Creative Crush Revival

Creative Crush is back! I put blogging to the back burner as I focused on some exciting projects, but I'm so happy to be back at it today with Dina Rodriguez of Letter Shoppe! I subscribe to Dina's newsletter (and you can too). Dina just quit her job to pursue her lettering career, and she's going to, and already is kicking some MAJOR ass!WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS : I love being my own boss and being in charge of my own time. I work when and where I want. I have a very specific process that goes against industry standards so it's nice that I can create my own terms so I can deliver my best work. Also, being paid to do what I love doesn't hurt either.FAVORITE CANDY/TREAT : Is it weird to say fruit? I love chocolate and candy but I don't really eat them very much. Healthy body, healthy mind right? If I had to choose I would say it's a tie between apples and cherries.WHAT'S A RECENT FAVORITE FIND : I'm a big fan of Buffer, both their product and blog and they recently shared there top reads, one of which was "How To Win Friends And Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. I remember my mom actually telling to read it when I was about 13 and I totally threw my nose at it. Come to find later in my twenties it was the most life changing book I've ever read and in retrospective I probably would of have made much better decisions if I had read it in the first place when my mom suggested it over 15 years ago. Go figure.HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH YOUR WORK : I've been a designer for the past decade but didn't really fall in love with typography until 2012 where a popular lettering artist by the name of Sean McCabe came on my radar. His work inspired me to try lettering and I have been lettering every day since. I'm proud to say that it's because of that spark of curiosity that I'm a full time hand lettering artist today.WHY DO YOU BLOG : Honestly, I blog to connect with people. I've gone to my fair share of networking events where there were so many green designers coming into the industry completely unprepared for what was ahead of them. Being one of those naive designers myself not to long ago, I wanted to help these creatives in a much larger way. I can reach much more people blogging than I can in real life and by writing down my thoughts I can solidify my own ideas and better educate myself on how to be a better artist.ANY ADVICE FOR FELLOW ENTREPRENEURS : Try it before you buy it. If your anything like me you get a ton of ideas and you change your mind at the drop of a hat . You see something cool, new and shiny that you wanna try and then by the time you figure out you don't even like doing it you have already invested a large some of money and resources.

So to those of you that are interested in learning a new trade or skill, I recommend scouring the internet for FREE resources first. The internet gets bigger and bigger every day and I'm sure no matter what you want to learn you can probably learn for free and try it out little by little. Then once you have reached the bottom of the barrel of free tutorials online, and still have the craving to learn more, then take the opportunity to invest in a paid course or class. Work smarter, not harder and save money.

 WHO'S A FELLOW ENTREPRENEUR YOU'RE CRUSHING ON RIGHT NOW : There are a few creatives that have a major influence on me. The three that I talk about the most would be Mary Kate McDevitt, Nathan Yoder and Sean McCabe. They are all lettering artists that have paved the way for me in one way or another. There willingness to share what they have learned and there transparency on their failures has very much been a large part of how I got to be where I am today.

 

Get to know Dina and check out her amazing work! Beautiful photos from talented Gia Goodrich.