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It’s hard to say exactly when my one year anniversary is for launching this venture, but March 2024 is when I started my first free clients so this feels like as good a time as any to celebrate!
Reflecting on this past year: Jan 23, 2024 @ 7am: Got the “your position has been eliminated” email (which I don’t judge, it gets ahead of rumor mills). Jan 23, 2024 @ 7:01am: Realized THIS was the time for the change I had been craving since I quit an eerily similar creative leadership job in 2021. Turns out I needed to get laid off to move from journaling and spending too much time complaining about work in therapy into action. And let’s be real: savings and a generous severance package made this possible. Feb 21, 2024: Put a callout to my network offering free creativity sessions and workshops. Got an overwhelmingly positive reply. People wanted this and like free stuff, and I could test things out in a lower stakes way. March 13, 2024: Had my first individual creativity session. April 11, 2024: Registered Kate Sullivan Creative, LLC. April 21, 2024: Had my first free creativity workshop. May 22, 2024: Sent my first newsletter. I love writing these! June 2024: Free stuff ends and I start charging clients. Many from this free era are still with me today! Summer 2024 to now: Balanced corporate clients, speaking gigs, in-person events, over 80 individual career and creativity sessions, 36 virtual workshops, and released a creativity workbook.
This first year has affirmed I LIKE IT ALL. I’m really good at and enjoy helping people with barriers, strategy, encouragement and accountability—whether it’s personal, career or team. However, I’ve had this nagging voice in the back of my head (and all over LinkedIn) saying I need to pick a lane. I see it in the questions I get: “Do you only work with teams?” “Do you not work with teams anymore?” “Do you only work with people new to creativity?” “I don’t have a serious project, you probably wouldn’t work with me?” “I want to focus on career, not creativity, is that OK?”
To be totally transparent, I intentionally spent my first year testing, piloting, experimenting, feeling out a lot of things, following intuition—and avoiding some of the more corporate work that burnt me out for several years prior. Heading into year two, I’m officially embracing MULTIPLE LANES (which frankly have a LOT of overlap in the grand scheme of LANES): Anyone craving support, inspiration and accountability with their creative passion project/practice. Includes: individual sessions, virtual workshops, workbook, and community events.
Creative Team Leaders wanting to enable more strategic, connected, inspired teams + people-first, practical operations. Includes: one-off workshops, shorter to longer term engagements. Creative Industry Professionals looking to reimagine and evolve your career or sharpen leadership skills. Includes: one-off sessions (preparing for interviews/meetings) to longer term engagements.
I updated my homepage and LinkedIn for the umpteenth times too. Like any creative process, this venture is an ongoing mix of brainstorming, learning, listening to my gut, doubting my gut, feeling inspired, imposter syndrome, fear, repeat. At this moment I can say I’m pretty pleased with where I am. So, Happy Anniversary-ish to me AND TO YOU, wherever you are on your creative journey. Remember to celebrate along the way cause who ever really knows when things begin. Just keep going. Simply reply to this email to express interest in working together on any of those lanes!
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