As a studio of (currently) one, networking, outreach, emails, trying to find my first big Studio clients, projects and dream work has become THE WORK.
Figured there must be a better, more AI-savvy way to do it. So I’ve spent the past few weeks building a system for myself. Welcome to The Observatory. 🔭
The idea is simple. Instead of manually searching for opportunities online, sending cold emails and doing allllllll the networking coffee rounds... what if I could teach AI my taste? What catches my eye. The design I love. The founders I admire. The businesses entering a new season of growth. All the signals that I look for to go “Hmmm, there’s some potential right there.” Then let it scout the horizon for opportunities that feel genuinely aligned with Studio Dawn.
Thanks to a lot of late nights (and Claude), I built a platform where I’ve been manually adding what I call Observations.
On a cute, match-my-branding desktop and mobile app, I’ve been observing & recording:
✨ Designs I love.
💡 Ideas that make me stop scrolling.
🚀 Founders building interesting things.
🌱 Businesses stepping into a new chapter.
🌍 Websites that absolutely slap.
📰 Articles, podcasts and LinkedIn posts worth paying attention to.
🎙️ A voice memo while I'm walking.
🔗 A founder's website.
💭 A random idea that pops into my head.
Each one gets rated against a few simple questions:
🌅 Does it feel aligned with Studio Dawn?
📈 Is there genuine growth potential?
⚡ Does it give me energy?
🎯 Which part of the studio could it belong to? (The Studio, Fractional Creative Direction, Creative Director for Creatives or Mentoring.)
Plus teaching it the “potential”:
🤝 Where could Studio Dawn genuinely add value?
🌱 What could we create together?
💬 Why does this feel like a good fit?
Today, I’ve gone one step further - I built the first version of what I’m calling The Scouts. 🔭
Once a week, on my prompt, they're out exploring the digital horizon—looking for founders, businesses and projects that match the patterns it's learned from my taste.
They come back with opportunities, explain why they think they're aligned, suggest which part of Studio Dawn could help, and even draft a first conversation for me to shape.
I still make every decision. I still send every email. I still do the creative thinking.
Let’s see how far oven the horizon this idea goes.
Kimberley Dawn.
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P.S. If you’re wondering what AI could actually look like inside your business—not as a gimmick, but as something genuinely useful—I’d love to explore it with you.
P.P.S. Or if you’d simply like to work together, reach out the normal fashioned way:
📩 kimberley@studiodawn.org
#Ai #vibecode #creativity #creativediretor