Putting Crowdfunding in Perspective: Respect Your Audience to Maximize Your Results

Posted on October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 by Ciara Pressler

Funding ain’t easy. Technology makes it seem easy, especially with platforms like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and GoFundMe holding the promise of access to new fans with open wallets. Of course, it takes a tipping point of personal contacts funding a project to a certain dollar amount in order to access your yet-unknown audience. Which means outreach to friends, family, and colleagues is a necessary part of the phenomenon that is crowdfunding. […]

But Would Anyone Buy a Ticket?

Posted on September 1, 2018August 31, 2018 by Michael Roderick

Jackie Battenfield,
Crabapple Blossom, 2018, 48 x 210in.
Laminated Glass
MTA Arts & Transit, Avenue P, Brooklyn, New York, Permanent installation

When I was raising money for Broadway shows, I was approached by a LOT of creatives who would ask me to consider raising money for their project. In many of these instances, these individuals would spend most of the meeting explaining to me how their show was a “surefire” hit and how if they just had more support they’d break through. Now in some cases, they really did have something […]

Ditch Your Business Plan and Focus on Your Game Plan

Posted on September 1, 2018August 31, 2018 by Ciara Pressler

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: you’re working to get your idea out there, so you sit down to write a marketing plan… because that is what responsible business owners are supposed to do. But what starts out as a valiant effort to lay out your marketing calendar for the next twelve months devolves into a flurry of cutting and pasting between quarters – an over-thought and overwrought undertaking […]

September 2018: Streamlining Your Business

Posted on September 1, 2018September 4, 2018 by Ciara Pressler

If you’re running a business, you are probably doing a lot of extra work you don’t actually need to do. Every business is full of waste. Even one-person businesses and side hustles suffer under the weight of an overabundance of ideas, messages, strategies, and tactics. If you’re lean and mean and moving fast, you can’t afford to be weighed down. There’s no way you can surge past your competitors while holding onto the […]

The Body of Truth in Writing

Posted on July 1, 2018July 2, 2018 by Jennifer Price

I peed my pants (no, really… literally… and not just a tiny trickle) the first time I ran a half marathon. The warm liquid gushed out suddenly during my final mile because I wanted so badly to finish it in under two hours that I had pushed my body into a desperate condition. I’ve shed frustrated tears trying like hell to do a stupidly simple move in dance class when my […]

Just Because It Sounds Good Doesn’t Mean It’s True

Posted on June 1, 2018May 29, 2018 by Natalia Petrzela

Rodney Ewing, Patriot (Assata Shakur), silkscreen and dry pigment on paper, 2016

“You just need to tune everyone else out and focus on what you know to be right,” my husband recently told me as I complained, again, about some writing that had been keeping me up at night. That sounded like sage advice; after all, how many times do we hear variations on this like “Follow your heart,” “Find your truth,” “You know yourself best,” etc? So off I went, tapping away at […]

Be Your Own Damn Hero

Posted on June 1, 2018July 3, 2018 by Lori Eberly

Rodney Ewing, The Pugilist (Emile Griffith), silkscreen and dry pigment on paper, 2016

You don’t get to be the phoenix rising without the burn. It just doesn’t work that way. For every successful business owner, entrepreneur, or founder, there’s a story of walking through the fire. Transformation, both personal and professional, comes at a cost. The price you pay is presence and perseverance on the journey. Joseph Campbell was an author and scholar renowned for his work in comparative mythology. He identified universal […]

A Diverse Portfolio

Posted on April 1, 2018April 4, 2018 by J. Endress

Pregame Anniversary Party 2017 (Photo by Ashley Anderson) (23)

In Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky speaks at length about the nature of power. He discusses various instances of creating leverage, thus creating power. One of his central tenets is the idea of not waiting for permission. In the struggle of radicals of any stripe, it’s almost a given that the establishment will be resistant to surrendering any of their power. Those who want to change the world and those […]

Is Your Business Making You Boring?

Posted on March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 by Yvette Benhamou

How are you? When is the last time you responded with anything other than “busy?” For all the conveniences our modern world has given us, it has also raised our expectations, forcing entrepreneurs to perform like corporations to remain competitive. Marketing a small business once consisted of offering a good product or service at a fair price and relying on the reputation you built. Our clients were once our neighbors; […]

Making Maintenance a Vital Routine

Posted on March 1, 2018February 28, 2018 by J. Endress

Vitality, like so many other powerful words, has been diluted in meaning. Everything from skin cream to energy drinks promises vitality. The true meaning of the word is altogether more primal and immediate, and not something so easily commodified into cartoon wings or a portable Fountain of Youth available for only three easy payments of $29.99. Vitality, noun; the power giving continuance of life, present in all living things. Words […]

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