(Disclosure: I will not lie.  I have some affiliate links in this article.  With that said, every product I mention here, I have used, read, and/or participated in.  Every single one, I have loved to pieces.)

Catnose Gets Dangerous

[caption id=”attachment_236” align=”alignright” width=”105” caption=”Buy Keep Your Panties Up And Your Skirt Down”][/caption]

If you haven’t been to Dangerous Lee’s Keep Your Panties Up and Your Skirt Down, you should.   One of Catnose’s early comics has been posted on the site with a gorgeous new coloring job.  Safe-sex is very important, and Catnose knows how to keep her panties up when the boys are complaining about protection.  Sasha from Velvet Rasputin and I have been guests at her site before.  It’s nice to see my girl Catnose there as well.

You will definitely want to get Dangerous Lee’s Keep Your Panties Up and Your Skirt Down book.  I have have read it, and I assure you that it is HOT. It’s a safe-sex awareness book that is sex ed with an steaming erotic tip.

I Want To Be a Customer Love Machine

“Yeah, don’t be tinfoil shiny, be diamond shiny.” - Low Brow Events

What I need to get started on any project, is an idea that moves me enough to chase it with all of my might. Passion is my running shoe.

I am taking a course on product development and marketing at the Customer Love Machine.  I am taking a 28-day challenge for the purpose of accomplishing a successful product launch.  Ever since I stopped touring because of my dance stress injuries, my entire business model has changed.  Touring and modeling used to be my bread and butter, so I’ve been floundering from a business perspective.

Time, direction and a strong stomach for change is what I need to succeed once again.  Second-guessing myself and hanging on to the past are my biggest foes.  Just because a business model was shiny in the past, or it is shiny in someone else’s yard, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best shiny business model at this point of my life.

I’ve been following LaVonne Ellis for a while.  She is really good people.  The other person running the course, Jonathan wrote two excellent ebooks on making… well, excellent ebooks.  I signed up for the course because I have a few really neat Catnose Comics things coming down the pike, and frankly, I need help marketing them.  LaVonne and Jonathan’s angle is rather unique.  They believe that the best way to earn customers is to love them.  Seriously, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?  I love making comics, and I love the fact that people appreciate them.  As a former model and dancer, I’m kind of standoffish and intimidating, conveying the love I feel for my fans is not exactly a strong suit.  My autism doesn’t help matters any.  That’s okay!  This is what Lavonne and Jonathan are paid to do.  With luck, these two are going to bring out the Customer Love Machine in me.  In a delightful fan-friendly platonic way, not a seventies porn star way.  I don’t have enough condoms and one sex partner of the husbandy variety is enough work, thank you very much.

I’ve very impressed with what I’ve seen thus far, so I can confidently recommend their comprehensive Customer Love Machine courses to anyone who wants to launch a product.  The previews and freebies were mind-blowing enough to make a sale.  I suppose that getting sale from someone who is naturally wary of online marketing courses and self-improvement schemes, is a really good sign that the principles being taught actually work.

Sometimes self-employment gets very scary, so I need my belly to be strong enough to support the stress.  I worry about not being properly prepared for the challenge.  Still, flying by the seat of my pants can be fun, even if it is dizzying.  It’s also more fun to go on a wild ride in the desert of life with friends.  I’ll just do my best to encourage the love.  Speaking of which, loyal fans who are on my mailing list will be the first ones to get a special bit of love this Sunday!  Want more loving news from Catnose Comics?  Tweet me and I’ll treat you right!  [Insert Isaac Hayes music here.]

For the Emerging Artists

If you want to know about the art industry from a kind person who won’t make you cry, I am not it.  Although I am fair and helpful, I have the patience of a pissed-off Russian ballet teacher armed with a hickory rod.  Don’t worry, I have some excellent resources to help with emerging cartoonists, webcomic hobbyists and ubergoth DeviantArtists avoid a lifetime of working at McDonalds.  If you want to learn stuff, follow me!

Webcomic Beacon

To succeed as a webcomic artist, you must understand how the industry works.  If you are up to the challenge of embracing this art form, or if you are too damn lazy to read, I highly recommend that you tune into the randomly weird, but incredibly informative Webcomic Beacon.  After you are done dancing to the beep-filled theme song, you will be treated to webcomic news, useful industry information, tutorials and pants-wettingly funny commentary.

The Thriving Artists Project

Skaja introduced me to Melissa Dinwiddie, a  Multi-Passionate Creative ARTrepreneur & Creativity Enabler.   This woman is made of cotton-candy and lollipops.  She is just darling.  Because of her lack of jaded paranoia, Melissa is the best person to teach starving artists to find the path towards a productive arts career.  In an act of unexpected kindness, she gave me a free temporary membership.    It really was a cool experience.

What I loved:

- The interviews are very meaty.  Very engaging.  They were my favorite part.
- The site is absolutely painless to navigate.
-  Melissa’s teaching style is very clear and friendly.  She not only does seems warm and open, she really is.

If you are ready to thrive as an artist, you can sign up now and learn from Melissa’s knowledge.  If you don’t have the cash right now, Melissa has two contests going on for a FREE membership.  This one ends tomorrow, and this one is going on as well.  So, like, hurry.

Fractured Atlas

If you need liability insurance, health insurance, news and quality art business courses, you need to be a member of this site.  It’s free to join and you will not regret it.  I cannot even express how amazing this site is.

Anyway, that’s all I have to report!

Cheers,
Vas

Original Article