Courses that changed my creative business
Hey there friend. I love learning new stuff, and I love to do it on my time. Growing a creative business has definetly forced me out of my normal wheel house too. Most of my business skills I’ve learned from online courses and workshops. So I thought I’d do a round up of the Top 8 courses that have impacted my business over the years. I have personally paid for all of them and all thoughts & opinions are my own.
I’m going to devide the courses into two sections 5 for business like finance, structure, marketing and such, then three that have guided me quite a bit as an artist. So here we go the top eight courses that have molded and made my business what it is today. Also I want to note that many of these courses are an investment (read: Expensive), I’ve been very lucky to be able to invest back into my business with the saving I stashed but I know it’s not possible for everyone.
Business Course #1: The Blueprint Model by Shanna Skidmore
The first course was a game changer for me. I joined this right after I quit my job and started by business. I was floundering before this course. I didn’t know how to pay myself, how to price anything, how to save for taxes. I thought I had other stuff figured out too but nope this course cleared the table for me and gave me a solid foundation. I’ve gone through this course twice. Once when I first started my business and again spring 2024 when I restructured and redefined my business.
Overview of the course: It’s broken down into 6 modules plus 3 extended learning bonuses. You follow a path that leads you to the business you want to have in the end. The first modules help define what you want as a business. The later modules help to plan out your cash flow, set up pricing structures that are actually good and how to plan for a future in your business. The extended learning lessons are great too. Focusing on marketing, scaling and growing your business afterwards.
Shanna is very down to earth and I loved working with her. She really tried to work with her students to guide them in the right direction, hearing what they had to say the whole time.
Business Course #2: Copywriting for Creatives by Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes
This next course took the business structure I had dreamed up and made it real. I’ve also gone through this course several times each time narrowing down the vision, my branding and my tone a bit more. This course gave me a lot of clarity on my voice, my ideal customer, and what I was putting out into teh world, what made Studio 1097 the answer for some while repelling others.
Overview of the course: Broken down into several modules plus a huge template suite for your website. The first few modules are geared to learning your ideal client, voice hacking, and figuring out what you want to say to the world. The second half of the course is geared to putting all those details into something real (like a website or your social media). Then she guides you through how to fine tune your site for conversions and audience reach.
Ashlyn is funny and witty in all of her lessons. Sometimes she tries to do a bit much though. She and her team are great through reach out with any problems and they’re right on the nose to fix it.
Business Course #3: Leveraging Your Art by Stacie Bloomfield
This is my most recent course investment as of spring 2024. This course lit a fire under my booty and inspired me to get going again with my business. It actually re-inspired me to go through blueprint and CfC again. This course will be one that keeps giving for a little while I think. I’ll explain more in a second.
Overview of the course: This course is again design more like a path to follow. You start in module 1 defining your business, ideal customer, goals etc. ( I was nervous at this point, I knew all of this). Module 2 &3 you start gaining traction though. Quickly you ramp up in taking your baby business dreams into full blown business actions. Marketing, portfolio design, copyrighting (different than copywriting). I was blown away by the amount of details and things I hadnt thought of yet and theres still 3 more modules. The next modules are all about taking your artwork and your business up a scale again! Now your taking pitching, products and more. While I watched the lessons, took notes and attempted to implement I really had to fall back to module 2&3 to keep building my foundations. But I have lifetime access to my year so I’m excited to keep referencing it over and over.
Business Course #4: POD Round Table by The Creative Studio Collective
This isn’t so much a course but a workshop. It’s a collection of interviews done by Fleur & Ryann with industry experts. They talk all things POD fabric design, surface design, and making sales. The interviews are so fascinating you can watch each one 2-3 times and still walk away with a new detail or something to implement in your POD stores and your pattern design.
The interviews are quite focused so you don’t have much filler and each one is roughly an hour long.
Business Course #5: Pinterest Lab & Email Lab by Jenna Kutcher
So I have mixed feeling about some of Jenna courses but I really do like these ones. The email one got me started on making a welcome sequence that really welcomed my audience into a branded feel and location. I also took her ideas to making my email list and my Pinterest the main drivers of my business. I enjoy talk and sharing with peole I know but I tend to be a touch more private and introverted when it comes to social media. These two systems help me to capture people and give to them in an organic way that still feel personal and safe.
Creative Course #1: Every Tuesday: messy watercolors, flat florals, & floral patterns
So I love each and every one of Teela’s programs and products but these three are the game changers for me. I developed my style from combining elements of all of these courses to give my work the rich textures and whimy of watercolor, while still have the depth and colors of flat artwork. Her pattern creating course also helped me design patterns easy on procreate while still keep all those colors, textures and styles that I love so much.
Teela also offers free classes on Youtube if you want to experience her teaching and learn some quick info on Procreate.
Creative Course #2: Character Design by Kris Lauren of Pretty Little Lines hosted by Design Cuts
While Teela of EveryTuesday helps me define my common style Kris helped me fall back in love with making characters. Disney Animation studios has always played a huge part of my love of art and storytelling. This course got me back into making my own characters and giving them stories, personality and cute details that make other fall in love with them too..
Creative Course #3: Portfolio Design briefs by The Creative Studio Collective
Again not so much a course has a routine way to gather and get inspiration. The first of every month I get deleievered to my email a beautiful design brief full of color palettes, inpiration, and ideas. This membership has inspired me to start creating again but to create with an end customer in mind verus just creating to create. While there nothing wrong with just creating, have a goal helps define lots of ideas, collections and patterns I can take right to the market not to mention exploded my pitching portfolio.
There you have it my friend. The complete collection of all the courses that changed my business.
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