The Joy of Getting Better at Creating | Interview with Reese Hopper
Speaker: [00:00:00] You are watching the Open Sketchbook, A show for anyone who wants to be a little more creative produced by Rooster High. Welcome to season two. In Season One, I posted the results of my own creative practice in the form of short audio fiction, and in season two, I'm interviewing successful creatives about their journeys.
Introduction
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Zach Armstrong: Welcome, dear listeners. Uh, this is Zach, as you've heard me entirely too much in the previous episodes and we're diving into the first of our interview episodes today because my response to making a bunch of cool stuff is to get other creatives and talk about it, especially 'cause most of them are better than me at.
Zach Armstrong: So many things creatively, and we're gonna have a bunch of people on, uh, a published author with one of my favorite fantasy series, uh, Lauren Shippen of the Bright Sessions. But we're starting off with, uh, the [00:01:00] man who's responsible for all the random noises you heard in season one of these little mech shorts.
Zach Armstrong: Uh, his name.
Reese Hopper's Background and Career Highlights
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Zach Armstrong: Reese Hopper, he is a producer out of la. He's worked for names you've heard of like, uh, like the Chainsmokers. He's produced ads for TV before, which, um, if he is to be believed, he didn't even own a TV when he was making TV ads and he had to wait to see the commercial at a bar. In la
Reese Hopper: That's true.
Zach Armstrong: and even if you are a media nerd, you'll know the folks over at the editing podcast.
Zach Armstrong: And, uh, he is, Reese is the guru on the mountain on top of media production, even for Jordan Orm over at the editing podcast. So that is, uh, that is quite a resume. And the last thing, Reese, is that in 2018 you tweeted, I hate dogs. You haven't deleted it yet. It's 2025, so by the end of this episode.
Reese Hopper: my, this is my cancellation.
Zach Armstrong: That's right. [00:02:00] You know, like you surprise a friend with an intervention when you need to help 'em. Well, we're skipping that. We're going straight to canceled, but Reese it is. It is great to have you on. It is great to have you on.
Reese Hopper: be here. It's great to be here. The time I've spent, uh, with you, either on Instagram or in private forums or the calls we've had, have all been so enjoyable. And so when you, when you emailed me, said, let's jump on, I said Yes immediately. 'cause,
Zach Armstrong: yeah.
Reese Hopper: why not enjoy my life a little more.
Zach Armstrong: I'm glad, I'm glad that my life starting as, uh, making jokes in your Instagram comments could lead us here at the start of your, at the start of your big growth push, which was, which was very fun to watch. So,
Reese Hopper: Yes.
Zach Armstrong: uh, quick recap listeners.
The Creative Consistency Challenge
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Zach Armstrong: So what Reese put together, the reason this podcast that even existing, and I'm reflecting on having made season one of all these mech stories, is that Reese, you put together the creative consistency challenge.[00:03:00]
Zach Armstrong: Of which I got to be, we were the first core ho uh, cohort. Right? Yeah.
Reese Hopper: right.
Zach Armstrong: Fantastic. So I got to be a part of that first cohort. And something about the internet that makes the creative consistency challenge stand out even more is that there is just so much cheap slap dash educational content made by people who don't know what they're doing.
Zach Armstrong: And even if they did know what they're doing, they don't know how to actually make something that's worthwhile for other people. Like we live in this era. And to actually make a program that gets creatives together in making things and. I think you, you accomplished one of your big goals with me, which is at the end, through watching some of your modules, you were like, Hey, you did it.
Zach Armstrong: You're a creative, you probably were before this, but make sure you call yourself that now. And ever since that moment, you convinced me of my own ability to create, and I do describe myself that way, which has given me more confidence in thinking of other [00:04:00] projects to go complete. So first off, thank you for that.
Reese Hopper: awesome. That's great to hear
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: Uh. Makes me a little emotional. I've been reflecting, I've been reflecting in recent days about like, man, what is this all for? What's, what's, what's my mission? You know, I, I haven't really been big on like, um. You know, company missions or content
Zach Armstrong: Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: as I've been making more and more and writing about this stuff and creating these products for folks, it's become more clear to me that it is to to empower and encourage and educate creatives to live better lives, whether through business or even just through personal creation. So to hear you say that, um, that's awesome.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And as somebody who works in content marketing where I get to be creative for clients, but not for its own sake, it was a really beautiful thing. So. All that to lead into the question of how did you take something you were good at, which is discipline, creating anybody who follows.
Zach Armstrong: You'll know you've, you blogged for, you know, I think it was 50 years [00:05:00] straight or something like that, right? You've been, you've been in production for a long time, making art, making videos for cool brands, right? So how did you take something you were good at and then translate that into something that answered the need of a bunch of people?
Reese Hopper: That's a great question. It's, it was interesting to hear you mention just a moment ago that there's so much educational content out there. You know, there's so much training content, that kind of thing. 'cause that's definitely was. Has been one of my fears is like, well, I don't want to just be another, you know, voice in the echo chamber of voices and all that.
Reese Hopper: I wanna bring real value. You know, for me, the idea for the 15 day Creative consistency challenge came from, um, this set of. Yoga videos that I subscribed to one time. I'm not sure if you've seen this, but there's this guy, uh, he probably just targets people who have really tight hips, but it's called the 21 Day Hip Opening Challenge. And it's these, uh, you know, videos [00:06:00] he puts together of like three or four stretches. per day. And, uh, you do it for 21 days. And I did that. I, I had recently run a half marathon. It was my first half marathon and my hips were just locked
Zach Armstrong: Mm. Yeah.
Reese Hopper: uh, it was just a great format that he had, which was like, open this up every day for a few minutes. Sit down on the floor, do these stretches with me while I yap at you, you know? And I kind of took that format, I stole it 'cause it worked really well for me. I knew I had some value to provide in this zone of, you
Reese Hopper: know, creating, consistently, overcoming these mental blocks to, to do that. And, I kind of, yeah, I kind of adopted that format into something that I've.
Reese Hopper: That I felt could work for people, which is just every day for 15 days, I'll yap at you while you do it and uh, we'll get it done. We'll do it in community and it's fun. So I recently did that hip opening challenge again a few weeks ago with my brothers and, uh, it's pretty fun. It, it was painful but very helpful.
Zach Armstrong: The, of all, of all of the inspirations you could have listed, [00:07:00] it would've taken us several hours for me to guess that it was a hip opening challenge.
Reese Hopper: Yeah,
Zach Armstrong: the inspiration. So now it sounds like that was modules that you followed along with this, with this, uh, hip opening professional. Right.
Reese Hopper: Yeah.
Zach Armstrong: So why?
Reese Hopper: teacher.
Zach Armstrong: Okay, fantastic. So first off, congratulations to you and your hips. I'm very happy for, for all of you.
Reese Hopper: Thank you. Yeah,
Why The Challenge Is Community Based
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Zach Armstrong: Uh, second off, why did you, and I've got inklings because I experienced the answer to this, but why did you make sure it was a community effort instead of I sit down, I listen to Reese, I create, there's no other interaction there.
Reese Hopper: That's a good question. When I started my career a few years into it, um, I was connected with this photographer named Jacob Riglin and a videographer who shot a lot of music videos for the Chainsmokers, Jeremiah Davis. They had this idea to put together this, um, travel photo video workshop, [00:08:00] and I produced that for them. I made the itinerary. I managed all the guests. We ran around, we, we went to Bali three times with three different groups and had a one week, you know, we stayed in a villa. We ran around to all these amazing, beautiful photo spots.
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: Shot content in the mornings,
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: Had little seminars, workshops at night. At that point in time in my career, I mean, that was like kind of one of the first big solo projects that, that I had put together.
Reese Hopper: Like I was solely responsible for putting this thing together and, um, making sure that everyone arrived on
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: of the hosts as well, Jacob and Jeremiah, keeping them energized, doing all that. I felt a big weight on it, so I was really nervous. I was like, this has to be the most valuable thing ever.
Reese Hopper: Right. The, the sessions have to be really good. The one-on-ones have to be really good. The places we go, we have to get there on time. Everything has to be perfect. And the one thing that I didn't anticipate was that everyone who came to the workshop became genuine friends. They became genuine friends because they had a shared [00:09:00] goal and a shared language. And I think we can see this if we zoom out into many other spaces in the
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: sports teams, sports fans, you know, people who are involved in churches, people who are involved in activist groups. They have a shared goal and they have a shared language. They become instant
Reese Hopper: friends
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: And it just really enriches the quality of their life.
Reese Hopper: So that was the thing that I didn't anticipate when I first ran those workshops. And then as we did more and more of those workshops, uh, I started to use it as like a key anchor point for this, making sure that the people coming have enough time to interact with each other, to talk to each other, to become real friends, because there was so much value that we never could have created.
Reese Hopper: And, and I didn't anticipate that came out of, out of that. So I think deep down within me, I knew that just doing a standard video class where I just talk and you're all alone, you're watching it in the dark, wasn't how this goes. Especially when you're trying to take on a creative consistency [00:10:00] challenge.
Reese Hopper: There's so much you have to overcome knowing that other people are doing it with you. Pushing towards the same end date on the same
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: feeling the same things on the same
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: That was an unexpected benefit when we did the creative consistency challenge, especially the first time too was like, oh, it's day nine of 15 and I'm feeling this way.
Reese Hopper: Someone else is feeling that way too. So I don't know. That's kind of how I initially came upon that belief that people with a shared goal and a shared language need to be together because that is adds such a richness to the experience.
Zach Armstrong: It really did, and being able to see other folks who were great at various pieces of craft was just so exciting. There was the, the the piano improvisations. There was one I think I saved, literally, I saved it to my computer 'cause I was like, I don't know if I'll lose access to this and I want to listen to this like 92nd piece of music multiple times.
Zach Armstrong: And I commented something along those lines. And the, the guy who did the piano was like, I didn't even think twice about this piece. [00:11:00] I just threw it out there. But it's something that just like, it just, it reverberated, you know, across my own heart. It was fantastic.
Reese Hopper: Within you in some
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: so special.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: ' cause he, yeah. Like you mentioned, he didn't anticipate that either.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah, and it was highly motivating to have everybody there and especially the folks who would like regularly comment on my stuff. I remember, uh, when I picked this up, I was gonna be away for, um. Away with family for three days up in, up in, uh, Knoxville, Tennessee. And I was, and, uh, so I missed a day or two and it was like 9:00 PM at night.
Zach Armstrong: We got back to my in-law's house and I sat down to knock out three of these in a row because I was so dedicated.
Reese Hopper: Yeah.
Zach Armstrong: we're gonna go to this event, but then I'm gonna get home, open my laptop on my in-laws wifi. Open, audacity, open my sound effects library and just go. And the creativity or the, uh, the restrictions bred so much [00:12:00] creativity as they always do, because I said I didn't bring my, like any good microphones with me, so maybe I don't record voiceover as a part of my narrative spots.
Zach Armstrong: And that's where, that's where just exploring the mixtures of. Telling little moments and sound effects came out in quiet, number one, two, and three. I made those all in the same night, just out of sound effects. But then the temptation that you feel, usually when you're at a job where you work for somebody else is, well, let me scoop by on this, right, if it's gonna be simpler.
Zach Armstrong: So I was like, well, let me fight that. How can I make this actually deep and meaningful? Even if I keep it simpler, right? Which is already the question with the medium I picked, which is audio narrative. You only have, you know, this much space to tell the story instead of, you know, a whole 16 by nine or wide screen, whatever amount of visuals you've got, you've got just about an inch of audio to pack in a story.
Zach Armstrong: And if you do it right, it can be more powerful. So [00:13:00] yeah.
Considering Medium and Environment for Creating
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Reese Hopper: Yeah. That's awesome. It's interesting to hear you mention that even when you talk about programs and software and just technical limitations, uh, in the course of my blogging challenges, um, sometimes I'm out and about. I don't have a computer and I have to write a blog on my notes app, upload it onto the Squarespace app on my phone, you know,
Zach Armstrong: Uhhuh.
Reese Hopper: uh, format it and get it all right. uh, just the difference between typing with. 10 fingers versus typing with two thumbs
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: changes. The writing in a profound way, sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. I'm not getting out ahead of myself. I'm not rushing the composition of these sentences. It's like my thumbs are, are like. know, lagging behind my, my brain a little bit.
Reese Hopper: So it's like, okay, let's just take this one word at a
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: think too far in advance. You know, I can't just like let the fingers race creating whatever. It's like brain first, words [00:14:00] second, they're shorter. But some of those blogs have been some of'em, most popular and most powerful, the ones that resonate with people the most.
Reese Hopper: So interesting to consider some of these technical limitations that have good effects on the art itself.
Zach Armstrong: Absolutely. The environment that a creative works in. Is so important, but not just in the, do you have a dedicated room with a nice table? Now that is a huge boon, right? Like, like having that environment, that's huge. But that's not, you know, that's not the only kind of environment or restriction to consider, the challenge I feel helped answer what a lot of creatives struggle with discipline.
Overcoming Creative Blocks and Engaging in Disciplined Practice
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Zach Armstrong: So with regards to the challenge and other creatives, you know, what are some of the ways a creative can actually get disciplined?
Reese Hopper: I think when we embark on our creative journeys as. Young ones or even as you know, people who are trying something new. [00:15:00] so exciting. All the inspiration, the momentum, uh, comes from within you. 'cause it's just like, this is great. And I think that's what a lot of people discovered, especially if the creative medium you work in now is something you discovered when you were growing up.
Reese Hopper: Even, especially as a teenager, you
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: there's such this emotional connection to it. You needed it as a place to escape and to get you into this, right? So all this inspiration and motivation, momentum, velocity came from from within you. And then you get out into, you know, the real world and, uh, you run out of that inspiration, you run out of that momentum and that motivation. And so I think a lot of folks have never really even tried to force themselves to create something. That's the first hump to get over is. You never had to force yourself to do it. You just did it out of joy and outta curiosity and uh, out of release. But now if you wanna continue to do it, you have to get over that first hump of [00:16:00] forcing yourself to do it.
Reese Hopper: So, I mean, that's the first moment where I see a lot of change for people. reference a lot in the creative consistency challenge. Stephen Pressfield's, the War of Art. He has so many good, interesting, somewhat esoteric ideas in there, but they're just so rich and, and you'll find a little chapter or a little sentence in there that feel so pertinent to whatever you're
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: going through at that
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: Um, but that's kind of one of the first pieces of resistance that people find is like. I don't wanna force myself to do this. 'cause then the joy goes away. They've never had to force themselves to do
Zach Armstrong: Right.
Reese Hopper: know, and what I love to see people discover through this challenge and through, you know, even their own journeys, is that the joy doesn't go away.
Reese Hopper: Even when I make myself
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: this, you know, the joy is still there. There's a different kind of joy, a different kind of appreciation for the work, a different kind of meaning that bubbles up. From the soil when you're making yourself do it than it was when the rain was coming. You know? So it's, it's, it's a [00:17:00] different kind of experience.
Reese Hopper: So, I mean, that's the first big, um, achievement that I see people come to that first thing that clicks for them.
Zach Armstrong: And I'll also say, I. With regards to discipline and, and creative things. I have often had trouble finishing work. You know, I would start something and then wouldn't get it across the finish line. Um, I've packing, oh my goodness, college, nobody, you, you've, nobody will hear these, but I've like written songs that were full songs, right?
Zach Armstrong: I completed those. Um, I wrote, I think I've got about 40 or 50,000 words. Of a fantasy novel on some drive somewhere. Right. Um, but the songs I only ever did a few of, you know, like the novel, the novel petered out at one point, and I would, I've identified that I would have trouble holding the vision of what it looks like [00:18:00] when the art complete in my head, because there's the reward that comes from feeling like something's finished.
Zach Armstrong: Now, depending on the art and your predisposition, your disposition towards it, sometimes it never feels finished. Right.
Reese Hopper: Yeah.
Zach Armstrong: But to actually get to a point where you could say a book is finished, like it's been well edited enough to be done, or there's enough songs to call an album, right? And something that Creative Consistency Challenge did was I was always imagining my goalposts for finishing something miles away.
Zach Armstrong: It was always insurmountably far away, but to say no, just create one little thing each day. Don't make it achievable. Make it in scope and keep it to 45 minutes or less. Then all of a sudden I got all of these quick hits, these little doses back to back to back to back of, Hey, you finished something. Hey, you finished something and because it actually kept it in scope so close that I could actually [00:19:00] reach it in a 45 minute session, then I got to put a deliverable out there.
Zach Armstrong: And like we talked about with the community, then people would listen to it and it'd be edifying. Um, and it would be, it would feel done, especially because there was an audience there, right. I delivered it to people who were waiting for it, you know?
Reese Hopper: Yeah.
Zach Armstrong: So I wanted to share that as a part of my experience in case you can take that or any listeners empathize with that, you know?
Reese Hopper: It's cool to see, you know, those, those little blocks stacking up. There's a book I like, it's called Tiny Habits. It's by, uh, Stanford, Dr. BJ Fog. He's done a ton of habit research, not only, um, on a large scale, but also very anecdotally working with one-on-one clients and putting them through different habit type exercises.
Reese Hopper: He's got a quote in that book and it really. Um, touches on the whole philosophy. The quote is, we change best by feeling good.
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: We don't change best by feeling bad. Sometimes we try to guilt ourselves or shame ourselves [00:20:00] into changing
Zach Armstrong: Right.
Reese Hopper: into like, oh, you know, I'm, I'm so inconsistent, or I'm not, I'm not cut
Zach Armstrong: I've fallen down that spiral staircase before.
Reese Hopper: Oh yeah, we all have, we all have. I'm not cut out for this. I'm not like that.
Zach Armstrong: Yep.
Reese Hopper: It's pretty goofy. But, um, he has an example where he says, if you're trying to wire in a new habit, just like practice doing it and then putting your arms in the air and saying, yay. Good job. Okay. Practice doing it
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: know, if you want to, like, let's say remember to put a dish in from the sink, in the dishwasher. Take it, put in the dishwasher. Close it. Clap for yourself.
Zach Armstrong: Right.
Reese Hopper: again, you know, that kind of thing. So there's a
Zach Armstrong: Amazing.
The Consistency Challenge
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Reese Hopper: to what we were doing with the consistency challenge, which is, you know, 30, 45 minutes a day making something small but still meaningful.
Reese Hopper: Something complete. Okay, I got that check.
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: Day two check. Day three, check. You're changing 'cause you're starting to feel good. You created something, you published it. People said, Hey, I like this, I like that. I like this part of it. Try this [00:21:00] next time. You know? So you're just kind of wiring in this habit little by little by little.
Reese Hopper: So. Uh, it's cool to hear you say that 'cause that kind of is the, the through line to that idea too.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah, absolutely. So. We're talking, we mentioned discipline, right? With both this, this habit forming thing, discipline in the context of signing up for the challenge and it being edified in community.
Misconceptions About Discipline
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Zach Armstrong: Um, what are, what are some of the biggest roadblocks people put in their way regarding discipline?
Reese Hopper: Yeah. I think for the most part it's shooting too big. Trying to do it for too long, being too ambitious. This is another way that Stephen Pressfield in the War of Art would say that the resistance shows up.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: It shows up with great ambition, you know, it shows up by saying, uh. Your creative act doesn't mean anything unless you really go for it.
Reese Hopper: You know, it shows up by saying if you only have 30 minutes, like you can't really make something really good. Right? That's just a way of our internal blockages coming out and [00:22:00] playing defense against our creativity, you know? So I think that's kind of one of the big misconceptions that I hear is like when I tell people, oh yeah, we're just doing something for 30 minutes, 45 minutes. who would consider themselves on an identity level, a serious artist. Might say that's not enough time to do anything. You know, because they've had those awesome flow state sessions of three or four hours or a full day in the studio, you know, painting or making music or something where it's like something really comes together when I can really dig into it, right? 30 minutes, 45 minutes, that means nothing. Meanwhile, haven't picked up the paintbrushes in nine months.
Zach Armstrong: Yeah. Hmm.
Reese Hopper: maybe 30 minutes and 45 minutes does mean something. 'cause it means something to these folks who, who are able to lower the expectations a little bit lower these voices, maybe, you know, even learn to combat some, some old, harmful voices from old coaches or teachers or,
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: know, directors or something like that.
Reese Hopper: Who, who are them that, that the little [00:23:00] stuff is not, is not good enough. Because in modern, everyday life. 30, 45 minutes is what you have, and there's so many wonderful works of art that have come to be through focused blocks of 30 and 45 minutes.
Gaining Mastery Through Repetition
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Zach Armstrong: Absolutely, and something that surprised me was how much faster I got at the mechanics of what I was trying to do. Every time because, uh, you know, if you're listening to this episode, dear listener, you've likely listened to season one where there's several, you know, mech voices, right? The computerized mech voice coming outta speaker.
Zach Armstrong: Uh, it took me probably. The first time I made that, it probably took me half of my entire creation time to Google, you know, exactly what combination was gonna work really well, and then do a couple of takes to figure out how to speak to compliment that. And then by days two, three, and four, uh, I was doing that in a heartbeat, right?
Zach Armstrong: And what was really rewarding about that on a really tiny scale was getting to [00:24:00] see, oh, like. Like when a painter knows exactly how to do a brush stroke, because they've done it so many times, they're gonna capture a cloud this way. But then the light's coming in here so they can, they can, you know, pull the paint this way and do a dab of white that way.
Zach Armstrong: And it becomes second nature. And that's why the creation becomes even more heightened and people's experience of it and they see the mastery, it's because they've done that 500 times. And so literally just to learn how to make a silly robot voice, I was like, oh wait, I'm getting faster. I'm getting more mastery over this tiny little medium I picked to do.
Zach Armstrong: Right. Which was, which was also another really rewarding, a really rewarding part of that. Um, what's, is there, is there a moment where, so I have two more questions for you here. Is there a moment where you saw yourself getting mastery? Maybe it was earlier in career, maybe something you were learning recently where you saw yourself getting mastery and it just brought you that little spark of joy.
Reese Hopper: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Uh, I mean, [00:25:00] it's tough to claim. I don't know if anyone, know, it's tough to claim the word mastery,
Zach Armstrong: absolutely. For sure.
Reese Hopper: speaking about. Uh, for sure. I mean, anytime you learn a program, you know, these technical limitations, these knowledge limitations, they're so frustrating because they take you out of that creative flow state
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: wanna create.
Reese Hopper: 'cause you wanna be in that
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: state and then you encounter something with your program. Or even with a creative idea you're trying to bring to life that it's not working, you encounter something that. Blocks you,
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: you outta that flow state.
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: And that's what's no fun about it. You know what I mean?
Reese Hopper: So e exactly what you're saying is like, you know, the first day you spend half of your creation time Googling, that's not creation. You
Zach Armstrong: Right.
Reese Hopper: But when you learn these little tricks and these little templates and these little go-to things, then you can see that come to life. So for me, you know, uh, if you could tell by my background, I've played a lot of music, now, I just do it, um, as a hobbyist.
Reese Hopper: But when I was, um. Growing up in high school and college, that was the main
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: uh, medium for
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: And, uh, yeah, I mean, [00:26:00] you learn a riff on a guitar and then your fingers work in that way for you to, to help you write something similar tomorrow, you know, or you learn a specific recording trick when you're recording music and then that takes two seconds. Tomorrow when today you had to spend 10 minutes watching a tutorial that took you out of the creative flow state. You know,
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: that's another hidden benefit of doing these short 30 minute, 45 minute things is like when you were describing the painter who, who can just has the brushstroke down to make the cloud. They've painted 500 subpar clouds in order to earn that. You know, and that's true for everybody. It's true for everything. But our identity gets in the way. You know, we, we see ourselves as like these secret undiscovered geniuses, these secret undiscovered artists. And
Reese Hopper: if we put out something that's less than perfect, then we'll be, we'll be outed as not prodigies and not geniuses.
Zach Armstrong: [00:27:00] that's right.
Claiming the Creative Identity
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Zach Armstrong: Um, speaking of that journey and what we talked about earlier with I mentioned, you know, my process of going, okay, I am a creative during the challenge. When when was your moment when. The descriptor, I'm a creative entered like fully into your identity. Like when?
Zach Armstrong: When did that happen for you?
Reese Hopper: That's a good question. I mean, it's, it's, uh. It is taken a while to claim that title for myself, depending on how, how far along I am in the different mediums I'm
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: you know, so when I was 16 and I first picked up a guitar. I wasn't like telling people I'm a guitarist,
Zach Armstrong: Right.
Reese Hopper: But then by, you know, a couple years later I had been in some rock bands.
Reese Hopper: We'd played some
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: it was like, well, the proof is in the pudding there, you
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: I sold tickets to a show and I played guitar. So
Zach Armstrong: [00:28:00] Yep.
Reese Hopper: am I in some level, yeah, I think I can claim that. Um. But then when I started writing, it was like, okay, I wouldn't call myself a writer, you know, I just have written a few blogs.
Reese Hopper: I'm just doing some content marketing. I'm just, you
Zach Armstrong: Mm.
Reese Hopper: some stuff
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: like writing, but like me to claim I'm a writer that, you know, that wasn't instant either. But then, know, I published 465 blogs in 465 days, and then I published my book and then it's like, okay, yeah, I'm a
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: You know, I remember when, after I published my book, uh. I had a writer, and then after I published a book, I changed it on my website and around on my socials to author,
Zach Armstrong: Nice. Yep.
Reese Hopper: because it was true, you know, it was like this little monument, this little benchmark that I got to that helped me do it.
Reese Hopper: So, um, you know, there are other things too. I love public speaking. At this point. I can't necessarily say, yeah, I'm a speaker. But hopefully, you know, in the coming years I can make that more part of my
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: part of my, part of my life and routine and [00:29:00] stuff. Do more speaking engagements, get to a point where I can look someone in the eye and say I'm a speaker. You
Zach Armstrong: Absolutely.
Reese Hopper: I think it takes a little time with whatever you're chasing at that moment. Um, but if once you do it long enough, like, like you mentioned earlier, you put together, you know, a certain number of days and you do it, I
Zach Armstrong: Hmm.
Reese Hopper: what do artists do? What do speakers do? What do writers do?
Reese Hopper: What do podcasters
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: They paint, they write, they speak.
Zach Armstrong: They do the thing. Yeah,
Reese Hopper: you did that for two weeks, like that's you, you did, you know, you're, you can claim that identity.
Zach Armstrong:
Marketing and Authenticity
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Zach Armstrong: once you've done something that can't be taken away, no matter how many publishers Reese Hopper does or doesn't have, you are an author.
Zach Armstrong: Right. That is, that is, that is a, a, a peon in the wall of reality that can't be, you know, that can't be taken out.
Reese Hopper: the book, is sitting on shelves right now.
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: as much as any other book, right next to other books that, you know, it pales in comparison to,
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: but it's a physical object sitting on shelves [00:30:00] around the world. You know, that brings me so much, um, so much confidence, you know, sense of meaning as well, and accomplishment, but just confidence like, hey. Uh, this is physical matter taking up
Zach Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
Reese Hopper: know, and whether someone reads it now or a friend borrows it in a year, or a, a nephew picks it up in 10 years or someone's daughter reads it in 25 years. Like, this is a physical object with lessons that I've learned that can help people, you know? So, yeah, you're right.
Reese Hopper: That's, I mean, that's a great question. What do you have to do to claim, to claim that identity?
Zach Armstrong: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Reese Hopper: It's awesome. It's a cool way of thinking about it.
Zach Armstrong: Absolutely.
Outro And Where to Find Reese Online
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Zach Armstrong: Alright, Reese, well, uh, where should people, where should people find you online? Uh, and then I'll of course link to the book. It's, I don't actually think we've said the title. It's what gives you the Right to Freelance. It is available
Reese Hopper: right to
Zach Armstrong: right now on Amazon. It is sitting at a solid 4.5.
Zach Armstrong: Five on Amazon, but it's a five outta five in my heart. 'cause [00:31:00] I don't count the single dissenting three star rating who didn't even write anything up. Ridiculous
Reese Hopper: that's
Zach Armstrong: this. Yeah.
Reese Hopper: actually don't mind it. I feel like it brings a sense of, you
Zach Armstrong: Realness to it.
Reese Hopper: to the review.
Zach Armstrong: Well you, you know, you know who left the three star review. It's somebody who loves dogs.
Reese Hopper: That's true. That's
Zach Armstrong: Yeah.
Reese Hopper: Yes. I'm, uh, you can find me anywhere. I'm on, uh, Instagram mostly is where I publish a lot of content. I've just been getting into YouTube, um, the past month or so. Um, publishing some long form stuff there as well, along with short, short form stuff. Uh, I've got a website, reese hopper.com. And I publish blogs. I have free resources there. Some, uh, paid helpful products if you're in the production zone or the content pitching
Zach Armstrong: Absolutely.
Reese Hopper: there's some stuff there as well too. So, yeah, just Google me and you'll find me.
Zach Armstrong: That's right. Yep. And plus one for all that stuff. I think I've, I've consumed pretty much everything Reese just listed, including the, the production template pack. Uh, I sat [00:32:00] down to design my own, 'cause I've been in it. I just needed it for my own sake and I went, I could go just pay Reese X amount of dollars and save all that time.
Zach Armstrong: So that's what I did.
Reese Hopper: Yeah. That's
Zach Armstrong: It was a good move.
Reese Hopper: you. You picked that up and hopefully it's helpful for you. I know like templates, pitch templates especially have been so helpful for me, um, just because, you know, you, you're working on client projects and then a client says, make me a pitch. And it's like, well you gotta do that.
Reese Hopper: It's extra work now that you're not getting paid for. So the quicker you can make that, the better. .
Creative Consistency Challenge Details
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Zach Armstrong: Lastly, dear listener, there's of course the Creative Consistency Challenge, which we were talking about the whole time.
Zach Armstrong: The link to that, it's all in Reese's website, is gonna be down below in the description. So, if, uh, my experience and how you heard Reese talk was attractive at all to you, getting your own creative journey done, getting that label creative stamped on you undeniably because you did something, then uh, jump into that.
Zach Armstrong: Jump into the resources, check it out. So [00:33:00] again, Reese, thank you so much for making the time, man. I really appreciate it. Always, always enjoy when we get to, when we get to chat about art and business and, and all of it. That's good.
Reese Hopper: Zach, thanks so much for having me. Always a pleasure to speak with you.
Creators and Guests
