this is a draft. cover art

this is a draft.

this is a draft.

Written by: Riley Schmitz
Listen for free

It's fun to be a little messy.

Most conversations about brand and business are cleaned up before you hear them. The messy middle is edited out. The bad calls get reframed as lessons. Everything lands neatly.

This Is a Draft is the version before all of that.

Hosted by Riley Schmitz (brand strategist and founder of Unless Creative) this show is for the founders building something real, and the creatives figuring out what they want to build next.

Grab a strong coffee – or espresso martini, if that's you jam – & press play.

Unless 2026
Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Social Sciences
Episodes
  • on the mess before the method
    Apr 14 2026

    This one's off the dome. I'm sitting down for an honest check-in on where things are at, what's been hard, and everything I wish someone had told me before I started.

    Nobody actually has it figured out before they begin. It's a game of trial and error really, and that's the beauty of it! You learn what you love, what you're built for, and what will never be in your service offerings again. You'll only truly feel "ready" after you've done something once before.

    In this episode we cover some founder crisis moments I've had recently, the client who ghosted me without paying, why I stopped billing hourly, how I landed on value-based pricing, and why "niche down immediately" might be the worst advice in the creative business space.

    So please join me for a messy and honest discussion about what building your dreams actually look like :)

    CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER!!!

    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • on the ruthless attention economy & how to survive it
    Mar 4 2026

    Everyone is fighting for attention. Most brands are losing... and it's not because they aren't trying hard enough, but because they're fighting for the wrong thing.

    In this episode:

    — Why comfort is the slowest, most polite way to kill your momentum (and why it never looks like a problem until it's too late)

    — What the attention economy actually is, why most businesses are still playing by the wrong rules, and the real difference between posting and positioning

    — Why if AI could replace your brand voice tomorrow, that's not an AI problem — that's a brand problem

    New episodes drop the first Tuesday of every month.

    Grab the free Brand Personality Audit → unlesscreative.com/newsletter

    Show More Show Less
    17 mins
  • on remembering who the hell you are
    Jan 24 2026

    In this episode, we'll cover the topic of knowing yourself on an introspective level. I've been putting a lot of thought into who I was before the world told me who to be- and what parts of my inner child really shine through now that I'm in a good place in life. Join me in this stream of consciousness as I explore the ins and outs of KNOWING WHO YOU ARE.

    Instagram: @rileymelinaschmitz

    Website: rileyschmitz.com

    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
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