Standout Creatives: Business, marketing, and creativity tips for solopreneurs launching their ideas

What if success as a creative wasn’t about being the best—but just showing up, experimenting, and giving yourself permission to start messy?

Bob Baker didn’t start out with a perfect plan or a polished resume. He was a former musician and “non-traditional” marketer who slowly found his groove by helping creatives find confidence, consistency, and clarity—without needing to go viral or wait for permission.

This episode originally aired on Cracking Creativity back in 2017, but the wisdom still hits today. Especially if you're feeling behind, overwhelmed, or unsure how your creativity fits into your life (or business) right now.

From Self-Doubt to Self-Published

Bob didn’t wait to feel ready—he just got started. One book turned into several. One small action led to a creative career helping artists, writers, and performers believe in their work and get it out into the world.

This convo is a reminder that you don’t need a giant audience or fancy credentials. You just need to care enough to keep showing up—and to share what you’re learning along the way.

Try this: Think of one tiny project you’ve been putting off. Could you take one step toward it today?

Bonus idea: What’s one way you could “choose yourself” this week—without waiting for anyone else’s permission?

The Real Talk Behind Building a Creative Career

There’s no one path. Bob talks about how he followed curiosity, stayed consistent, and built a sustainable creative business that’s helped thousands of artists over the years.

We talk about fear, procrastination, and why so many creatives get stuck in their heads instead of sharing their work. Bob doesn’t sugarcoat it—but he does make it feel doable.

Try this: Instead of waiting to feel ready, try doing something before you feel ready.

Bonus idea: Write a list of 3 things you have done creatively. Let that momentum fuel your next step.

How to Stay Consistent Without Burning Out

Spoiler: it’s not about grinding harder. It’s about making your creative practice feel like a natural, enjoyable part of your life—not a chore.

Bob shares how he approaches writing, marketing, and showing up online in a way that feels aligned—not exhausting. Perfect if you’ve been spinning your wheels or stuck in perfectionism mode.

Try this: Set a 10-minute timer and do something creative—without pressure, expectations, or goals.

Bonus idea: Let yourself be a beginner again. Pick something you’ve never tried and just play.

Quick Recap

• You don’t need to be an expert to get started.
• Sharing your creativity can open unexpected doors.
• Small steps lead to big changes—especially when you stay consistent.
• Permission doesn’t come from outside. It comes from you.

Ready to Start Messy and Make Progress Anyway?

Bob’s story is proof that you don’t have to have it all figured out. Just take the next small step.

If you're ready to stop overthinking and start sharing your creative work with more ease, let’s talk.

Book a free strategy session at TheStandoutCreatives.com

Spots are limited—grab yours while they’re open.

Let’s get you moving again.

Dr. Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan were both on extremely successful career paths. Matt was working for a seven-figure chiropractic business and Charine was offered a lucrative management position at her company. On the outside, everything looked great. But internally, they both felt they were living a life of complacency.

The tipping point came when they took a sabbatical to wine regions around the world. That’s when something struck Charine. She believed they could build a business around wine and travel. So they built up enough run way to quit their jobs and started their journey as the Exotic Wine Travelers.

In this episode, learn why experiences are better than having things, why you should invest in yourself, and why communication is the most important skill you can learn.

Here are three things you can learn from Matt and Charine:

One of the things people learn over time is accumulating possessions is not as fulfilling as having great experiences. While many of us start off wanting to buy fancy things to keep up with the Joneses, few of us realize that buying stuff is a never ending cycle. It is experiences that truly light us up. “When we started to step away and travel, when we started to focus on experiences, we realized stuff is all on the periphery. It’s nice, but it’s a want, not a need. Life is all about defining what you need, number one, and then what you want.”

While many of us begin to internalize that idea, we can still get stuck in the trap because we want to fit in. “It’s funny because both of us pride ourselves, we really value experience over possession all along, for the past couple of years that we’re together. But, as much as we know that intellectually, and we can relate to that thinking, we still fell into the trap of possession or consumerism. And looking at things broadly, I don’t think it’s just consumerism. It’s just that human beings, we are wired to belong. And when we’re in a group, community, or society, you want to fit in, and... all of us will be influenced by our environment and people around us.”

Charine believes you can truly discover this for yourself once you have the power to possess things. “It’s only after you have the power to possess things or when you have the power to achieve all those things, and that’s when you start asking yourself whether you really want it or not. We are lucky we got to step out of the environment that we’re in and we get a clear choice of whether we really enjoy those experiences or not.”

Charine and Matt both believe the best investment you can make is in yourself. While most people believe investing in high value stocks is the best way to become wealthy, they believe investing in yourself is far more valuable. “When you invest in yourself, it will always pay itself back and a lot of the times, it can be the best investment that you can make.”

What they found is that most people are afraid of growth. People are afraid of both the success and failure of personal growth, so they choose to do nothing instead. “It’s not that people don’t want to invest money in growing. Most people don’t want to grow. Growing is scary, it’s hard, and it’s difficult, and that’s the reason most people don’t want to do it.”

While they understand people’s aversion to growth, it’s still baffling that people choose to invest in everything but themselves. “It baffles me when people pick all sorts of investments to do, yet they don’t invest in themselves because you are the safest investment. Is there any risk at all? There’s no risk. There’s only growth.”

That’s why they are on this journey of traveling and tasting wines. They see it as an investment in personal growth.

People often wonder what skills set them apart from everyone else. Matt believes the most valuable skill you can learn is communication. “When you can communicate and articulate your ideas, you move into the top 1% of humanity. When you can actually get up and speak in front of a large group of people, you move into another top 1%. If you can speak and inspire somebody to move, you move into another top 1%. So I think that’s a skill that everybody should learn to do.”

While most creatives try to improve skills within their craft, top performing artists are ones that know how to communicate with their audience. That’s why Matt recommends improving your communication skills. “I would recommend that skill (communication) to anybody because if you can communicate and articulate your ideas, that’s when you can really get things done.”

Read more shownotes from episode 64 w...

Tim Noxsinz aka Timitude is the creator of CreativeMondays.net and co-host of the Middle of Nowhere Show. In this episode, Tim talks about enabling others, seeking what you want, and reaching your potential.

Here are three things you can learn from Tim:

Although Tim is a writer and co-host of a podcast show, he believes his greatest strength is enabling others. Through his work on Timitude, Creative Mondays and the Middle of Nowhere Show, he is able to give people a platform to express themselves in an empowering way.

Here are Tim's four keys to empowering others: connecting, creativity, catalysts, and challenging. Connecting creates value through the connections you have. Creativity happens through his Creative Mondays platform. He is a catalyst of change through the Middle of Nowhere Show, and he challenges others through consulting.

Tim believes people spend too much time waiting for good things to happen to them instead of seeking them out. If you wait for good things to happen to you, you could wait your entire life.

That is why he likes to give people the belief that they can change the world. We often undervalue our ability to make a significant impact. If you truly want to make a difference, you need to believe in yourself first, then you must go out and seek it.

You can achieve your goals if you are intentional about it. Stop playing in the small pond of life. Go out and make a big splash in the ocean.

Everyone has the potential to achieve something great in life. We are more powerful than we believe. Don't let anyone tell you you are not good enough.

Tim believes it starts with believing in yourself. In order to go from where you are to where you want to be, you must first embrace the man in the mirror.

Then you must be willing to test and learn from your mistakes. Mistakes in life are inevitable. It's what you do after making those mistakes that really matters.

Don't take failure as a reflection of who you are. They are a part of becoming a more complete person.

If you are able to do these things, you can achieve your full potential.

Read more shownotes from episode 37 with Tim Noxinsz

Logan Nickleson has always had an admiration for the arts. When he was a child he liked to draw and paint. When he was 15-16 years old he started getting into music. And for college, he went into journalism.

While in college, Logan saw the changes that were happening in journalism. So he changed his major to advertising. This led to his internship at an advertising agency.

His internship turned into a full-time job, where he worked on numerous projects. It was during this time that a revelation came to him. While making short videos for clients, he was having a hard time finding music for his videos. So he decided to use his own music.

Inspired by stock photography sites like Death to Stock and Unsplash, Logan decided to take all the music he created, and started his own stock site. The only difference was his stock site would for music. Thus, Music For Makers was born.

In this episode, Logan talks about why marketing has gotten such a bad rap, the most essential element for finding your audience, and how we can use psychology to our advantage.

Here are three things you can learn from Logan:

Many artists and creatives believe marketing is a spammy tool to sell things, but that's far from the truth. Logan believes marketing gets a bad rap. "I think there's a perception out there to market yourself and your work, it's icky and you're like this salesman, you know, almost like the car salesman type. I think it's really just a lack of understanding of really it doesn't have to be that way."

Logan believes people just have a false notion of what marketing is. Marketing is often thought of as a bad thing, but it isn't. "I think it's just, mostly people have this preconceived notion of what selling your art or what marketing your art is, and... it doesn't have to be gross or pushy or whatever."

Marketing, in its essence is getting your product out in front of an audience. The problem is, most marketers are still trying to do it the old-fashioned way where they just spam their audiences. This is what artists think about when they hear the word marketing. That's why they think marketing is selling out. "There's a lot of artists that think that to try to push your art out as a business is kinda selling out. I think it's kind of a misunderstanding of the process really."

If you still think marketing means selling out, I urge you to listen to Logan, and discover for yourself what marketing really is.

One of the biggest troubles artists and creatives have is figuring out who our audience is. This is one of the most important, and often times most difficult, things an artist has to do.

The problem is, we usually go about it the wrong way. We believe everyone is our audience, and that is simply not true. Figuring out who your audience is involves finding people who are actually interested in your work as a starting point. "I think it just starts off with a basic critical thinking of... who's the most basic version of the person who is interested in this, and then kinda putting it out there, and then just revising and reiterating until you find the right audience."

It doesn't end there either. You can't just rely on your initial hunch of who your audience is. Knowing your audience is a continuous process. Your audience evolves as you do. That's why it's crucial for you to constantly reevaluate who your audience is. "I would say it's kind of a continuous process where you reevaluate to see whether... this is still the primary audience or are there other audiences out there who would love their product that don't have any idea that they exist... So the research is ongoing I would say."

One point that consistently came up during my conversation with Logan was the book Influence by Robert Cialdini. In the book, Cialdini talks about all the ways we are influenced by psychology.

One of these points is one of commitment. When we commit to things, we are more likely to follow through on them. So start small, and work your way up from there. "When we commit to something, we are a lot more likely to be consistent... If you can get somebody to commit to a small thing, you can then later convince them to commit to a bigger thing like buying your product."

Another thing we talked about was the idea of accountability. Accountability nudges us to do things we commit ourselves to. It helps motivate you when you don't feel like doing something. It helps get you to the finish line. It gives you compelling reason to do something. "It's about this idea about accountability. Kinda announcing that you're going to do this or whatever and using that as a motivator to make you actually follow through and finish... I think it's a critical piece to let people know an...

This is a replay of episode 27 with Lee Moyer. If you want an idea of what it's like to build a successful career as an artist and illustrator, look no further than Lee. He has some great advice that's worth re-sharing for those of you who didn't catch it the first time or for those who want to re-listen to Lee's great wisdom.

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Lee Moyer is a polymath and illustrator who has been working for over 35 years. He has worked with book publishers, theaters, and game developers among many other things. In this episode, we talk about a lot of topics including learning from others, how to handle criticism and information overload, and his Kickstarter project The Doom that Came to Atlantic City.

Here are three things you can learn from Lee:

Lee is a big believer in learning from those who came before you. He never had a traditional art education and doesn’t think it is necessary to become a great artist.

In order to become a better artist, he studied under other artists and absorbed their knowledge. This allowed him to learn under the best and the brightest instead of going into debt by going to art school.

He is also a big believer in joining forums and learning from artists on the internet. These avenues make it easier than ever to become a better, more refined artist.

Lee believes criticism is an important part of becoming a better artist. Instead of letting criticism get to you, learn from what others are trying to tell you.

People who critique your work are using their own time and energy to give you constructive feedback. Listen to what they they have to say and instead of taking it personally. If people didn’t like you, they wouldn’t bother to critique you.

Everyone must deal with impostor syndrome. Even the late, great B.B. King was not immune from it. In order to overcome your feeling of not being good enough, you have to know and believe your work will turn out well.

Even when you feel like nothing is coming together, you have to work through it. You need to be stubborn enough to work through the lulls in order to create something great. Just keep working and you will be fine.

Read more shownotes from episode 27 with Lee Moyer.