What would that kid say?

If you could meet the 12-year old version of yourself…

Would that kid be proud?

This probably isn’t something you think about often. It can be uncomfortable. The 12-year old version of yourself was probably too busy arm deep-arming the cookie jar, playing Minecraft (sorry Gen X), or just doing kid things do even care. And that’s normal.

Now, meet Matt Vojacek- owner of Made By Things Motion Studio in Columbus, Ohio- someone who regularly asks himself this hypothetical.

It’s a powerful reframe. Someone who leads their life by the moral compass of a 12-year old may sound irresponsible (especially being a studio owner with 28+ employees) but it has proven to be a success. Matt is someone who has retained much of the childlike joy for creativity as his much younger self, and has built a business off of doing the same for others.

How do we keep this childlike creativity, whilst also paying the bills and making a living? Is it even possible to navigate this parallel?

The answer is yes, but there’s a few things you should know. I’ve looked up to Matt for a long time- listening to his podcast appropriately named “The CMD-Z Show” where he discusses the creative journey and serves as an audio diary for Matt and Shelby at MBT. So far, it has also served as a soundtrack of wisdom in MMG Design’s first year of business.

Here’s some of the biggest takeaways and actionable insights from Matt’s objectively successful creative career so far:

house money mindset

"To me, once I got that first creative job, I had already won. I was already making money creatively. Anything else I do in this life is kind of a bonus."

There’s a popular fallacy in marketing called the “House Money” paradox (revealed in Rolf Dobelli’s book “The Art of Thinking Cearly”) where people are more likely to spend more money if they view their available budget as “bonus” from what they feel they deserve. We see this often when we justify irrational purchases. Sounds something like this:

“Oh, since I just saved 300 dollars on my Nintendo switch, that’s 300 free dollars I can spend towards getting it in custom gold plating!”

Yep. That's exactly how it works.

In finances, this can be quite problematic. But from a career perspective, it proves to be invaluable.

Following this same logic, Matt spends more of his “life” money because what was expected from him didn’t far exceed working in a factory. Having all these experiences- from moving across the country, to the struggles of building a studio, become that much more enriching.

Now, as a studio owner, he has the opportunity to make this dream of being a creative come true his own team. Full-circle.

the best way to learn

"People probably hated this. But once or twice every hour, I would get up and get a glass of water. and I would talk to someone every time. I would also just it beside the most talented people in my class, and those people became some of my best friends."

After Matt told me this, I conducted a bit of a social experiment.

I forced myself to talk to a new person at work every hour. Every day. For a week.

Now this may not sound difficult. For some people, it may be easier than others. If you’re anything like me (introverted, awkward, would rather drink ghost pepper juice than have uncomfortable conversations, etc) it gets difficult very fast. To keep myself accountable, I would journal down each person I talked to each hour.

After just a day of this, I was committed. After a week, I was sold. I just felt… happier. Meeting new people isn’t actually that hard when you realize that everyone is feeing a lot of the same anxieties you are. Awkwardness is a feature of the human species… not a bug. Learn to embrace it and it becomes a superpower for learning and growing.

And it also gets easier, I promise.

(lack of) internal dialogue

"Yes, I don’t have any internal dialogue. But I still think. I think my thinking is just a lot more visual, so that’s why the journal definitely helps. For me, slowng things down means writing about it."

Matt’s been journaling almost every day since 2017. The key to not being overwhelmed by all of these buns in the fire (Studio, Family, Finances, employees, social media) is to just not think about them all at once.

Matt also has a very non-traditional approach to journaling. Hint: it involves color-coding.

Red- to-do list

blue- things that have happened that day

Black- what Matt’s thinking about that day

Green- what Matt is feeling that day

Here is a snippet from my personal journal, trying out a few things with colors and also taking notes from my conversation with Matt.

how to approach new ideas

"There is a process… I’ll write it down in my journal. And I’ll keep thinking about it. If this is something that sticks with me a few weeks later, I’ll keep writing about it. Eventually, if it sticks, I’ll end up having a full business plan written down. You’ll see with different ideas, if there’s energy there."

There’s definitely a balance between ‘shiny object syndrome’ (chasing every idea and running in a circle) and perfectionism. Leaning too far on either side of this has destroyed many creative careers.

Matt juggles a lot of different pursuits. He owns a creative studio. He launched a children’s book called “Creative little Monsters”. He has a podcast. He started an annual conference called “Making Midwest.” That’s a lot of little ideas that started small, but evolved into greater commitments and investments over time.

Lots of creatives are similar. With so many ideas, how do we choose which to commit our limited time and energy budget towards?

There’s a funny example of this dilemma illustrated by a story you may have heard. A chicken and a pig are coming up with menu items for their new restaurant. The chicken suggests “How about Ham and Eggs?” The pig responds, “I don’t like that idea. You’d only be involved… but I would be committed.”

In this example (bear with me) Matt Vojacek is a chicken and not a pig- meaning he is spontaneous, and he also produces many ideas, but he does not commit to them to the point of no return. His endeavors are contributions, and worthwhile ones at that, but they do no come at his own demise, or become a hill for him to die on.

writing your own story

[My life is like] I’m writing this book… about how to run a creative business. Some days I notice a page is missing, and I have to add it in there.

Matt uses Notion as the metaphorical “binding” for this book. Since Matt old me this, I’ve started to think of each day as another page in the story of my story of building a creative business. It adds a helpful layer of context, and adds a forcing function to try and make the “page” as meaningful as possible and lead to the ending of the story you want to tell.

Notion is what I used to built the Business Owner’s Essential Reading Checklist, and I can’t recommend it enough for getting your creative life in order. You can start Notion by downloading that checklist for free and getting started on your reading habit for 2024.

As you go about your day, examine your actions. What page are you writing in your book of life?

habits for creative success

persistence

Matt had to apply to many jobs- including those not even in the creative industry- oater graduating until he finally got to his first one. this "proved the concept" for him, showing him that making money creatively was indeed possible for his life story.

practicing forms of discipline

Matt has run 2-3 times per week for years. You don't have to go all in; counting calories, periodizing training, etc. But you do have to practice discipline if you want to get the most out of this life.

weekly reflection

Every Saturday morning (Matt's wife knows the routine) he sits with his journal and does some sort of refection on the business and his life to make sure he absorbs everything going on in his life. This is certainly a high value habit and one I plan to implement, as least periodically, headed into 2024.

A final word- family.

"My family has always been one of my best muses in terms of the ideas I have, and the stories I want to tell. Just like in business, priorities change, but the main priority always leads back to the family."