Podcasts by Business of Being Creative with Sean Low
I’m Sean Low, and I’ve been lending practical business advice to those in the business of being creative since the early 2000s, including accomplished notables such as Preston Bailey, Vicente Wolf, Nate Berkus, Sawyer Berson, Style Me Pretty, Marcy Blum, Michelle Rago, and Sylvia Weinstock--to name a few.
The key to my own success has been my ability to help artists build their businesses in a way that most honors the art that is behind them. I’ll give you straight up, no holds barred advice on handling what happens from deal to done. The journey with your client begins when they first connect with you, whether digitally or in real life. And from that moment until the project is finished, you have the power to manifest an experience and journey with them that’s transformative for all.
Everyone should be creative. Whatever your art is, it should invigorate you and bring you joy. And if it happens to be your business, it should bring you the money you need to KEEP being creative. Hopefully, I will challenge you each week to do just that.
So, let’s not just think outside the box… Let’s erase it!
Further podcasts by The Wedding Biz Network
Podcast on the topic Karriere
All episodes
Episode 139: Perfect Egg Reprise from 2023-12-05T11:00
So you want to start something new or continue going on a new endeavor. How do you go about thinking about whether it makes sense to start and/or keep going? Remember The Perfect Egg.
L... Listen
Episode 138: Abundance from 2023-11-28T11:00
Holiday season is upon us. Maybe rest is in sight and a moment to reflect on what is necessary for you and your business. Start with abundance.
Links & Resources:
Listen
Episode 137: You Go First from 2023-11-07T11:00
The key to sustained value, important clients and great work? Proaction. If you do not go first, there will be no story, no spark only reflection. Fluency not brilliance. If it really matters to...
Listen
Episode 136: Is It Frivolous? from 2023-10-24T10:00
When you see what it all costs to create, it is very easy to say, why? When the world demands crisis, how can you talk about things that are not in crisis? How do you navigate the responsibilit...
Listen
Episode 135: Money And Power Are Not The Same Thing from 2023-10-10T10:00
The axiom that the client is always right is not true for creative business. If you let someone's wallet dictate the limits of your power to do what you do, it wi...
Listen
Episode 134: Trust Is Fluid from 2023-09-26T10:00
Building your name is not the same thing as making promises and keeping them. Confusing them costs you. The trick is to understand intention...
Listen
Episode 133: Time Is Everything from 2023-09-12T10:00
I am just around the corner. Be there soon. An hour later you ask: Which corner? And what does soon mean? Time is all you have and leaving its definition to negotiation, or worse, to the decisio...
Listen
Episode 132: Interpreting Data from 2023-08-29T10:00
It is fifty degrees one day, ninety the next. On average it is seventy degrees so no need to buy a coat or a swimsuit. You can use information to justify your complacency or you can determine w...
Listen
Episode 131: Multiple Revenue Streams from 2023-08-15T10:00
If you build your business on the next project, then the pressure to take what comes next is overwhelming. Digging deeper holes does not mean only one thing. It is all about skimming the cream...
Listen
Episode 130: The Importance Of Structure from 2023-08-01T10:00
A slinky stretched out down the stairs is the same toy as the one sitting on the shelf unless you bend or break a rib. So too your creative business. Structure is everything.
Links & Res... Listen
Episode 129: Your Business Is Not A Factory from 2023-07-18T10:00
We all grew up and are taught the value of a factory. Efficiency. Low cost. Scale. And you have tried to force your creative business into the paradigm. You measure volume of work, hours, effor...
Listen
Episode 128: The Apple Tree from 2023-07-04T10:00
Knowing where you are, where you are going and, most important, where you would like to go is all about the life of an apple tree.
Links & Resources:
Listen
Episode 127: When You Assume... from 2023-06-20T10:00
If you start a line of reasoning with a presumption, you can only go one way. For most creative businesses, the presumption makes no sense so you can only go the wrong way. The old saying is tru...
Listen
Episode 126: Let's Talk Leverage from 2023-06-06T10:00
At a certain point change in circumstance demands change in behavior and we need to appreciate what leverage means to all of us. Especially those who have never been here before.
Links ... Listen
Episode 125: Butterflies and Bulls from 2023-05-23T10:00
Sometimes nature can teach us all we need to know. Let's talk butterflies and bulls.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of Listen
Episode 124: The Four Transitions from 2023-05-09T10:00
To move forward, you need a strong foundation. Something you can return to again and again. Enter the four transitions: Potential to actual client, idea to design, design to production...
Listen
Episode 123: What Do You Want To Measure? from 2023-04-25T10:00
We spend all of our time making sure we are checking all the boxes, doing things as expected, and then trying to finish well. We measure efficiency, profitability, and sales. What if instead we ...
Listen
Episode 122: Fish With A Spear from 2023-04-11T10:00
Intentionality and singularity require purpose. It means you have to fish with a spear.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of Listen
Episode 121: The Little Mermaid And Creative Business from 2023-02-21T11:00
Fairness matters and if your client is acting poorly, you do not get any brownie points for sucking it up. Only adults in the room please.
Links & Resources:
Listen
Episode 120: Macro and Micro from 2023-02-07T11:00
The world is upside down so I better react by screaming louder and compromising more. Except you only want ten clients. How about you become more specific, not less?
Links & Resources:... Listen
Episode 119: AI Is Here To Stay from 2023-01-24T11:00
Artificial Intelligence is not the stuff of science fiction any more. It is here and will become part of our lexicon forever more. What it means for you and your creative business is fascinating...
Listen
Episode 118: Discovering What Lies Underneath from 2023-01-10T11:00
Tis the season for selling. How do you describe what you do? Beyond your why? Let's talk about journaling and what to do with it.
Links & Resources:
<... Listen
Episode 117: Holiday Thoughts from 2022-12-20T11:00
Where were you a year ago? What has changed? What will you do with 2023? Are you willing to add a zero?
Links & Resources:
Listen
Episode 116: Do You Want To Learn Another Language? from 2022-12-06T11:00
Clarity. Nuance. Exposition. Chameleons can do any of these because they are too busy being Chameleons. Let's explore what it means to dig deeper holes.
Li... Listen
Episode 115: Tomorrow Is Another Day from 2022-11-22T11:00
Unless you are committed to making it look like yesterday. Evolution requires letting go to embrace what could be. It means knowing when you speak of something new, it has to be with a different...
Listen
Episode 114: Integrity from 2022-11-08T11:00
Integrity means getting paid to ask better questions and being willing to live with the answers. Sound cryptic? It is not. Listen in for my explanation.
Li... Listen
Episode 113: The Client Is Always Wrong from 2022-10-25T10:00
We have all been trained to think that the customer is always right. For creative business though, they are always wrong. It is a distinction with a VERY big diffe...
Listen
Episode 112: What Is Design? from 2022-10-11T10:00
Design is creation. Easy enough. Now put teeth to it to make it a business. Why does it matter? Which would you rather have: the straw house or the brick house? Listen
Episode 111: The Voice Of The Next Generation from 2022-09-27T10:00
What was is no longer. What is has to be redefined with history in mind but also ignored. The question is whether you will be willing to share your voice to a new chorus or if you will allow ves...
Listen
Episode 110: Why Hourly Sucks (Mostly) from 2022-09-13T10:00
For creative businesses, the value of time is not linear. There is intrinsic value that has nothing to do with physical effort. Ahem, creativity. You are not lawyers or accountants. So please st...
Listen
Episode 109: Burnout from 2022-08-30T10:00
When you hit the wall, find yourself unable to rise to the responsibilities in front of you, you are burning out. The question is why and what to do about it. Let's talk about free diving.
<... Listen
Episode 108: What Questions Will You Answer? from 2022-08-16T10:00
If someone asks you which you like better -- chocolate or vanilla when you like strawberry, what does your answer really mean? Comprehension requires definition not explanation. Listen in and I ...
Listen
Episode 107: The Power Of Community from 2022-07-26T10:00
Most people think about their creative businesses as singular not communities. What a missed opportunity. Let's talk about JazzWire.
Links & Resources:
Listen
Episode 106: Respect from 2022-07-19T10:00
If you are in creative business, your voice matters. Pretending it does not is an illusion. Truth may not be palatable to some and that is okay. They just cannot be your clients. To make it so t...
Listen
Episode 105: The Importance Of Downtime from 2022-06-28T10:00
We have all been frenetic and now Summer is here. What does it mean to take a break? The gift of rest is not just for you.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of <...
Listen
Episode 104: What Happens When Things Happen? from 2022-06-21T10:00
Nothing ever goes according to plan. What happens when things happen? How do you handle the turmoil? Let's talk Chinese Finger Traps.
Links & Resources: Listen
Episode 103: What Is Your One Thing? from 2022-06-14T10:00
At the end of the day, you need permission to do what you do as you would do it. The one thing you have to have to create. Let's talk about Sunday dinner.
... Listen
Episode 102: Managing Your Team from 2022-06-07T10:00
If you are making a change in your business, you have to have everyone be ready. If you are fortunate enough to need to hire a team or have a team, you have to understand The Goal by Eliyahu Gol...
Listen
Episode 101: Contracts from 2022-05-31T10:00
A contract is when your business talks. Do you want to shout? Whisper? Or pretend you are not talking? How about you just tell a story?
Links & Resources:<... Listen
Episode 100: The Story Of Your Price from 2022-05-24T10:00
Price connotes value and the number itself tells a story. Your price has to align with your story or you have nowhere to go. Let's talk about your favorite fancy r...
Listen
Episode 99: Hibernation from 2022-05-17T16:00
What happens when there is a lull when it seems like everyone else is busy? What does it mean for your creative business and what should you do?
Links & Resources:
Host:<...
Listen
Episode 98: Vulnerability from 2022-05-10T10:00
Creative business is about being vulnerable. Vulnerability is the fuel for trust. The question is where, when and why should you be vulnerable?
Links & Res... Listen
Episode 97: Who Is Your Client? from 2022-05-03T10:00
All clients are not the same. You have to do the work to decide who is right for you. It boils down to are they twos or eights?
Links & Resources:
...
Listen
Episode 96: What Makes For Great Client Management? from 2022-04-26T10:00
We have all experienced the utter toxicity of an out of control client. What makes for great client management? Easy -- Knowing the 4 transitions and living the 3W...
Listen
Episode 95: What Does It Mean To Be A Professional? from 2022-04-19T10:00
The difference between those rising and those who know is professionalism. What does it mean to be a professional? Simple. When you know who you are you will no longer need to dodge bullets. To ...
Listen
Episode 94: Spiritual, Physical, Financial from 2022-04-12T10:00
When creative business owners stop and think about where they want to go with their art and their creative businesses most start with money, then talk about the effort required to get that money...
Listen
Episode 93: Kill Hope from 2022-03-29T10:00
When you think about it, the statement “I hope…” is almost always about something external happening that may or may not directly affect you, but is certainly in your universe. You have no contr...
Listen
Episode 92: Overwhelmed Chaos from 2022-03-22T10:00
The world can create a lot of noise and chaos today. It becomes ever harder to see the forest for the trees. Do one thing less and return to your play with better defined characters.
Lin... Listen
Episode 91: The Importance Of Your Core from 2022-03-15T10:00
The impact your work as a creative business will have and the places you might take it depend on your core and consistency between your business and your artistry. The frog and the scorpion come...
Listen
Episode 90: Know The Rules from 2022-03-08T11:00
The idea that your clients understand what you do is like most people in the United States appreciating how awesome Virat Kohli is. So let's talk contract.
Links & Resources:
Episode 89: Optimism Is A Choice from 2022-03-01T11:00
We are all obsessed with something. Your obsession is why you are who you are both as an artist and business owner. We can get caught in the moment. The arrogance is to be defined by it. Tomorro...
Listen
Episode 88: Dignity from 2022-02-22T11:00
As a creative professional, you see what others do not. It is why you get paid. You try to lead those you seek to serve with a guiding hand. And yet. When those around you refuse your direction ...
Listen
Episode 87: More For Employees from 2022-02-15T11:00
Try harder. Pay more attention to detail. Focus. None of these are helpful to creative business employees. It truly is not about you as a person, it is about the system even if you are the only ...
Listen
Episode 86: What Does It Take To Be An Employee? from 2022-02-08T11:00
This is not school and your employer is not your parent, teacher or even your friend. Now is the time to invest in yourself and be willing to be wrong before you are right. Let's talk about Lego...
Listen
Episode 85: Start With What You Are Not from 2022-02-01T11:00
Storytelling requires engagement and imagination. If you lay it all out there you rob me of my ability to dream. Let's talk about fairness, no more no less and being the adult in the room.
<... Listen
Episode 84: Who Do You Serve? from 2022-01-25T11:00
Why does your business exist? To serve you, your clients? Or for you to serve it? My guess is you think the former but act like the latter. No better time to change than today.
Links & R... Listen
Episode 83: Just Swim from 2022-01-18T11:00
There is always a better way, better than what I might offer, what you might offer. Who cares? There is no end to better, only the work to get to the very place you will never reach. When the de...
Listen
Episode 82: Back To Fundamentals from 2022-01-11T11:00
What do you get paid for and why? What you do not define will be defined by others. Let's talk about the Flux Capacitor.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of Listen
Episode 81: Back At It from 2022-01-04T11:00
New year. New opportunities. The 21 day challenge. Change one thing. Let's talk about the marshmallow test.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of Listen
Episode 80: My Christmas Wish List from 2021-12-21T11:00
Here are some last minute Christmas Wishes for all of you. Hint -- they all ask you to take a leap. What got you here will not get you there and there is where you need to go.
Links & Re... Listen
Episode 79: Understanding Both Sides from 2021-12-14T11:00
Too often creative businesses devalue themselves and overvalue client relationships. Case in point: giving a discount to repeat clients. It goes against having better clients pay more. Let's tal...
Listen
Episode 78: Meaning from 2021-12-07T11:00
Marketing or meaning? Emotion. Storytelling. Design. Luxury. Beautiful. Tasteful. Elegant. Sophisticated. None of these words really mean anything without context. It is up to you to make them v...
Listen
Episode 77: Living At The Margin from 2021-11-30T11:00
Unless you really value the next thing you do, you will be unaware of the margin. When you misprice your margin you will find yourself doing everything you do not want to do. Self-inflicted pain...
Listen
Episode 76: A New Way To Introduce Employees To Your Business from 2021-11-23T11:00
Creative businesses are busy. Many are seeking new employees as they grow. The question is what do you do when they show up? Teach tasks or show culture. Let's talk Herbie, Think Again, Loonshot...
Listen
Episode 75: One Client At A Time from 2021-11-16T11:00
You thrive on your number of Instagram or TikTok followers. The likes on your posts, how many times you or your work is featured, well, anywhere. But the phone is not ringing. You (start to) pan...
Listen
Episode 74: Fluency from 2021-11-09T11:00
To be effective, you have to communicate well. Translate senses. Explain even better. Let's talk bond math.
Links & Resources:
Host: Sean Low of Listen
Episode 73: Entrepreneurship from 2021-10-26T10:00
I define entrepreneurship as being convicted enough to be relentless in having others believe as you do. This permeates everything a creative business is all about. Let's talk about Chobani Gree...
Listen
Episode 72: Factory vs. Community from 2021-10-19T10:00
Most of us grew up learning about business through the eyes of the factory model. We all need factories and their models to live our lives. Creative businesses, on the other hand, are needs and ...
Listen
Episode 71: Conversation with Bernadette Smith -- Expert In Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Author of Inclusive 360 from 2021-10-12T10:00
Bernadette and I discuss all things DEI and its impact on all business, creative and not. We talk about opportunity and change and the desire to be human. We also talk about forgiveness and bein...
Listen
Episode 70: To What End Marketing? from 2021-10-05T10:00
We are at a moment in time when your ability to tell your own story is more important than having someone else tell it for you. The real question though is what is the aim? Celebrity? Opportunit...
Listen
Episode 69: Beanie Babies And The Pet Rock from 2021-09-28T10:00
The absurdity of what resonates with our culture is never lost on me. I wanted to have a little bit of fun today to illustrate the point that the difference between legacy and a whimsical moment...
Listen
Episode 68: Greed Is For Fools from 2021-09-21T10:00
Knowing what you need to live the life you wish is the key to your success as a creative business. How much do you need and how much do you want to work? If you set your business up to be greedy...
Listen
Episode 67: What Are You Looking For In A Client? from 2021-09-14T10:00
We all give lip service to the idea that you are interviewing a potential client as much as they are interviewing you. But are you really? Do you know what you need? Let's talk the legacy of Kar...
Listen
Episode 66: When The Game Changes, You Need To Change Too from 2021-09-07T10:00
COVID has caused major disruptions and required alternate ways of doing business. It means that your business model needs to account for risk and perhaps change altogether. Let's talk 3 point ba...
Listen
Episode 65: There Has To Be A Paragon from 2021-08-31T10:00
Your ideal project -- the one that gives you the best chance of success has to be known. What this timeframe, thought process, looks like has to be known to everyone. It is from there that you l...
Listen
Episode 64: Do One Thing Less from 2021-08-24T10:00
Fall is upon us and the instinct is to race ahead. What if you did one thing less? What would you have to charge to do it? Can you choose not to chase the shiny pe...
Listen
Episode 63: The 21 Day Challenge from 2021-08-03T10:00
I will be taking some time off after this episode (airing August 3rd) and will be back on August 24th. Yep, 21 days. So a 21 Day Challenge is in order. Let's talk about three radical changes, th...
Listen
Episode 62: Frustration from 2021-07-27T10:00
We should all chart our own course much deeper than simply a strategy to find uncharted territory. Be true to your soul as an artist, where there are no boundaries of possible only the imaginati...
Listen
Episode 61: Choosing What To Measure from 2021-07-20T10:00
Since the dawn of the industrial age, if we can measure it, we will. For creative business, those standards are and will always be amorphous. How do you value an idea? Let's talk trains and cloc...
Listen
Episode 60: Losing Trust, It Is Personal -- Sort Of from 2021-07-13T10:00
The line between personal and creative is blurry at best. You are professional but you are also an artist required to move beyond the technical. Trust is sacrosanct and incredibly fragile. Be in...
Listen
Episode 59: Go Over The Bar Backwards from 2021-07-06T10:00
We are all in it now. The world has reopened (in the U.S. anyway) and the thrush of work is there. More then ever you are called upon to reinvent your creative business. Enter Dick Fosbury... Listen
58: Your Narrative Defines You from 2021-06-29T10:00
We tell ourselves stories. Our memories are shaped by our own biases. We live in the definition we have given ourselves. Why? For the most part, for your creative business it ultimately becomes ...
Listen
58: Your Narrative Defines You from 2021-06-29T10:00
We tell ourselves stories. Our memories are shaped by our own biases. We live in the definition we have given ourselves. Why? For the most part, for your creative business it ultimately becomes ...
Listen
57: Creative Ways To Improve Client Experiences from 2021-06-22T10:00
The fluency of creative business is ever on order today. Design, Production, Installation/Reveal are the stages every creative business inhabits. The path forward remains with the opportunity fo...
Listen
56: Play On The Right Stage from 2021-06-15T10:00
You are hungry, scrappy, do whatever it takes to get your big break. You never want to lose that. It feels arrogant if you do. And yet you know what got you here will not get you there. Let's ta...
Listen
55: Intuition from 2021-06-08T10:00
We all rely on our intuition to drive us forward. Intuition is a function of experience, natural gifts, education and maybe even just age. We use intuition to form opinions on just about everyth...
Listen
54: The Next Mega Brand from 2021-06-01T10:00
All artists want to leverage their creative business. Most use influence and/or product to get where they want to go. They all want to be the next mega brand, the next unicorn. What if, instead,...
Listen
52: Make Change A Choice from 2021-05-18T10:00
Change sucks. It is hard, really hard and the inertia to change is a powerful mistress. The decision to change has to be with intention and an ultimate endeavor to reset your foundation without ...
Listen
51: The Value Of Design from 2021-05-11T10:00
We are at an inflection point. The public recognizes the value of design and is willing to pay for it. To what end leverage then? What are you willing to do to earn that value and will you becom...
Listen
50: Perfectionism vs. Vision from 2021-05-04T10:00
Perfectionism lives within so many artists. Cliches abound: "Perfect is the enemy of good", "Be the best", "Profit and perfect are mutually incompatible." Really it is a conversation about Creat...
Listen
49: Proaction from 2021-04-27T10:00
What does it mean to be proactive? How often do you practice being, well, you? Let's talk brain surgery.
Links & Resources:
Host:...
Listen
48: Can You Be A Chameleon? from 2021-04-20T10:00
Art is impactful to the patron as they find themselves in it. We enjoy art from our own worldview. The ultimate Rorschach Test. Artistry, on the other hand, is a singular journey. How you, the a...
Listen
47: How Do We Come Together? from 2021-04-13T10:00
We live in a world of validators, franchises and even networks. Duncan Hines, McDonald's and The St. Regis. What if we created a different kind of consortium for creative business? Would we all ...
Listen
46: Take A Breath from 2021-04-06T10:00
We are on the precipice of emergence. We can feel it -- the demand for creative business is exploding as people search to express what they have not been able to express for the last year. Savor...
Listen
45: Living In Wonderland from 2021-03-30T10:00
Creative business is all about the irrational, the ephemeral, the desire for other. It is the business of hope and transcendence. How you get from challenge to solution is of course a trek throu...
Listen
44: What Does It Mean To Be The Super-Client? from 2021-03-23T10:00
You know how you treat your clients. You know the promises you make and how you intend to keep them. Yet you do not consider yourself a super client. You do not demand the level of excellence, e...
Listen
43: What Will You Take With You Post-Pandemic? from 2021-03-16T10:00
COVID has shifted our culture and forced us to rethink what and how we do what we do. The question is what will you take with you. Let's talk Zoom, Project Managme...
Listen
42: Conversation with Futurist Michael Beneville from 2021-03-09T11:00
Michael Beneville is a remarkable futurist with a firm understanding of what tomorrow might be. This is one you are probably going to have to listen to over and again because the pearls of wisdo...
Listen
41: Having Perspective from 2021-03-02T11:00
Doing work you hate never leads to the work you love. And skill is a commodity, passion is everything. What do these things mean? Do they matter? Let's discuss...<...
Listen
40: Stay In Your Lane from 2021-02-23T11:00
What does it really mean to only do work for those that care? To really be the best at what you do? To know your range and to stay there? To really know why you are trusted? Most important, what...
Listen
39: Imagining The Future from 2021-02-16T11:00
Creative business is literally about creating a world that has never existed. To imagine. Too often though we get trapped into the curse of knowledge, and lose the humility to know that you do n...
Listen
38: Gender and Race from 2021-02-09T11:00
Art does not see color or sex, clients do though. As with all things creative, how can the business story compel your art to move beyond bias? To do that though you will need to allow conversati...
Listen
37: The Information Business - Responsibility And Authority from 2021-02-02T11:00
All creative businesses are in the information business. You are provided information -- what is the project, you provide information and then you act on that information. How you handle the flo...
Listen
36: Talent, Wisdom and Experience from 2021-01-26T11:00
To be successful in creative business, you have to get paid for your talent, wisdom and experience. But what does that mean? In fact, what does each of talent, wisdom and experience mean? And wh...
Listen
35: Storytelling from 2021-01-19T11:00
The story of your art and your business are not the same but they rely on each other. The key components of story is trust, tension and resolution. How you hold each component is what sets the p...
Listen
34: Value Delivery from 2021-01-12T11:00
Transparency is not Saran Wrap. It is being secure in what you charge and then knowing how you are going to earn it. As clients get smarter, value is not about being relative to competition, it ...
Listen
33: Race To The Top from 2021-01-05T11:00
By all accounts 2021 will be a rebirth for creative business. We will hopefully put the pandemic behind us and art will reemerge. The question will be how to handle it. My advice, race to ...
Listen
32: Risk, Vulnerability And Purpose from 2020-12-15T09:00
Every business takes a risk, that is the very nature of business. The question is whether you are properly paid for that risk. If risk is being vulnerable then the choice to be vulnerable has to...
Listen
31: Tony Hsieh's Legacy from 2020-12-08T09:00
Delivering Happiness shows what it means to change thinking and to solve a different problem. It also shows the power of scarcity, relationship and purpose. Zappo's is the story that resonates l...
Listen
30: Create Joy from 2020-12-01T09:00
Remind yourself why you do what you do. You create joy and you do it with intention. When things go awry it is all too often because the singular purpose has been misformed by ego, by manipulati...
Listen
29: Understanding Herbie And The Importance Of The Theory Of Constraints To Creative Business from 2020-11-24T09:00
You would not think an operations management book would be so critical to the success of a creative business. After all creative businesses do not produce widgets. Process is process though and ...
Listen
28: What Makes A Great Client from 2020-11-17T09:00
Great clients are made not born. The better you define your process and what is expected of them and your creative business, the better the experience will be for everyone. That said, there are ...
Listen
27: Change Is Overwhelming from 2020-11-10T11:00
We all might say that we want to make real change, but the inertia to change is real. We hope that yesterday will carry us forward and doubling down on the old wil...
Listen
26: Be Grateful: Shun The Non-Believers from 2020-11-03T08:00
Creative business is built on the microscopic. For so many creative businesses, the very idea of serving more than 500 customers in a year is silly. Most are built on less than 50. And yet we sp...
Listen
25: Treating Great Customers Better from 2020-10-27T07:00
Most creative businesses are caught in the new client trap. They take on a project and then use the success of that project to get another (and another). Very little is ever offered to the great...
Listen
24: The Intention Reception Paradox from 2020-10-20T07:00
Just like governments do not run like businesses, so too does creative businesses not look like other businesses. All too often what would be expected in business, is not true for creative busin...
Listen
23: Communication And Evolving Clarity Of Expression from 2020-10-13T07:00
All creative businesses are actually in the information and communication business far more than they are in the making stuff business. Understanding how communication tools have grown -- from h...
Listen
22: The Psychology Of Choice from 2020-10-06T07:00
Why are clients choosing you, your art and your creative business? Price? Past work? What does it mean to you and how does it impact how your run your business? It really is a conversation about...
Listen
21: Contracts, Contracts, Contracts from 2020-09-29T07:00
Contracts are the lifeblood of any business, creative business especially. And yet 99 times out of a 100, they are gobbledy gook that you paid a lawyer to write for you in a way that protects yo...
Listen
20: Client Management, Sunk Costs, and Grit from 2020-09-22T07:00
Managing the client experience is a singular challenge for every creative business. For the most part, projects are for an extended period of time with many ups and downs both for activity and e...
Listen
19: Erase The Box from 2020-09-15T07:00
When we contemplate what is next, too often we want to be derivative of what has come before. Sure, we need to acknowledge the benefit of history, ultimately though we have to stretch beyond the...
Listen
18: Knowing When to Quit from 2020-09-08T07:00
As we come to Fall, so many creative businesses are confronted with the challenge of whether it is worth it to keep going. There are no easy answers but there is a framework to think it all thro...
Listen
17: Gatekeepers, Validators and Choosing Yourself from 2020-09-01T07:00
Who controls your fate as a creative business? How you do attract business without standing on the street corner and screaming? Who chooses you, helps you get chosen and what do you owe them whe...
Listen
16: Storytelling from 2020-08-25T07:00
You tell two stories. The first is why we should believe in your work as an artist and the second is why we should believe the story of your business. The story of your art is ephemeral, your bu...
Listen
15: Art And Culture At The Cross Roads from 2020-08-18T07:00
Art is shaped and shapes culture. If you are in the business of creating art, what does that exactly mean for you? How are you to incorporate this responsibility into touchstones of your work? D...
Listen
14: The Four Transitions That Define Creative Business from 2020-08-11T07:00
Every creative business has four transitions: Potential Client To Actual Client, Idea To Design, Design To Production, Production To Reveal. As with all one-way valves, if they are leaky, thing...
Listen
13: Know Your Clients from 2020-08-04T07:00
Know your client. Are they beginners or enthusiastic amateurs? Meaning are they 1's or 5's? And where will you take them? If you cannot fully understand who you serve, you cannot serve them. Bui...
Listen
12: All Things Pricing from 2020-07-28T07:00
Pricing is a fraught subject no matter the time. Through in a global pandemic and cultural upheaval in the United States and the rubber band stretches ever thinner. As with all things foundation...
Listen
11: Change, Community, Seatbelts And Storytelling from 2020-07-21T07:00
Change is painful. It just is. Nobody wants to change, we are compelled to because we hope the future is brighter if we do. For creative businesses, this is about telling a deeper story, not ...
Listen
10: Work Smarter, Breathe Deeper, Have The Courage To Fail And The Conviction To Try Again from 2020-07-14T07:00
Work Smarter, Breathe Deeper, Have The Courage To Fail And The Conviction To Try Again. Enter the difference between illusion and delusion, The Blue Angels and The Goal.
Links &... Listen
9: Design First, Judgment, Risk, A Placebo And Ralph Lifshitz From The Bronx from 2020-07-07T07:00
In the midst of the existential crisis we find ourselves in, all creative business is being upended. Sure, some are busy, but most are suffering from a prolonged winter -- actors, musicians, ev...
Listen
8: Emotional Resonance, Professionalism, Stillness, A Flashlight And Generosity from 2020-06-30T07:00
Emotional resonance is what separates you, the artist, from the rest of us. While you have a gift at your craft, that is not why you are paid. You are paid to be professional, to make us feel ...
Listen
7: Faith And The Courage Of Conviction from 2020-06-23T07:00
Faith is the courage of conviction. Faith is the prerequisite to courage and integrity. Faith is facile and simultaneously hopeful and hopeless. Faith is what you need to see your creative bus...
Listen
6: Metrics Of Success, Community And Zappo's from 2020-06-16T07:00
In today's world, we are what we measure. We hear it all the time now -- data analysis, big data, consumer preferences, artificial intelligence and computer learning to show us what we see, feel...
Listen
5: The Value Of The Subjective And Knowing If You Are Drawing Bird Or Clouds from 2020-06-09T10:00
Today we are going to talk about the value of the subjective, the emotional component that is critical to the success of every creative business. It is knowing the difference between drawing bi...
Listen
4: New Constraints, The Underneath, An Apple Tree and Horses For Courses from 2020-06-02T10:00
Constraints are nothing new. Creative businesses have always operated in a window. I have never met a designer who is perpetually free to create as she sees fit without regard to budget, style o...
Listen
3: Value Delivery, The Journey Is The Destination And Pricing From The Top Down from 2020-05-26T10:20
Every creative business takes a journey with and for its clients. The points along the way are its value. No doubt, the goal is inevitable if the journey is profound. In this episode, will will ...
Listen
2: The Power Of Niche, Scarcity and The Long Tail from 2020-05-26T10:10
What does the long tail, scarcity and niche have to do with your creative business? Umm, everything. Oh, and if you are not sure what the long tail, scarcity and niche even mean in this context,...
Listen
1: Learn To Leap With Dick Fosbury from 2020-05-26T10:00
I am going to talk about a story that is near and dear to me. I have told this story and its importance to creative business many times. I have even told it at a college commencement speech I wa...
Listen