The Breakthrough Creative

In episode 32 John shares one of his favorite business practices - EARN while you LEARN! We all work to solve problems in our everyday professional lives and often times we have to learn something new to get the job done. Why not get started in your career, overcome your fears and 'earn while you learn?' John shares a couple of his own personal on-the-job experiences with earning while he's been l...

Jim Jozwiak started his career as a trumpet player in Chicago for musical theater and visiting artists, including Frank Sinatra, jr., Tony Bennett and scores of others including playing at President Clinton's first inaugural in Washington D.C With a child on the way Jim's gig lifestyle was no longer a feasible means of income so he pivoted and started Band For Today, a service business that provid...

Please hit the SUBSCRIBE button and share with the artists in your life! I was having a conversation recently with a friend who is working on a transition from his day job to his art business. It was a really good conversation! In this video I share 3 IMPORTANT KEYS to STARTING YOUR CREATIVE BIZ. 1. Corporate Clients VS Individual Clients 2. Diversify Your Services AND Clients 3. Transition Wisely...

Alec Gillis is the co-founder of the Studio ADI, one of the largest practical effects houses in the film industry. Alec shares stories from his early career at Roger Corman's New World Pictures, his time at Stan Winston Studios (working on Aliens, Predator and more), how he and his partner, Tom Woodruff, Jr, formed ADI and his foray into writing and directing the 80's retro-monster movie, Harbinge...

Bart Mixon is a veteran Prosthetic Makeup Effects Artist for the film industry. Bart's interest in makeup began early and transformed from hobby to profession through his work on low budget horror movies to classics such as 'Robocop,' Tim Curry's Pennywise the Clown in Stephen King's 'It,' Thing in 'The Fantastic Four,' and 'Vision' from the Marvel movies to name a few. Bart shares his journey, wh...

Ted Haines has worked for over thirty years in the special effects industry creating fat suits, muscle suits and creatures for MARVEL movies, GEICO commercials, The Mandalorian and more! Ted moved to LA in the early 80's and found his niche working and crafting foam for film. Ted shares tales from his career, we discuss pricing and how to place a dollar value on your services and Ted starts his ow...

Carlos Huante is an accomplished creature designer for the film and video game industry. Check out his credits at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0399082/ Carlos began serious pursuit of his career in his early 20's and soon found himself in the animation industry working on Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Real Ghostbusters. Eventually, this led to his Creature Design specialization in the practical s...

Hey there all you Breakthrough Creatives! Getting started is the hardest part. There are so many internal and external pressures (and excuses) that can stop us before we ever start. In this episode I share about starting, finding accountability and committing to the journey. This is foundational stuff that will make you strong for the journey ahead! Please share this episode with the artists in yo...

Steve Rogers owns a video production company and is a competitive fisherman. He combined both interests to create his YouTube channel, Steve Rogers Outdoors , where he shares fishing tips content with his growing audience.  In this episode, Steve shares his approach to successfully building an audience for his YouTube channel which has allowed him to monetize in a variety of ways. Follow The Break...

Debb Oliver is a spectacular portrait artist! She paints pictures of people in watercolor and in Procreate, a digital app for the iPad. Debb lives in Australia and has a huge following on Instagram at The Monkey Brush and a backlog of commissions beyond 2020! Debb tells us about how she came up with her studio name, how she started and maintains her busy schedule with her iPad and Apple Pencil and...

Dave Collingwood is a professional drummer and cymbalsmith. After a touring career met his desire to be closer to home, Dave began crafting cymbals for hobby and eventually for sale. Today Dave operates Collingwood Cymbals . This episode unpacks Dave's story, his determined journey into cymbalsmithing and we go deep on a number of fronts. Please subscribe to the show, leave a rating/review and sha...

Joe Bianco is a Voiceover Talent. He spends his days recording for clients who need an 'audio actor.' Joe is a 'roll-up-his-sleeves,' 'lunchpail' kind of artist. He determined early on that he needed to carve out a creative niche suited to his skills and the microphone became his ally. I particularly appreciated Joe sharing about a college course called 'Performance Problems.' Pay special attentio...

Amy Rogers is a lover of the arts and an advocate for artists. She oversees www.selfemploymentinthearts.com  , or SEA, which exists to help "you, the artist, succeed by connecting and exposing you to resources, artist practitioners, experts in the field, and more through our website, workshops, conferences, and other programs." Amy and I talk about the benefits of SEA, attendee's stories and the c...

Casey Page is a Breakthrough Creative! Casey, owner of Cardinal House Studios, is a fine artist who paints a variety of subjects in a variety of mediums on a variety things! Casey shares his journey from part-time to full-time artist and how he gets after it with enthusiasm, energy and hard work! You can find Casey at: https://www.instagram.com/cardinalhousestudios/ Please share this podcast with...

Visualization is a POWERFUL TOOL to assist you in your professional journey - especially if you are just starting out! I share examples of the benefits of VISUALIZATION in my life and career (that brought me to Skywalker Ranch!) and break down the REASONS TO USE VISUALIZATION and HOW TO PRACTICE VISUALIZATION. Please leave me a 5-star rating and a review if you find The Breakthrough Creative is an...

Jessi is a Breakthrough Creative! Jessi is a Creative Director with a copywriting background. She  recently opened a floral business named Gary (after her dad). A surprising twist to Gary is the 'pop-up floral shop' ingredient made possible by the purchase of a mobile camper. (Way to be an imaginative entrepreneur, Jessi!) You can find Jessi on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pensivegirl/  ...

Dave Starr is a Breakthrough Creative! Dave is an industrial designer in the product development space whose recent journey has landed him at Tesseract Ventures leading R&D for a Robotics and AI start-up in Kansas City, and a side gig teaching design at the University of Kansas. (Boy, are those students fortunate!) We jabber about product development, design-thinking, and... Adam West. You can rea...

Brandy Sales is a Breakthrough Creative! Brandy is the owner of WeCast Productions, a video marketing content company that helps non-profits fundraise through video and provides on-camera coaching for real estate agents. Brandy's journey has grown from a one-man show to a largely hands-off operation that he oversees from a creative managerial position. An important aspect of Brandy's journey has b...

Karen Kohout is a Breakthrough Creative! Karen shares about her process and eye for forecasting trends in the marketplace and how she applies them to her work in product development. You can find Karen on LinkedIn. Please share this show with the artists in your life!  

Mark Wedow is a Breakthrough Creative! Mark is a civil engineer who spends the rest of his time playing guitar in his cover band, Centerfold, creating majestic images as a photographer, fabricating character costumes, playing Chicagoland's Best Santa every Christmas all while finding time to design and execute a haunted attraction for Halloween. You can reach Mark at mvwedow@aol.com Please share t...

Greg Eichelberger is a Breakthrough Creative (and one of my best friends)! Greg shares about learning guitar, joining a heavy metal band, finding his faith (and a calling), starting & operating his recording studio, Grevan Music, and friendship. You can reach Greg at grevanstudios@yahoo.com Please subscribe and share with the artists in your life.

Ricky McEachern is a Breakthrough Creative! Ricky shares about his creative journey to Fine Artist via engineering, sales and the internet, his creative process, how he manages his time by making 'lanes' and his podcast, Eager To Know (E2K). You can find Ricky at rickyartist.com. Please subscribe and share with the artists in your life.

This is a follow-up episode to last week's topic, 'How to Manage a Client Meeting.' If Client Meetings can MAKE or BREAK your business, then Completing the Client Project is just as important. In this episode I give you a behind the scenes play-by-play of how I manage and deliver a quality project on time despite a number of challenges working against me. Please let me know what you think and shar...

Client Meetings can MAKE or BREAK your business. In this episode I share how I manage client meetings with a real-life, play-by-play meeting I had not to long ago. There is A LOT of helpful info in this episode. Please let me know what you think and share this with your creative biz friends! For questions, Business Coaching or Design/Art Lessons email: mcdavittdesign@gmail.com

Brian Prairie is a Breakthrough Creative! We talk about his humble beginnings, resiliency, soft skills, he value of criticism, seeing reality clearly and geek out over our top 5 (or 20) movies list. You can find Brian at ravenspringcreative.com and at instagram @brianprairie.