When life is good, the tank full, bank account brimming over, integrity is easy. Why? You can tell yourself your creative business does not need to compromise. So you do not. Sure, you can become a diva or, worse, an a—hole, but mostly you can create the art you and your creative business were meant to create, the best way you know how. Even more, if you had compromised in the past, a full belly gives you courage to say no now.
Sounds great doesn’t it? Get busy and you will be able to have your creative business finally, finally act as you intend. Except it does not work that way.
The path to success for any creative business is through intention, a series of purposeful steps, with deep awareness of each step’s message and meaning. We all have to stake our claim to the truth that resonates with us, our art and our creative business. If you need $10 to do the work, $5 will not cut it. Period. Then again, if you cannot articulate why you need $10, why should anyone pay you? Defining value means you have to live (and die) there. If the idea is everything, what does it cost? If your contract says your client has ten days to pay, what do you do on the eleventh? If you need a contract to get started, will you actually start without it? Simple if money does not flow, but what if it does?
Compromise is not flexibility. Compromise is a willingness to do what you do not. It is a non-starter if there ever was one. Flexibility, on the other hand, is a willingness to adapt what you do to a situation without ever changing the underlying value you offer. If it takes you typically a year to go from initial conversation to finished project, you can definitely complete one in 30 days. An accordion may look different stretched as compacted but the instrument is the same regardless. You creative business is no different. Your process, your value, your choice.
Integrity does not mean blinders on, stay the course no matter the circumstance. That is delusional. No, integrity means believing in your gift and those who most desire for you to share it. If you have been fortunate enough to have found those clients, build your creative business around them. Ignore the rest. And if those clients have not yet appeared, consider that you are hiding from them. Getting rejected by those who do not value what you do is your escape hatch. They do not get you or your creative business anyway so no need to care. Rejection from the client that matters though, that beyond sucks and it should. However, facing the pain that could come the right client’s rejection is what should drive you to risk everything. Success is a wholehearted embrace for the art you and your creative business want to create, not just an okay, let’s do it.
So before Spring has sprung, when the bank account is low, when the phone has not yet rung, ask yourself what will happen when it does. Who will you be then? Will you be willing to say yes, but only on your terms? Expansive to those that matter, intolerant of those that do not? Does it really matter where you are in your creative business, feast or famine? Will you stay true to yourself, your art, your artistry?
Believe every step is purposeful. There is no, “when I get there, I will….” There is here no matter the circumstance. If your compass and that of your creative business will be your own, the rest will be easy. Integrity 101.
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Such a powerful and necessary message Sean! I have always believed that, in any service business, clients treat you the way you allow them to treat you.
One of the greatest gifts that has come from owning and running my own business is the ability to say no to clients who don’t treat you well: who chip away at your creative integrity, who are disrespectful, who are just plain jerks. It was terrifying to say no the first time, convinced I would regret it and that no other work would ever come my way. But that has never come to pass….and hopefully never will.
Dear Sean, this is an incredible post. Reading this, especially after this week reaffirmed that a major and risky business decision I made is worthwhile. It is a radical change but the one I really do think will move my business forward. Adapting in this changing world is vital. Thank you!
Drop the mic. My new mantra: Getting rejected by those who do not value what you do is your escape hatch.