Introducing Wildly Resourceful: Making More Possible With Your Creative Work
I’ve spent years figuring out how to make a living from the things I create. I’ve sold my artwork, worked with clients, developed digital products, taught workshops, built memberships, and experimented with more ideas than I could probably list in one sitting.
Some things worked. Some didn’t. A few turned into something entirely different from what I’d originally planned.
Along the way, I’ve learned that one of the most useful skills a creative person can develop isn’t necessarily becoming better at their craft. It’s learning to recognize opportunities, experiment with possibilities, and figure out how to make their creativity work for them.
That’s a big part of why I’m building Wildly Resourceful, a creative business membership through Wild Ridge Learning.
There’s More Than One Way to Make a Living as a Creative
One of the things I see happening in the creative business world is how easily we get locked into the idea that there’s a particular way we’re supposed to do things.
If you’re an artist, maybe you’re supposed to sell originals or prints. If you’re a designer, perhaps you should license patterns or sell digital downloads. If you make physical products, you’re encouraged to open an online shop, attend markets, and spend half your waking hours trying to convince social media that you exist.
None of those are bad options. I’ve explored quite a few of them myself. But they’re options, not requirements.
The creative work you already do might have possibilities you haven’t considered yet. An illustration could become a greeting card, a licensed design, a teaching resource, or part of a collection. A skill you’ve developed through years of practice could become a workshop or a service. Something you learned while solving a problem in your own business might be exactly what another creative person needs help figuring out.
And sometimes the most useful opportunity has nothing to do with creating another product. It might be improving how you sell what you already have, finding a different audience, or changing the way you approach your work.
I don’t believe every creative idea needs to become a business opportunity. Some things deserve to exist simply because we enjoy making them. But I do believe we should know our options.
Why I’m Building Wildly Resourceful
I’ve never been particularly interested in following a single, neatly defined business model.
My own creative work has taken me through pyrography, digital illustration, product design, teaching, and plenty of unexpected detours. I still spend time experimenting with new ideas, finding different ways to use my artwork, and figuring out how to connect the things I enjoy doing with the income I need to earn.
I’m not interested in pretending I’ve discovered some magical formula that makes running a creative business effortless becasue well, I haven’t.
There are practical decisions to make, things to learn, expenses to manage, and plenty of experiments that won’t turn out the way you hoped.
What I have developed is an ability to look at what I already know, what I’ve already made, and what resources I have available, and ask what else might be possible.
I want to create a place where creative people can develop that same ability, while also getting practical help with the everyday work of building and running a business. Not another place that hands you a rigid formula and tells you to follow it.
A place to explore possibilities, learn useful skills, ask questions, and make decisions that actually fit your life.
What Happens Inside Wildly Resourceful?
Wildly Resourceful brings together creative business education, practical resources, fresh perspectives, and opportunities to explore what you can do with your work.
One of the recurring ideas is what I call “One Artwork, Five Possibilities.”
The concept is simple. We take one piece of creative work and look at several ways it could be used, adapted, shared, or sold.
Not because you should turn every illustration into five products, but because learning to recognize those possibilities gives you more choices.
We’ll also explore creative opportunities, from additional income streams and potential collaborations to ways to make better use of the skills and resources you already have.
There will be practical workshops and resources covering the less glamorous but necessary parts of creative business, too. Things like organizing offers, preparing products, developing ideas, marketing your work, and deciding where to spend your time.
And because so much of my own inspiration comes from being outdoors, Get Outside will be part of the experience. Nature has a way of giving me ideas I wouldn’t have found sitting at my desk, and I want to encourage members to look beyond their usual sources of inspiration.
We’ll have a community space for sharing ideas, questions, discoveries, and experiments. Monthly Office Hours will begin in January 2027, providing another opportunity to work through creative business questions together.
The goal isn’t to give you an endless collection of things to consume.
It’s to help you find something useful, put it into practice, and see where it leads.
You Don’t Have to Do Everything
I think this is worth saying because the creative business world can make even the most enthusiastic person feel like they’re perpetually behind.
You don’t need to be on every platform. You don’t need seven income streams. You don’t need to turn every hobby into a product, launch something new every month, or follow every trend that comes along.
And you certainly don’t need another membership that leaves you with an enormous list of things you suddenly feel obligated to accomplish. Wildly Resourceful isn’t about doing more for the sake of doing more.
It’s about becoming better at recognizing which opportunities are worth your attention and which ones you can happily leave alone.
Maybe you’re looking for a way to earn more from artwork you’ve already created. Maybe you have a skill you’d like to teach but aren’t sure where to begin. Maybe you’ve been running your business for years and want a fresh perspective. Or maybe you have a head full of ideas and need help figuring out which one deserves your time.
There should be room for all of that.
A Different Kind of Creative Independence
When I think about creative independence, I don’t picture someone sitting on a beach while their business magically earns money in the background. I think about having choices.
Being able to decide what kind of work you want to make, which opportunities you want to pursue, and how you want your business to fit into the rest of your life.
I think about developing skills and resources that give you more flexibility when circumstances change. And I think about building something that can evolve alongside you, rather than trapping you in a business model you’ve outgrown.
That’s what I want Wildly Resourceful to help people work toward.
Not overnight success. Not a promise that every idea will make money.
Just practical knowledge, creative thinking, and the confidence to recognize that there may be more possibilities available than you first imagined.
Come Be Wildly Resourceful
I’m quietly launching Wildly Resourceful in November. I’m starting with the resources and experiences I’ve already been developing, and I’ll continue building the membership as we go. I want it to be useful, approachable, and genuinely connected to the challenges creative people face.
If you’re an artist, maker, designer, or creative business owner who wants to explore new possibilities without adding unnecessary complexity to your life, I’d love to have you join me.
Bring your ideas, your questions, your experience, and whatever you’re currently working on.
We’ll figure out what we can make possible with it.
