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8/04/15

56: Todd Henry – How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur

If you try to create for everybody, you will reach no one.

As an artist, your style, your point of view, your lens is what people come to you for. It’s your voice, it’s what you have to say.

And you have to harness that voice. You have to cultivate it. You have to figure out what it should say. That’s what I’m talking about today with Todd Henry, the founder of Accidental Creative.

Todd is the author of three books, The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, and his new book Louder Than Words, which is coming out next week. On today’s episode, we are talking about all aspects of creativity: the necessity of unnecessary creating, the interdependence of an artist and audience, and how artists push limits.

His company helps creative people build brilliant ideas, and he is an expert in imagination, inspiration, and vision. I can’t wait for you to hear him talk about owning and developing your creativity.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. Let’s go.

We always sacrifice effectiveness on the altar of efficiency.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/56-todd-henry-how-to-push-your-limits-as-an-artist” title=”How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur” artist=”Todd Henry” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/56_ToddHenry_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How he founded the Accidental Creative [4:05]
  • Applying what he learned working with artists to working in the business world [5:15]
  • The difference between pursuing creative careers in your twenties vs. your thirties [7:25]
  • Why fear is normal [9:40]
  • On falling into purpose paralysis [10:55]
  • Why you need to include your stakeholders in the calculations when taking risks [12:30]
  • On separating your work and your worth [13:55]
  • Why you have to continue pushing into dark places every day [16:15]
  • The importance of breaking out of your comfort zone and stretching yourself [17:30]
  • What is unnecessary creating [18:35]
  • How to balance your creative portfolio [22:30]
  • Why you should emulate and experiment when you’re in creative crisis [25:30]
  • Moving past the point of emulation [30:30]
  • How to identify your crisis mode [33:50]
  • The importance of creating common ground with your audience [40:00]
  • Why he doesn’t like the phrase ‘find your voice’ [43:20]
  • The three elements of an effective, resonant voice [45:30]
  • Why you can’t create for everybody [51:30]
  • Meeting your audience where they are and leading them where you want to go [52:15]
  • Why following up success means abandoning the things that made you successful [54:45]
  • How success and developing your voice happens in layers [56:50]
  • On drawing battle lines when it comes to your artistic principles [1:00:00]
  • Why you need a sense of what you’re trying to build [1:02:35]
  • How art is about spending yourself on behalf of something you care deeply about [1:05:10]
  • Inspiration is seeking out the people that inspire and intimidate you and learn from them [1:08:05]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Todd Instagram | Twitter | Website

LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE

CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION

If you try to create for everybody, you will reach no one.

As an artist, your style, your point of view, your lens is what people come to you for. It’s your voice, it’s what you have to say.

And you have to harness that voice. You have to cultivate it. You have to figure out what it should say. That’s what I’m talking about today with Todd Henry, the founder of Accidental Creative.

Todd is the author of three books, The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, and his new book Louder Than Words, which is coming out next week. On today’s episode, we are talking about all aspects of creativity: the necessity of unnecessary creating, the interdependence of an artist and audience, and how artists push limits.

His company helps creative people build brilliant ideas, and he is an expert in imagination, inspiration, and vision. I can’t wait for you to hear him talk about owning and developing your creativity.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. Let’s go.

We always sacrifice effectiveness on the altar of efficiency.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/56-todd-henry-how-to-push-your-limits-as-an-artist” title=”How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur” artist=”Todd Henry” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/56_ToddHenry_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How he founded the Accidental Creative [4:05]
  • Applying what he learned working with artists to working in the business world [5:15]
  • The difference between pursuing creative careers in your twenties vs. your thirties [7:25]
  • Why fear is normal [9:40]
  • On falling into purpose paralysis [10:55]
  • Why you need to include your stakeholders in the calculations when taking risks [12:30]
  • On separating your work and your worth [13:55]
  • Why you have to continue pushing into dark places every day [16:15]
  • The importance of breaking out of your comfort zone and stretching yourself [17:30]
  • What is unnecessary creating [18:35]
  • How to balance your creative portfolio [22:30]
  • Why you should emulate and experiment when you’re in creative crisis [25:30]
  • Moving past the point of emulation [30:30]
  • How to identify your crisis mode [33:50]
  • The importance of creating common ground with your audience [40:00]
  • Why he doesn’t like the phrase ‘find your voice’ [43:20]
  • The three elements of an effective, resonant voice [45:30]
  • Why you can’t create for everybody [51:30]
  • Meeting your audience where they are and leading them where you want to go [52:15]
  • Why following up success means abandoning the things that made you successful [54:45]
  • How success and developing your voice happens in layers [56:50]
  • On drawing battle lines when it comes to your artistic principles [1:00:00]
  • Why you need a sense of what you’re trying to build [1:02:35]
  • How art is about spending yourself on behalf of something you care deeply about [1:05:10]
  • Inspiration is seeking out the people that inspire and intimidate you and learn from them [1:08:05]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Todd Instagram | Twitter | Website

8/04/15

56: Todd Henry – How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur

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If you try to create for everybody, you will reach no one.

As an artist, your style, your point of view, your lens is what people come to you for. It’s your voice, it’s what you have to say.

And you have to harness that voice. You have to cultivate it. You have to figure out what it should say. That’s what I’m talking about today with Todd Henry, the founder of Accidental Creative.

Todd is the author of three books, The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, and his new book Louder Than Words, which is coming out next week. On today’s episode, we are talking about all aspects of creativity: the necessity of unnecessary creating, the interdependence of an artist and audience, and how artists push limits.

His company helps creative people build brilliant ideas, and he is an expert in imagination, inspiration, and vision. I can’t wait for you to hear him talk about owning and developing your creativity.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. Let’s go.

We always sacrifice effectiveness on the altar of efficiency.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/56-todd-henry-how-to-push-your-limits-as-an-artist” title=”How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur” artist=”Todd Henry” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/56_ToddHenry_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How he founded the Accidental Creative [4:05]
  • Applying what he learned working with artists to working in the business world [5:15]
  • The difference between pursuing creative careers in your twenties vs. your thirties [7:25]
  • Why fear is normal [9:40]
  • On falling into purpose paralysis [10:55]
  • Why you need to include your stakeholders in the calculations when taking risks [12:30]
  • On separating your work and your worth [13:55]
  • Why you have to continue pushing into dark places every day [16:15]
  • The importance of breaking out of your comfort zone and stretching yourself [17:30]
  • What is unnecessary creating [18:35]
  • How to balance your creative portfolio [22:30]
  • Why you should emulate and experiment when you’re in creative crisis [25:30]
  • Moving past the point of emulation [30:30]
  • How to identify your crisis mode [33:50]
  • The importance of creating common ground with your audience [40:00]
  • Why he doesn’t like the phrase ‘find your voice’ [43:20]
  • The three elements of an effective, resonant voice [45:30]
  • Why you can’t create for everybody [51:30]
  • Meeting your audience where they are and leading them where you want to go [52:15]
  • Why following up success means abandoning the things that made you successful [54:45]
  • How success and developing your voice happens in layers [56:50]
  • On drawing battle lines when it comes to your artistic principles [1:00:00]
  • Why you need a sense of what you’re trying to build [1:02:35]
  • How art is about spending yourself on behalf of something you care deeply about [1:05:10]
  • Inspiration is seeking out the people that inspire and intimidate you and learn from them [1:08:05]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Todd Instagram | Twitter | Website

8/04/15

56: Todd Henry – How to Develop Your Voice as an Artist & Entrepreneur

When you need a trusted creative partner in the room.

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Emanate is a creative-direction-led photography experience for entrepreneurs, speakers, and thought leaders in a moment of expansion. This isn’t about better photos. It’s about aligning how you’re seen with who you’ve become. For seasons of rebrand, visibility, and next-level leadership.

Magnetic Authority is a self-guided container for people who feel visible, but not fully anchored.

If your message keeps shifting, your brand feels inconsistent, or your presence doesn’t match your capability yet. This is where you build the foundation before you scale.

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For founders, creatives, and leaders who want a trusted long-term partner. This isn’t coaching or traditional consulting.

It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.

Your brand. Your website. Your visuals.
All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.

Explore the Partnership

Quiet. Precise. Highly Selective.

read the latest

A mountain path with fixed edges, the chosen container that makes depth possible

The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.

Out in the field making the day's work, a daily creative practice in motion

A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.

A traveler standing clear of the crowd, one coherent identity the machines can read correctly

AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.

A performer's world stripped to essentials, artistry carrying without production

I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.

Calm Jamaican coastline, a nervous system coming all the way down in creative burnout recovery

You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.

Mountain landscape in New Zealand, one clear thread running through a magnetic personal brand

A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.

Hiking a New Zealand mountain trail, learning at your own pace in midlife

I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.

Photographer walking a snow-capped mountain ridge in New Zealand, the long practice of seeing that develops taste

You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.

Silhouetted figure leaping from a sea cliff at sunset, committing to one coherent personal brand identity

You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.

Nick Onken travel image, Life Intelligence essay on travel as creative input that sharpens the eye

You cannot pour from an empty well. Travel is how I refill mine. Here is why new places are creative input rather than a break from the work, and why output without input runs dry.

Nick Onken portrait, Creative Intelligence essay on the creative act versus performing one

There is a difference between making something and performing the act of making it. Here is what I learned about the creative act, content, and why the resistance is the whole game.

Nick Onken portrait, illustrating that personal brand identity is human-built with AI as the tool on top

AI can generate endless brand content, but it cannot construct the identity underneath it. Here is the real line between what AI can do for your brand and what only you can.

Nick Onken portrait, Life Intelligence essay on nervous system regulation and creative recovery

Burnout is less a willpower problem than a nervous system running with no recovery. Here is what I learned about creative recovery from social media burnout and a reset in Costa Rica.

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. 

NICK'S STORY