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...
Jan 11, 2024•56 min
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 a discount BEFORE anyone even asks? On this episode, I’m joined by Rauni Higson, one of Britain’s leading silversmiths. When I first met Rauni, she was chronically undercharging for her work, experiencing major feast or famine cycles, and generally running herself ragged teachin...
Dec 08, 2023•58 min
Samantha Clark is an award-winning artist and lauded author who recently transitioned from an academic career to creative coaching. After a year of hitting her income goals and filling her roster with clients, Sam hit a revenue ceiling. Sam realized she needed to earn more—a lot more. Especially if she wanted to build up her savings and plan for retirement. But she didn’t know how to increase her revenue without increasing her workload. On this episode, Sam and I explore strategies for escaping ...
Oct 19, 2023•59 min
If you have a brain that doesn’t work the way it seems like everyone else’s does, or at least the way people tell you it should, that can be challenging. But can it also be a source of strength. On this episode of the Autonomous Creative, we're talking about neurodiversity and how to identify the tools you need to move from intention to action. I’m joined by Emily Zilber, a curator with twenty years of professional experience in art museums and cultural organizations. Emily was diagnosed with AD...
Aug 23, 2023•53 min
Gabriela Pereira, my friend and the founder of DIY MFA, interviews me about creative flow. I share my strategies for building focus and reducing decision fatigue, and we do a major deep dive into one of my favorite topics: how to end the never-ending cycle of burnout and design a sustainable creative career. More from the episode Tips for transforming your creative practice into a habit you don't have to think about What are your “circles of control”? How can acknowledging them help ease your ov...
Jul 27, 2023•50 min
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 club in Ottawa. In this super-actionable conversation, Sarah and I explore the series of steps she took to more than tripl...
Jun 23, 2023•1 hr 2 min
On this episode, I’m joined by award-winning documentary filmmaker Henry Thong for a conversation about courage before confidence. Henry’s entire career is arguably based on his willingness to get out there before he’s “ready.” He began his freelance career right out of high school, skipping film school altogether. He moved from Australia to NY, without a back-up plan, and parlayed his personal success into a full-time job as a filmmaker for ConvertKit. Henry has a ton of personal insight to sha...
Mar 30, 2023•55 min
On this episode, I’m joined by fellow business strategist and courage coach, Shawn Fink, for a wide-ranging and empathetic conversation about the ****math you need to take control of your creative business. Shawn explains the importance of releasing your fears around business math, and having the courage to achieve your revenue goals. And I reveal how simple math can help you diagnose and close an income gap, design your business, and set yourself up for success. We know business math can be sca...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 9 min
“Self-actualization is not more important than feeding yourself.” In this episode, Tara McMullin helps us understand why solving for your needs first is essential to running any creative business (with your humanity intact). Tara is a writer, podcaster, and producer who used to be a business strategist (among many other things). But in late 2021, she pivoted to focus on her creative work. On this episode, we discuss Tara’s debut book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework To Change The Way We Ap...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Sarah Von Bargen was a highly productive blogger for 14 years, showed up constantly on Instagram, and had years of success on Pinterest. Sarah also ran several online courses where she helped thousands of people learn to make small, but significant changes to improve their lives. Using a strategic approach to happiness, Sarah recently mapped out a huge transformation in her own life, pivoting from online internet personality to digital marketing consultant. On this episode, I’ll dig into what in...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min
NYT bestselling author Oliver Burkeman has more than a decade of experience discussing topics like productivity, procrastination, and anxiety in his column for The Guardian newspaper, This Column Will Change Your Life. On this episode, Oliver talks about his game-changing new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals, his career path, how he came into the role of productivity expert, and the freedom of what he calls “a limit-embracing attitude.” More from the episode What are the ad...
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work! , and Keep Going . Before all of that, he'd been a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. Discover Austin’s path to becoming a famous author, how he successfully navigated that pivot, and the vast web of influences that inspire his creative work and daily life. More from the episode… Austin describes the “catalytic moment” he me...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Alison Bechdel is an award-winning cartoonist best known for her long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, and her autobiographical graphic novel-turned-play, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Discover the inspiration behind Alison’s most recent book, The Secret to to Superhuman Strength, how she’s learning to create healthy relationships with both her work and the humans in her life, and the impact of scarcity on her creative output. More from the episode When and why did Alison decide to ...
Nov 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Breaking into a creative field , whether you choose to be self-employed or not, can really leave you feeling like you're up the creek without a paddle. Who are you supposed to talk to, and when? Also, where do you find them? What are you supposed to do in the meantime until things...happen? And once you start doing that thing, how you do know when to stop? We talked about it all at this panel discussion I moderated with three dynamic young artists, Brendan Keen, Mariel Capanna, and Brittany Benn...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Gene Luen Yang is a prolific cartoonist whose personal work is deeply rooted in the Chinese-American experience. He’s best known for his original graphic novel American Born Chinese, and his work with franchise stories such as Superman and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hear how Gene went from being a computer engineer and high school teacher to full-time cartoonist and recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant. More from the episode How did the success of American Born Chinese change the trajectory ...
Oct 27, 2022•59 min
Tomm Moore is an award-winning animator and director, and the co-founder of Cartoon Saloon animation studio in Kilkenny, Ireland. His notable work includes Wolfwalkers , Song of the Sea , and the Secret of Kells, a trilogy of films based on Irish folklore. Discover how Tomm and his partners built Cartoon Saloon from scratch, without any prior business knowledge, in the small city where they grew up. More from the episode Why learning to run a business meant graduating from the school of “mend an...
Aug 25, 2022•55 min
Josh O’Neill is a comics writer and editor, and co-owner of the Philadelphia-based publishing company, Beehive Books. Using Kickstarter, Josh and his business partner Maëlle Doliveux, publish books and literary objects too risky for traditional publishers. Josh shares what inspired him to pursue publishing, and how crowdfunding allows Beehive to create art that’s for and by their community. More from the episode Josh explains how he went from working in a local video store to running a publishin...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 3 min
In 2016, Jenna Weiss-Berman quit her job and decided to launch her own podcast company a month before her first child was born. It was an almost immediate success, and Pineapple Street Studios never took an outside investment. Jenna explains what prompted her risky career leap, and how she taught herself to run a business—on her own terms. More from the episode… Jenna explains how she got her start in the podcasting industry (and how you can too). When does work become overwork, and is it always...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr 1 min
At only twenty-seven, our guest Shannon Wright has already had one helluva career. Shannon’s work has been featured by outlets like NPR, The Nib, and the New York Times. She’s illustrated several successful children’s books, and her debut graphic novel, Twins , a collaboration with Varian Johnson, was released in 2020. In this interview, Shannon breaks down how she got to where she is today, describing the different support systems and mentors that helped her along the way. She talks about her m...
Jun 30, 2022•58 min
“Why not put your best stuff in front of the biggest room?” On this episode, I’m joined by writer, marketer, teacher, and Creative Focus Workshop alumni, Sonia Simone. Sonia goes into detail about her two major career pivots, including how she went from “fan-girl” to founding partner at Rainmaker Digital, formerly CopyBlogger Media. She describes the moment she realized she was “burnt to a crisp”, after years of stretching herself too thin, and her decision to focus on her own business, Remarkab...
Jun 16, 2022•56 min
In this episode, I’m joined by contemporary painter and printmaker Didier William. Didier’s incredible work explores the diasporan experience, as well as what it was like to grow up gay in a conservative Haitian community. Over the past five years, Didier has had massive success in the contemporary art world. In this interview, we discuss his personal parameters for success, how he protects the sanctity of his creative work in the face of needing to make a living, and how he balances the ecosyst...
Jun 02, 2022•56 min
“You have to protect that time because no one's going to protect it for you, and no one's going to give it to you. Only you can give it to you.” On this episode, I’m joined by my long-time friend, novelist Myla Goldberg. In 2000, Myla found breakout success with her best selling debut novel, Bee Season. Myla walks me through the novel’s journey — how it landed in the hands of a literary agent’s assistant and went on to become a major motion picture. We also discuss the importance of self-discipl...
May 19, 2022•57 min
On this episode of the Autonomous Creative, I’m joined by metalsmith, Victoria Lansford. Victoria specializes in old world metalsmithing techniques, like Russian Filigree and Eastern Repoussé, and passes these skills onto others through her many workshops and videos. Victoria calls creative problem solving her ‘ultimate superpower’, and she’s hardly exaggerating. Whether she’s developing new ways to teach during a global pandemic, or redesigning her studio to be ergonomically friendly, Victoria ...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 15 min
On this episode of The Autonomous Creative, I sit down for a super fun conversation with Ronald Wimberly. Ronald is best known for his graphic novel Prince of Cats , which is currently being developed as a film by Legendary Entertainment. His other works include a giant tabloid journal and art magazine on identity and visual culture, LAAB, Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, Black History In Its Own Words, and his critically acclaimed webcomic, Gratuitous Ninja (which is currently being Kickstarted...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Are you in a healthy relationship with your business? With your creative practice? Or is it unrequited love? On this episode of The Autonomous Creative, I talk to psychologist, author and business therapist, Nicole Lewis-Keeber. As a business therapist, Nicole uses her eighteen years of experience as a clinical social worker to help small businesses owners and entrepreneurs break the cycles of abuse they’ve established in their working lives. It’s not only about running a business — or doing the...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr
Julia DeWitt spent most of 2020 at a Zen Buddhist monastery and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in social work. So...why is she on the Autonomous Creative? Because for the prior eight years, she had an incredibly successful career in podcasting. I met Julia in 2012, while she was l interning at “Snap Judgement,” and I was working on my book, Out on the Wire. In this episode, Julia walks me through the last eight years, filling in the blanks on how she rocketed from intern to senior produ...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr
What does it actually take to find 1000 True Fans? Seriously, where are they hiding? Your work is amazing. You’re constantly promoting on social media. You already know that your creative business isn’t bringing in the kind of money you need...especially in a reasonable time frame. So, why is that? Finding a thousand people willing to spend $100 on your one-of-a-kind work should be easy. I mean, you probably have more followers than that on Instagram, or at least it’s easy to imagine finding the...
Feb 03, 2022•47 min
I’ve been thinking and talking a lot with creative people about how they make a living, how they struggle with money, and what they might do differently to bring in a reasonable income. It comes up in virtually every coaching call. I talk about it with friends. I ask people rude questions about it on this podcast! ...and it’s a subject of conversation around the dinner table pretty often—my husband, Matt Madden, is ALSO a cartoonist, so yeah. We talk about it a lot! So I invited Matt on the show...
Jan 20, 2022•47 min
Cartoonist and publisher Spike Trotman publishes books she considers “strange and amazing.” Her company Iron Circus specializes in “underrepresented voices, underrepresented themes, stuff that has not got a big audience quite frankly or a lot of people catering to it right now.” Sounds like a recipe for struggle. Yet they’re KILLING it. “For the first time in my career, it feels limitless. It feels like I have so many possibilities.” Spike is a Kickstarter All-Star champ, and Iron Circus has gon...
Jan 06, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Cartoonist and graphic recorder Lisa Frühbeis has made bold moves that have led to an incredibly rapid career trajectory in the last few years, starting with pitching a comic strip to a newspaper straight out of school...and then parlaying the end of that strip into a book deal, and then much more. But Lisa isn't bold because she's free from fear. Far from it. Although she long felt a strong pull to become a professional artist, she was held back by an intense fear of the financial instability t...
Dec 16, 2021•45 min
