Cartoonist and graphic recorder Lisa Frühbeis has made bold moves that have led to an incredibly rapid career trajectory in the last few years, starting with pitching a comic strip to a newspaper straight out of school...and then parlaying the end of that strip into a book deal, and then much more.

But Lisa isn't bold because she's free from fear. Far from it. Although she long felt a strong pull to become a professional artist, she was held back by an intense fear of the financial instability that comes along with that path.

What helped her overcome that fear and do the thing?

Lisa learned to use some strategic tools, not to stuff down and ignore her feelings and needs, but rather to leverage them to make decisions in the full confidence that she's doing the right thing.

And those deeply-rooted decisions are what make it possible for Lisa to, for example, renegotiate a with an international cultural agency to support her dream personal project.

What are these amazing tools?

Negotiation, a weighted priority matrix (?! Hang tight: We explain all), and...

Envy?

Yep.

Lisa's story reveals that the secret to taking big leaps and inventing new paths to success isn't freezing your soul and becoming an art-making automaton, but on the contrary, using passion, inspiration, and even negative emotions as guides and anchors to what really matters, and what to do next.

More from the episode...

• "I was scared to do art. My mother is a single mother and she always reminded me that it's very important, especially as woman, to be able to make money." - How Lisa found her artistic voice and overcame her scarcity mindset.
• Why does Lisa believe "envy is underrated" and what did paying attention to what she envied reveal about her career path?
• Instead of saying yes to unfulfilling work, Lisa explains how she uses a decision matrix to chose projects that honor her values.
• Lisa defines her criteria for accepting new projects, and explains how knowing your values can make you a more confident negotiator.
• "I was always feeling like I was playing chess, but not knowing what the rules were" — Why Lisa believes learning to negotiate is the best financial investment any artist can make.
• How did Lisa convince a powerful cultural institute to adopt her passion project?
• The prestigious award Lisa's project almost didn't qualify for and the importance of being persistent.
• Lisa shares an epiphany that transformed her career: "The only thing she has that you don't have is courage."

More from Lisa Frühbeis:

Lisa Frühbeis is a comic artist and author. Her first book, the feminist comic strip collection "Busengewunder", appeared at Carlsen Bonnier in 2020 and won several awards. Her current webcomic "a fraction of time", about a single mother who works in the creative field, is available on tapas. She also teaches illustration at university and works as a graphic recorder (live drawing of word-image protocols) for sustainable companies. Lisa has been a voluntary board member of many associations, including the German Illustrators' Association, which she also represented as the German representative in the European umbrella organization EIF.

Connect with Lisa Frühbeis

https://lisa-fruehbeis.squarespace.com

https://instagram.com/lisa.earlybite

https://facebook.com/lisa.fruhbeis

Additional Links

https://tapas.io/series/A-Fraction-of-Time/info