Ariel Garneau is the head lady boss behind the amazing design blog PMQ for Two. She’s crafty, a savvy business woman and curates color like nobody’s business. In my book this makes her a triple threat (she also decorates a mean Christmas tree and has some delicious looking cocktail recipes on her site). All this and more makes me want to Taco About It Tuesday with Ariel.
Website: PMQ For Two
Social Channels:
- IG: @pmqfortwo
- Facebook: @pmqfortwo
- Pinterest: @pmqfortwo
Online business coaching (private & group), as well as visual branding consults: email for pricing & info ariel@pmqfortwo.com
1) What is the best advice you could give someone about the business of being creative and the creativity behind running business?
I have two big pieces of advice: It’s not personal, it’s business. There are ways of supporting your community that don’t involve giving away your brand capital. If you don’t tell people how to value you (your time, channels, work), no one else will.
2) Do you have a favorite place to go for business advice? Mentor group, book, website?
I actually seek out other creatives who are slaying the business game. I find a lot of the good stuff happens in offline convos, and no one is giving them away for free (at least not the good stuff). So maintaining open relationships with others is a great way of taking the pulse in your industry (talking rates, workloads, brand expectations etc.).
3) Besides Creative Queso what is your favorite podcast?
I really like My Favorite Murder & Reply All, but from a business perspective I find the lessons in Without Fail to be priceless. The stories are interesting, the thought leaders are provoking, and I always find a way to apply it to my own business.
4) How do you prevent creative burn out?
This one’s tough, because I’m not exactly sure I’ve mastered it myself. I run into burn-out when I’m not diligent about turning off in the evenings, but some seasons demand a steadier work flow than others. So when I’m working 18-20 hr days, I remember the slow periods and tell myself I’ll have tons of time soon enough.
5) What is something your business could not live without?
Good photo editing software (Light Room), and the ability to outsource what I’m not the best at. One of the best things you can do in business is outsource to increase your ROI. I want to make sure that the time I spend working on things, is well spent. So that means keeping what I do well, in my hands, and finding the right team to handle the other aspects. When you start out, you have to do everything, so at least you’ll have an appreciation of what needs to be done, but at a certain point to grow you need to let go of things.
6) What are some of your favorite Instagram feeds?
I really like a variety of feeds for a variety of reasons, but I find some hashtags actually give me the most interesting content.
7) Tell us a piece of surprising trivia about yourself or your business.
I’m a published author on matters of military strategic communications, and have a masters in War Studies. Home Decor and DIY is NOT what I went to school for.
8) Do you use a paper planner full of stickers and washi tape or are you a Google calendar kinda guy or gal?
Phone calendar + list of draft posts in my WordPress queue! I should probably be more organized, but I find that between those two things (and a well maintained inbox) I can search for almost anything.
9) When you are working do you listen/watch podcasts, music, audio books, Netflix or do you like dead
silence like a total weirdo? All of the above! I LOVE me some true crime and mystery podcasts while working, beats when I’m shooting and editing, and low noise when I’m writing. I’ve accidentally written down what I was listening to, so it’s easier if I don’t have vocals going when I’m writing.
10) If I came to see you where would we go for queso?
The gas station! Nother better than room temperature, squeeky and salty cheese curds!
I would go to Canada to eat those gas station curds, hang out in that pink office and talk about the business of being creative all day. Thanks Ariel for stopping by Creative Queso to Taco About It Tuesday.
