Create Your Art

I'm Darren Cooper, and I believe something that might sound crazy...every one of us is an artist.Not the kind with a paintbrush. The kind that looks at their life, their message, and decides it's worth giving to the world.Every episode, I sit down with ordinary people doing extraordinary things with their one life (coaches, leaders, entrepreneurs, pastors), those who had something worth creating, and finally stopped waiting for permission.My hope is simple. That somewhere in their story you hear your own. And that you walk away convinced that your voice matters and your art deserves to e

Create Your Art is a business podcast hosted by Darren Cooper, with 47 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Darren Cooper hosts Create Your Art, a business show with 47 episodes published.

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  Create Your Art

  CYA Ep 028 Chad Temple Segment 2

  Sep 29, 202610 min

  Chad Temple spent 33 years as a pastor before he stepped out to launch indyNetwork, and the fear that showed up was the same one he felt as a teenager throwing a party nobody came to. In this conversation with Darren, Chad opens up about the voice that told him he was a phony, the "doorway conversations" that happen before anyone commits to showing up, and the fear he says was harder than any business risk: what his adult kids would think when they finally saw him afraid. ➡️ FREE CONTENT CLARITY AUDIT https://link.1898creative.com/widget/bookings/1898-creative/audit KEY TAKEAWAYS: ⚡️ The fear of being exposed as a fraud does not go away with age or experience, it just changes shape. ⚡️People decide whether to commit to something in the doorway, before they ever fully step inside. ⚡️Real leadership is not the absence of fear, it is doing what you said you would do while afraid. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:01 the voices that show up when you step out. 02:25 the party nobody came to. 04:20 the cost of encouragement versus the cost of doing it. 04:50 the fear of what his kids would see. 08:59 what actually answers the fear. CONNECT WITH US: Website: https://1898creative.com Darren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenandrewcooper CONNECT WITH CHAD TEMPLE: Website: https://www.indynetwork.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076282504518 Instagram: @_indynetwork_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC0MK0GHY_DlzWIEeA9SueVA If this episode helped you, please: Give it a thumbs up Share your biggest takeaway in the comments Subscribe for weekly content strategy insights Share with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear this HASHTAGS: #createyourart #findable #leadership #fatherhood #ministryleadership

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  Create Your Art

  You Can't Fake Thirty Years of Faithfulness

  Sep 22, 202610 min

  Chad Temple spent thirty years walking the same routes, knocking on the same doors, showing up for the same families, long after most people would have quit or moved on. In this segment, he tells Darren the stories that explain why. A pay phone in the Bronx. A neighborhood that stayed loyal after a full year of silence. A route captain who drove straight into a crime scene asking "is it one of my kids." A blizzard that didn't stop a promised Snickers bar from getting delivered by hand. This is a conversation about what it actually costs to become the kind of person or organization a community can count on without asking twice. ➡️ FREE CONTENT CLARITY AUDIT https://link.1898creative.com/widget/bookings/1898-creative/audit KEY TAKEAWAYS: ⚡️ Consistency, not charisma, is what makes you unforgettable to the people you serve ⚡️ Trust survives a gap in contact when it was built on years of showing up before that ⚡️ The decision to follow through has to be made before the hard moment arrives, not during it ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: CONNECT WITH US: Website: https://1898creative.com Darren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenandrewcooper CONNECT WITH CHAD TEMPLE: Website: https://www.indynetwork.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076282504518 Instagram: @_indynetwork_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC0MK0GHY_DlzWIEeA9SueVA If this episode helped you, please: Give it a thumbs up Share your biggest takeaway in the comments Subscribe for weekly content strategy insights Share with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear this HASHTAGS: #createyourart #faithfulness #consistency #communityimpact #showupanyway

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  Episode #28

  CYA Ep 028 Chad Temple V1

  Sep 14, 20261h 11m

  Most people building something new are chasing the moment it finally looks impressive. Chad Temple, founder of iNDY Network and Darren's father in law, spent thirty three years knocking on doors in Indianapolis neighborhoods before any of it looked impressive at all. In this episode, Chad and Darren talk about the leap from three decades at one church to founding a network that strengthens, connects, and unleashes twenty one partner ministries across the city, the fear that never fully goes away no matter how long you've been doing the work, and why the big splash was never actually the point. ➡️ FREE CONTENT CLARITY AUDIT https://link.1898creative.com/widget/bookings/1898-creative/audit KEY TAKEAWAYS: ⚡️ Consistency compounds. The families who trusted Chad's team did so because they showed up on the same day, at the same time, for years, not because of a single big moment. ⚡️ The fear of being seen as a fraud does not disappear with experience. It just becomes something you have learned to work alongside. ⚡️ Effort matters, but it is not the whole story. Chad's "stirring the water" analogy reframes how much credit any of us should take for what we build. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Introduction and meeting Chad Temple 01:21 - Thirty three years running outreach in Indianapolis 04:15 - The thread of consistency over time 17:50 - Why the big splash was never the point 22:02 - The leap from the church into iNDY Network 35:29 - The fear of being seen as a fraud 48:21 - Stirring the water: a different take on effort and trust 52:00 - Strengthen, connect, unleash in practice 01:05:03 - Encouragement for anyone standing at the edge CONNECT WITH US: Website: https://1898creative.com Darren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenandrewcooper CONNECT WITH CHAD TEMPLE: Website: https://www.indynetwork.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076282504518 Instagram: @_indynetwork_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@iNDYNetwork⁩ If this episode helped you, please: Share your biggest takeaway in the comments Subscribe for weekly content strategy insights Share with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear this HASHTAGS: #createyourart #indynetwork #indianapolis #ministryleadership #consistency #entrepreneurship

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  Create Your Art

  What Happens When You Stop Waiting for the Map

  Sep 8, 202610 min

  Erik Cooper started college as a music major, graduated with an accounting degree, spent two or three years at a CPA firm, and then landed in full time ministry completely by accident. Twelve years later, a phone call brought him back to the family business he now leads. He never saw any of it coming, and that turns out to be the point. Darren sits down with his brother Erik, president of The Stone Table, to talk about open doors, gray hair, royalty checks that barely cover Chili's, and why not being able to see the whole plan might be the most useful thing that ever happens to you. ➡️ FREE CONTENT CLARITY AUDIT https://link.1898creative.com/widget/bookings/1898-creative/audit KEY TAKEAWAYS: ⚡️ Conviction rarely arrives before the decision. Erik had no early whisper about ministry. He had a plan that specifically excluded it. ⚡️ Nothing in your background is wasted and nothing in it is sufficient. The music and the accounting both mattered, and neither looked like preparation at the time. ⚡️ Internal restlessness came first, external confirmation came second. He was already paying attention before there was anything to confirm. ⚡️ Whatever forces you to trust more is working for you, not against you. ⚡️ You only see the shape of it in arrears. Obedience for the next step is the entire assignment. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 The plan that did not include ministry 00:52 A recovering accountant with an accounting degree 01:50 The call back to the family business 03:14 What about Erik 03:41 The family pattern of walking through open doors 04:11 Why you do not get to see the whole picture 05:37 What twelve years in ministry actually meant 06:03 The music major who graduated in accounting 07:25 Writing songs before writing songs was cool 07:50 The forty seven cent royalty check 08:17 When God winks at you 09:08 Seeing faithfulness in arrears CONNECT WITH US: Website: https://1898creative.com Darren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenandrewcooper The Stone Table: https://www.thestonetable.org CRF: https://crf.net If this episode helped you, please: Give it a thumbs up Share your biggest takeaway in the comments Subscribe for weekly content strategy insights Share with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear this HASHTAGS: #createyourart #faithandwork #businessasmission #nextstep #calling #entrepreneurship #thestonetable #findable

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  Episode #27

  Why Your Monday Matters as Much as Your Sunday | Create Your Art Ep. 027

  Sep 1, 202654 min

  Erik Cooper spent twelve years in full-time ministry, then walked back into the business world and could not answer one question. Why does God care at all about renting apartments? The search for that answer led him to a room in Seymour, Indiana, where six grown men wept at the front after he shared some notes he describes as terrible. It also led to The Stone Table, a giving organization that has channeled millions into global missions over the last decade. Erik is president of The Stone Table and serves in executive leadership at Community Reinvestment Foundation, the nonprofit affordable housing company his father Dave Cooper co-founded in 1992. He is also Darren's older brother, which makes this the second half of a family story that started last week. ➡️ FREE CONTENT CLARITY AUDIT https://link.1898creative.com/widget/bookings/1898-creative/audit KEY TAKEAWAYS: ⚡️ You never feel ready, and readiness was never the qualification for the next step ⚡️ Insecurity in a leader is not a private problem, it costs the people around you ⚡️ The message you assume everyone already knows is usually the one nobody has said out loud ⚡️ You cannot replicate what someone built, but you can replicate why they built it ⚡️ Culture takes three to five years to shift, and moving faster can break what you inherited ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Cold open 00:52 Welcome to Create Your Art 01:47 Comparing notes with Dad's episode 02:45 What pulled him out of twelve years in ministry 04:05 A recovering accountant with a degree in it 05:28 The conversations that started before anyone said them out loud 06:57 Walking through the next open door 08:24 What a decade in music ministry actually meant 10:18 Writing songs before every church wrote songs 12:35 Why you only see it in arrears 13:31 The day he walked in as the dumbest guy in the room 15:58 Dealing with your fears before they hurt someone else 16:50 Why are we really in this business 18:08 Was affordable housing the point or the opportunity 20:01 Selling the portfolio and the next pivot 20:45 Sponsor break 21:15 The art of creating a new reality 22:18 Different artistic skills for different seasons 24:13 None of us reflect the fullness of our creator alone 26:23 The artist in us is an insecure little child 27:48 How CRF actually works in thirty seconds 29:12 Pastor Tom Paino and a second mantle 31:49 You do not step in because you are worthy 33:18 Why they named it The Stone Table 36:37 Channeling is the big word there 37:36 Why does God care about renting apartments 38:29 The books that started to answer it 39:26 Six men weeping at the front of the room 40:23 Fifty years in business and nobody told him 41:12 A different seat, the same calling 44:00 Honoring what came before without going stale 46:15 Three to five years to shift a culture 48:09 Be humble, be patient, be courageous 52:23 Your first domino CONNECT WITH US: Website: https://1898creative.com Darren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenandrewcooper The Stone Table: https://www.thestonetable.org CRF: https://crf.net If this episode helped you, please: Share your biggest takeaway in the comments Subscribe for weekly content strategy insights Share with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear this HASHTAGS: #createyourart #faithandwork #businessasmission #marketplaceministry #leadership #succession #callingandwork #entrepreneurship #thestonetable #podcast

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