One Month of Swey Studio: The First Dispatch

How it's going, learnings learned, trends discovered. And the joy of life as collage.

I founded Swey Studio at the end of March (why here), and one of the core pillars I promised to uphold was this monthly Studio Dispatch newsletter - a space to reflect and share learnings. So it’s amused me that I’ve been putting off writing it.

Chasing Angels - my other Substack - is a space I come to only when inspired. My poety writer voice gets free rein there, and I haven’t been sure what voice to bring to this ‘professional’ project.

Showing up authentically has come to feel more and more important, so I’ve decided that’s what you’ll get here. Me, but the slightly less wafty, more driven version that gets things done, rather than the one waiting around for odd voices to write through her.

So, how is Swey going?

Well, firstly, I feel wonderful. Which, for me, means it’s going brilliantly.

Wonderful because it feels like the right fit - spacious enough for the creative development I’ve been hungry to prioritise, and boundaried enough that I trust my experience and services can be offered authentically.

It’s been busy, but not impossibly so. The days are full because I like it that way, but not so full that I haven’t been able to rest, heal my injury, move, connect and create.

Enough work has come in and the core pillars - swey.studio website, the Instagram, this Substack and the Open Studio sessions for shared creativity and alignment - are gradually being built out in a direction that feels right.

The Month in 10 Highlights

1. I’m in the thick of lovely projects in web design, strategy and videography.

2. I’ve worked with three coaching clients - all on very different journeys.

3. Two excellent networking events attended, bringing new connections, interesting insights (see below) and one potential client.

4. Video ads made for Jinks Pottery are helping to sell out his classes.

5. A day spent being interviewed about my own writing - more on that later.

6. Open Studio Tuesday night sessions have been expansive. I’ve started drawing again and my novel is at 12k words. Creative life now feels part of a wider collage alongside work life - layering pieces of projects into each day, so they grow simultaneously. This is game changing.

7. First Light Monday alignment sessions are helping me get super focused for the week. These feel odd to host as I’m talking to the ether, but I’m going to push on as I feel so focused afterwards, and something shifts when I show up for the experience.

8. Also showing up consistently on Instagram and LinkedIn produces growth.

9. Core Swey assets have been created like proposal and onboarding templates, contracts, accounting set up, and a marketing plan that includes a project I’m really excited about, which will launch in a couple of months. These have taken quite a lot of oomph, but will stand the business in good stead.

10. And physically, there’s a balance that was missing before. I’ve started running and swimming again, the sourdough is happy, I meet more people and feel awake to the possibilities of life every day. These are very deep blessings. And I am grateful.

What I’ve learned in the first month back freelancing?

1. You need to know what makes you special.

At the second networking event I went to this month, I was one of five women at the same table offering variations on the theme of digital marketing. And that’s not including the other professionals at the event offering niche versions of services I can help with, such as website design, videography, copywriting and coaching.

It took me several versions of introducing myself in different ways to hear something that felt like a true fit emerge, because although I do provide services, I realised they aren’t really what I’m selling.

I’m selling a perspective. And specifically, for Swey, a perspective that helps elevate brands and personal brands so they can charge more.

By no means am I saying the Swey perspective is the only one, or even a ‘right’ one. Thousands of brilliantly talented people design websites, make videos for social, shape branding… But my observation this month is that it can feel uncomfortably competitive offering services unless you truly understand how your own unique Venn diagram of experience, skills and taste brings value.

2. Freelancing means constant learning. This is a perk.

Every project is a completely new terrain when you’re freelancing. Even if you’ve done something pretty similar before, each client brings their own unique challenges and criteria, and therefore each requires a fresh slate.

This can be daunting.

I’ve procrastinated starting projects because I felt scared of not knowing what I was doing. Once I actually started, the answers unfolded, but I’ve had to pep talk myself into remembering that the process for each new client is one of discovery - discovering them and what they need - and that there is also therefore a baseline sense of uncertainty that comes with the territory, which I had forgotten after the relative ease of a full-time role dealing with the same material day after day.

Sometimes that means going and doing more research. Looking at the competition, seeing what’s trending and new - who’s doing a better job than you are, so you can get better, keep improving. Remembering that learning is part of the deal has been important this month.

3. Commitment requires clarity and courage, because you’re on your own with it.

I’ve made quite a few promises to myself with Swey that are designed to provide long-term structure, because freelancing can become a bit free fall without self-imposed routine.

That I feel the need to make public proclamations of commitment to my own creative structures is a trait I’m somewhat embarrassed about. There’s a fear of failure that emerges as soon I do - which brings a healthy frisson of challenge.

I commit publicly only when I am sure, deep down, that the thing is good for me, and that it is what I want. So the commitment is entirely for accountability. And it works.

Hence getting up at 6am on a Monday morning to host a live weekly alignment session at 7am. And hence, at 7.30pm on a Tuesday evening showing up for creativity with whoever wants to join me. I wouldn’t be doing these things if I hadn’t made a public promise to do so. I made a public promise to do so, because when I show up the activity proves deeply rewarding.

But when I’m tired, and already have other things to do, these commitments can feel a bit much. So you have to be really sure you want what you’re committing to first. Because the commitment is a reminder from one part of yourself to another. And ultimately, never for the public you have announced it to.

4. Value is wobbly, so you have to give it structure.

I work a lot with clients around valuing themselves and what they’re offering. Self-value is always a work in progress, and that applies to myself too. Some days you can feel the value absolutely. Some days, when the moon is full and the wind is up, it wobbles.

The groundwork of establishing your professional value, when done well, can become really solid foundations, but you need further structures for support. Consistent pricing, the solid architecture of websites, branding and publicity messaging all help you stay focused and act as protection on the days you might forget who you are, or the value of what you’re selling.

Fabulous other people I’m learning lots from that you should probably follow

Really enjoying these folk. I’ll keep sharing this section each month, as it’s so good to be inspired.

• Anna Mack’s Shoot Your Shot Wednesday

• Dacre Agency: A creative strategy studio with intelligent things to say

• Katy Stevenson Bretton: a creative coach with a motivating Instagram feed

• Papira Design: seriously inspiring stationary

• Artist Tabby Booth: a master of micro reels with big engagement

• Noémie Pino: just bonkersly creative and fun.

Trends in the industry you’d be wise to keep an eye on

Since coming back to freelancing and paying deeper attention to the marketing landscape, this stuff feels new and pertinent…

• World building: there’s an increasing tendency for narrative and visual storytelling to be focusing not just on the central product you’re selling, but to showcase the world or lifestyle you’re buying into as a consumer when you purchase it. This has always been the case in marketing, but with the onset of videography, and the physical need for more shots per content message, you’ll find obscure, tangential references sitting alongside product offerings. Look out for them, start noticing. What would you include in your own brand’s world building if you were pushing the storytelling futher?

• Anti-AI visuals: the more we’re threatened by AI the more visuals are fighting hard to look crafted. By which I mean craft is having a moment. As is handwriting, mess, paint, blurred photography - anything to make things look authentic. Embrace the trend. It’s a liberation. Low budget, high idea.

• Instagram trial reels: a great tool for experimenting in private.

• Instant messaging on social platforms: I’m already exhausted. Not into it. You?

• AI search analytics: look in the back end of your website. Your provider may already be offering insights into how to optimise your site for AI search. If you’re not yet prioritising AI for your SEO, you need to bump it up your list.

I’ll be building out on these and other growth-related topics in coming months, but drop me a message if you’d like more info now.

First Swey Growth Club Blogs

On the Swey Studio website, you’ll find a Growth Club blog for more industry-related info. This helps me build SEO for my website so that search engines know what the website is offering, and also means I can focus on sharing more creatively questionning content here on the Substack.

This month’s blogs:

• What does a brand strategist actually do – and do you need one?

• Affordable high-end branding: what it means, and why vision matters more than budget

• Business development coaching: what it is, who it’s for, and what changes

• Why video for social media is no longer optional – and how to do it with intention

Coming up in May

• I’m booked out until the end of May, but taking free discovery calls now for projects from June onwards. Here’s the link to book if you’d like a chat. There’s never any obligation to take work forwards, and it can often prove helpful to loosen ideas and start thinking differently about your projects.

• Monday alignment sessions continue at 7-7.30am. These are part of the paid Substack tier, which will also be providing more regular insights via email from next month.

• Tuesday Open Studio sessions are 7.30-9.30pm each week. Here’s the link to the Google Meet each week. Free for everyone, always.

• I’ll be interviewing the textile artist Belinda Scarlett at the North Stoke Spring Arts Festival on 16th May about the altar cloth she made for St Mary’s Church (where the event will take place). Come say hi if you’re visiting. There are some incredible 2000 year-old yew trees nearby if you want to make a day of it.

• And my feller, Mathew Jinks, will be selling his beautiful pots at Primrose Hill Designer Fair the same day, in case you’re looking for something lovely to do in London.

Thank you for following along!

In a world of so much noise, creating can feel indulgent, so I’ll try to keep this Substack useful and inspiring. Feedback on what’s working, or what you’d like more or less of, is always welcome.

To join the conversation, subscribe and become part of the Open Studio community.

Wishing you a wonderful May.

Agnes

Founder of Swey Studio