This podcast episode serves as a comprehensive recap of Season Six, wherein we delve into the transformative journeys of creative entrepreneurs who are determined to shift from mere survival to thriving within their craft. Central to this discussion is the invitation to engage in the Creative to CEO challenge, a five-day live coaching experience designed to cultivate a mindset that fosters both purpose and profitability. Throughout the season, we have highlighted the significance of collaboration over competition, emphasizing that true success often emerges from partnerships that elevate all involved parties. We reflect on inspiring conversations with notable guests, including those who have exemplified the power of community and innovative thinking in their respective fields. As we conclude this season, we encourage our listeners to revisit the episodes that resonated most deeply, ensuring they glean the invaluable insights shared by our esteemed guests.

Six Episodes. Six Experts. One Clear Message.

Season 6 of the Minding My Creative Business Podcast wasn't just another season—it became a blueprint for creative entrepreneurs looking to build businesses that are profitable, sustainable, and scalable.

In this special recap episode, Ron and Shy revisit the biggest insights from every guest and every solo teaching episode, connecting the themes that defined the season:

• Collaboration over competition
• Learning through rejection
• Building businesses with character
• Eliminating revenue leaks
• Becoming media ready
• Creating scalable offers

If you've missed any episode—or simply need a refresher—this recap ties the entire season together.

What You'll Learn In This Episode

Episode 42 — Collaboration Is Your Competitive Advantage

The season began with one powerful mindset:

Everybody wins—or nobody wins.

Featuring Ramon Ray and Dominique Damas, the conversation challenged creatives to stop viewing collaboration as competition.

Key lessons:

• Collaboration multiplies opportunities.
• Advisors are valuable collaborators too.
• The biggest limitation in your business is often how you view partnerships.
• Protect your ideas—but don't isolate yourself.

One quote summarizes the episode perfectly:

"Alone we can do so little."

Episode 43 — Rejection Is Market Research

Isabelle Bora completely reframed rejection.

Instead of chasing "yes," she intentionally pursued 100 no's because every conversation helped her refine:

• pricing
• positioning
• niche
• messaging

Rather than seeing rejection as failure, she treated it as customer research.

Her persistence eventually helped her build a premium bridal business charging thousands of dollars for specialized services.

Lesson:

Every conversation is data.

Episode 44 — Character Is Part of Your Business Strategy

Cindy Beasley shared how witnessing toxic leadership in Hollywood pushed her toward entrepreneurship.

Instead of accepting the industry's culture, she decided to build something different.

Key ideas:

• Leadership creates culture.
• Character becomes part of your business model.
• Build the table instead of waiting for a seat.
• Communities create opportunities faster than individuals.

Her work with Creative Cipher and XL Fest shows how ecosystems help creatives grow together.

Episode 45 — The Hidden Places Your Business Is Losing Money

One of the biggest takeaways from Season 6:

Most businesses aren't losing money because of poor marketing.

They're losing money because their client journey is leaking revenue.

Ron and Shy explain seven stages where businesses commonly lose profit, including:

• slow inquiry response
• onboarding
• fulfillment
• referrals
• customer experience

Every stage should intentionally move customers toward greater value.

Episode 46 — PR Doesn't Create a Brand

With Brianna Gatling (Swank PR), the conversation focused on a common misconception:

PR is not the foundation.

PR amplifies the foundation.

Before investing in publicity, businesses need:

• a clear message
• consistent positioning
• systems
• offers that actually work

Visibility only accelerates what's already there.

Episode 47 — Branding Is More Than Aesthetic

Ray Christine explained that beautiful visuals don't automatically create memorable brands.

Real brands are built through:

• strategy
• positioning
• research
• consistency
• customer perception

She also demonstrated how turning her own strategic process into a framework allowed her business to scale beyond one-on-one client work.

Episode 48 — More Clients Won't Fix a Broken Offer

Perhaps the biggest lesson of the season.

When revenue drops, creatives usually think:

"I need more clients."

But that's often the wrong diagnosis.

An unclear offer only creates:

• more confusion
• more delivery problems
• more unhappy clients
• more burnout

Instead, creators need offers that are:

• clear
• repeatable
• scalable
• valuable

The episode also introduces MMCB's CRAFT Method, a framework designed to help creative entrepreneurs build signature offers that can grow with their business.

The Biggest Themes Across Season 6

Although every guest came from a different industry, they all reinforced similar principles:

Collaboration beats competition.

Rejection creates clarity.

Character creates trust.

Systems create scalability.

Visibility follows preparation.

Better offers beat more clients.

Together, these ideas form the foundation of building a sustainable creative business.

Quotable Moments

"Collaboration isn't competition in disguise."

"Every conversation is data."

"Character becomes part of your business model."

"Your business may not have a marketing problem—it may have a client journey problem."

"PR isn't a shortcut."

"Are you building a brand—or just an aesthetic?"

"More clients won't fix an unclear offer."

Resources Mentioned

Creative to CEO Challenge

Learn the CRAFT Method and develop your own scalable signature offer.

Website:

https://creativetoceochallenge.com

MMCB Podcast

Website:

https://www.mmcbpodcast.com

Closing Affirmation

"All it takes is intention, consistency, and laser focus to mind my creative business."

Foreign.

To this podcast, you're probably a creative entrepreneur who's ready to stop hustling for clients and start building a business that runs on purpose, profit and peace.

If that's you, we want to invite you to join the Creative to CEO challenge.

A five day live coaching experience designed to help you shift your mindset and develop the habits to turn your creativity into consistency, consistent cash flow.

And it's all happening live on Zoom inside a private community of ambitious creative entrepreneurs just like you.

People who are done guessing, done grinding and ready to build with clarity and confidence.

By the end of the challenge, you will have a crystal clear direction on your next 90 days.

A profit plan that fits your lifestyle and the framework to start earning 10k plus months doing what you love without burning out or.

So if that sounds like what you need, then tap the link in the description or scan a QR code if you're watching this on screen.

And do not forget to upgrade to VIP for bonus coaching and behind the scenes Q and A every day of the challenge with me and Shy.

We can't wait to help you unlock CEO mode and the freedom you've been working for.

Now let's get back to the episode.

Let's go.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Let's get it.

Let's go.

What up though?

And welcome to the Minding My Creative Business podcast.

The number one podcast for creative entrepreneurs to learn strategy, structure and sustainability and self development.

I am your co host, Ron Ironically Junior.

And I am your co host, Shy Speaks.

And this is about to be one of my favorite episodes.

I said all the time, I say it all the time.

But every episode gets better.

You know, man, the reason why I'm saying that is because this is the season six recap.

And season six kicked off really, really strong with everybody wins or nobody wins.

And I feel like that set the tone for the rest of season six.

But I'm also excited about this one because at the end of the day, we are six seasons in.

So this.

That's why it's my favorite.

Yeah.

So anyway, welcome, welcome, welcome.

No, listen, I. I definitely enjoyed how we started off this season with Dominique.

I'm known Damas.

Damasc.

I know, I'm pronoun.

Pronounce it wrong.

Forgive me.

Dom.

I apologize.

I know you.

Dom the mosquito.

I think Damasky.

There you go.

See?

Yeah.

And then Ramon Ray.

And like I said.

Yeah.

That whole concept of just the power of collaboration and you know, they approached it with the whole, like you said, if everybody wins and nobody wins, that Mindset.

I wish we would have been able to get Julie on Dom's partner who.

So they come together and they do this Creative Con event in Chicago and they brought together these, these two separate communities.

Right.

But they saw the power in bringing those communities together so that they can better serve both communities in one.

So no, that was just a, that was a fire conversation to hear and to be there.

We were able to be in Chicago for that, that, that, that see of this season and had that conversation with them during their Creative Con event.

Yeah, that was cool.

I actually enjoyed being at the Creative Con event.

It was very interesting to see ourselves coming together with their two different skill sets and their talents and their audiences and start figuring out a way to empower creatives.

So, especially in the Chicago area.

But there were people who came from around the world, some people in from different places.

And so I thought that was very encouraging because I know we want to, you know, tap in to a national and international audience.

And so that was, that was really cool.

They were also very welcoming of us because we, we labor in the same work, you know.

Definitely.

Yeah.

And I said that they embody that essence of, you know, partnership and collaboration.

It wasn't like a, you know, wasn't no competition and they look at us as competition or anything, even though we, we have similar audiences.

But I think they say, okay, we can offer something that they don't offer and the same thing on our end, it's like they're offering something that we don't offer.

So I'm looking forward to, you know, you know, they extended the offer to, you know, reach out to them and connect with them.

So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if there is some ways that we can conn and collaborate with them in the future.

Because like I said, they are doing some great things.

They have some great sponsors at the event.

Jim Quick, who wrote the book Limitless, which I, I've read the book, definitely a fan of the book.

As a result of the book, I'm.

I'm a semi speed reader.

Right.

So that was good to kind of see him and, and hear him and just some of the other people that they, you know, brought to the stage and just even hearing the testimonials from the people that they've benefited from going to the event and whatnot.

So yeah, no, it was this great.

You said something just a minute ago.

You said they didn't see us as competition.

And that actually is getting right into episode 42.

Right.

Everybody wins.

No one or nobody wins.

And the big idea from that episode was that collaboration isn't competition in disguise.

And a lot of times people think it is.

Well, let's elaborate.

But really we just out trying to outdo each other and do certain things, you know, I mean like, no, just know what your boundaries are so you can safeguard whatever it is that you have going on.

But there is that it does not need to mean competition.

And oftentimes the second this like sub, sub big idea I would say is that the ceiling on your business is often just you caveat because of how you see collaboration.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, definitely, definitely.

I like that.

So, so please, if you, if you have not already, right, go back and watch episode 42.

Ramon Ray and, and, and Dom were dropping some gems and that there was one of my favorite episodes from the season.

So I encourage you all to do that, that whole thing just you know, if you want, if you want to do a little bit, do, do it alone.

Right?

But if you want to do, do a lot, then you're going to collaborate.

And you know, with that, that Ramon said something about, you know, when you have that mindset that two plus two no longer equals four.

Right, Right.

We start getting into multiplication and we can actually, you know, multiply opposed to just adding an addition.

So yeah, check out that man.

That's the thing I like about Ramon.

He was very, just, just very authentic and ready to share.

And then also so was Dom.

Right?

Yeah.

So Ramon is like, like very humble in the episode, but if you were there at Creative Con, when he hits the stage, man, he's super.

He's.

I'm not saying his spark wasn't popping in the episode because he was giving you energy, but he takes it to another level in a live atmosphere because he has to swing the energy around.

And he doesn't just host and swing the energy around with people.

He has.

He's an advisor to several companies and so it's just very interesting to see somebody who's.

Whose business acumen is very sought out.

But he enjoys hosting and so yeah, I think, I mean that, that was like really cool to meet him because he like, what's up everybody?

Let's get it going.

He had the energy up, right?

And so man, that was, that was.

I just want to shout out to Ramon for that.

I took a picture of Ramon.

I probably should post that somewhere in our community, you know what I mean?

Like go ahead and get that post pop with Mr. Ramon Ray.

Speaking of Ramon Ray, he had a quote that we were able to grab from him.

You want to share that, Ron?

Yeah, I just.

I just kind of.

I kind of, you know, kind of mentioned a little bit where you bring in the right people and that two plus two stops equaling four.

Right.

But the first part was the part that I wanted.

I know you already mentioned that part, but alone.

Alone, we can do so little.

Yeah, alone we can do so little.

You bring in the right people and two plus two stops equal to four.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's the.

Alone we can do so little.

You know what I mean?

Like, sometimes.

And people like, no, I can do a lot by myself.

You can, but even the great deal that you can do by yourself is so little compared to the magnitude of what you can do with other people.

So, like, with more people.

So I just wanted to make sure I leaned in on that because some.

Some creative entrepreneurs, man, I'm talking to you guys when we're not in podcasts and y'.

All, oh, man, I'm binging the content.

And what are you doing?

Well, right now I'm doing this, and right now I'm doing this.

And right now, who do you have helping you with that or who are you collaborating with?

And the answer is just like, nobody.

Nobody.

Yeah, because you got to protect your ideas and you just really.

It's really fear.

Yeah.

And.

And even that, like, as a creative, and this is what I encourage, creatives, is like, if you are creative, then you are going to create.

So while you're trying to operate in fear and protect your ideas, you're going to come up with more ideas, because that's what you.

That's what we do as creatives.

It's like, I don't know.

I. I've.

I've never been starving for ideas.

As a creator working with you for these past few years, I've never seen you be starving for ideas as well.

Yeah.

Okay.

So when it comes to starving for ideas, we could go in on that for a whole, whole, whole piece.

But I wanna.

That's a whole episode.

Like, you definitely have ideas, but your execution can be limited.

So you might want to get some other people on.

On deck who can execute alongside of you.

That's.

That's all I'm g say for right there.

You.

You definitely.

You definitely can't build it alone.

That was the episode of that.

That.

That was the undercurrent of the episode.

The overall gist, though, that I would say is embrace the idea of having an advisor.

Right.

Sometimes the collaboration is not another business partner.

It's just somebody who says, like, I'M willing to advise, I'm willing to lend a helping hand in some kind of way.

So yeah, be creative with that, you know, be creative with what collaboration looks like.

Go look at the episode if you haven't plenty of gems there for those who are, Give me just a second here.

I was just saying plenty of gyms for people who are wanting to be event curators and create conferences and things like that.

Yeah, yeah.

So, no, so that was a dope episode.

And then I, I loved episode 43 with Isabel Bora, right?

The, just her kind of telling her, her, her story where, you know, she's, she's, he's a Nigerian immigrant who lives in Chicago and just something that was so, just everyday occurrence and where she was from, you know, we like, we braid hair.

You know, when I was in Africa, you know, we were braid hair.

We wasn't by paying for us to do that, but when I came here and I was willing to see somebody, what is, was going to pay me to braid their hair, she's like, oh my goodness, like, like I didn't hit a jackpot, right?

So just kind of hearing her story and that was just real encouraging and inspiring.

And one of the things that she, that she mentioned that kind of got both of us right, that kind of jumped out of both of us is her whole concept of she was going for 100 no's, right.

That was like, you know, as a salesperson, Right.

Or somebody that's trying to get clients and things like that.

A lot of times people are trying to avoid no's, but she's like, no, this is a math equation, right?

It's all in the numbers.

So I'm going for 100 no's because if I'm getting 100 no's, the amount of yeses that I'm going to get and that's going to, you know what I'm saying, increase and things like that.

So no, that, that's one thing that I, I, I, I've heard that I, I haven't heard it like that.

I've heard it, you know, as far as it being a numbers game.

But the way that she presented it was, was kind of new.

Yeah.

I mean she was excited about it.

She was like, well, because she had gotten rejected with this idea that she was trying to pitch several times.

But she was just like, we were like, well, you weren't okay by that time you didn't want to give up on.

She was like, no, because I would this, I was going for that.

Like that was the goal I'm.

I'm going for her.

Like, yeah, we understand that you want to call, call, call.

But you're hoping for yes, but she was like, I'm hoping for no, like I'm trying to.

Because she was using it as data research.

What's the sweet spot on pricing?

She goes in and talked to a lot about pricing and how she was able to arrive at the right thing, how she was able to eventually raise her prices and all of that kind of stuff.

And she got to the point where she was able to find a niche.

And so every conversation was data for her.

She was actually building something in her mind, even though she was already offering something.

And that's a gym right there.

You have this thing in your mind.

Go ahead and start offering it to people, knowing they gonna say no, but just offer it anyway.

And as you're offering that, you're in that conversation with them, you make that conversation be worth your while, because you're gonna, like, collect the data that you need.

You're going to be actually surveying this person, figuring out what.

Where the perfect sweet spot is so that you can get that.

Yes.

I love it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She says she was like 40 before she got her first yes.

Right.

But she didn't.

That's the thing.

She didn't stop.

She said, I'm going for 100.

So when I got to 35, 36, I wasn't gonna let up.

I was gonna keep going because I was going for 100.

So I got to the 40th, and then 41 said, yeah, so I'm bet I'm still.

I gotta still keep going because I gotta still get to 100, you know.

So she didn't stop at the.

The one yes when she got the one yes.

Like, I got my yes.

I'm good.

It's like, nah.

She kept going.

Right, right.

And just hearing that, within her first year, she had like 62 brides.

You know what I'm saying?

So.

Because she does.

She does hair for brides, but for those.

I know we didn't give you context of what she does, but once again, watch the episode.

But she does African American hair for.

For brides for their wedding days and whatnot.

So 62 brides in one year.

Right.

Of business.

That's.

That's a lot of brides.

Yeah.

And she was actually able to.

I went on her page, she was actually able to branch out from the braids and start doing some other ethnicities, some other ladies, and she was, like, able to push her price up to 2k.

So you're out here doing hair and you're like, how can I charge, how can I charge a lot of money for this?

But she.

It wasn't just like, oh, I'm not paying nobody $2,000 to do my hair.

However, comma, one of the things that Ron and I always emphasize and that is increasing your value.

Value.

We figured out a way to increase the value of what she provided to the bride alongside the hair.

Right.

It wasn't just the, the hairstyle.

Right.

There were some consultations beforehand.

There are some other things that all went into it.

So a person felt like they were getting an ent around the hair, the veil, the, the hair piece that was going to go with the hair, like all of the things.

And I don't want to give her a whole business model.

She gives it in the, in the episode.

That's what we do.

We go behind the brand of successful entrepreneurs.

And this one is in cosmetology.

Right.

So in, in the hair, in the salon area, we had one salon person and she had a totally different way of doing things with digital marketing and so forth and so on.

And this young lady had a whole different way with the niching and how to add value.

So if you're trying to figure out how value and break into a market and.

And now she has a team and people who are doing, reaching, who's reaching out.

And there's just so many things that went into it from the inception of when she got the client all the way to their last day on the wedding and then probably what she delivers to them along the way.

Maybe she was given some photos or something along the way.

So it's just so many different things that she was able to do to increase the value so that she can charge that price point.

And after doing that, she was able to make so much money from cosmetology and from hair and salon services and all that kind of stuff.

She was able to buy her first piece of real estate.

And then she got super excited again and she was entering a whole new world.

She, she was always excited about the challenge and that's what we love to listen to.

Go watch the episode so you can get excited if you need that spark.

And you're like, man, I'm out here doing a thing.

I'm kind of struggling my creative based business.

Yeah, yeah, go watch the episode.

I guarantee you the fire she had will spark you.

You want to keep it moving?

Definitely.

Let's keep it moving.

All right.

So, yeah, so one of my, one of my favorite episodes was episode 44.

We had a chance to talk to Cindy Beasley.

She is the president of Creative Cipher as well as Morally Sinful.

She's the owner of Morally Sinful Production, Film production company.

And the reason why I liked her interview is she kept talking about how the character is the business plan.

Right?

And a lot of times when we're talking about business, we don't necessarily talk about the character behind the founder, the character behind the executives and things like that.

And that's kind of how she kind of started doing what she did is she said she, she went on an internship in LA and it was an executive or producer or somebody who was talking to.

They threw a stapler at the head of somebody, they yelling at him and threw the stapler at them.

And she was just like, well, wait a minute, this is what they doing.

I don't want to be a part of this.

Even though that was her childhood, her lifelong dream.

So she was like, okay, I'm going to create and build my own because the character that I'm seeing from those in leadership, if this is the standard in the norm, I want to be counter that.

I want to provide or create a different norm and standard.

Right.

I want to create a different way that I do business.

And I just love that.

Right.

And that was just her whole.

Throughout the whole interview, whenever we talked about anything, that character piece always kept, kept coming up, kept coming up, kept coming up.

So, yeah,.

You know, in that episode I was like, okay, give me more.

Tell us more about the film industry.

Right?

Because ultimately, again, the film industry and how they help people navigate getting deals or getting in the, in, in the industry.

And, and it was like, man, yeah, yeah, that's, yeah, that's very important, especially in that industry.

Especially if you're interested in, in the film industry and want to know more about how to get in and how they're helping people kind of navigate and get deal like you, you go ahead, go check out the episode and then of course go find.

Follow Cindy Beasley and the Creative Cipher.

So yeah, and then she talked about the, the Excel Fest too.

So if, if you are, you know, in that industry and you're looking for partners and collaborators or other people, that, that, that Excel Fest was, was with a place where you can go and find community and, you know, kind of look for the elements that you need as a result of wanting to be a part of that.

So no, that was.

No, it was good.

It was, it was, it was a good interview.

I like that.

I like that.

You know, you can see that's that south side.

She got somebody that see from the south side.

That south side.

Yeah.

Outside Chicago was coming out.

She's like, listen, I ain't about to sit at nobody else table.

I'm just gonna go build my own.

Yes.

And not only did she build her own, she has her own company and her own agency and does production.

But then she's sitting at another table that helps bring people to the table.

Right.

She's really all about creating that.

Working with some of the best and brightest in the industry.

Right.

Some of the most accomplished.

You know, some names I could drop so that you can get excited if you're into the film industry and trying to figure out how to create a creative career in that.

But I'm not going to drop the names.

I want you to watch the episode so you can see what the names are and then you can tap in from there.

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Yeah.

Yep.

All right.

So speaking of Chicago.

Right, Right.

Ron and I were able to film some episodes ourselves while we were in Chicago.

You know, we just got it, you know, we can, we can film them here at, you know, at our respective phones.

There's nothing filming them in the various cities.

So we were sitting in this little, whatever they call it, a brownstone.

I don't know, I'm from Texas, so I don't, don't have those types of buildings.

What was it?

What kind of building is that that we were in?

It was like, I mean, yeah, Brownstone esque.

Es.

Yeah.

So we sitting in there, we're up, up high and we're filming this episode because we realized that we need to talk about some other things in the episode that we didn't want to necessarily have to in the season that we didn't necessarily want to have to tap a guest to do.

We want to give you some actual resources directly from the wellspring that is us, from the experiences that we have.

So let's talk about that.

Episode 45.

Yeah.

So we, we had the pleasure of being able to talk about the places where a creative business can be leaking money.

Right.

And this was kind of like our client journey.

Right, we talked about the client journey because as, as a creative entrepreneur, your client is.

You're taking them through a journey.

You're taking them from.

I have a problem.

So now I have a fixed.

I don't have a problem.

I have a solution.

Right.

But getting them from A to Z, there's a bunch of steps and we, we were able to highlight and point out some of those areas and somewhere some of those steps might be.

You might be missing out on some money.

Right?

It might be some, some leaky.

Some leaky.

A leaky faucet or whatever, you know, a leaky pipe in that, in that process.

So we were able to highlight that.

So let's kind of lean in a little bit.

Okay.

So it might be.

No, it is.

Okay, you listen.

People believe we leak money like a lot of times.

Matter of fact, I was recently trying to reach out to a creative entrepreneur.

And when I reached out to this creative entrepreneur, they were like, man, they want to make some money.

They feel like they're not making enough money.

And I was like, I want to talk to you about that.

I want to help you with that.

And yeah, so because I see it all too often, we see it all too much.

So let's list.

Really the primary place is that we're not familiar enough with the client journey.

Who is your client?

Who is your customer?

What are the steps that they endure from inception or interest all the way to.

All the way to delivery where you delivered the product or service to them.

And along those steps there, that's, that's where the money be leaking in.

Because you don't even know what it's like, oh crap, I'm.

I'm getting these boxes to sit, to send these in and these boxes are eating up so much of the costs because you haven't really looked at that step specifically to realize like, ah, if I just ordered these boxes in both, or if I change the boxes or I do something, I could actually increase my profit margin by $5.

Right.

So just not even knowing the journey like that.

That's the first, that's the first thing.

Yeah, no, I know we talked about like the, from the from the inquiry stage, it's something minor.

It's like having an autoresponder.

Right.

Like you said, sometimes people are missing out on business because you're not responding.

Yeah.

Or you're, you're taking too long to respond.

So we talked, you know, so watch the episode.

Regardless of what creative industry you're in, watch that episode because it's literally going to give you some things that I can guarantee you, you haven't thought about.

Right.

Unless you're operations person, like shy.

Right.

If you operations, then you thought about it.

If you ain't operations, if you did the typical creative, you have not thought about it.

So watch it because it's going to talk about from, from inquiry to onboarding, to fulfillment, to referrals, like all the, all the things to where it's like you can now increase that ticket to where the value of that customer might have been.

We'll say maybe a hundred dollars or $150 or whatever the case may be.

But once you find these, or you patch these leaks, you.

That can now go to a thousand or a couple thousand dollar ticket based off of you just filling in those.

Gaps, your average order value can increase even at the onboarding level.

You're like, oh man, I, I could have been making some money right there.

Oh man.

Yes.

Look, I'm telling, we break it down.

Oh, it always, it's, it's good.

I mean, I need to go back and watch it for myself, you know, for some of the other.

Seriously.

There are seven places.

Seven places.

And what you want to do is actually make sure that your creative business is not leaking in any of those segments.

Yeah.

There's opportunity to improve it.

You want to improve.

So if you're watching this right now, whether you're watching this in the live setting, you're watching in the post setting, you're listening to the audio and you're like, I'm listening to them.

But I want to make sure, like I want to make sure my business is leak proof.

You know, no leaky.

No leaky.

Bad going on.

Right.

Then definitely go watch episode 45 on the mind in my Creative business podcast.

All right, then next we had the, the pleasure of interviewing the one and only Ms. Swink PR herself, Brianna Gatling.

Right.

And that whole episode it tackled, right.

Like are you media ready or just content ready?

Right.

There's some things that as a PR person that there, that, that she's looking for, for her clients and that she's helping to, you know, take her clients through so that they can get seen, so they can get visible so that they can draw the attention that you're hiring her for.

So just loving hearing her.

Her story and just how she kind of started off in journalism.

And I think that's been.

When we talked to, we've talked about three or four PR people and they all kind of got their start in, in journalism, right?

Yeah, that's kind of like been that through.

That's true.

But.

And then transitioning, it's like, okay, you know, I know how to write, right.

But as a result of that, I also know how to like relate, like because it's public relations.

So I know how to establish relationships, I know how to build relationships, maintain relationships.

And I know how to get my client in front of the audience that they need to get in front of to tell that story.

So part of, you know what she was saying is being able to be able to tell stories and be a good storyteller and things like that.

So.

Yeah, yeah.

She also talked about how it's not just storytelling when it comes to pr.

This was an important part right here because some people like, I want to build a, a PR firm, right?

And so cool.

You want to build a PR firm.

What it all goes into doing that.

You can go check out her episode and see.

And she built hers in the music industry and she's done work even outside of that landscape.

But one of the things that she dropped, I'm g. Just put this right here.

She said PR isn't a shortcut, it's a foundation dependent tool.

Like, she didn't say it like that specifically, but what she basically said is you actually need to have a foundation in order to really capitalize on people pr.

So some people are like, man, hey, I want to go get me a PR person that's going to help my creative based business.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Go back, watch episode 45.

Make sure you're not leaking.

Make sure you have a client journey so that PR then adds that gasoline to it.

And also if you're a person who want to have a PR firm and you're trying to figure out, okay, I know where I'm at right now.

I'm a journalist, I'm trying to build a company and I have people that work with me and so forth, so on.

She has a whole team and she has a who everything and a lot of clients that she works with, but she knows that a person has to have a foundation and what that foundation needs to look like, you can only get in the episode.

So go Check that out.

I, I enjoyed it.

One of the, one of the, one of the things that she talked about, like a clip from her episode who kind of went, it didn't go viral, but it had a lot of views on our, on our channel.

And that was her talking about she was working with the Chicago Hemp Band, right.

So that's on the CD level.

And so there are some of you guys who are looking like, I'm working with these, you know, like small businesses or influencers.

I want to work with the city level.

So again, you may want to go check that out because yeah, it's a lot of that episode.

Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely.

And then our, our last guest, not our last episode, but our last guest for the season, we had the, the privilege of interviewing the lovely Ms. Ray Christine.

And I love what she brought to the table because the whole thing she's saying, okay, are you building a brand or are you just building an aesthetic?

Right?

So it's like is, there's a, there's a difference.

Yeah, it can, it can look good, it can look pretty, it can look cute.

But are you really making impact, right?

Are you really building a brand?

That's, that's, that's, that's impactful and things like that.

So I, I kind of love that.

And see, also developed a framework, right?

She noticed that, okay, I'm not able to service everybody that wants to work with me, right?

I'm not able to service them directly because, you know, though she has a team, she knows that she's limited.

So she was like, okay, let me put together this archetype or this architect or this blueprint that I can.

Now, those who want to work with me, this is what I take to my clients.

But I don't have to necessarily do it or be involved directly.

I can just give you this blueprint, you can do it, right?

And you're still going to get the results, you're still going to get the impact or whatever, as if you're working with me because either you're not able to afford me just yet or I'm too booked and busy where I'm not able to work with you.

Hand on.

But I'm not leaving you empty handed.

Right.

Because she'd already done all the research too.

So it's like, either I'm going to hold on to this research until you come back and work with me later.

Yeah, right.

Or, you know, instead of waiting on you to come back and work with me later, you can take it and run with it.

I thought that Was.

That was just one.

That was just one jewel.

She dropped a lot of jewels, too.

Very, very smart.

Worked in the.

In the NBA, I think, NFL players, NBA players, the foundations with sports, even some stuff like with the sports and insurance companies and stuff like that.

Like, she's the.

She's gone viral herself, right, for just talking about, like, you know, marketing and branding and things of that sort.

So.

And she.

I don't think she was even talking about something different.

So she.

She realized how pouring that gasoline on yourself creates so much attention.

It's like, dang, are you ready?

You know, so she realizes how that could affect her clients.

And so I also think that that's a good case study for those of you guys who have a personal brand as well, and you're building a branding firm or agency of some sort to say, like, okay, how do I test some of these things on myself and then pull that into.

Play into existence for.

For.

For my clients?

So, yeah, that's.

That's like you said, she.

She had a hand in some big things.

Like, she was.

She was.

She had her hand in, like, the whole Jake from State Farm, you know, idea and concept.

So, yeah, I want to go watch that episode because she.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

Okay, so then we get to episode 48.

Right, episode 48, which was more clients won't fix an unclear offer.

Okay.

Now, I noticed that we got a lot of engagement and reshares and things like that when we share snippets from this conversation.

So if you've been interested in the snippets, you definitely want to go unpack the full episode run.

And I shot that in Chicago.

Again.

Shout out to Chicago.

And shout out to all the creative entrepreneurs in Chicago.

There are so many other creative entrepreneurs that we've been wanted to actually interview that we just didn't have a chance to.

So we.

We'll go back at some point and kind of come back through some of those people who own.

Like, there's a florist, for example, she owns.

Yeah, I. I'm not gonna get into that.

Just know, you know, I want to come back to Chicago, but we shot this particular episode in Chicago, and so the reason I want to bring that up is because different atmospheres bring about a different energy.

Right.

So perhaps this why we talked about this.

But it doesn't matter what your creative entrepreneurial niches.

It doesn't matter what city or state or a country you're in.

More clients won't fix an unclear offer.

Let's talk about that.

Yeah, and that's the thing.

A lot of times us as creatives, when our, our income, our revenue is not consistent, we automatically turn to the fact where, oh, I need to get more clients, I need to get more clients.

But like you said, if the offer is unclear and you're getting more right, then all you're doing is causing more confusion and more chaos.

And that's something as a creative entrepreneur that you don't want to do.

Because if you're causing confusion and chaos, then you're going to lose said customers, they're not going to return, and then they're not going to be brand ambassadors and they bring other people to you, right?

So you want to get clear on what it is that you're offering, how you're offering it, right?

So that the customer, the client can be clear.

They know what to expect, they know what to look forward to.

The results is very clear.

And now they're singing your praises.

So now you can see revenue increase because they become ambassadors, they become walking billboards and things like that.

So we break down in that episode, you know how to go about clarifying your offer.

And I'm excited about the episode, though.

We did not lean in.

I mean, we did, you know, we didn't give too much about our, our five day creative challenge.

But that's one of the things with our five day Creative to CEO challenge that we help people do is get a clear signature offer.

So I was very excited about that episode because it kind of seeded that a little bit.

Kind of seeded our, our craft method, which I'll let know you, you know, I want to hog all the talking points.

Yeah, I'm happy you said, because I was going to say the same thing.

I was going to say, like, when it came to sharing the craft method, we were kind of like, should we share this?

Because we really only give that in the Creative to CEO challenge.

And if you want to be a part of the creative CEO challenge or want to know more about what that is, you go to creativetoceochallenge.com that's creative to ceochallenge.com and in that challenge, we walk with people for five days, just five days, listen, and we help you get clear on your offer using the craft method.

I, I won't go into the full detail on what we teach in the, in the, in the five day challenge, we take more than the craft method.

We, we give way more tools so that you can walk away with a scalable offer.

Not just something that's sellable.

You already got something to sell.

But is it scalable?

And how we help you reframe your idea to thinking through, okay, this is.

Is not going to be sustainable.

How can I take the creativity that I have and squeeze something sustainable out of it?

So we walk you through all of that in the creative seal challenge, but one of the things we talk about is the craft method.

C. Right?

Clear.

R, repeatable.

A, actionable.

If I'm not going to tell you, T, I'm not going to tell you because I need you to go watch the episode.

And then also listen, if you know, like, hey, I got stuff, I'm selling, but I can't.

I can't see myself doing this too long.

I'm about to quit and do something else.

Before you quit, perhaps you should tap in with us so we can help you create a scalable offer so you can start seeing those 10k, 20k, 30k months.

Okay, so listen, I told y' all this is gonna be my favorite episode because I always say they all gonna be my favorite episode.

But literally, I'm telling you exactly the micro bites that you need to hear to get your.

Get you all interested in season six.

So if you didn't watch season six, if you skipped around, listen, go back based on what we told you and go chime in on those episodes.

Definitely episode 48.

Right?

With Ron and I breaking down that craft method so you can get clear right on your offer so it can be repeatable, so it can be actionable, and whatever else the FNT stands for.

Okay?

Also episode 45, we're running out.

We talk about the seven places your creative business is leaking money.

But then tap in with those guests.

It's a Savella Bora, Cindy Beasley.

Then you had Brianna Gatlin of Swank pr.

You had Ray Christine.

So you had, like a lot of.

Then you had Dom and Ramon Ray.

And they've both done so much in their business.

We didn't talk about it, but Dom owns a publishing company.

Perhaps you like, man, I want to do something in the author world.

That's the creative side that I want to be a part of.

Dom has a publishing company.

So you could check.

You can learn so much from him, but that he has an event that he curates.

Ramon Ray tapped in with so many other businesses.

Businesses.

And so I'm telling you, listen.

Oh, no.

Logan excited.

He excited about it.

Listen, he is.

He literally is excited.

So who is Logan?

Okay, Logan is.

Logan is my dog.

That's my boy.

You know, my.

He actually, until he barks, that's when I forget that he's not a real boy.

Okay.

Other than that he like a real boy, man.

He'd be real.

He really.

Yeah.

Anyway, shout out to Logan, who just barked in my episode.

But he's excited about it.

You funny.

He thought about.

Logan's excited now.

He came over here and he's looking around, looking at.

He.

He's clearly here, you know, but he was guarding the perimeter, making sure nobody didn't kind of break in while I'm in here minding my creative business.

You see what I'm doing?

You see what I did there?

You see, you see there?

Okay.

But yeah, so he's excited about it.

We're excited about it.

I think was very, very cool season to.

To do.

I think the question that we have for you is what, what city should we do next?

What cities would you like to see us like?

Man, I've been here and they got a lot of cool things going on there.

Are there some really fire creative businesses there that y' all should check out?

Should we be going to Charlotte?

Should we be going to Seattle?

Should we be going to Toronto?

Should we be going to Atlanta?

Should we be going to la?

Where should we be?

You know, where should we go?

Definitely.

Let us know, Drop it in the comments and let us know where we should be going.

And once again, I want to encourage you all, go and binge watch at season six, right?

When you're done with season six, binge watch season five, just go ahead and, and and get all the information that you can.

Because we, we interview some phenomenal creative entrepreneurs.

We also want to encourage you to do the things right?

Go ahead and subscribe.

If you have not subscribed, subscribe, because then you'll get notifications when we drop new episodes.

You'll get notifications when we go live.

Go ahead and subscribe.

Make sure that you are liking, right, this video.

Make sure.

Or if you're listening, right, if you're listening, like it on your platform that you're, that you're listening to it on, make sure you comment.

We want to be able to have dialogue with you, right?

A lot of times, you know, we're having dialogue with the guests and then we, when we're talking, we're having dialogue with each other, but we want to have dialogue with you.

So comment.

And then if you know a creative entrepreneur who can benefit and grow from this podcast or the plethora of information that we're sharing, go ahead and share with a creative entrepreneur.

Okay, so sounds good to me.

Sounds good to me.

Also, you want to come in on the episode that you watch because the guest that we interview, they might chime in and be able to answer your questions.

You have questions for them.

They're watching these episodes.

They know when they drop, we're in conversation with them.

They know they're looking.

So we definitely want to talk to you.

We want to share.

People are taking up, taking out of their time to share information with you, so you actually definitely want to be in contact with them.

I, like I said, we always, we always end this episode.

That's what I always say.

Like I always say, we end our episodes to the same, not just talking to you, but giving you opportunity to talk back to us.

Of course you can do the comments, but right now on this episode, we want you to say something out loud.

Use your voice so you can hear yourself speak encouraging words back to yourself.

The truth is right here in this mantra.

So when we say this mantra, I need you to repeat after me.

Ready?

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

All it takes.

All it takes is consistency.

Is consistency.

Intention.

Intentions.

And laser focus.

And laser focus.

To mind my creative business.

To mind my creative business.

And on that note, we will see you all next season.

Peace.

Peace out.