Episode 008 Chase Jarvis

Summary

• Chase Jarvis is the cofounder of CreativeLive, an education platform that connects the world's top experts in creative fields with a global audience.
• Chase has spent his whole life as an artist, starting with his career as a photographer.
• He dropped out of medical school and a PhD in Philosophy to pursue his dream of becoming a photographer.
• Chase grew up in Seattle as an only child and was very creative.
• He played soccer and football in high school and college, and found that the punk, skate, and surf culture in Southern California allowed him to reconcile his artist and jock sides.
• Photography was a low barrier way for him to express his creativity.
• Chase Jarvis was gifted his grandfather’s cameras after his death, which gave him permission to explore the world and learn photography.
• He started taking pictures of what he was passionate about, which was extreme sports, and was able to make connections in that community.
• His first sale was licensing an image for $500 and a pair of skis.
• He moved to a ski town to shoot skiing and snowboarding, and increased the stakes by setting his prices.
• He also connected with people all over the world to learn more about photography.
• Chase Jarvis believes that being great at your craft is a requirement for success in any profession.
• He pushed himself to a high level of performance and charged accordingly.
• He took a day to get back to the client to negotiate a higher price point.
• He advises to practice negotiation in low stakes situations.
• He emphasizes the importance of being great at your craft and not skipping that step.
• Summary:
• Chase Jarvis learned the art of negotiation, positioning, and storytelling in order to become successful.
• He believes that talent alone is not enough to be successful and that hard work is necessary.
• He took cues from artists in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s in New York who were “hacking the system” and “zigging when everyone else was zagging.”
• He shared his experiences and created a large following which helped unlock other opportunities.
• He took inspiration from business books, hacker books, and avantgarde artist books to create transformative art.
• Tim Ferriss and Chase Jarvis discuss how to create transformative art
• They discuss the importance of looking outside of one's own industry for inspiration
• Tim Ferriss recommends three books to help with brainstorming: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Blue Ocean Strategy, and Business Model Generation
• Chase Jarvis recommends books such as Steal Like An Artist, Share Your Work, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, and Trust Me I'm Lying
• They discuss how to remix and reuse existing ideas to create something new
• Chase Jarvis talks about his experience photographing top tennis players for a Wilson campaign
• He is also interested in the power of creativity to change the world and is learning from the startup world and angel investing in the creative space
• Chase Jarvis advocates for creativity and believes that creators can make things that can be businesses and nonprofits.
• He believes that the polymath is making a return, with people like Benjamin Franklin being able to become worldclass in multiple areas.
• The factory mentality of specialization is still present in the education system, but with the rise of platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, YouTube, and blogs, it is now possible to become a jackofalltrades.
• Tim Ferriss and Chase Jarvis discuss how it is possible to become good at something quickly if you have the intelligence and diligence to do so.
• Chase Jarvis talks about his journey of transitioning from a solo creator to building a company and delegating, and how intention and inspiration helped him unlock his passions.
• Chase Jarvis believes that having intention and setting goals is important for success.
• Saying no to things that don't ladder up to your goals can be beneficial.
• At the end of the year, look at which clients make up the 20% of your income and focus on finding more like them.
• If a client is a pain in the ass, do a kickass job and then be “indefinitely busy” the next time they call.
• CreativeLive is a platform that broadcasts worldclass people in photography, filmmaking, design, audio engineering, music, the maker movement, crafting, and entrepreneurship.
• It is free to watch while it is being broadcast live, and people can purchase it if they want to own it.
• Chase Jarvis is a CreativeLive CEO and discusses his personal goals, priorities, and resolutions.
• He recommends Charlie Hoehn's book, Play It Away, which encourages people to take time to play and be active.
• He has been going to an athletic trainer and physical therapist to rebuild the small muscles in his shoulders so he can surf again.
• His top priorities for feeling happy and fulfilled are health, sleep, and meditation.
• He recommends practicing meditation for 1520 minutes twice a day and observing thoughts without trying to control them.
• Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a practice that has been adopted by many wellknown people, such as Paul McCartney, Arianna Huffington, David Lynch, Russell Simmons, Howard Stern, and Seinfeld.
• After a few days of practicing TM, one can reach an inflection point where they experience a feeling of calm and ease in decisionmaking.
• After four weeks of TM, Tim Ferriss experienced a drop in his cortisol level, making it easier for him to lose body fat, and he became more sensitive to alcohol and caffeine.
• Chase Jarvis recommends focusing on one's craft and finding the unique mojo that one can bring to it.
• Jarvis also suggests amplifying one's strengths rather than fixing one's weaknesses, and telling a good story to accompany one's work.
• Finally, Jarvis recommends being vulnerable to show strength.
• Tim Ferriss and Chase Jarvis discussed the importance of making good art and referenced a commencement speech by Neil Gaiman.
• Tim Ferriss asked Chase Jarvis to share an embarrassing story from his childhood.
• Chase Jarvis recalled a time when he was at a wedding and dove for the bouquet in front of 250 people.
• Tim Ferriss mentioned that he had previously interviewed Kevin Rose and Josh Waitzkin and that Kelly Starrett would be the next guest.