Episode 129: Your Business Is Not A Factory
INTRODUCTION
We all grew up learning about the value of a factory efficiency, low cost scale, and you’ve tried to force your creative business into that. Paradigm. And so you measure wages and you measure efficiency and how much you get done and things like that. But what you don’t really measure is emotional intelligence or the value of an idea or anything really reflecting the value of relationship with clients and everyone else around.
BODY
And so here’s a thought, your creative business is not a factory.
So I think it’s worth taking a moment to go back and really think about how all of us have grown up because we all did grow up and we learned, you know, we were taught this and there’s just no way around it, especially in the United States. States and around the world for that matter. We’re indoctrinated into the idea that the factory model, the idea of efficiency, doing as much as you possibly can for as least cost as you possibly can, and then turning around and trying to sell it for as much as you possibly can, given what the market will let you is the way of doing things right? So buy low, sell high, try to do as much work as you possibly can and value that efficiency over and over and over again. And if you can create a sense of repetitiveness where the parts are interchangeable and perfect, um, you’ve created a great model for yourself.
And we live that truth, right? We all depend on things that factories give us, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We want the things we purchase to work. We want our computer to work. We want our cars to drive. We want all of those things. And factories are a great thing for us in our world, and have created the ability for our world to be what it is.
Without that culture of industrialization, that culture of factory, we wouldn’t be here, right? Because we need that energy of efficiency and scale and purpose. . And you know the question that you have to ask yourself is, do you have a business that is served by acting that way? And if you do, great, then don’t listen to the rest of this podcast ’cause it isn’t for you.
But for the vast majority of creative businesses out there, you’re not a factory. And what I mean by that is that you get to set paradigms. You get to set constraints. If a client wants to design in a day, but you need a week to do it, you get the week because that’s what they want, is to rely on what your creative juices are.
There’s no such thing as best under the circumstances. There’s no such thing as doing as, as being a martyr for creative business. It doesn’t work. It’s not sustainable, and the very reason it does not work and is not sustainable is because you’re paid for emotional intelligence. You’re paid for seeing what does not yet exist.
That’s what the definition of creation is about, and it’s worth taking a moment and understanding that if you are just about producing that thing, which is known and wants to be used, then you’re not in a creative business. The definition of creativity is that what you’re doing does not exist. It has never existed for that client in that form before.
Does that mean you haven’t done it a thousand times but you haven’t done it many, many, many times? Um, sure, of course you have. You just have never done it for the person you’re doing it for. Right? In that way for them, you’re taking all of your expertise and wisdom and everything else, and you’re adding it to the mix of what it is you’re gonna provide somebody, right?
And that is the beauty of design. That’s the beauty of creation. It does not exist before you make it so.
That’s wonderful, right? So you cannot operate like a factory. It’s like really trying to put a square peg in a round hole in the way that you go about doing things. So for the most part, you’re not constrained when it comes to those metrics that are driven by factories, which is how efficient can you be? How saving a dollar, walking around, you know? How many of you would ever walk around with a stopwatch, right? I. And making sure that you’re measuring time and how much can get done in the shortest period of time. You know, that doesn’t work. I mean, Amazon is a quintessential example of not caring about the people that work for it because it’s about efficiency and scale and, and we all want our Amazon box to come the next day.
And so we could care less about the person that’s actually putting it in there. And if that meant that it would have to come the day after that, we don’t want that. So Amazon is all about efficiency in that part of their business. And so the question then becomes, if you’re not a factory, then what are you gonna do?
And the whole point of this podcast and, and this conversation is what are you measuring? What are you caring about? What are you trying to create that’s going to become something that’s indelible? I. And so what is your culture? Now, I’ve talked about that all day long, and, and I underappreciate the value of it, but what are you gonna measure and how are you gonna act not like a factory?
And so, and how are you gonna then blow up the notion that you’re not about being efficient and doing those things and, and overpromising and over-delivering? How about you just meet the promise that you’re supposed to meet because it is what is expected of you, right? And it’s about the creativity that exists within you.
And so, what does that mean in terms of the mentality that you have? Right? Well, it’s an improv culture. Then if you wanna say what’s gonna replace the factory culture, it’s an improv culture. It’s an entrepreneurial culture. It means the improv is Yes and. Okay, great. Yes and. What are we gonna do with that?
It’s an entrepreneurial culture. I’m going to ask you to stake your job on every single thing that you’re going to do because you believe in it so much, right? It’s about making sure that everybody’s voice matters in the way that it needs to matter, right?
That is completely antithetical to a factory where nobody’s voice matters, right? Do what you’re told. Do it the way you’re taught to do it. Do not talk about any other way. Just do your job, right? How many of you have learned that, right? Follow the rules, be very prescriptive as to what is asked of you, right? And my point for what you’re paid for is like you’re not paid for that.
You don’t get paid for that. And the reason is, is because there’s somebody else that will do it cheaper, right? And they’ll do it just as well as you will. And so yours is not a business of scale. Yours is a business of relationship. And so why don’t we set out here and what I challenge all of you is to come back to me and to everything else is that what do you seek to measure that would then, you know, create your own enjoyment scale. Where whatever it is you’re doing, whatever creative business you’re in, you would create your own sense of enjoyment. The idea of like, I can’t believe you understood that. I can’t believe that you got that. I can’t believe that you did that work to dig in so deeply as to know me so personally as to really take that risk of, wow, I really see you, whatever that might be for you.
Really, right in terms of whatever work you might be doing. You know, the flavor profile, if you’re a caterer of the people that you’re willing to serve above and beyond the idea that your food is wonderful, right? What is it that you’re going to do that’s gonna spark memory? Maybe that’s where your design comes in.
And if, of course, if you’re a visual artist, what does that look like? Right? And so in terms of how do you get somebody to see the very thing that you’re showing them in a way that’s gonna be impactful to them. And so that cannot be a factory. And so where I’m going with this is that to the extent possible, understand that creative businesses get to set the constraints for which they will be successful.
And that requires those around you to be honest with what those constraints are. And that means you have to be the leader in letting go of artificial constraints and let’s land that.
If you have a team member that’s working for you and you ask them to do something for you, the real question is, are they giving you the right answer back or are they giving you the answer that you want to hear?
So if you’re working with a factory culture, the answer is they’re gonna give you what you want to hear and it’s gonna be shorter than what is necessary. And so therefore, you’re gonna rely on that and you’re gonna give the deliverable to the client and say, Hey, we can get that designed to you in a week when really it’s two weeks.
So my point is, can you create a culture that says what’s it gonna take for you to do your best work? What’s it gonna take for you to make sure that you are gonna stand on whatever it is you give to me? Tell me what that is with impunity, and know that there is absolutely no value for you staying here overnight. There’s absolutely no value in you doing more than you have to do in a shorter period of time that I will actually dock you for that. So I want to know that you’re working with absolute integrity, absolute impunity to get done, and when do you need to get done?
For most of you, right? That’s the truth of it.
Now. In certain circumstances, there’s hard deadlines. If there’s a event, if you’re in the event business, the event’s gonna go up, right? If you’re, you know, gonna be installing whatever you’re installing, the installation has to happen, right? I totally get that. There’s no question about that, right? So I very much want you to understand I am not being dismissive of deadlines, but I’m saying that those are very few and far between, and that is your ability to lead and go with the show. That is what this is about, which leads me to the largest point for today and my last point for today.
