Your Happy Hour - Creative Networking

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Welcome back to Your Happy Hour with Friday Feels!This week we finished off our new theme - authentic community - with Digital Marketing Expert and now founder of the Creative Lunch Club, Klaus Heller who shared his journey on the importance of connection, collaboration and betting on oneself in order to build a great community for creatives out in the world.Do you consider yourself a creative and how are you finding your community out there?Friday Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced byswartkat.co via the awesome tech platform:riverside.fm

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well whatever it is, this moment is just for you. And we're back, It's another Friday. A big welcome back to you all.

We're still chatting about a very important theme for this month of January and it's called Authentic Community. And we've covered some ground already talking about finding community as you travel, finding community as you co-live and work around the world. And also how you find community as you transform yourself, how you rebuild yourself into a new human, the human you were born to be. And this week we are wrapping up this theme

with a very special topic of creative networking. Now I do believe that we are all, every single individual out there, a creative soul. Of course some people choose to channel that creativity into artistic pursuits and passions, and those become careers sometimes. But we find ourselves in a time that's a very strong creator and creative community and economy.

So how do we actually find community within all of this chaos of creatives and creators? I have a very special guest today joining me to talk about exactly that, how to build community for creatives in a very fun way. So to unpack what it looks like, a very big welcome to you, Klaus Helle, digital creative, you've had a lot of success

in building digital marketing streams for yourself, and now you're doing something very cool as the founder of the Creative Lunch Club. So very welcome to the Friday Feels podcast, your happy hour and it's just really nice to have you here. Yes, thank you so much. Thank you for the invitation and thank you for having me. Yeah, of course and so today we're chatting about creative networking. I know that's very much up your alley, that's exactly what you do. So maybe just give us a little bit of a rundown. What's your journey been? How did you get to this point? What does the topic mean for

you? So yeah, I'm based in Vienna. I'm living and working from here. I was working in social media marketing since already since 2010 so where there were only Facebook and Twitter back then and so a lot of things also changed and then back then we all thought this is gonna be the very positive force social media and then democratic force, so didn't turn out this way. But still I was very fascinated from social media and also how to use it for companies and because it was such a new communication channel. I was working then for a social media marketing agency for five and a half years

before I started my own business in 2016 and was working as a freelancer supporting companies big and small in their social media activities so like helping them to find new customers, sell their products or just reach their audience on social media. In 2023, I then started a new thing because I always like to meet people and I think I was also like, I was working a lot from home so I was also wishing to meet other creatives in my neighborhood, in best case. And so I started a community called Creative Lunch Club.

It's a community for people working in the creative industries, so like graphic designers, photographers, artists, architects, musicians, all kind of creative professionals. And the concept is very simple. As a member, you get matched with two other members from your city once a month. And then you set up time and place and have lunch together. It should be a casual, fun, easy way to meet other creatives from your city

who are also doing similar jobs like you. And yeah yeah it's a self-organized concept so I only do the connecting and then it's up to you when you meet and also what follows after the meeting. So yeah. That's amazing. Yeah I remember when I came across Creative Lunch Club I was kind of looking for, like, where are all the other creatives out there? And I was traveling around France at the time, but you're in quite a lot of cities now. I think you're in over 150 cities across the world. Yes, yes, it's 150 cities, yes, around the world.

So in a lot of them in Europe, there are also many cities in the US, in Canada, also Mexico, in Mexico City at least, and also in Australia and New Zealand, and also in Cape Town, it's our only African city right now, but we also want to expand there, and I launched also Tokyo and Seoul lately, and also this year I want to move to some Asian cities also as well. Wow, it's growing quickly, that's amazing and it you know at Friday Fields we're very passionate about global community and obviously helping people be more human and more you know celebrating being a working professional. I feel like creative lunch club is very much about that And how what was the first one like for you? You obviously kick-started it and you must have had a creative lunch at some point and

Yeah, yes, I think I also created it for myself for sure And I also do it not every month sometimes. I'm also very busy, but I also try to do it. Yeah as much as I can. It's always nice to meet other people and to get a glimpse of other professions. My first creative lunch club was with a photographer from Vienna, with Uli and UX designer, Alice. It was very nice and really when I had this very first lunch with two other people and I really realized that this concept really works also. And we had a great talk for like an hour maybe 90 minutes I think we had some good lunch in a nice restaurant in Vienna and Yeah, it was all in all a very

Good experience and I think with other creatives even if they do something very different like photography or UX design You still have this this common ground With things you can talk about so like I think most creatives are facing the same challenges, have sometimes the same problems. And I was also, I think, yeah, it was also a very, a reason why I wanted to not make it too broad, the audience or the members, so really focus on one specific group of people because then I

think it's easier also to connect with other people. Yes. Yeah, it's true. You kind of understand, like you say, the challenges and things like that a bit more. I feel like so many people are embracing the creative space now and I'd like to call it the entrepreneurship, you know, artists and entrepreneurs really figuring out what that looks like. And it's great when you can connect in person, because I mean, I guess after lockdown, we were all yearning for being able to see people in person and be able to discuss things. And creative ventures are unique in that way. You know, there's so much that you can draw up on a document and share, but then there are things that you have to talk about over a table, The been the case for people like what's the feedback been for people who have these lunches? The feedback is very positive. People really really like it, really tell me it's easy to

connect with the other person and people even told me they became like best friends, they did some collaboration afterwards, they worked on the same project, sometimes also one of them hired the other one for a project, so it's always good I think to know people who are doing different stuff than you and you can add a different profession to your own business. As long as the lunch meetup really happens, I think that's kind of an issue right now. It's also like in our times people are also sometimes flaky. And so sometimes it happens that one or the other isn't writing back. So that sometimes that creates a not so good experience for the people. But as long or sometimes it's because we all are asking

or creating this all have very busy timetables and sometimes it's then hard to find a date together but as long as this happens the feedback is very positive yeah. It's fantastic I'm sure someone's gonna meet the love of their life somewhere along the way. Hopefully, hopefully yeah. I hope I'm invited to the wedding. Amazing. I also have to say I wanted to, I mean sure, I would be happy if someone finds the love of his life, but it was also like a very specific reason why I also chose these groups of three. So I also wanted to avoid this state situation.

So it should be more like a casual meetup to meet other people and not this one-on-one. And I think with three people it's always easier to have this conversation flowing. Yeah, that's true. That's true. It definitely makes for less one-on-one pressure. I think it's a good idea. Now you've fully gone into being an entrepreneur. You've always been doing that, but now fully into Creative Lounge Club. What has your experience been like going from working for companies to doing your own thing and now starting this venture like what's been the challenges what have you found the journey to be like? I mean in the beginning now I would say like because I was doing like social

media marketing freelancing now for eight years and also I was doing social media marketing, freelancing for 8 years. And also I was working long term with a lot of my clients. So I had some clients I was working with for 6, 7, 8 years. And sure I like my clients totally. But it also gets kind of boring. Especially for me also. Like it's every year the same procedure. I already had the feeling for the last two years that for me it's time to move on and time to do something new.

Also, I think if I wouldn't have founded the Creative Lunch Club, I would have at least positioned myself a little bit different, maybe going more into strategy or something like that. So it was for me on the one hand a very easy decision then to start full time with Creative Lunch Club because it was also running so good. I mean it took me some time, it took me at least a year before I really had the guts to really go full into it and to really tell all my clients that I will stop working with them because yeah, sure, there's this worry that maybe it doesn't work out so good as you want and for sure like in the last year I had some financial safety net with my clients so it was and now I have to earn my money with the creative lunch club and make the business really run well. But it feels I think like really when I made the decision, it felt immediately that it was the right decision for me.

Also like the last half year was very stressful for me because I had to run these two businesses together and now I'm having way more time and I'm feeling also way more relaxed now because I can focus on one thing and not doing a lot of different stuff. For me it's really cool also to do a lot of things I was doing for my clients in the past like social media marketing or building up a community or running Instagram ads now to for my own brand which is also very nice thing to do and yeah I really like it as I can also recommend. That's amazing. Yeah, no it's how great that you've been able to use all those skills in order to do something for you now and to build something cool

in the world that other people can enjoy and to build something cool in the world that other people can enjoy. And there is such a need for this, aren't there? I mean, something I've noticed is that there's no LinkedIn for creatives. I don't know where creatives are finding one another. That's a topic that we've spoken about a little bit in the past and something I hope to address,

but it's so important to build this kind of community. And so it's great that you can channel all of that that you've learned and that you can follow your intuition. I think sometimes life brings that. It's like, okay, this is the opportunity and you take it and you say yes, and it feels good and you run with it. And that leads into the next thing.

And yeah, you just never know really where life might take you. Like, did you feel 10 years ago, if you thought back to where you were then, that you would be doing what you're doing today? No, not so exactly, but I was always sure that social media marketing, freelancing, that I won't do it forever,

or that it won't be the last thing I start or something like that. So I always know, working with other clients, I will do it for some years now. And it was also kind of building my own business, for sure. But I think I always knew that I will start something on my own at some point in time. And I was just waiting for the right idea

or maybe waiting for the right time. Because I had this idea with Creative Lunch Club, I think six or seven years already ago. But I also have the feeling right now, or two years ago, it was the perfect time to start it because also I have more knowledge about a lot of things, also like a lot of new tools in the meantime which make it easier to build a platform like this. Also as you said, in the society there's this need and this wish for

things like communities like this. And yeah, so I'm happy that I waited for some time or that I started it two years ago. Yeah, it's good to wait for the right time. I think we can be so impatient sometimes, because you want an idea to come into the world very quickly but sometimes you know your own life and other things need a catch-up and you were talking about tools So I'm quite curious as AI change the game for you Are you using it with creative lunch club or how are you seeing other creatives may be using it? And is it changing this the digital marketing space?

Yeah, AI is for sure a very big change for the digital marketing space and for the creative world or for the creative industries. Yeah, it's probably one of the biggest changes like compared also like to this whole digitalization and it will in the next years, I think completely change how we work and how we do things. Or it is already changing how we do things and then the process or the improvement of AI like this image generators and this video generators

is so fast, that's really sometimes even scary, I would say. For the creative lunch club right now I'm not using it so much sometimes to get some inspiration a little bit for some some posting or something like this or for some text but I'm working a lot of with automation tools automating a lot of processes in the background database tools something like that yeah that was also kind of new for myself So I also learned a lot in the last in the last years but Yeah, I think AI for us create this

Yeah, it's for sure very Challenging moment in time. Yeah, I mean there will always be this need for real artists, for real art, but I think a lot of these standard things like, yeah, a lot of my friends are photographers, and they are for sure kind of afraid because a lot of things you can already do with your eye instead of shooting in the studio and there already are some campaigns who are completely produced with your eye

so like for the for the average photographer it could be yeah there will be for sure a lot of changes also in journalism. But I was always thinking like trying to adapt and trying to find also new opportunities or trying to find how you can also recreate your own business around these new opportunities and don't... Because you can't stop it, so it's already there. And so you have to adapt to things. Yeah, I guess we have to embrace it, embrace AI and find our kind of unique, authentic way through it all. You know, I think that we're very much in the dawn of

what does authentic art look like. People are embracing that, like you say, you know, for artists it's going to be challenging. But it will probably push us a little deeper into ourselves to find that real magic of what we see in the world. And you know, there's always this race and then to every trend there is an opposite trend. So I think also like in the next years also this analog or this like from people, for humans, great that thing. We'll also have a big comeback and then we'll also yeah maybe it's some kind of quality

that you really shoot your own campaign and really work with a real photographer instead of doing it with AI. Let's see. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think AI can never really replace soul. There's something about a creative spirit and soul. And you know, even with Creative Lunch Club, what you feel when you're with people in that moment, in that essence of that magic, you know, it cannot take that away. It can generate lots of cool ideas, but it can't take away the brainstorming and co-creation and that artisticness. We cannot really create something totally new, like as we humans do.

And maybe, I mean, it would be best case that I do what I like, the boring stuff for us, we can focus more than on the real creative work. We can write the invoices, the draft management maybe or whatever. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. It can definitely do all the admin. I don't want to do any admin. So Tommy, as you've been building this now obviously there have been challenges obviously in your career as well as you've been growing. What have you felt has been like that thing that someone has said or maybe you kind of discovered it in yourself like some kind of piece of best advice that's carried you forward or that you've carried with you that you can share? Okay I think there was one thing which really also motivated to really start Creative Lunch Club.

It was by Joe Holder. I mean, he's a fitness trainer, personal trainer, but in a very holistic way. And he's also talking about community and stuff like that. Very motivational and also posting on Instagram and threads a lot. And I was like in this time when I wanted to start Creative Lunch Club but also was afraid to really start it and because I wasn't sure how people will think of it and sure I was afraid that someone will say that it's a shit idea or something like that or people will not like it, sure they think that's especially for a great this a big fear

that other people won't like your work and he was posting something like I think it was like really like April 2022 till end of 2024 it's my full bet on myself era. And then I also thought like, because I was working with clients and doing my work, which I think is good for clients, and then I thought like, maybe I should really bet fully on myself with this and then give me myself like one and a half years and just try it out and then I really, I did, I bet on myself and it luckily it worked but I think we should, maybe we should bet on ourselves more often and really have the trust that it will work. And even if it doesn't work, I think if you tried it and then failed, it's way better than if you haven't tried it at all.

And I think that's the thing we really regret, maybe when we are older, the things we didn't try. Because then you always have this feeling like, I should have tried this and this, that. So I think trying and failing is totally okay. And also you learn a lot of things when you try. It's true. It's true. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I think we definitely need to bet more on ourselves I think we're very critical Society we very critical of ourselves and of other people And everyone has these amazing dreams and we always so scared to go for them. So I'm really Happy that you bet on yourself bet on yourself and that creative lunch cup can now exist in the world

And yeah on your point Bet on yourself and that creative lunch cup can now exist in the world. On your point, I remember my dad actually said to me, he's been a kind of serial entrepreneur as well, and he said, he kind of just thought, well, if it doesn't work out, then we just go home. We just go home and we try again. It's okay. So. Yeah.

And I also found out in the last years, you know, if it's something that people don't like then they just ignore it. So nobody remembers all the things you did in the internet. In reality the internet forgets most of the things. And if you just try something and it doesn't work out, nobody will remember in one year about it. So there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Yeah, true, true. We are focused on ourselves, but we're the only ones really that are focused on ourselves. I think it's always a very good thing to make these small pets also like to find the easiest way to launch something or the

easiest way to bring something to life and for sure not invest like a lot of money just find an easy way how to test it out and then see how the feedback is and then you can build on from this. Yeah that's really great advice because I think a lot of people feel now I have to leave one thing, totally make this massive jump and like throw all, you know, kind of, for lack of a better term, balls to the wall and go for it, you know, which is great in a lot of respects, but sometimes you can do the agile way, which is just really like step by step, and then you're also testing the whole time, like you say, what the market wants, what you like, because sometimes our perception

of what we like is so different to reality. So it's nice to kind of get that feel. I love that. And it's a, yeah. You haven't yet, you haven't to have it figured out everything in the beginning. It really nobody has. And so you can just start and then figure things out on the beginning. It really nobody has. So you can just start and then figure things out on the way. I also changed so many things in the back end many many times. But you can only learn how to do things when you really do it and then you also get the feedback from real people also. Yeah true true, true.

And get an idea of what's the illusion in your mind versus reality of the demand out there. So, when you're thinking kind of along these lines of where you see Creative Lunch Club going a year from now, where do you feel you would be, Where do you feel the company would be? I mean, like for this year, I really want to, on the one hand I want to build a sustainable business, for sure, because I also want to expand in many different cities this year. So like, also then, I think there's a lot of creativity, or there's for sure a lot of creativity

in like African cities, like Nairobi, Olagos, Johannesburg, and I also want to go there, also like then to South America, there was a lot of creatives up East, and really build a worldwide community where people can connect with each other. And yeah, I think like this year is like also some view of consolidation, like really make everything also running smoothly because last year was also like sure some kind of chaos and like also it was growing way faster than I expected so it was hard to keep up with the work. Also fine for myself, yeah good structure for my life and for my working days.

I don't want to build a big company, that really not my plan but maybe get some support on one of the other tasks. Yeah and also meet other people who are maybe doing also similar things. I lately talked to someone from Chicago who was also building like a community there and then that's also very nice always to listen to other people who are doing similar things and also to give some advice. Let it go with the flow it seems. It seems like it's going to be a really interesting year for you as you kind of walk fully into it and however Friday feels as a global working community can help and be

involved we obviously want we excited to see you growing for people to be connecting and yes absolutely there's so much talent in Africa do you go visit these places when you activate the city or is it more? No, unfortunately not. I would love to. But I would not to, but I also don't know, it would be too much. Now I'm spending my winter since the last two years in Cape Town, which became a little bit like my second home. In the meantime I already know some people there and I really like it there because people

are so on the one hand creative but also very kind, very warm and it's really a great place to be. And sure also in the next years I also want to travel to at least some of the places and meet people from the community there. I'm also planning to go to New York maybe this year in April or May. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, if you do end up traveling to all of these places, we'd love to see it on the socials and we're happy to. We'd love to come along if we can. Make it happen.

I'm very glad to hear that you're enjoying South Africa, that you're enjoying Cape Town. It's a very special place and that it's also coming from somebody else, not just me, that's very biased in that opinion. I still have my home in Cape Town too and I hope to visit soon, also maybe in April. Yeah, it's really great that you're enjoying it. It is a beautiful place for anyone who wants to go and check out the mountain. But I want to take a quick moment just to do a little shout out while we're talking about this. We're doing this thing called our People, Places and Spaces around the world and it's really the places that, yeah, spaces that we feel have got the feels, the Friday feels feeling. And actually in Paris I found a cafe called Josie Cafe.

Now it's my understanding that I think the two people who founded it are actually from France but met each other in Johannesburg. Probably are creatives, I've yet to meet them. And like Johannesburg is also known as Joberg or Josie or Jolburg for people who are very social. And it is actually my hometown. So it was really amazing to be able to find a place here in Paris that is giving me a little bit of home feels and yeah, just a really cool spot close to the Panthéon. So I just wanted to say thanks to you guys for bringing the feels, for bringing a bit of home to me. And then on that topic,

I wanted to move into a little section that we do. It's called the Gems. And what we do is we talk about kind of things that were good this week, things that we felt gratitude for, maybe that were hard, that we learned about. So I'll go first just to give you an idea. And you're welcome to share if you want.

So on the topic of home and all of that, I actually had quite a hard week in the last week. My grandmother passed away and I was very, very close to her. Thank you. And it's a great topic to talk about this because she was extremely creative spirit and also very very passionate about community and she's really been, I realise now later in my life

like that creative soul that inspired me. We were always baking and painting and doing all the things and she was very excited for all my creative endeavors to be in the world. So I feel very honored that I can honor her today in this episode, in having chatted to you about authentic community, about creative community. So yeah, but it was really a difficult week and it was awesome to then be able to have a coffee, a Josie cafe and feel a little bit of home. So yeah, really feel privileged to have had her as a grandmother and for all creatives out there that are wondering if you can do it, I know her spirit is gonna come and inspire you in some way. So yeah, so that was really a

dream for me this week just having gratitude for having shared my life with her in some way. What about for you? It's beautiful. What I just said. Thank you. For me, I think it's also having the privilege and the opportunity to build this community and also to go this way I'm right now going. Also have the freedom to work like I really like to work and I have the flexibility to create my own working day and really also work where I want to from and also have the privilege to do some things like going to South Africa now and work from

there now. This freedom and this flexibility and this independency is for sure a privilege which a lot of people don't have. I think for this I'm very grateful and very thankful. What's your favorite spot in Cape Town to go work from? I mean I really like gardens, this area. I also like Saunders Rock Beach for the sunset. It's always great to sit there on the stones and watch the sunset. Yeah, that's probably my favorite spot there.

Amazing, amazing. Well, thank you for sharing. Yeah, and I agree with you. I think having freedom is the ultimate joy and being able to create that freedom. I think this is the beautiful thing about being a creative and artist. As tough as it is. On the topic of kind of creative economy and for anyone out there who's wondering how we make this happen it's really about partnership I think and about community and coming together and so thank you to Riverside FM who's our partner for the podcast for

the Your Happy Hour podcast, helping us make it happen, a little bit of a spotlight on them, and they also very kindly have given our audience and community a discount. So if you are a podcaster, a YouTuber, a content creator, or just someone who's keen to kind of create some amazing production,

check them out. We'll post the discount on fridayfields.co on Instagram and you're welcome to DM us and ask any more questions. And if you need any podcasting advice, we're here. And then I have one more question for you, Klaus. And that is something we're also doing now called the stack. The stack is our reading list, our favorite books, recommended books, anything like that, that we're now adding to our website.

So we ask our guests what is in your stack at the moment. I start with my all-time favorite because it also matches the conversation. Trevor Noah, this South African podcast host now and former daily TV show host. And Borne Grime, which is for sure the most funny, the funniest book I've ever read in my life. But you also learn a lot about African history or African, South African society so I can really recommend this book because it's really a very funny book and a great read. Also from Rick Rubin, how is it called? I forget book names, is it called? Yeah, this one. You know for sure something like this is how to create art.

Yes, I've heard about that. I've heard about that. A very inspiring book about this creative process. Yeah, and he also has some very nice and inspiring approaches. Yeah, we'll definitely be adding those to the stack. Thank you for recommending them. And especially Trevor Noah, I have yet to read his book, actually. But I did see him live when he was still unknown.

He was really just he had just started out and we went to see him. And he was so funny. I was I was literally almost wetting my pants. And now he's so big. And it's amazing to see and how well he's done and yeah that sounds great and this it's always so wonderful to read these like you mentioned the poetry and prose and quotes and things that inspire you along the way so talking about inspiration and all of that how where can people find

you how can people connect with you and yeah what's the best place to find the creative lunch club yeah you can just it's just creativelunchclub.com. That's our website where you can also sign up for the Creative Lunch Club. Also just to mention there's a membership fee of 10 euro per three months. Then you get matched with two other creatives once a month, so always in the beginning of the month. Yeah, on creativelunchclub.com you also find all the active cities, all the infos about the Creative Lunch Club, how it works. And also you can also find us on Instagram. It's also Creative Lunch Club, easy to find. Great, great. Well, everyone should check it out and go and follow Creative Lunch Club and sign up and I hope maybe at some point down the line

in the future we'll host a Creative Lunch Club Friday feels mixer that it could be fun but yeah go check it out and for everyone else listening out there where are you finding your creative community? Are you a creative looking for community? Are you feeling creative looking for community? Are you feeling inspired maybe to go and chat to other people that are like-minded and find some inspiration and some motivation to get creative?

We wanna hear all the feels and yeah, thank you so much Klaus for coming to share with us today. We're excited for your journey and to see where this all goes and keep us posted as well so that we can celebrate with you as you go along creating this incredible community. Yeah, thank you for sharing today. You're welcome, you're welcome. Thank you for having me. Also thank you for this great space you're also creating with Friday Fields with this great information for other creatives or like inspiring content I think there can never be enough from these spaces

where people find the sense of community and also find the sense of inspiration from other people what they are doing and yeah thanks thank you very much very nice to talk with you likewise likewise and of course and cheers till next time out there bye bye if you haven't just yet follow Friday feels on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn. You can share with us all your feels this week by tagging us at fridayfeels.co and you can also find the website at that handle.

And now as you ease into this weekend, take a moment, celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome and what is yet to come as you do the crazy and cool things that you do as the authentic you. You know the truth about life and work is that it's hard but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are in it together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week and of course keep it raw and real. Until next time!