I am so thrilled to finally offer this e-course. It’s been in my heart and on my brain for well over a year and the time is finally right to launch. Fittingly, it’s called Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks To Help Your Creative Business Soar. Class started on Sunday, May 3oth and will end five weeks later on Saturday, July 3rd. UPDATE: CLASS REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER IF YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THE NEXT E-COURSE WILL BE OFFERED. THANK YOU!
Everyday, I receive emails from sweet and lovely artists, crafters, and other creative souls asking for my advice. They want to know how, in a span of just a couple of years, I built an online presence and successful etsy shop, wrote a best selling book, got published in several magazines, and launched successful gift collections (via licensing deals) that are sold in stores nationwide. They ask advice on how to sell original paintings, how to have a successful online shop, how to create and package prints/jewelry/originals, how to create a website and community. They ask about licensing, money, publishing, and press. They ask me how on earth I manage my time, how I face my fears, how I stay organized.
I know exactly where they’re coming from. It wasn’t that long ago that I was sending similar emails out to artists I admired, people who seemed to have booming creative businesses. Some would answer me, but most didn’t. At the time I was crushed – why weren’t they responding? Don’t they want to help an eager emerging artist? Now that I’m crazy busy over here and on the other end of that email exchange, I get it. I’m sure some didn’t respond because they were simply too busy to give advice to a complete stranger and I’m sure some didn’t respond because they wanted to protect their hard earned information – afterall, nobody told them how to do it when they were starting out, did they? For me, it hasn’t been a matter of not wanting to share what I know, it’s been a matter of time and the value of that time.
In the end, I deeply believe in finding a way to share our stories, our resources, and how we’ve made it to where we are now. I also believe that there is tremendous value in what each of us has to offer when it comes to inspiration, concrete advice, and tips when it comes to creating a successful creative business. After months and months of writing, strategizing, and thinking about how I could best share everything I know (and finally answer, in detail, the questions that come my way) I came up with something that I think is pretty darned special: an e-course called Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks To Help Your Creative Business Soar.
What I’ve learned in the last few years is that we can propel ourselves into living our dreams with successful creative businesses with two must haves: inspiration + tips. And that’s exactly what Flying Lessons is all about. Inspiration comes from sharing the stories of our creative journeys so that we can begin to dismantle all the misconceptions of what the creative life looks like. It means getting our hearts engaged in the business side of what we do. It means connecting to, and acknowledging, all the layers of our creative lives – our joys, successes, and downfalls.
And then there are hugely important tips – practical information and advice that we all need to be successful. When I started my creative journey, I was surprised at how hard it was to find answers to many of my questions: How do artists sell/price/package their works? How do they build a following and an online presence? How do they create their websites? How do they deal with the fears? And later it was: How do they get published, licensed, and accepted to shows? How do they organize their time? How do they market their work and get all that press? And most importantly: How do they stay engaged with their hearts and inspiration while managing the business side of what they do?
In Flying Lessons, you’ll receive the answers to all those practical questions and more. I’ll share my own personal stories of what’s worked, and what hasn’t worked as I built my creative business. And I’ll give you concrete information and tips along the way so that you, too, can create your own success whether you’re a crafter, a photographer, an artist, a writer, or someone who is still learning! You’ll find musings, encouragement, practical tips and thoughtful guidance on everything from how to create an online presence to how to create a creative community to how to successfully market your business to receiving press to getting published to facing the fears that inevitably come when we push ourselves to do things we’ve never done before. We’ll discuss the ins and out of money, creating a sustainable income from our creative businesses, licensing opportunities, craft shows, and how to handle the inevitable gremlins of competition, exhaustion, and overwhelm. And, of course, we’ll dive into organization strategies that are effective and promote the idea that small steps lead to giant leaps when it comes to creating the success we’ve always envisioned. Along the way, you’ll find inspiring quotes, interviews with successful working artists, and a few excerpts from my best selling book, Taking Flight.
* Weeks one and two will focus on creating an effective online presence via blogs, website, social networking. We’ll talk specifically about the ins and outs of these resources including how to create, how to improve, and the secret ingredients to using them effectively. We also talk about networking and the importance of creating community and how to build long lasting creative allies. We’ll discuss all the fears that will inevitably come up against as we push the boundaries of our horizons.
* Weeks three and four will focus on selling strategies (both online and offline). I’ll give specific strategies for selling on etsy and other online marketplaces. We’ll discuss effective ways of styling, photographing, packaging, and pricing our products and/or services. We’ll also focus on a number of effective marketing strategies to get the word out about our businesses, including print media, newsletters, advertising, blogging, and more. We’ll also discuss in detail all the ins and out of getting press and getting published. Finally, we’ll discuss the actualizing of goals, creating schedules, and time management.
* Week five will focus on recharging our souls, handling competion as well as overwhelm and burnout. We’ll talk about creating other creative ways of income such as licensing, teaching opportunities, blog sponsorships, affiliate programs, and more. We’ll discuss an overview of taxes, money, and when it’s time to ask for help (interns, etc). We’ll also discuss organizing simple yet effective bookkeeping strategies when it comes to cataloging our income/expenses (so important when tax time comes around). Finally, we’ll wrap up what we’ve learned together and celebrate taking flight into our creative dreams!
Whether you’re a beginner, an accomplished artist or crafter, or somewhere in between, this e-course is for anyone who wants to start or grow their creative business.
More specifically:
* Anyone interested in how to create an online presence that will benefit their creative business and increase traffic to their websites and online shops. If you already have a blog/website, great! You’ll still learn a lot. This course is also for anyone who doesn’t have a blog, website and/or social networking accounts but are eager to jump in with a focus of growing their creative business.
* Anyone interested in how to effectively use social networking (flickr, twitter, facebook, etc) to promote their creative business.
* Anyone with dreams of growing their creative business in order to financially supplement (or possibly replace!) their full/part time jobs.
* Anyone with a creative business idea or dream who needs the practical tools and small steps to make that dream a reality.
* Anyone interested in how to create a variety of income from their creative business, including blog sponsorships, teaching opportunities, licensing deals, wholesale accounts, and other means of creative/smart income.
* Anyone needing inspiration and gentle nudges of confirmation that we must listen to the whispers of our lives calling us to begin, to create, and acknowledge the dreams tugging on our hearts.
* Anyone needing practical, concrete tips and information on how to market and promote their blogs/websites/shops in online world with the goal of increasing traffic to their sites
* Anyone interested in how to create a true blue community of artists, both for personal and creative business growth.
* Anyone needing tried and true tips on how to get press and how to get published in your favorite publications. Have big dreams of writing a book? We’ll discuss that too!
* Anyone needing advice on how to push through the fears that are inevitable along the creative journey.
* Anyone needing effective strategies for time management and ways to organize and implement their goals, one by one.
Class is five weeks and costs $99. Class starts on Sunday, May 30th and ends five weeks later on Saturday, July 3rd. Class website will stay up for two weeks after the end of class so that you will have access to the site and all the content up until July 17th. To register, please click on the paypal button to pay for the class (major credit cards accepted via paypal). After you’ve paid for the class, you will receive an email from me with everything you need to access the class website (password, etc). ** Please note: please allow 48 hours from the time you send in your payment to the time you receive an email with your password, and further details. All sales final. Got questions? Head on over to the FAQS! Thank you!
UPDATE: CLASS REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER IF YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THE NEXT E-COURSE WILL BE OFFERED. THANK YOU!
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to share everything I know, everything I’ve learned along the way, and to also learn from you! This class will have a lot of discussion and I’m looking forward to getting to know you as we journey together!!
