And She Looked Up Creative Hour Melissa Hartfiel

No this is not a real estate episode! Today we're talking about the dangers of building your business on the backs of other businesses - namely social media platforms and marketplaces - like Etsy.  These are platforms where the customers and users are not yours, where you can be removed at any time and where algorithms are created to support the platform's goals - not yours.

So what can you do to build your business on solid footing. It's time to take ownership of your business and build assets that are yours.  Here's how!

This is a great episode for anyone who:
is struggling with social media algorithmsis worried about losing their accounts or shopsdoesn't know how to diversify or build an audience that's theirswants more control over their business and their sales data
This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout

For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode156: Rent or Own: The Dangers of Building a Creative Business on Rented Land

You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.
Support the Show.
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.

Subscriber-only episode
Play is an important part of a creative practice and creating for a living. It's also hard work (that doesn't sound right, does it? But it is!). Collaboration can be a form of play for creatives and has it's own set of benefits aside from play. Collaboration and play (together or separately) can have a huge influence on keeping our creative well filled and burn out at bay. And that's what I'm talking about this month!

Episodes mentioned in this episode:
The Creative Penn: The Hard Joy of Writing
EP 65: The Jealous Creative - Confronting the Ugly Emotion
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.

Alexandra Newbould is an artist whose work you know. As a Toronto based freelance courtroom sketch artist and fashion and architecture illustrator, her work has appeared all across North America on newscasts, in newspapers and print, online and in brand marketing campaigns. She joins the show this week to talk about the challenges and rewards of being a freelance illustrator, tattoo artist and, her newest venture,  working as an event artist who captures special moments in people's lives.  

We talk about about the pressure of working in the courtroom and its impact on her work, how she has built a very successful business with minimal social media presence, the importance of in person networking and building connections, how delivering good work is its own networking tool and finding the balance between commercial success and artistic integrity.

This is a great episode for creatives who...
struggle with how to network offline - Alex has done some interesting things to get noticed!wonder if it's possible to be successful without social mediahave an inner battle happening between creating art from a place deep inside them and creating art for commercial purposeshave always wondered about the world of courtroom sketch artists This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout

For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode155: Illustrator and Courtroom Sketch Artist Alexandra Newbould

You can find Alexandra at alexandranewbould.com or on Instagram @alexandranewbould or @sketchmelikethis

You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.



Support the Show.
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.

You’re an artist or a creative or a maker.  You’ve made or created the thing, you’re selling the creative services. You’ve put it on social media and your website or Etsy. 
But nobody has bought it. 
So how the heck are you supposed to find your customers?? 
Melissa and Heather do a deep dive into how to find your people - and how to sell to them without it being weird or uncomfortable - even if you’re an introvert or shy (or both)!  This is an episode full of practical tips but be warned - there's no quick fix!

This is a great episode for creatives who...
are struggling to find paying customers or clientsdon't know where to look to find their people - we've got lots of ideas!struggle with selling - we'll show you how to soft sell instead of hard sell!get caught up in their heads when it comes to putting themselves out there - let's talk about mindset!are afraid of niching down - it makes it so much easier to know who your people are when you domight know what they are... but aren't sure what they're not (it'll make sense)This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout

For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode154: Makers & Artists: Here's How to Find Your Customers

You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.

You can find Heather at heatherlynnetravis.com or on Instagram @heathertravis.
Support the Show.
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.

I'm going back into the archives this week because it's been a bit of madness around here this month (in a good way!). This is a replay of EP 128 from last year where Heather and I asked past guests and audience member to share some words of wisdom that they've learned through being working creatives and/or running their own businesses. And they did not disappoint! It's an inspiriing episode with some fabulous nuggets from some exceptional women. One of my favourite quotes that I remind myself of over and over again came directly out of this episode!

You can find the original show notes right here (with links to all of the episodes these women appeared on)
Support the Show.
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.

Subscriber-only episode
I have a great podcast recommendation for you this week that also tied into three big things I've had on my "to talk about" list: marketing goals, the line between positivity and negativity and gatekeeping creativity. Hope you all enjoy!
You can connect with the podcast on:
Instagram at @andshelookedup Facebook YouTube Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast

Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.

Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.