The professor of creativity Juan Munoz published his newsletter for 162 consecutive weeks. Here's how his experiments paid off. |

How could school be able to teach wrong? This is how professor of university creativity Juan Munoz is making more impact as a creator by making himself a better student.

The first day of school, the creativity and innovation instructor Juan Munoz told his students they were free to submit their assignments in any manner they liked.

"It can be written on paper, written in your own handwriting, it can be typed by a computer. It can be a video, it can be a podcast-you can do whatever you want to accomplish. If you'd like to mail a messenger to do your work, that's fine. It's not necessary to be restricted by a piece of sheet of paper, or Google Doc," he advised.

But even with this freedom, his university students still submitted identical PDFs using identical formatting each and every time.

"I was so angry," Juan remembers. "I believed this was an easy task to complete to complete. How are they going to develop their creativity if they cannot even get this done?"

While the sequence continued, Juan wondered if there was a bigger issue at play.

"Students are taught to be a certain way of thinking for ten, 15 years at school. We've taught them that regardless of whether or not you're good, you'll be given a worse grade if you deviate from whatever guidelines your teacher has given the students. It's a fear that's inherent in deviation from the normal path."

Juan could see that this internalized programming was hurting creativity, and he was determined to alter things.

Juan enjoyed teaching but He was apprehensive about University rules. When he had free time reading, he would read TechCrunch as well as other publications for entrepreneurs and was given the inspiration to create a business.

In the beginning, there was not a vibrant entrepreneurial environment in the country where Juan grew up, Costa Rica, so Juan was determined to assist in getting things moving.

"I have a civil engineering degree and knew that the people who would ask me, "What is this person's knowledge of business?' So the first thing I did was I wrote all of my ideas on a blog, and then shared them with. I began my career as a creator by sharing my ideas online and sharing the things I could accomplish."

Today, Juan teaches creativity, goal-setting, entrepreneurship, and business via his online education platform called Epico Academia . The platform offers online classes and a library of free workshops, and a paid monthly email newsletter that helps individuals live more imaginative and epic lives.

This is how trying new things, exploring unexpected paths, and continually learning made it possible for Juan create a successful online business, and also unlock a holistic approach to entrepreneurship that's fulfilling and fun.

What can you do to present content with a style that doesn't look like a school

Based on his previous experience in creating courses in his position as an university professor producing content wasn't an issue for Juan. The only thing was to figure out the most impactful approach to delivering that content.

"The greatest obstacle is getting people to consume our content," Juan shares.

"People are likely to purchase a class and only a handful of them will take it. It's like going to being in school. If nobody's compelled me to perform the task and I'm attracted, my mind goes to the school environment. There's a teacher. are modules, there are classes."

So Juan began to experiment with different ways he could get his content to his audience.

"What if I try the email-based course where you get a great weekly email for the duration of a year ? Or TikTok-type content, just 30-second videos. Do I have the ability to create a course with tons of videos that are 30 seconds long? Maybe. Let me try it out and see if this works."

"I enjoy the fact that it allows me to do basically whatever content I'd like, in the order I want. I can make a course that's just 100 videos of 30 seconds and have people go through them."

One experiment that paid off was an email newsletter that promoted Mondays

In the spirit of experimentation, when Juan decided to try something new which was different from the norm and ended up putting together one of his most-loved assets: The Monday newsletter .

At the beginning of his online business, Juan noticed a trend.

"Every Sunday night, and on early on Monday, everyone would share memes on how they dread Mondays." Juan says. "I realized that there is always going to be a Monday. You can't escape it. The question is, why do you remain in a bind about this?"

"I realized that they are people who contact me and tell me"I'm not happy with my life, I don't like my job and I'd like to improve, I noticed a pattern. I'm a fan of marketing and branding I also thought that it would be a great brand idea because it's easy to be a grumpy Monday. There's already a group specifically for this, and it's an enormous club. How do you accomplish reverse that?"

Juan started a newsletter all about his love for Mondays where he shared one suggestion, idea or idea that would assist his readers in getting the most of their day.

"It was a popular topic with a lot of people because people were unhappy with something that was going on in their lives and I had been discussing ways to make their life better. People were able to ask"Why you think I hate Monday?'"

Today, this experiment-turned-newsletter continues to grow through word-of-mouth referrals, and Juan still loves writing it every week.

In order to become a better writer take the time to learn as much as you can about subjects you're interested in.

It's not every thought that comes together as seamlessly as the Monday newsletter And Juan found that the best method to gain clarity about concepts for content and product ideas was to become a student again.

"I'm constantly amazed by the privilege to live in a place in which we learn from anyone and anyone could learn from us. It's amazing. If I'm a marble enthusiast, I can locate someone who is so much in love with marbles, they'll show me something new. It could be that they're in Singapore, I might not know their name, but I can benefit from their writings."

To become a successful creator now, you must learn as much as you can about subjects you are interested in.

"I recommend that people consume everything they're interested about," Juan recommends. "Often you can even find free content on social media. And when you consume content, you realize, this really isn't that difficult. The guy is talking about marbles. You don't have to have the Ph.D. in a subject."

"There used to be experts," Juan explains. "There were people that knew everything about one subject because there was only a limited amount of information. There wasn't infinite information like that we are able to access today. And that information was sequestered in a place. It was clear that there was one person who knew everything about it They were the expert. This isn't an issue anymore."

"There are a lot of people who are knowledgeable but there's many who have a few ideas however there's always somebody with less knowledge than you. Therefore, you could create content for them and still have a big impact."

In essence, the more you get out there and learn, the more wisdom you'll give to those who are around you. If you're stuck on what to do or how, try switching roles and taking on the role of a student to reignite your inspiration.

How would you feel if you made things solely for the purpose of doing it?

One of the most important learnings Juan discovered during his entrepreneurial adventure was that there are a variety of ways people can share their passions.

It shouldn't just be about achieving some specific result, financial milestone, or followers count. Find a way to strike a balance between Telic goals and the Atelic.

"Telic goals are ones with a certain outcome that you can measure. Atelic goals are good to do for the sake of accomplishing them. It is my opinion that people should approach creating with both types of objectives in mind." Juan shares.

"If you're actually helping other people out, then it doesn't matter whether you help one person or millions."

Furthermore, you can gain value from working within the global community.

"If you share a tweet, Instagram posting  or video but no one sees it, it's there. Somebody will find it. In addition, gaining likes on your post or helping others by sharing your content are two completely distinct aspects. I am a fan of many items that I never double-tap. If no one has duplicate-tapped or retweeted your tweet does not mean that it isn't valuable."

"Creating is a visceral thing. It's emotional, vulnerable, it's very real," Juan relates. "It's an image of who you are and how you feel of yourself. Putting that information on the internet and not having one engage with it is horrible."

"But even if nobody buys the book, it's still interesting. You still learned a lot. It can be used to help you with your next job or anywhere. No one can ever take it from you. That's soul bound."

To stay in touch to what is important, Juan explains how important it is to be able to recall your roots and to celebrate all you've accomplished in the past.

"I recommend that creators keep journals and think about your current work by looking at yourself five years ago, or the past ten years, or 20 years in the past. Consider what you'd be thinking about the work you're doing today. Since in the past you'd likely consider it to be great."

And lastly, Juan reminds creators that the most important thing is to get your work there. This is not about achieving records-breaking sales, fans, or clients.

"I think it's arrogant to believe that nobody will want the product you offer. This is because you're making a the decision on behalf of someone else. You let them decide. If they like it and want it, they'll get it. If not, they'll never. It's just a matter of making the information available to the people who need it. Be more mind-blown by the world, learn all you can and create choices that other people make. own decisions."

"Create your idea and get it out there, Juan advises. "You do not know what is going to occur the next time."