Act 1
Discovery Questions
~20 min
Act 2
Six Essential Ideas
~25 min
Act 1: Discovery Questions
The rules: Short, casual, messy — all fine. Do not edit. Do not polish. Do not second-guess. Think of it like talking to a friend about your work, not writing a grant. Your honest voice is the raw material.
Your Work & Practice
1. What’s the name you create under?
2. What do you make? Describe it like you’re explaining to someone who’s never seen it.
3. How long have you been making this? Has it evolved or circled the same obsession?
4. What experience do you create for the person who encounters your work? Not what they see — what they feel.
5. What’s the creative thread connecting everything you make?
Your Audience
6. Who’s your ideal audience, really? Not “everyone” — the specific person who connects deeply.
7. Where do they currently discover work like yours?
8. What other artists/creators does your ideal audience already follow?
9. When someone becomes a real fan — what was the moment? What did they encounter first?
10. Does your work create community?
Your Differentiation
11. Who are your creative neighbors? (If someone liked your work, who else might they like?)
12. What makes you NOT interchangeable with those neighbors?
13. What would make someone pass on your work, even if it’s their thing?
14. Describe your creative process in three words.
Your Story & Values
15. What personal values show up in your work, whether you intend them to or not?
16. If your creative practice were a person, what personality would they have?
17. What made you start? The origin story.
18. Three things you want to be known for.
19. If your work had a mission beyond your own expression, what would it be?
Your Presence & Goals
20. How do you currently show up online?
21. What 5 words would your ideal audience search to find someone like you?
22. Are there platform rules or constraints that affect how you share your work?
23. “You have to check this out — it’s…” (How do you want people to describe your work?)
24. A year from now, what would “this is working” look like?
25. How will you measure that?
What happens next: After you finish, we’ll learn six essential concepts that explain why these questions matter. Then I’ll pick one volunteer’s answers and walk through the full AI process live — so you can see how raw honesty becomes real strategy.
Six Essential Ideas
The foundation everything else in this workshop builds on. Keep this page as your reference.
1/6
What’s It For?
Not what medium you work in — what change does your work make in someone’s life? Two painters on the same block answer this completely differently. Trying to be both confuses everyone.
→ What happens inside someone when they experience your work?
2/6
Not Everyone. Someone.
“Everyone” is not an audience. The ceramicist making wild pieces that 80% walk past — but the other 20% say “where have you been?” — builds a career. One top-40 hit, $350M in revenue.
→ Who would genuinely miss your work if you stopped making it?
3/6
Your Creative Territory
Think of a map with two axes your audience cares about. Find the intersection no one else has claimed. A letterpress printer doesn’t compete with Canva. Your neighbors are context, not competition.
→ If you drew a map of everything your audience could choose, where’s your flag?
4/6
Making Work People Can’t Ignore
Comfort doesn’t make someone stop scrolling. Tension does — the gap between what someone expected and what they got. For artists: recognition, surprise, and belonging are your forms of tension.
→ When someone encounters your work, what can’t they ignore?
5/6
Your Work Delivers on Its Promise
Quality means keeping the specific promise you made. A hand-bound zine can be higher quality than a $5,000 painting — if it delivers what its audience needs. Different audiences, different specs.
→ What is your work promising — and are you keeping that promise every time?
6/6
What Your Prices Say About Your Work
Underpricing is a signal that says “I don’t think this is worth much.” At $45 cost: $50 = $5 profit, $150 = $105 profit (21× more). That difference funds the creative life that lets you keep making work.
→ What story do your prices tell? Are they funding the life you need?
What the AI Builds — The Brand Intelligence Document
During the live demo, watch for these sections. When you build your own at home, this is what you’re creating.
Core positioning — the creative territory you occupy that others don’t
Target audience — who it’s for, who it’s NOT for, and why
Value proposition — the experience, not the medium
Creative voice — how your brand sounds and feels
Strategic differentiation — why you’re not interchangeable
Creative landscape — your neighbors, not competitors
Artist statement — usable, not pretentious
Build It Yourself at Home
Your process sheet has every prompt you need. Open any AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini), paste the system prompt, paste your answers from page 1, and build your own Brand Intelligence Document. You watched the demo — now you have the prompts to do it yourself.
Sanity check when you’re done: Does it sound like me? Could I explain why my work matters using this? Would it help me make decisions? Would another artist say “that’s clearly not me”? Yes to all four = done. No to any = fix the weakest one.