Bet On Black

In the life of a creative business, you will have a choice: you can keep doors open to all possibilities or bet on black.  For non-gamblers, bet on black refers to going to a roulette table and choosing to bet on the little ball to end up on a black number not a red (or green) one.  Notice I did not say you had to bet on a particular black number, just black.  Betting on a single number is like hoping the one perfect client shows up every time.  Not going to happen often enough to build a business.  Keep reading.  You can be an icon and still be flexible.  You just have to start with the knowledge that you are actually an icon.

When you open your business, you want to do great work specific to what you stand for but there is a breaking in process.  You break in by laying it out there for all to see, sometimes in not the best (understatement) circumstance.  You take opportunity where you can to find your way and your reputation.  So long as you do great work, opportunities will beget other opportunities and, if you are fortunate, you will find yourself and your clients will find you.  No rocket science here, but this is usually four to seven years into your creative business’ life.  Some more, some less.

At this point, you have to decide if you are going to be the most important part of your clients’ lives or a nice accent.  You cannot be both.  An accent is the interior designer that does smorgasbord.  No real presentation, a feeling that it is the clients’ choice to decide how things go and the designer’s role is just to lay out options. Volume game, accessibility, work for work’s sake.  I have no problem if you decide this route, just know that you are treading into some fierce competition.  For interior designers, it is every big box higher-end retailer (West Elm, Restoration Hardware, William-Sonoma etc.) that offers design services as part of its selling effort. Same for any other creative business where piece product is available at retail.  You will be forever capped by way of price, project and clientele.  Sure, there might be outliers but they will remain there because you are an accent – important and nice, but not critical to the success of the project.

Or you can bet on black.

This is where you take a position, express your thoughts specifically and refuse to go the smorgasbord route.  Your process is honed and honed so that you are willing to put your money where your mouth is.  Presentation is everything and make sure your clients are focused on the subjective value you offer.  This is what separates you.  You drive value, not your clients, and come from a place of authority.  By definition, you close the door to those that see you as an accent.

Can you keep an accent business?  Sure, just not as part of your core creative business.  For the event world, think about Todd Events and how he approaches decor.  Todd has his core in Todd Events and his accent in Avant Garden.  Perfect – brand halo over everything with a completely different value proposition in each of Todd Events and Avant Garden.

And that becomes the hardest part of the transition to betting on black: there will, by definition be a “no fly zone”.  If you wish to maintain an accent business, you have to create a distinction between accent and bet on black and it has to be big enough that anyone can see that the two value propositions are completely different.  No matter the temptation, you cannot take business in the “no fly zone” as it kills value in both accent and bet on black.  Example, a stationer has a custom line of paper that starts at $100 and a pre-made set at $40. A clients comes in and says they want the pre-made with a few tweeks and will pay $75.  No, nope and nada.  Either buy the $40 or step up to the $100.  Two different experiences, two separate value points.  Doing the work at $75 cheapens the $100 offering and stretches past what the $40 is meant for.  Heads your client wins, tails you lose.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, just necessary.  You deserve nothing and you have earned it all.  If your aim and that of your art and your creative business is to be the most important part of your client’s project, at some point, you will have to refuse to do anything other than bet on black.