Standout Creatives: Business, marketing, and creativity tips for solopreneurs launching their ideas

Standout Reinventions is where I document what starting over actually looks like from my move to Costa Rica, to the memoir I’m writing about it, and the conversations with creatives who’ve reinvented themselves too.

What if the thing you’re most afraid to lose has been quietly draining you?

Melissa Hidrobo spent about 20 years as a luxury retail leader, managing boutiques for brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton in Miami. By every measure, she had made it. Then one night in August 2019, she came home from a closing shift at 11p...

What if the project you abandoned years ago wasn’t dead? What if it was just waiting for the right moment to come back?

I wrote the first version of We Are All Creative almost ten years ago. I was running a blog and podcast for artists and creatives at the time. Then life happened, the way it does, and the manuscript sat untouched on my hard drive for most of a decade.

This year, I finally brought it back. My friend Stephanie Graham, host of the noseyAF podcast, sat down with me to talk th...

What if the version of yourself you keep trying to get back to was never the one you were supposed to become?

Grace Grossmann has lived in England, Spain, Germany, and now Costa Rica. She’s been a journalist-in-training, a freelance writer, a yoga teacher for nine years, a well-being coach, and a kindergarten teacher.

She self-published Chill Out and Cheer Up: A Ten-Step Guide, a book she wrote while grieving her best friend. She then sat on it for four years because her inner critic wouldn’t let her release it. She finally did it f...

What if the thing keeping your idea stuck isn’t a lack of money, connections, or credibility?

What if it’s just that you’re aiming for the finished version before you’ve made the pilot?

Darnell Brown calls himself a multi-passionate creative polymath, and after 18 years in branding, design, and storytelling, he’s earned the title. He helps non-creatives find their voice through design, and runs Forge, a community for multi-passionate entrepreneurs who want to grow their impact without abandoning what makes them them.

In this conversation, Darnell traces his path from drawing su...

What if you lost almost everything, except the one thing you were building?

Migdalia Sanchez and Claudio Soriano (aka Migdy and Clau), didn’t set out to become authors. Migdy is a professional counselor and life coach. Clau has a background in electrical and process engineering. Both spent twenty years mentoring young adults, first as volunteers, then as certified life coaches, long before either of them thought about putting any of it into a book.

Then came a workshop, a hurricane, a decade of writing, and a 450-page manuscript that had to be split in tw...

What if the thing standing between you and your best work isn't a strategy problem? It's a permission problem.

Christi Johnson spent ten years as a wedding photographer, earned a master’s degree in piano performance, and later burned out so badly as an online business manager that she stopped sleeping and had to shut her business down for six months.

Now she runs the Dream Biz Playground, teaching creative and neurodivergent entrepreneurs to build businesses through creative play instead of hustle.

In this conversation, Christi walks through what her crash an...

What if the tool everyone else uses isn’t the only way in?

Tiffany Yu is the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto and the founder of Diversability, an organization she built to help disabled people move through what she calls their shame-to-pride transformation.

She was in a car accident at nine years old where her arm became permanently paralyzed. And she lived a decade feeling like there was no community built for someone like her. So she built one.

In this conversation, Tiffany talks about how a literary agent found her through a fi...

What happens when the thing that defined you for most of your life suddenly isn't yours anymore?

Bridget Baker has reinvented herself so many times she’s started to consider herself an expert in it. Her reinvention journey spans a car accident at 21, a Las Vegas tiger show, five years in a travel trailer, and a writing group she started on a whim that’s almost two years old.

She’s a brand and website designer, a creative coach, and the host of a brand new podcast, The Deep Dig. But before all of that, she wa...

What if the book you never planned to write became the business you were always meant to build?

Cathy Derksen didn’t grow up wanting to be an author. She wasn’t a writer. She’s dyslexic. Books weren’t even on her radar, let alone publishing them. But somewhere between a divorce, a career change, two teenagers, and a quiet voice she couldn’t ignore — she ended up in a book. Then another. Then she started making them herself.

Today Cathy has contributed to twenty-four anthologies and created ten multi-author books of her own, giving over...

What if the secret to creative success isn’t your portfolio... but your people?

Melquea Smith is a children’s book illustrator and artist who creates clip art of black and brown kids.

Her journey from side-hustling artist to full-time creative is built on one foundational truth: community changes everything.

In this conversation, Melquea shares why the lone genius myth is killing creative careers, how she’s learned to create her own luck through intentional relationship-building, and what it really takes to survive the marathon of creative entrepreneurship when patience is basically a requir...

What if your biggest breakdown became your creative breakthrough?

Maya Sarin didn’t plan to become a poet.

Her journey began in beauty marketing. And she wrote consistently but never quite found her voice.

Then illness forced everything to stop.

In that stillness, something changed. Poetry emerged from fragments. Healing became creation. And the beginnings of her book were born.

In this conversation, Maya shares how trauma reshaped her relationship with creativity, why she learned to collaborate with the divine instead of forcing inspiration, and what it really takes to...

What if the book you were meant to write has been sitting inside you for years and all you just needed someone to help you bring it out?

That’s the question underneath everything Anita Henderson does.

She calls herself the Author’s Midwife. And the more she explained what that actually means, the more I realized how perfectly it fits. She doesn’t write your book for you. She helps you bring it into the world the right way.

In this episode, she walks us through everything that means.

Highlights

...

What if the thing that makes you feel like an outsider is actually your greatest business asset?

Danielle Anderson figured that out after 15 years as a paralegal.

She didn’t have an English degree. She’d never worked at a big New York publishing house. She wasn’t an agent with industry connections. But she had something else: a way of combining structure with soul that authors desperately needed.

In this conversation, Danielle, founder of Ink Worthy Books and creator of the Soulful Nonfiction framework, talks about building a business that honors both the cr...

What if the genre you dismissed as too dark was actually the most honest thing you could read?

Lee Murray has spent twenty years writing horror from the edge of the world. She’s won five Bram Stoker Awards, a New Zealand Prime Minister Award for Literary Achievement, and a medal from the King.

And she’ll be the first to tell you she’s barely making grocery money. That gap between recognition and reward is just one of the things Lee is refreshingly honest about in this conversation.

She also talks about what i...

How does a daughter’s simple wish become a full creative enterprise?

Osayi Lasisi didn’t set out to launch a product line. She set out to find a brown plush doll for her daughter.

When that search came up empty, her daughter didn’t just get disappointed and move on. She said, let’s make them ourselves.

And that’s where everything started.

In this conversation, Osayi shares how Pocketlings was born, what it’s like to co-build a business with a 10-year-old, and the lessons that have emerged from just figurin...

What if understanding money was the thing that finally set your creative work free?

That’s the quiet truth running through my conversation with Hannah Cole. She’s a tax educator, an artist with over 20 years of experience, and the founder of Sunlight Tax.

We talk about why there’s no standard path for creatives, how the story you tell about your worth shapes everything, and why financial literacy might be the most underrated superpower in your business toolkit.

Highlights

There is no standard path. And that’s actually the point.

Cr...

What if the stories you grew up with weren’t just entertainment… but training?

Dr. Bailey Lang didn’t become a book coach and editor by accident.

Her path moves from hyperlexic child… to marketing professional… to PhD… to founder of The Writing Desk. And when you zoom out, none of it is random. Every season sharpened how she sees story, structure, mindset, and the humans behind the pages.

In this conversation, Bailey and I talk about creative writing beyond fiction, the realities of academia, the power of marginalized voices, and why standing out has less...

What if the book you want to write isn’t waiting for the “perfect time” but for a version of you who’s willing to start messy?

Jennifer Locke helps people turn ideas into books.

Not someday books.

Real books that get written in the middle of family life, busy schedules, self-doubt, and the very normal fear of being seen.

In this conversation, Jennifer shares what it really looks like to follow through on a writing life, how nonfiction and fiction require completely different muscles, why marketing can’t be an afterthoug...

What if the thing you thought was pulling you away from writing was actually preparing you for it?

Andy Hodges didn’t set out to follow a single creative lane. His path winds through anthropology, academia, fiction editing, and now novel writing, all held together by curiosity and a deep respect for story.

In this conversation, Andy and I talk about what it really means to balance structure and freedom in your creative work, why genre expectations matter more than many writers want to admit, and how building a sustainable creative life often requires letting go...

What if the thing you’ve been taught to ignore is actually the thing guiding you?

In this episode, I talked with Julia Carmen, a curandera, spiritual healer, and founder of the School Without Walls. Julia has spent her life walking between the physical and non-physical worlds. Seeing, sensing, listening. Not as a party trick, but as a way of being.

Julia talks about presence, self-worth, grief, choice, and the courage it takes to listen to your soul in a very loud world.

Walking Between Worlds

Julia was born into a li...

What if writing the story you’re afraid to tell is the exactly what your readers have been waiting for?

Leigh Carron, author of Fat Girl and other body positive romance novels, didn’t set out to follow trends, chase algorithms, or fit neatly into what the publishing world expects. She set out to tell her truth. And in doing so, she’s built stories centered on body diversity, biracial identity, desire, and authenticity, even when it felt risky or uncomfortable.

In this conversation, Leigh opens up about choosing self-publishing, navigating imposter syndrome, writing spicy romanc...

What if the thing you’ve been trying hide is actually the reason people remember you?

Rachel Lee is a brand stylist and designer who built her business by doing the opposite of what she thought “serious” creatives were supposed to do. From growing up as an imaginative art kid to hiding parts of herself in traditional design roles, Rachel spent years trying to fit in before realizing that belonging to herself mattered more.

In this conversation, she shares what happened when she quit a stable job, stopped performing professionalism, and let her real personality lead...

What if the story you’ve been holding onto is the one someone else has been waiting to hear?

Marc Cordon and I had a great conversation about the upcoming Book Summit. It will be a creative space built for writers, not-yet-writers, and anyone who feels a tug to put their story into the world. If you’ve ever felt like your experiences aren’t “big enough,” or you’re nervous about sharing something personal, this conversation might shift something for you.

We talk about why storytelling is such a powerful form of liberation, how writing in c...

What if the thing that makes you feel “different” in business is actually the thing that makes you magnetic?

In this special conversation, I sit down with Aicila from the Business as Unusual, where we talked about what it’s like to build a business as an introvert. If you’ve ever felt drained by networking, overwhelmed by visibility, or unsure how to show up without feeling fake… this one will feel like a deep exhale.

We talk about what it really means to be an introverted creative in a world that wants you to be “on” al...

What if growing your business didn’t require grinding harder, but actually slowing down, tending to your nervous system, and building something that feels human and sustainable?

Heidi Weiland is a holistic business coach and strategist who went from burned-out freelance web designer to someone helping entrepreneurs blend smart strategy with real self-care.

Her work sits at the intersection of nervous system support, authentic marketing, and human-centered business.

In this episode, she shares the turning points, hard lessons, and gentle reminders that helped her rebuild her business from the inside out.

Fr...

What if finding your creative voice wasn’t about adding more to your plate, but about slowing down, listening inward, and allowing yourself to realign with what feels true?

Britta Buchanan is the founder of Aligned and Undefined, where she helps spiritually conscious creatives reconnect with their authentic voice and creative flow.

After leaving her career as an elementary school teacher, Britta began guiding others through Human Design and the Akashic Records, helping them align with their soul’s blueprint and create from a place of authenticity and ease.

In this episode, Britta shar...

What if the secret to impactful design isn’t talent or aesthetics, but responsibility to your community, the planet, and the people you’re building for?

As the co-founder of Reny, a certified B Corp agency, Ben Rennie has built his career around using design as a force for impact. The agency now works with global brands like Patagonia, Google, and Nike. But that wasn’t the starting line.

Ben started as a self-taught designer, shaping his craft over time while developing a worldview anchored in responsibility, sustainability, and community.

From Grassroots to Global...

What if standing out means showing up fully and not shouting the loudest?

Felicia Iyamu’s creative journey has taken her from architecture and economics to Google, burnout, and back into the arms of poetry. Along the way, she’s been reflecting, writing, and reimagining what it means to live and work with purpose.

Her latest work, Poetry in Eden, explores identity, healing, and the unseen forces shaping our lives. In this episode, we talk about creativity, burnout, self-publishing, marketing, and what it really takes to share your work with the world in a way that...

You ever get that gut feeling to do something wild — the kind that makes zero sense on paper but just feels right?

That’s how this Substack Live with Heather Vickery started.

Heather’s a Joy Warrior: coach, retreat host, and professional permission-giver for anyone tired of living by other people’s rules. We talked about what it means to lead with joy, why curating your circle matters, and how trusting your gut can lead you places your brain never would’ve approved of.

It was a great conversation even with the tech hiccup in...

I’m switching things up. No more intro or outros.

Just straight into the good stuff — the conversations.

Because honestly? The production side was slowing me down.

And I’ve got too many amazing people to talk to.

This new format means:

Over the summer, I’ve been deep in three big projects:

What if your next event didn’t have to feel overwhelming? What if it could actually be aligned, intentional—and even profitable?

Heather Black is here to show you how.

She’s the founder of Phoenix Collaborations and has spent 25 years in the event world, helping solopreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits turn events and speaking gigs into meaningful, money-making opportunities.

In this episode, Heather shares her signature S.O.P. method for event planning, breaks down what it really takes to host events that work, and gives practical advice for those of us who ar...

What if your next creative breakthrough doesn't come from doing more, but from doing what truly matters?

In this episode, I’m talking directly to you—the creative soul who sometimes wonders

Am I on the right path? Or worse, Am I behind?

Spoiler alert: you’re exactly where you need to be.

We’ll explore what it means to create intentionally, how to stop spinning your wheels, and how to start steering toward the life and work you actually want. I share my own turning point—the moment I realized moving to...

Today is my 40th birthday so I wanted to do something a little different.

I started thinking about what I’m grateful for, so I wanted to bring back the idea of my gratitude journal to celebrate.

Here are 40 things I’m deeply grateful for, broken down into themes that matter the most to me.

Personal Relationships

This is where everything starts.

What if the key to unlocking your creativity as a writer wasn't about perfection, but about embracing the messy process, taking risks, and finding support along the way?

Cynthia Morris is a writer, artist, and certified coach who has spent over two decades helping creatives finally get their ideas out of their heads and onto the page. As the founder of Original Impulse, she's guided countless writers to focus, follow through, and finish their books without burning out.

In this episode, Cynthia talks about how to stay committed to your writing, why accountability is key...

What if success as a creative wasn’t about being the best—but just showing up, experimenting, and giving yourself permission to start messy?

Bob Baker didn’t start out with a perfect plan or a polished resume. He was a former musician and “non-traditional” marketer who slowly found his groove by helping creatives find confidence, consistency, and clarity—without needing to go viral or wait for permission.

This episode originally aired on Cracking Creativity back in 2017, but the wisdom still hits today. Especially if you're feeling behind, overwhelmed, or unsure how your creativity fits into your li...

What if the key to reigniting your creativity wasn't just talent, but embracing fear, experimentation, and community?

Steven Light, known as SLART, walked away from art for two decades. A single blog post reignited his passion, sparking a journey of artistic self-discovery, personal branding, and creative business growth.

Now, he's sharing the lessons he's learned about self-publishing, collaboration, and balancing art with commerce while navigating social anxiety and the ever-evolving role of technology in creativity.

From Creative Hiatus to Artistic Revival

After 20 years away from art, SLART found his way back...

What if the secret to success in book design isn’t just talent, but community, intention, and breaking through industry barriers?

Dominique Jones is a senior designer at Dutton Penguin Random House and president of Blk + Brwn Book Designers. She turned her passion for graphic design into a powerful movement of representation in the publishing industry.

In this episode, Dominique shares her creative journey, showing how she turned a passion into a mission. She takes us behind the scenes of book design, unpacking the challenges of representation, the power of community, and the art of vi...

What if your biggest creative block isn't talent, opportunity, or resources, but the fear of being fully seen?

Brian Perry's journey is a testament to transformation, moving from struggling with depression and feeling like an outsider to becoming a communication coach, singer, and songwriter. Through his music and coaching, he's found a way to bridge creativity and personal growth, while helping others do the same.

His path wasn't linear. Critical moments, personal setbacks, and the constant tension between art and business shaped a powerful philosophy:

"The value of creating is its own unreasonable...

What if the secret to building a successful multimedia company wasn’t just talent, but persistence and collaborative storytelling?

Armani Salado and Eric Martinez started Forbidden Origins as a childhood passion project. Through sci-fi storytelling, collaboration, and strategic brand-building, they transformed it into a growing multimedia company spanning books, comics, and potential animated adaptations of The Old Universe.

But success didn’t happen overnight. Years of indie publishing, creative entrepreneurship, and relentless dedication—while juggling full-time jobs—taught them invaluable lessons about creative control, audience growth, and turning passion into a business.

Now, they’re...

What if the secret to unlocking your best creative work wasn’t more discipline but more play?

Melissa Dinwiddie started her creative journey as a calligrapher and ketubah artist. But she didn’t stop there. By following her curiosity and embracing play, she unlocked new creative paths that she never saw coming. Now, as a corporate creativity consultant, she helps others break free from perfectionism and create with confidence.

With years of experience in creativity training, Melissa helps individuals and teams rediscover the power of play to overcome perfectionism, spark innovation, and build a sustainable crea...