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Meet Gabe Ratliff of The Artful Entrepreneur in City Park and Whittier

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabe Ratliff.

Gabe, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been a creative weirdo my entire life and have had a love affair with the creative arts since I was very young.  I’ve worked in marketing and media production for almost two decades and have done work from graphic and web design to video production, including roles such as director, producer, videographer, photographer, editor, podcaster, senior graphic designer, web designer, and everything in between — even craft services on a short film.

Over those years, I worked as what I call a “corporate creative” at non-profit, corporate, and start-up companies, which were my favorite because they were scrappy, nimble in their approach, and had a kinetic energy that pulsated throughout the company. Regardless of working in various sectors, from the natural/organic industry to tech startups and even the performing arts — one thing stayed the same, I chose companies that I believed in. Until I was part of a massive layoff from a startup in the fall of 2016 where I had created over 150 feature-length educational shows, ranging from cooking and baking to photography and woodworking. I have to mention that I not only drank the Kool-Aid at that place, but I also helped make it.

Once released from their services, I decided to take some time to do a bit of soul-searching which may have included an ancient Tibetan “death” meditation, a 3-day intensive for mission-driven entrepreneurs, weekend business retreats, and on-going business coaching. All of this hard work took me deeper than I’d ever gone on my path of self-discovery and started my journey of finally answering the biggest unsolved question of my life — what I truly wanted to do or “my purpose”. That journey started me on a new path of entrepreneurship, as a leader and captain of my own ship, along with a newfound goal to serve others with the knowledge and experience I had developed over the years as well as the gifts I’ve been blessed with. This led me to the realization that I have my own unique voice as a storyteller and coach, so I founded The Artful Entrepreneur, which is committed to supporting brands that are creating with purpose and want to tell their story. It is also why I started producing The Artful Entrepreneur podcast (formerly called The Vitalic Project), where I interview thriving creators from all over the world in order to showcase them, their stories, and the impactful work they are doing in order to inspire others to tap into their creative purpose so they can thrive as an Artful Entrepreneur.  With 15 years of working in marketing and production, I’ve learned so much about what it takes to tell stories authentically and to thrive as a creative. I launched The Artful Entrepreneur as a safe place for us to reside as an empowered community where I can share what I’ve learned and we can all grow and thrive together.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth road? Heh! I don’t know one entrepreneur that’s had a smooth road relative to their business. For me, it’s been a winding road filled with obstacles, challenges, as well as self-doubt, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome (like most others).

Fortunately, I’ve had some great coaches and guides along the way as I’ve worked my way to this point in my business. It all started with me working very much from the freelancing (“hired gun”) space, where I then realized that I wanted to have more of an impact with the work I was putting out in the world. It was also when I started to step into the role of being a leader. Then began the shift towards not only telling people’s stories through content marketing but also by helping them to find their voice through podcasting. I saw the landscape changing around podcasting and wanted to help others find the same fulfillment and impact that I’d felt after starting my podcast, The Artful Entrepreneur podcast. It’s taken three years to go from being laid off from a startup tech company that I adored to realizing my dreams and goals through the development of my brand and both of my companies, GATHORA, and The Artful Entrepreneur. I’m still developing both but I now have my “why” to help guide me as I hit obstacles or face challenges from day-to-day.

Please tell us about your work.
I launched The Artful Entrepreneur as a safe place for us to reside as an empowered community where I can share what I’ve learned as we all grow together. We all face challenges throughout life and in our businesses, especially as creatives and we can all overcome them — together. My focus is to help creative entrepreneurs to find their voice and use it to market themselves, their work, and their business through mediums like podcasting. With a background in marketing and production as well as a lifetime as a creative myself, it is my goal to help other creative entrepreneurs to thrive while making the world a better place.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Listened to myself and my instincts more deeply (and more often). There are a lot of distractions in the world these days and it gets harder and harder to listen to ourselves. We need to remember that WE are our own “north star”.

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Image Credit:
Photo Credit: Kelly Shroads

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