Welcome to In The Boat With Ben
“In the boat” is a phrase I use to describe the people in my life who are directly impacted by the choices I make for my freelance business (or any other choices for that matter). For you it may be your partner, children, parents or other live-in relatives, or even your pet turtle… For me those people are Rachel, my wife, and our five young boys. As someone who is balancing family life with a creative pursuit, I have come to realize the value of connecting with others and sharing the experiences of those who are walking a similar road, which is why I am here… to create a space where we can walk this road together, ask questions, challenge and encourage one another and share our stories.
Scaling Your Business By Investing In Your Home Team
The Power of Delegating When it comes to growing your business, much of what we hear has to do with employing people or resources to do the busy work so you can focus on doing what only you can do. As a father of 5 trying to get my business up and running, I...
How I Wish I Had Managed My Expectations When Expecting My First Child
A Lifetime Ago When I was expecting my first child, I was in a very different set of circumstances. I was working full time at a bank and Rachel, my wife, was working full time at a newspaper. I was dabbling in design and web development (at the time, web development...
Strategies to Prevent Losing Time and Money on a Project
I wanted to take a few moments to share some strategies with you that I have found extremely valuable when approaching the question of whether or not to take on a project. We humans, by nature, are bad estimators. I've seen this show up time and time again for...
Turning Your Rut Into a Groove With Better Scheduling
An Old Record Player I really like this imagery... imagine an old record player, and on it a record. Maybe you've never seen one except in the movies. One of the many reasons this method of playing music gave way to newer technologies was because of this thing that...
When Is a Client Really Your Client and Why Does It Matter?
Of the many great interactions I've had with clients, I've had a few unpleasant ones (an understatement), and from these experiences I do my best to learn and adjust my process to make sure I don't have these experiences again. A few examples: I do the work for a...
Gain Clarity in Your Struggles Through a Change in Scenery
Our family just took a weekend away in the country and I wanted to change things up a little bit and share a brief story about our time there and the impact it had on my mindset in the midst of some challenging circumstances. Small Town Fever My wife, Rachel, and I...
Makers, the World Needs You to Take “ME-TIME”
Many of the creative people I know are also some of the most hard-working, committed people I know. Creative work in almost any area–art, design, engineering, development, etc.–is usually just the right mix of enjoyable and challenging. Because of this it's easy, as a...
Why You Won’t Hear From Me After 5pm
If you've ever tried to visit your favorite restaurant or coffee shop after they close, you've probably been met with the disappointment of the "CLOSED" sign. For many businesses it doesn't make financial sense to stay open 24 hours and because many of us understand...
Focus On Where You Are Today to Make Meaningful Progress Toward Your Future
Some of you know that I co-host a bi-weekly podcast with Sean McCabe, and you may also know that he is one of my mentors. I've learned a great deal from him about creativity and business, not only from the things he and I talk about, but also from his example. I'm...
Maintaining the Posture of Power While Looking for a Job
It Feels Personal As I write this I am in the process of finding a job that will cover my expenses so that I can spend some of my free time discovering and building my passion without putting it under unnecessary financial pressure. So I'm doing what most people do...
I’m Setting a New Course and Invite You to Come Along
If you've been following this blog or receiving my newsletter, you probably know that I've been wrestling with some questions lately. Though I have been working as a freelance designer for a while and have had some success with it, I realized that I cannot continue...
An Oppressive Cage for My Creative Passion
The Wrong Problem I'm a big fan of the whole "make a living doing what you love" thing. The problem is that I "love" many things and I "love" the IDEA of many more things. I've been trying so hard to solve the problem of finding out what I want to do that I've been...
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Here’s what you can expect from this newsletter:
Weekly updates including the following information:
-Things I am learning and fun projects I am working on
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-Updates about new products and projects
-Stories about personal experiences that stem from my creative pursuits
-Anything else I feel might be of value