I choose to work differently because I believe with everything in my little weird, aquarian heart that we don’t have to keep replicating systems that hurt and harm. This is my invitation into new configurations of mutual care.
Traditional consulting asks: "Can you afford me?"
I'm asking: "What can you offer, and what will you contribute when you succeed?"
If you're an artist without traditional capital, you can work with me by making an offer—what you can contribute now (even if modest) plus an agreement about what you'll return to the collective when your work reaches agreed-upon success metrics.
This might look like:
A percentage of song royalties for musicians
Profit-sharing on art sales or licensing for visual artists
A portion of speaking fees or book advances for writers
Commission on brand partnerships for content creators
Percentage on bookings for healers
[Other creative arrangements based on your medium]
We'll co-create an agreement that honors both our needs and invests in your long-term success. I succeed when you do. This tilts consulting on it’s foundation, asking me to put my skin in the game with you.
This also means when I take you on in a partnership, you feel that I truly believe in you and your concept, I’m not just after a consultation fee. I am literally an investor in your work — I will produce my very best work for you because we now share a common interest in your success that goes beyond your satisfaction or a good review of my performance. It’s win-win. Symbiosis.
For those with more resources who align with this vision, I offer traditional consulting at full rates—with transparency about where that money goes.
Your investment directly funds offer-based partnerships with emerging artists. You're not just hiring me; you're becoming a patron of the alternative economy we're building together.
This is for:
Established artists and creatives who want to give back
Aligned businesses and organizations
Anyone with resources who wants to fund systemic change
Your fees don't just serve you—they resource the next wave.
For many years in my jewelry company, I wanted to experiment with alternative pricing— to acknowledge the basic fact that we do not all come to the table with the same economic levers to pull, the same safety nets, and the same economic mobility. But when we act collectively, we can create much more access for many more people to important services and products.
Branding, identity, web, copywriting and email marketing work can be make-or-break for an artist — as can understanding the fundamentals of business systems and operations. But if artists are “starving” how can they pay a high price consultant like me? Well — let’s use out imaginations and think collectively!
How do you know if you should be paying standard pricing? Click here to see which best describes your situation.
As artists in offer-based partnerships reach their success milestones and begin contributing back, those resources flow into:
Subsidizing partnerships with new artists
Building shared resources and tools for the community
Funding collaborative projects and mutual aid
Creating proof that different economic models work
This isn't charity. It's an ecosystem where success circulates rather than accumulates. Where wealth becomes a tool for collective liberation rather than individual hoarding.
Everyone who participates—whether through offers, full fees, or future contributions—is building the foundation for new economies.
In Ireland, they studied giving artists Universal Income and found that for every €1 given to an artist, that artist created €1.46. Artists are generative. The maths are mathing.
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If this concept is interesting to you, please join the email list to stay connected — even if you don’t have a project right now. I write about alternative ways to generate wealth, health and connection through creative business.
Or reach out and say hello directly (kate@kateellen.me). My whole philosophy of the internet is to use it as a point of contact to meet real life people, so say hi.
HOW TO MAKE AN OFFER
To help you think about what feels aligned, here's what I currently value my work at in traditional terms:
1:1 consulting: $150/hour
Operations support/coaching: $150/hour (teaching you how to run the logistics and operations of your business—systems, workflows, admin structures)
Brand reading: $300
Brand book: $4,000
Website: $4,000 for a basic site
Photography: $1,000+
Email marketing setup: $5,000 (ongoing maintenance $1,500/month)
Full artist management retainer: $4,200/month (6-month minimum)
Your offer might include:
Your project/ concept — where are you at with it?
What you can contribute now (even if it's $100/month, trade, or some other creative thing you can offer into my business or the collective)What support you actually need — please be honest and direct, and talk about your dream scenario, not the watered-down, negotiated against your own desires version you might tell someone who doesn’t believe in your thing. Tell me the thing. I wanna hear it turned up to 11.
What you might contribute back when you hit specific success milestones (I have experience thinking through this aspect, so if you’re stumped, you can say so)
The timeline you're imagining
There's no formula. Every partnership is unique. The goal is to create an agreement that feels generative for both of us—one that invests in your success while allowing me to sustain this work.
