Finding Your Tribe with Uncool Designer, Anna Dower

Finding her tribe with her Uncool Designer podcast, designer boss lady Anna Dower has created an international community hub for freelance designers.

We talk about the start of her journey, from producing information resources for her clients as a freelancer. Leading to one-to-one coaching and then supporting larger numbers of people through online courses and Facebook community groups.

With her focus on using "ten years worth of mistakes" to help her fellow graphic designers succeed in their own business. She has established a formula of priceless advice that is easily portable across many freelance work sectors.

Links

• Anna Dower
• Uncool Designer Podcast
• Designer Boss Summit

Transcript

Martin Franklin 0:18 Feels good to be wearing headphones again. So one of things I wanted to talk to you about in this episode was my experience of identifying the topic of this podcast. I just kind of thought through what what is what is it? What is the bit that I'm really interested in. And now I'm on episode three, I finally realized that the heart, the heart of it, for me is about people. And people who have found a way to do interesting things on the internet that involve other people. So the creation of online communities or, like in my last episode with Kirby Ferguson, he's not only done that, but he's actually found a way to leverage other producers that like his work online, and let them help him make make his ongoing series of amazing movies that you should, you should check out if you are not familiar with his work already.

Martin Franklin 1:27 So that brings me to the topic of this week's podcast, which is an amazing person who does amazing things online with communities of people.

Martin Franklin 1:42 Anna Dower is someone I've known for a little while. And the thing, which I really like about Anna is that she is an absolute font of practical, actionable information. And her focus is enabling other people in the design world in her case, to do what it is that they want to do. So she's turned her own expertise into insights into a particular group of people that she wants to sell her services to. So she supports online communities, she produces a podcast, she produces an online summit event.

Martin Franklin 2:26 She's a mentor, and works in that kind of area, basically, dispensing information and advice that she's gathered throughout her career in the design world, to enable other people to take a step up. So it's a really altruistic approach to take when constructing a business. So in this conversation, she talks about what she does, how she does it, how long it's taken her to do it.

Martin Franklin 2:55 And in the process kind of gives me a few little little insights and takeaways for my own work as well. So let's jump into this chat with Anna Dower, designer, boss, uncool designer, and all round amazing person.

Martin Franklin 3:11 What I want to talk to you about was two strands, really, the first one was an interest in online businesses and the development of digital communities around that. And then the second sort of strand of questions was particularly about podcasting and the, the space that occupies in your business. Okay, from what I know you're much loved as a as a mentor, and community community leader, indeed, a goddess among designers is, is what I've heard,

Anna Dower 3:48 I'll take that title

Martin Franklin 3:51 As well, as producing your your own content and mentoring other designers. You know, you got this whole business in that field. And I was curious about how did that

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