Behind the scenes of creating, launching and marketing an online program: PART 1
TL;DR: Your first launch is scary as sh*t. Validate your idea by asking your audience first before you build the thing. Feel the fear. Do it anyway. Leave space to execute on big ideas. “Pay what you can” helped me build an intimate + supportive community. Give generously. Then give some more. ______________________________ Last week I pressed send on the final email of...
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The Collaborative Designer
If you want to survive as a designer in the new digital economy, you must take a collaborative role with your clients. Your job is to assist your clients in finding the most effective solution for them and their business. Over the years, I’ve worked with a lot of designers, and seen behind the scenes of a lot of...
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Twitterpated: A Twitter Love Story
Revised. Originally posted June 2013. June 2nd 2016 marks my four year anniversary with my partner Ben, and I thought, what better time than now to write a post about why I use Twitter. Wait— what? You can probably guess how this ties in to the title of this post… yes, we met via Twitter. I’ll explain later. No, I’m not...
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Highlights from Authority Rainmaker 2015
This May 2015 I had the pleasure of attending Copyblogger’s Authority Rainmaker conference in Denver, Colorado. The conference is centered around the topics of Design, Content, Traffic, and Conversion. The speakers and talks were absolutely top notch. Many of the speakers I’d never heard of before, so was pleasantly surprised by both the calibre of the presentations, and the quality of the messages...
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The easiest way to find out what your audience needs
Whether you’re looking to craft a compelling opt in offer, or need to come up with an idea for your next product or program, how do you figure out what your ideal customer wants or needs? The answer is deceptively simple. The easiest way to figure out what your audience needs is by listening. Carefully. Fully. Intentionally. What questions...
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3 ways to turn your idea into a reality when you’ve been stalling
We can be so afraid of putting our ideas out there before they’re perfect, and it often comes out in different ways… “oh I’m so busy, I don’t have time” – it’s the fear of starting, the fear of it failing, or people not liking it. But… Your potential for success is proportionate to your capacity to take risks. ...
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Stop trying to do it all by yourself
Over the last few years of running my business I’ve really come to terms with how crucial it is to have the right people on your team. And I don’t necessarily mean employees or contractors either (of which I have neither other than an occasional Virtual Assistant, who is the best kept secret btw…). I mean on your side. Who...
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How designing your ideal week can increase your productivity (and sanity).
“You have a choice in life. You can either live on-purpose, according to a plan you’ve set. Or you can live by accident, reacting to the demands of others. The first approach is proactive; the second reactive.” — Michael Hyatt I love that quote by Michael Hyatt. I had googled “design ideal week” and stumbled upon his post: How...
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The importance of presenting your work to clients: A live chat with Dennis Field
This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Dennis Field, a designer, micropreneur, educator, and most recently Enterprise Evangelist at InVision, an application that helps designers prototype and present their progress to clients. This interview was originally recorded for Digital Strategy School, but there were so many good nuggets here that I decided to share it openly, and to give people...
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Proposals, products, process, and workflow: Interview at Nusii.com
“If ever there was an example of a design entrepreneur, then Marie Poulin is that example. She’s already enjoyed a successful freelance career, working with clients that most would give parts of their anatomy to collaborate with. But now Marie is embarking on a different path, the lesser traveled road of products. Marie recently took the time to tell us all...
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Digital Strategy School Scholarship Winner(s)!
Wow, I had no idea I’d get so many fabulous applications for the Scholarship (there were 42, and I read every single one!) There was no easy way to choose based on best fit or application, so I decided used random.org to level the playing field! There was however one absolutely STAND-OUT application, and in the end I decided to award...
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Full Scholarship for Digital Strategy School! (closes Friday Jan 9, 2015)
I would love to help a fellow creative kickstart their business in 2015 with a scholarship to Digital Strategy School. If you’ve heard about Digital Strategy School and believe that the program is aligned with the direction you’d like to take your business, I invite you to send in an application. Course begins on January 16th, 2015 and runs for 6 months. Criteria...
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