How we use The Braid Method for microbusinesses and artistpreneurs
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Coaching for Creative Professionals
November 08, 2011 Kathleen

I’ve mentioned before that prior to Braid I was working as a freelance art director - focusing primarily on branding for microbusiness and artistpreneurs. But at the same time I was also documenting the freelance experience on my personal blog. I would share my struggles and successes in a monthly review and I would touch on tricky topics in a series called Freelance Matters. I started to get amazing feedback from other freelancers who were intrigued by my creative process and how I worked – from my to-do lists and managing projects to firing impossible clients. I started receiving requests to talk about other issues like how to estimate, bill and get paid doing what I love. College students started asking me about my career path and what worked for me.

I always felt a little funny being perceived as an expert on the topic because … you know … isn’t someone else more qualified to be talking about these sorts of things? But what I found is that these artistpreneurs wanted to hear it from me - they watched me grow through my experience and found themselves inspired to do the same. I became just as passionate talking about being a creative professional as I did about actually being a creative professional.

Freelance Matters Collage
The more I write about being an artistpreneur the more I find other folks sharing their dreams and plotting their escape from the cubicle for a creative career. Tara and I want to help. That’s where our idea for one-on-one creative professional coaching comes in play.

You might be a good fit for creative professional coaching from Braid if:
• you are ready to move forward in your creative career but are unclear on next steps
• you could use a little motivation, inspiration and support from another creative professional who’s been there
• you need clarity on your own creative process
• you have lots of vision but need help paring it down into actionable steps to get you there
Braid Coaching for Creative Professionals

What we do:
Over 2 months (6 phone or Skype sessions) Tara and I, through a methodical process, will:
• help you uncover and clarify your creative career goals
• help you identify and overcome barriers on your professional path
• help you develop your own creative process and work style
• hold you accountable with actionable steps
• act as the creative director you may be lacking when it comes to guidance

If this is something you’re interested in email me at kathleen@braidcreative.com for more information.

Brand Starter Kit
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The Brand Starter Kit
October 04, 2011 Kathleen

Before Tara and I started Braid I was working as a freelance art director with a passion for designing brand identities for microbusinesses and artistpreneurs. I wasn’t sure, moving forward with Braid, how these creative entrepreneurs and teeny-tiny businesses would fit in with The Braid Method but I didn’t want to forget about the little guys. That’s when Tara and I put our heads together to figure out how we can work with this growing demographic. What we came up with is The Brand Starter Kit for microbusinesses and artistpreneurs.

You Might Be A Fit For The Brand Starter Kit:
• if you are committed to your start-up business, but your brand lacks the same conviction
• if you have plenty of vision, but struggle channeling it into a consistent, clean, concise brand
• if you cringe, or even apologize, when you give someone your business card, “logo shame”
• if you want to self-promote more aggressively but you don’t have a clear “brand story” to tell

Your brand is what people see but also what they understand
A Brand Is Showing And Telling
Your brand is what people see but also what they understand. You should be proud to hand out your business card or display your logo on your door or website. Likewise, you should be able to tell someone in just one or two sentences exactly what it is your business does and stands for.

Arriving There Step-By-Step
The Braid approach helps you take a big deal, like creating your brand, and chunk it down into small but powerful decisions, so you’re not running in circles of self-doubt or wasting valuable energy back-pedaling on your brand choices. Plus, you are involved in the steps, so there are no surprise unveilings at the end, only logical steps toward a final brand design and story.

The Brand Starter Kit will give you a key brand component, your logo, but will also serve as a guide to keep your brand in line with the truths of your business – what you want people to know, do and feel – and how those “strands” weave together. It’s like a look, feel and messaging roadmap that helps you ask yourself whenever and wherever you self-promote, “does this fit my brand?”

For more information and pricing for The Brand Starter Kit email me at Kathleen@BraidCreative.com.


Brand Starter Kit
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