What if the goal you set ends up being something you don't want, after all?

Chereen Leong Schwarz of Smeeny Made Wild joins me to share her winding path of entrepreneurship, including:

• How dreams evolve and why alignment is a process, not a destination
• The challenge of letting go of past versions of yourself
• Making big career shifts and embracing uncertainty
• Recognizing when it's time to realign your business with your values
• The power of community and support in creative entrepreneurship
• Mentioned: Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices | TED Talk

Retreat update: We're pushing the British Columbia Retreat to 2026! Curious about future retreats? Get on the interest list here: https://aeoykafl.paperform.co

Fear is inevitable, but you can work with it in your business, not against it.

Chereen Leong Schwarz of Smeeny Made Wild joins me to talk about fear and discomfort as a business owner, including:

• Differentiating between fear and discomfort
• How outdoor adventures can help us build resilience in business
• Reframing fear as a muscle that can be strengthened
• Making bold choices in your creative career
• How to approach change and uncertainty with confidence

Retreat update: We're pushing the British Columbia Retreat to 2026! Curious about future retreats? Get on the interest list here: https://aeoykafl.paperform.co

You're invited— I'm teaming up with Chereen to build an incredible community retreat this August 2025 in Squamish, BC!

Chereen Leong Schwarz (she/her) is the founder and chief-everything-officer behind Smeeny Made Wild. Chereen taught herself to knit with a pair of thrifted knitting needles and YouTube videos, and what started as a hobby quickly became a passion.

Today, Smeeny Made Wild is more than a brand; it's a community of adventurous creatives, artists, and small business owners who are rewilding life and business by slowing down and reconnecting with nature, creativity, and what truly matters.

We talk about:

• How Chereen shifted from being a chef to a self-taught knitter and business owner
• The growth and impact of Smeeny Made Wild
• The challenges of building a maker based business
• Honoring our core values within our businesses
• Supporting sustainability and ethical business practices
• A 2025 retreat rooted in our love of community and intentional gathering

Connect with Chereen:

• smeenymadewild.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@smeenymadewild
• Discord: https://smeenymadewild.myflodesk.com/e3k82ll1h3
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/smeenymadewild

Retreat update: We're pushing the British Columbia Retreat to 2026! Curious about future retreats? Get on the interest list here: https://aeoykafl.paperform.co

Are you experiencing a slow season in your freelance work?

It can be scary, but remember, whether you're new or established in business, it's normal to face highs and lows in demand for work.

Business is cyclical— especially in the outdoor industry.

And you CAN create new business opportunities for yourself— that's a skill we can all learn.

Let's talk about the best uses of your time during slow seasons of work, including:

1. Rest intentionally.

2. Get outside.

3. Deepen your creative skillset.

4. Work ON (not in) your business.

5. Audit your business.

6. Reconnect with your network.

Listen to get inspired to use a slower time to your advantage, and send this episode to a freelancer friend who's going through something similar.

Connect with Justine: https://www.justawildthought.com

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Creatives often feel tension between honoring what a brand wants and respecting the authentic story of a person or community. How can you do both?

Sabrina Claros is a photographer, videographer, and creative director based in LA, creating stories at the intersection of adventure, environmentalism, and outdoor equity. Her work aims to create change and inspire more people to connect with the outdoors and feel called to protect our natural resources, while reducing barriers to who has access in outdoor spaces.

Sabrina has worked with brands such as Teva, Tough Cutie, Bedrock Sandals, and many others. Her media work is largely informed by a background in social work, and continues to be grounded in grassroots community work.

We chat about:

• Sabrina's move from social work to outdoor industry media
• How essential community is to staying resilient when facing challenges
• The challenges of outsiders sharing the stories of underrepresented communities
• Balancing authentic storytelling with a brand's needs
• Cold pitching and specificity
• The need for a creative network to amplify diverse voices
• Keeping the creative process fulfilling even when it's for work

Connect with Sabrina:

• www.sabrinaclaros.com
• www.instagram.com/sabrinaclarosphotography

Connect with Justine:

• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

2025 did not start out the way I wanted it to.

Many of my clients are also getting that "What's the point?" feeling with the state of the world.

Here's the twist: Actually answering the question of "What's the point?" thoughtfully is giving me hope.

We can control how we're showing up for our community. We have agency around the impact that we're able to make. We can invest in our values to shape a brighter future.

Here are four small but mighty actions I'm taking this month:

1. Getting more intentional about social media usage
2. Narrowing my focus to certain causes
3. Finding involvement in my local community
4. Dealing with decision fatigue in a way that helps the greater good

I don't want to be a numb spectator. I want to be an active participant in the areas where I can make a positive impact.

We need your voice. We need your work. We need you. There is a point. What's yours?

Connect with Justine:

• Resource mentioned: On Digital Advocacy: Saving the Planet while Preserving Our Humanity by Katie Boué
• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

What can freelancers learn from those founding product-based businesses?

Katie Doherty is the co-founder of Founded Outdoors, a company dedicated to providing resources, programming, and community for emerging outdoor brands.

She is passionate about driving inclusive change through entrepreneurship and combines her experience in the tech start-up world and her love of the outdoors by supporting founders from idea to launch.

With her co-founder Enhao Li, she has created a thriving community of outdoor industry founders and has supported more than 65 founders through their accelerator programs like Embark, a program developed in collaboration with REI Co-op's Path Ahead Ventures.

We chat about:

• how crucial community is to business building
• embracing an iterative process to create the best possible product for your ideal customer
• aligning your professional mission with your personal values
• how Katie and Enhao came to create the Founded Outdoors community

Connect with Founded Outdoors:

• foundedoutdoors.com
• instagram.com/foundedoutdoors

If you want 2025 to be your era of freelance flow, I'd love to invite you to my new group coaching community.

Because you can have a full business AND be a human first.

This program is for the freelancer who...

• is working their butt off, but not spending time doing what they love most.
• has a steady stream of clients, but not dream ones.
• makes ends meet, but wants more financial security.
• has some systems in place, but keeps overriding their boundaries.
• knows their values, but gets stuck trying to align them with a business model.

I deeply believe that you can be an effective business owner who also sets boundaries and makes space for fun.

For 6 months, we'll meet twice a month for 90 minute group calls and use a private Slack channel on an ongoing basis for round-the-clock community interaction.

You'll also get access to all past Just A Wild Thought workshop recordings and priority for future 1:1 coaching availability.

If you're a successful creative who knows there's something more, I invite you to explore the program soon. We start in February, and the community is capped at 8 people.

Info here: https://www.justawildthought.com/findyourfreelanceflow

Connect with Justine:

• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Sometime around years 2 or 3 of freelancing, you can find yourself facing new challenges, often resulting from all the things you did well when you first launched your business.

You hustled, you said YES to everything and everyone, and you made sh*t happen.

But now, you probably have plenty of work and clients, but you're not doing the work or living the life you expected to.

Learn the first steps I recommend for getting unstuck when you:

• Find yourself working too much
• Keep saying yes to the wrong clients
• Don't feel safe in your business
• Run into friction in your systems
• Have trouble honoring your core values at work

Then, if you're ready to implement change in your business so you can have more ownership over your time and energy...

✨ The Find Your Flow community coaching program is now open!

Realign your business around what matters most to you.

This is a 6 month community coaching experience for the creative who's spending so much time working in their business that they don't make space to work on their business.

Join a team of established business owners who will support you through building sustainable practices into your work and life.

We start in January, and the community is capped at 8 people.

Check it out at https://www.justawildthought.com/findyourfreelanceflow.

Connect with Justine:

• Resource mentioned: Client Matrix tool - https://justawildthought.podia.com/ideal-client-matrix
• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Emma Mary Murray (she/her) works as an environmental artist and teacher. She creates slow-crafted heirloom art pieces that honor the landscapes they depict. Her favorite materials include embroidery thread, up-cycled fabrics, and paints.

Emma also teaches art workshops for kids and grown-ups, and teaches all subjects part-time at a place-based school on Mount Desert Island in Maine.

We chat about:

• Emma's transition from an art hobby to creative business
• Weaving together her passions of art and teaching
• Managing multiple income streams and avenues of work
• The beauty of creating a tactile, tangible, beautiful product
• Minimizing social media use in business
• Figuring out the building blocks of her year's schedule
• Using art to support advocacy efforts

Resource mentioned: Off The Grid Podcast, www.offthegrid.fun

Connect with Emma:

• Website: www.emmamarymurray.com
• IG: instagram.com/emmamarymurray

Connect with Justine:

• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

When we consider ourselves business owners instead of simply freelancers, we typically make more empowered choices in our work.

I'm sharing three shifts that I've noticed have helped my clients find more agency in the way they run their small creative businesses:

• Understanding what you're hired to do: leading vs. executing
• Making time to work on your business, not just in it
• Knowing what to say no to

Plus, I share some "homework" you can take to start implementing each shift right now.

✨ Introducing: The Find Your Flow community coaching program!

This 6 month program is a space for 8 individuals looking for both coaching and community to develop the mindsets and skill sets required to really own being a business owner.

This is for you if you feel like you're constantly reacting to the industry and don't have enough time to optimize, envision, or be proactive in your future of your business.

We start January 2025.

Interested? Join the waitlist here.

Connect with Justine:

• Waitlist for Find Your Flow: https://upbeat-thinker-5836.kit.com/230ce3d8ff
• Website: https://www.justawildthought.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justawildthought

Was this episode helpful? Screenshot this and tell a friend to go to justawildthought.com/podcast!

Please rate and review Creatives in the Wild on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.