Welcome to the journey, friends.
Hello there, it’s Joella Marie. I’m the founder of Creative Voices and the author of The Journey Framework. And unless otherwise stated, everything you read in this Journal is also written by me. It’s just me talking to you.
At its best, marketing is about building community, solving problems, and creating change. It’s the tool that allows you to connect what you do with the people out there who care about it too.
And when you think of branding and marketing this way, you realize it’s not just limited to small businesses. We want to help artists, creatives, and non-profits build the skills they need to get their work into the world too. To help them show up, do it different, and seek to make their own change. So while Creative Voices has been around for a few years now, this January marked a new chapter — more ways of serving you and more resources to help you on your own journey.
The journey is about doing the work and serving people well. And when you do, the best reward is the opportunity to do more work and serve more people.
Our paid live workshops are just one of the many ways we want you to find useful help and encouragement and inspiration, which is why there are a couple new projects coming your way this year. The first being our brand new and completely free mini masterclass on cultivating meaningful work.
Using our time and efforts in service of things we care about, that is what it means to work. And this process is one of the best tools we have for feeling engaged in our lives. Whether you’re trying to figure out what you want to do, considering a big change, or currently running your own show, this class is there to encourage and give you new tools for thinking about your own unique journey. Check it out and sign up here:
FREE MINI CLASS ON MEANINGFUL WORK
After stepping back from social media and taking time to reflect, we’ve made the decision to switch gears. Look out for our YouTube channel launching later this year. This is the place where we’ll look at the really big picture. Not just branding and marketing and business, but why do what we do? And how can we understand the world around us (and our place in it) a little better?
Rather than a huge amount of bite-sized content, we’ll be able to spend longer on topics, embrace the art of filmmaking, and be more creative with the stories we tell. This really aligns with our values of less but better. Visit our YouTube page to learn more. (If we’ve already launched by the time you read this, you’ll be taken directly to YouTube!)
CREATIVE VOICES ON YOUTUBE
The idea of journeys is built into the foundation of everything Creative Voices does. The workbook for our paid classes is called The Journey Framework for a reason. And all our paid classes are taught live, with just a handful of people in each class. Because to honor the journey, we must recognize that it’s not just what we do, but also how we do it.
The journey is about doing the work and serving people well. And when you do, the best reward is the opportunity to do more work and serve more people. In a culture of more and faster, where we’re all racing to a finish line, this is a radical idea. It’s not about retiring early and consuming until the end, it’s about spending a lifetime showing up with what we have to offer and contributing. It’s consistency and purpose, not hustle.
At its best, marketing is about building community, solving problems, and creating change.
The idea behind this journal is to explore concepts around our work and our mindset. To share books that help us on this perpetual journey toward thoughtfulness and understanding. To talk about what it looks like to do it different and to deconstruct our definitions of success.
So consider this your official invitation to join me on the journey. There isn’t an end point, we’re not even sure where this road leads. But together we have a little community, a meeting place for like-minded people. The ones looking for better and kinder and more creative. The ones looking to shine a light and spark new conversations. To heal divides instead of deepening them.
None of us is alone. We’re all bound together by hope. The seed of possibility that if we show up and walk a new road, maybe we’ll end up somewhere new too.
Thanks for walking this road with me.
xx — Jo
Welcome to the Creative Voices family.
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