Find out what's actually broken before you hire anyone else.
Corbie Creative is a creative-operations practice for companies that have outgrown one designer, one freelancer, or one overloaded owner. We diagnose the real gap first, then build the right-sized answer, even when that answer is "you don't need us."
Three steps. The first costs nothing.
Discovery
You tell us what you think the problem is. We listen, ask questions, and say back what we heard. No cost, no pitch.
Diagnosis
Before anyone makes an asset or writes a job post, we look at how the work actually moves: what comes in, who touches it, where it stalls, and what it is costing you. You get a plain read on what is broken, what is fine, and what size of help fits.
Design
You get a full blueprint of the design and everything needed to build it and scale it, scoped in writing so you know the cost before anything starts. If the next step is nothing, we'll say that too.
Which of these sounds like you?
Pick the one that is closest. I'll point you to the offer that fits, and it opens below.
The Corbie Read
A short, paid diagnosis. It answers one question: what does your creative function need right now, if anything?
You walk away with
- A written read on what is broken, what is working, and why
- A right-sized recommendation: a hire, a freelancer, a built process or team, or nothing at all
- A next step you can take with me, with someone else, or on your own
A good fit when
- You are about to hire a marketing or creative lead and are not sure that is the real gap
- Work keeps landing on the same one or two people
- Requests arrive by email, chat, and hallway, and nobody can say how much is in flight
Scoped to your team's size after a short call. The fee is in writing before we start.
Five ways I can help once we know what's broken.
Creative operations build
For teams whose work runs on inboxes, memory, and heroics.
Creative operations build
For teams whose work runs on inboxes, memory, and heroics.I audit how requests come in, design the intake and workflow, set up the tools that fit, plan capacity, and write the playbook your team will actually use. The order matters: process first, data second, tool third. I work in whatever platform fits your team. Confirm tool list to name
You walk away with: a working intake, a workflow your team follows, a view of capacity, and a playbook.
Conference and event creative support
For teams with a big stage, many presenters, and a deadline.
Conference and event creative support
For teams with a big stage, many presenters, and a deadline.I start with the takeaway: what should people leave the room knowing? Then the program, the presentations, the script, the storyboard, and only then the slides. Before anyone walks on stage, I run a structured final-pass review so nothing surprises a presenter or the AV team.
How I work depends on when you call
Call me early and it is a blueprint. Call me late and it is a rescue. Both work; one is easier on everyone's nerves.
Scoped per event, based on its size, the number of presenters, and how early I join. You get a proposal after a short call.
Brand retrospective
For companies whose brand no two people describe the same way.
Brand retrospective
For companies whose brand no two people describe the same way.A lot of growing companies think the next step is a CMO. Sometimes it is. But a CMO is a strategy and channels hire, and if the brand underneath is unsettled, that hire inherits the problem. I start by finding out what the brand actually is.
I review your website, your social channels, and how answer engines describe you. Then I interview three groups: leadership, the people who have been there longest, and your newest hire. Then I ask whether those three groups can describe the company in one consistent statement, for the audience you are trying to reach.
- If they can, I tell you what you are saying, confirm that it works, and propose how to get it outside the building.
- If they cannot, that is the finding. I propose the next step: working out why the story leadership believes in is not landing in certain channels.
Team strengths and people leadership
For teams with talent that may be in the wrong seat, and for managers who want to grow people well.
Team strengths and people leadership
For teams with talent that may be in the wrong seat, and for managers who want to grow people well.I help you see where people's strengths are underused and what to do about it. State the purpose up front, name three honest paths (grow here, move to a better fit here, or find the right fit elsewhere), make it safe to be honest, tie each person's goals to the work the company actually has, and track what energizes people against the work they do.
For teams: a strengths map that matches the work you receive with the people best placed to lead it, inside a larger review of how your creative function runs.
For managers: coaching and training for the people who lead people, including how to handle real situations with their own reports.
For individuals: career coaching on a cadence you choose, booked by the hour or in bundles. Confirm once the template shelf is live
The method surfaces fit and opens doors. The person still has to walk through them, and I will say so up front.
Fractional creative leadership
For companies that need an experienced creative or creative-operations lead, part time.
Fractional creative leadership
For companies that need an experienced creative or creative-operations lead, part time.I act as your interim head of creative or creative ops: setting direction, running the team or the freelancers, building the operating rhythm, and preparing you to hand it off or hire the permanent version. Scoped by the hours per week you need, on a monthly retainer, in writing.
Not every problem needs a consultant.
Some need a good checklist and an afternoon. I'm building a small shelf of one-time templates from what I've learned running creative teams. Each will have a plain one-time price on its page. No subscription, no countdown clock.
Placeholder: shelf goes live only when templates existIntake migration plan
A three-month sunset timeline and a channel checklist.
Scoping estimator
Hours by request type and level, estimate against actual.
Conference takeaway worksheet
Budget, audience, one message, and the takeaway per session.
Pre-send deck checklist
Accuracy and consistency first. Style last.
Tool requirements checklist
What to write down before you look at a single tool.
Three-voices interview guide
Leadership, longest-tenured, newest hire.
Who this is for, and who it isn't
It's for
Companies of roughly 10 to 150 people (and larger teams with a specific problem) that have outgrown a single freelancer, are about to hire and aren't sure it's the right hire, or need a steady hand on a big event, a messy workflow, or a brand that has drifted.
It isn't for
Companies that want a production shop to take a finished brief and produce assets. If that is what you need, I'll tell you and point you to someone good.
Right now, me.
Callie has led creative teams at two firms for about ten years, built intake and workflow for regional teams, run creative for large conferences, and trained teams on brand standards across a region. Clear each claim before publishing
If a project needs more hands than ours, we'll say so in the proposal and introduce anyone we'd bring in before they start. Corbie is growing into a community of vetted creatives who hold a real stake in the outcome. Today the practice is Callie, and we'd rather tell you that than imply otherwise.
In writing, before we start.
- Templates: a fixed one-time price, shown on each page.
- Everything else: I scope it in writing after a call, so you see the cost and what it covers before we start.
- Payment: a secure link for each project, with deposits and milestones spelled out in the proposal.
- There are no packages with invented discounts and no pressure to decide. If you would rather think about it, think about it.
Ready to talk?
Tell me what you are working on and what you think is wrong. I'll read it, tell you what stood out, and say whether I can help.