Erin's Most "Creative Year Ever" (Top Moments!)

Our incredible CEO, Erin Leonard was a Keynote Speaker at Creative Year Ever’s 2021 Virtual Summit and was honored to be a part of such an inspiring event for business creatives. Erin’s speech “Tap Into Your Creative Super Power to Leverage Your Business (& Career)” was about channeling your strengths, intentionally, to make them work for your career. If you’re not able to watch the replay, don’t worry! We pulled the top moments from her speech, to help fuel your purpose and of course, to make 2021 your most creative year ever.

“My purpose in life is to create those spaces in engaging, meaningful, purposeful ways that empower, elevate, and inspire others... and access could not be more important to that.”

“This ‘why’, this larger purpose, it transcends even what we do or how we do it... it’s deeper than that. And we can take it in many different directions.”

“Dig into your past, find your story. 

What are those high moments and low moments that you have experienced in your life, and how did they shape you? 

Find those patterns. Then start drafting "Your Why" Statement.”

“When you start a business, or even if you’re starting as a freelancer, when you go out on your own, that is taking a career leap like none other. 

That is so much more than someone bestowing a title upon you.”

“Get out there, talk about it. It can be uncomfortable tooting your own horn but you have to do it!

If you can’t do it, get someone else to do it for you!

Get in touch and leverage your network.”

“Reach out to past employers, past colleagues, past friends. Get yourself out there professionally. 

Go out on those limbs; it’ll feel weird but the more you do it, the easier it is and the best part is you’re not actually trying to sell yourself, you’re not trying to say ‘HIRE ME NOW, HIRE ME NOW’, you’re trying to say ‘Hey! I’m doing this’. 

Just get it out there, that will lead to work.”

“What is your best, your most creative year ever? 

What does that mean for you, of course professionally, but also personally?

What does your best year ever look like? Paint the picture.”

“Paint the picture of your greatest year and then ask yourself: what would have to be true in order to make this happen?”

“So after you get a vision, put yourself out there, and set yourself up, and then you land your first client… this is crucial, you need to execute really well. 

The good news here is that you will. You are tapping into your superpowers. You’re a creative. You’re a problem solver. You have experience, energy, wisdom, connections. 

This client has trusted you and there’s a reason: you’re going to rock it!”

“Your first project, first big project, first ‘other kind’ of project, do your damned best. Give it the focus it needs. Give it the energy, give it the attention.

Don’t feel like you have to go out of scope, or beyond reason; but DO exceed expectations. DO keep that client happy. And don’t go over-budget.” 

“Get the support you need. Finding the right people certainly takes work but keep going and know that you still have to manage them even if they are vendors or contractors.”

“Keep that client happy because you want to get that word-of-mouth. You want to boldly brag at work. You want to show it off, you want the client to show it off. You want them to hire you again…

Keep in mind that this is your marketing, that is your portfolio, that is establishing your brand and who you are. 

And that experience, that word-of-mouth, that reputation, that deliverable, whatever you just did, that is going to speak for you, for your company, for what you do, more than anything that you say or show.”