In this episode, I share four impactful books for your life and business. Here's a brief summary of the books mentioned: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martel: This book teaches you how to calculate your hourly worth and use it to hire out tasks in your business, allowing you to focus on growth and what you love most. Two Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield: Ideal for those starting an online business, Amy offers logical, step-by-step actions to establish and generate income. Check out episode 28 for an interview with Amy. The Power to Change by Craig Groeschel: This book, written by a pastor, explores habit-forming and lasting change. It emphasizes that identity transformation is key to creating new habits that serve your life well. High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard: Covering six unexpected habits of high performers, this book focuses on developing leadership skills and becoming a better leader. I'd love to hear about your favorite books and how they've impacted your life. Find me on Instagram or visit professionalcreative.com/blog/34 for links to the books mentioned.

Discover the power of engaging alumni in your online courses as experts and guides, enhancing the learning experience for all participants. In this episode, we dive into the recruitment process, training, and the benefits of integrating alumni into your course support structure. Learn how this approach creates a strong sense of community and enhances your brand's reach. Visit professionalcreative.com/blog/33 for a detailed breakdown and valuable resources to help you build your own support team. https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/33

In this episode, I talk about how asking a simple question can transform your approach to creative work. I encourage listeners to evaluate the quality and value of their work by asking one simple question. By doing so, our work becomes more personal and a reflection of our soul. This can make it feel more vulnerable, but also more beautiful, and can help strengthen our signature style. I share my own experience of how this simple question helped me mature as a designer and create work with intention. Visit the professionalcreative.com for shownotes and past episodes!

In this episode of the Professional Creative Podcast, Bonnie Christine discusses the impact of staying in a fear-based mindset on both creative practice and business. She offers practical advice on how to shift to an abundance-based mindset, including identifying fear-based mindsets and reframing them into abundance-based mindsets. Adopting an abundance-based mindset can help increase creativity, encourage experimentation, and accelerate growth. For more information, check out the show notes at professionalcreative.com/blog/31.

In this episode, I share my personal experience of pursuing a career in creativity and offer insights on how to confidently pursue a career in the arts. I discuss the challenges of pursuing creative careers and the importance of standing in your power and confidence when people don't take you seriously. I provide five main points to help listeners understand why a career in creativity is a real job that should be taken seriously, including how the definition of a real job is changing, the essential role of art and creativity in the human experience, and the profitability of pursuing a creative career. Lastly, I encourage listeners to pursue their passions and confidently proclaim their identity as an artist or creative entrepreneur. Check out the show notes at https://professionalcreative.com/blog/30 for more details on the episode.

Join Sarah Watts and I as we have a conversation around art and marketing. As artists, we solve problems and bring joy to the world and to people’s homes. We’re in the business of doing legacy work. Listen in to see how we can change the world, one design at a time. 📒 Episode Notes, Links, & Resources 📒 https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/29 📝 Read the Transcript 📝 Connect with Bonnie: ▸ ONLINE | http://bonniechristine.com ▸ INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/bonniechristine ▸ 60x60 | 60 WAYS TO CREATE INCOME FROM YOUR ART | https://www.bonniechristine.com/income ▸ FREE SURFACE DESIGN GUIDE | https://www.bonniechristine.com/guide Meet Sarah Watts Sarah is an illustrator and business owner based in Atlanta, GA. She graduated from Ringling College in 2008 with a BFA in Illustration. She landed her first job at Carter's/OshKosh, and then went on to design for International Greetings. In 2011, Sarah left the corporate world to pursue her work in art licensing and book illustration. She was always passionate about working for herself and running her own business. She spent several years illustrating kids books for various publishers through Red Fox Literary such as Penguin Books and Random House. She also licensed art to gift and stationery companies like Hallmark, Piccolina Kids and American Greetings who sell goods internationally. Sarah co-owns the company Craftedmoon with her husband Scott, specializing in eco-friendly stationery and gifts for the crafty homebody. They have more recently launched a school division of the brand called School for Misfit Makers. Sarah specializes in teaching Adobe Photoshop, ink techniques and Procreate. With teaching, Sarah loves to empower people to see their potential in working in the arts and how they can make a living doing what they love. When she is not teaching, Sarah designs fabric for the prestigious new brand called Ruby Star Society, who is a division of Moda Fabrics. Designing fabric is Sarah's biggest licensing passion. Sarah is a new mother to two bright young women, Willow and Violet. She and her husband enjoy Halloween and love dressing up as a family with the kids. Sarah loves animals, black coffee and making people laugh.

When Amy Porterfield and I started out on our respective entrepreneurial journeys, we didn’t have a framework or path to follow—so we created it for ourselves. In this episode, I’m joined by Amy Porterfield to talk about her new book Two Weeks Notice. Amy is on a mission to guide new entrepreneurs and walk them step by step through building a business, and her new book is required reading to help you do just that. Listen as we discuss how Amy left the corporate world behind, what she’s learned along the way, and some of the key steps from her journey you can start applying to your own business today. 📒 Episode Notes, Links, & Resources 📒 https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/28 📝 Read the Transcript 📝

In this episode, I'm sharing a simple hack that helped me make the transition from dreaming to doing. If you have a big (maybe scary) dream or goal, this is for you. I share my personal journey from going from being a dreamer to a doer. I talk about my background growing up in a creative house, my passion for entrepreneurship, and how I eventually found my calling in the creative industry as a surface designer.

No matter what you create, the art of gathering inspiration is a key skill that will set you and your work apart. Not only can our inspirations help us develop our signature style, but it can also contribute to how we feel as artists. Inspiration is truly everywhere, and in this episode we’ll be diving deep into the art of gathering inspiration for anything you create as an artist and creative entrepreneur. When you actively look for inspiration, even ordinary things become infused with possibility and potential. So put your inspiration goggles on, and let’s dive in! 📒 Episode Notes, Links & Resources 📒 https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/26 📝 Read the Transcript 📝

We all have struggles and obstacles that hold us back in our creative careers. But what if we looked at those struggles as weeds, and the solutions as seeds? In this episode, we discuss eight common weeds that creatives face, and the seeds we can plant in their place. 📒 Episode Notes, Links, & Resources 📒 https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/25 📝 Read the Transcript 📝 Connect with Bonnie: ▸ ONLINE | http://bonniechristine.com ▸ INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/bonniechristine ▸ 60x60 | 60 WAYS TO CREATE INCOME FROM YOUR ART | https://www.bonniechristine.com/income ▸ FREE SURFACE DESIGN GUIDE | https://www.bonniechristine.com/guide

When you’re first starting out as a creative entrepreneur, you might feel frustrated that you’re behind. In this episode, I’m sharing 10 lessons learned during the year I spent doing nothing but creating patterns, and the lasting impact on making the most of the beginning stages of your business. Get the shownotes: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/24

Investing in yourself as a creative entrepreneur and business owner can have a significant impact on your ability to learn and grow consistently. In this episode, I’m sharing three different areas you can invest in for more productivity, higher levels of success, and, an increased quality of life. Get the shownotes: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/23 Watch 60x60: Where 60 successful artists, illustrators and surface designers share how they create income from their artwork in just 60 seconds: https://www.bonniechristine.com/income

In this episode, I’m sharing 15 different ways that I've used my creativity to create income over the last decade—and I hope that it inspires you and brings you clarity around creating a career with your art or creativity. Get the shownotes and learn more about 60x60: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/22

In a world where meetings are mundane and never anything anyone looks forward to, I set out about a year ago to create a format for a weekly meeting that would be fun and exciting for our creative team, but also really help us get the momentum that we needed to enter the week and know exactly what we were doing and what we were working on. In this episode, I’m sharing a peek behind the scenes of how we structure our weekly team Momentum Meeting. Get the shownotes and free meeting outline: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/21

When we’re creative entrepreneurs, we often need to show up live in a variety of ways, and it can be uncomfortable—but when you run a business online, going live is the fastest way to connect with your audience. In this episode, I’m sharing 20 tips for going live and LOVING it, and how I plan for a successful live event that engages my audience. Get the shownotes and free live call planner: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/20

5 Ways Taking 10 Seconds of Courage Has Impacted My Career | Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you—and following a creative dream takes a lot of it! When we go after our dreams, it’s SCARY. As professional creatives and entrepreneurs, we have so many unanswered questions, but what we really need is the courage in order to get started. In this episode, I’m sharing five ways taking ten seconds of courage has helped me gain momentum in my career as a creative entrepreneur. View shownotes & transcript: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/19

Are you ready to start the year off right? For this episode, we’re joined again by Lisa Jacobs, author of Your Best Year, to walk you through annual planning for your creative business. Lisa and Bonnie both share their favorite way to dream big when planning out the year ahead, along with the most important elements to consider and include. We often hear that to build your business you have to understand yourself—but you need an annual plan to weather the high and low seasons of your business. Read the shownotes and download your free Year at a Glance PDF: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/18

As we start a new year, it’s the perfect time to focus on strategic planning in your business—which will go hand-in-hand with our next episode 18 on annual planning. In this episode, I’ll take you through how we do strategic planning in our company, along with 5 things that worked for us and 5 things that didn’t in 2022. Shownotes: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/17

In this episode we’ll be discussing signature style: what it is, why it’s important, and five ways you can further develop it. Be sure to download the freebie included with this episode in the show notes: One Year of Daily Art Prompts. Download the prompts and view shownotes: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/16

In this episode, I’ll be sharing some trends I’ve observed in creative entrepreneurship in 2022, and things we’re leaning into in my business as we head into 2023. I hope you'll be inspired to look ahead and make some positive changes in your business in the coming year as well! View the shownotes: https://www.professionalcreative.com/blog/15