Jason Soultan, NO/BS Conference – InnovaBuzz 266
Jason Soultan, NO/BS Conference
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Jason Soultan, Co-Founder and Design Director at digital agency Soul and Wolf and also Founder and Director of the NO/BS Conference. Jason’s agency has been operating for 14 years and is focused on doing great work for great people. They are all about people and relationships. And the best relationships they have are built on close collaboration.
Jason started the NO / BS Conference in response to frustration that most of the conferences and events he attended in the digital space lacked real-world content and focused largely on tactics, techniques, and technology. The NO / BS Conference is designed as a place where like-minded people can get together, listen to some amazing stories and cut through all the… BS. The inaugural conference will be in Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on March 11 and 12, 2020, so check out the links later in the episode to find out more and register. In fact, we’ve fast-tracked the publication of this episode to help Jason with the promotion of this event.
In our discussion, Jason and I talked about:
- Why doing good work must be focused on the user experience – the customer’s customer
- How he has built both his people network and idea bank from traveling extensively
- Why he setup the NO/BS Conference, how he did what needed to be done and worked through the challenges
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Do good work for good people. @JasonSoultan on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
Show Notes from this episode with Jason Soultan, Founder and Director of the NO/BS Conference
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Do good work for good people.
- You have to become like the client or user. It’s all about personalities and getting down to that personal level.
- You can’t provide the best possible service or quality of work unless you know your target audience.
- The NO/BS Conference is 2-day event where like-minded people come together to inspire, motivate, and learn from each other’s genuine and honest accounts of their journey, their work experiences, the issues they have fallen into and how they were able to overcome them.
- Like-minded people gravitate and resonate with each other.
- Don’t take too much personally. Don’t get too disheartened by people saying NO. Believe in yourself and believe in what you are doing.
- You have to have a contingency plan in place and be aware when things are changing. Know your options to make sure that the objective you are going for can still be met.
- Keep your event intimate and focus on the content. Allow people to get as much out of it as possible.
- You need to know what makes you different. If you find your niche then go for it. If not, then, probably just forget the idea.
- If you have an idea or something that you really want to do, you have to find the niche in it. Don’t be too generic.
- Work with people you are happy to be working with. If you’re doing work that you love and you are working with people that you like to work with, success will come.
- Don’t be in a hurry to get there. You can go very quickly and be successful very quickly but if you’re not prepared for it, you’ll come crashing down really quickly too.
- As business owners, it’s really hard to do the things that we do. You need to have a strong character, the will, and determination to succeed. Don’t give up.
You can't provide the best possible service or quality of work unless you know your target audience. @JasonSoultan on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Jason’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Being observant and aware of the systems and technologies around you. Know what’s out there and look for things that can be improved.
- Best thing for new ideas – Traveling. Go to different events. Do your homework and research.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Asana
- Keep project / client on track – Constant communication with the client.
- Differentiate – Be real and honest. Be yourself. Tell people what you think without trying to sugar coat things too much.
To Be a Leader
Be real and be honest. Be true to yourself and just persevere. Perseverance is tough but you have to keep moving forward. If you can do that and you believe in what you’re doing, you will succeed and get to where to want to be.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Jason through their website.
Suggested Guest
Jason suggested I interview Andrew Lane of Genero and Mark Calabro of Hungry Hungry. So Andrew and Mark, keep an eye on your inboxes for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Jason Soultan.
Links
Are you ready to be inspired to get the most out of your own professional journey? Get your tickets now for the NO/BS Conference!
Cool things about Jason
- He’s one of the judges of the CSS Design Awards.
- He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia, Design, and Programming from Swinburne University of Technology
- He’s one of the 2020 juries of Awwwards, a professional web-design competition that recognises and promotes the talent and effort of the best developers, designers, and web agencies in the world.
Work with people you are happy to be working with. If you're doing work that you love and you are working with people that you like to work with, success will come. @JasonSoultan on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet