Live workshop · 90 minutes
People buy
from people.
Sales for creatives who’d rather not be sold to. Find the people you click with and win work, without giving up your integrity or leaving your comfort zone.
Book your spot · $49Why this
Most creatives are good in their own space. Give us a brief and we’ll make something great. Ask us to stand up and talk about ourselves and we go quiet.
Sales makes most of us cringe. Who wants to be sold to?
The advice out there doesn’t help much. Sit at your desk, make content, feed the algorithm, and the leads will come. Except the world is full of noise, and AI is making it louder every week. You can niche down and post every day. I’m a bit sick of hearing from experts. Ironic, I know.
People buy from people. Most of the good work your studio has done came from someone who knew you, trusted you, or heard about you over a coffee. That still works. It just needs a bit of intention, and October is when to start, because what you do now decides how January looks.
Who this is for
Established creative studios: design, architecture, photography, branding, interiors. You've got clients, you've done good work, and you'd rather not spend the summer wondering where the next project comes from.
Especially if you’re the quiet one. Not for people starting out, and not for anyone looking for a growth hacking system.
What happens in the room
We'll cover the ways I see studios win work without feeling like salespeople: a good reason to get back in touch, lunch with people who already want to see you, and the odd trip out of the studio.
Then you'll do the first one, live, and send before the break.
- 0:00
Open 10 min
Why October decides January, and what's actually changed about the way work arrives.
- 0:10
The Five 20 min
Which past clients are worth reconnecting with, and the four criteria that settle it. Most people get stuck at two names. That's the useful part.
- 0:30
The Specific Thing 22 min
Why reconnection messages read as either flattery or a pitch, and the rule that fixes it. You'll find one real, current, particular thing about each of your five.
- 0:52
The Invitation 13 min
You write five and you send them. Hard stop at the hour, because a message sent at minute 85 gets no reply before we close.
- 1:05
Replies, and my invitation 25 min
We read out what's come back. I'll also spend a few minutes on the coaching program, in case the practice makes you want the rest of the system.
Bring your laptop and your client list.
Five real conversations opened. Sent from your own inbox, before the break.
What you'll leave with
- 01Five conversationsReal ones, opened and sent from your own inbox.
- 02The worksheetFilled in live: The Five · The Specific Thing · The Invitation. Run it again in February.
- 03The recordingGoes to everyone who registers.
One more thing
And yes, there's an invitation at the end.
You'd be suspicious of a coach who didn't. It's a few minutes, it's near the close, and the workshop stands up without it.
The details
Thursday
15 October 2026
- Time
- 10:00–11:30am AEST11:00am Sydney & Melbourne · 10:30am Adelaide · 8:00am Perth · 1:00pm NZ
- Where
- Live on Zoom. The recording goes to everyone who registers.
- Bring
- Your laptop and your client list.
Who's running it
I'm Damian. Three kids, a hundred acres in the Queensland hinterland, cattle, goats and chickens that my wife does the real work on. Homeschooling. A three day work week, most weeks.
Twenty years in the Australian creative industry before that, and nine years coaching studio owners through the commercial side of the work: the pricing, the pipeline, the numbers nobody taught them. I work with the Design Institute of Australia and present for them.