We are FINALLY back with a new season of Creative Freedom!
It has been a journey to get here, but this season is shaping up to be the best so far. We've also got a new feature this season - music videos! It's something I've been wanting to play with for a while, and I'm still scared out of my mind about doing them. I think it takes the opening to a new level, though, so I'd love to hear YOUR thoughts.
If you've only been listening to the podcast or watching just the video show, you're not getting the full meal dealio. I mean, the topics are usually the same, but we also do things that are unique to each format. We go deeper on the podcast, with more examples than we can squeeze into the video show. But the video show gives us a place to have more fun with the musical elements.
And, I haven't abandoned my writing roots, either! Since our last episode aired, I've added a bunch of posts on the blog - stuff that will never appear in on the show!
Why do I do this to myself? One, I'm a Fusion creative, which means I like to do a lot of different things. But also, we have a pretty diverse audience, and I want to do what I can to reach you where you're at. SO... we do a lot to bring you insights and inspiration in a variety of ways.
I'm also looking at bringing back the live Q&A. I know. I know. I don't recommend that everyone do #AllTheThings - especially not at the start. But as long as it's still fun for me, we're going to keep at it!
We kick off this season with a look at how to build a business that's true to you. You know... a business that keeps you from selling your soul! How do we do that?
T.A.D.A. - An acronym we developed to help you listen to what's really on your heart and bring yourself and your business into alignment (or back into alignment) with what's true for you.
Check out the show to learn more.
Inside this episode, we're talking about:
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
"Be True To Yourself" is a parody of "Be Good To Yourself", originally recorded by Journey. New lyrics by Lisa Robbin Young.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
This is bonus episode 5 in an unscripted series of lessons learned from 25 years as a creative entrepreneur. You're getting 4 big lessons in a single episode as I gear up to lead you through the Fix This Next methodology. Can ya handle it?
President Eisenhower was right: plans are useless, but planning is everything. That said, you can't control the outcome, you can only influence it by what you do and what you choose not to do. Remember, too, that your goal isn't always THE goal, and if you want to achieve it, you need to be consistent. Consistency isn't sexy, but it works.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
First, I'm super thrilled to announce that I'm now a fully licensed and certified Fix This Next coach and I'm booking assessments now. I mention this now because it's a huge celebration, but also because it's relevant to this week's episode. When you can pinpoint the biggest issue in your business, you can fix it sooner and get your business back on track. That's what Fix This Next can do for you. Schedule your Fix This Next assessment today and get the clarity you need to grow your creative enterprise.
“If you can avoid just a few of the biggest, most crucial mistakes that I’ve made, then success is going to come much easier.” Said Shravan Gupta.
Okay, on with the show. This is bonus episode four in a series of unscripted "lessons learned" from 25 years as a creative entrepreneur.
One of the hardest lessons I learned was this: No one is coming to save you. You're a business owner, and you need to act like one. If you don't like the way the system works, the only way to change it is from the inside. In this episode, I'll take you behind the scenes in my biggest business failure and share how I turned it around.
You'll also see examples from Apple, Denise Duffield-Thomas, and Leonie Dawson, to show you why you need to take control of your business and act like a business owner if you want it to grow - and how growing for growth's sake is only going to make you miserable.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
This is bonus episode two in a series of unscripted "lessons learned" from 25 years as a creative entrepreneur. Your business is NOT the Field of Dreams. If you built it, ya gotta market it or people ain't coming - or BUYING!
At the core, marketing is sharing your message with an interested audience. But what's that message? And where do you find an interested audience? That's what we're looking at in this episode! You'll also hear about some real-world marketing examples and my "SIMPLE" framework for marketing and launching your offers.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2020 is as amazing for you as it has already been for me. I just celebrated my 45th birthday, and the entire weekend was superb. Then, on Monday, Charlie and the gang at Productive Flourishing published my guest post about the 25 lessons I've learned from 25 years in business. Some of them I'll be sharing in future episodes, but if you want the whole list, go check out Charlie's blog!
This is Episode Two in a series of unscripted conversations I'm hosting on the podcast between seasons. This episode shares one of the first principles I started teaching to direct sellers when I first became a coach: The most important "product" that your company has to offer is you. No matter where you go, there you are, on display for the world to see, and if you represent a business, that's part of the reputation of the company.
It's just as true today for creative entrepreneurs as it is for direct sellers. In a world where there are lots of people doing things similar to you, the truth is that YOU are the competitive advantage your business relies on most. As the face of your company, you were what your audience is buying into every time they make a buying decision. This week's bonus episode fills in the details and helps you get a handle on it even further. You'll also get a peek into my business and see what's been working, what hasn't, and how we're re-tooling for 2020
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Firstly, to those of you celebrating it, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope Santa brought you everything you wanted this year.
I debated back and forth about launching a Christmas episode, but here we are. This is Episode One in a special bonus podcast-only series I've created to share the most important lessons I've learned over the past 25 years. Yep. I've been an online entrepreneur for over 25 years now - back when the World Wide Web was a new-fangled thing and the Internet itself was a young upstart, barely old enough to drink.
A lot has changed in the past two and a half decades. Ideas have come and gone, money was made and lost, businesses opened and closed. I was there through all of it - and learned quite a few lessons along the way.
This episode talks about the single most important lesson I've learned in my 25 years online - how your mindset is more important than the mechanics of being a creative entrepreneur... and how to set yourself up for success.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Okay, I gotta rant a little. There's nothing that grates my toast more than the phrase "EPIC CONTENT" (be sure to say it like you're announcing a monster truck rally this Sunday-Sunday-SUNDAYYY!)
In the final regular episode of Season 5, I'm going OFF about how this phrase "create epic content" has become synonymous with "if you can't make something that goes viral, then don't do anything at all" - which is a trap that either keeps you stuck on a hamster wheel of content creation in your creative business or paralyzed by perfectionism to the point of doing nothing at all.
Instead, I'm going to show you an easy way to share engaging, meaningful content with your audience on the regular on any platform. And you don't even have to create it all. In fact, if you want to have a life, you probably shouldn't!
THAT, to me, is what epic content creation is all about!
December is content creation month at Creative Freedom HQ. I'm leading a series of workshops to help you plan AND create your content for 2020. Be sure to sign up for email updates to get advance notice of the next one!
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Theme music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
As a creative entrepreneur, you've got LOTS of ideas. How do you keep track of them all? Can they even be managed? How do you decide which ideas to pursue, and which ones to table for later (or even give away to someone else)?
You're in luck because this week I'm sharing some useful tools and resources to help you organize your ideas and get clear on what you're going to move on now, and what can wait. You'll be able to end the distractions and stay focused!
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
You've probably heard the phrase "riches in niches" more times than you care to count. As a creative entrepreneur, finding a niche can feel challenging if you don't solve a "problem" or "pain" with your Great Work.
That's why I don't support the idea of looking for a pain to solve, but instead, looking at core values - which are a clearer indicator of why clients buy from you (and keep buying from you for years to come). In this episode, I'm stealin' a process from the manufacturing world to help you hone in on why clients buy from you and how to find more clients just like 'em.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
If you're a heart-centered creative entrepreneur struggling with pricing, there's good news: you don't have to subsist on a survival-level income, and you don't have to price gouge your clients in order to be successful. There's a middle ground that's profitable and sustainable.
Your pricing tells a story, and it's personal. For creative entrepreneurs there is no topic more in need of a mindset shift than pricing. Pricing is more than just materials + time. It's about your pricing mythology, your audience expectations, and other considerations that we'll run through in this episode.
P.S. Tickets for the 2020 Creative Freedom Retreat go on sale soon! We're going to NOLA, baby! Make sure you're on my email list to be one of the first to know more!
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
How ya liking the new website? Have you checked out the virtual card deck or taken the new version of the quiz yet? I haven't done a formal post yet about all the changes. That's coming soon. Right now, I'm coming off the high that is Creative Freedom Live. I got home earlier this week, and it's been fun to unwind and "recover" from such an amazing weekend. More on that later, too!
Today, though, I'm going to do my darndest to make business models approachable and easy to navigate. Just hearing the word “business model” can conjure up spreadsheets, process diagrams, flow charts, and other stress-inducing imagery. But business models don't have to be stressful.
Once you figure out your unique business model, you’ll like how sexy the results are: more money, meaning, and impact. More Raving Fans for your work, more freedom, and more time to focus on what’s truly important to you.
The best part? It isn’t hard to figure out. The hard parts are sitting down to DO the work and then staying true to the business model that works for you. If you follow along today, you’ll even have some of that handled, too.
Rising Tide community members can login and access your free downloads here.
Not a member yet? It's free! When you register for the Rising Tide, you also get email updates, the FREE learning library, and access to episode transcripts, worksheets, and more!
Special thanks to our Patrons for your continued support.
Music: “Welcome to the Show” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com. Music licensed under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Have you ever watched Cake Boss? They make some pretty amazing cakes, and my youngest has recently become fascinated with every cooking show on Netflix he can find, including that one.
I'm no Cake Boss, but I love my kids.
So when it comes to birthdays, I do my best to give my kids the cake they most want. Sometimes, when it's clearly beyond my skill, I get help:
My friend has mad cake skills, and she once made my youngest this fun Angry Birds cake. The grass alone would have put me in the loony bin.
But this year, my youngest wanted a lego cake - which he, of course, designed using legos:
At first blush, it looked simple enough for me to tackle. Four "bricks" layered on and around one larger "brick" in a quasi "L" shape (because "Liam" starts with "L" after all). I used graph paper. I measured. I planned, and I baked the hell outta this cake. I bought three cake mixes and two cans of frosting, just to be sure I had enough of everything, in case I screwed up and had to do it again. I even started making the cake two days before his birthday - JUST to be sure.
A half sheet cake and 2 dozen miniature muffins later, I thought I had this in the bag.
Until I didn't.
Making the cake part was easy. Mix and bake. Cutting the cake into bricks went pretty smoothly, too. I froze the whole lot to make sure of it. I remembered the LAST time I made a lego cake, and how I thought it would be easy, but it didn't quite turn out according to plan:
So this time, I took it out of the pan, froze it, and that made it SO much easier to level and frost.
But then there were those blasted studs. The lego cake two years ago was a pain to frost between the studs... and this time the studs would be smaller!
I figured that mini muffins would work well, since the last time we used regular cupcakes. But the minis were too wide, and I couldn't get six of them on the bottom layer.
Then I had this seemingly brilliant idea - I have a small petit-four cutter that I could use to cut the cupcakes into perfectly shaped studs!
Hooray!
Except the cake was so light and fluffy that they kept falling apart.
Crap.
So then I had another seemingly brilliant idea - what if I dipped the cake studs in chocolate? That should firm them up, yes?
No.
Even frozen, the fluffy tubes of cake kept spinning on the dipping stick. So I just plunged one into the chocolate, and it disintegrated in the warm puddle of chocolatey goo.
Double Crap.
I looked for suggestions on how to frost the studs on a lego cake... and got all kinds of explanations telling me I was doing it wrong.
People were using brownies, peanut butter cups - pretty much everything except cake.
And all I had were these crumbling pieces of cake. I had to make ten studs, and I'd already lost seven of my mini cupcakes. I was starting to panic.
Okay, I was, in fact, getting angry. So angry, that I scraped up all the chocolatey cake glop and poured it out onto wax paper, trying to figure out what the bleep I was going to do. I grabbed the wounded cupcake remains - shot clean through by the cutter - and started squishing and squeezing them, generally being pissed off at the world.
The chocolate and cake started to form this dough-like substance. I'm told this is something like how cake balls are made.
So I took my doughy-chocolate-cake-ball glop, packed it down into the petit-four mold, then I stuck it in the freezer for a minute or three.
Voila! A perfectly hard chunk of cake-stuff that wasn't going to be a beeotch to frost! Now I could proceed with the crumb coat!
I frosted and froze each layer independently, then assembled everything once the crumb coat was on. I'd like to say that was my first mistake, but if you've read this far, you know better. I really should have frosted each layer separately and then assembled the darn thing after all the frosting was completed. But since I'm not a cake boss, and I was building this whole thing from a lego design, I, of course, built it the same way my kid built the original plan.
Only problem is, cakes don't interlock the way legos do.
When we cut into it today, we'll have to avoid the mine field of wooden skewers and toothpicks that are deftly holding this creation in an upright and locked position.
But it's assembled. I even managed to frost it (in multiple colors) without killing myself. Although I ended up sending the husband out for another tub of frosting because I didn't have enough to put on the final white coat or finish the blue layer.
I managed to finish last night, just in time for him to see it before he went to school this morning.
Here's the finished product:
It leans a little The layers aren't perfect. If you look really closely, there are a couple of spots behind the blue studs where the white crumb coat still shows because I couldn't get in there to frost it without screwing up the green. On the other side, there's a small gap between the yellow and white frosted layers. And the size of the studs make it look more like a set of Duplo blocks than Legos, but you know what? My kid thinks it's fantastic, so I am completely happy with it.
"Exactly 10 studs showing, Mom! Nice job. And you used strong brick connections, just like a real Lego build!"
Dude. I just followed your design. I changed the colors a bit (I was NOT making grey frosting. Ick.), but other than that, this is your design, kid.
And that's the reality of being a mom - it's not about me. Sure, I want it to be perfect and measure up to the original idea, but my definition of perfect and his are entirely different. Maybe his bar is set too low, but maybe mine is set too high - on a lot of things.
So, too, is this the journey of every creative entrepreneur. We get an idea, and even the best laid plans don't always mean our project will turn out perfectly... far from it, usually. You can plow a lot of money into hiring a great team to support a project and still get lousy results (like Langley's government-backed team of experts trying to get an airplane off the ground). You might even run out of frosting - er, I mean, resources - mid way through the project. But still you plow through.
So if it's not about money, or planning, or even a great idea, what is it really about?
Oh, I know it sounds all cliche and Pollyanna, but the reality is that love - not passion - is what keeps you going on projects like this. I have no passion for making cakes, but I love my kid. You love your fans, and you're creating for them. You love the act of creating, so you're creating for you. And the problems that come up along the way are just the hurdles you have to navigate - they're part of the journey. Never once while I was making this cake did I threaten to quit. I did threaten to throw the cake across the room and start over a couple of times with those blasted studs, but I wasn't about to quit.
Why?
Because my kid matters. Because bringing him joy matters. Because bringing his creation to life matters to me. Showing him you can take an idea and make it a reality is important to me. It's a lesson I want him to learn now, while he's young, so that he can take it with him into the world when he becomes a creative entrepreneur in his own right.
Because the sooner you learn that it's never about you (and yet, it's all about you), the sooner you realize that all the external measures of success don't mean squat. It's only ever been about your fans, and deepening your connection with them. It's only ever been about finding your joy and sharing that joy with the world.
Those studs are the best part of the cake, in my opinion. Because that's where my heart and soul are. That's the part I had to figure out. That's the part that challenged me and gave me an opportunity to grow - not just as a cake maker (God help me), but as a human being. Those studs challenged me to not give up, to keep trying, to figure it out.
I never would have tried so hard if it were just about me. This was for my kid. My fan. So I doubled down. And in the process, I got a tremendous benefit: I learned. I persevered. I created.
Every creative endeavor meets this moment of challenge: do you give up, or keep trying? Do you listen to everyone around you that says your way is wrong ("Use peanut butter cups!" "Use brownies!"), or do you keep trying to figure out the way that will work for you ("But all I have is cake, frosting, and chocolate chips. Hmm, I wonder...")?
Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, and maybe you'll throw it out and start over. But one things for certain: you won't quit until you figure it out. And maybe, just maybe, if you're like most creatives, you'll come up with some clever new way of doing/being/experiencing the world that will inspire your fans and deepen that connection in a way that makes them love you even more.
Isn't that what it means to be a creative anyway?
==========
If you're looking for a community of creatives that are encouraging each other to step up and keep figuring out the way that will work for who you are, join us in the Accountability Club. Every month we take specific action on goals that moves us closer to our dreams. Only a few spots remain and when they're gone, you'll have to get on the wait list.
Shazam! My audition in Detroit for The Voice went better than I expected, although I did not get called back. It's always fun for me to go to "The D" and this time was no exception. I learned some powerful business lessons during my long wait in the audition line (post coming soon), plus I met a childhood friend of Anita Baker who designs Mustangs at Ford! We had a fun time connecting and learning about each other. Hooray for new friends!
Speaking of, this week's video is actually a request from my facebook page. Jessica-Lynn Sage asked about hiring help in your business. Her big concern was in being able to trust someone else to handle the work and "let go" of doing it yourself.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect, since I've been working on my photo shoot for the new album (and website). This week's episode of Creative Freedom gives you the low down on how I sourced and "hired" the team for this shoot.
But there's something else I didn't include in the video that's also important...
In my research, I've been exploring the three different types of creative entrepreneurs (a quiz is coming soon!), and each one has their own sets of challenges. Chaotic Creatives look for people they trust with their vision and the direction they're trying to go as creative individuals. Linear Creatives are more concerned with getting results NOW - and getting the "right people on the bus" as Jim Collins would say. I'm a Fusion Creative, so I tend to walk the line between the two. Results are important to me, but I also don't want people to deviate too far from my vision, so I'm willing to forego some short-term results for a better overall project at completion. Understanding your Creative Entrepreneur type will help you know what to look for in hiring your support staff, as well as your temporary team members, like my photographer and stylist for this shoot.
Like the contract riders rock stars have for "green skittles," Chaotic Creatives want to adhere to the vision above all else - no exceptions or deviations. It's that kind of exacting, demanding nature that makes Steve Jobs both a brilliant mind and a jerk.
Because my vision included some specific shots I wanted, and a certain look and feel, I put together a pinterest board of ideas and inspiration. I put the call out on Facebook for a photographer (Thanks Heidi!). I shared that board with everyone, and made sure they were in sync with what I was trying to achieve. I actually had someone that didn't like my idea - so they were off the team. I knew my direction for the project, and didn't want to deviate.
At the same time, I didn't want to wait around for months to make this happen. We had already been negotiating a shooting date for a few weeks, and I know it takes a bit more time after the shoot to get the raw photos processed. So I really wanted to have it all hammered out before school got out on June 9. When my original venue fell through, the photographer suggested an alternate outdoor location. She recommended and secured a stylist, and we finally booked June 8 (we couldn't have cut it much closer, right?).
Linear creatives tend to focus on structures, routines, and processes. Above all else, don't deviate from the system (versus the vision), because the system works. It's the kind of strategic creative thinking that made Edison a genius in the lab, but a social misfit with his own family.
When it rained the day of the shoot, the outdoor venue wasn't viable, so we punted, opting for an indoor location for almost all of the shots (Thanks, Ted!). The indoor venue provided a lot of great images we couldn't have gotten anywhere else, and my willingness to be flexible on the results made it possible to complete the project without dealing with rescheduling.
A true Chaotic Creative wouldn't negotiate on the details like that, while a Linear Creative would be more interested in meeting the deadline more than the creative vision. I fell somewhere in the middle, allowing for and trusting flow, but still making sure I got the key shots I wanted for the project.
For example, there was one shot I was insistent on having, and if we couldn't do it that day, I was willing to do it another time with another photographer if need be. Gratefully, mother nature cooperated in the end. The skies cleared up and I stood out in the middle of traffic while Heidi snapped the shot that will likely be the album cover. I like to think it was my flexibility that gave us the better weather near the end of our shoot.
Whether you're paying for help, or just getting started with asking for help, whether it's a long-term or short-term hire, you need to be able to trust that your team will do what you've asked them to do. The video outlines a few ideas, but did I leave anything out? What else should Jessica-Lynn know about getting help in her business? Leave a comment and be part of the Rising Tide for all the creative entrepreneurs in our community!