Side Hustler's Perspective with Scotty.D.Russell

Split Focus & Superman Syndrome I feel I’m pretty in touch with my audience at times. I know the majority of my listeners and readers are trying to figure out where to start or how to continue pursuing their creative work. I basically just said it in my intro. The reoccurring pattern from my newsletter shows people like you want to know how to make time to focus on something outside of your da...

A Global Conglomerate Design Studio With a motto  like “Show up until there is nothing left to do,” it's evident that the Forefathers Group aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. They have a distinguished style that peppers both vintage snake oil and Americana with a hefty dose of creative steroids. It's helped them quickly begin to carve out their corner of the design industry while working thou...

Find Comfort in Discomfort The other day I was listening to the  Joe Rogan podcast and he had Jamie Foxx on as a guest.  I’ve always been a fan of Jamie because well…it’s Jamie Foxx. What can’t that dude do? However, what really blew me away was when he shared how he got into music. He used to throw these huge parties for people like P Diddy which led him to linking up with rising artists like Jay...

"Your identity is not in what you do, therefore fail often, fail freely, learn and experiment. And take your successes in each of those failures because there is one."  This is the kind of encouragement Alicja Colon (yes, like the fragrance) brings to the table. Not only is she an epic photographer / paper crafter extraordinaire, but I think her strongest traits come in prioritizing what...

How many times in life have you talked yourself out of something ? How many times has that inner critic convinced you, “ there’s no way you can do that, it’s impossible. ” I spent the majority of my life letting my inner critic drag me down. It’s taken a long time for me to get to the point where I can object and stand up for myself. Why not me ? Why can’t I be a successful artist / designer in my...

This week on the show we have the talented designer, illustrator, speaker and just a kickass friend, Jason Craig. Jason operates out of  Augusta, GA and currently is the Senior Designer for the Westobou Festival in Augusta. He and I go back 3 years as we originally linked up through Instagram and then met each other at Creative South 2015. That year he was a speaker and I was blown away by his sto...

Finding Time to Build For Yourself I don’t want to be the guy who stands on a soapbox giving advice. Rather, I want to be the person who shares what works and what doesn’t work for me as I figure things out on my own creative path. Maybe you’ll find something that you should or shouldn’t apply to your own method of madness. If you’re listening to the show then I’m taking a stab at the fact that yo...

Lincoln Design Co. This week on the show I'm stoked to bring you Lincoln Design Co. I’ve been following these dudes work religiously since I discovered them on Instagram about a year and a half ago. I was lucky enough to meet up with them at Crop Conference and get them on the show with their crazy schedule. Lincoln Design Co is a Brand Design & Creative Agency who works with the likes of Nike...

A Memo From Scotty: 3 Years of Weekly Content Can Lead to Fatigue In 2017 I started the year off the with the motto, "Do Less But Better." Unfortunately, I am human and have been horrible at sticking to this mantra. Over the past 3 years, I've been putting out weekly content like a drawing, blog post or audio. Weekly content is all I know but trying to manage this with: the day job doing...

A Defeated Mindset Makes It Hard to Start Or Stick With It Do you deal with projecting defeat and tell yourself: I want to make money from my talents but don’t know where to start? I don’t know what I’m doing, why start when I won't get anywhere? We all want to be successful but this foreshadowed failure can stop you from even starting or sticking with it. How can you silence that inner critic and...

The Power of No & the Value of Your Time This past April at Creative South, I got to listen to a panel discussion by Marc Hemeon and Joel Beukelman of Design Inc. which links companies and freelancers together. Scratch that, according to Marc, design panels suck so they turned it into a quirky session about 70ish Life and Business Lessons for Designers . What made it even more enjoyable was th...

Give it Time to Grow & Tilt the Scales in Your Favor This week on the show we have a very special guest who just got done hosting an amazing conference called Crop in Baton Rouge . Matt Dawson is a talented designer and connector who creates under the name Stay Gray Ponyboy in Atlanta. He is a shining example of someone who put in the work and used the power of side projects to build a name fo...

See Your Small Wins As Milestones & Give Yourself Some Credit In 2016 I had one of the biggest career shifting experiences…in which I vaguely remember. It was my second time ever public speaking and this time was in front of a packed house at Creative South. I’m talking about 600–800 people. Safe to say I blacked out for the majority of the 45-minute talk as my nerves were at an all-time high....

 The Fastest Path Isn't Always the Best Path Imagine you’re on the highway taking things at your own pace. On your left, you notice one lane seems to be moving faster. Obviously, this intrigues you because who doesn’t want to get to their final destination quicker? As you merge into that left lane, other cars seem to notice the quickened pace as well. Soon many cars swerve into that lane to get ar...

The Beauty of Being a Human Being 4 years ago, my girlfriend (which is my wife now :) ) and I got into a mini argument late one night. It was nothing really, but when I was alone getting my mind off it, I started feeling weird. First, my throat felt like it was swelling shut. Next, I had the overwhelming feeling of having a pallet of bricks on my chest. My heart felt like it was about to explode a...

How a Side Project Transformed into a Global Platform for Creatives Brooke Robinson is an Austin, TX native who fell in love with letterforms. Over the years she has taken that love for letters and type and transformed it into a global type powerhouse Instagram account called Goodtype . Her love of letterforms started after taking a class in college. From there, she began collecting resources arou...

The Powerful Combination of Imagination & Resourcefulness It’s easy to get caught up in thinking you don’t have the best tools, resources and skills at your disposal. It’s even easier to let these “obstacles” hold you back from pursuing or sticking with something that’s important to you. When in reality, it’s rare that someone has the skills or resources right out of the gate. I know I didn’t....

The Do’s & Don’ts of Attending Creative South (From My Perspective) Are you feeling a bit stagnant in your work and desperate to get around like minded creatives? If so, then it’s time you attended a conference like Creative South . Here in a few weeks, April 6-9 to be exact, hundreds of people will invade the tiny downtown Columbus, GA area. When you arrive, there is a buzz in the atmosphere...

Start With a Commitment to Consistency This week I have one of my good friends and role models on the show, Bob Ewing. Bob and I go back a couple years and he’s been someone in the creative community that really shines as an example of one who shows consistency, craftsmanship and is all about building relationships. Currently, he is an Art Director for Element Three , Co-Founder of Inch x Inch , a...

Battle Creative Block and Spend More Creating Creative block is the worst, especially when you forget that great idea you had when driving on the highway. How awesome would it be if you never had a shortage of ideas to draw from so you can spend more time creating? (that’s a drawing pun) I can safely say that I rarely deal with creative block because I collect practically every idea that comes my...

You Can Make Whatever Name You Choose Mean Something Over Time Have you heard of Gary Vaynerchuk , aka Gary Vee before? Chances are you probably have if you’ve been paying attention to the social media / entrepreneur scene. I feel like he is a dude you either love or hate due to his bravado or profanity. One thing is for certain, people know of him because he made his name mean something. As an im...

The preface of this episode stems from some recent free work I was selected to create. I feel this could yield some value to you if you ever get stuck in the same situation. Recently, a local pizza joint, Urban Pie , opened up close to me and they put out a call to local creatives through Facebook. They asked for help in designing their massive chalkboard menu as well as their cornerstone quick ba...

Stay Inspired & Pursue Why You Got Into Art in the First Place This week is a very special episode as I’m doing my first interview on the show with my good friend Eric Friedensohn also know as Efdot . He knows how to stay inspired to create for his personal side projects. Eric is a talented hand lettering artist and designer based out of Brooklyn, New York. He’s worked with the likes of Pat Fl...

You Are Not Alone & You Are Not Invisible Do you ever get in creative funks where you lack the drive to create while feeling invisible to the world? There are those sinister inner voices that try to convince you that your work doesn’t matter and that you can’t make a difference. I’m pretty sure everyone goes through these phases whether they admit it or not. This episode is me admitting this t...

Give it Some Time and Enjoy the Creative Process Along the Way It may feel impossible getting exposure when you’re just starting to pursue your creative path. Believe me, I’ve been there. I spent over 25 years of my life believing that having a successful art career was impossible. As I’ve become more intentional with my side projects and have seen the potential, my mindset has drastically shifted...