July Retrospective: Back in July 2014, I wrote a daily series exploring the realities of navigating the creative economy. Twelve years later, looking back at these entries (and my original awful hand-drawn illustrations!), I’m struck by how the core truths of a creative career remain completely timeless. Each day this month, I’m opening up the archive to share these foundational lessons—with a few modern reflections layered in.

If you’re a new creative graduate looking to find your footing in the creative economy, a Gen X looking to pivot into a creative business, a side-hustler or someone who just wants to up their creative business game, there’s something for you in this series. Just don’t judge my drawings 😉

Why You Need to Have a Product/Service Range

Yesterday (day 6) we discussed the need to have a ‘freebie’ for people to sample your work.

Today, I want you to start thinking about offering a range of products or services.

Fashion houses do this really well – they have a pyramid of goods they offer.

Think of Chanel. At the top of the pyramid is their most expensive offering, their haute couture. This is unveiled in a semi-annual collections, garners a lot of press attention, is all made by hand out of the finest materials, and its cost is out of reach of the vast majority of shoppers. Further down the pyramid is ready-to-wear; less expensive, but still a premium product. Many of the ideas in the couture filter down into ready-to-wear, but there is less hands-on work, more duplication and lesser-quality materials. Moving down the pyramid are all the handbags, shoes, and accessories. These are at a lower price point, but still benefit from the prestige of the brand. At the bottom, and where they make the great bulk of their profit, is perfume (and lipstick): inexpensive to produce, sold in high volume and accessible to the average consumer.

If Chanel stopped producing couture, they would lose out on all the press attention and prestige associated with the brand. One haute couture dress sells thousands of bottles of perfume.

You want to have a pyramid of goods/services too.

Let’s call it your Gold, Silver and Bronze offer.

Your gold offer is your most expensive, most hands-on, most high profile offering. You probably won’t sell very many of them, but that doesn’t matter. It establishes your brand.

Your silver offer is still high quality, but involves less of your time or personal investment.

Your bronze offer must still be of quality, but is something that can be duplicated or offered in a group experience. You will probably sell most of these.

Let’s consider some examples. For the painter your bronze offer might be a greeting card or a lithograph of one of your works. Your silver offer might be a limited edition print and your gold offer a custom painting.

It’s a bit trickier for performing artists, but let’s be creative. For your bronze offer you can sell a digital or audio recording of a previous project. Your silver offer might be a group show and your gold offer a solo piece.

Writers might sell a short story, or ebook, as their bronze offer. A print book as their silver offer and a bundle of two or three of their books, signed, as a gold offer.

Do you see how this works? You want to create a ladder of purchases that people can make. Give your customer options – they’ll feel better about it and you’ll make more money.

Action: brainstorm and come up with you bronze, silver and gold offer. If you’re stumped, use the comments box below to ask for help and we can all help you figure out your offer.

Enjoying this? Why not share it with a friend who would benefit from the July Challenge!

Longevity in a creative career isn’t accidental—it’s built on strategy.

While the landscape shifts, the core principles of thriving as a creative freelancer haven’t changed. For deeper, modern frameworks on building a sustainable creative practice:

• Read the Book: Looking for a step-by-step field guide to building a resilient career in the creative economy? Pick up my recent book The Thriving Creative: Successful Freelancing in the Creative Economy available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from my publisher Routledge.
• Stay Connected: Join my community and to receive the complete 31-day hand-drawn playbook as a single PDF at the end of the month. Sign up below.