156: Srinivas Rao – Creating For Your Audience of One

"When you expect nothing, everything comes to you." Welcome back to ONKEN RADIO (previously NION Radio) the podcast where we explore the body, mind, and soul of the creative entrepreneur. It’s my goal to help you take your creativity, business, and life to the next level. I’m so glad you’re joining me on this journey. Today’s guest is a creative entrepreneur who helps organizations and individuals increase productivity by expressing their creativity.  His name is Srinivas, and he’s here today to teach you how to practice your creative art effectively. He believes that producing a high volume of work and being process-oriented are two of the fastest ways to accelerate your progress.  Think about people who have risen to stardom — it isn’t just that one thing they did that put them in the spotlight, it was the years and years of practice and putting themselves out there that created that opportunity.  “We don’t see any of these things because they’re so buried by stardom that you forget that, wait a minute, this person has created a large volume of work probably as an actor, been on thousands of auditions, potentially appeared in hundreds of films that you never see, until suddenly they have this one moment in the spotlight that catapults them. What people don’t see is that everything they had done up until that point was practice and preparation.” – Srinivas Rao I loved the metaphor he used from author Neil Gaiman about creating a large volume of work: that basically it’s like putting lots of messages in bottles out to sea and eventually one comes back or washes up on the shore and reaches the person it was meant to reach.  These are just a few of the many gold nuggets that Srinivas has to offer. We’re about to dive into a ton of knowledge taken from a decades-long career in creating content. Srinivas knows the systems and processes needed to be more creative, and today, he’s going to give us his top process hacks so you can focus on what you’re good at — creating. I know you’re not going to want to miss this, so let’s go! Who Is Srinivas Rao? Srinivas Rao is an Indian-American author, speaker, and entrepreneur who helps creatives become more productive and efficient in their work. His book, The Art of Being Unmistakable is a #1 Amazon bestseller that discusses how to stand out in a world flooded with talent and noise to be unmistakable. In order to do this, you must take risks and cross lines both personal and professional. ​​ (By the way, you can — and should — check out his books as well as his Unmistakable Creative podcast at his website here.) Paradigm Shifts for Creatives Creatives have always had to pivot when new technology has come into the spotlight, and today is no exception. An interesting paradigm shift is happening where artificial intelligence is being used to create things that originally only humans could create before. Resources that used to be in the hands of only huge corporations are quickly moving into the hands of the common person. AI is definitely speeding up the ability for people to do things, but according to Srinivas, creatives don’t have to fear that AI will take over completely.  “It’s not going to replace humans, and it’s not magic. I think we’re headed into one of the most prolific periods in history for people who want to be creative. There’s never been a better time, which is ironic because we have tools that enable us to be more creative than we’ve ever been, but the very tools that have facilitated so much creativity have also inhibited it at the same time.” – Srinivas Rao Another paradigm shift we discussed is the power distribution for media creators. Not long ago, only big radio stations or big broadcast networks had the power to disseminate information, but now anyone can use a platform to share information or have a podcast. It’s only a matter of time, according to Srinivas, that the playing field becomes completely level.