Meet Annie Ridout

We were lucky to catch up with Annie Ridout recently and have shared our conversation below.

Annie, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Since childhood, I’ve written poetry, made music and enjoyed performing. But I have also always been quite entrepreneurial (I was washing cars aged 10, selling on Ebay as a teen, babysitting from the age of 12 until I had my own children).

I studied English at university, and then completed a journalism MA but it took me a while to work out how I could write the articles I wanted to write, and to be paid for it.

I did a stint as a copywriter for a film-streaming company, which was easy work and paid well, but it was also quite corporate and soulless.

Then, after having my first baby (10 years ago), I gave freelance journalism a go and this time, it worked. I launched my own digital magazine so that I’d have the freedom to write what I’d like and soon, national newspapers were getting in touch to commission me.

My ‘purpose’ has always been to share my thoughts and experience through creative writing. That might be poetry about motherhood, essays on creativity, opinion pieces for women’s magazines or online courses that teach others how to shift their work online.

I feel that my childhood drive to be both the creative and the entrepreneur has now melded together.

I write The Creative Way on Substack (annieridout.substack.com), which is about living and working creatively. I teach The Creative Way to earn a living online, and to be a freelance writer, via my website – annieridout.com/shop – and I offer The Creative Way coaching.

I feel creatively fulfilled, I earn a good living and I teach others how to do the same. It feels good.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve reached a stage in my career where I have a lot of freedom and I can choose how I’d like to earn a living. Some weeks, I’ll feel inspired to write poetry and share it on Instagram (and off the back of this, I’ll see a surge in paid subscribers on my Substack), while other weeks I’ll launch an online course and enjoy putting my energy into creating copy that might encourage people to sign up. Since taking a creative approach to marketing, I’ve felt much more comfortable with selling.

I have an idea for a new non-fiction book, so soon I’ll be working on the proposal and then sending it off to publishers. I love writing (and promoting) non-fiction books, so this feels quite exciting. Also, it means I’ll be working as part of a team for a while. But knowing that alongside that, I can write on Substack and launch courses feels important, both in financial terms and in feeling I still have control of my career.

That’s why I teach this creative business model in a suite of The Creative Way courses: I want others to enjoy a similar financial and creative freedom.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My second non-fiction book, Shy, is about how being quiet can lead to success. I believe that my shyness has enabled me to listen well, observe and make good strategic decisions.

And my latest book, Raise your SQ, is about spiritual intelligence. I’ve used spiritual tools, techniques and practices to help boost my confidence, make more sales and generally feel grounded and happier.

Lastly, I like talking. I tell my close people when I’m worried about something. I talk a lot. I keep very little back. As I say the words aloud, I feel lighter. Talking – about the challenges and the wins – is so important.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Just before the pandemic, I launched an online course business that would help women to set up an online business, do their own PR and shift their skills online. It quickly took off and when we went into lockdown, it boomed.

I had three young kids at the time (aged five, three and six months) and I could continue running the business from home, with my husband. But I also wrote my second book and after a year of doing too much, I crashed.

I paused the business and focused on my poetry for a while. It felt like a huge relief to be creative (and still earning) without doing big course launches.

I left London to live in Somerset, with my family, and we had two years in nature, as part of a wonderful community of people, before deciding to return to the city.

Since being back in London, I’ve felt the entrepreneur in me fire up again.

Last May, I launched The Creative Way (be earn a living online) for the first time and sold 100 spaces. I’d been nervous about getting back into courses but I was so happy that people were up for learning online again and liked the sound of this course.

Soon, I was building the course business back up but doing it differently.

I don’t work with my husband now, and I am a proper solopreneur – I don’t have any staff except very occasional website support. I used to have a bookkeeper, an accountant, a marketing manager, web designer, graphic designer.

Now, I feel really agile. I can have an idea for a course and create it whenever I like without checking in with anyone. I don’t do intense launches with long marketing funnels. I work creatively, always. That means working with my natural energy and never forcing anything.

My marketing strategy is: sharing poetry and illustrations on Instagram, work/life essays on Substack and inviting people from both platforms to join my courses and sign up for coaching. I call it The Creative Way – and teach it, in a course. It works very well.

I’m happy to be back in business, but properly taking a creative approach to entrepreneurship.

Contact Info:

• Website: annieridout.com / annieridout.substack.com
• Instagram: @annieridout