For most of us, coming up with ideas is an essential part of running a creative business. But whether we need them for client work or our own content, sometimes generating fresh ideas can feel hard.

Inspired by our own struggles, this is what we’re chatting about in today’s episode. As well as exploring why you might be short of ideas, we discuss strategies for navigating the natural ebb and flow of your creativity, offering advice to help you get those ideas flowing again.

Links and Further Reading

The Self-Belief Episode

Do you have any tips for coming up with ideas? We’d love to hear from you! Join the conversation on Substack to share your thoughts.

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In today’s episode, we’re discussing some recent Internet drama — Glennon’s Doyle’s arrival and sudden departure from Substack. To be clear, we’re not interested in gossip and hot takes. Instead, we’re chatting about our experience watching these events unfold, and how they made us feel about Substack and its users.

As well as touching on the dangers of positioning Substack as the antidote to everything that’s wrong with social media, we talk about the constant evolution of the Internet and what this means for online business owners. Embracing our status as Internet dinosaurs, we also share advice to help you navigate these inevitable changes.

Links and Further Reading

Are You Going to Start a Substack?

How We Are Showing Up on Substack This Year

Glennon Doyle

We Can Do Hard Things

Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert

Everything Glennon Doyle Did Wrong by Polly Vernon

How do you feel about what happened to Glennon? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation on Substack.

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As we hit the midpoint of the year, we’re reflecting on Quarter 2 and looking ahead to Quarter 3 in our respective businesses. Find out what felt good, what didn’t and what we’ve learned in the process.

We also talk about our words of the year and how they’ve been showing up for us since we last spoke. As well as sharing a few sources of creative inspiration, we dig into our plans for the next three months and discuss what we’re hoping to achieve before the next time we have this chat.

Links and Further Reading

Making Time for Non-Business Activities During the Working Week

The Self-Belief Episode

The Artist’s Way

Studio Gently

Through The Gentle Lens by Anna Considine

Join us on Substack where you can share your thoughts on this episode in the comments. Come and tell us your own intentions for Q3… we’d love to cheer you on!

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In today’s episode, we’re talking about the Wheel of the Year, a seasonal cycle of eight festivals, or sabbats, that mark the passage of time through the year, connecting with the Earth's natural rhythms and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Charlie explains the significance of the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days, describing some of the symbols and traditions associated with them. We also discuss different ways you can use the Wheel of the Year within your creative business.

From seasonal projects and activities to intention setting, this episode contains lots of resources and ideas to help get you started with this seasonal framework.

Links and Further Reading

Wheel of the Year on Google Calendar (add the one titled Pagan/Wiccan Holidays)

Brand Seasons

Katherine May

Creating Everyday Rituals

Everythinglooksrosie

Are you familiar with the Wheel of the Year? Is it something you use in your creative business? We’d love to hear from you! Join the conversation on Substack to share your thoughts.

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Inspired by a recent conversation during one of our real-life co-mentoring sessions, today we’re asking whether a picture is REALLY worth a thousand words. Spoiler alert - Franky doesn’t think so!

We’re constantly told we live in a visual world, especially when it comes to doing business online, but are headshots, logos, and brand colours really the most important thing? Listen as we explore this topic, chatting about ocularcentrism, the perils of neglecting your website copy, audio branding and more.

Links and Further Reading

Emma Dabiri on How to Fail

The Ultimate Guide to Sonic Branding with George and Luke from Hear Me Out

What do you think about the relationship between words and visuals? Is one more important than the other? We’d love to hear from you! Join the conversation on Substack to share your thoughts.

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When it comes to your business, how much self-belief do you have? In today’s episode, we’re answering this question and exploring why self-belief is so important when you work for yourself.

As well as discussing how our relationship with self-belief has changed over the years, we dive into the differences between inner work and external validation. We also share some of the things we’ve tried to boost our self-belief.

Links and Further Reading

The Art of Requesting, Receiving and Giving Feedback

Transform Your Business with Co-Mentoring

What Gives Us the Business Scaries

Is self-belief something you need to work on? Or are you already nailing it? We’d love to hear from you! Join the conversation on Substack to share your experiences.

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In this episode, we’re reflecting on Quarter 1 and looking ahead to Quarter 2 in our respective businesses. Find out what felt good, what didn’t and what we’ve learned in the process.

We also talk about our words of the year and how they’ve been showing up for us since we last spoke. As well as sharing a few sources of creative inspiration, we dig into our plans for the next three months of 2025 and discuss what we’re both hoping to achieve before the next time we have this chat.

Links and Further Reading

Elise Joy

One Year Without Social Media

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Phone by Erik Winkowski

Studio Gently

Through The Gentle Lens by Anna Considine

Join us on Substack where you can share your thoughts on this episode in the comments. Come and tell us your own intentions for Q2… we’d love to cheer you on!

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charlieswift.com

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After six years of podcasting, we thought it was about time we shared an updated episode on our specialist subject - co-mentoring. For those who don’t know, Friends With Business Benefits wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t started co-mentoring first.

As well as sharing our co-mentoring origin story, we answer some of your most common questions. What is co-mentoring and what can it do for your business? What makes a good co-mentor and how can you find your own? We also share tips and advice to help you establish a consistent co-mentoring practice.

As we head into Q2, it feels like the perfect time to lean into this transformative habit. Good luck!

Links and Further Reading

Finding Your Own Co-Mentor

5 Things I’ve Gained from Co-Mentoring

Things That Make Our Business Worlds Better

Are you tempted to give co-mentoring a go? Already a fan? We’d love to hear from you! Join the conversation on Substack to share your experiences.

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It’s the perfect time of year to spring clean your rhythms and routines, so that’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode.

While some things will naturally shift as the seasons change, certain areas of life and business require us to be more intentional. Listen as Charlie walks us through her process, explaining how she supports her mentees to do the same.

From figuring out what’s working and what’s not to adopting new habits and overhauling your working week, we discuss everything you need to know about refreshing your daily rhythms.

Links and Further Reading

Weekly Rhythm Worksheets

Are you refreshing your rhythms or routines for spring? Join the conversation on Substack to tell us all about it. We’d love to hear from you!

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When is a pivot not a pivot and how do you know when it’s time to evolve?

This week, we’re answering both these questions and more, digging into the practicalities of switching things up in your small business.

We cover the realties of being solely responsible for you own professional development, reasons you might want to evolve, and the steps you need to take in order to do so. We also share evolutions we’ve been through as business owners in the past and where we hope innovative thinking might take us in the future.

Links and Further Reading

Join the conversation on Substack to share your thoughts on evolving in business. We’d love to hear from you!

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charlieswift.com

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