How Recipe Writing Teaches You to Be More Creative

In Chapter 10 of 16 in her 2012 interview, author and food writer Cathy Erway answers "How Has Recipe Writing Taught You to Be More Creative?"  Erway notes the two aspects of the recipe writing process - experimenting and testing the recipe and then meticulously writing out the recipe.  She finds the former, the testing, pushes her to experiment and iterate on what she has tasted before. 

Cathy Erway is an author and food writer living in Brooklyn.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How has recipe writing taught you to be more creative?

Cathy Erway:  Ooh. The ingredients are kind of like my paint, and the pan is my canvas, so recipe writing, I guess there's two facets of it. It's actually doing the recipe with ingredients and tools and so forth, but having to go back and write it is actually much, much less creative. It's actually kind of a pain to make it because you want it to be as accurate as possible, and sometimes you did things in the moment that you might forget, and it just takes a long time.

So, I mean, I guess if we're talking about the former, which is recipe writing as you're doing it, yes, it absolutely is a great outlet for creativity, and it teaches me to be more creative because I'm always--like my palate is constantly wanting something different, so I have to come up with something different.

So it's a good natural way to be forced into being a little more creative or doing something a little more differently because I don't want to have the same thing that I’ve had before.

How to Convince Clients to Try New Creative Ideas - Doug Jaeger

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2012 interview, entrepreneur Doug Jaeger answers "How Do You Create Hope and Dispel Fear When Introducing New Concepts and Ideas?"  Jaeger makes it a point to create a comparable to ease resistance and help the audience better connect with the idea.  This complements industry experience and establishing a business build upon independence, experimentation, and flexibility.  Doug Jaeger is the co-founder of JaegerSloan, a multimedia design services firm in New York City.  His street front office doubles as the JS55 Gallery. Jaeger is also an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).  He graduated from Syracuse University.

How News Reporter Becomes Better Storyteller - Yoav Gonen

In Chapter 2 of 11 in his 2011 interview, education reporter Yoav Gonen answers "How Are You Challenging Yourself to Improve as a News Reporter?"  After five years on the education news reporting brief, Gonen notes how he is looking for new ways to tell stories to build creative skills and satisfy his editors and readers.  Yoav Gonen is the education reporter for the New York Post newspaper in New York City.  He earned a Masters of Journalism degree from New York University and a BA in English from the University of Michigan.

How to Develop a Writing Voice in Newspaper Reporting - Yoav Gonen

In Chapter 11 of 11 in his 2011 interview, education reporter Yoav Gonen answers "How Are You Developing Your Voice as a Writer?"  Gonen shares how he is looking for longer form writing exercises to complement his short form style at the New York Post.  He frames his writing and writing aspiration by thinking how it compares and contrasts with the styles of Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Yoav Gonen is the education reporter for the New York Post newspaper in New York City.  He earned a Masters of Journalism degree from New York University and a BA in English from the University of Michigan.

Learning Creativity by Writing Recipes - Julie Hession

In Chapter 11 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Has Recipe Writing Teaches You to Be More Creative?"  In addition to her granola company, Hession has a recipe blog, "Peanut Butter and Julie", and regularly competes in recipe contests.  She shares the importance of investing time in clearly crafting an easy to understand recipe.  The process teaches Hession invest time researching recipes and teaching others how to make them.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV.

When to Stop Trying New Things and Commit to a Project - Julie Hession

In Chapter 13 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Do You Balance Experimentation and Commitment in the Projects You Pursue?"  Hession, who owns a Julie Anne's Granola Company, learns to find balance between growing existing initiatives and starting new ones.  She finds outside projects - reality show submissions, cooking contests, a recipe blog - a good way to push herself creatively without shifting from her core business focus. Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

How Recipe Competitions Build Creative Confidence - Julie Hession

In Chapter 18 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Has Winning Food Competitions Given You the Confidence to Dream Bigger?"  Hession shares how competing in, and progressively winning, recipe and cooking competitions taps into her competitive spirit.  The process boosts her self-confidence and brings out her passion for marketing.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

How to Use Customer Feedback to Improve Product - Julie Hession

In Chapter 20 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "What Tools and Processes Do You Find Most Useful in Measuring Business Performance?"  Hession relies on customer feedback to evolve her product marketing.  By doing in-store sampling demos of her granola, she gathers feedback on product positioning and quality.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

Jullien Gordon on How to Take Action on an Inspiring Moment

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What is Your Process for Designing Career Learning Products and Programs?"  Gordon goes into detail on how he takes action on inspiring moments and creates learning products and expeirences that help others.  Gordon shares the step-by-step evolution of that idea and how he packages the idea and delivers it to an audience.  From this, Gordon, develops an annual framework that allows him to continuously turn new ideas into learning and career education products.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What is your process for designing career-learning products and programs?

Jullien Gordon: The first process is for inspiration.  For instance, the Route 66 tour started out of being inspired by a statistic from the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2009, that only 20% of college grads had jobs on hand at graduation and I had two little brothers who had been through college and that was inspiration.  I was just like, you know what I have to do something about this, this is a huge problem. 

From there I wrote a blog entry called 66 things to do before you graduate then I tried to share that blog entry with as many people as possible so I reached out in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars who I was a member of during undergrad and all I originally wanted them to do was send it out to their membership. When they saw it, they invited me in to come share it as a presentation.  They loved the presentation and we formed a partnership and that became a tour.  So that’s kind of been processes starting with being fully inspired and committed to solving a particular specific problem, from there packaging it or creating some sort of comprehensive way of delivering it. For this instance we chose a book and a presentation and a tour and then from there just going and doing the work. 

So I noticed that I have this rhythm in my life that has been occurring for the past three years, which is in the summer is like my down time when I’m actually in creation mode.  That’s when The Innerview was produced, that’s when 8 Cylinders of Success was produce, Good Excuse Goals, Route 66, those were all produced in this summer type area and then I go out in the fall and I try to test them.  I test them in small places at first and then to see if they work in those test markets and once I get proof that they work then I commit the rest of the next year to actually expanding them and spreading them as widely as possible. 

So I have this rhythm in my life of this creation phase like in June, July, August, this experiment phase towards the end of the year and then this execution phase from January to June of the next year.  So that’s kind of been my cycle and my rhythm of creating the products that I’ve created.

Jullien Gordon on How Self Publishing Helps Personal Brand Marketing

In Chapter 16 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What has the Self Publishing Process Taught You About Personal Brand Marketing?"  Gordon finds self-publishing books - five to date - an excellent way to distribute products and build his personal brand.  He notes the importance of understanding alternative distribution options and how commitment to a goal opens doors to new opportunities.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What has the self-publishing process taught you about personal brand marketing?

Jullien Gordon:  Especially in this kind of economy and when you look at the music industry and self-publishing industry I think you actually want to demonstrate that you can create value on your own first before you go to a big person, a big player in the game.  So I wasn’t gonna let a publisher or wait for a publisher to give me permission to write my own books.  That would be stupid. That would be ridiculous. 

So I’ve been able to distribute over 10,000 copies of my books on my own and now if I was to approach a publisher I would have a different stake in the negotiation, more leverage in the negotiation but even then some publishers have approached me and the margins that they’re trying to give me off of my own products despite their wide distribution just hasn’t made financial sense and so it’s been very powerful to do something independently.

If I could find the right distribution partner, then I’m open to it because that means more impact, and more spread of these messages and ideas, right?  TED is an example of a distributor, they’re not a distributor but they are creating a platform for me to distribute some of my ideas through TEDx, etcetera.  So I love partnerships but the partnerships have to also make sense.  So I think what attracts people is when you’re already in motion on yourself – on your own.  You’re already making progress on your own, not I’m at a standstill I have this idea, will you come support me.

People like to support things that are already in motion. So when it comes to personal branding and getting your products out there, you want to get things in motion as fast as possible using your own resources and we have hidden resources all around us that we don’t acknowledge.  Your friends, your parent’s friends, your parents, organizations right around the corner from you, if you just really are committed to getting it out there as far as you possibly can on your own, when you tap out that’s when I’ve noticed that other relationships have emerged to expand your ideas even further.

How Children Inspire Parents - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 4 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ramsey Pryor answers "How Do Your Children Inspire You?"  Pryor finds inspiration in children's honesty and transparency.  He also finds inspiration experimenting with different ways to raise the kids, learning from these decisions along the way.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University. 

How Social Media Transforms Standup Comedy Career - Matt Ruby

In Chapter 7 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "Where Has Using Social Media Been Most Valuable in Your Work as a Standup Comedian?"  Ruby finds social media useful making his art less temporal and more lasting.  Moreover, engaging social media helps Ruby connect with fans, creating a recognizable point of view, and testing new ideas. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University.

Matt Ruby on What Entrepreneurs and Standup Comedians Have in Common

In Chapter 9 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Do Entrepreneurs and Standup Comedians Have in Common?"  He shares how he gets connected to Peter Sims, author of "Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries."  Ruby finds parallels between entrepreneur and standup life in the idea or product testing and editing through the feedback process. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

How Musician Develops Artistic Style - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 10 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, musician and Takka Takka drummer Conrad Doucette answers "As a Musician, How Have You Grown into Having Your Own Artistic Style?"  Noting how the experience differs from artist to artist, Doucette defines it as getting to a point where he understands how to play with a group of people.  Writing music with this band, Takka Takka, Doucette alters his drum routine, experimenting with back beat sounds and rhythms, putting in the preparation that ultimately becomes useful in recording sessions.  Doucette is the drummer for the Brooklyn-based band Takka Takka.  He also performs with The National, Okkervil River, and Alina Simone.  When not performing, Doucette works as a copywriter, blogger, and digital media producer.  He has worked at Blender, Fuse TV, and Heavy.com.  Doucette earned his BA in History from the University of Michigan.

How to Assess Business Network Relationship Strength - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 15 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "How Do You Balance Statistical Modeling and Interviewing to Better Understand and Deconstruct Relationships?" Hallen does both because each has its strength. Interviewing provides rich insight that is often unexpected. Statistical analysis - quantitative or empirical analysis - offers the ability to look at large patterns and draw conclusions between inputs and associated outcomes. He applies these approaches in understanding how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists form relationships. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.

Stacie Bloom on Using Trial Jobs to Explore Science Career Options

In Chapter 7 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Did You Find Most Challenging About Teaching College Biology at Bard College?" Teaching biology at Bard College while doing her post doc work at Rockefeller University, she finds it easy to connect with college students. She uses the opportunity to explore career options and find out if teaching is a good fit. Teaching one college class helps Grossman Bloom rule out that as a career option and she continues using the exploration and trial approach in other pursuits, including a role at Nature Medicine. Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What did you find most challenging about teaching a biology class at Bard College?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: College students.

Erik Michielsen: How did you connect with them?

Stacie: As a post doc it wasn’t that hard to connect with a college student. I still felt like that was kinda my life. I was making no money. I was in jeans and sneakers all the time. I felt like a kid still and I felt like a student still. I think they probably looked at me very differently.

At the time I was trying to explore career options for myself. I thought, “maybe I’d like to be a college professor.” And that was a way for me to rule it out.

But it was a great opportunity to see if that was a good fit for me.

Erik Michielsen: What did you learn about yourself through the experience?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I learned that for me, it was important for me to do trial runs of things before I went full-fledged into them. When I started at Nature and left the lab, I was doing it just two days a week as an intern. That’s what really was a good way for me to see, to test the waters. And, same thing with teaching. So, take on one class at a college, try it out, see if I like it. I didn’t like it, so I didn’t do it.

How Manufacturer Innovates eCommerce Operations - Richard Moross

In Chapter 13 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "What Have You Found to Be the Key Drivers to Scale eCommerce Business Operations?" Moross notes the company has scale printing capability at the technology level, working with Hewlett-Packard and its Indigo platform. Moreover, given its simple product designs, manufacturing operations processes would remain simple. Where the company had to overcome challenges was in inventory management and packaging design. This becomes progressively critical as the busienss grows. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How Parents Encourage Child's Creative Development - Chris Hinkle

In Chapter 2 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, product designer and software engineer Chris Hinkle shares how his parents have allowed him to develop as a creative. Hinkle challenges authority early and through his journey, his parents, classically trained musicians, support his decisions, including dropping out of high school as a freshman. They allow Hinkle to make his own choices, including helping him move to Florida to live with artists. This allows Hinkle not only to become more creative but also more confident and independent. Hinkle currently designs products and develops software for The Barbarian Group digital marketing services company. Previously, he worked at HUGE and R/GA digital advertising agencies. He has also founded a product incubation laboratory, The Hinkle Way.