The Art of Growth
January 16, 2013 Kathleen

When I first quit my nine-to-five job in advertising to strike out on my own as a freelance graphic designer, my number one priority was being able to pay the bills working for myself. I had this grand fantasy of tending to my veggie garden in the middle of the day and designing work that would spread across Pinterest like wildfire. That fantasy quickly became a reality, but I still didn’t feel fulfilled or satisfied. I felt somewhat scattered and aimless. I lacked purpose until I started a blog series called Freelance Matters – I openly shared my insecurities and victories as well as very specific tips on everything from managing client relationships to creating an effective to-do list. I found that by putting it all out there I was attracting my tribe – other creative entrepreneurs. They were asking me for advice, sharing their experiences and even hiring me to help them. 

A year later Tara quit her job as an executive VP creative director to join forces with me. When we first started Braid Creative we had a couple of specific goals in mind. Those goals were as follows: 

Personal Goals from Braid

Tara brought a sense of maturity and method to my bold vision for our little business. Over the next year we had our fair share of paying dues and putting in late nights but I made more money than ever before. I explored Eastern Europe for three weeks while Tara went on beachy pontoon adventures with her family. And most importantly, we understood the value of becoming experts by exclusively working with our dream customer – the creative entrepreneur. We even managed to hire two full-time employees to help us execute and grow our put-it-all-out-there vision. Together we grew into our roles of business women and made Braid Creative itself our own number one client.

Every few months I get all riled up and set a fire under my own ass to be more, do more, help more and make more. It’s during these times that I get this idea that we need a formal business coach. Okay, so yes, we ourselves coach business visioning of course, through a creative entrepreneurship lens. And we’re no stranger to the work/life clarity that comes from being coached from a life/executive coach. But I mean a coach of the financial planning variety – to help us get clear on exactly what we need to be doing to be more, do more, help more and make more. But I’d always conjure up this image of a slick silver fox in a suit who wouldn’t “get” us or understand our bold vision in this new way of working.

And then I found Tara Gentile. I bought her eBook The Art of Earning and finally felt like someone understood exactly how I felt about money. In fact, I had been thinking about writing my own eBook for creatives called “Everything I Know About Money for Creative Entrepreneurs” but the book had already been written, with much more eloquence, by Gentile. The Art of Earning is perfect for creatives who feel icky talking about money. It will turn your perspective upside down and help you see money not as a necessary evil but as a flow of energy and catalyst for productivity. I wish I had read this book years ago. 

I finished The Art of Earning just in time for Gentile’s release of her new eBook The Art of Growth. This eBook has helped me put concise words (and actions) to the forward movement I’ve intuitively started planning for Braid. The Art of Growth gave me the focus, confidence and validation I needed to well … grow. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect as we move into 2013. We busted our asses in our first year of business to hammer out our method, deepen our expertise and get razor-sharp with our point-of-view for one-on-one work with creative entrepreneurs from all over the world. Now we’re ready for more reach and meaningful impact with blog posts, Braid ECourses, and Braid Workshops (coming this Spring), along with new training and expanded offerings that dig deeper into addressing the work / life issues that creative entrepreneurs face. 

Reach Revenue or Depth -Tara Gentile, The Art of Growth

Gentile, like us, believes that your Most Valued Customer (what we call Dream Customer) has a profound role in not only receiving value from your business but actually creates value for your business. This is achieved by honing in on your purpose and your expertise. Gentile reinforces the idea that by deepening our expertise and refining our method we’re not always having to reinvent the wheel. With that we can better leverage our business by producing maximum impact without all the sweat, blood and tears that often come with launching a new business or product. This brings us back to our initial goal of time to live our lives (you know... those 30 hour work weeks and 8 weeks of vacation). 

Effort, Ambition, Impact -Tara Gentile, The Art of Growth

In closing, if you’re an aspiring creative entrepreneur read The Art of Earning. And if you’re ready to take it to the next level read The Art of Growth. Then let’s have a serious chat, complete with throat-burning whiskey and cigars, about how we’re going to take over the world with this bold way of doing business in a new economy – what Gentile calls the You Economy. 

Disclaimer: We thought we’d try something new here. Our links to The Art of Earning and The Art of Growth are affiliate links. That means we receive 50% commission when you buy these books by clicking through from our blog post. We still wholeheartedly endorse the products we review but thought it would be a cool (and maybe profitable) way to let Tara Gentile know that Braid readers support her work too by participating in her affiliate program. 

Resources for Creatives
Daring Greatly
December 13, 2012 Kathleen

Daring Greatly Cover

Daring Greatly Interior

I like to think of myself as a brave person. I’ll jump out of planes and I’ll take my first trip overseas to Kathmandu. I like to dive headfirst into new experiences. So when I quit my nine-to-five to freelance, followed by teaming up with Tara to start Braid Creative, I knew it’d be a little scary but I figured it would be just another act of courage to ride out. But I had no idea the kind of uncertainty and fear that comes with the bold act of asking people to pay you money to live what you love. It stirred up all these emotions of worthiness-doubt that my ever-worthy-youngest-child-self didn’t know I was capable of. 

This has led us to hiring a life coach, taking up a daily meditation practice, and reading lots and lots of self-help books. The most recent one being a signed copy of Daring Greatly by Brené Brown that I received while at Mighty Summit this past fall. 

I first became familiar with Brené Brown when I watched her Ted talk (gone viral) on vulnerability. In just 20 minutes Brown shifted my entire perspective on connection, authenticity, vulnerability and shame. I drank the “live-a-whole-hearted-life” kool-aid and sent the video to everyone I knew. 

What’s so cool about Brené Brown is she comes off as a total Generation X cynic who was going about her research (like... twelve years of serious methodical research) and surprised even herself by what she found – which was this kind of optimistic conclusion in living whole heartedly. She trusted the process and uncovered a hidden path to living an authentic life through courage, connection and engaging with our whole hearts. The messages in her book could easily come across as touchy-feely and flighty, but Brown’s writing is grounded in this place where that serious research meets personal experience – and you trust every word she says. It’s pretty much a must-read for creative entrepreneurs who sometimes struggle with the anxiety (almost like stage fright) of showing up and being seen.

Daring Greatly is one of those books where you end up tabbing every page, highlighting every word and can’t stop yourself from making urgent notes in all the margins. But if I had to narrow it down greatest takeaways I received from Daring Greatly they would be:

1. While we’re inspired by others who live vulnerable lives we often recognize that very same quality of vulnerability in ourselves as weakness. For example, it’s so easy to cheer on other creative entrepreneurs who take big leaps, or other bloggers who open up and share the whole story, or other artists who paint their lives out on the canvas. We see these guys as being courageous – but to make those bold leaps a part of our own story... well, that just feels too darn scary. Those other guys are scared too – but it’s embracing and leveraging that vulnerability that makes them brave enough to live wholeheartedly.

2. Our inner critic that tells us we’re not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, [fill in the blank] enough is a gremlin. Brené Brown tells you to literally imagine it as a gremlin from Steven Spielberg’s 1980s hit appropriately titled Gremlins. She says if you can identify this “not enough” feeling, and literally wrap words around that sneaky and self-sabotaging gremlin – then your negative internal dialogue loses its power and withers away. Because just like getting a gremlin wet, keeping quiet about your insecurities will only make them multiply. But speaking the words out loud, even just acknowledging those unproductive feelings, are the bright light that keeps the gremlins at bay.

3. Living a life of authenticity and embracing vulnerability is not the same as letting it all hang out like a total spaz. Being wholehearted is about having the courage to reach out and connect – and leaning into the discomfort of difficult emotions that comes from things like... you know... starting your own creative business while raising two young kids. So don’t necessarily go wrapping words around those gremlins on your Facebook page or at the checkout line at the grocery store. It’s a balancing act for me – especially on my personal blog. I like to ask myself a few questions when I want to “keep it real” but don’t want to run the risk of what Brown calls “floodlighting” my audience with a bomb of insecurity when I post about the more vulnerable topics. The questions are as follows: 

• Will this story help someone else? 
• What did I learn from this experience? 
• Am I still working through it? (If so I probably need to talk it through with someone who has deserved my trust before posting it on the internet)
• If I get positive comments will it affect the way I feel? If I get negative comments will it affect the way I feel? 

Brené Brown makes a compelling call to show up and be seen. To get in the arena and dare greatly. 

Theodore Roosevelt Quote

Have you read Daring Greatly? If so, which part most resonated with you? How are you daring greatly? Let us know on Facebook. 

Resources for Creatives
On Having A Life Coach
November 19, 2012 Tara

“If you could do this one thing, but weren’t afraid of failing, what would you do?” That’s one of the most compelling questions my life coach asked me.  My answer? Start a business with my sister, Kathleen. For the first six months of Braid, we continued with Jay Pryor, our life coach who immediately “put us on the hook” for things we needed to do, and that he’d hold us accountable to doing before our next session. One of those “hooks” for us – which is kind of like homework – was to picture the kind of business we wanted to build, to begin visually tracking the kinds of clients we want to attract (sound familiar? it’s worked so well for us it’s become part of our Dream Customer Catching Braid ECourse). He also put us on the hook to be grateful for each other – to take a second at least a few times a week to acknowledge each other (which we do all the time) for the really hard and new things each of us are tackling each day as creative entrepreneurs.

If you’ve never had a life coach, but have considered it, I’d say coaching, especially for creative entrepreneurs (or about-to-be’s) helps to: 1. steel your courage for big-picture changes, and 2. “put you on the hook” for the small but powerful actions you need to do, to keep you moving toward your goal.

Life Coach Takeaway Two

Life Coach Takeaway Three

Those are my feet in the video by the way. I love how the stepping across the logs shot kind of sums up how life coaching helps you take steps forward in work and life.

Jay describes his expertise life coaching / executive coaching, because he coaches professionals and business owners as well as businesses as groups, too. But I also think this title addendum of “executive” is for people who feel silly saying life coach. I think this self-consciousness people sometimes have about it depends on where you’re from. Another life coach we’ve been helping brand herself as of late, Kathy Funston, is really having to educate her new client base here in the midwest on what life coaching really is about (hint: NOT therapy), while in her previous city of San Francisco, having a life coach is a given, or even something to boast about – like having a personal trainer.

I think Kathleen and I will always cycle back around to having some sort of coach in our business or lives. Right now we’re acknowledging the heck out of each other as we continue to move forward helping other creative entrepreneurs, tracking our progress as we reach more and more of you all over the country – and just trying not to look down while we do it.

Have you ever had a life coach? Does it cause you an involuntarily eye roll, or are you totally gung-ho for the idea – or are you on the bubble? Tell us on Facebook!

Resources for Creatives, Videos