Must-visit online spaces for creative business inspiration
Editor’s Note: I love this post from our contributor Rebecca Pitts on her must-visit online spaces for creative business inspiration. The online world can feel overwhelming and it’s awesome to have a list of places to go for inspiration and insight that had already been vetted. If you’re looking for more inspiration check out our 16 must-listen podcasts for creatives. -Nicole S.
As I’m entering my fourth year of getting paid for my creative work, I’ve noticed that I have come to rely on my online mentors more and more. I look to them for advice, recommendations, and encouragement. These people have no idea that I exist, but that’s not really the point. They all have something to say about the work we are doing when well-meaning friends do not. They pull me aside in the check-out line (digitally, via an email newsletter) and tell me about the book I must read. They are the ones who are in my earbuds, teaching me about online business while I’m taking a kids-free walk.
Here they are. I hope you like them, too.
Design*Sponge’s Life & Business column
I have always learned more than a thing or two from the successful and creative entrepreneurs and artists profiled on Design*Sponge. Grace Bonney, editor of the site and author of the recently published In the Company of Women, produces a valuable, educational, and refreshingly different Life & Business blog series that doesn’t mirror every other lifestyle blog out there.
Austin Kleon’s Weekly Newsletter
You’ll want to read this because: he doesn’t shy away from politics when it matters. His kid’s drawings are actually cute. He takes decent notes on the book you’ve been meaning to read. He makes Spotify playlists with lots of soul music. Oh yeah, and he shares lots and lots of real-talk and inspiration on making art and making creative decisions (both the bold and mundane kinds).
The Ann Friedman Weekly
Ann is a freelance journalist who writes about gender, media, technology, and culture. Full disclosure: there’s nothing really crafty, handmade, or particularly artsy about her newsletter, which goes out weekly on Friday. Content aside (which is top-notch, by the way), I love looking each week at a handful of really good newsletters outside our immediate field. How do people model theirs? What sections to they include? Sponsored newsletters are a thing, and Ann’s spin on this is a cheeky section of ‘classifieds.’ So clever. And, I actually look a them.
Creative Mornings
Swiss Miss is the brain behind these early morning meet ups for creatives, which now take place around the world. Even if you find yourself a short train ride away but haven’t gotten around to actually attending one yet (guilty as charged), you can access a huge archive of inspirational videos from your cozy bed.
Seth Godin’s Startup School
Seth Godin is a brilliant thinker that has written extensively about the connection economy, our most valuable currency (trust), and the transformation of the publishing industry in the digital age as one of the amazing opportunities of our time. His Start-Up School is absolutely worth a listen for anyone thinking of starting a business.
Design Matters with Debbie Millman
Jason Kottke, Jessica Hische, Massimo Vignelli– all have been guests on this entertaining interview series on design and life. Debbie Millman’s curiosity to understand the creative spirit is infectious. Since 2005, she’s been talking with “designers, writers, artists, curators, musicians, and other luminaries of contemporary thought” on her podcast Design Matters. They’re brilliant and accomplished, just like Debbie is.
Would you leave a note below and tell me what you’re into, lately? I’d love to hear.
Bio
Rebecca Pitts writes and makes stuff for kids + kids at heart. She is the founder and creative behind Hudson + Daughter and a contributor at Dear Handmade Life. Her work and ideas have been featured in Country Living, the Etsy Seller Handbook, the Martha Stewart American Made Market, Craft Industry Alliance, And North, Blog Society, and atly.
