Shows
The Narrator RoundtableEp 306: Cold Read, Colder Shoulder (w/ Jennifer Jill Araya)Audiobook narrators are all about preparation; we all know the tale of getting to chapter 45 and finding out that your main character has a Russian accent. But when you establish yourself as a professional narrator, is the conversation more nuanced than that? In this episode, we talk about *gasp* cold reads, but more specifically, how to make sure you are ALWAYS prepared to narrate a book, even if that preparation doesn’t include the narrator themselves doing a preread.Find The Narrator RoundtableWebsite | BlueSky | X (Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok Find Je...2025-03-2658 min
Crafting AudiobooksJennifer BlomOur interview with narrator, engineer and director Jennifer Blom visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://jenblom.com/ https://reapingaudiobooks.com/2025-02-1938 minCrafting AudiobooksAlly DemeterOur interview with producer Ally Demeter visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2025-02-0325 minCrafting AudiobooksSarah JaffeOur interview with narrator and coach Sara Jaffe visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2025-01-1632 minCrafting AudiobooksPete CrossOur interview with narrator and producer Pete Cross visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://petecrossvo.com/2024-12-0945 minCrafting AudiobooksAmber BeardOur interview with producer Amber Beard visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-11-1335 minCrafting AudiobooksRobin MilesOur interview with narrator, director, producer and acting professor Robin Miles visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-10-0944 minCrafting AudiobooksJessica KayeOur interview with attorney, audiobook producer and director Jessica Kaye visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-09-2333 minCrafting AudiobooksDion Graham (special SPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION bonus episode!!)Our interview with actor and narrator Dion Graham visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-08-2250 min
Starving Artist No More063: The Gift of CreativityWhat do you need to be your best creative self? Where and how do you do your most innovative, exciting, unique-to-you work? And how can you take intentional steps to give yourself that “maximum creativity environment” so that you are able to do that kind of work? The answers to these questions are going to be different for every artist and every creative listening to this podcast. After all, what you need to be creative is different from what I need to be creative. But today, let’s listen in on one creative entrepreneur’s journey to foster her ideal ar...2024-07-2659 minCrafting AudiobooksLisa CahnOur interview with producer, director, and owner of Prose Garden Productions Lisa Cahn visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-07-251h 03
Starving Artist No More062: Investigate Your IndustryDo you understand how your creative industry works? Do you know who the key players are, and do you have an understanding of how artists in your specific creative discipline get projects and are able to do the work that you do? Do you have a firm grasp of the current style trends and changes that are impacting the creative work of your colleagues? How much do you know about the behind-the-scenes businesses and decision-makers that run your creative industry? Today, let’s talk about why it’s important to have curiosity about how your little corner of the arti...2024-07-2332 min
Starving Artist No More061: Sustainable CreativityAs an artist who is also a small business owner, it sometimes feels like you’re pulled in two opposite directions: toward creative freedom and artistic expression on one side, and toward business-focused administrative tasks on the other. For most of us, in our creative training, whether that was art school or conservatory training or just a liberal arts education, everything was focused on the artsy side of things, with often no mention of business at all. And if you look to business literature or business coaches who cater to small business owners, which we are as creative entrepreneurs, th...2024-07-1650 minCrafting AudiobooksLucas BehrendsOur interview with casting associate Lucas Behrends visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-07-1234 min
Starving Artist No More060: Walk Around the WallWhen you’re facing a problem or a difficult situation in your creative business, what is your first reaction? What do you do? Do you feel frozen? Do you feel frantic, like you have no options? Do you beat your head against the wall? Or do you take a step back and find a way to walk around the wall? I know that, personally, my initial reaction is always either to freeze or to feel frantic and stuck. But that’s not the only option. Even if, like me, that’s your first reaction, you don’t have to stay the...2024-07-1152 min
Starving Artist No More059: Time as a ResourceAs a creative entrepreneur, your time is literally your most valuable resource. From a business perspective, time is what you sell, because your artistic products require time to create. From a personal perspective, all work and no play makes you a miserable, starving artist (and it’s right there in the name of the podcast that we’re saying “NO MORE!” to the myth of the starving artist). One thing is for sure: time is valuable. But we don’t often think of time as a resource, something to use and manage to our advantage. Today, we’re going to look into...2024-07-0942 min
Starving Artist No More058: Freedom in DiversityWhen you look at the list of your clients, the list of people who purchase your creative work, what do they look like? Do all of those people or businesses look the same, or do they differ in some way? And when you look at the type of creative work you do, does it all fit into a tiny little box, or do you work in lots of different spaces and in lots of different ways? When you think of how you make income in your creative business, does it all come in the form of immediate payment, or...2024-07-0143 minCrafting AudiobooksTamara MarstonOur interview with Senior Casting Director Tamara Marston visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-07-0140 minCrafting AudiobooksRon ButlerOur interview with narrator, coach, producer and writer Ron Butler visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://www.ronniebutler.com/2024-06-1747 min
Starving Artist No More057: Casting Director's PerspectiveRegardless of what creative industry you work in, communication is key. Particularly when you think of marketing yourself and your work to the people in your industry who serve in the project assignment role, the importance of professional communication skills cannot be overstated. When the decision-makers in your industry are deliberating about which artist to consider for a project, you want to make sure your name is in the running. I’ve talked about the importance of effective and efficient marketing and networking in previous podcast episodes, but today, you don’t have to just take my word for it...2024-06-0454 min
Starving Artist No More056: The Neurodivergent CreativeWhile I’m not neurodivergent myself, I know a lot of artists who are. In fact, quite a few of the artists who work with me to build their entrepreneurship skills are neurodivergent in one way or another. You, the fabulous artist listening to this podcast, might even be neurodivergent yourself. And this prevalence of neurodivergence among artists is more than just anecdote; a recent Psychology Today article explains that “neurodivergent individuals excel creatively,” making them uniquely suited to artistic careers. But while being neurodivergent can be a bonus in the creativity department, it can bring a whole host of uniq...2024-05-2145 min
Starving Artist No More055: Creative Branding Deep DiveQuestions related to branding and marketing can often feel incredibly overwhelming for artists. The vast majority of creative entrepreneurs got into their line of work because they were passionate about the “creative” part of the “creative entrepreneur” label, not so much because they felt drawn to the “entrepreneur” part. But as I’ve said before on this podcast, the flow of work into your artistic business is directly related to the flow of marketing efforts out of your business. So even if you feel lost when you think about what it would take to effectively market your creative business, doing that mar...2024-05-1438 min
Starving Artist No More054: The Six Components, RevisitedWhen I’m working with artists, the most frequent question they ask is how they should structure their creative business. How do they know which tasks in their creative entrepreneurship life are worth their time? How should their business work if they want that business to support them and fulfill them in all the ways they need to be supported and fulfilled: personally, creatively, and financially? What does a functioning creative business look like? Today, let’s discuss.
In this episode, you will learn:
What six components thriving creative businesses share in common.
How to implement thos...2024-05-0741 min
Starving Artist No More053: Goodbye ProcrastinationOne of my coaching clients reached out to me this week regarding a task that she and I had discussed at length during a session a couple months ago, and she confessed to me that she hadn’t done it yet. What’s more, she wasn’t really sure why she hadn’t done it. There wasn’t anything stopping her or getting in her way. She told me, “I’m just not doing it, and I know I have to.”
Have you been there? Have you felt paralyzed in the face of something you know you need to do in yo...2024-04-3028 min
Starving Artist No More052: Doing the Work is the WinEvery creative has moments in their career that are moments of celebration, moments of pure excitement. And usually, when I talk to artists about those moments, they think about the big career milestones: that huge award that they won or were nominated for, the incredible review they received, the prestigious fellowship they were awarded, the amazing project they won. These are all big, wonderful career events in your life as an artist business owner that absolutely should be celebrated. But they aren’t the only moments that deserve celebration. The problem with focusing only on those big, external indicators of...2024-04-2324 min
Starving Artist No More051: Celebrations MatterLast week’s podcast episode was all about the importance of acknowledging the hard things in your life as a creative entrepreneur, but if you stop there, you’re only seeing part of the picture. Yes, much in the life of an artist is really difficult, but so much is amazing as well. We get to create for a living! We get to share our artistic ideas with the world! What a gift that is! But if we don’t take time to intentionally acknowledge those good things, we run the risk of not even noticing that they happened. Our br...2024-04-1628 minCrafting AudiobooksTavia GilbertOur interview with writer, performer and producer Tavia Gilbert visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://taviagilbert.com/2024-04-1538 min
Starving Artist No More050: Acknowledge the Hard StuffThe life of a creative entrepreneur is a difficult one. From a culture that doesn’t value our artistic work, instead telling us we should starve, to the difficulty of dealing with business administration tasks that many of us were never formally educated to handle, the reality of being an artist business owner is not an easy one. You’ve picked a hard road, my friend. And one frequent reaction to this difficulty that I see in my colleagues and in my coaching clients is what I like to call the ostrich response: sticking your head in the sand and...2024-04-0925 min
Starving Artist No More049: Where Your Priorities LieI know you’ve been there. Your task list is overflowing, and you’re overwhelmed. You’ve got more to do than you can possibly complete in the time available. Perhaps you’re in a feast period in your creative career, meaning your project calendar is jampacked full of fabulous projects that you’re excited to work on. Which is great, except that it means all of your time is spent heads-down creating, with no time left over for the necessary administrative tasks that come with running a business. Or maybe life has gone sideways on you, and you’re dealing w...2024-04-0235 minCrafting AudiobooksSPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION: Kelly GildeaOur (second!) interview with Senior Executive Producer Kelly Gildea visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-04-0127 minCrafting AudiobooksSPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION: Erin BennettOur interview with audiobook narrator Erin Bennett visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://www.erinbennettvo.com/2024-03-0837 minCrafting AudiobooksSPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION: Scott BrickOur interview with narrator and coach Scott Brick visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://scottbrick.com/2024-02-191h 02Crafting AudiobooksSPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION: Bob SouerOur interview with narrator Bob Souer visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://bobsouer.com/2024-01-3135 minCrafting AudiobooksSPOTLIGHT ON NON-FICTION: Melanie SchmidtOur Spotlight on Non-Fiction interview with Hachette producer Melanie Schmidt visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2024-01-1529 min
Starving Artist No More048: The Elves & the ShoemakerAs this episode is originally being released, it’s the day after Christmas 2023. Last year, for the podcast episode between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I narrated a Christmas story for you, and truthfully, that episode is one of my favorite podcast episodes of the entire first season! I’d like to make that holiday storytelling habit a tradition here on the Starving Artist No More podcast. So today, I have another Christmas story to share with you: The Elves and the Shoemaker by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
A full transcript of this episode can be found he...2023-12-2611 min
Starving Artist No More047: Be a DetectiveIt’s Tuesday of the last workweek of 2023, and it’s a time when lots of us are thinking about what we’ve done over the past twelve months and what we’re looking forward to in the coming twelve months. Those kinds of looks backward and dreams forward can be really exciting! But it can also be really difficult to think back on the year gone by. If I’m being honest, I’d have to admit that while “yearly review time” can be exciting and motivating, it’s also a time when it’s really easy to get discouraged and...2023-12-1923 min
Starving Artist No More046: Year-End PlanningAs this episode is being originally released, it’s less than two weeks before Christmas 2023. In another four days, my husband, Arturo, will be off from work in his corporate job for the rest of the year. Yay for holiday vacations! And all over the world right now, people are making plans for the holidays and thinking about their New Year’s resolutions. Because being less than two weeks from Christmas means we’re also less than three weeks from the new year. What are you going to do in your creative work next year? What New Years resolutions do you...2023-12-1234 minCrafting AudiobooksRobin WhittenOur interview with Editor and Founder of AudioFile Magazine Robin Whitten visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-12-0630 min
Starving Artist No More045: Your Personal Definition of SuccessWhen you picture someone who is a successful artist or creative, what image does that bring to your mind? Perhaps someone who has won lots of competitions or awards in your creative industry. Perhaps someone who is very prolific in their artistry, so you see their work all over the place. Perhaps it’s someone who takes on really high profile projects, performing with the best ensembles or working with well-known clients or having their work profiled in The New York Times or People Magazine. Exactly what those external success markers look like varies a bit from one creative in...2023-12-0527 min
Starving Artist No More044: Consistency Is HardWe’re getting toward the end of the year, when people employed in corporate jobs are completing their yearly self-assessments in preparation for performance reviews in early January. My husband, Arturo, who you heard from in last week’s episode, turned in his 2023 self-assessment last week, just before Thanksgiving. And yes, I am a self-employed creative entrepreneur, not an employee of a large company like he is, but I’m doing my own self-assessment right now, too: thinking about what went well over the past year, what didn’t go so well, and how I want to use that data to...2023-11-2836 min
Starving Artist No More043: AI and ArtLast week’s podcast episode was all about how to think about change in our creative work. Change is inevitable in life, so we may as well find ways to think about it positively. After all, in many ways, when we think about it from a mindset of joy and abundance, change can be really beautiful! But what about change that has the potential to be incredibly destructive to your work and your way of life? How can you find positive ways of viewing that kind of change? Often, finding a silver lining in that kind of change feels im...2023-11-2153 minCrafting AudiobooksAmy RubinateOur interview with narrator, producer, and owner of Mosaic Audio Amy Rubinate visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://www.mosaicaudio.com/2023-11-201h 12
Starving Artist No More042: You're Not a TreeI don’t know what the fall weather is like where you are, but here in Cincinnati, things have turned decidedly autumnal. Arturo and I spent a few hours about a week ago, on Saturday, raking the leaves from our driveway and the paths around our house. And when I flew back from the LoveNVegas book con about two weeks ago, seeing the fall colors from the plane was truly breathtaking. Fall is my favorite season for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is that the changing leaves remind me that change is beautiful. Change is of...2023-11-1429 min
Starving Artist No More041: A New SeasonYou may have noticed that this episode is marked as the first episode in Season 2 in your podcast player. That’s right – this week marks a full year of the Starving Artist No More podcast! For an entire year, I’ve been coaching creative entrepreneurs and helping them create workable strategies for businesses that actually work and that meet their needs in a real and tangible way. It’s been an amazing experience! Today’s podcast episode is going to look at the seven biggest takeaways I’ve observed from my first year working officially as a creative entrepreneurship coach. I can...2023-11-0740 min
Starving Artist No More040: Small StepsMark Twain once said, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Sometimes, taking those first few tiny little steps can be the hardest part of getting a new project off the ground. If you’re embarking on a new artistic venture, how do you decide where to begin? If you’re preparing to tackle something unfamiliar on the administrative side of your creative business, how do you figure out what’s the most important thing to do first? Often, we find ourselves waiting to even begin a new thing until we know we can jump in with 1,000% commitment and total...2023-10-3131 minCrafting AudiobooksVikas AdamOur interview with narrator, performer, storyteller Vikas Adam visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com Link to quotation shared in the episode: https://qr.ae/pvORn02023-10-2641 min
Starving Artist No More039: Fix ForwardA few weeks ago, I woke up to an email from a creative entrepreneur that I’ve been coaching over the past few months. This wonderful artist had recently faced some pretty big obstacles in their creative business and was feeling really discouraged. They had wanted to start a new thing in their creative work, but they found themselves completely unable to take that first step and get started. As a result, they told me they were feeling “brutally defeated.” And my heart broke for this wonderful creative. I just wanted to wrap them up in a big hug! Shame...2023-10-2432 min
Starving Artist No More038: The Price of Success is FailureOver and over again, in my work as a creative entrepreneurship coach, I hear some variation of the question, “but what if it doesn’t work?” Fear is a natural part of trying anything new, and for most artists and makers and creatives, focusing on the business side of their creative enterprise is indeed a new thing. Much of what we do as creative entrepreneurs is objectively hard! But if we never try anything new, we’ll never get anything new. Taking risks and trying new things is a vital part of what it means to be a thriving artist...2023-10-1734 minCrafting AudiobooksMelissa EllardOur interview with Scholastic Audio Producer and Weston Woods Production Manager Melissa Ellard visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-10-1132 min
Starving Artist No More037: Creative Entrepreneurship & Kite FlyingFiguring out your strategy to make your creative business work is much easier said than done. You might think you know how things work in your creative industry, and you might be doing all the things that should be the right things, and yet nothing is working for you. Perhaps you even see things working out for one of your creative colleagues, but it’s just not happening for you. When you feel like you’re employing workable strategies and yet you’re seeing any progress in your creative business, what’s going on? The exact, detailed answer to that que...2023-10-1031 min
Starving Artist No More036: Scarcity & SchedulingI’ve said before that your beliefs about what is possible for you and your business will be the limiting factor in how your business grows, which is absolutely true. But your beliefs about the possibilities available to you and your business do more than impact your big picture. Those beliefs touch every part of what you do, from that big 10,000 foot view all the way down to the email you write when someone offers you work. When a job offer comes your way, how do you decide whether or not to say “yes”? What goes into your mental calcul...2023-10-0335 minStarving Artist No More035: PrioritiesThe life of a creative entrepreneur is a busy one. There is a lot on your plate on any given day! You need to do the creative, artistic work that your business is built on. But you also need to reply to emails, manage your marketing, handle your business finances, and deal with project management tasks. Like I said, it’s a lot! In that mess of tasks in front of you, how do you figure out what is most important for you to do right now, today, this week? How can you set daily, weekly, and monthly priorities wi...2023-09-2630 minStarving Artist No More034: Maker & ManagerThe life of a creative solopreneur is one of constantly being pulled in two different directions. Direction 1: the creative stuff! The reason you’re a creative entrepreneur in the first place! This is the creative, artistic, innovative, unique work that you do and that brings you joy and fulfillment and that fills your soul. Direction 2: the administrative necessities of running a business. The emails, the project management tasks, the invoicing, the paying of bills, the managing of finances, the managing of your project schedule, the writing of copy for your website and for your marketing efforts, the scheduling of yo...2023-09-1929 minCrafting AudiobooksSara PagluicaOur interview with producer Sara Pagluica visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com Dual POV title Jennifer refers to in this episode: https://www.audible.com/pd/What-a-Wave-Must-Be-Audiobook/B0CLL8P15F2023-09-1334 min
Narrators Roadmap Pit StopEp 9 - Jennifer Jill ArayaJennifer Jill Araya is an Audie, Earphones, and SOVAS award-winning audiobook narrator who has been listening to audiobooks since she was a young child, and the fact that she now gets to narrate audiobooks for a living is a dream come true. In addition to narrating books in virtually every genre (and loving every second of it!), Jennifer also coaches other artist business owners, like herself, in creative entrepreneurship within her coaching community, Starving Artist No More. When she’s not narrating, Jennifer can be found hiking, biking, running, or generally exploring her home city of Cincinnati with her husband...2023-08-231h 10Crafting AudiobooksLinda KornOur interview with Linda Korn, Senior Executive Producer at Penguin Random House visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-08-1440 minStarving Artist No More033: The Making of a HabitWhat habits do you have? What are the things that you do automatically, on a regular basis? When we talk about habits, often the first place we think of is at bad habits we have – smoking, doomscrolling social media, staying up too late. But today, I want to talk about good habits. Epictetus, a Roman Stoic philosopher, wrote that “if you want to do something, make a habit of it.” So what are the habits that we want? What are the things we want to do, and how can we make those things habitual in our creative lives? Today, let’s figu...2023-07-2529 minStarving Artist No More032: Progress, Not PerfectionIn almost every artistic training program the world over, regardless of the specific creative discipline, the pursuit of perfection is a driving factor in the training. I spent hours in the practice room during my conservatory training practicing the same passages over and over to get closer to that ever-elusive “perfect” ideal. Lessons and masterclasses were fine-tuned examinations of the details of technique, always in search of a better, cleaner, “more perfect” sound. There is a lot in that mindset that is commendable and valuable, but in my work with artist business owners, I see too many creatives willing to die i...2023-07-1828 minStarving Artist No More031: Say No to the HustleI have a bit of a controversial thought to share: Hustling isn't a good thing. Allow me to explain why I say that. Hustling is all about working harder than everyone else and doing everything imaginable to get the job or gig or project or whatever. It's about sacrificing everything else on the altar of getting ahead. Hustling is what the "starving artist" mindset is all about, and you all know that I despise that mindset. Yes, as creative entrepreneurs, we do absolutely need to work hard. But working hard ALL THE TIME -- aka hustling -- is the...2023-07-1128 minStarving Artist No More030: Future-Shaped DecisionsThis episode is originally being released on July 3, 2023, meaning that as I’m recording this, it’s the midpoint of the calendar year. Recently, on The Half Marathoner substack (which is an awesome newsletter if you’re a runner, like me), Terrell Johnson wrote, "This time of the year … has always felt like second base to me. As if you’re on a baseball diamond, running the bases, and you’re about to touch second; you’re at the farthest point from where you started — home — but you’re also half way to getting back there again." What a powerful image. You’r...2023-07-0338 minStarving Artist No More029: Be a Good BossFunny story. I’ve had this topic, being a good boss, on my list of upcoming podcast episodes for months. Literally. For week after week after week, I’ve had this episode marked down as the next episode I was going to write and record for this podcast. And I kept pushing it back. I kept saying to myself, “No, I want to talk about this other thing this week. This other topic is more on my mind.” And so this episode, the one you’re listening to right now, kept getting shoved to the back burner. Finally, after months of d...2023-06-2744 minStarving Artist No More028: What to Do When You Don’t Get the GigThe life of a creative entrepreneur is one of gig work. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “gig economy.” For workers in many industry, this gig economy is a totally new thing. In decades past, engineers and computer programmers used to always work as employees of a company. They didn’t have to jump from project to project on their own. My grandfather worked for the same textile manufacturing company his entire working career. He even lived in a town built by and named after that company! But that has never been the case for creative entrepreneurs. Even Shake...2023-06-2029 minStarving Artist No More027: Networking for Feast, Not FamineThe feast or famine cycle is a vicious thing. If you’re not familiar with that term, “feast or famine” refers to the awful roller-coaster-like situation when your business vacillates between months with tons of work, and tons of income, to months with almost no work and almost no income. There’s no doubt about it: riding the feast or famine roller coaster is an awful place to be. But you, my dear friend, are not helpless. You can do something about it. You can take steps to get off that roller coaster and find a place of more peace an...2023-06-1335 minStarving Artist No More026: Marketing for Feast, Not FamineThe feast or famine cycle is the bane of every creative business and every creative entrepreneur I know. “Feast or famine cycle” refers to the stomach-dropping ride that you experience when your business flip flops from months with so much work you can’t handle it and stress out like crazy (even if the resulting payday is pretty nice) – these are the feast months – and then careens down into months where your schedule is empty and you feel like you’re never going to work again and you’re terrified that your career is over and you have no idea how you’r...2023-06-0634 minStarving Artist No More025: Make Your Own LuckDo you have any friends or colleagues who just seem lucky? Who appear to have great opportunities fall in their lap all the time? I know that, from the outside looking in, it can sometimes seem like other people have all the luck! Well, I’m here to tell you, my friend, that the appearance of luck is just that: an appearance. It doesn’t match reality. Behind the scenes of that other creative’s career, what you don’t see is all the work they’re doing to create that luck. Today, I’m going to pull back the curtain...2023-05-3030 minStarving Artist No More024: Overriding Imposter SyndromeImposter syndrome. I’ll bet that you have a visceral reaction just to hearing me say those two words. Every creative that I’ve ever known has dealt with imposter syndrome at some point during their artistic career. Imposter syndrome is virtually impossible to avoid. But it’s not impossible to overcome. You are not helpless in the face of your imposter feelings. You can take steps to hit the mute button on that little devil on your shoulder whispering that you’re not good enough or that your work isn’t valuable. You can override imposter syndrome. Today, we’re goin...2023-05-2333 minCrafting AudiobooksGail ShalanOur interview with storyteller Gail Shalan visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com gailshalan.com2023-05-1820 min
The Cup and Saucy Book ClubInterview with narrator and entrepreneur Jennifer Jill ArayaThis episode was recorded March 6th. Some events mentioned may have past.In Our CupsZanna: Personal Chai Blend by Zanna at The Apothecary Tea Service Chai Blending ClassJen: Calm Relax Tea by Republic of TeaJennifer Jill ArayaInstagram: jenniferjill.araya TikTok: @jenniferjillaraya Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferJillAraya/Authors, Narrators, and others mentioned in this episode:Please note: narrators without links may be using a pseudonym and may not have websites using that name. Joseph Beth...2023-05-1536 minCrafting AudiobooksZane BirdwellOur interview with producer Zane Birdwell visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-04-2722 minCrafting AudiobooksKelly GildeaOur interview with Senior Executive Producer Kelly Gildea visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-04-0519 minStarving Artist No More023: What I Wish I’d KnownIf you could go back to the very beginning of your journey as a creative entrepreneur, what would you tell yourself? What pieces of advice would have made your journey to this point a little smoother if someone had whispered them in your ear at that early stage in your career? Or, what pieces of advice were whispered in your ear, but you ignored them and learned the hard way, and now you wish you’d paid attention? What do you wish you’d known when you were embarking on this crazy, fantastical journey called creative entrepreneurship? Today, I’m goin...2023-04-0429 minStarving Artist No More022: Outsourcing for CreativesOne of the most common pieces of advice that business coaches give entrepreneurs is to outsource. A lot of discussion in the world of entrepreneurial coaching deals with how to build a team around you, how to delegate tasks to employees or contractors, how to work as a leader within that team. This is all excellent advice for entrepreneurs in more traditional fields, but what about artists? What about creative entrepreneurs, like you and me? If the product my business is selling is my creative energy, which by its very nature cannot be passed off to someone else, does...2023-03-2833 minStarving Artist No More021: Your Unique PaceOur culture tells us we need to hustle and go! Work work work, busy all the time. That’s what we’re supposed to do right? That’s what we’re supposed to be. And I don’t want to deny that there are elements of that mental framework that are helpful. If you’re a self-employed working artist, like most of the people who listen to this podcast are, then you do have a lot on your plate. Being a solopreneur creative isn’t an easy thing. But thinking that working all the time and hustling all the time is what w...2023-03-2122 minCrafting AudiobooksJanuary LaVoyOur interview with actor and narrator January LaVoy visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://www.januarylavoy.com/2023-03-2025 minStarving Artist No More020: Getting More DoneHow do you use your time? During your work days, are you efficient and focused with your time? Time is one of our most precious and most finite resources. As artist business owners who sell our time and creativity energy, time is incredibly valuable to us. So how can you use your time effectively? Are there strategies that can help you get more done, without adding stress and overwhelm to your creative work? Today, we’re going to figure that out. We’re going to dive into strategies you can use to get more done. In this episode you will...2023-03-1433 minStarving Artist No More019: SMART Creativity (Goal Setting for Creatives, Part 2 of 2)When you’re thinking about what you want out of your creative work, the ways in which you want to grow your artistic business, how do you figure out your strategy to get there? How do you figure out exactly what your goals should be? What goes into formulating a business strategy that will actually help and guide you, rather than one that will set on a shelf in your office, or languish in an unopened and unreferenced file on your computer?
One way to make sure your business strategy is one you’re going to actually use...2023-03-0734 minCrafting AudiobooksJesse BickfordOur interview with senior audiobook producer Jesse Bickford visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-03-0624 minStarving Artist No More018: Purpose and Flexibility (Goal Setting for Creatives, Part 1 of 2)Goals and goal-setting are sometimes really hard for creatives. I work with a lot of artists who struggle to set goals within their creative work. They want the freedom to pursue any project that strikes their fancy, and they’re afraid that establishing a formal business plan or writing set of strategic goals within their business will keep them from accepting work they would enjoy. Or sometimes I encounter a creative who has tried goals in the past, only to have those goals languish in a drawer or computer file somewhere – they’re not quite sure where – never to be looke...2023-02-2835 minStarving Artist No More017: What You Can ControlWhat can you control in your business? You may hear me ask that question and have an instant, knee-jerk reaction. “I’m a solopreneur. I do everything in my creative business. I control it all!” Or maybe you have some people working with you, but you’re still the driving force behind your business, so your reaction is more along the lines of, “I may not have my hands in every single project at every moment of every day, but that doesn’t mean I’m not in charge. I control everything!” Not so fast. There’s actually a lot you can’t cont...2023-02-2124 minCrafting AudiobooksErick BlackOur interview with producer Erick Black visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com2023-02-2018 minCrafting AudiobooksMarni PenningOur interview with narrator, actress and coach Marni Penning visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com https://www.theladyhamlet.com/2023-02-2015 minStarving Artist No More016: The Six Components of a Thriving Creative BusinessWhat are the components that make up a thriving creative business? If you listen to business coaches who are working and teaching in the non-creative business spaces, you’ll frequently hear discussions about the components of a successful business, things like providing value to customers, hiring great employees, understanding the market, employing sound financial management, et cetera et cetera. And those business coaches are correct. For a traditional business, those things are incredibly important. But what about a creative business? Do the components needed for flourishing change at all when the business in question is an artistic business, one in...2023-02-1439 min
Crafting AudiobooksErin MoonOur interview with narrator and coach Erin Moon visit us at JenniferJillAraya.com & SarahBethGoer.com erinmoonactor.com2023-02-1421 minStarving Artist No More015: But What If You Could?If you could do anything, if you had no limits whatsoever, what would you do? Where would you go? How would you grow? If the impossible became possible, what would you be just so incredibly excited to create? Perhaps, as I was asking you those questions, you journeyed with me on my little thought experiment and allowed yourself to dream. Or perhaps you resisted. “I do have limits,” you might have argued. “The impossible, by its very definition, is not possible. I need to be realistic. I can’t do those things.” But what if you could? What if you could ac...2023-02-0730 minStarving Artist No More014: Begin with the End in MindDo you know where your creative business is going? Do you know the things you want to achieve and do and create in your business in the coming year? If you do know where you want your business to go, have you taken the time to make those goals concrete and specific? Knowing where we’re going in our creative work has a lot of advantages, and in today’s episode we’re going to talk about why it’s so important for you to have a concrete image for the future of your artistic enterprise. We’re going to look at...2023-01-3124 minStarving Artist No More013: Find Your WhyWhy are you a creative entrepreneur? Why are you an artist? What is the reason driving you to make a living from your art? Being a working artist is a hard life, full of ups and downs and twists and turns. So why do you do it? What is the purpose behind your choice to live the life of a creative? A lot of artists I talk to can’t answer this question right away. They’ve never actually thought about it. Their choice to be an artist was made so long ago and was so instinctive that they can’...2023-01-2439 minStarving Artist No More012: Be Willing to Be Bad at BusinessAs artists, we are good at our craft. We’ve spent years honing and perfecting our skills, and our art is an area of our lives over which we have mastery. Sure, we’re always learning and growing, but the refined skills are there. When it comes to our art, we know what we’re doing. But being a creative entrepreneur is about more than just our art; that pesky little “entrepreneur” part is tagged on there. What about the entrepreneurial skills and concepts we need to be good at that part of what we do? They’re a little harde...2023-01-1738 minStarving Artist No More011: Mindset, Strategy, and ActionAs a creative business owner, you should expect your business to support you. You hear me say all the time that my goal is to help creative entrepreneurs build businesses that fulfill them holistically: personally, creatively, and financially. Those are the three big things that you need from your business. But how do you get them? What can you do to ensure that your business is actually providing you with personal, creative, and financial fulfillment? How do you get what you need from your business? Today, I’m going to answer that question.
In this episode, you wi...2023-01-1037 minStarving Artist No More010: What You Need From Your BusinessWhat do you need from your business? What does it mean to have a creative business that gives you what you need to grow and thrive as an artist? If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you’ve heard me say many times that my #1 goal as a creative entrepreneurship coach is to help you build a creative business that fulfills you holistically: personally, creatively, and financially. What does that mean? Why do I say that all the time? Today we’re going to dig into those questions and talk about what it means to get what you need f...2023-01-0333 minStarving Artist No More009: The Gift of the MagiWe’re in the midst of the holiday season. Perhaps you have snow on the ground where you live, or maybe it’s the middle of summer for you. My family in Chile are enjoying beautiful summer weather right now. But regardless of where you are or what the weather is outside, and regardless of which holidays you and your family celebrate together, I hope you’re enjoying a wonderful and blessed holiday season. I savored a beautiful Christmas with my family this past weekend, and we’re getting ready for our annual New Year’s Eve movie marathon this comin...2022-12-2724 minStarving Artist No More008: Developing Asynchronous Income (Episode 4 in the 4-Part "Time & Income" Series)**Episode 4 of 4 in the Time & Income Series. To listen to Episode 1 in the series, go here. To listen to Episode 2 in the series, go here. To listen to Episode 3 in the series, go here.**
I hate the term "passive income," but it’s become a buzzword in recent years. Everyone wants to know how to get passive income so you can spend your days sipping piña coladas on the beach rather than toiling away in an office. Passive income isn’t really passive, though. It takes a lot of work to develop passive income streams, enough that I...2022-12-2038 minStarving Artist No More007: Working in your Creative & Financial Sweet Spot (Episode 3 in the 4-Part "Time & Income" Series)**Episode 3 of 4 in the Time & Income Series. To listen to Episode 1 in the series, go here. To listen to Episode 2 in the series, go here.**
Every creative entrepreneur has horror stories of nightmare project, plus rainbow and unicorn stories of once-in-a-lifetime dream projects, plus the whole spectrum in between those two extremes. But that’s what it means to be a creative, right? What if I were to tell you that your creative life doesn’t have to be spent vacillating between the amazing and the awful, and instead can be focused on just the amazing? Would that c...2022-12-1341 minStarving Artist No More006: Pay Yourself First (Episode 2 in the 4-Part "Time & Income" Series)**Episode 2 of 4 in the Time & Income Series. To listen to Episode 1 in the series, go here.**
Finances are a tricky topic for any creative entrepreneur. Money talk is always difficult, even if your financial situation is pretty straightforward, but add in the complications that come with being a self-employed business owner, and things get really difficult really fast. Layer in the reluctance to focus on finances that is common among many creatives, and you have a recipe for disaster. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, we’re going to talk money, and we’re goi...2022-12-0643 minStarving Artist No More005: The Time & Income Connection (Episode 1 in the 4-Part "Time & Income" Series)**Episode 1 of 4 in the Time & Income Series**
If you are a creative entrepreneur, your time is the product you are selling. Automating, systematizing, outsourcing, and hiring will only get you so far. When someone hires me to play a concert, there is no getting around the need for ME (not someone else) to spend time practicing and rehearsing and performing. If a publisher hires me to narrate an audiobook, they expect to hear MY voice on the files I submit, meaning I have to be the one sitting in front of the mic, putting in the hours...2022-11-2937 minStarving Artist No More004: An Attitude of GratitudeWhat are you thankful for? And how does your attitude about those things influence your life and work as a creative entrepreneur? An attitude of gratitude is more than just catchy phrasing. It is a real and powerful way for artists to carry the joy of their best creative experiences with them long term, regardless of the current circumstances. A mindset of gratitude can completely change your perspective on your life and work as a creative.
In this episode, you will learn
How to use the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon to start a positive feedback loop in your w...2022-11-2234 minStarving Artist No More003: Being a "YES AND" CreativeWhat does it mean to be a creative entrepreneur, to be both a creative AND an entrepreneur? Today, we're going to dig into that concept using the "YES AND" principle from improv. Being both a creative and an entrepreneur means that you are an artist, a creative – you are committed to the creative process – AND you are willing to help your creative process grow by doing what is necessary to make your creative business work. YES. AND.
In this episode, you will learn
Ways to help yourself accept the label of an entrepreneur, in addition to your...2022-11-1532 min
Starving Artist No More002: Expand What's PossibleYour beliefs about what is possible for you and your business will be the limiting factor in how your business grows. If you don’t believe it’s possible to have all your needs met by your business, then you won’t be able to recognize the opportunities you have to make that happen. Building a fulfilling business starts by believing it’s possible to do so.
In this episode, we will discuss
What mental models are, and how your mental model about your business impacts the business you are able to create.
Why the "starving artist"...2022-11-0821 minStarving Artist No More001: Welcome to the Starving Artist No More PodcastBeing a creative entrepreneur is hard. The messages we hear from the world around us tells us that creative industries are environments of scarcity, where hundreds of people are all competing for the same projects and positions. We’re told that only one in a million “creative hopefuls” will ever make it to “successful creative entrepreneur.” And yet, creatives persist. The grit of creative entrepreneurs is unmatched! But figuring out how to grow a creative business is a tricky thing. So much of what’s out there about how to build a successful business doesn’t work for a creative busin...2022-11-0116 min
Starving Artist No MoreStarving Artist No More Podcast TrailerWelcome to the Starving Artist No More podcast, where creative entrepreneurs can find the business coaching they need to build a creative business that fulfills them personally, creatively, and financially. This trailer gives you a taste of what to expect in coming episodes. Visit the Starving Artist No More Blog for full transcripts of all future episodes.
Thank you for listening. Please feel free to reach out to me at www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com, with any questions, comments, or feedback. I'd love to hear from you.2022-10-2604 min
Writer Mom LifeJennifer Jill Araya, Audiobook NarratorWriter Mom Life Bonus Episode 4: Jennifer Jill Araya, Audiobook Narrator >>Get your Writer Mom Life mugs and tees at http://WriterMomLife.com/Shop >>Audiobooks - even if you've never listened to one, there is a growing market that is craving them! If you haven't considered creating one for your book, put it on your 2019 list of things to think about... Who better to give a little insight into how it works than a professional audiobook narrator (and mom)? Jennifer Jill Araya has gone from performance on stage to p...2018-12-0630 min