Six years ago, I was just finding my way back to work after my son Theo was born. I was conflicted and unsure of myself, and wondered if I had lost my touch and some of my magic in my months away on maternity leave.

That’s when I met Angela. We created the Soho Waterworks brand together, and it was the best branding work I’d ever done. I realized that my time away and this new mama part of me made me even better at what I do, especially when partnering with amazing like-hearted souls like Angela.

The years since have been the best and hardest of my life, with the bittersweet result of me stepping back from branding work and leaning into my design classes in this unpredictable season. It’s been one wild ride.

Six years later, in this cracked open space, Angela and I met once again. As it turns out, she had been navigating her own transformative journey over the last few years, and the fates brought us together for a new collaboration — Market St. Mortgage. I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Angela again years later, and couldn’t be more proud to share the magic we created together.

I’ve never been a “fast” designer. I like to take my time and think things out, and I don’t like rushing the process. Now the little voice in my head (hello, imposter syndrome) might tempt me to see this as a bad thing — that I’m wasting time and not being efficient enough.

To be perfectly honest, I used to be self conscious about needing more time. After all, if I design faster I can take on more clients and isn’t that how I make more money and become more successful? Not necessarily.

Let's be honest. For designers, it's always been really hard to figure out what to charge for our work. When I first started out, I had no idea how to price my work and was basically willing to take whatever early clients were willing to pay me. Which wasn't much.

To make matters worse, pricing is a huge taboo in the creative industry. I'm not sure why, but somewhere along the way we got caught in this scarcity mindset that if our peers knows what we charge then it will mean our demise. And god forbid we ask each other. That's just unheard of.

Just as it's an unspoken industry standard that designers present multiple options, it's also pretty much a given that no one shares their pricing. Ever. Which also means we're all constantly creeping, trying to figure out what our work is actually worth.

In our digital age, having a beautiful, mobile-friendly website is essential. It's how your dream customers will find you and where they'll go to learn more about what you do. But once you have their attention, how do you get them to stick around? When people's attention spans are shorter than ever, how do you get people to actually to read your website content?

When I shared my red flags and green lights for evaluating client inquiries a couple weeks ago, I was absolutely stunned by the response. Designers and business owners from all over came out of the woodwork to share that they knew they'd been working with the wrong clients for too long. They told me my words were exactly what they needed to hear.

So if deep down all these entrepreneurs know their clients aren't a good fit, why are they taking them on?

When it comes to running my brand consulting business, I consider who I work with to be just as important as the work I do. Not every inquiry that lands in my inbox will be a good fit and not every client will be the right one for me. Unfortunately, many of us only realize this once it's too late and we're knee deep in our very own client horror story.

No one likes a sleazy salesman (or lady). No one wants to hear the same tired pitch over and over, but the reality remains that you need to make sales in order to stay in business. I've written in the past about selling the authentic way, which is essentially selling what you do... without “selling” it.

But how does that even work?

Well admittedly in the past, I've found it pretty easy to share what I do without being “salesy” thanks to an ever-changing roster of incredible clients where no two brands look alike. However, with the recent launch of my premier course, Illustrator Essentials, I found myself needing to expand my repertoire and get a big more creative when it came to sharing my offerings.

So how can you promote your product without obnoxiously repeating yourself or launching to crickets? Well! Today I'm excited to share my formula for just that—making sales without “selling.” So without further ado, let's dig in!

I think we can all agree that now more than ever it's hard to find time for ourselves—whether that means getting your portfolio website up-to-date, finding the time to exercise, or making the time for that project you've been dreaming of starting. When our jobs and responsibilities and the world come knocking, our stuff gets pushed aside.

“I'll get to it next time,” you tell yourself. “Someday when I have more time.” But it never happens, does it?

One question I get constantly is how I come up with the color palettes for my branding projects. I find this to be amazing because it was only a few years ago that I really struggled with color, and found myself constantly scrolling enviously through the work of others I considered to be color masters.

Maybe you're in a similar position right now, hoping to really dial in that eye for color to take your brand or your own work to the next level. Either way, know that perfect palette is closer than you think. So let's break this color thing down, shall we?