals. They are publicly ridiculed, and that is something we are so afraid of. We deem failure to be something that we must keep to ourselves at all costs.

As a society, we seem to celebrate successes so openly but keep failures hidden away. I think this keeps us from changing or finding solutions to so many problems we face. It’s time to talk about all the things we try, whether they work or not; someone else could take our lessons (or failures) and find an amazing solution.

What advice on failure would you give other artists & changemakers?

Let’s start by not actually calling it failure. You tried something and it didn’t work out as you had envisioned. You have learned, you haven’t failed. To me it is much more important to try than to succeed. By giving something a go, you are much more open to success than if you stand on the sidelines hoping and wondering “what if?” Be open and curious about the things in your life that didn’t go as planned. What can you learn from them? What can you do differently next time? Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – learn and grow with every experience.

Thanks Robyn for sharing your story! Follow Robyn Peel as she works with 20-somethings to help them get clear on who they are, what they want and then to make the conscious choices to bring that dream into reality. You can connect with her on Twitter and Google Plus.

Jen Adrion and Omar Noory On…Celebrating Failure

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Jen Adrion and Omar Noory ImagePhoto: Courtesy of These Are Things

This post is part of the Q&A series, “Artists & Changemakers On…,” where artists, creative entrepreneurs and social change agents share their thoughts on each month’s blog theme. Today I’m thrilled to have the illustration duo Jen Adrion and Omar Noory share their thoughts on celebrating failure.

I first came across the work of Jen Adrion and Omar Noory, the creative duo behind the paper goods and brand illustration studio These Are Things, while at the entrepreneurship conference Pioneer Nation. The two were keynote speakers sharing the evolution of their company, which delivers travel themed art to customers and retailers in all 50 states and over 40 countries. Jen and Omar have grown their business to the point where they work with major brands like AFAR, Airbnb, American Greetings, HOW and Southwest Airlines. Luckily, they didn’t shy away from discussing their growing pains during their talk. Hearing that they had endured stumbling blocks and, dare we say, failures was a breath of fresh air. It was great to know that, despite any setbacks, they continued to fight for their creative dreams and were willing to examine missteps to glean lessons for the future.

Encouraged by Jen and Omar’s story, I immediately thought of them when I decided to devote the blog to failure this month (wait…did that come out right?) I invited them to share their thoughts on failure within the context of their work, and here’s what they had to say.

What role does failure play in your creative work?

J: Failure is an essential part of any work, and I feel like this is especially true for creative endeavors. It’s a natural part of the creative process.

O: If you really are doing anything worthwhile, you’re going to stumble as you’re learning and growing. Failure is such an intrinsic part of our everyday life that we don’t even notice it anymore. It actually feels strange if we aren’t failing because that means we aren’t pushing ourselves or trying anything new.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learned on failure?

J: Everyone fails, whether they choose to share it or not. Everyone. No exceptions. It’s just a natural part of life. All great successes are built on a mountain of failures, so learning to embrace failure is the quickest way to rack up more successes.

Have you ever celebrated one of your failures? What happened and why was that failure a good thing?

J: Very publicly, actually. In 2013, we fulfilled a longtime goal and moved from our home state of Ohio to a beautiful apartment in NYC. It took us years to build up the courage to make the move, and once we finally did, we were so happy. But a few months into the experience, we realized that we were in over our heads. Our business, which was still running out of a warehouse back in Ohio, was running into problems without us there to oversee it. So, we made the difficult decision to bail out of New York after only eight months.

O: The worst part is that we were scheduled to speak at a conference in Cleveland two weeks before we moved back. It was our first big speaking gig as These Are Things. The timing was terrible. Neither of us felt comfortable getting on stage and talking about our “success” when we were in the middle of what felt like a crushing defeat.

J: So, we got on stage in front of a few hundred people and told our story, including all of the many ups and downs we’ve experienced as we built our careers as illustrators. You can watch the talk here. It was a terrifying experience, but today it remains one of the best things we’ve ever done as These Are Things. People really connected with our talk and we left the stage feeling like we’d been honest about our journey.

What do you think keeps people from talking openly about failure?

J: I think it comes down to a fear of being judged. There’s a lot of pressure to make it seem like everything is 100 percent perfect all the time. Especially with social media – who isn’t intimidated by a perfectly curated Instagram feed? When all we see is perfection, it makes us feel like we’re the only ones experiencing failure, which isn’t true at all. If you can change your perspective and view failure as a sign of growth and progress, it becomes much easier to speak freely about your own experiences in a real, authentic way.

What advice on failure would you give other artists & changemakers?

O: Failure is not a permanent place. It’s never as absolute or final as it may seem. While a failure may feel disastrous in the moment, in reality, there aren’t many failures that you can’t walk away from. You learn something and you move on, stronger and smarter than ever.

Thanks Jen and Omar for sharing your story! Get more advice from Jen Adrion and Omar Noory in their new e­book, “Designed To Sell: The Unconventional Guide to Creative Freedom,” which provides a proven step-by-step plan for building your own successful creative business. And be sure to follow These Are Things on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.