The Thriving Creative

I am so grateful to be able to welcome Pinterest strategist, Jacquelene Hayes on the show today to demystify the world of Pinterest and help us all understand how we can start using this platform today to generate more traffic to our websites, stores, and even Facebook groups which can translate into more revenue!

If you've been avoiding Pinterest up until now, Jacquelene lays out some simple first steps to take in order to utilize this fantastic free business and marketing tool. She also shares some super helpful examples of how creatives specifically can understand how you can create boards, pins, and keyword searches to help your ideal client find your content easier.

On the show today, I am excited to take time to answer the question I get asked the most regularly, "How are you so productive in your business as a creative?". There are actually three main ways I am able to feel accomplished as a business owner, mom, and wife on a daily basis.

The first is that I finally took time to develop a mission and vision statement by which I filter all my decisions in my business. It may sound a bit unnecessary, but establishing this piece of my business has saved me so much time and increased my clarity and focus!

Next, I regularly make space to budget my time and money with the guidance of others. This has allowed me to identify how to best spend both of these resources and empowered me to outsource things like cleaning the house twice a month. This practice has caused me to be super intentional with my decision making.

Lastly, I make time to evaluate the places where I am losing time to activities that are not propelling me in the direction of my goals or generating revenue in my business. Taking just a few moments in a day to find the source of lost time can be so enlightening!

Being a creative and making money rarely seem to be two things that people naturally think go together. It's super easy to find ourselves trapped in a scarcity mindset as we fight our negative inner dialogue coupled with the projections others have about the lifestyle we are pursuing. As a result it can be super challenging to understand what our definition of "enough" is when it comes to income and lifestyle.

On today's episode, I will help you get curious about your own narrative around money to help you understand which negative mindsets you may be operating out of most often. Once you can do that, you will find that the changes you need to make are going to be much more obvious and easy to act upon. And as always, if you have any reflections about your own journey and realizations, I'd love for you to come share them in the On Purpose Life and Biz Facebook group so we can learn along with you!

Making the shift from the therapy world to being an online coach forced me to need to get in front of the camera a lot more. This was definitely a challenge for me because I just was not comfortable in my own skin. Some of this lack of confidence stems from negative experiences I had growing up, and some is just part of being a normal curvy woman. But I decided to dive in and find a way to love the skin I am in. It's been a process, but it's been so freeing and I want to challenge you to feel that freedom too!

In today's show I want to challenge you to get curious with yourself and ask yourself some questions. Being able to accept your body as is takes intentional practice and time. You must invest in yourself and get to know your body through taking up a daily practice that helps you come alive! Once this becomes more natural, I think you will find you will start seeing what you love about yourself in pictures, rather than what makes you want to hide.

Anytime we are in business, and especially as creatives, we can regularly find ourselves in a place of wanting to make a pivot or a change. Today I want to help you learn how to dive into these moments with intentionality by asking yourself a set of guiding questions. I even help you understand how I recently explored my own desire to make a pivot and how this process actually led me to modify the podcast schedule to meet the needs of you, my listeners!

If you can answer these questions honestly, and with confidence that you are not avoiding any negative emotions, then I encourage you to be bold, make a plan and go forth to implement the change! Whatever the outcome, come share your experience in the On Purpose Life and Biz Facebook group!

Today I am excited to welcome a long time friend to the podcast who also happens to be a creative I respect very much- David Khalaf. David is an author of a fantasy adventure series "The Burdens Adventure Series" as well as "Modern Kinship" which he co-wrote with his husband. He is also a guy who is just like the rest of us who often battles a strong fear of rejection. Yet over the years, his passion for writing has given him the courage to continue to throw his writing out into the abyss and see what sticks. And for him, sometimes it sticks in a column with the New York Times. Other times, the outcome is a dusty untouched manuscript for a novel he may never publish.

Today David talks to us about how he protects his time in order to be consistent about his creativity. He doesn't experience moments of creative breakthrough and inspiration every day, but with daily rhythms in place, he is able to access that place quicker and with ease. It's a muscle he has developed and he uses it for good!

Don't you love any tip or tool that saves you time? How about one that saves you time and unnecessary conflict in the most important relationships in your life? Today I want to share a tool with you that accomplishes both of these things! Friend, I want to introduce you to "The Family Meeting". This is a habit my husband and I adopted a few years ago per the suggestion of another trusted couple. It has been a serious game changer!

Once a week, my husband and I have a designated time to talk about the hardest topics to tackle in our marriage: managing our time and our money. Yet when we have a designated time to engage these topics, we are able to be proactive much more often than we are reactive. Another benefit of a Family Meeting is that we are able to sync up our calendars and expectations all in one conversation with a time limit. You can actually use this habit with any significant relationship in family or business and see powerful results!

As an adult, we all know that disappointment is a fairly common human experience, but we rarely outgrow our desire to avoid that feeling at all costs. Today I share with you how I have transformed my response to disappointment over the years. I am able to honor my feelings at every part of the process which empowers me to release the grief and embrace the opportunity for growth. I want to encourage you stop running from disappointment and start recognizing the narrative that this experience can speak to us.

Today's episode is a topic that is relevant to the majority of my listeners: the creatives. The more I listen to you, the more I get the feedback that one of the biggest areas of struggle is how to stay consistent in your work as a creative. After all, you can't plan inspiration, or moments of genius, right? True, but I want to encourage you that consistency is not only possible but is actually essential to your business. It's been scientifically proven!

It might just be that you are trying to adopt a mindset, a workflow, or a schedule that does not align with your personal style. Or it could be that you are experiencing imposter syndrome or getting too easily distracted! But don't fret, I've got a great opportunity for you to work through these setbacks and find what does work for you; my Consistent Creative challenge in the On Purpose Creatives Facebook group! Join us to experience a serious breakthrough in your work and business!

Today I'm so anxious for you to hear from the founder of MBM Agency, Mariya Bentz. She runs a digital marketing company that helps service-based businesses create an online presence. Mariya began her marketing journey working as a Marketing Manager for a corporate company. She started freelancing for clients as a side hustle and eventually scaled into a profitable business (all while raising a child at home). Mariya and her team are now on a mission to help fellow business owners grow a profitable business through online strategies.

Today Mariya shares her story of how a combination of passion and simply showing up led her down the path of owning her own marketing agency. She offers some actionable tips for upping your marketing game authentically, even if social media is not something you are super confident using at the moment.