Side Hustler's Perspective with Scotty.D.Russell

Recently, I listened to a Lewis Howes' School of Greatness episode (695) called Your Thoughts Will Heal or Kill You with Marissa Peer. A few main themes of the show triggered some areas of conflict I had been wrestling with personally in my life. I loved it so much I had to listen a second time, so I could take notes and channel my thoughts into an episode. I know these are things you deal with as...

It’s good to have a plan in life, especially with your creative pursuits...yet things don't always go according to plan. You've learned by now that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. You have to deal with the darkness and tornados that will throw you off course. For my wife and me, 2018's motto has been strictly about "Rolling With Life's Punches." Throughout her pregnancy and our...

Today we dive into Part 3 of the 3 Life Lessons Learned From Pizza Series. Life Lesson #3 is all about Learning to Love the Crust. To know the crust is to love the crust. It's those rough patches in your life when you feel lost, depressed, and insignificant—like you have nothing to offer this world. You want to ignore these moments in life and sweep the crumbs under the rug, but it's important to...

Today we dive into Part 2 of the 3 Life Lessons Learned From Pizza Series. Life Lesson #2 is a reminder to Take Life One Slice at a Time First, I share with you my story of hitting rock bottom on my way to overcoming adversity and starting Perspective-Collective. Next, I give you 3 ways to equip you with the long-term mindset to pursue your creative career and the adversity that comes with it. Get...

Life Lesson #1 - You're Not Pizza Today we embark on a 3 part episodic adventure of 3 Life Lessons Learned from Loving Pizza. Starting off with Life Lesson #1 (Part 1) - Understanding You're Not Pizza. First, we dive deep into the makings of a people pleaser and how this mentality crippled my creativity and quality of living. Next, I give you 3 ways to overcome this mindset to help you get comfort...

The Formula - No Time to Pump the Brakes & Feel Sorry for Yourself This week we're doing something different as I'm always looking to shake things up and bring you value. Since my son was recently born, I took last week and this week off from the podcast. I desperately needed to recharge. More importantly, I needed to find my groove in molding myself to be a kick-ass dad and baby raising partn...

Active Brain, Inactive Body If you’re like me, it’s hard to turn off the switch and unplug from your creative realm. There’s always one more thing that you could get done or a new idea that needs to be flushed out. We get so wrapped up in work that we often neglect other important areas of our life...you know, like our health and well being? As you know, many creatives live a sedentary lifestyle....

The Scotty Russell Special Summary of The Alchemist First off, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is by far my favorite book and has massively impacted my creative side quest. After reading it with my ears for the millionth time, I felt compelled to give you the Scotty Russell Special Summary. To start off, there's a young boy named Santiago who loves to travel and desires to be in control of his life....

Bricks vs. Sponges More often than not, you come across forks in the road where you have to decide to settle or push yourself to the next level. Maybe you think you have it all figured out and that good is good enough. Maybe you know you haven’t scratched the surface of your potential, and there’s no ceiling to what you can accomplish. You see, we face these forks all the time: in the gym, in the...

Attack Fear With Unlimited Lives Once upon a time, your boy grew up as a pretty hardcore gamer. As a young lad in the early 90's, I remember watching my two older sisters throw down on Super Mario on the Nintendo. Safe to say, I was captivated yet terrified of Bowser and his minions. As I got older, I became borderline-obsessed with all the gaming systems and games like Mario Kart, ShaqFu, Final F...

Breaking Out of Your Funk Some days, it feels like you can’t catch a break. This funk can drag on— days become weeks, weeks become months, and months become years. Believe me, I know what it's like to play the victim and feel like the universe is conspiring against you. I know it well... and it sucks. However, something I continue to preach on this show is this: everything boils down to your minds...

Understanding Your Value and Monetizing Your Craft Maybe this is something you can relate to. Over the years, you've busted your ass behind the scenes to build a name for yourself. You've lost track of all the countless hours you poured into your craft as you strive for that "10,000-hour mastery." You've invested  boatloads  of money into school, books, online courses, workshops, and con...

Facing Forks in the Road Let’s start today off with a little bit of tough love. We all have dreams and wish they could manifest as quickly as it takes to put leftover pizza in the microwave, and _v__oilà!, _you have the best lunch in all the land. Unfortunately, we live in this microwave society, and it’s easy lose sight of the long game—and the slow and steady grind that goes with it. However, wi...

Give Yourself Permission to Be Curious While we were preparing the mural to go in Little Dougy Fresh’s room, my wife brought up this quote by Ursula K. Le Guin: “The creative adult is the child who survived.” I’ve heard it before, but this time, it  really  got me thinking. Kids pour out their ideas with crayons onto paper—and sometimes walls—without ever second-guessing it. They have no agenda.  ...

Balancing Life with Your Vision with Nick Sambrato of Mama's Sauce I’ve learned, over the years, that sometimes being obsessive over something is a good thing. It allows you to have tunnel vision and focus extraordinary effort in one direction. Obsessiveness with your goal or dream can radically transform your mindset and life—possibly for the better. On the flip side, being obsessed with too many...

Adam Grason: Responding to Adversity While Not Being a Dick From the outside looking in, we tend to think the rockstar creatives we look up to are living a perfectly curated life through the social media lens. However, when you peel back the curtain, things aren’t always what they seem. We all deal with adversity whether you see it or not. At the end of the day, it’s about how you respond. Are you...

Reframing the Lens with Propaganda Sometimes, we get so stuck in our way of thinking because of what’s been force-fed to us. Often we must unlearn what we’ve been taught and reteach ourselves to see things from different perspectives. Perspective is key. When you reframe the lens you look through, you can better deal with issues in both your creative and daily life. Simply visualizing yourself in...

Show Your Weird & Banish the Vampire Trend Suckers A wise philosopher once said, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."  This wise soul was Dr. Seuss. We live in a society where you are brainwashed to feel like you're missing out if you aren't jockin' the latest trend. Sorry bruh, but you're doing it wrong if you don't have the fres...

The Peaks & Valleys of Nick Misani How many times have you put yourself in a position to land an opportunity only to be rejected? That shit  hurts  doesn’t it? It not only leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, but it also makes you reluctant to get back on the saddle and try again (I’m not a country fan but always wanted to say that). That’s the curse of being a creative. You’ll always face adv...

Play, Fuck Up & Experiment I pursue this podcast because I love it. I pursue drawing and creating because I love it. Being a creative, you got into this whole mess because you tried it, you loved it and you figured it out along the way. Sometimes along the way you forget why you loved it and you can steer of course for a season or even a few years. I’ve been there as it’s also easy to get wrap...

Diane Gibbs: A Champion for Creatives Somedays you just lack the spark. You know, that feeling or reason that gets you stoked to jump out of bed and work on shit that lights your soul on fire. Often it’s hard to see the gold we have buried within us. The inner critic blinds us from catching a glimpse of our potential. Sometimes having an outside voice of reason can help break through that wall and...

Going the Extra Mile to Catch Your Breakthrough with Matt Vergotis Let’s get real for a second… We live in a digital age where human zombies are glued to their screens and expect instant stardom after hitting publish. When overnight success isn’t unlocked, It’s easier to quit and hop on board the next trend that may help them strike gold. One of the harder lessons I’ve learned in life is that ther...

Elevate Your Instagram Lettering, Build an Audience & Attract Work NOTE:  Read the full blog post on Lettering-Daily.com . The following is just an overview. Hopefully, you know by now that I’m all about experimenting and pushing things to the next level. I realize many people in my audience are focused on lettering as  they found me on Instagram . However, I know the majority of my audience w...

Making Shareworthy Work That Lights up Your Soul Do you struggle creating and promoting work that puts a pep in your step? Do you want to learn how to create an engaging side project that people can’t resist sharing? I get it, this shit can be difficult and stressful. It’s easy to overthink and take the path that you THINK people want to see. However, creating to please others is a slippery slope...

The Dynamic Duo That is Super Team Deluxe Our past experiences have the ability to positively or negatively impact and shape the future versions of ourselves. So many times we let the bad things we’ve done or the things we don’t like in life define us. In reality, we should push our story forward by using those experiences as a guide to strive to do the best and to be the best we can. As creatives...