Curious for a Living

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Part manifesto, part how-to, will help you strengthen your client relationships, become more profitable, and do more satisfying work, all through the power of asking better questions.

Includes a free copy of my workbook, "Essential Questions for Purposeful Projects," in editable PDF format.

"Expertly deals with the issues that all freelancers have regarding being treated more like a trusted advisor/collaborator than a yes-person doing a client’s bidding.” –Paul Jarvis, author of Company of One

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What’s Inside:

How to avoid being labeled a “builder of stuff” and become an indispensable advisor and co-creator
5 universal drives that inspire creative work
The business case for curiosity
13 questions to move you into clarity, impact, and success
How to work with wrong answers (’cause you’ll still get them, sometimes)

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Your most meaningful work comes from asking the right questions. Here’s your practical guide to doing just that, and building more satisfying–and lucrative–relationships with your clients and collaborators.

Have you ever wondered why some of your projects sing, while others are just… Me too. I’ve wrestled with this mystery a lot. Is it the people involved? The perfect budget-timeline balance? Some celestial alignment of planets (or lack thereof)?

Maybe. But I think there’s something more important that’s often overlooked.

The most critical success factor for any creative project is curiosity…

…that is, asking the right questions along the way, and creating a collaborative space that invites genuine inquiry. This is true whether you’re working on a business, consulting gig, new product, piece of marketing collateral, software application, or research report. The deliverable could be anything you like; the most important questions are the same.

When you get deeply curious – about the people you’re working with, and about the project at hand – you move beyond the surface of things, towards the heart: the heart of purpose, connection, and what matters most.

And when you take your work to that level, you build better solutions and stronger relationships – two things your business needs to thrive.

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“Lauren’s book is a brilliant and refreshing look into the inner workings of creative projects. This forces us to re-evaluate not just how we interact with our clients, but the deeper, underlying reasons for why those relationships are the way that they are, and how to change them for the better. The book expertly deals with the issues that all freelancers have regarding being treated more like a trusted advisor / collaborator than a yes-person doing a client’s bidding. The best question you can ask yourself is why you haven’t already downloaded and read this book.” –Paul Jarvis, author of Company of One

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I want you to have more projects that sing (and fewer “just okay” ones).

This short e-book is split into two sections:

A brief essay on how asking better questions totally transforms the value you bring to your clients and projects (which helps you become indispensable and able to charge more); and
The 13 questions I consider essential to ask on any project: go ahead, I want you to steal them.
Plus, I share some tips on what to do when you get terrible answers to your excellent questions.

If you want to stop feeling like you’re taking orders from your customers, and become a trusted advisor and co-creator – or you just want your next creative project to soar – you’ll find guidance in these pages.

“Thank you, Lauren! I had a preliminary meeting with a potential client – closed the deal in one sitting and made a new friend with your questions.” –Carmen Spagnola, Sacred Made Simple

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