education
How to end burnout and tap into creative flow, with Gabriela Pereira
Listen to the episode: “There were so many times where I would imagine that if I followed my passions enough, if I worked hard enough, if my work was good enough, somehow, you know, a fairy godmother would wave her magic wand and all the other things would fall into place…and they so don’t fall…
Read MoreHow to find (and actually talk to) your ideal clients, with Sarah Marie Lacy
Listen to the episode: That’s been a huge thing of just letting myself have that identity of “I am an artist.” This is a real job. This is actual work. I am allowed to make money. I am allowed to succeed and thrive at this, and I refuse to make myself small anymore. Sarah Marie…
Read MoreHow to stop waiting for permission to be a professional creative, with filmmaker Henry Thong
Listen to the episode: “I’m an all or nothing person. So when I get that resistance…it’s like a stubborn trigger in me that gets triggered and I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna use the frustration that I feel that people aren’t seeing what I’m seeing, or the resistance that I’m getting. I’m gonna use…
Read MoreHow to handle your creative business finances—even if you’re “not a math person,” with Shawn Fink
Listen to the episode: Do the thing. You might not be ready. It might not be ready. But put it out there anyway… …because that’s the only way you’re gonna know. SHAWN FINK On this episode, I’m joined by fellow business strategist and courage coach, Shawn Fink, for a wide-ranging and empathetic conversation about the…
Read MoreAre you exploiting yourself and your own creative labor? with Tara McMullin
Listen to the episode: Labor exploitation is labor exploitation, whether it happens in the non-profit world or the for-profit world. Or in the home-work world, or the educational world. It’s all still labor exploitation. And I believe very strongly that whether we’re talking about goal setting, or we’re talking about business models, or we’re talking…
Read MoreLife is more than an endless slog of tasks, with Sarah Von Bargen
Listen to the episode: “Truly, until I was like, oh god, like 34, I was working two jobs to make ends meet. I was teaching and then I was also like tutoring on the side……or I was teaching full-time plus like publishing a new blog post. And I just sort of realized like if I…
Read MoreEmbracing your limits in order to find creative freedom and fulfillment, with Oliver Burkeman
Listen to the episode: There’s no alternative here. It’s absolutely inevitable that things that matter will be being neglected while you do other things. And this is just built into the condition of being a finite human who will always have more goals, ambitions, demands, felt obligations…always have more of those than can be met.…
Read MoreDiscovering your creative system (and the perpetual motion machine), with Austin Kleon
Listen to the episode: “If I’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative,’ well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out…
Read MoreThe need to feel extraordinary, with Alison Bechdel
Listen to the episode: The thing that kind of has saved me is this awareness of my mortality. Something I’ve been really seeking out quite intentionally for most of my life. Like, I wanna really get it. I wanna really understand that I’m gonna die. And you’re only able to do that in different ways…
Read MoreTransitioning from (art) school to the working world, with Brendan Keen, Mariel Capanna, and Brittany Bennett
Listen to the episode: This episode is a bit of a departure for the Autonomous Creative; it’s a panel discussion I moderated with three dynamic young artists about navigating the difficult transition from school to the working world. Each of them is following a unique path, and it was so valuable to dig into the…
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