This article was updated on July 23, 2024, to reflect current course offerings and costs.
I was considering quitting. I had begun drawing seriously in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Before that, my art primarily consisted of Zentangles and tutorials to learn more advanced techniques with digital watercolor. I didn’t think of myself as an artist. I could push out the word illustrator but didn’t think I qualified as an artist even though my {#NOWORDS} line of greeting cards was doing well. I wanted to try my hand at art licensing but was completely stuck. Google had failed me, and I was ready to throw in the towel.
It was August 2022. I was on a business trip to San Diego, where I was staying in an amazing Airbnb in Little Italy with a view of the water. I sat on the balcony, watching the sunrise over the harbor. I sipped my latte, enjoying the deep-roasted espresso with oat milk, and journaled, as I was wont to do every morning. I wrote, “I’m not sure this is for me after all. Maybe I should just let it go.”
I closed my journal, picked up my phone, and scrolled through Instagram. An ad for the Artist’s Side Hustle caught my eye. My pulse picked up the same way it did the first time I saw my husband, and I knew this was something big. I clicked Learn More. A week later, I had a structure for growing my business in the margins since I was still employed full-time and enrolled in Leverage Your Art.
What The Class Does Well
The content
The best thing about Leverage is how comprehensive it is. Some women collect shoes. I collect classes (and shoes, but that’s another story). I have taken MANY classes, but this was the first time I honestly felt like I was getting my money’s worth. Leverage is not cheap. My husband and I decided it was a worthy investment and tapped our savings account. Yeah, at $1,997, it’s savings-account-type money. But it is truly worth every single penny.
Stacie Bloomfield teaches LYA and has a thriving, seven-figure business called Gingiber. The course is broken out into logical modules such as:
Your Style, Your Story
Building your Brand
5 Ways to Share Your Work
Licensing Foundations & Workflows
Leverage Your Art on Products
Leverage Your Art with Multiple Revenue Streams
When I took the class, there were downloadable workbooks and resources for every module. Stacie still offers digital resources but now offers a physical workbook and goodie box for the first 350 students who sign up for the course.
Course content is dripped out and includes self-paced videos, recorded expert interviews, workbooks, industry resource lists, design briefs/assignments, templates, live calls with Stacie and her team, and a licensing rate calculator.
More importantly, Stacie is wonderfully transparent and thorough. I remember thinking, “Finally! This is exactly what I needed!”
Payment Plans
As I said above, Leverage is not cheap. However, Stacie offers a payment plan if the full tuition is not feasible upfront. I opted to pay in full and then finance back into my savings account. Not everyone can do that, so the payment plan comes in handy.
Non-Creative Experts
Leverage brings in IP Lawyers and agents and provides a plethora of information on the business side of the house. I learned about the Profit First method, which I immediately implemented in my business finances. I also began registering my copyrights with the Library of Congress and could navigate every step of that process easily because of the module Stacie devoted to it in Leverage.
Catch Up Weeks
Stacie paces the course so that two (maybe three) weeks of the eight-week course are implementation weeks. No new content is released, and you have time to catch up on all the assignments and design work released so far.
Expectation Setting
Stacie makes it clear that students should expect to spend months implementing everything they are learning and not think eight weeks is all they need. Two years later, I’m still going back into the workbooks and modules and implementing all the things I’ve learned.
Where the Class Falters
Fabric Focused
There was a heavy emphasis on the fabric industry, which was not on my radar at all when I took the class. I had a hard time staying engaged during those lessons, but I had committed to keeping pace with the course. So, those modules felt out of sync for me. That said, we teach what we know, and that is where Stacie does a lot of her licensing, so she’s teaching what she knows and doing it well. It’s just something to know going in.
Study Buddies
I signed up for the extra study buddies track. I wanted an accountability group. I knew the class would be overwhelming. My group was lovely, and we still meet once a month, but the guidance from Team Leverage was minimal. I was the assigned leader and did my best, but it felt like we never achieved any natural synergy while the class was going on.
Team Leverage has updated how they run Study Buddies since I took it, so I’m hopeful new enrollees will have a better experience.
Drip Pacing
I understand why teachers do this. I like to get everything all at once. My free time ebbs and flows. I would have liked the option of keeping going in the weeks when I had more time so that in the weeks when I had less, I could keep pace and not rely so heavily on the catch-up weeks. If they gave you the option to choose whether you wanted drip pacing or all at once, that would be phenomenal.
Verdict: Sign Up Today
Overall, Leverage Your Art is the best of the breed. It’s comprehensive and full of information and resources to change your career. Since I took the class, I have:
Overhauled my brand and website
Created 20+ collections
Organized my work into a portfolio and created sell-sheets
Pitched my work to companies
Licensed twenty illustrations
Began teaching seamless pattern creation at a local art studio
Taught two workshops on using the creative arts for healing
Have spoken at multiple events about using the creative arts to heal trauma
Launched a monthly newsletter about course design optimization.
I cannot recommend Leverage highly enough. Everything on that list is a direct result of taking Leverage Your Art. Get on the waiting list or sign up today.
Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links for which I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you should you make a purchase.
Janet “Toni” Federico, PMP, MBA, MFA, is an illustrator, surface designer, writer, and curriculum designer from Washington, DC, now based in the Midwest. Toni helps online course creators optimize their content to ensure students learn what is being taught. Toni’s courses have been used by the State of Texas, major insurance companies, and in her own work as a teaching artist.
Are you an online course creator looking to optimize your courses to set your students up for success? Get Toni in your inbox.
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