A Freelancer’s Favorites: Illustrated Tips for Working From Home

First of all, I want to say the last two weeks have been surreal, and we all deserve a deep breath.

I’ve been delighted by the intentional way people are being good to each other and despite massive shifts and challenges, I am holding the energy that we will come through COVID better than we were before.

As I’ve been hearing stories of the challenges of shifting to working from home, I wanted to share a few of the tips I’ve learned from other entrepreneurs, as well as through trial and error over the past 6 years of owning my business and working out of a home office.

Without further ado — I give you: llustrated Tips for Working From Home!

Click through on each to see the different tips!

If you need a daily dose of uplifting stories, I love @Upworthy on Instagram. And of course for mellow snippets of the garden, chickens, and bees, come on over to my feed too!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

At Home! I hope you are too :) Even though live events have been cancelled for the next few weeks, I’m always impressed with how my clients adapt and innovate on the fly, and I’ve been live digital graphic recording for a few projects on Zoom.

Phoenix, AZ At the third annual ShapingEDU Unconference. This group in particular is on the cutting edge of technology and learning, and there’s no other group I’d rather adjust on the fly with. We went from a hybrid in-person and remote meeting on the first day to fully remote on the second — more on that in the next newsletter!

If you’re finding yourself on more video calls than ever before and need a way to keep participants focused and anchoring participants to a common story (theirs!), let’s explore how to leverage digital graphic recording or remote facilitation for you!

Tales from New Jersey Part 2: What I Decided to Step Into and How It Went

Have you ever shared something that seemed like second nature to you, but when you shared it, people were delighted and learned something new?

Last month I got to surround myself and learn from others in my professional field at the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP) conference. Here’s part two of my reflections from the event on where the field is headed and where I’m showing up.

For the first time, I presented a breakout workshop during the conference. At IFVP, I’ve always seen myself as a newbie, even though I’ve been a graphic recorder and facilitator for more than 8 years. I love teaching and facilitating, and I thought it was about time I offered something from my perspective back to my community. The topic? Email marketing that feels authentic AND builds your business.

Stepping into my expertise felt GREAT. People had a blast and applied what they learned. I may have flossed (the dance move, not the dental hygiene…At least not during my workshop). Sharing things that seemed obvious to me were revelations for my audience, and it was a treat to get to share more of my quirks and winning humor with my captive audience ;).

So I encourage you to consider: How might you stepping into ownership of your knowledge? How are you giving back to your community? Whether it’s volunteering or simply offering smiles to strangers, you can have an impact far greater than you know!

Want your meetings to have a greater impact? Let’s talk about how visuals can elevate engagement, understanding, and action at your event!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

CU Boulder: Teaching a short-course on basics of visual communication and graphic recording for the Master of the Environment summer program. These students got it right away and immediately jumped in with two feet to re-design infographics on agriculture in Boulder County.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Back with the New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force to support a Summit on Maternity and Infant Care for professionals across the state. A favorite session and graphic recording chart was on Mindfulness Meditation as a tool for self care. Namaste!

Aspen, Colorado: For the 10th annual Tech Policy Institute Aspen Forum! I learned about and scribed everything from “tech-lash” to cryptocurrency regulation to AI and machine learning and the role policy plays

Here's Why I've Been So Quiet Lately

With a warm heart…hello!

July and August have been packed with adventures spanning opposite ends of the spectrum… Starting and ending with two incredibly detailed explainer videos to be prepped and filmed in half the time it normally takes. I’m super stoked to share these videos because I experimented with new techniques and styles. They are scheduled to come out early in September, and you all will be the first to know when they are fresh and viewable!

In the midst of the video-making came a trip to attend the annual IFVP conference (aka the gathering of My People).  In my next newsletter I’ll be sharing my top insights from the meeting of the thought leaders and innovators I was lucky enough to draw, learn, and laugh with for three days.

After returning with a full mind and heart and nailing the second explainer video, gears shifted entirely when we packed up and trucked off to Idaho to raft the Middle-Main Salmon River for 11 days. Yep, that meant no cell service. No internet. We didn’t even have a satellite phone. Just the music of the river, the canyon wrens, our friends’ guitar and fiddle, someone calling “fish on!” and a few hot springs bubbling up along the way. Seriously.

It always amazes me how easy it is to fall back into the rhythms of our most basic needs: food, shelter, staying safe. And, more deeply, the need to connect genuinely with the earth, with ourselves, and with those around us. While it may feel counterintuitive or stressful to completely unplug, especially as a business owner, each of us that DO can immediately feel the power of giving ourselves this time to be present, disconnect and make room for some white space. That time to let ideas mull in the background and bubble up to the top of your very own mental hot spring can give rise to some of our most important and powerful ideas.

I always bring my paints on river trips and this time I was more intentional about making time to draw. Trust me, between rowing, unpacking the boat and happy hour, it takes discipline to get the paints out! Here are a couple of my favorite plein air sketches for you to get a sneak peek this week before I go posting them on Instagram. If you haven’t already, follow me there @ConverSketch for more behind-the-scenes graphic recording and watercolor shenanigans.

Adieu for now. It’s good to be back.

Click on the images below to see the larger versions on the blog.

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I'm on a boat! Here I am in my plein air river studio -- the 12 foot raft I got to row down the Middle-Main Salmon. Lots of gratitude to my amazing husband for outfitting me with the sexy boat + setup for this trip!

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A post-trip shot of a two page spread of our camp where Indian Creek (on the right) joins the Middle Fork of the Salmon (on the left).

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Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

 
Cheers, Karina




Need someone to be the balance between focused and creative for your next event? Click to get in touch about your next meeting or event that could use a touch of graphic facilitation magic.

How to Stay Relevant & Infuse Generosity Into Your Business

Howdy!

Can you believe it? It’s been a year since I started sending out these little nuggets of creative inspiration. And I’m proud to say that I haven’t missed a single one I’ve scheduled since I started.

I’ve chosen to hold myself to high standards. Even though writing isn’t necessarily my favorite thing, and there were days all I wanted to do was tell y’all that sometimes…well, sometimes you’re just not feeling creative. Peace out.

But there was something else that kept nudging, even when it would have been easy to blow off an email. I remembered that I respect and admire each of you, and I want to give you this small gift of an email every two weeks. I know you are all busy and your inboxes are packed, so I make these as succinct, engaging (and clever) as I can for you. Maybe a pun will brighten your day, or maybe you needed a little reminder to make space for creativity.

Not only that, but I’m doing some pretty cool work that I want to share with you. Developing new techniques, styles, processes to support your work, and products to show appreciation or refine your vision for the future and what you can do to get yourself there.

So what can I share with you this week? As usual, what I’ve figured out by trial and error ahem, experience. Be consistent. Here’s how:

Remember why/who you’re doing this for. If it becomes just a chore, that will become apparent in your work. If you’re having fun and sharing for the love of it, that will shine through too. As good ol’ Paul Simon said, have a good time (with it).

Make your commitment known. Social science shows that when you verbalize something you aim to do in front of others, you’re more likely to actually do it. Chalk one up for social norms.

Give yourself time for iterations (who does this sometimes? Karina raises hand). This is secretly a two-for-one. A) Schedule time to write, brainstorm, plan. If it’s not in my calendar, it’s not real and I’m more likely to blow it off or get distracted. B) Don’t expect to write it perfectly the first time. If you do, great! Use that time you expected to iterate to go for a bike ride or something. If you need that time, know that you’re still a creative force to be reckoned with, sometimes it takes time and breaks to be able to really tap into that Creative Genius. Which is a beautiful segue to…

Know that despite what everyone’s social media feed is telling you, creativity can be a slog (term coined by the amazing Marie Forleo). By that I mean it can require tenacity: moments of blinding clarity and creative genius peppered among many sessions that may feel mediocre. But all that purposeful action will yield improvement, if only you give it time and energy to germinate and bloom. So Hug the Slog, love the journey and put your time in. Because forever is composed of nows (yeah, that’s Emily Dickinson, via the incredible Em Shepard).

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I read every single one of your emails, appreciate the feedback and requests that have helped me learn and grow as I figure out this newsletter thing. So, as this next cycle of ConverSketches unfolds, I’ve been developing topics and doodles that I really, truly hope will help you make sense of the world and have a little more fun with it too.

If you liked this tip, it would be AWESOME if you shared it with your friends!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers, Karina



Creativity is a drive. I'm real good at helping you or your team see where you can focus & leverage your energy. Click on to talk about your ideas.

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

My newest explainer video collaboration is out! Click the image above to find out how dliberative dialogue and facilitation can shift the conversation from adversarial and argumentative to curious and productive. Thanks to Creek Consulting for the inspiration & Wes White at Shadowlands Media for the excellent production.