Seanwes Podcast

There are no two ways around it: selling a product does not come naturally to most of us. In fact, the very idea can feel a little slimy. Isn’t it a little weird to try to convince someone to part with their hard-earned money? Who am I to try to take it out of their pocket? Is this even ethical? In previous episodes we’ve discussed why you as a business owner need to learn to sell—to sell often, and with confidence. But the whole idea can still be uncomfortable. These days, we might feel a backlash against consumerism and materialism, and, even though we practice ethical and responsible ways of creating our work, we can’t shake the feeling that we’re still contributing to a problem. If you create a product, isn’t that just one more “thing” you expect people to burden their lives with? If these sorts of thoughts are leaving you paralyzed, don’t miss this conversation. We’re going to discuss the difference between creating and selling things that the world could do without, and truly valuable products t

While on our first stop of the sabbatical year in San Diego, I got to visit Caleb Wojcik in his home studio. In addition to this episode, we also recorded an episode with me on the Caleb Wojcik Show which publishes today. Caleb is an incredible filmmaker who has worked with clients like Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income and ConvertKit (filming their I Am A Blogger series as well as the Craft + Commerce conference). He also filmed our own seanwes conference. Caleb regularly teaches what he’s learned building a successful six-figure client-services business with his podcast, courses, and YouTube channel. In today’s episode, I ask Caleb what he would do to get his first client if he was starting from scratch. If you’re looking to sell your filmmaking services, this episode is for you. Aside from client services, Caleb is also the inventor of SwitchPod. SwitchPod is a minimal, versatile, handheld tripod for vloggers that raised over $400,000 on Kickstarter. We talk about going from client services to physica

This podcast episode was not planned. While staying in San Diego during my sabbatical, my friend Caleb Wojcik invited me to his house to record a podcast. Caleb lives in Encinitas (about a one-hour train ride from where we were staying in downtown San Diego). Caleb and I recorded two podcasts: one for his show, and another for mine. You’ll see that interview with Caleb on the podcast feed in the next day or two. I was getting ready to take the 3:00pm train back to the city after recording with Caleb, when I received a new message on Instagram from Calvin Rosser: “Hey dude, think I saw you’re in San Diego. I’m in Encinitas (north of San Diego) if you want to get together. Fairly free during the evenings this week. Just working and surfing.” I’d met Calvin once last year at Craft + Commerce conference. We got coffee together the last morning before I went to the airport. Calvin has been a nomadic traveler for many years now. Over coffee last year in Boise, Idaho, he shared stories of his travels, and emph

Everybody knows if you want to be in pictures, move to Hollywood. Want to work in finance? New York, or London. Dreaming of starting the next big tech company? Better move to Silicon Valley—that’s where the money is. And if country music’s your jam, head out to Nashville. Is that really true? Is it only possible to succeed in a handful of cities around the world? Well, of course not. But your location does shape who you are. The things you see and hear every day, the way the people around you behave and what they talk about, the ease of access to what inspires you… it all plays a part in achieving your goals. Today we discuss how your location affects your motivation—the impact where you live has on the opportunities presented to you and your ability to capitalize on them. We’re not here to tell you where to live, but if you’ve been struggling with whether to move or stay where you are, this show will provide some clarity.

Since YouTube launched in 2005, online video has taken over the world. It might be hyperbolic to compare this to the invention of the printing press… but, then again, it might not. Quite simply, video is the medium by which a growing amount of the world’s information is consumed. For a creative person, someone who wants to share their message and their art with the world, creating videos gives you an incredible opportunity. But there’s a problem: For most of us, appearing on camera does not come naturally. Have you tried making videos—or at least thought about it—only to freeze up when that camera lens is pointed at you? Do you find yourself stuck, imagining the endless crowd staring at you, just waiting for you to mess up? Yup, it happens to the best of us. Today we’re talking about how to get comfortable with being on camera.

What does it feel like to move out of your old house but not have a new one to move into? It’s like climbing a staircase and expecting another step. Or as Laci puts it, “Like when you’re forgetting something, but it’s really big and important.” “Like where you’re going to live,” I said. “Exactly,” she replied. We are officially moved out of our house. Our belongings are in storage, and we each have a backpack which contains everything we’ll need for a year. We had some furniture to bring to family, so we rented a truck to drive to Dallas. Near the end of our trip, we pulled the truck over and recorded this podcast to capture our immediate thoughts and feelings on moving out, having no home, and beginning the sabbatical year. We also talk about how it feels to not yet know where we’re going to live after the sabbatical.

We are just a few days away from moving out of our house and officially beginning our sabbatical year. That means I also have only a few days left to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow. I’ll miss that. The nerves are starting to kick in. Are we really doing this?? Well, we booked a storage unit today, and our lease on the house is up soon—oh, and our internet, water, and electricity are all shutting down… so I guess we really are! It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet. Randomly, I’ll feel a little anxious, but I think that makes sense; what we’re doing isn’t exactly normal. I think it’s nervous excitement. Maybe a little restlessness, actually. We originally planned to be out January 1st, so I’ve been itching to go for weeks! My office is taking a lot of work to pack up. It’s just so complicated with all the gear and wiring. I’m also resisting the urge to shove everything into a box like spaghetti. I’m taking my time and trying to organize things neatly so I’ll actually be able to put it back together in 2

Every year, millions of people join a gym. And, every year, somewhere between 2-6 months after joining, millions of people stop going to the gym. And while this is arguably a boon to the people who own gyms, it isn’t good news for those of us seeking a healthier lifestyle. Change—whether it’s a change in your waistline or your net worth—takes time, and it takes effort. It takes both. If you hit the gym today and work out as hard as you can until you collapse… you won’t wake up much healthier tomorrow (quite the opposite). And if you just dutifully pay your gym fees for ten years, you won’t wake up a decade from now and discover yourself an athlete. No. If you want to change something, you’ll have to put in the reps, perhaps for years. How do you know if you’re up for that? How do you get yourself to be up for it? Let’s talk about what it takes to pursue a change for as long as it takes to see results.

I’m excited to announce our official move out date: January 26th! I’m so happy to finally begin our sabbatical year of nomadic world travel, and hopefully get to hang out with you in person. We won’t have a house or car, and we’ve sold a lot of our other possessions as well. Everything we’ll use for the next year will fit in a backpack. While we have some specific places in mind we’d like to visit, we also want to connect with people. I’ll keep you posted on any meetups in a city near you. But beyond meetups, a number of people have reached out to actually offer us a place to stay—which is incredible! The only problem is, I’ve had a hard time keeping track of the various comments and messages from people offering us a place to stay in various cities. So I came up with a solution: If you want to have us stay with you during 2020, you can visit the Host Us page to fill out a form so we know how to get in touch. That way, I’ll know how to reach you if I’m in your city. Laci and I would love to hang out wit

“Stop being such a weirdo.” I’m gonna make a prediction: at some point, probably while at recess, someone said this to you—or they said something very much like it. We are trained from birth to conform with the expectations of others. We are precision-engineered to please those around us. And let’s be clear: there’s enormous value in being able to get along with our fellow human beings! But if what you want out of life is not the same thing as your parents want, as your friends want, as what society keeps telling you you should want… You’re going to have to walk an uncomfortable road. You’re going to have to be… some kind of weirdo. It’s true. If you want something different from what other people get… you have to do things that other people do not—or will not—do. For some of us, this comes more easily than for others. But don’t kid yourself: the odds are stacked against you. Forces within and without will try to convince you to “just be normal”. Just try to fit in. Just go along with everyone else. Sa

In this mini-sabbatical episode, Sean tells the story of how he hired Dan to run seanwes in 2020. Hiring the right person is never easy, but Sean gave himself a huge advantage: he created a community of awesome people. We also discuss what it takes to get an unusual job like Dan’s. The secret isn’t in how you format your résumé, it’s about how well you communicate and connect with others.

In this mini-sabbatical episode, Dan asks a question Sean’s been getting a lot lately: “Will you still do podcasts in 2020?” While the existence of this episode makes it clear that he’s not sitting out the whole year, Sean explains that he’ll be creating content—including podcasts—when he wants to, instead of on any kind of schedule; that’s the secret to a restful sabbatical: freedom from obligation. We also discuss seanwes as a “personality brand”, and what it means for both the podcast and the business as a whole to have Sean McCabe take a step away from center stage. How do you grow a business beyond yourself when the business is so closely associated with… you? Sean talks about the long game mindset, and how he’s willing to accept change and disruption now to build a better and stronger business in the years to come.

Welcome to the first behind-the-scenes look at Sean’s Sabbatical Year! Dan quizzes Sean on his mobile recording setup: now that the seanwes podcast studio is in storage, how will Sean produce content? Does he have to give up on quality? We talk about the lessons Sean learned hauling a 4K camera across Kauai, how the camera you have in your pocket is more than enough, and how you can produce the best work possible using the tools at hand. Look for more bonus sabbatical episodes in your podcast feed soon!

Happy New Year… and New Decade! But, look: In terms of your goals and aspirations, January 1st is much the same as April 17th, or August 22nd. But that’s not how we tick: we put a lot of stock in the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. If nothing else, a “fresh start” is a useful thing. If you didn’t give yourself one a week or a month ago, you might as well do it at the new year. With that in mind—that this is as good a time as any!—let’s talk about how to accomplish whatever it is we want to accomplish in the coming year. The system that will take you in the right direction has three parts: 1. The Target: what we usually think of as a resolution (“I want to run 100 miles every month”). 2. The Strategy: how you’ll hit the target (“I’ll run three times a week in the morning, I’ll count my macros, I’ll change my diet in this way”). 3. The Reason: why you actually want to do all this—the change you want to see in yourself (“I want to be a healthy and athletic person”).

We're doing something a little different for this episode. In the seanwes Community, we do a special live show every Monday morning called Fired Up Mondays. This is our community office hours where members can get live answers to their questions right there on the show. This is just one of the many benefits of seanwes membership; to find out more, go to https://seanwes.com. Fired Up Mondays is members-only, but since Ben and I weren't able to record over the holidays, we're sharing this episode with you. It's a little different in format than the regular seanwes podcast, but I think you'll still find it full of value. Ben and I will be back next week with a great episode called "Setting Your 2020 Goals". In the meantime, enjoy this look inside Fired Up Mondays!

*This episode of the seanwes podcast comes from a call Sean and Dan had while Sean is on his Sabbatical year. We decided this segment was interesting enough to record and edit into an episode of the podcast. Enjoy! Ben and Dan will be back with a regular episode next week.* Sean and Dan discuss a question implicit in the topic of this podcast: Who should, in fact, start a business? And why would they want to? Entrepreneurship gets a lot of press. Starting and running a business is portrayed as more than glamorous: it seems like the only way to escape a lifetime of unsatisfying employment and “live out our dreams”. But what does it really take to succeed at running a business, and withstand the workload and responsibilities required? As a longtime business owner, Sean shares his opinions, and we discuss the benefits of *not* being “Number One” in an enterprise. In the end, the person who succeeds at the challenge of building a business will need to push through resistance. They’ll need to find a passion st

Update: Laci is doing great! She is healthy and feeling much more like herself. Getting treatment has been fantastic. We are absolutely thrilled how well she is doing. This episode was Laci's idea. She wanted to share the experience from her perspective. It's her hope that being vulnerable with her story might help someone else who is struggling. If this is your first time hearing about her struggles with an eating disorder, here's a bit of backstory: My wife's eating disorder almost killed her (as I talked about in a previous episode: https://seanwes.com/456). If you heard the previous episode I shared, you know how bad things had gotten. After starving herself earlier in 2019, her cognitive abilities declined so severely from malnutrition, she was unable to speak a single full sentence. We could not even communicate. I had to take off work for several months to take care of her full time. Later in the year, she was having panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety episodes that would last 6–8 hours

We look forward to it every year… or do we? The holiday season is just about on top of us, and while it can hypothetically be a time for peace, reflection, and family, those qualities are easily overwhelmed by feelings of stress, overcommitment, and inadequacy. Today, Ben and Dan give their best tips for making it through the holidays in one (mental and emotional) piece. A lot of these are perennial seanwes topics, and now is the perfect time of year to talk about them once again. (We also include a great sidebar on holiday travel, where Ben provides his recommendations for the best suitcases to pack your six kids in.) Between managing your commitments and protecting your time and attention, focusing on what’s meaningful and setting yourself up for a great new year, let’s go into 2020 strong. Happy Holidays!

The other day, Sean and Dan had a call. Sure, they could have talked about growing the business, or Sean’s upcoming sabbatical year. But, no. They had to talk about Dan’s lack of progress on his novel. See, Sean had this brilliant id—well. Sean had this… idea. “I want you to write a book called, 'I Tried to Write a Book'.” It’s the story of an aspiring author. A harried, foul-mouthed aspiring author. His name is Dane Jacobson (no relation). Today, Ben and Dan discuss this ambitious project: Is Sean for real? What is this cryptic book really about? And what the heck does any of this have to do with making a living pursuing our creative passions? Tune in to find out.

In Overlap, Sean talks about the importance of the day job to protect your passion: you need to cover all your bills with something that doesn’t rely on your passion so that you don’t compromise out of desperation to make ends meet. Compromise kills passion: do enough of the kind of work you love under circumstances you hate, and one day you’ll realize you don’t have that passion anymore. We’ve talked a lot about the dangers of the wrong day job. A bad job, that drains your energy, that you resent, but you can’t give it up because it keeps you comfortable. But today we want to explore something a little different: what happens when you have a great day job? A job you enjoy doing, with a flexible schedule, working with people you love, making a good living… That’s the ideal situation in which to pursue your passion on the side. Right? In his book, Turning Pro, Stephen Pressfield describes the “Shadow Career” as a calling we pursue because we’re terrified of our true calling: "Are you getting your Ph.D. i