One of my favorite business books (one that is over 35 years old, by the way) is The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. You might ask, What does a production management book have to do with creative business? Well, everything. In the book, Goldratt uses a Scout troop going on a hike to demonstrate the theory of constraints: The group can only move as fast as its slowest member, Herbie, who is struggling to keep up with the others. Their solution is to distribute everything in his backpack to the other Scouts to carry, lightening his load, and to put him at the front of the line to set the pace.
Understand that, in all of your stories, there is the Herbie—the ultimate constraint. Your work is to identify the Herbie, to leverage him/her so that, in effect, your team is all moving as one as quickly as you can, together. Even if you are a business of one, there can still be a Herbie — your client, production partners, even colleagues.
A few things to note about Herbie. First, not to be (too) macabre, but if you can push Herbie off the cliff during the hike, you should. If there is an outlier that is dragging everything else down and you can eliminate the outlier, do it without remorse. Whether it is a recalcitrant client, slow-as-molasses employee and/or production partner, if everything else can move demonstrably better without their existence, you want to focus on that speed rather than rationalizing going much slower than you should. Believe that you, your art and your creative business exist to serve those that care the most about your best work and you will know that the value of pushing Herbie off the cliff if you can. Always, cut ballast to soar to the height you are meant to achieve.
If killing Herbie is not an option (and it probably will not be), then you have to have a hard look at the cost of the Herbie’s you have. For almost all creative businesses there is an extended relationship to get through the eight stages/four transitions of any project; definitely months and often years. It means that time is your biggest risk and those that exacerbate that risk (i.e., your Herbie(s)) have to be the heaviest focus for improvement. Whether it means looking in the mirror or taking off the rose-colored glasses you might have with respect to those employees, clients and/or production partners that do not respect the value and importance of time and its management, it does not matter. You have to be brutal in the assessment.
I am particularly sensitive this time of year to the cacophony of advice most creative business owners receive this time of year. The season is over (or about to be) and you are going to have the time to work on your business. Things like, “improve sales”, “get better business”, “raise your prices”, “invest in social media”, “find your why”. And on. And on. And on.
I believe less is more and I am a total Karate Kid type. Wax on, wax off. Do the action and before you know it, it is in your DNA. You are never ever going to think your way to success or find it by using this or that tactic or tool. Great foundations exist because they are built one day at a time and then maintained with the integrity it took to build them in the first place. My advice is to find your axiom and live there. Let the bells and whistles come later (if at all).
Last year, my advice was to go take an improv class. Those that did tell me to this day that it was the BEST thing they ever did for their creative business. My advice for this year: (re)read The Goal and then get to work on your Herbie(s). And if you do, and you want to talk to me about your Herbie(s), I am all ears. Twenty minutes of recorded time on me. Link to my Calendly. Tis the season of giving…
