“Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.” – Bill GatesOur podcast guest today, Michael Prywes, is an artist, an attorney, a creative author of a book called The Gasp, which you’re gonna hear more about, host of the How I Broke Into podcast where he takes a deep dive into big breaks of successful people, and he’s had some pretty freaking cool guests on that show.And he’s a father of two boys who are 10 and 8, a Little League coach, and recently named trustee of the Board of Education in your community.Together, we get to dig into some pretty fascinating topics with Michael’s unique background that bridges creativity with intellectual property.In the U.S. Constitution, it’s established that there’s a limited monopoly for artists, inventors, and writers of copyright and patent. Patents are inventions, ideas. And copyrights are original expressions of ideas. For patents, you go through the U.S. Patent Office. For copyrights, you can register a copyright with the U.S. Patent Office; but in actuality, the minute you fix an original work into a tangible medium, you automatically have that copyright. However the registration gives you certain benefits, which we talk about in this episode.Five or six years ago, if you downloaded a Google image without knowing where it came from, and you put it on your website, you committed copyright infringement. And when somebody came knocking, or sends you a letter, it’s not a cease and desist letter – it’s a demand letter. And they can ask for that money right away, because you’ve already infringed. As opposed to a cease and desist letter, which is very often related to trademark, and in that case, that has no effect at law. That’s also kind of a shakedown. But people get scared about cease and desist letters. They shouldn’t. They should get scared about demand letters, because they will likely lose in a court of law.See you over at the podcast for more on this, Robin Williams, tech, and more Take the Unique Productivity Style QuizOnce You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business.Take the Quiz today and get your results!IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:The difference between patents and copyrightsWhat to understand about demand and cease and desist lettersBioMichael Prywes is a New York attorney who serves artists and creative entrepreneurs. Michael is also the author of the bestselling practical guide “The Gasp: How to Seize That A-Ha! Moment and Turn It into a Winning Business.” His podcast “How I Broke Into” takes a deep dive into the big breaks of successful artists and businesspeople; guests have included Hal Elrod (“The Miracle Morning), Emmy-winner Reed Morano (“A Handmaid’s Tale”), ballet gold medalist Brooklyn Mack (The Washington Ballet), and museum sculptor Rhoda Sherbell (MOMA, Cooperstown).Michael is an active father of two boys, 10 and 8 years old; he has been a Little League coach since they were just out of diapers. In 2017, he was elected to serve as a Trustee of the Board of Education for the Half Hollow Hills Central School District, one of the largest school districts on Long Island.Michael is also a former media professional with a background in film, theatre, video, art, music, Internet, and law. A tech enthusiast since the age of 5, when he learned to program Basic on a TI-99/4A, Michael built the first globally crowdsourced audience voting entertainment site, CastOurMovie, which was featured in the Industry Standard, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and U.S. News and World Report. Michael founded the now decades-old Jewish Theatre Ensemble at Northwestern University, for which he earned the Elie Wiesel Prize for Jewish Arts and Culture.On the legal side of the entertainment industry, Michael has served as Law Clerk for New Video Group/Docurama (now Cinedigm), distributor of the A&E/History, Scholastic, and Major League Baseball labels, and has worked for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Performers). Michael has been involved in the drafting of agreements and negotiations with the companies guiding the future of media and technology convergence: Amazon Unbox, Apple iTunes, Netflix, etc.Michael currently is an adjunct professor at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, teaching “Intellectual Property and Cutting the Deal” to MFA candidates. He has also taught screenwriting and film at St. John’s University and CUNY Queens College and has been a guest speaker at a number of schools including UCLA and NYU.Michael was one of 12 students selected for Northwestern University’s “Creative Writing for the Media Program,” alongside Seth Meyers (“Late Night”), Janae Bakken (“Scrubs”), and Breen Frazier (“Criminal Minds”). He also graduated from UCLA’s Professional Screenwriting Program. Michael received his JD from the Hofstra University School of Law, where he attended on a Full Merit Scholarship, and was selected as a Dean’s Scholar.Michael is a member of The Copyright Society of the U.S.A.Free GiftsDownloadable audio book The Gasp: How to Seize That A-Ha! Moment and Turn It into a Winning BusinessLinksSocial media:www.facebook.com/NYStartUpAttystwitter.com/NYStartUpAttysMichaelPrywes.comhttps://youtu.be/odRvTfHWQOwYou can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel.TranscriptShow Transcript (5,914 More Words)Minette Riordan: Have you ever said to yourself, “I don’t have enough time?”Brad Dobson: “I am so overwhelmed.”Minette Riordan: “I need more clarity.”Brad Dobson: “I don’t know how to do this.”Minette Riordan: “My to do list is miles long.”Brad Dobson: “I’m exhausted.”Minette Riordan: “There’s got to be a better way.”Brad Dobson: Hi there. I’m Brad.Minette Riordan: And I’m Minette. Not only have we said all these things ourselves, but we’ve heard our community of creative entrepreneurs say them over and over again.Brad Dobson: That’s why we created the Structure and Flow Podcast. I’m structure.Minette Riordan: And I’m flow. And this is the productivity podcast for creative entrepreneurs.Brad Dobson: We believe that doing more and working harder are not the solution to your productivity challenges.Minette Riordan: We believe in more play, more fun, and more profit. Join us as we explore the interplay between structure and flow so that we can bring more grace and ease to your creative business.Hey everybody. Welcome back to Structure and Flow. I’m Dr. Minette Riordan here along with my husband, Brad Dobson. We are the co-founders of the Path to Profit Academy, and we are super excited to be here today.Brad Dobson: We sure are.Minette Riordan: And there was a train of thought supposed to go somewhere.Brad Dobson: We’re happy to welcome Michael Prywes to the show today.Minette Riordan: We’ve been practicing his name. Can you tell?Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: That’s right. Mike Prywes.Brad Dobson: Mike Prywes. But it’s Prywes.Minette Riordan: It’s Primus. So as always, we love to start the podcast with a quote. And I think this will be an interesting one to dive into our conversation today. And I’m sure you’ve heard this one Mike. It’s from Bill Gates, who famously said that “Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.”Michael Prywes: I actually hadn’t heard that.Minette Riordan: So welcome to the show.Michael Prywes: Thank you.Minette Riordan: And at some point, [inaudible Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: When we get to talking about your book The Gasp. But let me tell everybody a little bit about Mike, and then we’ll dive into the conversation.So Mike has an amazing bio, and I want to encourage you to go read the long version of this on the show notes. And because there’s some juicy stuff in there. But Mike’s in the right place. He’s such a creative at heart. He is an artist, an attorney, a creative author of a book called The Gasp, which you’re gonna hear more about, host of the How I Broke Into Podcast where he takes a deep dive into big breaks of successful people, and he’s had some pretty freaking cool guests on that show. And perhaps more importantly, from my perspective is he’s a father of two boys who are 10 and 8, a Little League coach, and you’re passionate about education. In fact, you were recently named trustee of the Board of Education in your community. And you’re pretty geeky about technology.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: Did I cover it?Michael Prywes: Yeah. You pretty much did.Brad Dobson: I like how in the longer bio it says you’re an active father. Two boys, I’ll bet you’re active.Michael Prywes: Oh yeah. I had to get a lot more active once they came around.Brad Dobson: That’s the truth.Minette Riordan: So I’m curious how you went from attorney to really being a fan and supporter for other people in creative businesses. Maybe share a little bit about your own creative entrepreneurial journey.Michael Prywes: Sure. Actually, I would say that it’s the attorney piece that came almost last.Minette Riordan: Okay.Michael Prywes: And it is all the creative entrepreneurial stuff that came beforehand, but led me to become an attorney.Minette Riordan: Gotcha.Michael Prywes: Which is unusual for most people. Very often, you’ll have attorneys who are producers and then they go into producing. For over 10 years, I was in the entertainment industry, and in the online industry. And I just kept on running into legal issues. And some small and some big ones. But what I realized is how much I didn’t know even after having launched my own companies. And I went to law school at night, because I was encountering so many different issues. At one point, on New Years Eve, I got a call form Thailand, where a guy had paid for the deliverables to a feature film that I produced. And I said, “Well, you didn’t buy them from me. I don’t know why you’re expecting deliverables from me.”Minette Riordan: Ouch.Michael Prywes: And a crooked salesperson had sold him rights to my film, Southeast Asian rights, for $15,000.Minette Riordan: Wow.Brad Dobson: Wow.Michael Prywes: And he wanted his deliverables. And I said, “I’m so sorry.” But I realized that I needed to become better educated about is this about negotiations, about dealing with people, because I, like a lot of creative people, I only, I didn’t wanna deal with contracts. I didn’t wanna deal with the issues and negotiations. And I didn’t want to deal with asking uncomfortable questions and things like that. So I went to law school at night. And luckily, I went on scholarship, so I didn’t have to become an attorney.Minette Riordan: That’s pretty funny.Michael Prywes: But then, my law school professor asked me to join his law firm, and it was a trial law firm. And I had no trial experience. But I was a performance studies major and theater major in college.Brad Dobson: So you can act.Michael Prywes: I can act. This is gonna be just like Law & Order. And it wasn’t. It was tedious and pugilistic, and kind of brutal at times, and ultimately, it was not meant for me. But I loved the intellectual explorations of the law. And in many ways, law and drama are very similar. When you’re going to the Supreme Court, or you’re going to the highest court of appeals in your state, generally you’re dealing with knotty complex challenging issues. And that’s really the way drama is too. So I decided that I needed to leave trial law. But I didn’t wanna leave law all together. So I brainstormed. And this is all in the introduction to my book. I brainstormed with my wife, and I realized, actually woke up from a dream one day after brainstorming with her, and I said, “I’m going to serve artists and entrepreneurs.” And she said, “That’s exactly what you need to do.”Minette Riordan: Wow.Michael Prywes: And so I actually, I brought on a business partner and we started up a law firm. And it was scary, but it was exciting, and we modeled it after, we modeled a lot of the business practices of the law firm after lean startups.Brad Dobson: Right.Michael Prywes: So we could, it’s almost like an experiment on applying the rules of the 21st century business to a law firm. And that’s how I ended up here. So I’m actually an accidental attorney. Not an accident attorney, an accidental attorney.Minette Riordan: I love that. What a great story. And it says a lot about you and your own intelligence and creative curiosity, that you didn’t just go read up on the law, but you actually went to law school.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: And became a lawyer in order to be able to answer some of these naughty questions as you say, for yourself and others. And I know this is just one small piece of what you do. And since this is a productivity podcast, one of the topics that comes up a lot is balance. I also know how important your family is, how passionate you are about education. How do you balance all these different aspects of your life?Michael Prywes: Yes. It’s not always easy, to say the least. And kids are definitely a complicating factor.Brad Dobson: Yeah.Michael Prywes: And when I say that, I try not to be judgemental in my approach to building a life. And I really think this is about building, and some people say designing a life. But it’s, I don’t think it’s that formalistic. I think you build a life, and you set certain expectations for yourself. It’s my opinion that the most fulfilling life is the one that where your priorities align with your values.Minette Riordan: Yep.Michael Prywes: And I talk a lot about that in my book. And I have this matrix called the TEAM matrix. It stands for time, energy, emotion, and money. And most people recognize that they need to focus on allocations of time and allocations of money. But they very often forget about the allocations of energy and emotion.Minette Riordan: Beautiful.Michael Prywes: And with my kids or my wife or my job, everything I try to bring together the ideal allocations of time, energy, allocation, and money. And one of the things that I find most people aren’t cognizant of is that they say they don’t have enough time. But it really means that they’re not making enough time, or they’re trying to put too much activity in time without taking into consideration how draining that might be from an energy standpoint or emotional standpoint. So for instance, getting to know yourself and understanding where you were, your greatest peak flow, state of flow is, is very important in your level of productivity. And also, you, when you have kids, and you have a family, and you make them a priority, because if you value them and you make them a priority, you’re going to have to adjust your schedule and your own matrix almost like if you were navigating surfing, or navigating rock climbing, where you’re going to have obstacles. You’re going to be dependent on the waves, or whatever external factors there are. And then you adjust, you adapt, and you build your life around that based on day, week, month, year. I live by my matrix, but also by my calendar, which is very much part of the matrix, but understanding that when my kids go to school, that’s grown-up time.Brad Dobson: Sure. Sure.Michael Prywes: And within that grown-up time, there are different rituals that will get me into that state of flow. But I also am very cognizant of the fact that there’s something mention in my book, and I really believe in this, that we have the planning fallacy, that we always believe that we can achieve tasks, we can get through tasks much more quickly than we actually do.Minette Riordan: Yeah.Michael Prywes: So I do not reduce-Minette Riordan: Guilty.Michael Prywes: Yeah, everybody’s guilty. I do not reduce anything in my calendar to less than an hour.Brad Dobson: Right.Minette Riordan: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Interesting.Michael Prywes: So no matter what. To me, that’s bound time. But usually, if you low ball it, and you say, “Okay, I’ve got 6 hours today to work with, like molding clay. And that means I only have 6 items I can put into that calendar.” But let’s say I put three in, because we’re talking about structure and flow, and maybe you wanna be in a flow state, and it’s a creative act, and you’re gonna spend two to three hours. And then ultimately, you end up achieving 8 to 10 things because you only expected to do four or five within those 6 hours.Minette Riordan: I love it. It sets you up for success. It totally shifts your mindset on how you’re filling your calendar.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: So it’s not dissimilar to your focus box.Brad Dobson: Yeah, definitely. And you know, when I was in the software world, it’s rare that you could get something done in an hour.Michael Prywes: Right.Brad Dobson: We tended to, we wanted people to estimate things with more than one hour, and maximum 8 to 16 hours. We didn’t really want big tasks to be estimated. But that’s actually a fantastic take away is just a one hour approach to any task. It’s pretty effective.So I think I’d like to ask a slightly different question. We could get back to the balance part too. But I’m interested in how a legal service like yours can help creative business owners like us with our productivity, what it is that the law and legal services can do to provide a framework or provide structure that most creatives wouldn’t necessarily want to have or want to deal with.Minette Riordan: Contracts. Contracts.Michael Prywes: Yes. So the first thing people should know is that most of what you think you know about the law, you don’t. And I don’t mean to sound condescending. But there’s a reason we go to law school for a long time. And one of the things that I find with creatives, what makes them so special and so inspiring is that they try to do everything themselves. But this is an area where you shouldn’t. And likewise, I think a lot of creative people don’t have enough self respect. And what I mean by that is they think they’re offending somebody by asking for a contract. And the reality is is that a contract is the ultimate expression of respect. It’s mutual assent. It’s an agreement. That’s why we call them agreements. It’s mutual agreements. So from my perspective, creative people need to educate themselves better before even going to an attorney. Because I think one of the problems creative people have is that they’re scared, and then they don’t wanna get overcharged. And they just avoid going to an attorney all together.Brad Dobson: Right.Michael Prywes: One of the things that I think people also think about when it comes to the law, is they need an attorney. Attorney services are commoditized in their mind. And they’re thinking about how much things are going to cost, rather than how can an attorney make me money, which an attorney can make creative people money, because an attorney can guide a creative person in identifying areas of intellectual property to exploit, drawing up contracts that are favorable to them, standard contracts, or specifically tailored contracts. They can help identify ways to build separate business entities, so that different business entities serve different functions based on what they’re used for, such as intellectual property, such as merchandising, such as events. You name it, you can have multiple forms of business entities that work together or work separately. And so that was one of the reasons I wrote the book was to give creatives especially, but entrepreneurs in general, a layperson’s understanding of how to startup a business and grow a business, and not break the bank, but really speak the language, so when they do meet with an attorney in their area, they can speak somewhat knowledgeably. But most people just try to do it all themselves. And generally, it’s not worth it.Minette Riordan: Yeah. Totally agree with that. I read the book. It was great.Michael Prywes: Oh thank you.Minette Riordan: Before we had our last conversation, which was awesome.Michael Prywes: Thanks.Minette Riordan: So whey don’t you tell us a little bit more about the book and what people can expect, ’cause I think it’s … And I love your perspective that you practice law in the state of New York, but you’re really called to help people understand how to have a better relationship with attorneys, and also the key things to think about in their business globally, right?Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: ‘Cause this is not a local issue. It’s a global issue. So say the name of the book, ’cause I love the name of the book.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: Tell us why the name, and-Michael Prywes: So this is the book. It’s The Gasp: How to Seize That Aha Moment and Turn It Into a Winning Business.Minette Riordan: I love that. It’s brilliant.Michael Prywes: Thank you. And it’s really a practical guide. And it’s actually an easy read, because I try to make it narratively friendly. And-Minette Riordan: You did a good job.Michael Prywes: Thank you. I, like I mentioned before, I was a trial attorney, but I’m not transactional attorney. And my job is to help people avoid lawsuits, to do things properly so they don’t have people knocking down their doors or sending cease and desist letters. And I try to explain all of that. I think especially with questions of fair use for instance, with artists. Most people don’t have a proper understanding of fair use.Minette Riordan: Can you tell us what that means?Michael Prywes: Yes.In the U.S. Constitution, it’s established that there’s a limited monopoly for artists and inventors and writers of copyright and patent. And patents are inventions, ideas. And copyrights are original expressions of ideas. And patents, you go through the U.S. Patent Office. And copyrights, you can register a copyright with the U.S. Patent Office, but in actuality, the minute you fix an original work into a tangible medium, you automatically actually have that copyright. It’s just that the registration gives you certain benefits, like suing for attorney’s fees, and also something known as statutory damages, which means that if there is willful infringement, you can collect up to $150,000 per infringement without having to demonstrate actual damage that was caused.Minette Riordan: And this would be in a case where you felt like someone was stealing your ideas, and-Michael Prywes: Not your ideas. You expression of ideas. And that’s a very important distinction.Minette Riordan: Okay.Michael Prywes: So I’ll give you my favorite case. And I don’t know the resolution of this case. But Getty Images is famous for-Minette Riordan: Oh my gosh. Yes.Michael Prywes: … shaking people down-Minette Riordan: Yep.Michael Prywes: … for images. And they generally have a legitimate claim. Well there’s this one, I believe she was a National Geographic photographer. And most people don’t realize this, but even when you hire somebody, let’s say you hired somebody on Fiverr or Upwork. Most people don’t even generate a simple contract agreement with the artist, let’s say. Technically, you haven’t established who owns the copyright to what you’ve hired for. And the default in most jurisdictions is it goes to the independent contractor, not to the person paying for it. So in this case, you had, I believe she was a National Geographic photographer. And she decided to donate her entire portfolio to the Library of Congress, to be used for educational purposes I believe, by the public.Getty images decided that it was in the public domain. They just by fiat decided that it was in the public domain, and started having it on their site, and then shaking people down for use of these images. So she sued them for a billion dollars.Minette Riordan: Wow.Michael Prywes: Because-Brad Dobson: I wanna hear what the resolution was for that.Minette Riordan: Yeah.Michael Prywes: I do too.Minette Riordan: Like I hope they [crosstalk Michael Prywes: And she has a colorable claim.Minette Riordan: Yeah.Michael Prywes: Their argument was it was in the public domain. And she said, “I never put them in the public domain. I donated them to the Library of Congress to be used by the public, but not for you to shake down other people for license fees.”So that’s one of my favorite cases, but she actually has a colorable claim. I don’t know what their resolution was. But that would be an example.Now one of the affirmative defenses to copyright infringement is something known as fair use. I can teach a whole class on this. And I have.Minette Riordan: I’m sure [crosstalk Brad Dobson: Yeah, definitely.Minette Riordan: And so there’s a lot of fear out there about, like I can’t tell you how many clients I hear from that they’re afraid to share their art, right?Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: They’re afraid it’s going to be stolen or their ideas are gonna be stolen. And it’s happened to them before, and so they’re, what is is, once bitten twice shy?Michael Prywes: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Brad Dobson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Michael Prywes: So this is a complex area of law. And one of the problems is is that the resolutions in federal courts all over the country, and all over America are not in lock step. And it can be very frustrating, because it’s almost nonsensical, some of the decisions that have been made. One of the cases that comes to mind that I like to talk about is the case of a Broadway show called Hand To God, which used the Abbot and Costello who’s on first routine verbatim. And there were multiple factors that were not just fair use. But the judge at the time had declared that there was fair use because it transformed the work. But even that is not well established. There are factors that the Supreme Court have established, but they haven’t established how much is required. There’s not application for fair use. It’s just an affirmative defense that you kind of hang your hopes on. And so the first thing I would say is that there is no slam dunk fair use claim. And the second thing I would say is that it’s on a case by case basis. And any good attorney will tell you don’t try to ascertain whether this is fair use on your own. Speak to an attorney before infringing.So that’s the first thing. Second thing is regarding those pictures and these companies. An artist probably would be wise to retain one of these companies If their, if his or her work has been repeatedly infringed upon. But of course, statutory damages only come if you’ve registered with the copyright office and you would want to do that within the first three months of publishing. You can actually file. I believe it’s changed a little bit. I believe it’s up to 750 pictures per portfolio with the U.S. Copyright Office. I don’t do any copyright registration on behalf of clients. It’s just not worth it to me.Minette Riordan: Yeah.Michael Prywes: But creatives should absolutely register for a copyright, and consider retaining one of these companies. Now this is distinguished from cease and desist letters, because there’s actually a case that can be made. If 5 or 6 years ago, you downloaded a picture from Google images, and you didn’t know where it came from, and you put it on your website, you committed copyright infringement. And so when somebody comes knocking, or sends you a letter, that’s not a cease and desist letter, that’s a demand letter. And they can ask for that money right away, because you’ve already infringed. As opposed to a cease and desist letter, which is very often related to trademark, and in that case, that has no effect at law. That’s also kind of a shakedown. But people get scared about cease and desist letters. They shouldn’t. They should get scared about demand letters, because they will likely lose in a court of law.Now, you can assert fair use, but you’re probably not going to win if you were using somebody’s copyrighted work.Brad Dobson: Good stuff.Minette Riordan: This is-Michael Prywes: What’s that?Minette Riordan: It’s good stuff.Brad Dobson: I said good stuff.Michael Prywes: Thanks.Minette Riordan: It’s such useful information, and we could go on and on about this. But a couple of things you said, and I have one last question for you that really struck me is about the role of technology in all of this, because there’s so much more opportunity for infringement-Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: … in our era of sharing, right?Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: Pinterest in particular has been a site that’s really struggled with this concept of the sharing and re-sharing of images. But I know you have some pretty interesting ideas about just where technology is going, not just in law and copyright and trademark, but in education and in business. So let’s talk a little bit about tech.Michael Prywes: Yes. I’m a huge fan of tech. I’m a believer that it’s not inherently good or bad. But I think we have unhealthy fears of tech, and we also have an unhealthy understanding of tech. And I believe that we … So my personal, if you wanna call it a political perspective on tech is it leans much more towards electronic frontier foundation as opposed to … So even though I do represent copyright holders, I do believe in a lot more of the expanse of fair use. But less on copyright and more on something that is state to state. And so for instance, California has a very different approach than New York to a concept knows as right of publicity. And right of publicity are statutes that very often, in my opinion, they borderline go against the first amendment in terms of people, right of publicity is a person’s right to exploit their own likeness, name, voice, what have you. And in California is very hardline on that. To give you an idea, we …Okay, I know I’ve gotten a little off of tech here. But it will come back to tech. Robin Williams, when Robin Williams died, he donated his right of publicity to I believe Doctors Without Borders. The reason was is because when Michael Jackson died, his right of publicity, because it’s strong in California, was valued by the IRS I believe at something like 15 million dollars. So the right to exploit his likeness in California was worth that much. And so by donating it, by donating his right of publicity to charity, it, Robin Williams essentially saved his heirs a lot of money, and also gave the charity the ability to exploit that right that’s really not strong in New York State.When I look at what people do online, I like the golden rule. And here in New York for instance, I’m on a school board. We have something know as DASA, which is a relatively new statute, Dignity for All Students Act. That’s the anti-bullying act. And you can see both sides of the coin. But I’m obviously, well not obviously, but I am in favor or DASA. Cyber bullying for instance is an area where I think we see the worst of what tech can do. But we can also see the best of what tech can do, because something like what we’re doing today wasn’t really possible 10 year ago.Minette Riordan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Michael Prywes: And that’s, 10 years ago, I can tell you, because my son is almost 11. But my son was born the day after the iPhone. So I’m really able to see, from being a parent, the evolution of us as a species so quickly and how much our lives have changed. As my wife has put it, her job didn’t even exist back 10 years ago when he was born. And so many jobs didn’t exist.Minette Riordan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Michael Prywes: I do believe that we are going to be confronted repeatedly, and we are on a very fast, very fast turnaround on technological advancement. It’s like that proverbial snowball that is really just building and going so fast. But we don’t know what the workplace will be like. We don’t know if there will be universal basic income in the United States. Self driving cars. That’s going to change so much in our lives. And I don’t think that takes us away from identifying what matters to us, because we may be shifting our priorities, but ultimately, if we don’t know ourselves, it doesn’t rally matter what those technological changes are, either we’re gonna have this malaise or idea, the lack of anchor, or we’re going to know, “I’m prioritizing my health. I’m prioritizing my family. This is what I value most. I’m going to prioritize making an income, but I’m gonna know what that income is for.Brad Dobson: Yeah. And I think, for the most part, my views probably align with yours. But I just really think that technology is an extension of humanity. And yeah, there’s gonna be some really huge ones that come at us. But we’re still humanity. We can, technology gives us the opportunity to bully in cyber space and it gives us the opportunity to support in cyber space.Michael Prywes: Exactly.Brad Dobson: It’s not really different than meat space, it’s just, it’s just an extension. Maybe we can do it faster, but …Michael Prywes: Absolutely.Brad Dobson: Now, it does give a voice, where others didn’t have a voice. And it does take the covers off and give, remove ignorance, because people can have knowledge that they couldn’t previously, which is fantastic. But we’re still humanity, so …Minette Riordan: And I think it ties neatly into your TEAM matrix about , we can apply the TEAM matrix to our use and adaptation of technology and how we’re showing up in the world. And Brad and I were recently at a big digital marketing conference called Traffic and Conversion, and even though the whole event was about digital marketing and driving traffic, and driving conversions. The theme of the whole event was that connection matters more than anything.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: And that how can we use technology and automation to drive actual conversation and human interaction. I love the sort of double edged sword of the conversation, because I think there’s still so much fear, especially, I would say a little in our generation, but certainly in the baby boomer generation, that they’re finding it challenging to just stay on top of the minimum access to technology. And then we come along, and we’re a little better. Our kids are a little bit older than yours. So we didn’t have iPhones, but they certainly were born with a mouse in their hand.Michael Prywes: Right.Minette Riordan: Right? Like it’s amazing to look at that perspective of how it’s impacting everything. I think we’ll see, in addition to money changing, the systems of money changing, I think we’re gonna see education changing a lot.Michael Prywes: Absolutely.Minette Riordan: So much more access to information. My hope is that people will still get together in person. I’m a huge meet up fan and the philosophy of meet up that let’s get together offline as well. And you know, we just sent our first kiddo, he’s in his first year of University. And the whole reason for him to go to University was like, go live on your own. Learn how to live your life.Brad Dobson: Yes.Minette Riordan: Find this same structure. We don’t care what you study. Whatever education that you get is probably not what you’re going to end up doing for the rest of your life anyway.Michael Prywes: Right.Minette Riordan: I’m testament to that. He’s already changed his major once, so it’s-Michael Prywes: Of course.Minette Riordan: It’s fascinating to me to watch. And I love Brad’s perspective that tech is an expansion of humanity, and how can we make humans and technology play together in a way that still supports our values, right?Brad Dobson: Yeah, definitely.Michael Prywes: There’s a book by Kevin Kelly, who I believe is one of the founders of Wired Magazine. It’s a wonderful book. It’s called What Technology Wants. And it posits the idea that we are actually part of what he called a technium, that the growth of technology is intrinsic to humanity’s evolution as much as anything else, that it’s, that they coincide, and it’s an actual rhythm of the universe, which is a pretty, when you read it, it’s pretty mind-blowing his approach. But I think it dovetails nicely with what Brad’s saying. I also think that when it comes to education, we’re going to see a lot of changes in terms of distance learning. You mentioned my tech side. I actually had gotten accepted and participated for one semester and then dropped out, of Georgia Tech’s Masters Program in Computer Science. And this is a perfect example of where I overloaded myself, because I tried to run my own law firm while trying to go to school, because I had done it before. But now I had a family, and it just didn’t work. But this program, it’s the Masters Program in Computer Science, is all online. And Georgia Tech has one of the top Computer Science programs in the world. And it was under $7,000.Minette Riordan: Wow.Michael Prywes: And it was a MOOK program, Massive Online, something Course. I can’t remember.Minette Riordan: Yeah.Michael Prywes: And people all over the world participated. So you’re going to have a lot more distance learning. I personally believe, I’ve been a believer that maybe the top 100 universities in the United States will thrive and that the rest will become remote learning centers. Otherwise I think a lot are going to go under.Minette Riordan: Yeah. It’s gonna be fascinating to see where that all goes. So Mike, I know that you are super excited about sharing your book with people.Michael Prywes: Yes.Minette Riordan: And you actually have an awesome free gift, speaking of fabulous books. So tell us a little bit about your free gift for our listeners today.Michael Prywes: Yes. Well, I would love for everybody to pick up the paperback or the Kindle book. But I have a free audiobook for your listeners, and it’s at graspthegasp.com/audiobook.Brad Dobson: Nice.Michael Prywes: And it’s narrated by Charlie McWade, who’s actually mentioned in the book. Charlie McWade is one of my older friends, one of my oldest friends. And he was also a guest on my podcast. He’s a Nickelodeon voiceover artist.Minette Riordan: Oh cool.Michael Prywes: And he does a great job with it. And all listeners to your show can download the audiobook today.Minette Riordan: I’d love that. So for all of you who are listening, some great take aways today. Just some of the simple things, like what’s the difference between a copyright and a patent. That was a great take away about what fair use is. So there were some great take aways. I loved, my own personal take away was the TEAM Matrix.Michael Prywes: Thank you.Minette Riordan: Like I’m looking at everything through that lens of time, energy, emotion, and money.Brad Dobson: And one hour tasks.Minette Riordan: And one hour tasks. That was another great take away. And then, the thing that I want all of you who are listening, I hope you heard Mike’s emphasis on why creatives need more self respect, and how a contract is the ultimate sign of self respect. Brilliant.Michael Prywes: Thank you.Minette Riordan: Absolutely love that. So it was so much juicy stuff. And it was just our pleasure to have you on the show today. Thanks for sharing your creative genius with us on Structure and Flow.Michael Prywes: Thank you so much.Brad Dobson: Thanks Mike.Michael Prywes: Thank you so much for having me. This is wonderful.Minette Riordan: Yeah. It was super super fun. And we’ll see everybody on the next episode of Structure and Flow. I’m Minette.Brad Dobson: And I’m Brad.Minette Riordan: I’m flow.Brad Dobson: I’m still structure.Minette Riordan: Bye everybody.Brad Dobson: Thanks for listening to Structure and Flow, the productivity podcast for creative entrepreneurs. To find out more about this episode and others, go to pathtoprofitacademy.com and click on the podcast link. The post Episode 101: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property as a Creative Entrepreneur with Michael Prywes appeared first on Path to Profit Academy.