Get the goss: all the need-to-know info about my new program for creatives

Ready to become a Next Level Creative?!

Well get excited cause today I’m giving you the goss on everything that you need to know about my new program for creatives! I’m gonna be letting you in on all of the exciting details and info that you most definitely wanna know, whether you’re just nosy or you’re interested in working with me and wondering what that might look like.

This new program is pretty much the way to work with me going forward, so today I’m gonna tell you alllll about it and take you behind-the-scenes, sharing with you what led me to create this program, what it looks like and why I've made certain decisions. 

The goal? Learn from my experience with creating this program, maybe for your own services and products, or if you’re feeling called to work with me to help you with your brand, then this could just be the way to do that!

Without further ado…

Introducing The Next Level Creative™.

The Next Level Creative™ is a 12-month mastermind, or “branding lab” as I like to call it, for artists and makers who are ready to take their creative business to the next level. 

I called it The Next Level Creative™ for a few reasons. Despite the obvious, practical reason of having to make sure that it was available, the URL wasn't taken and there weren't any trademarks already existing for The Next Level Creative™ because at the point that you are listening to this, I have applied for my trademark, and hopefully in about six months I’ll be able to use the R symbol for a registered trademark. So that is very exciting! 

Another reason I decided on The Next Level Creative™ was because around that time I’d done a coaching session with a client, Carly, who wrote in her testimonial…

"In the boom of coaching services, it can be a little intimidating to find a person to help you, but I truly feel Hollie's one of the good ones who's capable of bringing people to the next level in whatever they're trying to do. Maybe it's years of experience, maybe it's a natural talent, maybe it is both!"

When I realised that's how someone had described me, and that what I helped people do was really inspiring, that definitely re-inspired The Next Level Creative™ name.

Speaking of names and trademarks… if you weren't around when I changed my business name from Black & White Studios to Maker & Moxie, I actually talked a lot about the practical things when it comes to naming a business and getting a trademark in a simple guide you can find right here! 

Alternatively, if you’re an audio lover, you can listen in to an interview I did with my friend on the ConvertKit podcast instead where we talked about knowing when it’s the right time to re-name your business, how to check for trademarks and more!

The dictionary definition for “Moxie” is: to improve something that's already successful, and that really ties into my whole philosophy and beliefs about branding, which is that you are already amazing. 

The work that you do is already incredible. You're already working really hard to be creative, to improve your work, and to share your work, getting it out into the world. 

You already have this innate magic inside of you for being you, being creative and for having the moxie to share that with the world and put it out so that other people can see it. 

I want to help you uncover what is already magical about you and take that to the next level, making sure that people can see it and understand it and then fall in love with it. 

Your next level is completely unique to you. I didn't wanna name my business something like “The 10k Artist” or “The Full-time Creative” or anything like that because your next level is unique to you. It’s not my style to tell you that you need to be making X amount of money or getting X amount of brand collaborations or posting X times a week to be successful. That's up to you. 

Your success is what success means to you. And your next level is whatever you want your next level to be.

It could be just starting your business. It could be going full-time. It could be getting your first commission. Whatever it is, that next level is down to you. It's not down to me. I just wanna help you get to whatever your next level is, and I don't wanna dictate what that next level is. 

Why I created The Next Level Creative™ and what it means for YOU as a creative.

My vision has always been to make the world a more creative place, one brand at a time. I wholeheartedly believe in the fact that creativity is what the world needs. The world needs more creativity, always. 

We need more creativity personally, and as creatives, we need to be able to use our creativity and express our imagination. 

For me, creativity is like breathing. I have to be creative otherwise I'm not being myself and I don't feel alive.

The world needs more creativity and I want to help make that happen by helping creatives to build their brand so that they can create more art, they can make a living doing what they love, and they can build communities of fans who love and support them and value their work. 

And my particular zone of genius in helping this happen is branding. But I'm not just a brand designer. I'm not just a brand strategist. I have this really, amazing big-picture strength. My strength, my zone of genius is being able to see the big picture and how everything connects together.

I can see how your brand strategy connects to your design, which then influences your marketing, and how you need to set up your systems and your operations to be able to make everything work. So even though I'm a very strong brand strategist, I had a very accomplished career as a designer, I am, you know, good at marketing and I understand how that all works, I'm also a nerd about systems and processes and marketing, but what I'm really good at is how all of that stuff works together. 

In the past, I’ve had offers and experiences that have focused on just one of those individual pieces of the puzzle, but what I really wanted to create was an experience where I could share my approach, my zone of genius and help creatives to also build this big-picture approach to their brand.

So instead of just working on the design and wondering why it's not working or trying to market something and it not reaching the right people and then not having the system so it all falls apart, you have this really strategic, intentional approach that covers your whole brand from start to finish which then gives you a framework to use to continually take your business to the next level with a brand that is strategic, designed well, marketed really well, and has all the systems behind it for everything to work together. 

I also know that a lot of artists and creators like you aren’t thinking of hiring someone to do the creative side of things (duh, that’s your zone of genius!) But, you know that you just need someone to guide you, give you different perspectives and be someone you can run stuff by. You wanna be able to stay accountable so that you keep moving forward. 

You just need a coach, a best friend, a supporter, and a cheerleader who can be by your side all the time so that you are not doing things alone. 

All of that stuff doesn't happen when you’re inside The Next Level Creative™ because you have me and your fellow creatives in your corner (and your back pocket!) that you can talk to, ask questions, get advice, and get feedback to make sure that you can always, always find a solution or move forward to take your brand to the next level.

It's always been inherently kind of lonely and isolating being a creative, and I have experienced that myself, which is why I've always been someone who wants to bring people together. 

I was the Wellington host of Design Assembly, which ran events for the creative community and created resources and stuff. I did that for a few years and that was amazing, bringing people together locally. I've run in-person workshops before that bring creatives together. I've done a lot of collaborations on Instagram, I did a series for a while where I brought a lot of branding experts together to provide content and information for people about branding.

I love facilitating a place for creatives – a space that is safe, warm, welcoming, and useful for creatives to do that. The Next Level Creative™ is just that. You’ll feel welcomed, understood, connected, and supported.

And, if like me you’re an introvert and have to manage your social battery, where in-person events can be too much for you, having an online community like we do inside The Next Level Creative™ is awesome because you can engage however much you want to in whatever way that you want to.

If you don’t know this about me yet, I'm also chronically ill. I've always suffered from migraines, endometriosis, and a bunch of other chronic illnesses, which is already something I’ve had to manage in my day-to-day life. But then last year I got concussed, and had to take three months off work, and since then I’ve had these vestibular migraine attacks as well, which just have taken my chronic illness to a whole new level. Ever since then, my capacity has been greatly reduced and I’m now having to take into account how I work, when I work, and where I work.

I want to be able to show up for you, to be able to deliver the best value for you. And the way I can do that is by helping you in a way that also works for me.

Wanna snoop behind the scenes inside The Next Level Creative™?! Let’s do it.

As I mentioned earlier when you apply to join The Next Level Creative™ at thenextlevelcreative.com you will get to watch a private training, but what I haven’t told you yet is that in that training you’re going to learn my NLC framework (which is the outline of the curriculum inside The Next Level Creative™!

Inclusion 1. The Next Level Creative™ Framework

The first course for that is Map Your Brand Magic, which was a live brand strategy program I ran in the past. And then there are three more courses that are self-paced, so you can do them however quickly (or slowly!) that you want to.

You have training to watch, interactive tools to use, resources, guides, and a whole bunch of stuff to help you work through the curriculum, with four courses in total. 

Inclusion 2. The complete Maker and Moxie bank of resources *drool*. 

Literally, EVERYTHING that is on my Maker & Moxie shop right now (huh-hmm… click here to check it out!) and potentially will be in the future, you get all of it! Every Notion template, every PDF guide, every worksheet, you get all of it, and will continue to get all of it while you are in The Next Level Creative™. 

You also get a library of inspiration, with countless amazing examples of brand strategy, design, and marketing things. At your fingertips, you’ll have all of the examples that you could ever need for when you're feeling stuck or wanna get your creative juices flowing. 

Inclusion 3. Asynchronous Q&A 

This is where you can ask me any questions you have as you’re working through the curriculum, or as you're simply running your business, creating your brand, marketing your brand, scaling your brand or any of those things. You can ask me any question, anytime.

I will then answer those questions via audio and written transcript of the audio, which I will then publish as a private podcast feed inside The Next Level Creative™, so that will become a searchable database of answers, which is a really efficient and effective way for you to get your questions answered because, in a lot of programs, you might have to go to a 1-2 hour long Q&A session and might not even get your question answered.. or if you do, it's right at the end and it might be rushed (which we don’t want!) 

This asynchronous Q&A private podcast feed makes it very direct and efficient and it respects your time. So say you have a question like "Okay, Hollie. I'm not sure how I choose between Pinterest and Google for my SEO." I can then record an answer for you, publish that on the podcast feed within The Next Level Creative™, and then you can get that answer.

And another thing? Because everyone else is asking questions about their brand and their business, you’ll actually end up getting answers to questions you didn’t even know you had. BONUS!

Inclusion 4. Quarterly and annual planning sessions

These sessions are incredible, and I’ve even run some of these live in Wellington, New Zealand!. I’ve had incredible feedback from my clients who’ve been a part of these sessions (hence why they’re a key part of The Next Level Creative™!)

We review the last quarter together, celebrate wins, uncover lessons, look at all our numbers and then make a plan of attack for the next quarter, or the next year so that you can check in, get some accountability and make sure that you are moving forward and towards taking your business and your brand to the next level.

Inclusion 5. Guest AMA (ask me anything) days

For example, let’s pretend that you and maybe a few of your fellow creatives want to learn more about how to utilise LinkedIn. What I'll then do is bring in a LinkedIn expert who will be in the community for a day, answering all of your questions. Similar to how you can ask me a question anytime, they will be in there for a certain day or days and you will be able to ask all of your questions about their area of expertise.

Again, even if you’re not interested in learning on that topic now, if you are in future, all of that information from that guest expert will be there, ready and available for you when you are! Super cool!

Inclusion 6. Personalised feedback on whatever you want, whenever you want

Let’s say you have gone through the first section of Map Your Brand Magic, the first course, and you have written your vision which you’d like to share with me so I can give you my feedback, write notes, give you ideas and examples or things to move you forward or give you things to think about based on like my expertise, right? Yep, you can do that. Get your stuff looked at by someone who is a branding nerd and actually knows what works.

Rather than looking at something for so long on your own, where it eventually stops making sense and you can't tell if it's good anymore, this is the best place because you won't experience that. You'll just be able to share it with me or with your fellow creatives and get the advice and feedback on it that you need to be able to move forward!

Inclusion 7. Bonus training and resources

Now and then, if there is a new topic or something that I realise is missing or that I think would be really useful for you or that I'm creating for some other reason you will get access to all of that too.

You also get access to an awesome community of your fellow creatives who are all also taking their business and brand to the next level. So it's gonna be, and it is, a really exciting place to be. It's very motivating, inspiring and as I said earlier, a safe place to be you and your amazing creative self.

I massively believe you are not gonna find another branding program or experience that's as comprehensive and customisable as The Next Level Creative™. 

The Next Level Creative™ is where I teach and guide you to find and create solutions that work for you and to design a brand and a business that aligns with who you are and what your goals are.

There is always, always, always a solution and we can always make things work for you. And that’s what The Next Level Creative™ is all about. 

Everything I teach you is all original information that comes from my experience creating, growing, and scaling multiple brands, including many of my own and those of other creatives.

How will you know if The Next Level Creative™ is going to work for you, you ask?

The Next Level Creative™ is for creatives, primarily artists and makers, but also designers, writers photographers. If you are making or creating something in any way you are welcome in The Next Level Creative™. 

This space is for the people who are not looking for a magic bullet, quick solutions or one-size-fits-all approaches that are gonna make you go viral. 

You know that there are nuances, there are different situations, different approaches that are gonna work for you that might not work for someone else, that might not work for the next person, but we are going to work out a way that works for you. 

I'm going to show you how to make decisions for yourself and help you to be able to build a brand and a business that works for you.

I will share my opinions and my strategic thoughts, advice and feedback with you, but you're not looking for me to say "Do this, make this decision." I’m all about finding what's going to work for you and helping you do that by working together. 

The Next Level Creative™ is also for you if you just know that you're ready to take your creative business to the next level. 

If you are reading this and you are like, "Yeah, I have a vision, I have goals, I know my work is good, I just need to have the strategy, support, systems and the community (and a little bit of nudging along!) to just make this fricking thing happen already… then The Next Level Creative™ is absolutely for you. 

Some frequently asked questions I get about The Next Level Creative™…

Will there be any live Zoom calls?

As I mentioned no Zoom. The only time we'll have live calls is for the quarterly and annual planning sessions and then some quick milestone calls! Those are very infrequent and not required. You will never miss out on something if you cannot come to those things live. I will always provide you with instructions, resources or replays so you won't miss out on anything. 

So this more asynchronous approach is great because it means that no matter what your circumstances or what your situation, you will never miss out. And if you ever do feel like you are missing out, like talk to me and I'll fix it and we'll come up with a solution that means you won't miss out! Everybody gets the answers, support and feedback that they need to be able to move forward in the way that works for them. 

What do I get access to when I first join? 

You get access to literally everything. 

When does it officially start? 

As soon as you join. It's open right now, so you can apply right now! If I think we are gonna be a great fit and I can help you with your business, I’ll accept you and you can be in there in an hour. 

Plus, don’t forget, while I’m reviewing your application you’ll have time to watch the training you get access to for free, just for applying!

What’s the investment to join The Next Level Creative™? 

Right now the price is $3,000 USD or $250 USD per month for 12 months, and you get access for a full year to work on every aspect of your brand with me by your side, with your fellow creators by your side, for a whole 12 months. 

Just imagine where you could be this time next year after we work together, work on your brand, you get feedback on everything you're doing, you're taking intentional action and being really strategic about your business and working on your goals and taking the shit seriously so that you can take your creative business to the next level.

If you have any further questions you don’t see answered above, you can DM me anytime on Instagram or Twitter @makerandmoxie, or you can email me hello@makerandmoxie.com and I will answer any and all of your questions, so we can figure out whether it's a good fit for you or not. 

I also just wanted to note that the application is no obligation. Once you've applied, you do not have to enrol. It's just so that I can get your information and figure out if it's gonna suit you or help you. You can watch the private training that tells you more about the framework and everything behind The Next Level Creative™ and then you can decide if you’d like to join or not.

If it’s not already clear, I am so excited about this experience, I cannot begin to explain to you. 

I've never felt more confident in what I'm teaching and how I'm teaching it, how I'm supporting creatives, and how it's contributing to my vision of making the world a more creative place, one brand at a time. 

If you’re interested in learning more about The Next Level Creative™ or reading through testimonials from other creatives already inside, click here to do just that!