I went to pick up some supplies at my local art store and I picked up a new sketchbook for our summer trips, and that got me thinking about a sketchbook practice and how helpful it can be as a working creative. When I started graduate school at the end of 2012, I started buying a small moleskine book to take notes in and sketch things out in and I have about 9 of these books on a bookcase in the studio. They are a great history of old ideas, notes of things I’ve read and random doodles. Today I want to talk about all of the different benefits of keeping a sketchbook in your creative practice.

Records your progress as an artist. This is a great way to see how far you’ve come in your medium.

Makes you a faster sketcher - the faster you can draw out your ideas - the faster you can communicate them.

Sketching can be a really nice way to relax your brain.

Record and develop new ideas for larger works of art - when I’m lacking inspiration, I like to look back and see past notes and ideas that I’ve had - they might spur on some new ideas, today.

A sketchbook is a really great way to experiment with new ideas and mediums: if it’s in your sketchbook, it’s a lot less daunting for me: for me there is no pressure to be perfect if it’s in my sketchbook.

Sketching daily will sharpen your skills in drawing from life.

My favorite brands of sketchbooks: Stillman & Birn, Moleskine

In today's episode, I'll be sharing an experience that I had recently with a client who was unsatisfied with their purchase. As much as I wish this never happened, I think it's an important thing to talk about because as a small business owner - this is most likely going to happen to you at some point. But never fear, and don't give up, because the way you respond and what you do with the information you learn is only going to improve your business in the long run. 

Don't forget to sign up for my email list to be the first to know about new podcast episodes and other small business encouragement. 

Today we are going to be talking about goal setting - I’ve always loved planning and setting goals, but it took me a little while to figure out how to plan out my goals to achieve them, as well as identifying the best kind of goals to set for my business to move it forward. 

If you’re familiar with goal setting, then I’m sure you have come across the acronym for SMART goals: Specific / Measurable / Attainable / Relevant / Time-Based. And this is great - you don’t want goals that don’t have a timeframe, those go on forever, and unattainable goals are just discouraging. I like combining the system of SMART goals on a quarterly goal setting sheet (if you sign up for my email list in the show notes, you’ll receive your own PDF template). And if you notice, there is only room for three goals - and this doesn’t mean that I only want to accomplish three things this quarter. It means that these are the three most important this quarter. 

I’m going to share with you another metric I use for setting goals for my business. It’s sort of a past / present / future way to look at goals, and I like to think about the following triggers: 

Pain point / product / Prospecting 

Pain point is a goal related to something that needs addressing, when I’m working on this, I’m wishing for a better way or I’m cursing past Maizie for not having the foresight to plan for this. But if a system or plan was in place, I would be more productive and profitable. 

Product - I’m a physical product kind of gal - I sell original paintings and products on ecommerce and I’m always looking for ways to improve this experience - and I think the extra touches are something that I think will move the needle to make someone a happy customer into a fan for life. 

Prospecting - there always needs to be a goal in the mix that is going to help you get new business - whether it’s a new marketing campaign or circling back on inquiries. It also might be a strategy on developing a new revenue stream or offering in your business. 

Thanks so much and here’s to a goal driven quarter!

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The Pin Method

Social Media Success Shortcut

In this episode, I'm walking you through an example of how we can build an audience around a value packed customer experience. It's not enough to identify and attract your ideal audience, you also want them to know that you are anticipating their needs, and creating an experience that they soon not forget. 

Be sure to sign up to get the guide where I dish on all of the things I would do differently after over 5 years in business.

I can't wait to hear what you all think, let me on Instagram or via email.

In today's episode, we'll be talking all about inspiration - how to find it when you're feeling, well, less than inspired! 

If you have any inspirational notes to share, then please be sure to drop me a note! [email protected]

Also, if you're looking for the timer I mentioned, it can be found, here. 

Last episode we went over some of my favorite apps, let’s talk about streamlining your Gmail inbox. Keeping up with email can be a huge time commitment in your business and being slow to email or unorganized can cause you to lose business. Let’s talk about some strategies to manage your email so that your clients are happy and you are stress free!

Vacation responders

Vacation responders are not only for vacations - you may have really busy times when an auto-responder makes the most sense for you and your clients. For me, October through December is incredibly busy, so I put on my out of office, so that anyone who emails me during that time gets an autoresponder that has links to FAQs, ordering deadlines. My goal here is to anticipate client’s questions and concerns during this time. Just like the email signature, use this strategy sparingly and wisely.

Email templates

Templates are a great way to save time by storing an email that is often duplicated. Also a great way to customize your signature for different client types, times of the year, etc.

Templates are essential if you want to use filters (trust me you, do 😊 )

Email filters and labels

Free Small Business Productivity Class 

In today’s episode, I’m talking workflows and automations as well as the apps that make this possible. 

Asana

Calendly

Flodesk

Tailwind

Zapier

(Please note I'm an affiliate for some of these apps)

Intro to Small Business Productivity

When we talk about the customer experience, this includes everything before, during and after the sale or project. How does your website work? Are customers or clients kept in the loop about milestones? What about when things go wrong? My customer experience is always evolving and improving (or at least I hope!). I like to keep in mind really good customer experiences that I've had as a consumer and see how there are ways that I can incorporate that feeling, personal touch,, etc into my own business. We are also talking about how documentation, analyzing and improving on your customer experience will do for your business - giving them an experience that they will remember for time to come!

Be sure to visit me at maizie-clarke.com or on instagram @maizieclarke

Welcome back, on this episode, I want to talk about the one habit that I failed to develop when I was working in my creative small business and that is documentation.

I've never been a good journaler, even as a little kid, I never kept a diary for more than a day or two. I wish I had cultivated the habit of documenting. Looking back, I wish I had recorded how long it took me to complete certain tasks, how much things cost, everything and anything.

So if you take one thing away from this episode, please consider ways that you can start, or strengthen your habit of documenting things in your small business. I think this is going to help you out in the long run in many ways including: being able to identify ways to automate and streamline your business, maybe finding ways to hand these tasks off to an administrative assistant or a virtual assistant. Or, even if it's your best friend coming over to help you pack orders when you hit it big!

Be sure to visit me at maizie-clarke.com or on instagram @maizieclarke

Hi! I’m Maizie, I’m an illustrator and designer and I’ve been self-employed since 2018 but my entrepreneurial story does not start there.

I started my first business when I was only in elementary school - at the encouragement of my sweet mom and some seed money - I started a small snack bar that I set up at my brothers' sporting events, I loved all of it, fast forward a couple of years to the last semester of high school - I was already accepted into college and spent the weeks leading into summer making jewelry and selling it to classmates. Again, I loved creating and selling. Once I started college as an art major the next fall, the jewelry business fell by the wayside but the idea of working for myself didn't ever really leave me - so that brings us to today - I'm a small business owner and illustrator. I love working and brainstorming with fellow small business owners and I hope that is what this podcast can be, too. A place for small business collaboration and entrepreneur encouragement.

Be sure to visit me at maizie-clarke.com or on instagram @maizieclarke