Podcast
Input/Output: The Creator System For Experts | with Shawn Buttner
Hosted by Shawn Buttner | Creator Systems & Creative Performance · EN
Most creators spend their time trying to improve their content.
Better content. Better strategies. Better systems.
But content success starts with the creator.
Many creators respond to slow growth by creating more. Others chase the latest productivity system, content framework, or creative workflow. Both approaches miss the same thing: every creator system is limited by the person running it.
The creator is the input.
Input/Output explores how creators build the identity, performance, habits, and creator systems that make sustainable success possible. Because better content systems, better creative systems, and better creator productivity don't start with tools. They start with the creator behind them.
Hosted by Certified High Performance Coach Shawn Buttner, each episode breaks down the mindset, behaviors, and personalized creative workflows that help creators perform at a higher level without burning out. You'll learn how to overcome self doubt as a creator, build creator confidence, create sustainable content systems, strengthen creator productivity, and design a creator operating system that supports long-term growth.
Whether you're building a business through content, developing a content strategy as an expert, or simply trying to create more consistently, you'll discover practical ways to become the kind of creator your goals require.
Because better creators build better systems.
And better systems produce better output.
25episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Difference Between Busywork and Deep Work
2w ago00:26:58Tap to summarize This episode, we talk about the difference between busy work and deep work and how understanding that difference and navigating it successfully leads to a better you as a creator, and as a business owner. We talk about what goes into understanding busy work versus deep work. We run it through the lenses of the show: your voice, your workflows, and your confidence. At the end, there's a challenge on how to keep yourself on track and growing as a creator with a simple exercise. Creator business growth doesn't stall from lack of effort. It stalls because busywork and real progress feel exactly the same from the inside. This episode opens with three hours lost to a script that wouldn't come together, and the question that followed: is reworking the process real work, or avoidance? From there, Shawn defines busywork and deep work in concrete terms, collapses the productivity checklist into one question (is this moving a meaningful goal forward in your business?), and names the four inputs that build your awareness: your tells, your definition of excellent, your confidence, and your previous experience. The specifics covered: the four questions hiding inside one, what work looks like with you in the process versus without you, the client who took courses for three years instead of launching (and what her launch finally taught her), the lesson from Apple about fixing friction instead of accepting it, why 85% accuracy beats 80% at AI scale (one degree off, over a long enough line, lands you somewhere else entirely), the Thor: Ragnarok magic cup that never empties, and the Harvard Business Review and Stanford finding on AI "workslop." It ends on the episode's real turn: the better input is you, knowing when an impulse to change is a signal and when it's a distraction. If you've ever ended a busy week with nothing meaningful shipped, taken one more course before launching, or wondered whether tinkering with your process is progress or hiding, this one is about your week. That's the creator-led business growth problem: the tools and processes are the same for everyone; the input isn't. → Make your AI sound like you, not like everyone else's AI. Free 30-minute setup: shawnbuttner.com/voiceprint → Want a read on where your creator business is actually stuck? Book a Creator Diagnostic: shawnbuttner.com/clarity-call Input/Output is the creator system for experts: people who built a track record in another career and are now turning that into a creator business. Hosted by Shawn Buttner, certified high performance coach. The premise is simple. You are the ultimate input into your creator system. Get yourself clear, and the tools, team, and content follow. This episode is about creator business growth and the creator-led business growth that comes from knowing your own tells. Chapters 00:00 — Busywork and progress feel the same: the three-hour script spiral 02:28 — The difference: intention plus knowing your tells 02:37 — Input: busywork vs. deep work, defined 08:21 — Signal: the work with you in it, and without you 19:58 — Output: the better creator, the AI busywork trap, and the better input 24:19 — Voiceprint: get clear on what you want as a creator 24:56 — Recap: judge the week by intention and direction 25:44 — Challenge of the week: your five next best moves 26:33 — Wrap-up
Transcribe →The Fear That Never Feels Like Fear
Jul 300:19:34Tap to summarizeEpisode 8 A fully edited conversation between two friends was supposed to launch the same week on both our feeds. A version of that is finally happening, months late. And nothing went wrong. No fight, no falling out. That's the unsettling part. This episode is the story of how the plan actually died: one reasonable, gracious, "no rush" week at a time, inside the very meeting we built to keep it alive. In this episode: Why the fear of sharing your true voice never announces itself as fear. It shows up as patience, loyalty, and being a good friend. The three true things I never said out loud: a schedule, a belief, and a change in me. What deadline culture at Apple taught me about slipping dates, and what leaving that culture costs you as a creator. The diagnostic: where does your urgency point? Hear the other side: → The conversation this episode references is live on Diana Ordonez's feed: "Ep 35: Be The Light — Thriving in Uncertainty" on Courage & Purpose: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/courage-purpose/id1780717738?i=1000775330821 Go deeper: → The practical version, including how to give an overdue update without it sounding like an accusation, is in this week's issue of my newsletter, The Output: shawnbuttner.com/joinus Input/Output is the creator system for experts: people who built a track record in another career and are now turning that into a creator business. Hosted by Shawn Buttner, certified high performance coach. The premise is simple. You are the ultimate input into your creator system. Get yourself clear, and the tools, team, and content follow. This episode is about creator identity and finding the urgency behind your creator voice.
Transcribe →Creator Identity: You're the Only Input That Matters
Jun 2600:11:18Tap to summarizeEpisode 7 (soft-launch) Your team, tools, workflows, and systems all have one thing in common: you. Get clear on your part and everything downstream improves. You are the ultimate input. This is the premise episode of Input/Output. Shawn Buttner lays out the show's core bet: every outcome you chase as a creator traces back to one input, and that input is you. He walks the Input → Signal → Output model that names the show and makes the case for why getting yourself clear comes before the funnel, the tools, or the team. Input is everything that kicks off your system: your character, your values, who shaped you, and the creative DNA that flows downstream into everything you make. Signal is the work that carries it: the team, the SOPs, the AI workflows, the actual making. Think songwriter, then the band and the studio, then the song on the radio. Output is what the world experiences: amplification, not origination. Shawn argues that AI raises the stakes on the input instead of replacing it. Feed a blurry creator into the workflow and you get generic output at scale, with the "80% is good enough" rule compounding into drift over time. He also breaks down Jay Clouse's Creator HQ launch from Creator Science #191: the best launch of Jay's business that still felt flat, because there was no milestone set to celebrate. The lesson: how you measure success internally is itself an input. If you've ever thought "if I'd just shown up differently, I'd have gotten a different outcome," this is the show that makes that the whole point. It's for creators with a lot of ideas who need a process and a system to sort through them, people aiming for greater impact through their work, not people chasing hype with nothing underneath it. Input/Output is the creator system for experts: people who built a track record in another career and are now turning it into a creator business. Hosted by Shawn Buttner, Certified High Performance Coach. The premise is simple: you are the ultimate input into your creator system. Get yourself clear, and the tools, team, and content follow. 0:00 The one input every creator overlooks1:21 You're the only input that matters1:34 Who Input/Output is for2:02 The Input: character, values, and creative DNA4:53 The Signal: the work that carries it6:13 The Output: amplification, not origination (where AI fits)7:53 The Output newsletter8:23 Why this show is different — and the Jay Clouse launch lesson10:56 Growing as a creator and a person11:12 Wrap-up Check out the Output Newsletter mentioned in this episode!Link to Jay Clause's Creator HQ Launch episode.
Transcribe →Creator Voice: You Don't Have a Volume Problem, You Have a Hiding Problem
Jun 2000:12:39Tap to summarizeEpisode 5 Most creators are told the way to fix engagement and growth is more volume. So they make more. More posts. More videos. When “more” doesn’t move the needle, then what? In this solo episode, I lay out the contradiction that ran my creative life for a decade: 700 videos, ten years, under 20 subscribers, all while doing everything the playbook said to do. The problem was never volume. It was presence. And every safe choice I made, no opinions, no stories, a smaller face on the thumbnail, was a quiet decision to not be seen. I walk through what "doing everything right" produced, and the moment it cracked: cringing at my own videos. I share the year inside Evan Carmichael's group, where the push was to open every video with a big opinion. Looking back at 700 videos, I found almost zero opinions and almost no personal stories. I was terrible at sharing them, and it still moved the channel from 20 to 100 subscribers. That's when the real realization landed. It was never about more opinions. I was hiding. Protecting myself from what I call the flaming arrows of the internet, building content so safe there was no person left in it to criticize. I thought I was building an audience. I was building an invisibility shield. If you've been consistent for years and the growth still hasn't shown up, this is why. If your last five pieces could have been made by anyone covering the same topic, this is why. Creator identity isn't a finishing touch on good content. It's the input the whole system runs on. Input/Output is the show for coaches, consultants, and expertise-based creators building a creator system grounded in who they are. Hosted by Certified High Performance Coach Shawn Buttner, each episode explores creator identity, creator voice, content systems, and the habits behind sustainable creative growth. Chapters: [0:00] 700 videos, ten years, under 20 subscribers[0:36] The reframe: a hiding problem, not a content problem[1:15] The playbook that keeps you invisible[3:17] When watching your own videos makes you cringe[4:37] Evan Carmichael and the push for a big opinion[5:55] Terrible at it, and it still worked (20 to 100)[6:51] The real realization: I was hiding[7:40] The flaming arrows of the internet[8:45 ]Why opinions and stories move a channel[9:31] The diagnostic, and the question to sit with
Transcribe →Finding Your Creator Voice: Why It Comes From Stories, Not Craft
Jun 1200:08:05Tap to summarizeFinding your creator voice isn't a craft problem. It's an attention problem. If your content feels hollow or sounds like everyone else's, more reps won't fix it. But one story a day might. In this solo episode, I share what happened during a coaching session with my own coach Jeremy that cracked open something I'd been circling for ten years. I was listing out everything frustrating me about my show, my brand, my offer. Somewhere in that list, I realized the real problem wasn't any of those things. It was that I'd been creating content that felt like me on the outside and wasn't me at all on the inside. I walk through ten years of output: over 700 YouTube videos, as many newsletters, 150+ podcast episodes, 400+ landing pages. And what it felt like when all of it fell flat. Not because of execution, but because I was hiding behind borrowed ideas and other people's frameworks. If your content feels like a performance, or you've been consistent for years without the connection you expected, this episode is for you. One story. That's the practice. Input/Output is the show for coaches, consultants, and expertise-based creators building a creator system grounded in who they are. Hosted by Certified High Performance Coach Shawn Buttner, each episode explores creator identity, finding your creator voice, content systems, and the habits behind sustainable creative growth. Chapters: The coaching session that cracked it open Why creator voice isn't a craft problem Ten years of content that felt off Hiding behind borrowed ideas Patrick's challenge: list every story you tell The one-story-a-day practice Why storytelling forces a point of view How to know when your voice is working One question to ask yourself today Join the newsletter to get a different take on todays' episode, right to your inbox every week: www.shawnbuttner.com/joinus
Transcribe →Getting Clarity on Your Creator Identity
Apr 1000:13:36Tap to summarizeAfter creating 700+ YouTube videos, 430 landing pages, 175 podcast episodes, and 10 years of newsletters, I realized the problem wasn't showing up or producing. It was clarity about myself in relation to the work. In this episode, I'm soft launching a new format for the show exploring the creator as the ultimate input into all technology, systems, and processes. I share my personal clarity journey and introduce a 5 step framework to help you get clear on who you are as a creator so you can lead your tools, team, and creative process. You'll learn why borrowed language keeps you disconnected from your work, how treating content as idea exploration changes everything, and the five elements that become your input for AI, team communication, and better results. Topics discussed: Intros: The 700 videos problem (00:00)The Input: My background and hiding behind borrowed language (01:00)The Signal: Five Areas of Creator Clarity (06:00)The Output: How clarity changed my creative process (08:00)Wrapping Up: Quick self assessment on the 5 elements (10:00)New Workshop announcement (12:00)Finishing Up: Final thought (13:00) The 5 Step Clarity Framework: Ideas: Your ownable IP Beliefs: What you stand for Taste: Your quality standards Stories: How you communicate Expression: Your tone and style Want to go deeper? Join the You First Framework webinar series at www.shawnbuttner.com/ai to get AI prompts that help you define these elements and create your communication document. Have thoughts on this new format? Email support@shawnbuttner.com → Make your AI sound like you, not like everyone else's AI. Free 30-minute setup: shawnbuttner.com/voiceprint→ The written version is in my newsletter, The Output: shawnbuttner.com/joinus Input/Output is the creator system for experts: people who built a track record in another career and are now turning that into a creator business. Hosted by Shawn Buttner, certified high performance coach. The premise is simple. You are the ultimate input into your creator system. Get yourself clear, and the tools, team, and content follow. This episode is about creator identity and getting clarity as a creator.
Transcribe →Why I didn't publish a solo episode for five months | Episode 43
Apr 200:02:03Tap to summarize 700 videos. 430 landing pages. 170+ podcast episodes. And a decade of newsletters. So why wasn't anything sticking? In this mini update episode, Shawn gets real about what's been happening behind the scenes, and the common thread he found running through all of it. If you've ever felt like you're putting in the work but not getting the traction, this one's for you. Topics discussed: Where Shawn's been (00:00) The numbers that forced the question (00:00) The common thread — and what it revealed (00:45) What the last five months looked like (01:15) What's coming next to the podcast (01:45) How to co-create the new show (02:00) Listen to Creators That Crush on Apple: https://apple.co/3duh0xG Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPYGHMT5cuFigp3efE8FwNw/ Connect with Shawn Buttner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnbuttner/
Transcribe →1% Improvement, Exponential Results! | Episode 42 with Joseph Burda
Mar 1300:38:53Tap to summarizeThe best thing YouTube does for creators has nothing to do with views — it's the 1% improvements you make every single time you hit record. In this episode, freelance videographer Joseph Burda shares what that growth looked like as a stay-at-home dad and how a no-niche sandbox approach helped him avoid burnout as a new creator. You'll learn how to escape the sunk cost trap that keeps so many creators stuck, find your creator cohort, and actually enjoy the journey. Topics discussed: Introduction (00:00) What 1% looks like for creators (01:42) The impetus to finally get on YouTube (05:45) How YouTube grows you as a person and creator (07:11) Joseph’s creative process (15:18) The sandbox approach to avoid burnout and just get started (17:28) Finding your YouTube cohort (19:06) Why so many creators lose their agency (23:37) How to live a regret-free life as a creator (27:09) Why you should lean into your interests (32:45) Closing (38:12) Joseph Burda is a creative director, editor, and dad. The Bham Burdas is where he documents real-life experiments with money, mindset, family, and living a regret free life... Among other things. Connect with Joseph: https://www.youtube.com/@CreatorControlGroup https://www.youtube.com/@B-hamburdas Listen to Creators That Crush on Apple: https://apple.co/3duh0xG Listen to Creators That Crush on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zm76yT667pFBQfvPYhDl8?si=7f0267d0366742f7 Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPYGHMT5cuFigp3efE8FwNw/ Connect with Shawn Buttner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnbuttner/ This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com
Transcribe →Creator Identity: why copying best practices kills your creative voice
Feb 600:46:16Tap to summarizeYour creator identity is the foundation of every creator system. If your content sounds like everyone else's, more tactics won't fix it. This conversation explores the creative DNA behind sustainable creator growth. Jeremy Enns joins me for a deep conversation about what actually makes a creator unique. We break down the three forces that shape creator identity: your experiences and beliefs, how you relate to other people, and the knowledge you contribute beyond common best practices. Together, these create the perspective that separates memorable creators from interchangeable ones. Jeremy shares how seemingly unrelated childhood interests—from Lego to video games—became clues to the way he thinks, teaches, and builds today. We explore why creative growth often comes from following curiosity rather than forcing a predefined path, and how repeated practice helps creators discover their own voice. We also discuss why many creators get stuck trying to find the "right" answer instead of developing their own point of view. Jeremy explains how writing, reflection, and paying attention to recurring interests helped him move beyond imposter syndrome and build a creative system grounded in his own observations. If you've ever wondered whether your unique perspective actually matters, this episode makes the case that creator identity is the input behind creative performance, sustainable content creation, and long-term creator growth. Creators That Crush is the show for creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs building a creator system that supports meaningful work and sustainable growth. Hosted by Certified High Performance Coach Shawn Buttner, each episode explores creator identity, creative performance, content systems, and the habits that help creators build businesses around their expertise.Chapters:1. The three parts of creative DNA2. What childhood interests reveal about creator identity3. How game design influences creative work4. Why following creative curiosity matters5. The compounding effect of writing and publishing6. Escaping the search for the "right" answer7. Developing strong opinions about your craft8. How creator identity shapes long-term growthAbout our guest:Jeremy Enns | Founder, Podcast Marketing AcademyHelps expert-based businesses grow through stronger positioning, audience development, and creative voice.
Transcribe →Creative Performance: Why Enthusiasm Is Your Most Underrated Creator Habit
Oct 3100:19:28Tap to summarizeIf you've ever wondered why some creators stay consistent, grow their work, and keep loving the process while others quietly burn out, this episode will show you the difference. In this solo reflection, Shawn Buttner shares his initial case for enthusiasm as the true currency of creativity, why sustained excitement for your craft predicts long-term success better than hustle, algorithms, or luck. Drawing from his own journey from business school to Walmart, Apple, and finally coaching, Shawn shows how enthusiasm guided every major pivot and how losing it nearly ended his creative drive. You'll also hear what Shawn learned from studying dozens of "I Quit" creator videos and how fading enthusiasm, not failure, was usually the real reason people walked away. He then unpacks five lasting benefits of protecting and amplifying your enthusiasm: clearer career decisions, creative freedom, contagious energy, sustainable motivation, and deep personal satisfaction. If your spark has dimmed or you've been pushing through out of obligation, this episode will help you reconnect with why you started. What are your thoughts on enthusiasm? The two questions from the episode are: When is a time when your enthusiasm helped lead you to success?When is a time when your enthusiasm dropped and it caused you to quit something? Feel free to email support@shawnbuttner.com with your answers or thoughts. To see a creator enthusiasm journey, check out Kev Michael's interview here: https://www.shawnbuttner.com/podcasts/input-output-the-creator-system-for-experts-with-shawn-buttner/episodes/2149073093 → Make your AI sound like you, not like everyone else's AI. Free 30-minute setup: shawnbuttner.com/voiceprint→ The written version is in my newsletter, The Output: shawnbuttner.com/joinus Input/Output is the creator system for experts: people who built a track record in another career and are now turning that into a creator business. Hosted by Shawn Buttner, certified high performance coach. The premise is simple. You are the ultimate input into your creator system. Get yourself clear, and the tools, team, and content follow. This episode is about creative performance and the creator habits that sustain it.
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