The Futur podcast is a show that explores the interesting overlap between design, marketing, and business.Our host (and CEO of The Futur), Chris Do, holds candid conversations with inspirational people from the worlds of design, technology, marketing, business, philosophy and personal development.These conversations go deep. With the aim of understanding who these incredible people are, what drives them to do what they do, and what can we—the listener—learn from it all.Visit thefutur.com/podcast for show notes and additional information from each episode.
259 - Scaling Up — with Ayman Al-Abdullah
Ayman Al-Abdullah is the former CEO of AppSumo, and now coaches CEO’s on how to scale their business from seven figures to nine. Graduating as an accounting major during the 2008 recession, Ayman saw a lot of his friends treading the battlefield of the job market. He had always been interested in entrepreneurship, so instead of working for someone else, he decided to begin his own business, but he kept coming up against a revenue wall - A monetary figure he just couldn’t get past. As time went by, he landed at AppSumo, and dedicated himself to breaking that barrier, taking the company from 3 million to 80 million. Now, as a coach, he stays booked up helping fellow CEO’s break through their own financial barriers. In this episode, Chris and Ayman will talk about his 9 Plateau’s that keep CEO’s from pushing their business’s from seven figures to nine. They’ll discuss the phases of a company’s growth, why doing less is one of the key steps to boosting revenue, and why identifying who you want to serve is the game changer your company just might need to shake itself out of its funk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
258 - The ADHD Creative — with Abi Lemon
ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, has been around a long time, but is surprisingly under diagnosed in the many that struggle with its symptoms. It can cause a variety of issues with concentration, finishing work, and following instructions (per the CDC). Those symptoms can then result in a variety of reactions, with one of the most common one’s being low self esteem. Our guest for this episode, Abi Lemon, believes that with self awareness and discipline, people with ADHD can manage the day to day symptoms that can otherwise cause them to burn out. As a coach for ADHD creatives, she helps individuals discover their strengths, and focuses on how to use those as tools to harness their best selves. In this episode, Abi will talk about living with ADHD, from childhood to present, some of the exercises she does to help her get through the things she needs to do with ADHD, and what people with ADHD can do to keep their brain regulated so they can take advantage of who they are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
257 - Expert Advice — with Keir McLaren
Have you ever been curious what it would be like to talk to a business coach? To ask direct questions about the problems you or your business might be having, and get direct answers? Chris has been doing business coaching for years, but before he did, he had a business coach of his own - Keir McLaren. Chris hired Keir a few years into Blind’s existence, because he knew he needed someone to help him see what he wasn’t seeing, and could help him get to where he wanted to go. Unfortunately, we lost Keir last year, and his smile, and laugh, and wisdom is something that is missed every day. Recently, we found an archived conversation with Keir from a group of Clubhouse conversations Chris was holding a few years ago. There’s so much knowledge and wisdom that Keir had to pass on to the people who were in the (virtual) room, and we thought it could be helpful to pass that on, in case anyone listening might find themselves in a similar situation, looking for an answer. Finding a mentor, or a coach, can be one of the best decisions to make for yourself. We hope this episode inspires you, and gives you a little taste of the magic that Keir brought when he was with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
256 - From Good To Great
In everyone’s career there is a moment where you need to make the leap from good to great if you want to keep growing. There’s always a point where everyone wants to level up their brand so they can work on bigger projects, and boost revenue and profit. Working with clients is a skill, just like your art, and in order to make the leap from good to great, you need to have the skills to get from where you are to where you want to go. Some people make that leap quickly, and others struggle with it. If you’re thinking about leveling up, or it’s taking you longer than you’d like, this episode is for you! Mo Ismail, owner of Mocs Media and long time Futur Pro Group member, returns to have a conversation with Chris about the three skills a designer, or really anyone who is dealing with clients, needs to make that leap from good to great. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
255 - Designing A Top Tier Workshop — with Rob Fitzpatrick
Have you ever considered creating a workshop to teach others? Not just a single lecture that you’re going to give once, but a workshop you can teach in different situations, over and over again? Buckle up, because Rob Fitzpatrick, co-author of The Workshop Survival Guide, is here to talk to Chris about the in’s and out’s of designing a great workshop, and why it’s so important to treat it as your product. Rob shares some of the things he did wrong in his early workshop attempts, the iterations that led to his success, and what keeps an audience activated and engaged. This is a meaty, super sized conversation, because Rob has so many pearls of wisdom to share. A smooth running, educational, and engaging workshop is an art form, and this conversation will give you direct and actionable advice to make it look like you’ve been doing this for years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
254 - Storytelling Is A Superpower — with Michael Margolis
Michael Margolis believes that narrative storytelling is the #1 superpower of humanity, and that the three most important, fundamental skills for the future all come from the exercise of storytelling. As the CEO of Storied, a strategic messaging and leadership firm, Michael and his team help leaders and teams stand out through story. But why is story so important? and what makes a great story when it comes to a product or a business? In this episode, Chris and Michael are going to talk about the difference between story and narrative, why disruption should be backed up with data, and why character beats out credentials every time. Beyond just their regular conversation, though, Michael will take Chris through a mock workshop, using Storied’s three step narrative framework. Chris will talk about the Futur’s new project, Brand Lab, and Michael will challenge him to explore different aspects of Brand Lab’s story, so that they can work to find and improve its story. This is a dense and informative conversation, and should give you some things to think about when it comes to developing and refining your own story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
253 - Demystifying LinkedIn — with Nicole Osborne
LinkedIn. The very name conjures a variety of feelings amongst people. Hard to believe, but the social media juggernaut has been around for over two decades, and has over 930 MILLION users worldwide. Needless to say, whether you appreciate it or not, it is a force in the business world, whether you’re looking for a new job, or you’re an HR manager looking for potential recruits, or you’re a CEO looking to connect with people in similar positions, there’s a LOT that can be done on this site. Because it’s not a stereotypical social media site, however, you can’t treat it like any other social site. So, that begs the question - Are you utilizing LinkedIn in a way that is actually beneficial to you? That helps you build your business, or find a better job? Nicole Osborne is a Marketing Coach, mainly working with digital agency owners, who thinks that, more often than not, people aren't fully using LinkedIn for the incredible resource it is. It’s not just a networking site in the vein of Facebook, it is a way for potential clients to find you, get to know you (”date you”, as Nicole puts it), and potentially engage you for work. Chris and Nicole talk about the things that creatives don’t do enough of on the site, what you should try to achieve with your activity on LinkedIn, and why sharing your process is the one thing that can consistently help you connect with people. Nicole shared this quote by George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and it may just be the key to this entire conversation - “When people get to know the people behind your product, and how it’s made, they talk about you more”. Is your LinkedIn profile, or your companies profile, getting people talking? Do they want to know more? If LinkedIn feels like a mystery or a hassle to you, check out this conversation, and let Nicole demystify some of it for you. Have someone you think would be great for the podcast? You can send us a message at podcast@thefutur.com. Emails to any other Futur addresses will be ignored and deleted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
252 - Tactical Analytics— with Amanda Webb
A website is an amazing sales tool. It can tell people who you are, what you do, and act as a sort of virtual handshake to begin a relationship between you and a potential customer. Often times, a website might be someone’s first point of contact with you or your business. So how do you optimize it to boost its ability to convert potential clients? There’s a lot of data that you can pull from a website, but are you using it effectively? Amanda Webb is a Digital Marketing and ROI consultant and trainer, who has mastered the ins and outs of analytics and data, and now uses her knowledge and resources to help others better understand and better utilize the information their site gives them. In this episode, she’ll be talking to Chris about data and how it can be used to improve your business, what kind of steps you can take to improve your website conversion rates, and why a well executed “About” page is so important. You don’t want to just grow your email list, you want to get the right people on it, and Amanda will discuss why analytics tools can provide invaluable insights into the potential of your digital marketing endeavors. So tune in, and let Amanda explain why, in her own words - “Once you start measuring something, you can become obsessed by it”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
251 - Building The AI Chris Do — with Sho Rust
AI has become such a buzz term lately. It was the mainstay of sci fi books and movies, for the longest time, and was something everybody thought of as being far in the future. And then Midjourney happened, and Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT. AI is definitely here, right now, and is growing almost exponentially, every single day. Through all of this, we’ve seen people create magical, non existent worlds, wild characters, and some very… weird stuff with AI like Midjourney. People have used ChatGPT to help them develop, research and write all kinds of projects. But what is the next step? This week’s guest thinks the next step is creating the AI of you. Sho Rust was a former student of Chris at Art Center. Growing up in Japan, he was coding from a young age, so technology was second nature to him. This eventually led him to creating Sho.ai, which creates (in their words) an “AI platform that continuously evolves with your brand, automates tedious tasks, seamlessly allowing experts to scale their story”. Sounds pretty cool, right? And when they had perfected the system, Sho knew exactly who he should try it out on - His old instructor, Chris Do. Thus was born the Do Bot. In this weeks conversation, Chris will talk to Sho about how he got to Sho.ai, how they created the Do Bot, and what both of them have learned in this process. It’s a fascinating conversation that feels like a glimpse into the future. Want to test out the Do Bot? It will be coming soon in The Futur Pro Group. For more info, check out: https://thefutur.com/pro-group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
250 - Have People Lining Up To Do Business With You — with Daniel Priestley
It’s common sense to think “I have a business. I should sell as much of my product to as many people as I can”. So why do companies, like Rolex or Ferrari, make so much money by limiting the amount of product that they sell? Why would anyone throw up road blocks in front of their own potential customers? And why is creating tension in the supply and demand equation a way to get people to want to buy from you? Daniel Priestley returns to talk with Chris about his concept of being “Oversubscribed”. Daniel asserts that many marketers have forgotten the number one rule of marketing - An imbalance in supply and demand sets both the price and the profit of a product. An “oversubscribed” business, then, is simply one that has limited or constrained supply, and there are more people that want that supply than is available. Daniel argues that you can create this tension between supply and demand by creating an official capacity, make sure people know what it is, and understand that it’s in hot demand. But that’s just simple supply and demand, right? Well, yes, but Daniel is going to take you through some of his methods for artificially creating the tension between supply and demand, so that you can get your business to the point of being oversubscribed. He’ll discuss the three ingredients you need to get people to buy, why “signal collecting” is so important, and the five phases of a bullet proof campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
249 - The Power of Listening — with Orly Israel
Orly Israel is a communicator who wanted to improve his conversational skills, and realized the best way to do that was to learn how to listen. His concept to achieve his goal, The Listening Table, is just that - A table that he has set up in various cities across the country, where he sits and listens to anyone who wants to talk. His goal is to create a space where the other person can share whatever they need to, in a zone that is free of advice and free of judgement. Those two things are in plentiful supply in almost any conversation people have today, but Orly found out, very quickly, that those two things aren’t what people need. In fact, advice and judgement must be put aside to be a good listener. So what else makes a good listener? And what has setting up and inviting people to this table, over and over again, taught Orly? In this conversation, Chris and Orly will talk about the life changing power of these conversations, not just for the person speaking, but for the listener, as well. Orly will share the lessons he’s learned after having dozens of conversations, sometimes with friendly people, and sometimes not so friendly people. It’s an adventure that he has embarked on to understand his fellow humans more, and one he thinks all of us could benefit from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
248 - Mastering Negotiation — with Chris Voss
Chris Voss is a former FBI negotiator who is using his decades of knowledge to teach others how to negotiate in both life and business. His book Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It is a Wall Street Journal Best Seller, and Chris is teaching negotiation in classrooms, workshops, and through a popular series on the MasterClass website. In this episode, the two Chris’s (Do and Voss) talk about how negotiation works, whether it’s on a personal level or in sales. Chris Voss discusses the importance of being a straight shooter, why emotional intelligence is such an important part of being able to talk to someone, and the most important question to keep in mind in negotiating with family - Are you negotiating WITH someone, or AGAINST them? They also discuss the power of the “What” question, The Oprah rule, and the power of different tones of voice in negotiation. There’s SO MUCH to understanding negotiation, and while they couldn’t touch on it all, this episode is a fantastic primer led by a master in the subject. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
247 - 5 Core Business Principles, Part 3
In our final discussion on the 5 Core Business Principles, Mo Ismail returns to talk to Chris about Attraction Marketing. In todays world, few people are looking at your social profiles by random chance. They’re looking to see who you are, and what you’ve done. One of the strongest way you can attract potential clients is to use those profiles to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in your area of expertise. That way you’re not just building an audience, you’re building trust. In this episode, Mo and Chris talk about a couple of different approaches to creating content and building value to attract the perfect person into your ecosystem. While you may start your career working in a more transactional way, using your time to create trust and expertise through content creation will help establish your personal brand and create an environment where, as Seth Godin say’s, you can “turn strangers into friends, and friends into customers”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
246 - 5 Core Business Principles, Part 2
In the second part of Chris’s discussion with Mo Ismail on the 5 Core Business Principles, he’ll be talking about The Irresistible Offer, and how to create it. It’s natural to feel like “the work should sell itself”, but competition has risen to a level where you have to start creating a product, or service, that is SO attractive to a potential customer or client, that they want to buy from YOU. So how do you do create The Irresistible Offer? Two ways - Either lower the price, or create more value. Since we all know that none of us wants to lower our price, and doing so comes with its own perils, Chris and Mo are going to spend their time talking about how to raise the value of what you do, so the client will utter those magic words - “Take my money!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
245 - 5 Core Business Principles, Part 1
For much of human history, mankind didn’t have very much in the way of resources. If there was food to eat, we ate it, and we would eat as much as we could, because we didn’t know when our next meal was going to come. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we have an abundance of food and mass produced goods which gives us choice. With this multitude of options, we start to ask ourselves “Why do we choose one over the other?”. Why do people buy? What are the core, psychological elements that get people to choose one brand over the other? In the first episode of a multi part series, Chris is joined by Mo Ismail for a masterclass in the 5 Core Essentials of Business. They’re going to talk about what it means to “decrease the pain, and increase the gain” for a client, so you, as a seller, can provide them a bridge from their current reality to their desired reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices