

6 Figure Creative
Brian Hood
6 Figure Creative is a podcast that helps freelance creatives earn more money by doing what they love. If you’re trying to avoid the never-ending grind of a 9–5, or just want to earn more money doing what you do best (creating), 6 Figure Creative is your new favorite show! Join host Brian Hood and his guests as they explore topics such as mental health, finances, sales, marketing, time management, the digital nomad lifestyle, and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 1, 2022 • 45min
#185. The 6 Levels of Freelancing - Part 1
Most freelancers have no idea what they are doing and end up stuck in a low-paying, dead-end job because their business never gets enough clients to pay the bills.In this episode, we discuss the levels of your freelance career, and how to move from one level to the next so you can earn more money and work with better clients.If you want to learn how to become an expert in your field, get paid well for your work, and want to work from home on your own schedule, this episode is for you!In this episode you’ll discover:
Everyone starts on the same level
Why you're not special if you take every job that comes your way
How to learn what you want to do with your life
Listening to the market: your clients will help you pick an offering
Why you're shooting yourself in the foot if you offer two drastically different services
Automation: is it helping you or harming you?
What common business advice is actually bad for your business
Imposter syndrome: what to do when it rears its ugly head
Why the generalist never wins
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/185

Jan 25, 2022 • 50min
#184: The 5 Most Clever Ways To Eliminate "Ghosting" From Your Leads
You FINALLY get someone to reach out to you asking for your rates. Wooooo! 🥳🎊🎉You rack your brain to come up with a price for the project and send it off.Days pass… you don’t hear back. So you send a follow up. Weeks pass… now you’re trying to figure out where you went wrong. The would-be client has just ghosted you.The worst part is that you have NO idea why…Was it pricing? Scheduling? Did they decide not to do the project? Did they hire someone else?Did they even SEE your message? Ghosting SUCKS. So we set aside an hour of our time to create an entire episode dedicated to the topic. In this episode you’ll discover:
Why your clients are ghosting you
How to not get ghosted
Building a connection with your customers so they don’t want to ghost you
Why you need to get on the phone
How to create natural scarcity and urgency
Why you should never give your pricing out quickly
How to get help growing your business
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/184

Jan 18, 2022 • 44min
#183: Lead Nurturing | Changing The Way You Think About Client Relationships
Here's a list of the most common reasons someone might hire someone else instead of you:
They don't trust you
They forgot you exist
They felt like you were manipulating them
They felt misunderstood
They’re not confident you can give them what they want/need
They felt no connection to you
What’s funny is that this list is nearly identical to the reasons a new romantic relationship might fail. My point? It’s pretty simple…If you start dating someone brand new, you’re likely going to put SOME sort of effort into building that relationship. Right? You’d text/call them. You’d go on dates to get to know them. You’d try to figure out if you’re compatible by having meaningful conversations. You wouldn’t simply leave them alone and hope they propose to you later, right? You’d intentionally nurture that relationship. It’s the same thing with your potential clients. They reach out to you…but wtf do you do in the days/weeks/months between the first conversation and the point they hand over their hard-earned dollars? Most freelancers do a whole lot of sitting around and smoking Hopium. You’re just waiting for that phone call where the person finally “proposes” to you.On this week’s episode, we dive deep into the process of intentionally nurturing your leads.For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/183

Jan 11, 2022 • 1h 4min
#182: The Word-of-mouth Death Trap And How To Avoid It
It’s the beginning of 2022 and I recently completed my end-of-year retreat where I went off the grid to dig deep into my own businesses and plan for the year. During my retreat, one of the things I did was dig into my analytics to see what’s been working, what’s not working, and what needs to change in the future. This week’s podcast episode is the direct result of one of my most interesting discoveries when diving into my analytics across everything I do. In this episode you’ll discover:
What you’re missing out on if you don’t follow the 6 Figure Creative YouTube channel
Why word of mouth is not the solution for a new business
How to get more clients without word of mouth
You’re a creative who is averse to marketing: now what?
Six ways to bring traffic to your website
How to get your business ranked by Google
Using affiliate marketing in a freelance business
When it’s appropriate to use ads for your business
182 reasons you should subscribe to our YouTube channel in a Blink
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/182

6 snips
Jan 4, 2022 • 49min
#181: Our Favorite Tools For Building A 6 Figure Business In 2022
Implementing helpful tools into your business is one of the best, most cost-effective ways to increase your income or decrease your time spent doing tedious, frustrating tasks. Every single tool we discuss on this week's podcast is created to either straight up make you more money, or save you time, money, and frustration.One quick word of warning...while tools are amazing when fully implemented, a half-implemented tool is a total waste of money. Make sure you're 100% ready to take on the (sometimes boring) implementation phase before using any of the tools we discuss in this episode. In this episode you’ll discover:
Having too many unconnected systems can be worse than no systems
Why Brian is going to fight Chris in a parking lot
Avoiding the Apple Mail app
The power of Keyboard Maestro
Eliminating pain points so you can maintain flow state
Why giving away free merch is worth it
The system behind a successful follow-up
What Chris Graham wants in his inbox (hint: it’s feet)
Is it worth it? Camera and lighting equipment for video
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/181

Dec 28, 2021 • 59min
#180: Overwhelm
Being overwhelmed can stop you from achieving your goals and living the life you want. This can be especially damaging when you run your own business, so your livelihood relies on you alone.In this episode, Chris and Brian talk about how they deal with overwhelm in their businesses and in life. They also discuss mental health issues such as PTSD, ADHD, and ways to cope as a self-employed creative.Get ready to start 2022 in the right headspace for success: listen now to learn more!In this episode you’ll discover:
Why Chris Graham is not and never was straight edge
Why episodes 75-125 were our best episodes… For now
How to handle overwhelm
Dealing with PTSD as a business owner
Addressing the symptoms and the root cause of an issue
The news is a giant timesuck
Surrounding yourself with people who support you instead of tearing you down
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/180

Dec 21, 2021 • 1h 4min
#179: Is The Antiquated Commercial Recording Studio Dream Dead? Maybe Not... | With Steve Ornest
For decades, recording studios around the world were able to thrive in a healthy music industry full of platinum albums, hefty recording budgets, and, most importantly, ACTUAL profits.Things have steadily declined over the past 15 years with large commercial facilities closing down left and right. For many studios, the final nail in the coffin was the COVID-19 lockdown. While many are failing, some are still thriving despite the struggles of many other studios. In this week's interview, our guest has turned things around in a big way in an iconic LA studio called Total Access Recordings. Listen now to learn more!In this episode you’ll discover:
What it takes to get your foot in the door at a “legacy” studio
How fresh ideas can save older recording studios from going under
Reducing your overhead by using extra resources you have
The cheesy romcom of one Socal studio in the late early 2000s
Growing out of a brand image you struggle with
Making a name for yourself in the local scene
Finding a need and basing your business moves on that
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/179

Dec 14, 2021 • 51min
#178 From Homeless To $130k/yr In Just Three Years | With John McLucas
In 2017, John McLucas was homeless and sleeping on a foam pad in his one-room, windowless recording studio. Just a few years later, he's earning a six-figure income as a producer working with pop artists to provide a high-value, white-glove service.How did he make this massive change? While there isn’t one thing John did right, there are a few big things he did that you can start doing today to put your own freelance business on a similar trajectory. Listen to this episode of 6 Figure Creative now to learn more!In this episode you’ll discover:
How John went from sleeping on his studio floor to earning six figures… In three years
Why offering a premium service is one of the best decisions you can make
How to differentiate your business from the competition
Thinking ahead 10 years: will people still want to work with you?
How to deal with online haters and trolls
The power of harnessing TikTok to generate leads for your business
Why it’s important to avoid overworking yourself
Methods of dealing with plateaus in your business
Learning to invest in your education to grow your business and skills
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/178

Dec 7, 2021 • 55min
#177: Using the Power of Humor to Grow Your Business | With Obedient Agency
Humor is a great way to connect with your friends 1 on 1, but it’s one of the most difficult things to do right in marketing (1 on many).Allie LeFevere of Obedient Agency has spent the last six years helping companies find the sweet spot between lame, lifeless jokes and cringy, over-the-top humor to get their marketing just right.Listen now to learn how Allie has built her business from a two-person partnership to a thriving agency with 8 people on the team!In this episode you’ll discover:
How you can make your brand memorable
Why your brand shouldn’t always fall in line with your personal tastes
What goes into good humor in copywriting
How Allie systematically creates amazing copy
Why being different is vital
How to crush objections before they’re mentioned by your clients
What happens when a robo vacuum meets a literal pile of sh*t
How to handle yourself with confidence
Why you don’t want to be the business who does everything
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/177

9 snips
Nov 30, 2021 • 59min
#176: How To Use Email Marketing To Land Corporate Clients As a Photographer | With Daniel Clark Cunningham
Most freelancers shy away from the corporate world because “they’re special snowflake creatives who will never sell out and could never possibly be fulfilled working with corporations”. The reality is that any creative work can be fulfilling. The beauty of working with corporate clients is they actually have budgets. With budgets come options...
The option to actually make great money as a creative.
The option to turn down clients who don’t have budgets.
The option to do bigger, better, more creatively-fulfilling projects.
This week’s guest, Daniel Clark Cunningham, is a perfect example of this. He’s worked with many household names – from Discovery Network to Dale Earnhardt Jr., to Chevrolet – and he’s learned a lot along the way.He’s also taken a very unconventional path to get to where he is today. Listen now to learn how Daniel used “the war of attrition”, constant failure, and email marketing to build his photography business. In this episode you’ll discover:
How to level up from broke clients to well-paying gigs
The three things needed to succeed as a freelancer
Why internships are sometimes a necessary evil
How to outlast your competition
When to work on projects for yourself
The key to understanding your clients
How being ready to say “yes” brings opportunities
How to explain why you’re worth what you charge
For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/176