I have made it my business to teach basic business skills to creative professionals who should have learned them in school but, alas, did not because it’s not taught in school. This has for years perpetuated a “starving artist” mentality amongst creative professionals, who are naturally talented and could easily bring their creativity to the business side of their business, if only they knew how. That’s the mission I’m on with all of my work through marketing-mentor.com
I wrote
The Creative Professional's Guide to Money: How to Think About It, How to Talk About it, How to Manage It
Essential Skill #1 for Creatives: the breadwinner mindset
Creative professionals tend to be number-phobes and therefore believe they are doomed to be “starving artists.” That’s why, when I heard the title of Jennifer Barrett’s book, I knew I had to invite her to be a guest on my podcast. She writes clearly and simply about the “breadwinner” mindset. Plus, we share the belief that there is nothing more empowering than having in place the mindset, the money, and the marketing so you are free to walk away from any situation or client that isn’t a good fit. That’s the only way to bring your dream business to life.
A new kind of manifesto for the working woman, with practical guidance on building wealth as well as inspiration for harnessing the freedom and power that comes from a breadwinning mindset.
Women are now the main breadwinner in one-in-four households in the UK. Yet the majority of women still aren't being brought up to think like breadwinners. In fact, they're actively discouraged - by institutional bias and subconscious beliefs - from building their own wealth, pursuing their full earning potential, and providing for themselves and others financially. The result is that women earn less, owe more, and have significantly less…
Essential Skill #2 for Creatives: Practicality, not Passion
Creative professionals tend to be “passionate practitioners” but if you need to “love” every single aspect of your business, you won’t get very far. That’s why I love Terri’s book. It’s the funniest business book I’ve read! Part comic autobiography, part business handbook, Unfollow Your Passion provides practical, clear, and excellent advice. It also happens to be beautifully written, the stories so compelling and hysterical that you’ll learn the practical skills in spite of yourself. The message of this book – forget about passion – is so important, something I’ve espoused for years, but not nearly as eloquently and clearly as Terri has.
One of the Best Feel-Good Books of 2021 by The Washington Post
A hilarious and honest not-quite-self-help book in the vein of Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies and I Used to Have a Plan.
Every person on the planet wants their life to mean something. The problem is that you've been told there's only one way to find that meaning.
In Unfollow Your Passion, Terri Trespicio-whose TEDx talk has more than six million views-questions everything you think you need: passion (fun, but fleeting), plans (flimsy at best), and a bucket list (eye roll), to name a few.
Essential Skill #3 for Creatives: The ability to say no
Saying no is tricky, especially for people-pleasers. But if you don’t decide who you’ll say no to, in the end, no one will be happy with you. One of the many important lessons in Oliver Burkeman’s book is to decide in advance who you can disappoint. This book is both deep and practical at the same time, my favorite combination. In it, he makes a strong argument for reality in a way that very few books do these days. You just can’t argue with “Things take the time they take” and “You just can’t do everything.” The minute we decide to accept reality, that’s when things start to improve.
"Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." ―Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.
Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of…
Essential Skill #4 for Creatives: Clear communication (especially in writing)
The world goes at such a fast pace that in order to get your point across, you must be able to communicate clearly. Whether or not you think you can write, this book is for you. Ann and I share a mutual obsession with email newsletters and she writes about writing in a way that makes anyone think they can do it well – because you can! By reading it, you might even learn how to write ridiculously good content.
Finally a go-to guide to creating and publishing the kind of content that will make your business thrive. Everybody Writes is a go-to guide to attracting and retaining customers through stellar online communication, because in our content-driven world, every one of us is, in fact, a writer. If you have a web site, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers. Yeah, but who cares about writing anymore? In a time-challenged world dominated by…
Business is all about relationships and people do business with people they know, like, and trust. But if you hate networking, as many creatives do, it’s hard to build those essential relationships. That’s why this book is perfect for you. McPherson provides a simple framework for the much more useful skill of connecting with others. She makes learning it palatable and doable for introverts and makes an especially strong argument for why, in the 21st century, connecting is so essential to succeed in business.
Uncover a new way to network and build relationships that last!
Networking is often considered a necessary evil for all working professionals. With social media platforms like Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at our disposal, reaching potential investors or employers is much easier. Yet, these connections often feel transactional, agenda-driven, and dehumanizing, leaving professionals feeling burnt out and stressed out.
Instead, we should connect on a human level and build authentic relationships beyond securing a new job or a new investor for your next big idea. To build real and meaningful networking contacts, we need to go back to basics,…
Creatives are great at their work, but when it comes to running the financial side of their business, most would rather not talk about it. This book focuses on proven techniques and resources used by a wide range of successful professionals to manage their business finances. Readers will learn the essential mindset for profitable pricing, how to avoid the common financial mistakes creative professionals often make, and simple techniques for leading the money conversation so you can command the fees you deserve.
Not So Little Things by Kyle Ann Robertson unravels the meticulously crafted life of Tina, an artist engrossed in the intricate world of historically accurate miniatures. As she dutifully honors her deceased father's desire for her to follow in his artistic and historical footsteps, Tina's controlled existence is shaken by the emergence of long-buried secrets when she takes a commission to build a replica of Jake Martin’s family mansion.
Robertson navigates the delicate balance between Tina's devotion to her father's wishes and the disruptions caused by revelations from the past. The novel beautifully explores the complexity of familial expectations and…
Tina Edwards loved her childhood and creating fairy houses, a passion shared with her father, a world-renowned architect. But at nine years old, she found him dead at his desk and is haunted by this memory. Tina's mother abruptly moved away leaving Tina with feelings of abandonment and suspicion. Raised by her loving, wheelchair-bound Aunt Liddy, her father's sister, 33 year old Tina has become a miniature room artist and cherishes the control she has over her life in Northeast Georgia as she works hard to please her beloved dead father's wishes of following in his footsteps in art and…
