Every now and then a friend will forward me a post about a design or an illustration contest. I never apply. I never forward it to my colleagues, either. Not even when it’s my friends who organize the contest. I just won’t do it because I oppose the idea of contests in principle. Here’s why. Read more...
One of the reasons why I chose to be a freelancer instead of being an employee was to have more time for my personal art and other self-initiated projects. For at least half an hour (ideally a full hour) almost every morning I draw, paint or craft something that isn’t related to my clients or my business. I believe that prioritizing my creative practice benefits not only me, but my clients as well. Read more...
My marketing was the most effective when I wasn't aware what I was doing is in fact marketing. I was completely oblivious to the concept, yet I did things right. Where did I learn that? I have no idea. My theory is that the best kind of marketing is indistinguishable from a regular conversation people have in real life. The same skills we use to get around in relationships are essential to any marketing endeavor. Read more...
Perfectionism is badmouthed on blogs and social media all the time. It's a modern boogeyman that incapacitates many creative people. But is there a good side to it? Here's how to use the benefits of perfectionism, without letting it paralyze your progress. Read more...
This past weekend I was a speaker at the WordCamp Split conference, and it was a great experience overall. I was taking a lot of notes during the lectures, since that's what I do at conferences, being the nerd that I am. People have responded to them so well, that I decided to also share them here. Read more...
Good ideas are cheap – you hear a dozen new ideas every morning before breakfast as you’re scrolling through your newsfeed. They don’t change you. They don’t turn you into a better person. Positive change requires conscious effort. It requires you to think, implement, test and evaluate, and it requires you to make difficult decisions. Read more...
You may be wondering what having a morning ritual has to do with fostering creative productivity. There is a connection, and I've found out through practice that a fulfilling morning ritual makes your whole day infinitely better. Read more...
I’ll tell you what this “super secret” tip is straight away: create first, consume later. That’s it. Simple. Not easy, though. If it were easy, more people would be doing it. I know I have a tough job of convincing you why this tip is so helpful and might radically transform your creative output. In the rest of this post, I’ll try to make my best case for it, and offer some ways you can put it into practice. Read more...
Creating beautiful blog post illustrations can be time consuming. Sometimes, creating the perfect feature image for a post takes just as much time as writing it. In my search for the perfect solution – blog post images that are both visually appealing and easy to make – I tested many different techniques, and in this post I share some of my tips with you. Read more...
You probably already know that having a blog is great, and that it can do wonderful things for your creative work and business, but you may not be sure if you're doing it “right”, or maybe you still haven't even started publishing your posts. If so, this post is for you. Read more...
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...
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...
No matter how wild, beautiful and free your creative work is, there are some things you need to do so your business could thrive that are just booooriiiiiiing. Maybe you postpone things that are essential to keeping your life and work running smoothly because you’re either intimidated by these tasks, or the very thought of doing them is exhausting. I wrote a bunch of ideas how you can approach your boring, tedious and fear-inducing tasks to make them slightly less terrifying and dull. Read more...
Let’s cut straight to the point, because I’m not in the mood for introductions: I’m taking a break from social media. Again. This time for longer than usual, and I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am. It feels like going for a trip to a foreign land, except this foreign land is in my own home, and I get to bring all my art supplies with me, not just one (okay, two) sketchbooks. If that piqued your curiosity, I’m glad to share the why and the how in the rest of this post. Read more...
Every time you pull off an extended period of working like a crazy person, you’re bound to be left in a state of complete devastation. Or at the very least, a state of “I’m not sure if this is even worth it, will it always have to be like this?” which is just as scary because it makes you question your career choices. I already gave you some tips on how to prevent burnout, and now we'll talk about what to do when you’re already suffering from burnout. Read more...
If you’re any type of creator, there are going to be times in your life when you’ll be required to “launch” something. We think of launches in terms of websites, courses, books, retreats etc. but the same things apply when you organize an art show or prepare for a crafts fair, a big show, speaking engagement etc.
My experience with launching comes mostly from organizing live events in the past 5 years. Here are some tips on what you can do to prepare for and survive an extended period of time when nothing is normal. Read more...
This is the part two of the post “When your passion becomes a chore” - the practical part on what to do if you feel like you've lost your passion. I believe there are certain conditions that our work has to meet so it can give us creative fulfillment. Here are these 5 key conditions, and what each of them means for a creative professional. Read more...
Do you feel like you spend so much time on social media, and it's giving you little to no results? Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the choices and advice, and you have no idea who to listen to and what will actually work for you? If so, I have an important message for you: Stop wasting your time online and share your work where it really matters Read more...
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