How do you forge your own path to success with your creative work? Today, I talk to Elise Blaha Cripe, who tells us how she turned a blog into platform, a podcast, and a series of products that has helped her thrive. But more than that, I was blown away by her reflection on what she has built, after 10+ years: "I have felt more and more fulfilled by the work that I am doing.”
Elise Blaha Cripe is a crafter and founder of the Get to Work Book, a daily planner and goal-setting journal.
Among her many accomplishments:
In this time, she moved from being a person who shows you the behind-the-scenes of craft projects, to someone at the helm of a big standalone product line. It’s a powerful creative shift.
You can find Elise at the following places:
GetToWorkBook.com
elisejoy.com
Blog
Podcast
Instagram
Twitter
You can find more from Dan Blank at:
Twitter: @DanBlank
Instagram: @DanBlank
There was a moment in illustrator and cartoonist Jake Parker’s career, where this is what he, his wife and five children faced:
“There was a summer there where we had no money. We went through savings. We had some food storage we saved for when times get hard, and we were like, “Let’s break out the mac and cheese and beans.”
“I was really depressed, I took serious stock of everything. I said, “This is never going to happen.”
In this moment, he did something that I found astounding. He didn’t hide away, he didn’t diminish. Instead he did this:
“I doubled down on sharing online and hitting my social media hard. I really figured out where jobs were coming from, and about three months after, everything started falling into place.”
I can’t even express to you how excited I am to share my interview with Jake Parker. If you make creative work of any sort, and wonder, “How can I take this full-time?” you will learn so much from what Jake shares.
Jake is the perfect example of why it matters to:
You can find Jake in the following places:
mrjakeparker.com
SVSlearn.com
You can find me, Dan Blank at http://wegrowmedia.com and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DanBlank
If you are a writer hoping to craft a career as an author, you are going to LOVE today’s story. I recently chatted with novelist Tammy Greenwood, who shared with me the harrowing journey to getting her 12th novel published.
She and I last spoke a couple years back, in an interview titled “The “Terrifying Crisis” of Finding the Second Act to Her Writing Career.” Since that time, Tammy released two new books. Today’s story takes us through the process of finding the third act to her writing career.
I encourage you to listen to our conversation here (on my blog or via iTunes), where she takes us step by step through this journey:
You have to listen to the interview to see how all of this ends!
What I love about Tammy’s story is how it shows the reality of living the life of an author. She concludes:
“Risk is terrifying, but it is critical to finding success as an artist.”
Amongst all of this, we talk about how much she has been working full-time on top of the writing, teaching 7 courses. But she is in transition again, because being an author is a journey. She is scaling back her teaching, with this mission:
“I’m ready to be a writer first.”
You can find my first interview with Tammy from 2015 here: “The “Terrifying Crisis” of Finding the Second Act to Her Writing Career. An Interview with Novelist Tammy Greenwood.”
Tammy’s books on Amazon.
tgreenwood.com
Twitter: @tgwood505
You can find Dan Blank and other episodes at http://wegrowmedia.com
How do you earn a full-time living as an artist, while raising three kids, and navigating through a failed business venture? Today we find out.
Jay Alders is a professional artist, whose paintings, design work, and photography embodies the surf culture. But that alone is not what inspired me to interview him for the podcast.
I grew up with Jay. After high school, I lost touch with him, and by the time he re-emerged in my life, he was working full-time as an artist from his home studio, and a collaborator with many of creative people. He and his wife Chelsea (equally as awesome as Jay), seemed to have this strange duality:
1. They lived deeply creative lives, with a focus on appreciation, giving back, getting involved, and finding balance.
2. They were each incredibly hard workers, earning a living through pure grit and taking risks needed to create sustainability around their work.
In the past few years, I watched -- astounded -- as Jay and Chelsea had three kids back to back to back. In the blink of an eye, they went to "that cool couple that I know" to a family of five. Then, I was dumbfounded when Jay opened up a huge physical location on the Jersey shore -- a gallery and event space. I just couldn't believe how bold the vision was.
But that venture didn't make it. About a year after opening, he shut it down.
My interview today delves into a range of topics that I think are critical to anyone who wants to make a living with their creative work, while also honoring their creative process and lifestyle with those they love.
* Lessons from a failed business that actually brought him closer to his art and his family.
* How he works from his home studio, while parenting three kids, and supporting his wife who has her own business as well.
* How he finds the time (and energy) to create.
* Why he feels marketing and business are a welcome part of creative work.
* His path to going full-time as an artist.
* The value of taking care of yourself, even when you are swamped, so that you can take care of those who rely on you, and you creative work.
You can find Jay at: http://JayAlders.com