Since 2003, Renegade Craft has been on a mission to build a creative community through thoughtfully curated events. Founded in Chicago and active in four other cities—San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle—each year, Renegade helps more than 3,000 artists sell their work to approximately 300,000 people. But it’s not just about selling art. Renegade describes its small but mighty team as a thoughtful group of artists and friends who are excited to build, cultivate, and foster creative community.

How did you hear about Anchor Advisors?

I found the guy (Brad) who has been my go-to business expert for the past 15+ years, literally just by searching “business help” online. Back in 2010, after several years of running a brick-and-mortar retail location along with Renegade’s events business, I was struggling to figure out whether it was realistic to make the shop profitable. I needed outside expertise. As soon as I met Brad, I knew he was the person I wanted to work with.

When you started working with Brad, what were you hoping to accomplish?

Over the past 15 years, I’ve worked with Brad at critical moments in Renegade’s evolution, calling on his expertise to help me solve acute problems. For example, during our first engagement, Brad helped my team understand how much our retail location needed to generate each day to cover costs and turn a profit. When he broke it down by day, it quickly became clear that we wouldn’t hit our numbers and that our time would be better spent investing in our growing events business. Every time I’ve consulted with Brad about a particular challenge or dilemma, I’ve taken his advice, and my business has benefited.

Any stand-out pieces of advice or moments of growth?

Early in my work with Brad, in an offhand discussion, he asked why Renegade charged so little for sponsorships and encouraged us to increase the amount by almost tenfold. At the time, we wouldn’t even have known to ask the question: “How can we grow our sponsorship revenue?” After that initial conversation, Brad helped us craft a sponsorship strategy that proved to be instrumental to our growth at the time. 

I also called on Brad early in the pandemic. It was such a scary time; I thought, “I need Brad.” He answered my call and helped me draft a plan for quickly scaling down our expenses, which included making some difficult staffing decisions. I felt terrible laying people off, but it was the only way to save the business. Without Brad’s advice and partnership in that moment, I suspect I would have delayed decision-making and ended up in much riskier territory within just a few weeks’ time. 

Who do you think would benefit most from working with Brad?

Working with Brad has made me a better boss and a better leader. As a small business owner, having someone you can partner with—especially when there’s an acute problem that you need to understand and solve—is truly game-changing for both your mental health and the health of your business. Brad is so experienced in the business world; working with him over the course of my career has been very reassuring and confidence-building. 

Your favorite thing about working together?

Brad has brought so much clarity to our work. Over the course of my time at Renegade Craft, he’s helped me make some incredibly difficult decisions—and make them with clarity. Brad’s ability to talk through complicated issues holistically and offer insights into the different potential outcomes is unparalleled. He’s also just very easy to work with. Over the years, I’ve consistently left our conversations feeling uplifted (which is saying something, since we’re often weighing really difficult decisions, like how to keep an events-based business thriving during a global pandemic). 

And, I’m sure others have said this, but Brad also has an amazing laugh!