Unbalanced

Charles and Josh are co-founders of a boutique creative consultancy, Good Morning. It's tricky to describe what Josh and Charles do, but easy to feel it when you work with them. Easier still when you hear them talk about it in this episode.We talk about how culture is a wave that brands can ride (if they have the know-how), defining yourself versus leaving some parts undefined, and how they've left space for experimentation, fun, and freedom into their consulting business.And yes, we talk about NFTs.HostsZachary BlankNilesh AshraMusicby Joakim Karud 

True to our promise to bring a wider perspective on work and life, today we are joined by Mandy Riggar, a design consultant, entrepreneur, and fellow overwhelmed parent.We talk about a wide range of topics in a fun conversation, with our extremely smart and fun guest.How can you prepare for going out on your own?Do optimists make good entrepreneurs?How should we think about pricing?What's the worst that happens when you create a bad proposal?And, when you're growing a solo-preneur business, how do you know when the business has grown enough? 

This week, Nilesh and Zach welcome Joe Federer to the show.Joe was the of Brand Strategy at Reddit, and recently struck out on his own to start a solo consulting practice. On this episode, we discuss the stuff that really matters in life:Why leave an iconic internet company to do your own thing?Is writing a book as hard as it sounds?What's the best thing about being a solopreneur? And, what's the worst proposal that you ever sent to a client?You can find Joe at https://www.aninternetreference.com/Nilesh Ashra http://pragmaticfuturism.com/Zach Blank https://www.getstraightaway.com/Music as always by Joakim Karud.

After a few months hiatus, Unbalanced is back.Tune in as Zach and Nilesh discuss some changes in Zach's world, a sneak peek at the next episode, and the ongoing saga that is Nilesh trying to remember who wrote the damn music.- Music by Joakim KarudHosts:Nilesh Ashra http://www.pragamticfuturism.comZach Blank https://www.getstraightaway.com/ 

Zach Blank https://zachblank.com/Nilesh Ashra http://nileshashra.com/Music by Joakim Karud

Zach Blank https://zachblank.com/Nilesh Ashra http://nileshashra.com/Music by Joakim Karud https://www.youtube.com/joakimkarud

Zach Blank https://zachblank.com/Nilesh Ashra http://nileshashra.com/Music by Joakim Karud https://www.youtube.com/joakimkarud  

In this episode, Zach and Nilesh intentionally take the devil's advocate position that "jobs are great" – and we argue the various ways we feel that's true. Why are we doing this episode? It's good to check assumptions. And, given it's easy to "sell ourselves" on independence versus looking at independent work V salaried jobs in an objective manner, we figured you'd enjoy a thorough look at the other side.

Nilesh shares his back story – what it was like being a maniac coder in London in the early part of his career, to founding the Lodge at W+K in Portland, and finding the gaps between technology, creativity, independence, risk, and reward.

Nilesh's Book Recommendations in this EpisodeGetting Things Done (David Allen)The Perfect Health Diet (Paul Jaminet, Shou-Ching Jaminet)Music by Joakim Karud http://youtube.com/joakimkarud

We reference a book in this episode that is Nilesh's favorite book on pricing creative services, which is a book that Zach hasn't read but loves because Nilesh talks about it every day.Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns: https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/pricing-creativity/Music by Joakim Karud http://youtube.com/joakimkarud

Origin stories are the best. In this episode we hear how Zach got started as an entrepreneur, coder and independent consultant. All at 16 years old. That not so subtly leads us into what 4 showers a day will get you and how to get 1% better at anything. AND, what 37x better at something looks like.The real meat of this episode comes when one of the guys shares a story of how a client STOLE $5,000 from them, what they did, and what YOU can learn from the disaster.Music by Joakim Karud http://youtube.com/joakimkarud

Zach and Nilesh's introductory podcast episode! We discuss what it's like being independent and bucking the norm of a full time job. The highs, lows, risks and rewards. We discuss how we made the decision to be independent and why. Last but not least, we tell you the dark side of it all and why we started this podcast. We hope you like it!Music by Joakim Karud http://youtube.com/joakimkarud