“Make your life a story worth telling.”
Today I’ve got my good friend Adam Braun on the show, and I’m excited because I’ve been able to be a part of his story over the last 5 years of building his charity, Pencils of Promise. I met Adam through a mutual friend, Reid, and after a couple beers, we set off to what has become a synchronous business partnership. As we talk about later in the podcast, one thing I saw in him when we met was a mixture that is rare: a bleeding heart for the cause, and the amazing mind to build a business. He invited me to come to Laos to shoot and build branding imagery for the organization when he had built one school. Now fast forward 5 years and we just got back from Ghana together and celebrated the ground breaking of the 200th school. I feel so grateful to have been able to be a part of the movement.
Adam’s new book called “The Promise of a Pencil” comes out this week. I’m excited about the release as it’s going to be an amazing one about finding your purpose, with 30 lessons and stories on how to do that. Not only is his story great, but if you find yourself in a place where you are searching for your purpose, it will be a great read. Adam really discovered his purpose after he was on the Semester at Sea boat that was hit by a 60 foot wave and they barely made it out alive. Now he sees living life with purpose as the most fulfilling way to live.
I always describe Adam as the guy you talk to for 5 minutes and you want to go change the world. He’s a highly inspiring individual and is on a mission to create a new space at the intersect of the non-profit and for profit space he calls “For Purpose,” which we talk a little bit about in the podcast.
Get pumped to want to get off your butt and change the world!
“The longer time that you spend being content, satisfied, and comfortable, the less exposure you have to self-discovery.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/adam-braun” title=”Adam Braun – How to Find Your Purpose” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/11_AdamBraun_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- The impact of growing up in Connecticut with a fascination for finance and wall street
- What it’s like getting into the hedge fund game at 16 years old
- How working with Bain Capital helped mold his creative entrepreneurship
- How a life threatening Semester At Sea kickstarted a life of purpose
- Why meaning and purpose are core to success and a creative
- How to apply business skills to social enterprise
- The origins of Pencils of Promise
- To turn things we take for granted, like a birthday, and make an opportunity to change the world.
- Why an organization like Pencils of Promise can fuel a creative career even more than commercial shoots.
LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE
CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION
“Make your life a story worth telling.”
Today I’ve got my good friend Adam Braun on the show, and I’m excited because I’ve been able to be a part of his story over the last 5 years of building his charity, Pencils of Promise. I met Adam through a mutual friend, Reid, and after a couple beers, we set off to what has become a synchronous business partnership. As we talk about later in the podcast, one thing I saw in him when we met was a mixture that is rare: a bleeding heart for the cause, and the amazing mind to build a business. He invited me to come to Laos to shoot and build branding imagery for the organization when he had built one school. Now fast forward 5 years and we just got back from Ghana together and celebrated the ground breaking of the 200th school. I feel so grateful to have been able to be a part of the movement.
Adam’s new book called “The Promise of a Pencil” comes out this week. I’m excited about the release as it’s going to be an amazing one about finding your purpose, with 30 lessons and stories on how to do that. Not only is his story great, but if you find yourself in a place where you are searching for your purpose, it will be a great read. Adam really discovered his purpose after he was on the Semester at Sea boat that was hit by a 60 foot wave and they barely made it out alive. Now he sees living life with purpose as the most fulfilling way to live.
I always describe Adam as the guy you talk to for 5 minutes and you want to go change the world. He’s a highly inspiring individual and is on a mission to create a new space at the intersect of the non-profit and for profit space he calls “For Purpose,” which we talk a little bit about in the podcast.
Get pumped to want to get off your butt and change the world!
“The longer time that you spend being content, satisfied, and comfortable, the less exposure you have to self-discovery.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/adam-braun” title=”Adam Braun – How to Find Your Purpose” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/11_AdamBraun_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- The impact of growing up in Connecticut with a fascination for finance and wall street
- What it’s like getting into the hedge fund game at 16 years old
- How working with Bain Capital helped mold his creative entrepreneurship
- How a life threatening Semester At Sea kickstarted a life of purpose
- Why meaning and purpose are core to success and a creative
- How to apply business skills to social enterprise
- The origins of Pencils of Promise
- To turn things we take for granted, like a birthday, and make an opportunity to change the world.
- Why an organization like Pencils of Promise can fuel a creative career even more than commercial shoots.
3/12/14
11: Adam Braun – How to Find Your Purpose
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masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
“Make your life a story worth telling.”
Today I’ve got my good friend Adam Braun on the show, and I’m excited because I’ve been able to be a part of his story over the last 5 years of building his charity, Pencils of Promise. I met Adam through a mutual friend, Reid, and after a couple beers, we set off to what has become a synchronous business partnership. As we talk about later in the podcast, one thing I saw in him when we met was a mixture that is rare: a bleeding heart for the cause, and the amazing mind to build a business. He invited me to come to Laos to shoot and build branding imagery for the organization when he had built one school. Now fast forward 5 years and we just got back from Ghana together and celebrated the ground breaking of the 200th school. I feel so grateful to have been able to be a part of the movement.
Adam’s new book called “The Promise of a Pencil” comes out this week. I’m excited about the release as it’s going to be an amazing one about finding your purpose, with 30 lessons and stories on how to do that. Not only is his story great, but if you find yourself in a place where you are searching for your purpose, it will be a great read. Adam really discovered his purpose after he was on the Semester at Sea boat that was hit by a 60 foot wave and they barely made it out alive. Now he sees living life with purpose as the most fulfilling way to live.
I always describe Adam as the guy you talk to for 5 minutes and you want to go change the world. He’s a highly inspiring individual and is on a mission to create a new space at the intersect of the non-profit and for profit space he calls “For Purpose,” which we talk a little bit about in the podcast.
Get pumped to want to get off your butt and change the world!
“The longer time that you spend being content, satisfied, and comfortable, the less exposure you have to self-discovery.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/adam-braun” title=”Adam Braun – How to Find Your Purpose” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/11_AdamBraun_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- The impact of growing up in Connecticut with a fascination for finance and wall street
- What it’s like getting into the hedge fund game at 16 years old
- How working with Bain Capital helped mold his creative entrepreneurship
- How a life threatening Semester At Sea kickstarted a life of purpose
- Why meaning and purpose are core to success and a creative
- How to apply business skills to social enterprise
- The origins of Pencils of Promise
- To turn things we take for granted, like a birthday, and make an opportunity to change the world.
- Why an organization like Pencils of Promise can fuel a creative career even more than commercial shoots.
3/12/14
11: Adam Braun – How to Find Your Purpose
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Most personal brand strategy frameworks skip the foundation. Brand intelligence is built in four layers: Identity, Visual Translation, Content, and Business. Here’s why starting at layer three is the reason your brand feels off.
Your personal brand feels off but you can’t explain why. It’s not your logo or colors. It’s a coherence problem, a structural gap between who you are and how you’re seen. Here’s what to do.
Authority isn’t binary. You’re not either an authority or not an authority. Authority exists in levels, stages, and progressions. Each level has distinct characteristics, distinct positioning, distinct challenges, and distinct requirements for advancement. Most people get stuck at Level One. They’re visible, active, creating content, showing up regularly. But they’re not building actual authority. They’re […]
About the Blogger
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
