One of the things that makes me sad is seeing great art photographed in such a way that you can’t appreciate its true beauty. The images are blurry, unfocused, grainy and yellowish, so it’s hard to see the details and the colors as they really are. I’m not a professional photographer, but I know enough to be able to take clear photos that look good on my website and social media – and today, I’ll share some of my tips with you. Read more...
Marketing coaches are constantly urging small business owners to “show your personality”, because that’s how you can gain people's trust. This advice is a bit vague, and perhaps you've been wondering how to practically implement it? I’ve compiled a list of different ways you can do it. Read more...
I want to share a story of a recent experience I’ve had that really helped me drive home the fact that showing up in my business with the full intensity of my creative voice brings more benefits than drawbacks. Of course, I have many stories about clients who chose to work with me specifically because of my “dark side”, but this one is interesting because the client’s didn’t even consciously realize it. Read more...
Maybe you're in a situation where you feel like you can't say no to crappy low paid work for clients from Hell. Maybe you're hearing people's advice on turning down work you don't want to do, but you think it doesn't apply to you, because you can't afford it yet. Today I want to talk about this, since it wasn't that long ago that I was in the exact same situation. Read more...
Occasionally I like to feature bits from my sketchbooks, and today I want to share another series of lettering pieces. It’s been awhile since my last lettering post, so here’s some new work I did in the meantime. Read more...
The online marketing community is obsessed with A/B testing and maximizing conversion rates. It may seem a no brainer that if more people do X than Y, then X is clearly better than Y for any business – but what if that’s not true?
What if “better for your business” is not something you can answer with a spreadsheet? What if “better for your business” means you need to include the “soft” stuff that’s impossible to measure with numbers and percentages? Read more...
As you may know, one of my favorite activities is drawing inside sketchbooks, and today I'm sharing another sketchbook flip video with you. "Sketchbook West" is an art exhibition coming this February to Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach (CA). If you're not able to be there and see my sketchbook in person, check out my video. Read more...
During the month of December 2015 I decided not to use social media, read blogs, watch videos, or listen to podcasts. What I hoped to achieve was to get some clear head space and dedicate more time to exploring my personal art. It was also a nice way to wrap up the year and make sure that what I’m doing in my business is what I really want to be doing. You’re probably curious to hear what it was like, so here we go. Read more...
Information addiction can be a huge block to growing our business. If you see this as a problem in your own life, you may be wondering how you can deal with that. Here are some things that helped me, and I hope they’ll give you some ideas to try out. Read more...
How often do you go through an experience, and afterwards you think “Why did I get myself into this again? I’ve been through similar things so many times before, I’m supposed to know better by now.”
Falling for the same thing time after time doesn’t mean you’re stupid, or that you lack self-awareness – it just means you're not doing enough to remember what you already know. In this post, I offer some tips on how to do that. Read more...