For me, your creative business can be one step from the grave, the biggest and baddest one on the block or somewhere in between, it does not matter. So long as you have integrity, you are a success in my book. Integrity in all that you do: treating people fairly, being true to yourself and your art, being original, being straightforward even if the news isn’t good, and, most of all, being honest with yourself, your employees and your clients.
Giving up integrity is easy, because there is always a justification. Getting it back, incredibly difficult. Personal experience has taught me this exquisitely painful lesson. When I ran my food delivery/catering business, I borrowed money I knew in my heart of hearts I couldn’t pay back. Hired employees I knew I really could not afford. Bought inventory from vendors on credit I did not deserve. In the end, I found myself bankrupt (literally) and very much alone. There is always grace in redemption and I will be forever grateful to those that allowed me to return to myself, Preston being the first on that very long list. Now that I have myself and my integrity back, I can absolutely say my integrity was the one thing I am most ashamed of ever having lost.
The problem with operating without integrity is that the result (positive or negative) is never really yours. If you blindly take another’s collateral – her pricing information, packages, marketing materials, blog posts, images, ideas, etc. – you can never really be sure that it is you your clients are really hiring. While you might be able to live with it in the short run, the lie will get you in the end. The spirit of creation and individualism behind any artist and their creative business simply will not permit being derivative forever. And to go down the path of being dishonest can do nothing but destroy your own sense of self. Hard to produce great work when the confidence in having faith in who you are and what you are about is gone.
Although we seem to be recovering from the trauma of last year’s economic events, the air of uncertainty remains. In that air, the temptation to copy (i.e., steal) from someone else, do business that is not right for you or lower your standards (i.e., prices, product quality, clientele) for the sake of the business is remarkably alluring. It IS harder to stay true to yourself and your art and work to see what opportunities will present themselves during this time of transition. However, if you can know, really know, that losing your integrity will make you myopic, the choice might not be that difficult.
{ 9 comments }
My first ever blog comment… 🙂 Sean, I so appreciate your honesty in this post. Social media in so many ways is an outlet for self promotion, and often lost in that is humility. You have given me great perspective on success which is a long, hard road. Few people achieve it as easily and seamlessly as they make it sound and owning up to your past mishaps shows your true integrity. Kudos as always.
Sean,
My husband and I often get into interesting conversations about my floral business. He loves to get into the numbers with me, asking if I could make it more profitable than it already is. He always ends the conversation with “never mind, just keep doing what you are doing, at least you can go to sleep at the end of the day.”
Thanks for validating what we already believe. The very best attribute my business has is its integrity. With integrity I am rich beyond belief.
thank you Sean! ive been writing about this in bits and pieces on my blog. I have had content and concepts copied verbatim and used to “teach” others in workshops/seminars and have seen them take credit for it. I have also helped people get press- people who have had the fortune of riding the wave of another client of mine or an opportunity I handed out and they took complete ownership without even acknowledging that this wasn’t solely their triumph. No integrity= Loss of respect.What baffles me is if they think no one else notices because of all the support they receive, it seems they don’t internalize their lack of integrity. Ultimately it all comes out in the wash. Don’t you agree? Its all about letting it go in the meantime. ( which is never an easy thing to do!)
I think this is the most authentic post you have written Sean. I do so love it. More like this please 🙂
This post made my day! I think *everyone* should read this post. Great work, as always!
Thank you for your words and honest advice. Integrity is an incredible character trait and a must if you are an event planner. I feel honesty, creativity and business sense, along with experience is what will set you apart from the crowd. Clients count on these traits. I always enjoy and learn from your blog posts. Thank you again for lending your mind to your readers!
great post sean, a great boost to those coping with the realities of a design/creative business. it’s ever challenging to stand out and be noticed and picked by customers in an industry that is subject to a fair bit of imitation. tough times call for us to be true to our art and philosophies…
Thank you for your post! Integrity is an invaluable trait to keep in any business. I find this especially true working in the wedding industry as this is an extremely important event to everyone involved.
Fantastic post, Sean! As my business gets bigger, so do my temptations. I’ve said it from the beginning though, that when my name comes up in conversations I want my reputation to be blemish free. Integrity is such a powerful word.