Jennifer Bourn

10/08/2024

Design Week Sacramento is ONE WEEK away 🎉 I'm on the planning committee and put together this year's creative conference program and it's FANTASTIC!

The two day conference hosted by Capitol Creative Alliance is happening October 18-19. Attend and access sessions on topics like:

- Balance and self-care
- Building a portfolio and getting the job you want
- Branding, marketing with video, and positioning
- Creative culture
- Arts advocacy
- Building a strategic website
- Navigating creative partnerships
- Building design systems and creating creative campaigns
- And more!

Plus, I'll be leading networking workshops on Friday and Saturday that will give you the opportunity to test new ways to talk about your work and see first-hand how people respond. Each day I'll teach two elevator pitch frameworks (four total) and you'll use the frameworks to write your pitches and practice them with a group.

Get your ticket today and join us for an inspiring and tactical event that will help you advance your career and goals: https://www.designweeksac.com/

06/04/2024

Design Week Sacramento speaker applications are open until June 9! https://www.designweeksac.com/

Our 2024 event theme is “Explore” — get out and explore new ideas, perspectives, tools, creative techniques, partnerships, and the world around you to expand your awareness and get inspired to do your amazing work.

No, talks don’t have to match the theme.

Yes, the audience is a blend of all types of creative professionals: designers, copywriters, photographers, videographers, fine artists, motion designers, makers, creators, etc.

We’re looking for inspiring breakout sessions that encourage and uplift the creative community and of course provide helpful insights and practical application too.

Think helping creatives get more visibility for their work, speak about their work, market their work, build their brands, get clients, improve their crafts, etc.

And think about how businesses and the world interacts with creatives — working with creatives, hiring creatives, finding creative partners, how creatives advance business goals, etc.

If you’re interested or you know someone who might be interested, here’s a link to the call for speakers application:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdcaX1RXzbW714jYBs2RGxCdgBlE7IaOyCsUHNKOMkKaqN_Ig/viewform

05/17/2024

A prospective client asks what your services cost.
You panic and toss out a number.
Then you freak out thinking it’s too high.

So you follow up your original pricing answer with another option at a lower price point.

And maybe you even start to ramble a bit and share all the different ways you could accommodate a lower price.

It looks a little something like this:

"The investment is…
But I also have this cheaper option…
Or, really we could…"

🤯 And your prospective client hasn’t even said a word. They didn’t object to the first price you shared — they haven’t had a chance to respond!

This happens more than you can imagine, so if you cringed a little reading this because it hit a bit too close to home, you’re not alone.

You did three things most business owners do:

👉 You second-guessed your pricing because you likely made a best guess rather than a confident statement.

👉 You assumed the price would be too high and the prospective client would object based on your money story and money beliefs.

👉 You started negotiating with yourself on their behalf in the hopes that it would get you the yes you were hoping for.

But the thing is, you're not them. They're not you.

You don’t know their money history or money beliefs and you don’t know their financial situation, risk tolerance, or timeline and goals.

So you must stay out of their wallets and bank accounts! And you must provide the space for them to decide what they can afford.

So next time you’re on a sales call, confidently share your package and state your pricing then stop talking.

Say nothing. Be quiet and wait.

Will it feel uncomfortable? Probably.

Will it be worth it? Yes!

When your prospective client responds first, they have the time and space to decide what they are willing to invest and if your offer is a fit — and they have the opportunity to ask questions.

It’s a win-win that pays off, I promise!

05/15/2024

Any time I hear people talking about spending less to make more money, it’s always about trimming business expenses to boost profits.

When you don’t have a lot of money left after paying expenses, watching expenses matters.

When you’re a freelancer, often every penny that flows out of your business is a penny that didn’t end up in your pocket.

I get it. When my husband quit his job to join my business, we cut $2,000 from our personal budget to bridge the gap.

But there is an easier way.

What is spending less didn't always mean spending less money?

Most people think to build a successful freelance business and get clients, they have to:

— Spend hours engaging on social media
— Run paid ads
— Churn out insane amounts of content
— Download and hoarding freebies
— Optimize every tiny thing
— Hire a coach (most people invest in this too early)
— Consume content
— Film videos, shorts, reels, and stories
— Pay appointment setters

Here's the truth: you can build profitable freelance business without all of that, and spend less of your time and money to do it.

The one way you can spend less and make more is networking.

Businesses are built on relationships.

People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust.

The best businesses aren't transactional, they're relational because...

— People want to partner with people who have proven themselves to be consistent, dependable, and high quality.

— People want to work with people who have a track record of success — not just doing great work but also providing extraordinary client service.

— People refer their friends and family to people that they believe will make them look good for making the referral and make the person being referred happy.

The opportunities that show up in your business are a direct reflection of who you know and who knows you.

Your future is directly impacted by your network.

This means that networking needs to become a primary objective. You need to find ways to network with other business owners, decision-makers, action-takers, influencers, and leaders.

No one can hire you, buy from you, learn from you, or join your email list if they don’t know you exist.

05/14/2024

You can gain an unfair advantage in your job and in pretty much everything you do, so you win more often and feel deeply fulfilled by your work.

Well, others might feel like you have an unfair advantage.

But really, you're just leaning into your natural advantages — what makes you YOU and who you are at your best — more often.

The thing is, to do that you have to know what your advantages are — and it's about so much more than your strengths.

You have to know...

👉 What energizes you and drains you.

👉 What environments empower you to thrive and create friction.

👉 What piques your interest and what isn't interesting at all.

👉 What moves you to engage, persist, and hit targets.

👉 What value you are uniquely purposed to contribute.

👉 What motivates you to perform at your best.

👉 What you need to be successful and feel fulfilled.

With that level of self-awareness and understanding of who you are and how you're wired, you can thrive in your role, achieve remarkable outcomes, exceed expectations, and capture the attention of those who matter most.

And, if you can clearly articulate exactly what you need to succeed and become a top performer to your boss, team members, or those interviewing you for a new job or promotion, you'll stand out and stand apart and become the front-runner for the best projects or the position you want most.

You can do this on your own.

Set aside some quiet time and use the prompts listed as a start for some serious self-reflection and brainstorming.

Or, gain the clarity you need by taking the Motivation Code assessment.

When you discover your MCode, your personalized results reveal what drives your best work and what you need to be at your best. Even better, we recently rolled out a Lite version of our report, which means you can now discover your MCode for less than $20!

Check it out at https://MotivationCode.com

04/30/2024

Ugh, I just found out that someone created a fake page pretending to be me... and they're posting and tagging my friends and messaging people. DO NOT click anything or respond to anything in a message or post — I'm not sending anything. It's a scam/fraud. And please, do me a solid and report it as fraud if you get a message or get tagged!

11/15/2023

It took me a while to get here but that's it. It's the end of an era! It's done and gone. After 18 years, the Bourn Creative website has been deleted and redirected to https://jenniferbourn.com/ 👋 And now, that site (which will also incorporate the Bourn Creative brand) finally reflects my current suite of services, courses, and coaching 🙌 And as part of this transition, I've started the process of merging the Bourn Creative page into this page 💥 This means you may see a notification about it and that's why.

08/22/2023

Heading to WordCamp US this week and do you know what I'm not doing? Booking appointments. If you’ll be there and you see me, come say hi. I'd love to meet you and chat. It doesn’t matter if we’ve met before or not. YOU are always welcome in any conversation I'm having and l'm happy to introduce you to anyone I know.

08/08/2023

If you want to charge premium fees and be choosy about who you work with, you need consistency to gain traction and build brand equity. https://jenniferbourn.com/brand-equity/

If you want to charge premium fees and be choosy about who you work with, you need consistency to gain traction and build brand equity.

08/05/2023

Learn how broken links can negatively impact user experience, brand reputation, search engine rankings, and revenue — and how to fix them. https://jenniferbourn.com/broken-links/

Broken links can negatively impact user experience, brand reputation, website search engine rankings, and revenue and how to fix them.

08/03/2023

Learn how attending live business conferences, workshops, retreats, and events can improve your skills, grow your business, and create opportunities. https://jenniferbourn.com/attend-business-events/

Learn how business conferences, workshops, and retreats, help freelancers improve their skills, grow their businesses, and get new clients

08/01/2023

How to use Thank You pages to keep people on your site longer, start new conversations, strengthen relationships, and facilitate additional conversions. https://jenniferbourn.com/website-thank-you-pages/

How freelancers can use thank you pages to start new conversations, strengthen relationships, and facilitate conversions