Jeremy Cowart - The Purpose Hotel and the art of showing up before you're ready

Inside Influence

Jeremy Cowart - Getting Past “I Can’t” to Change Yourself and the World

We all have amazing ideas. Some are hard earned while others just come to us while we are walking down the hall on one unexpected day. But to make those ideas a reality, we need to get past the “I can’t moment” that invariably follows.

On today’s Inside Influence Podcast episode I talk to Jeremy Cowart, celebrity photographer, artist, and entrepreneur, about how fear lies on the other side of great ideas and how he has learned to get past those fears.

Jeremy Cowart has been named the “Most Influential Photographer on the Internet” by Huffington Post, Forbes and Yahoo. He has presented at TEDx and the United Nations.

His photos have appeared in well-known publications such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated.

He has taken portraits of stars such as Taylor Swift, Sting, Britney Spears, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heidi Klum, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

He is also well-known for his “Purpose Hotel” Kickstarter campaign. The aim of the project is to create a hotel chain where all the goods, services, and decor used generates a financial benefit for the marginalised around the world. A luxury hotel designed to connect people around the world to the stories of others - and enable them to support.

Today’s Guest Jeremy Cowart

Jeremy grew up in Hendersonville Tennessee.

He was a struggling student who seemed to fail at everything from piano to maths. “I can’t do it” was his motto. But his supportive parents were insistent that he could do anything: “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me”.

Then he discovered a love of drawing and started to believe in himself.

After high school, his parents suggested that he study graphic design. But he did not feel smart enough to use computers. But he tried it and ended up becoming a designer and then a digital photographer right as digital photography was taking off.

Fast forward over 20 years, and he is an influential photographer to the stars and renowned social entrepreneur.

In addition to his photographic work, he helped start the global movement Help Portrait, founded an online learning platform See University, formed an idea development community called LIMINAL Society, invented a new digital photographic technique called Lightograph, and is founder and CIO of Purpose Hotel.

He has also written four books and is a sought after presenter.

Website: www.jeremycowart.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeremycowart

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeremycowart

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeremycowart

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/jeremycowart

“I think a lot of people want to help but a lot of times they just don’t know how … but when you can align helping with people’s natural passions and interests, magic can happen.”

“I have pursued over 75 different ideas and probably more than half of them have been total utter failures, or I have abandoned them altogether. However a few of them have been very successful and those are the ones I end up talking to people on podcasts about”

You’ll Learn

• The power of supportive parents in wiring our brains for influence
• How to make a difference using your passions and interests rather than feeling you have to follow a stereotype
• How photos capture a singular moment that has the potential to truly shift a persons perceptions of themselves and the world around them
• How inspiration sometimes just happens, but that you still have to show up and fight through your fears to make it happen
• How finding that one person who will ‘speak belief’ into your idea can be the push you need to break through and start taking action
• Why platforms like Kickstarter hold the secrets of epic storytelling
• The truth about makes someone hand over their money to person they don’t know, to support a vision that may not even happen - on the back of one 3 minute video
• Why it’s important to mute or unfollow social media accounts that don’t create the energy or emotion you need to do the work that matters
• How the ability to keep trying unlocks the future - and why the next step is all you ever really need to know
• His journey with the “Purpose Hotel” and where this amazing but challenging project is up to now - and how you can support the vision

References and Links Mentioned

• Digital Photography for Dummies
• Help-Portrait
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
• “Purpose Hotel” Kickstarter video and Kickstarter page
• “Purpose Hotel” Kickstarter page and video and website
• ‘I’m Possible’ - video of Jeremy’s journey so far
• My new ebook The Influencer Code

Subscribe to and Review the Inside Influence Podcast

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! If the information in my conversations and interviews have helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and leave an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing people just like you!

Also, don’t forget to hop on my website juliemasters.com and download my new ebook The Influencer Code

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