Start working towards the big bucks instead of doing anything that pays. Photo by Stefan Cosma on Unsplash Building a solo business is hard. After the initial excitement, you get stuck in the messy middle, and it feels like you’ll never make it out. Do you know how to make it out? It’s by getting money clarity. Let me explain. Say, you decide to write on Medium. You don’t think much of it, initially, you just “try”. But then, something clicks, and you start making money. Maybe you make $200 per month, maybe $2000, but it’s money you find significant. Now thes ..read more

Photo by Noémi Macavei-Katócz on Unsplash Creator tools! There are thousands of them out there. They can help you with everything from content creation to graphic design, email outreach and more. When I started as a creator, these 5 tools were my bread and butter. They helped me grow and maintain by creator business and I still use them today. Here they are… 5 Content Creation Tools That Helped Me Reach My First $10K Let’s get into it! 1. Canva Canva I’ve been a Canva girl for years! I started with the free Canva account, which really gets you A LOT. But, I e ..read more

I’m sorry — you need to shift your mindset. Photo by Peter Thomas on Unsplash Flexibility does not come easily to most people — myself included. And the more I work in marketing, the more I understand the importance of flexibility from Point A to Z. I live, eat and breathe marketing. I love it beyond my 9-to-5. Even this article is written out of that passion for marketing. I have started (and ended) multiple personal marketing projects. As a result of that, something stood out to me recently: the crucial role of flexibility in marketing and how our efforts suffer when we’re&nbs ..read more

Saying “yes” all the time is a sign that you have lost your integrity. Here’s a new 3-step strategy Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash “I don’t have time to write.” Have you ever said that? Do you regularly squeeze writing into the evenings, weekends, or even holidays? I did just that, and burned out when I was a university lecturer. I struggled with the pressure to publish, was exhausted from my 6h daily commute, and felt I was failing my young children. Instead of taking time off, I worked harder — because I thought “If only I get it all done, I can relax.” That led to panic at ..read more

Photo by Max Bender on Unsplash “In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.” — Miguel de Cervantes When I started my last company, I chose to grow using a licensing model. I had cute little characters and published children’s books (by a major publisher). I also had a very cool children’s product with three patents. Someone referred me to a friend that worked in an animation studio in charge of licensing their established and well-known intellectual property. I came right to the point and asked him how I could get my products into Target. I’ll never forget w ..read more

You’re an artist… take the next step Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash I’m sitting in a cafe listening to an interesting mix of Afro-techno and rap music. It’s by far the most eclectic cafe I’ve been to here in my West Coast Canadian city. Fake trees with stuffed monkeys and koala bears. Large statues of giraffes. Fun signs, toys, jewellery, delicious coffee drinks and of course art… I read somewhere on Reddit that this neighbourhood, rather ‘street’ is the 5th coolest street in the world, dated one month ago. Now I don’t have scientific proof but I wouldn’t doubt it! It’s incl ..read more

How I protect myself from burnout and reclaim my focus Photo: Nicole Janz I’m hovering over a table at Starbucks on Saturday morning with a sore throat, Chai Latte, and exhaustion in my bones. It was a manic week, and I’m trying hard not to slip into self-blame. Because as a coach and former sufferer from burnout, I should know better. Have you ever started your weekend thinking “I wish this week had never happened?” (Adding a bit of drama here, since I’m tired…) After years of overwork, luckily I know how to pull myself up again. Here’s my 3-part framework to identify ..read more

Journey from Chaos to Control — Introduction to Automation Over the years we switched most of our projects to autopilot, thanks to automation. Now we discovered, that with AI and Alice we can go even further! Here are the fundamentals of this approach. Generated in Midjourney Today I slept through a disaster. At 4:35 a.m. I got the text message that one of my servers is down. Reason? Trivial. No funds on a connected credit card. Did I miss some notifications beforehand? No. I turn them all OFF by default. I consciously opt-out of any things that may distract my work and life. And with over 150 ..read more

How To Learn Storytelling, Use It in Your Everyday Life, and Make Friends Infographic for 3 Simple Rules to Boost Your Storytelling You are at the party you have wanted to attend for a long time. Everyone that matters is there. And you wish to have something interesting to say to make friends instead of sitting alone on the sofa. You have been constantly thinking about this moment for the past few weeks. But those funny dialogues you build in your head don’t work. Films and TV series have influenced you too much. But dialogues like that don’t take place in reality. So, as you re ..read more

6 ways you can become successful working with or for someone else. Photo by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash Starting a business is hard. Keeping it going is harder. It’s not something you should do if you’re not willing to invest 5–10 years at minimum into it before you see massive success. Most of us, present company included, aren’t going to hit it big in year one. During that time, you’ll have to fight the urge to quit because you feel like a fraudster However, the great thing about starting a business is learning a lot about yourself. You learn what you’re willing to do ..read more