Maker Division
Maker Division is a podcast for designers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers, and makers building businesses they love — without burning out, selling out, or pretending we have it figured out. Hosted by Ben Burns and Stephanie Owens, two creatives who've spent the last decade-plus in the trenches: freelancing for scraps, growing studios from zero, leading creative teams, and learning the hard lessons that nobody talks about at design conferences. Each episode brings honest conversations about pricing, positioning, portfolios, lead generation, client work, hiring, and the messy middle of running a creative business. No hype. No gurus. Just real frameworks, hard-earned lessons, and straight talk from people who've actually built the kind of businesses you're trying to build.
Episodes
Which Kind of Studio Should You Build? | Ep 07
Artist or problem-solver—which kind of creative studio should you build?Steph and Ben approach their Solo Studios from very different directions. Ben is drawn to business, systems, education, products, and creatively solving problems. Steph wants to make personal work that creates emotion, conversation, and human connection.In this candid episode, they challenge each other’s assumptions—and confro
You Don’t Need a Big Audience to Run a Retreat | Ep 06
You don’t need a huge audience — or a famous name — to create an in-person experience people will value.In this episode, Steph and Ben pull back the curtain on planning profitable, small-group retreats and workshops for creatives. They share what they learned from Maker Division’s Las Vegas events, why intimate gatherings can be more transformative than large conferences, and how a retreat can bec
The Niching Advice That’s Hurting Creatives | Ep 05
Should every creative pick a niche — or has that advice done more harm than good?In this episode, Steph and Ben put their decade-plus experience helping creatives build and grow their practices on the record. They break down the important differences between specializing, niching, and positioning — and explain why treating them as interchangeable can lead to what they call the “niching nightmare.”
Why it's so hard to create | Ep04
Creatives go into business to create... and then resist creating unless somebody else is paying for it. Ben and Stephanie get into why.They break the resistance into four camps: the ROI camp who won't spend an unbillable hour, the identity camp who don't see themselves as artists, the people for whom making is genuinely painful, and the perfectionists sitting on an idea they're too scared to ruin.
Some creative work sells itself. Some needs a story | Ep 03
Not every project needs a case study or a cap deck. Some of your best work just needs to be seen.Ben and Steph break down the three ways creatives show their work to clients: the lookbook, the capabilities deck, and the case study. When each one wins, when it costs you the job, and why it all comes down to who's hiring you and what they're really buying. Two very different careers, one shared conc
The Solo Studio | Ep 02
FREE WORKSHOP: Design Your LookbookJoin us this Tuesday for a free workshop, Design Your Lookbook, taught by Stephanie Owens:https://makerdivision.myflodesk.com/lookbookThis episode is brought to you by Maker Division, our community for creatives building real businesses around their craft. https://makerdivision.comBen Burns and Stephanie Owens kick off a conversation they've been circling for a w
Starting before you're ready | Episode 01
Welcome to the first episode of the Maker Division podcast.Ben Burns and Stephanie Owens decided to start a podcast on Friday and hit record on Tuesday — which makes "starting before you're ready" the only honest topic for episode one.In this conversation, they get into why creatives stall out: the baggage we drag into new projects, the fear of being seen, the websites that don't need to exist yet
Recommended
The Swerve Podcast: Obscure Topics | Conspiracy Theories
The Bread and Banter Podcast
The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament
Deadline: White House
English Vocabulary Help
این نقطه
Solved Murders - True Crime Stories
紐約鳥｜New York Aperture
Doctor Zhivago Slow Read
Apple News In Conversation
The Young and Called Podcast .
Jubal Phone Pranks from The Jubal Show
