Cat Rose (@CreativeIntro) is an independent graphic designer and founder of The Creative Introvert, a website and community for creative professions who share introverted personality types. In this conversation, we discuss the oddities of life as a freelance designer, the observed behaviour of creative pros and where they fall on the introverted/extroverted continuum, and the challenges of building online communities and creating compelling content.   SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by the new eBook Building Brands: A Practical Guide for Creative Pros to Develop Strategy and Design Identity. Show Notes & Links Cat lives in Brighton, England Prescott has visited Brighton, as well as Rottingdean, and the University of Sussex Farnham, a picturesque town in Surrey with a 10th century castle [av_video src='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTrwF3rbrE' format='16-9' width='16' height='9'] Cat remains a graphic designer, started as an illustrator Behance Spaghetti code Cat draws people's pets Prescott chatted with Matt Inglot on The Freelance Transformation Podcast Flash (dead in name only) How to use Sketch for print design (if you're a complete animal.) InDesign and Illustrator aren't great for pixel design "Leg It" The Irish Goodbye Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, system for determining personality types The Big Five personality traits, aka the Five Factor Model (FFM) Introvert-Extrovert spectrum Ambivert (both introvert and extrovert) Brighton Pride parade, a most extroverted affair People with "I" in their Myers-Briggs result aren't considered for management roles Would you ever go to the movies by yourself? Bill Gates, a well-known, successful introvert Empathy is an introvert super-power, as are deep though, analysis, etc. Limiting self-beliefs, rather than introversion per se is what holds people back Get Your Art Out Summer Camp, a four-week course from The Creative Introvert Learning styles (visual, written, auditory, etc.) Is there a link between learning styles and introversion/extraversion? Mignon Fogarty aka Grammar Girl, a guest on The Busy Creator Podcast, ep. 67 "Applesaucing", re-using your content across multiple forms Pat Flynn wrote two articles (1, 2) about repurposing your site/podcast content Upcycling and Downcycling, terms from Recycling Masterminds vs. Accountability Partners, which do you prefer? (Introverts prefer partners.) Meetup.com The New York City Podcast Meetup Malcolm Gladwell's Connectors The Rule of 3 and 10 for growing organizations  The Creative Introvert  Cat Rose on Twitter  Cat Rose on Facebook  Cat Rose on Instagram  Cat Rose on LinkedIn  Cat Rose on Pinterest Tools Behance MacBook Pro Adobe Creative Cloud Trello Evernote Slack After Effects Techniques Set a brief for yourself to make fine arts more of a "project" Build lasting relationships as a freelancer, even with your last employer Go minimal, if you can. Don't use a mouse and keyboard. Learn quickly, trust that you can teach yourself new tools Repurpose your content to serve different audiences (written vs. spoken vs. infographic) Be careful when creating a community Test and iterate, even on morning rituals Replace "routine" with "rhythm" Approach fearful projects in tiny increments (a six-second video vs. a feature film) Habits Use the software for its intended purpose! Adapt to clients and their workflow Compose your thoughts before filming/recording yourself; not everyone is an improviser. Wake up 4:30-5:00am for early yoga, journaling, meditation Do "the hardest thing" during coffee SaveSave