There has been lots of chatter around these parts about Kathleen. I mean, really? Who is Kathleen?

If the blog world were high school, Kathleen would be that effortlessly cool chick that every girl either secretly or not-so-secretly wants to be. Period.

The Back Story

I first started reading Kathleen's blog, Jeremy & Kathleen, about 2.5 years ago. Her blog was actually one of the first blogs that I ever started reading regularly. She was blogging about food and clothes and adventures, and just made everything look so cool. And that hair!

Then she quit her day job, and started working as a freelance designer. This was when I was about 6 months into my own freelance design career, so her monthly check-in posts ended up almost mirroring my own journey.

I always felt a weird blog-world connection with Kathleen. When people asked me what blogs I read, and I told them Jeremy & Kathleen, I always explained it as if Jeremy and Kathleen were David and I if we'd never had Cute Kid. Young, an obvious left- and right-brain pair, gettin' sh!t done, doing Everest Base Camp. Yup, David and I, except we're lovingly tied down by Cute Kid.

And she's got a killer reputation. I mean, this lady's been featured on places like A Practical Wedding, Design Crush, The Jealous Curator, Making it Lovely, and A Cup of Jo.

I really can't remember when Kathleen and I first made contact, but emails have been exchanged over the months regarding design, tattoos, P90X, and babies. It was just a little flow of friendly little emails and occasional tweets.

A Partnership

Then, there was Alt Summit, when we ran into each other a couple of times. There were the usual pleasantries and chit chat about which session we'd be attending next, and then I went to her round table session about leveraging your blog as an authentic marketing tool. It was my favorite session.

At this point I had had lots of thoughts about taking Indie Shopography from ecourse to workshop, and I knew I wanted to team up with someone who could compliment my "syllabus" to give creative business owners two great days of business development. Kathleen and her branding skills felt like a natural match.

And so, I asked her to join me. We had our first Skype video chat, where she asked me lots of questions about my goals for the workshops, and I sat there with my arm pits sweating like never before. And then she said yes.

What She Does

Kathleen is half of Braid Creative. Her sister, Tara, makes up the second half. Braid Creative is a magical place where the two of them use their powers to help you uncover your brand. And I say this so mystically because they're really that awesome at what they do, and I'm really that blown away by it.

I believe in them so much because I'm working with them to rebrand myself. They had my crying happy tears of clarity after the first 1-hour phone call. They're good.

Which reminds me, we'll need to have tissues.

Here's what they can do for you, and why I wanted to team up with them for the workshops:

• Find a succinct way to tell your friends and family what you do
• Bridge the gap between the brands you love and your own identity
• Identify your dream customer (more niche means more impact)
• Balance your past experience with you big picture vision
• Blending professional with personal
• Leveraging your blog

They have an amazing arsenal of talents between them, and I'm so excited to be working with them, both on rebranding myself and having them join me for my workshops.

The students who sign up are going to be blown away by what they walk away with.

Join Us

Now that you know a bit more about Kathleen and what Braid Creative will be bringing to the Indie Shopography workshops, I hope you'll join us and let us help you grow your own creative business!

Registration is open for the 1-day Austin workshop in May, and the 2-day Dallas workshop in June. We hope to see you there!

Image 1 and Image 3 from Jeremy and Kathleen