Teach Everything You Know

Good ideas are sticky

Eight years ago, I started a thing, it wasn’t even a business, just some half-baked idea, called Escape Motivation. It took off right away. In two days, I had over 1,000 subscribers to an email list I had just opened, and I didn’t even have a lead magnet.

I hadn’t gone viral. I hadn’t done any advertising. It was a classic Jason fire, ready, aim maneuver.

The gist of the idea was that I wanted to help creative people brainstorm their way to a better life. I wanted to show that creativity wasn’t just for art. Creativity could also help you create better relationships, build businesses and side hustles, and even transform relationships. I wanted to help live lives of joy, wonder, and freedom.

Back then, I didn’t understand all of that. I did know there was some magic to the name Escape Motivation, and I loved working with creative people.

But the early rush of success freaked me out. I now realize I was afraid of success.

I froze and only sent out three emails.

About a month into the new thing that wasn’t even really a thing, my mom passed away unexpectedly. Two months later, I would be diagnosed with kidney cancer. Two months after that, my dad died, also unexpectedly.

I quietly quit Escape Motivation sometime during those months. I don’t remember much from that time. But I do remember regretting not doing more with Escape Motivation.

In the middle of that series of personal crises, a t-shirt arrived in the mail. It was from my email service, ConvertKit (now just Kit). Back then, they sent t-shirts to everyone who built lists that topped 1,000 people.

As you can see from the selfie at the top of the post, I still have that shirt.

I love the message, but for years, it haunted me. Why had I quit something that clearly had legs?

Over the past eight years, I’ve done a lot of work on myself and learned more about how I tick. I’ve also built more income streams and done much more with my creativity.

Every once in a while, I think about the original Escape Motivation and wonder if that idea would still work.

I am now moving into a new phase of my personal and professional life. Last week, I woke up in the morning with a clear sense that it was time to bring back Escape Motivation. I also somehow understood that while I wasn’t ready to do anything with Escape Motivation back then, I am ready now.

Good ideas are sticky like that. They have a way of not letting go.

Here I am actually making Escape Motivation into something. I’m not a guru. I do love teaching. I don’t have all the answers. I am good at figuring out what the right questions are.

This newsletter is about learning to better use our creativity in all areas of our lives. It’s part brainstorming helper, part inspiration, and part catalog of tactics and strategies.

Escape Motivation is about making your life something you love, something that allows you to have the time, money, and energy to make the things that light you up.

I want to help you to keep making your art because your art helps to change the world we all live in.

Along the way, I will keep sharing the things I’ve learned, including all the stuff I get wrong. But this isn’t meant to be a one-way exchange. We will all learn from each other. We will all inspire each other. We will all escape together!

What will you make today?

Cheers,

Jason

Jason McBride is a freelance writer & illustrator, best-selling author, and poet-cartoonist. He helps writers, artists, and musicians brainstorm their way out of creative and business blocks so they can get back to making the world a better place.