If you are a regular reader of the blog or talk to me for ten minutes, you know I love my analogies. The Apple Tree, Rowboats and Motor Yachts come to mind. The one I have been having the most fun with of late is the idea of a pig in a snake.
There are pythons that can literally eat a 120 lb. pig (yeah, no link here, just trust me that it is true – they can also eat people and alligators, but let’s stay with pigs – visceral enough). Incredibly thought provoking when it comes to creative businesses. Yep, this is how my mind works. By the way, sorry to all the snake lovers out there, but I hate snakes – they freak me out. Why when I see the analogy in my head, it never leaves me mostly because it is so terrifying. Hope it does the same for you — albeit for a whole other reason after reading this post.
If you can decide whether you are, or want to be, a 15 foot python or not, you can set the foundation for just about every decision you will need to make for your creative business.
First, a 5 foot python cannot eat a 120 lb. pig. A guinea pig maybe, but not an actual pig. To eat a pig, you have to have the size, strength and experience to catch and kill the pig. It is not like the snake can lie in the Sun and say here piggy piggy. Strategy, timing and ability all matter if you actually want to eat something of that size. While a 15 foot python does not necessarily have a choice whether to become a 15 foot python, it certainly does not have the choice to go back to being a 5 foot python. It is what it is and has to commit to it. 5 foot pythons will always be better at catching smaller prey – they are faster and more agile. Then again, the 15 foot python only needs to eat every 90 days give or take. Not to say that a 15 foot python will not eat smaller prey, but imagine how much the 15 foot python would have to eat if it focused only on smaller prey. It would probably starve in the effort. In a very real sense, once capable of killing pigs, a python has to focus on killing ever bigger pigs much more than on killing more pigs.
The lesson: if you want to get to the next level, it will take time and you have to commit to what it means to be there. You do not get to eat a bunch of guinea pigs and then say to the world, “see, now I am ready to eat a pig”. You have to demonstrate that you are capable of understanding all that goes into capturing and eating an actual pig. Then and only then will you get the opportunity to exercise that skill. This is rarified air and you have to appreciate the sacrifice necessary to live there. Your goal will be bigger clients on an ever grander stage far more than more of the same. While volume is important, quality of opportunity is what really matters.
Second, pythons are most vulnerable when they are digesting such a huge meal – quite literally you can see the animal moving through the snake, getting smaller as it is digested. If you cannot appreciate what it takes to digest a pig, you might put yourself in the position of being eaten by a 5 foot snake or similar predators. There has to be a sense of propriety and scale to your work. We all want to be busy. However, taking the next job just because it is there or is ever alluring in its size and scale (and entirely wrong either in timing or type of business) belies the fact that you are still digesting. Taking on what you cannot is as dangerous as starvation. Truly. Great work begets great work and each deserves a proper moment. How long that moment is is up to you, but please give it the major consideration it deserves. Following your biggest project to date with a tiny or ill-fitting piece of business just creates confusion and comes with a price. Translation: Do not drive the pigs away while you are eating smaller prey. There is a price for eating for eating’s sake.
Last, appreciate that circumstances change and pigs may not come around enough to sustain your current strategy. You have to be willing to adapt to go look for where the pigs are and potentially change your strategy as to how to capture them (or similar prey). What you cannot do, however, is to pretend you do not need to eat pigs (or the like) to really live. Be flexible with your process, but do not break it. Ever.
Yes, a crazy and not fun visual, but such is the nature of life. Your creative business is no different. To live well, we have to eat as nature intended, no more, no less. Circumstances may change and you will, by definition, evolve. The point is that the evolution will be driven by the opportunity and determination to stay or become a 15 foot python. Or not. There really is no in between.
