Mark McGuinnesscoach for creative professionals — Coaching talented, inspiring and ambitious creative professionals since 1996. Author of four books for creatives and contributor to 99U’s international best sellers. Host of The 21st Century Creative podcast.
Milan Zdrahalsenior mechanical design engineer — 14+ years of hands-on experience designing machines and industrial equipment, helping manufacturers turn production needs into robust, production-ready automation. Delivered projects in plants across multiple countries and continents.
Petr Studeny, JDcertified German-Czech interpreter and translator — German-Czech and Czech-German certified translations of all types. Uncertified specialized translations (legal, economic and technical). Officially certified and uncertified interpreting services. Top references, 30 years of professional experience.
Jan de Graaf, PhDbusiness consultant for European trade with Asia, specialized in the food industry and China — Business consulting executive for international companies and their business development and expansion in China as well as other East Asian markets. Working in Asia since 2001, more than 15 years in China.
Ilona Cernochova, LL.M.advocate and real estate lawyer — Legal services for buyers, property owners, real estate agencies, homeowners and housing associations. 15 years of law experience, Master of Laws degree from the University of Passau, Germany, and Doctor of Laws from Charles University in Prague.
Laura Stanescu, MBACzech-Romanian business specialist — Strategic market entry via websites and trade fairs, cultural UX and “user feeling” audits, sensory branding, and senior business interpreting in English, Romanian, and Czech.
Lenka Paproksloganist and name-maker — I invent catchy names, brands, slogans, taglines, and domains for companies and entrepreneurs. Initial analysis of company communication, documents and competition + a set of suggested ideas at a fixed price.
How do independent professionals actually get clients? Not through their content, argues Nigel Rawlins—most work comes from people you stay in touch with. Revisiting his podcast conversations with Mark Goulston, Michael Zipursky, Karen Wickre and Laetitia Vitaud, he unpacks the skill inside word of mouth: figuring out what the other person needs to hear.
"Keep writing. I do, every week, because writing gives people something to forward and a reason to remember you. Just stop pretending the writing is the pipeline. The conversation is."