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To get great opportunities, you have to have a great, unique selling point. You have to stand out in a considerable, meaningful way. But that is easier said than done. When we live in a time where it feels like everything's been done. How can you do anything unique? How can you have a unique selling point? It is very anxiety inducing. It's difficult to ask yourself, what do I have to offer that's different to what anyone else is doing? I've been thinking about this recently because this year I've had a handful of jobs that have just felt so tailored to what I do and who I am as an artist. And I've been thinking about, like, what did it take to create these opportunities? I was recently outside of Boston visiting a school that I did a bunch of illustration for. And it just, the whole opportunity just felt so tailored to me. And it got me thinking about what did I do to put myself in a position for this to happen. And it came down to a few things, but the most important was having a sense of what the twist I put on illustration is or put on being an artist or a creator is. What is my creative twist? So that's we're going to talk. That's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about your unique selling point, your creative twist, how to find it and why. Finding it is maybe easier and more fun and less overwhelming than you think. And if you stick around to the end, I'm going to be back with a creative call to adventure. It's called the Universal fyp, something we've talked about a little bit on this show before. But I've got a new twist on it based on this whole episode that I think is going to be really helpful to you, seeing that you already have a unique selling point in the works. You just have to recognize how to cultivate it. So stick around for that. But for now, let's talk about what is the key to unlocking a unique selling point for your creative work. Let's go on the creative journey. It's easy to get lost, but don't worry, you'll lift off. Sometimes you just need a creative pep talk. Longtime listeners know running is a huge part of my creative journey. It regulates my mood, keeps me creatively tuned in, and helps me focus. So as an artist and a runner, I am super into Vander Jacket. That's because it's the only running apparel company that I've ever heard of that was founded by an artist. And the business and the clothing scream creativity. Vanderjacket apparel is made of leftover fabric from bigger apparel companies. That limitation of using exclusively dead stock fabric actually forces the Vander team to innovate and create unique running styles. It all is really unique and super cool. All apparel is made in Denver by the founder and a small team of brilliant clothing construction workers. They are the only running company I have ever heard of that makes one of a kind garments and does so in small batches of running clothes. It's getting colder recently and I have loved running in my vanderjacket jacket, deep pockets for my AirPods sleeves with thumb holes that keep my hands really warm. So good if you're looking for something special this holiday season, whether your family's gifts need to be local, handmade, one of a kind or repurposed, Vanderjacket checks every box. Head to vanderjacket.com and use code creative in all caps. Creative for 20% off your first order that's V A N D E R jacket.com promo code creative for 20% off your first order reminder for forgetful creative folks, now is the time to get holiday shopping before it's too late and it's not fun anymore. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping stress free and joyful with thousands of one of a kind gifts that you can't find anywhere else. Uncommon Goods has products that are high quality and unique and often handmade or made in the us. Many are crafted by independent artists or small businesses which means a lot are small batch and can sell out pretty fast. We got a bunch of great presents on there recently. A super unique pint glass from my father in law, this cool color changing umbrella for my youngest kid. A Taste of Italy snack box for my fam to remind us of our summer vacation. Uncommon Goods has stuff for everybody. Moms and dads and kids and teens, book lovers, history buffs, die hard football fans to foodies, mixolog, avid gardeners. You'll find thousands of gifts that you can't find anywhere else. So shop early, have fun and cross some names off your list today. To get 15% off your next gift, go to UncommonGoods.com Pep Talk that's UncommonGoods.com Pep Talk for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer Uncommon Goods we're all out of the ordinary. Everyone in the creative biz wants better opportunities and like any business, that means having a unique selling point. You have to have something different than what's already out there and in the businessy world they call it usp. So I might abbreviate that from time to time. Unique selling point, usp. It might sound a little bit overly business y. However, I would say it's more true that you need a unique selling point if you are in a creative business than in any other industry. Because it really, really matters when you're doing creative stuff that you're putting your own twist on it. You have got to put a satisfying twist on what you do. And if you are on this creative journey and you're moving towards success, you're. You've gotta have a twist like that in your future. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, andy, dude, thank you. So easy. I didn't know I was supposed to do something original with my creative thing. Now that you've told me, put the twist on it. Done easy, right? No, not right. I understand that it is easier said than done. Like I said, especially in an era where everything feels done and redone and rebooted and sequel and prequel and reposted and copied and re turned out like we live in that era, it can feel nearly impossible to do anything truly unique. But in my creative practice and in my experience, there is some really good news. And it's that your creative twist and you showing up in a different way. It's not about some massive unicorn of an invention or innovation. It's about finding your point of view that comes natural to you, that is authentic to you, and tapping into that. That's what it's all about. It's not about coming up with the eighth wonder of the world. It's about figuring out what your sixth sense is like. For example, maybe your sixth sense is guessing the end of a movie. That's one of my sixth senses. Actually, when the movie Sixth Sense came out in the theater, I guessed the big twist before it happened. Now, I know you're all just really impressed, but I had a lot of help. I can't fully take the credit because when we sat down in that movie theater, my cousins were with me. They'd already seen it. He leans over and he whispers, there's a big twist coming. There's a big twist coming. And of course, that's a huge part of being able to guess the twist. Guess that knowing that this movie contains a big twist, that there's a big twist coming. Because when you know that, you're gonna look a little bit more intently, you're gonna be more aware, you're gonna be looking for any clues, any hints. And so it's not super impressive that I guessed the end of sixth, I had that heads up, but I want to, in this episode of the show, be your cousin for a minute and just lean over and whisper to you. If you're on the creative path, I'll give you the hint that gives you everything you need to guess it. To guess the twist is coming. And it's this. There's a huge twist coming. There's a huge twist on the horizon. You if you are making creative work because every creative thing that you do is a type of twist. And now that you know that's coming, you can do what I did in that theater. You can heighten your awareness. You can be looking for the clues, you can be looking for the juicy things that are standing out to you because you are preparing for the that twist. You have to be aware of. What am I noticing? Noticing what I'm noticing. The key to finding your creative twist is figuring out what your unique point of view is. And you do that by noticing what you're noticing. You look around and as you move through life, if something perks up your spirit in your soul and your creativity, if something unusual seems out of place in the narrative, that's your cue to dial in. Because you know a twist is coming. You know it needs to be coming. You know you need that unique selling point one day. And the place that it arrives from are those little juicy clues and nuggets that you find along your creative path. And so it doesn't become that difficult to put a twist on something, to guess the twist when you have been dialed in, when you have been tuned in to all of the little clues along the way. And what this looks like practically is looking at what I like. I told you at the start, I just got back from a place outside of Boston. It's a school called Landmark, the Landmark School. And it's a school for kids with dyslexia or language based or reading based learning difficulties and challenges. And I was there because I did something like 11 or 13 illustrations that were in my exact style, the kind of concepts I come up with all the time for this podcast and other things that I make for myself. I made these for their school and they have all these illustrations blown up on the wall. It was so fun. And as I was there talking to these kids that are neurodivergent and learn differently, I am talking to them and I'm feeling like this is the perfect opportunity for me. And I've had a few of those this year as an illustrator for clients. And I felt like, man, how did I get so lucky. And in some ways, yes, there's luck involved. And I'm not denying that. But ult, ultimately, I think the thing that makes the difference and put me in those scenarios to get those sorts of jobs were pulling at those little clues, trusting that there were twists on my horizon if I was willing to pull the threads that were uniquely me. And the thing about looking back on my creative journey and noticing what are the things that made the difference? A lot of those clues, a lot of those threads, a lot of those nuggets were things that at the time, time didn't seem to be to do with anything about my creative career or creative journey. You know, I think about the work that I made for this project, and a lot of that was made possible because I got super into Carl Jung and into symbolism and I was studying dreams and I was reading man and His Symbols, that book, and I was listening to this podcast and I was going super deep on this Jungian psychology. Not because I thought it. I honestly did not think at all that it had anything to do with my creativity. I thought it was about personal development. I thought it was just something I was hyper fixated on and curious about. And then after reading the book A Man and His Symbols, I realized like a huge percent of this percentage of this is about art. I mean, symbols, it's about symbols, it's about illustration. A lot of it's even interpreting and wrestling with art and like dream images, and all of it has to do with illustration. I don't know if I'm just not that quick or something and I just missed it. But this helped me fall in love with writing with pictures in a deeper way than I ever imagined. And it helped really increase my engagement with it and how I came up with ideas and what I thought of as visual metaphors. And all of that work filtered into my personal work. That's the stuff that they referenced when giving me this client job. They're like, do this kind of thing. And I wouldn't have done that had I not pulled at that thread. But the thing that I'd learned is, same thing happened to me with writing picture books and telling stories on stage and on the show. From getting super into Joseph Campbell and that leading into being obsessed with storytelling, all of that came. I didn't know any of that had to do with my creative future. I stumbled upon it kind of begrudgingly followed my curiosity because I couldn't help myself thinking, this is a total aside. It's not really helping me in any considerable way. I'm just curious about this and then come to find out later it became completely essential to telling the kind of stories that I tell now for a living. And so I learned that a few different ways. And now I've realized that there is a huge twist coming on the horizon of my creative path. Because that's what being a creative is. And if that's true, if I know it's coming, if I know it's on the horizon, I can increase my awareness. I can give myself permission to take notice of what I notice. And especially true if the people around me don't seem to be as interested in that stuff because that's telling me something about my point of view. And I can have the faith and the trust in my creativity and in my journey to say even if I don't know how this is related to anything that I'm gonna do in the I can trust that I need to let my curiosity lead the way. And so if you want to get better opportunities, if you want to make work that is more unique to your point of view, the key is to allow yourself to be aware and invest in those weird little things that you're obsessive about, that you're curious about. Even. Especially when you can't see how this has to do with anything that could make money, anything that could be make your creative work better. Because those are the places that have not been explored. If it's not obvious to you what the value of them is, you have to trust that intuition. And so the great thing you have now is you got a cousin like this guy that leaned over and said, hey, that twist is coming. Heighten your awareness. Look for the things that are out of the normal. Lean into those atypical things that just seem unusually juicy and you don't count them off because you can't see how they're going to pay off in the future.