January’s highlights included building out Self-Made Artist Academy, creating a pricing webinar for artists, presenting to some incredible women, and celebrating our first female Vice President. 2021 is already feeling really hopeful and filled with potential as the vaccine rolls out across the United States.

If you’re new here, welcome to my business journal. This thirteenth edition of the monthly business journal blog post celebrates the wins and serves as a space of reflection of this business journey, which has been such an important practice for me since January 2020. I’m excited to keep up with this in 2021 as well.

The Big Wins

• Building out Self-Made Artist Academy! My first online course for artists is launching February 1st and I couldn’t be more excited to share so much of what I’ve learned throughout my almost five years in business with other artists looking to build a sustainable career around their art and passions. This has been in the works since September, so this launch is a HUGE win.

• I hosted four Instagram Lives. I put my fear of being on live video aside and recorded four videos (which I converted to IGTVs so they are still accessible) to help artists in their creative business pursuits. Check them out: Stop Working For Free - Here’s What to Do Instead, The Best Investment I Made in My Business, 5 Lessons from 5 Years in Business, and Makers Gonna Make: Changes + Pushing Through Challenging Times.

General Updates:

• I created a webinar for artists that I’ll be presenting in early February. 3 Most Common Mistakes Artists Make (and how to fix them) will address the issues around artists charging their worth head on. If you’re an artist interested in attending (I’m offering multiple times) - register here.

• I researched NAICS codes and updated my capabilities statement. This is a necessary step in preparing my business to work with more corporate clients and government entities. Since ScaleUp, I have been meeting one-on-one with an advisor from the WBDC to make progress on these items.

• I read Atomic Habits. It’s a great book to start off with in a new year and has me excited to focus on building strong habits over goals. Because I’m continuously focusing on bigger and better things, it often means I need to develop new and improved habits to get me where I want to go.

• I partnered with ArtsPartners of Central Illinois to offer an alternative to the full Business of Art Conference. I’ve been part of the conference as an attendee, speaker, and planning committee member over the past five years, so this conference is near and dear to my heart. We’ll be hosting a variant of the pricing webinar I created with an added networking component to ensure artists are able to connect virtually this year. If you’re a Central Illinois artist you can register for the free event on February 6th here.

• I celebrated our first female Vice President with a fun portrait. Watching the inauguration and illustrating our very own Madam Vice President Kamala Harris was a nice break from my packed schedule. It’s hard to work when history is being made, so I leaned in and created an illustration to commemorate the occasion!

• I presented at both the Cultivate Illinois Women’s Retreat and Starting a Business in 2021 Facebook Community my friend Francie started. At the women’s retreat, I was the evening keynote and presented on the power of passion projects. In Francie’s group, I shared important considerations for small business owners around their brand when just getting started. I’ve also lined up two webinar presentations with the WBDC and am looking for more speaking opportunities throughout 2021.

• I networked with inspiring women. I attended a handful of virtual WESOS chapter meetings, a Bossy Chicago meetup, a Femmebought Mastermind, and also set up a handful of 1:1 meetings with individual women to get to know them and their businesses better.

• I applied to GovCon Airports and Next Level Exchange. Both are programs connected with the WBDC and would be great opportunities to learn and further my business success. I also heard back about two other opportunities I applied to Foxtrot’s Up and Comers Awards and the Chicago Department of Aviation’s Artist Pool. Unfortunately, I was not accepted into either. Rejection is just part of the small business game, I guess.

• I sold 840 stickers to Kind of Box! They are a customizable gift box company that exclusively features goods from small businesses. In December, they purchased 296 stickers and they were so popular, they’ve already reordered twice in January. These stickers will continue to head out all over the US as a result of their support.

• I took on very limited client work. This included a quick lettering piece for a corporate client and three arts business consulting sessions. This limitation was intentional and mostly because I dedicated the majority of my energy to course launch work.

• I celebrated my dad’s birthday. I was glad to spend part of the day with my parents and enjoy food from a favorite local Italian restaurant, Pisolino. My dad has been such a huger supporter (via all things finance and planning) for Lettering Works since the very beginning.

Special Announcements:

Enrollment for Self-Made Artist Academy opens February 1st, 2021.

Some fun Love Your Brand Valentine’s Day Specials (think special discounts and bonuses on branding packages) are in the works. Send me a message if you’d like to get on the list for more information.

Thank you for being here, for supporting me, and for following along with this beautiful journey entrepreneurship has taken me on.

PS - Want to work together? Book your 2021 project today! Bring on all the logos, branded merchandise, and brand identity projects… let’s make some beautiful and impactful things together in 2021.