Announcing: Studio/Practice

On my last trip back to the states I had an awesome exchange at passport control upon seeing my residency in France. It went something like this:

Passport guy: Oh, you live in France. Did you marry a Frenchman?
Me: No, I started my own business.
Passport guy: (with a bit of surprise in his eye) Well, then. Well done. Keep up the good work.

Starting my own business was never in my master plan. After my whopping 10 days of vacation a year at my last job in the U.S. the grad school life was a welcome change not being chained to a desk during certain hours every day, and having more time to travel (alas, less budget). Upon graduating freelancing (a bit of a dirty word still in France) was something I fell into, realizing I had valuable skills. Before I knew it work was coming to me, not vice versa. The catch was – despite having two Master degrees – at no point in my schooling did anyone ever teach me what it takes to run a business. I cringe now as I think how much more valuable a personal finance class would be than that AP Calculus class I took to "get into a good university."

Fortunately, I've been able to befriend many talented freelancer types around the world, and between countless conversations and learning by doing (aka learning from my mistakes) I have figured out the business side of things. But it was with Lauren O'Neill that we decided we needed to do something more and wanted to create a place where other freelancers and creative types could learn those things that they don't teach you in school (we like to call it #thingsiwishilearnedinschool).

I'm happy to introduce you to Studio/Practice, a curated library of tips and tools for creative biz. Sign up on the site to be the first in the know when the official launch happens. In the meantime, have fun with our madlibs, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and spread the word.

UPDATE: Read Lauren O'Neill's perspective on how this project came to be.

Image: My madlibs responses on S/P!