Margo is joined by friend of the Windowsill, Emily McDowell. As an advisor, thought partner, and coach, Emily McDowell helps save creative entrepreneurs’ time, money, and sanity, and helps product-based brands succeed. As founder of the stationery brand Em & Friends, she created Empathy Cards, a more honest and supportive alternative to traditional sympathy cards, which drew organic coverage by hundreds of major media outlets in 22 countries and inspired a sea change to the industry. As a writer and illustrator, her work has gone viral countless times, and for over a decade, she’s been known for creating products that make people wonder if she’s been reading their diaries. Emily is also the co-author and illustrator of There Is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life Gets Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love, and offers unsolicited advice, cautionary tales, and missives from the great adventure of midlife in her Substack newsletter, Unqualified.

Margo and Emily discuss:

• Her experiences in going viral unexpectedly

• the mental shift from creating for joy to creating for profit and how it affects the process and output

• The transition from owning a stationary company to creative coaching

• Challenges and revelations in manufacturing

• Keeping creativity alive amidst business endeavors

• Inclusivity and diversity in creative communities

• The psychological and creative benefits of engaging in non-monetizable creative activities

• Her experience in exiting/selling a business and having a non-compete agreement

• Licensing creative work

Connect with Emily:

www.withemilymcdowell.com

www.thegreatergoodsalliance.com

www.emilymcdowell.substack.com

Connect with Margo:

www.windowsillchats.com

www.instagram.com/windowsillchats

www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill