I'm opening five mentoring places. Here's why.
Can I pick your brain about something? Take you for a coffee? These questions pop up in LinkedIn messages and emails all the time. And the truth is, I’m always too busy. Sure, I'll offer some quick advice. Perhaps a ten-minute Zoom if my week is unusually quiet. But as the person behind Creative Boom, I just can't give people the support they deserve.
So I'm finally doing something about it. From today, I'm opening up mentoring to a small number of creative founders and freelancers. It’ll only ever be five at a time, one-to-one. And I’ll help with all the superbly unglamorous stuff, like how to grow a creative business, how to price your work and offer value, and how to stay visible as the entire industry struggles to cope with the onslaught of AI.
Why now? Because I've started to realise I’ve got some experience behind me. I've been a broadcast journalist running around the Midlands, a PR account manager for a global PR firm, a freelancer providing PR services to small and medium-sized businesses, and the co-founder of a marketing communications agency in Manchester. I've also had my fair share of side projects and ventures, including Creative Boom, which is now one of the world's leading media platforms for the creative industries. It’s my main focus now, but everything I've done since graduating in 2000 has led me here.
Besides all of the above, I've probably read 40,000 email pitches over the last 17 years, interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of creatives, and watched several generations of studios launch, grow, wobble, pivot and (mostly) survive.
Those who thrived got it right for a variety of reasons. But I’ve seen many spectacularly fail, too. After 25 years, you spot the patterns, so I felt it was the right time to share what I've learned.
There's a timing thing too. Search is dying, and LLMs are the ones recommending people now. It means being trusted and credible is the whole PR game these days. Which, as it happens, is what I've spent my entire career on the receiving end of.
So who am I offering to help? This works best if you're a studio founder, say, or an established freelancer. Maybe a creative lead wondering about going solo. You have clients and revenue, but you've hit a ceiling.
If you're just starting out, save your money. Everything I'd tell you is already free in my magazine. Come find me in a few years when you’re in a better position.
If you qualify, there are two ways in. Book a Strategy Session if there’s one specific thing to solve. It’s ninety minutes of my time, and you leave with a plan of action. If it's bigger than one question, The Quarter is three months of me working alongside you. It’s a much more comprehensive service, and we keep chatting between the three sessions.
The other things to be aware of: due to time constraints, I'm only offering five places at any given time. And while you're a paying mentee, you won't be featured in Creative Boom. We won't do articles or podcasts during our time together because I don’t want anyone to ever say you “bought” coverage. This protects everyone, yourself included. (Once we’re done, though, we can talk again.)
Seventeen years ago, I started Creative Boom because I wanted to support creatives. It began as a humble blog, and somewhere along the way it became a community of tens of thousands, all sharing the same stubborn belief that we all deserve more.
Mentoring is just the latest part of my mission. I just get to really focus on five people at a time. If that someone might be you, the application takes a few questions, and I read every single one myself. Apply today.
