Big Dreams, Goals & Fun Resources - Ashley Bush

I just returned from the Creative at Heart Conference, and after a great presentation by Lauren Hooker, of Elle & Co, about Blogging for Business, I've decided to try it out. I'll admit, I've got one foot in the 'blogging is dead' door, but I'm also a firm believer in sharing trade secrets & uplifting the whole community. So, with those beliefs at the fore-front, I've decided to dive-in head first and try out this blogging thing for a few months.

If you're also looking to up your blog game make sure to check out Lauren's resource library & blog - she's a wealth of practical information! Jenny Purr's blog is an incredible resource as well.

My fears are that I'll have no direction or voice, that no one will care to listen to me and that it won't be helpful, but I'm moving forward despite those fears. My hopes are to share lettering, calligraphy & design tips with you. Show you my process for creating things. Inspire you & feature other creatives I admire.

This post is to outline some big business goals that I have in hopes that putting it out there will make me work harder to attain them and also to give you some resources I love.

THINGS I WANT TO ACHIEVE SOMEDAY
(not putting a timeline on it yet, that's too scary)

Send out sample packages to branding companies:
I specialize in hand-lettering, not necessarily branding. I work on lots of logos, but branding isn't just a logo or a website. So I'd like to find other branding companies to be a resource to while they're in the process of working with clients. Right now I'm collecting little goodies to send and trying to find brand companies that fit with my style.

Here are some of my favorite brand bosses:
Ashley & Malone
Whiskey & Branding
Elle & Co
B is for Bonnie Design
The Palm Shop
Nineteen54
Paper + Oats

What are your favorite branding companies?

Teach a workshop:
I'd love to do something different and hands-on. I'm brainstorming ideas that range from hand-lettering & screen-printing, to wedding calligraphy & styled shoots, to lettering logos & making them digital, to watercolor & brush-lettering. Do any of those ideas sound interesting to you?

In the mean-time, while I get my act together, here are some of my favorite workshops:
Mon Voir
Anne Robin Calligraphy
Ashley Buzzy
Stephanie Fishwick (Fun Fact: That's totally me in that picture & I'm wearing that cardigan right now as I type this)
Molly Jacques

Create a type-face:
This is a bigger dream of mine and to be honest I haven't spent much time researching or thinking about this one. So right now I'm just finding inspiration, reading articles and day-dreaming. If you have any resources send 'em my way!

Here's some of my favorite type-faces:
Flat Track by Jørgen Grotdal
Tilda by Jessica Hische
Magellan by Anastasia Dimitriadi
Brushy Alphabet by Molly Jacques (this isn't a type-face, but you can make it do what you want)

Speak at a conference:
This is by far the biggest dream I have, and it's also the most terrifying. I love the idea of connecting and teaching, but speaking in front of lots of people like that gives me cold sweats just thinking about it. I'm gonna have to renew my anxiety meds before trying to manifest this one.

But while I'm waiting for those to kick in, I'll share some of my favorite conferences.
These I've attended:
Creative at Heart: This one was amazing, it's geared more toward creative entrepreneurs, lots of photographers attend this one. What makes this conference unique is that it's all centered around building each other up and creating community, so you spend a lot of time getting to know other professionals and connecting.
An Event Apart: The design conference for people who create websites. This is where I fulfilled a dream of meeting Jessica Hische, oh and the other speakers were pretty awesome too.
Converge: This is another web based conference, but I thoroughly enjoyed attending. They have a wide range of speakers and it's different in the fact that a lot of talks happen at the same time and you pick which ones you want to attend.
These I hope to attend:
TypeCon
Making Things Happen
Illume Retreat

What conferences have you loved or are hoping to one day attend?