Free virtual event:
May 13 - 15, 2025
Make great work & make great money
Yes, you. Especially you.
Let's reimagine what's possible for you and your business.
Learn from 18 creative leaders who've built energizing businesses on their terms. Leave burnout behind and build a business that feeds you in more ways than one.
I'm so glad you're here!
Watch this video to get all the details.
There’s a fine line between being in-demand … and burnout
You started your business with a vision, and you’re just so good at what you do. That’s opened doors, and it’s a credit to you and your hard work.
At some point, things felt like they were getting out of hand.
Burnout is a symptom of scarcity. Building stability into your business is the answer.
The high-pressure client demands, the constant “can you just” add one more thing to your list, the endless churn of marketing that you’re never sure will work…
When you feel like you can’t afford to say no—to anything—it can drive you dangerously close to the edge.
Why is it that, the more miles you’ve got under your belt, the more elusive achieving your vision seems?
THERE'S A BETTER WAY TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
It’s absolutely possible to design a business for time freedom and financial security while also doing the deep, meaningful work only you can do.
What if you could...
Pay yourself well, consistently, not just when big projects land
Take a whole weekend off without even checking email
Protect time for deep work every week, not just when circumstances magically align
Eat a real lunch instead of wolfing down cold leftovers over the sink at 4 pmÂ
Take a walk in the middle of the day to think instead of cranking for 10 hours straight
Be fully present for your partner, kids, friends, dog…for your actual life, in short
That’s exactly what you can do with what you’ll learn at this laser-focused 3-day event!
Let’s make it happen for you.
It’s about time!
The Autonomous Creative Conference
Because you—yes, especially you—deserve to make great work and to make great money by reimagining what's possible in your business. So you can be more present for your life, and have the impact you dream of making.
Discover how to:
- Make more money without investing massive amounts of time
- Design your schedule around how you want to live your life, instead of jumping into action every time your phone pings
- Find your best possible clients without wasting your days feeding algorithms
- Create systems aligned with your creative brain that make your life easier
- Scale your impact without compromising your energy…or your values
Success in business requires work. It shouldn’t require your lifeblood.
You’ll leave this conference—not with a to-do list as long as your arm—but with a streamlined set of strategies designed specifically to support experienced creative business owners to build a business that works with your natural rhythms, leverages your unique expertise, and creates both financial security and creative freedom.
Join us for The Autonomous Creative Conference to learn from 18 creative business experts how to build a stable business that makes your most meaningful work possible.Â
Learn from 18 creative leaders who've cracked the code on:
- Running thriving businesses on 25-30 hours per week
- Commanding premium rates for their specialized expertise
- Building their client base with human connection, not constant content creation
- Taking real vacations without worrying that the business will fall apart
- Consistently reserving space for deep creative and strategic work
What makes this conference different
We take your financial stability seriously — because the money is about a lot more than just the money.
When you're burnt out from constant financial stress, you can't be fully present for your family, your community, or your clients. You can't show up for the people who matter when you have zero bandwidth left.
This well-intentioned attitude of constant self-sacrifice will burn you out until you have nothing left to give.
You must have resources—both financial and energetic—to create lasting positive impact.
Stability equals freedom
Virginia Woolf understood this profoundly. In “A Room of One's Own,” she declared that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” When she received a fixed income from an inheritance, she called it more liberating than even getting the right to vote (which happened the same year).
“No force in the world can take from me my five hundred pounds,” she wrote. “Food, house, and clothing are mine forever... Not merely do effort and labor cease, but also hatred and bitterness.”
Financial stability gives you exactly this: resources that are truly yours, creating the foundation you need to do your most meaningful work.
It creates:
- Freedom from constant worries
- Space for deep, meaningful work
- The power to make strategic long-term decisions and take creative risks
Yes, we need to work collectively for systemic change. But it’s more true than ever that institutions—government, businesses—are unlikely to have our backs. We must build this stability for ourselves.
Why your financial freedom matters to the world
Money equals power and influence—we see this reality all around us. The world desperately needs more creative leaders with amazing ideas and powerful work to have both.
You're not just building financial stability for yourself—you're making it possible to bring your most meaningful work into the world and create the changes we all need.
This conference starts with YOU
Most business advice starts with tactics—what you “should” do. We're taking the opposite approach. We start by getting crystal clear about what you actually need to thrive, then helping you on the path to build systems to support those needs.
We don’t want you to be barely scraping by. We need you to design a business that provides real stability, genuine creative freedom, and the resources to do your most powerful work.
Because here's the truth:
When talented creative professionals are well-resourced—both financially and energetically—they create ripples of transformation far beyond their own lives.
Being depleted and bitter only feeds the systems we're trying to change. That's why this summit focuses on helping you build real financial stability AND creative freedom.
Because your brilliant work deserves to thrive. And you deserve to thrive while doing it.
GRAB YOUR FREE TICKET FOR THE
AUTONOMOUS CREATIVE CONFERENCE!
YOUR HOST
I’m Jessica Abel
I help accomplished creative professionals build businesses as brilliant as they are.
As an author with successful books that left me struggling despite amazing reviews and popularity, I know firsthand that traditional creative business models often don't work—no matter how good you are.
It took piecing together slivers of insight from expensive coaching programs that did not address my issues, over many years to figure out exactly why.Â
That's why I developed a systematic approach to help creative experts design sustainable businesses that provide both financial stability AND creative freedom.
Grab your ticket and join me and 15 creative business leaders for a one-of-a-kind event that will help you design a business for time freedom, financial security, and creative expansion. I can’t wait to see you there!
Everything you need to know about the Autonomous Creative Conference
The Autonomous Creative Conference is all about sharing the tools, strategies, and insights that can unlock the next iteration of your creative business. And it all turns on leaning into your expertise, and putting generic business advice behind you.
When: May 13 - 15, 2025
Where: Virtual!
The Autonomous Creative Conference will run from May 13 - 15, 2025 with a curated collection of presentations to choose from each day.
This event is entirely virtual, so you’ll be able to attend from anywhere in the world via a web browser. Pants preferred…but not required!
Expect a carefully-curated lineup of 18 experts
Our experts' presentations will share focused, actionable strategies in 25-40 minute sessions covering:
- Making strategic decisions about your time and money
- Building systems that support sustainable income
- Growing your business through genuine relationships
- Protecting space for deep, meaningful work
Your free ticket includes 48-hour access to each session—enough time to take action while fitting your schedule.
Make amazing connections in the Autonomous Creative Collective!
Connect with fellow expert creative professionals who are building sustainable, profitable businesses their way in our private community.
This is where you’ll be able to connect with the speakers and other attendees before and during the event!
Chances to Win
At the live Kickoff session, in the community, and at the live Closing session, you'll have opportunities to win special prizes from our speakers! Get your free ticket to find out all the details.
 UPGRADE for extended access and the FULL conference experience!Â
Take this conference from idea to action: Upgrade to the Autonomous Creative Conference Implementation Kit.
You'll get daily live integration sessions, ongoing access to all presentations, a custom implementation workbook, and premium speaker bonuses, so you can:
- Turn insights into concrete action steps for your business
- Get your specific questions answered about how these ideas apply to YOU
- Design systems that actually work for your creative brain
- Practice confidence in your strategic decisions
- Create lasting transformation (not just temporary inspiration)
You'll get all the details (and a special offer) right after grabbing your free ticket!
Finally, a conference that puts your freedom first.
The Autonomous Creative Conference was specifically created with seasoned creative business owners trapped by their own excellence in draining client work, or churning out content without ever seeing the impact it should be making.
Everything you hear about running a business—especially a creative business—focuses on doing more. More offers, more marketing tactics, more income streams.
But you’re already maxed out. It seems impossible to say no to anything, because what will that mean for your income?
And when you’re juggling all the things, you know that the first thing to go is white space. The time and space you need to think, plan, and create.
This is not what you signed up for.
That’s why, instead of hitting you with a million new marketing tactics and ideas for products that quickly curdle into Shoulds and past-due project shame, this conference will help you strategically streamline your business to reclaim your time, while maintaining, and even growing, your revenue. All while prioritizing the freedom and flexibility you need so badly.
Meet the Speakers
We have put together an incredible lineup of creative business leaders for you to learn from at the Autonomous Creative Conference!
Learn from experts who've taken their own path to build profitable businesses that fit their lives and launch their ideas into the world!
DAY 1: From Reactive to Strategic
Take control of your time and energy with simple, strategic principles that actually work for creative professionals.
- Wake up without dread, knowing exactly what deserves your attention
- Choose your working hours based on when you're most creative, or how your life works (kids coming home from school, dealing with chronic illness etc)
- Take whole weekends off without checking email
- Say no to draining projects without guilt
- Have space to think deeply about your work
Oliver Burkeman
(LIVE interview!)
Finding Freedom in “Imperfectionism”
Marie Poulin
Productive By Nature
Susan Boles
Calm is the New KPI
AndrĂ©a JonesÂ
CTRL+ALT+ENGAGE: Rebooting Your Social Media Approach
Charlotte Ellis Maldari
Find More of Your Best
Clients Without Content,
Ads, or Cold Calls
Sarah Von Bargen
Uncomplicate Your Marketing
DAY 2: Building Financial Freedom
Transform your relationship with money and build systems that support sustainable income.
- Pay yourself well, consistently, not just when big projects land
- Take vacations without watching your bank account
- Know exactly when to raise your rates (and by how much)
- Invest in your business without anxiety
- Choose projects based on interest, not desperation
Jessica Abel
How to Use Your Real Life to Guide Your Business Decisions
Jacquette M. Timmons
Fix Your Pricing from the Inside Out
Michelle Warner
Relationship or Traffic Marketing? Why Choosing the Right Strategy Changes Everything
Tara McMullin
Rethinking Your Business Model From the Inside Out
Sandra Booker
Find the One Number That Matters—And Stop Wasting Time on the Rest
Gina Knox
Never Run Dry
DAY 3: Your Creative License
Design a business that protects and amplifies your creative practice.
- Design your work to protect your creative energy
- Build client relationships through genuine connection
- Build systems that support your creative brain and working style
- Reserve time for deep work and big ideas
- Scale your impact without sacrificing your values
Michael Bungay Stanier
How to Begin
LaChelle Barnett
Turn Your Expertise Into a Group Program
Jay Acunzo
What If You Had to Whisper?
How to Craft a Message that Moves Your Market
Melanie Deziel
Turn Your Ideas into IP
Matt Madden
Thinking Inside the Box: How to Use Constraints as a Source of Creativity and Innovation
Tarzan Kay
How to Get Your Emails Opened Before Everyone Else's
Don't miss this event. Click below to grab your free ticket and join us for The Autonomous Creative Conference!
UPGRADE for extended access!
Take this conference from idea to action: Upgrade to the Autonomous Creative Conference Implementation Kit.
You'll get daily live integration sessions, ongoing access to all presentations, a custom implementation workbook, and premium speaker bonuses, so you can:
- Turn insights into concrete action steps for your business
- Get your specific questions answered about how these ideas apply to YOU
- Design systems that actually work for your creative brain
- Practice confidence in your strategic decisions
- Create lasting transformation (not just temporary inspiration)
You'll get all the details (and a special offer) right after grabbing your free ticket!
GET YOUR FREE TICKET & JOIN US FOR THE
AUTONOMOUS CREATIVE CONFERENCE!
It’s time to build work that works…for YOU.
Stop letting other people dictate how you work.
Join us to discover how accomplished creative professionals design profitable, stable, expertise-based businesses around who they are, how they want to work, and what they do best.
