Coming at you a day late this week, we're here to chat about podcasting, now that we're basically old pros (we aren't). Cliffs Notes: Our origin story (again); the awkwardness of the earliest days; tools and processes on a tiny budget; the social component; setting aside weekly time, even if we're not always "on"; our personal gateway podcasts; what we've learned about ourselves; the content actually being relevant; and our own recs (see below!).

Showmance
Uhh Yeah Dude
You're Welcome
Business Wars
Modern Love
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Strategy Hour
Working It Out

This week we're thrilled to share our conversation with Catherine Saunders from All the Best. We cover confidence, growing up with (and into) creativity, the weirdness of social media, the blissfulness of staying in your own lane, zig-zagging paths, vulnerability, flexing your creative muscles, finding your niche and so, so, so much more. It was such a treat to get to chat with her - this is a good one!

Follow Catherine on Instagram at @catsaunders.

Cliffs Notes: Continuing our redefinition tour; how to communicate what you do, and how that's different from the other people who do it; how your value prop evolves along with you and your career; audience, audience, audience; selling your value to your existing organization vs. selling your value as your own organization; turning a page-long cover letter into a sentence or two; the gift of realizing you don't have to be a pro at everything; poor fits (as a candidate and a hirer) - but also being fine with a not-perfect job because you want to, you know, pay your rent; learning more about ourselves and our paths, even in our terribly advanced years; a live exercise. (And, there's a worksheet to help you go through it on your own. Fill it out and let us know what you think!)

Cliffs Notes: Reframing the bad feelings around being "bored"; untangling boredom and guilt from one another; allowing yourself space to protect yourself when big things do come along; rethinking how to use down time; misidentifying boredom/silence/anxiety/distraction; being OK with our discomfort in silence; an emotional guidance scale we can all use; one of us being totally unable to access the word "fulcrum" for a very uncomfortable several seconds; the inherent luxury of boredom; permission to play, the past year doing a number on us and craving more slowness than ever.

PLUS: A lil' call to action at the end. Maybe we host a little happy hour or Zoom event or Clubhouse thing or whatever where we convene the small community of our listeners to talk, together, in real time (gasp) about being bored. What do you think? Let us know on Instagram: https://instagram.com/artistatworkpod 

Cliffs Notes: The elitism and exclusivity of our concept of "professionalism" and how it's (maybe?) evolving; emotional sweatsuits and Northwestern ones; getting in trouble for whatever being "too authentic" is; the necessity of silliness and how it helps to build culture; the truths and untruths behind "workplace experience"; being able to have fun while producing; making your process accessible vs. keeping it a secret; slipping into bad corporate habits; setting examples as teams and individuals to create inclusive spaces; the work being more important than how we talk about it.

Extras: The slide in question.

Join us for a conversation with Kristen Becker, Angie's college pal and a career creative based just outside of Cincinnati. Kristen takes us through her career as an artist - from corporate to freelance - and shares tons of advice about what to do throughout all phases of your creative journey while still paying the bills. Learn about figuring out if, when and how to leave a corporate career for a freelance one; managing a complicated schedule with multiple stakeholders;  zeroing in on your niche; building networks as a solo practitioner; finding the tools that work for you; continuing to explore new opportunities as a lifelong creative; and much, much more.

You can find Kristen at kristen-becker.com.

Cliffs Notes: What would you be doing if you weren't doing whatever this is? Creativity always finding you, and vice versa; situational praise; high school accomplishments not being the best indicator of how you'll grow up (imagine that!); wishing for a class on dental insurance; being attracted to the *idea* of a career rather than that career itself; hitting a professional peak at 18; the influence of good Neighbors; a lesson from Professor Neeson; discrediting the skills that we don't get paid for; The Ballad of the Lifelong Learner.

Cliffs Notes: Reframing a gross narrative about craving "power" and "strength" at the expense of others' comfort and safety; "weakness" not being inherently bad; moving past fairytales; the beauty of embracing the gray; ~*~*stop the tape to write down three of your own strengths and weaknesses~*~*; turning our own "strengths" and "weaknesses" on their heads, and encouraging our listeners to do the same.