Blog
Articles on finishing self-generated work and building expertise-based creative businesses, with the Creative Engine, Ground Truth, and Capacity frameworks.
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The Monkey and the Monument
Most creative projects fail because we work on what we know how to do, not what determines success. Here’s how to put your ideas through a viability test.
Why you can’t commit to one idea
Struggling to commit to one idea? The problem is asking one idea to do too many incompatible jobs. Here’s how to evaluate ideas more clearly.
How to find clients and build your audience without relying on social media, with Meg Casebolt
Listen to the episode: “With relationships, it’s not about numbers. It’s about depth.” Meg Casebolt What happens to your business when you take an extended break from social media? Will it fall apart? Wither on the vine? What if the answer is…not much? Meg Casebolt is an SEO expert and the founder of Love at First Search, an agency that helps online businesses get found in search results, and to turn new readers into leads, subscribers and sales. Meg’s business used to be super active on social media, until a few years ago when she took a 100-day social media break. Kind of by accident. That’s when Meg discovered that even though social media had been taking up a ton…
How to quit undercharging for your work, with Rauni Higson
Listen to the episode: What has been a game changer for me is flexibility because I love flexibility. But if you are responding to things that you don’t feel like you can actually say no to, then there isn’t flexibility. And what I’ve done now is design sort of big projects and it can all be turned off. So, I can take a break from it and do something else wholeheartedly, rather than always feeling like there’s not enough time. rauni higson Do you struggle to figure out how to price your work so that it’s actually profitable for you…and then to actually say that price out loud, without mumbling or undercutting yourself? Do you find yourself rushing to offer…
Get paid without guilt: 6 lessons I’ve learned
We’ve been holding the Simplify to Amplify Roundtable monthly for several months now, and I’ve fielded many burning questions about creative business, from how to answer the dreaded “what do you do?” question, to how to improve sales. But one of the most painful and pressing questions I get every single time comes down to something like, “How can I justify charging ‘a lot’ of money?” I put “a lot” in scare quotes, because “a lot” could mean $25 to one person and $25,000 to another. The number doesn’t matter. It’s whatever number makes your insides clench up when you think about asking someone to pay you that amount. Sometimes the focus of the question is on the fear that…
How 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 Lacy When painter Sarah Marie Lacy decided to double down on portrait commissions as her primary source of income, she was severely undercharging for her work, but had no idea what her prices should be, or who would possibly pay those much-higher prices. Now? Sarah has a six-month waiting list, regularly rubs elbows with CEOs and ambassadors, and is a member of the most exclusive…
Celebrating 6 new creative businesses!🎉🙌
I’m so incredibly proud to introduce you second cohort of the Autonomous Creative Incubator! We’ve all been working so hard for this day, and it feels incredible to be helping launch these new businesses into the world! Six short months ago, these awesome creatives committed to building new businesses. Why did they take this huge step? Because they all needed to create time, freedom, and autonomy in their lives. I mean, don’t we all? The way that actually happens in reality is by redesigning what we do for a living to bring in a lot more money with a lot less effort and time. That well-resourced time means freedom and the white space we need to take care of ourselves…