Episodes

It's funny that with the internet we've never been more connected, and yet also never been more tempted to isolate ourselves! In my experience, you can not build a thriving creative career or a powerful creative side quest without OTHER PEOPLE! You've got to get other people embedded into your personal projects to take them to the next level. In this episode I will give you several tactics for involving collaborators in your side quest and why it makes all the difference. CREATIVE SIDE QUEST SERIES PART 4

It's hard to get into art when it's being shoved down your throat. So, how do you get your work in front of new fans, customers or clients without directly smashing it into people's faces? You engineer organic growth. You make work that people want to voluntarily share. In this episode I share everything I've learned about doing just that.

It's noisy and no one wants to be sold anything anymore. No company is looking for new untapped talent, they just seem to sit back and wait for the "best" to rise to the top of the internet. In this climate, how is a creative person supposed to break into a new market or win a new dream opportunity? Are we just at the mercy of people discovering us? Or can we actively make stuff happen in our creative careers? In this episode, I want to share a strategy for developing work that can tackle these tough problems, and give you an edge for breaking through into your dream opportunities. CREATIVE SIDE QUEST SERIES PART 2 This is part 2 of our Creative Side Quest series. This series is about how to take a side project and add business and marketing strategy to transform it into a Creative Side Quest AKA your secret weapon for developing your creative career!

GUYS!!! THIS MAY BE OUR BIGGEST EPISODE TO DATE!! I AM SO PUMPED TO SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOU! 1 - We launch a new series today called "Creative Side Quest" In this series, we will walk through how to take a normal creative side project and add 4 layers of strategy that will transform it into a Creative Side Quest AKA your most powerful marketing tool!

In this episode I want to share with you the secret weapon I KNOW you have... that I'm SURE you're hiding :D This episode contains 3 lessons on creating a deep connection with your audience, and how that's THE number 1 secret to building a thriving creative career! P.S. Next week we will return to "normal" episodes, but I was deeply inspired to bring you one more "messy" summer episode! CREDITS Thanks to Yoni Wolf and the band WHY? for our theme music. Thanks to my man Nate Utesch and his b...

Today on the show, we have super special guest, Chicago based art director, designer and letterer Adé Hogue!!! Adé has worked with a very impressive range of clients, from Nike to PayPal, and his journey is incredibly inspiring. There are nuggets of wisdom and lots of vulnerability in this episode and I’m sure it’s going to be a new fan favorite! We talk through Adé’s journey, the secret to getting your best work, the blood-sweat-and-tears of freelance and how his engineering background sets him apart as a letterer.

Does planning make perfect? Or is it best to shoot from the hip? Should you meticulously obsess over the details or should you just let those creative juices flow??? In this episode I want to share a principle that has helped me strike a balance and tap into my own personal peak creative performance. Your peak performance will be a different recipe than mine, but hopefully my process will help you find yours!!! This episode comes from personal experience, studying best creative practices of others and theories around the neuroscience of creativity. Over the past few years I've tried to take all of these findings and turn them into actual practical applications.

Being a creative person is incredible... except when it's not. To be a pro creative you've got to work hard and be a professional, but playing that part can sometimes lead to ignoring your needs and emotions. There's a secret I know about most creative people. They can look all cool and collected and pro when they need to, but behind that cool facade there is often a volcano of emotions. I know the truth about you... you're emo. You may not listen to My Chemical Romance (anymore) but you still struggle with nerves, insecurities, emotional exhaustion, self doubt, etc. You can't just stuff all these feelings in the pursuit of being a professional, and here's why: this sensitivity isn't just a curse, it's your gift. This sensitivity to the human experience is one of your key superpowers!! In many ways, it's the secret to being a creative person! And that means you need to take care of it and even nurture it. In this episode I want to share ideas and tactics that have helped me get into t…

Would the people that know you best, see 'you' in the art that you make? The self discovery and artistic development required to pull this off can seem like an impossible mountain to climb, so I asked artist Jon Burgerman, how has he done it? I don't know anyone who is as good as Jon at downloading their essence into their art and in this episode I chat with Jon about what the process of getting to this place looks like.

Do you have a sense that you've yet to realize your full potential? Do you often feel like you have much more to give but can't seem to figure out how to make it happen? These feelings have haunted me my entire life and over the past few years I feel like I'm finally unlocking some of my inner hidden gems!! In this stripped back / behind the scenes style episode I share the clues that have helped me make progress in my journey of creative self discovery.

Every journey has it's ups and downs and your creative career journey is DEFINITELY going to have some serious downs... or you're not doing it right!! This episode is about failure and how you can not only get through it, but start to embrace it as the secret to success! I also offer a tactic I found that helped me complete my yearlong goal in just a few months!!!

What do you do when something's broken? You take it apart. I think we all have a deep sense that EVERYTHING is broken right now and because of that we are deconstructing EVERYTHING!! For this reason, this year's 99u conference theme of "Challenging Everything" felt VERY APPROPRIATE to me. In this episode I want to share the breakthroughs I had while at 99u this past month and how they've impacted my outlook in my day to day creative career and my big picture perspective as a person. In this episode we will talk about the power of writing your own rules, how admitting you don't know everything is the first step of breaking new ground and unlock the secrets of the cosmos!!! haha... not really... but kinda ;) ... This week's show is a very special edition of Creative Pep Talk because it was made in partnership with Adobe! They brought me out to their 99u Conference in NYC and this episode is all about what I learned while I was there. ...

Anyone can deal with the good times, but it's how we deal with the hard times that defines our creative careers. In this episode I want to share tools for getting back up when the chips are down and you're feeling crushed. I've been dealing with some burnout and struggle and I hope these ideas are as energizing for you as they have been for me!! Even if you already feel good today, I hope this episode takes you from good to great!!

Do you ever feel like you're hiding behind the subjectivity of art? Like the fact that creativity is subjective, means no one can tell you you're bad or good. Right? I would say: wrong! Take the very creative world of food for example. Like what's good food and bad food might be up for debate to a degree, but ultimately undercooked poultry can objectively kill you! That is undoubtedly "bad food". I believe that in the world of professional creativity, value is more objective than you think and in this episode I explain why this is great news! We also talk about a practice that will help you become objectively better at what you do.

Chris Piascik has been doing a daily project for 10 years!! In fact, he's built an entire illustration career on the back of this project! In this episode, Chris shares the core insights he's learned about personal projects throughout this enormous journey!

Is it just me, or does it seem like people think creative work only matters if it's reaching insane amounts of people? Like if you've never made something that's gone viral, than you're not really in the REAL creative game? Like if you don't have a bonkers amount of followers on social media than you're creativity just doesn't really matter? In this episode I want to argue the opposite. I want to prove to you that deep impact is better than wide appeal when it comes to your creativity. I also want to suggest a practical way of implementing this idea into the creative work you're making today.

It can be extremely discouraging when you pour yourself into your creative work, and it fails to connect with an audience. In this episode I share everything I've learned about growing an audience, including specific examples and tactics I personally employ, as well as a few ideas I've been waiting to share for a long time!

Today's show features an extremely special guest!! JENI of JENI'S ICE CREAM! In this episode we hear Jeni's story and the breakthrough moments that lead to her extremely creative and successful business, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. There are so many aha moments and lessons from this episode, I know it's going to be one of your all time favorites!! Thank you so so much Jeni for taking the time to give so much to the Creative Pep Talk Audience! You are so amazing!

Did you know that you may be subconsciously sabotaging yourself? Well since you're doing it subconsciously, you probably don't! In this episode we talk about how to recognize your self sabotage and how to fight it. We also talk about Shiny Object Syndrome and why starting tons of things and never finishing any of them is killing your chances for progress. I also share my method for knowing what to focus on today.

Everyone wants to know the secret sauce to directly approaching those you want to work with. How do you contact the publishers, record labels, or clients you want to work, for in a way that actually works? In this episode I will share the only method that's worked for me and exactly how I've used it! We will also talk about the power of pivoting and what questions to ask yourself when your at the end of your current path.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Creative Pep Talk is teaming up with Elle Luna and Lindsay Jean Thomson for The 100 Day Project this year!!!!! In this episode, Lindsay and Elle both share how their personal stories have powerfully impacted their creativity and personal projects. Lindsay walks us through her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer and how it impacted her writing and Elle shares about her new book, "Your Story is Your Power" and how and why she claimed her feminine voice. We also talk the through the 100 Day Project and why it's such a powerful exercise for creative breakthrough.

"I barely have time to make personal work, and when I do have the time, I waste it trying to figure out what to make, or second guessing what I'm making!" Does this sound familiar? If so this episode is for you! We're often told that personal projects are the key to unlocking our creative career goals, but if you've ever done a personal project yourself, you know it's not that simple. What's the key to making effective personal projects that cause real breakthrough in your career? Find out in this episode! --- The Creative Career Path series continues! The Creative Career Path is a 7 step process to help you strike the perfect balance between business and art, i.e. thriving financially while staying creatively fulfilled.

When it comes to your creative career, do you ever feel lost and confused, wandering in a metaphorical desert? In my experience, making progress in your creative career can feel random, haphazard and lonely, but I don't think it has to be this way. In this episode, we tap into the power of finding where you fit in the industry (your market) and how to then, and only then, stand out (your niche). I personally return to these ideas on a very regular basis and they never cease to give me clarity and direction in my creative career, and I hope they do the same for you!

Honored to have esteemed and hilarious illustrator and cartoonist Gemma Correll back on the show today!! I had a fantastic time chatting with Gemma and also had some major take aways to chew on for my own practice... so I'm sure you will too! In this episode we talk about anxiety, self care, knowing your target and the bad and good of having 500k+ instagram followers! Gemma is a star and you're going to love this episode!