Talent alone used to carry the day. The reason: it was hard to find out who was talented and who wasn’t. If you were, and people knew it, you had the advantage of being known in the circle that mattered. Today, that is gone. There are no more hidden gems, talent is everywhere and everyone knows (and can see, read, and listen to) your work.
With talent a given, the only real difference is love, passion and desire. Love for the art you create every day; passion for delivering that art to your clients; and an unending desire to use your creative business to grow your love and passion for all that you do.
I can see “it” within five minutes of meeting an artist: the twinkle in their eyes when they tell me about their creative business. The way their voice goes up when they talk about their favorite design. The enthusiasm they radiate when they show me their art. You can’t bottle it and you can’t fake it.
I deeply understand how tough the last two years have been for almost all creative businesses. Even if this year looks better than last, you are still digging out from the hole of 2008. I also do understand the necessity to keep you business going and do what is necessary to pay the bills. However, I will challenge you and say that your willingness to compromise might be more a function of apathy than necessity. Crisis saps desire, which kills love and passion. No artist wants to do what they do because they need to. In your best place, you do it because you have to in order to feel alive. If you are, in fact or in worry, constrained by the “real” world every day, your creativity has less and less air to breathe. And when your art becomes the means to an end, instead of both the means and the end, you are lost.
So do what you have to do, yes, but ask yourself if your love, passion and desire is still there or can be rekindled. If it is, then get to the business of running your business instead of being run by it. And, if it isn’t, then please be kind to yourself and give yourself the permission to move on to discover what may truly fuel you.
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So True! did a FB post about a clients’ reaction to picking up her arrangement and i had to close with Thank goodness i love what i do and it shows.
Keep the love and passion alive with your posts!
Bold statements, but so true.
Looking forward to hearing you speak tomorrow, Sean.
Wow! Great words of wisdom and food for thought.
loved this post! definitely needed it. 😉
yes~ soooo true…. I love
“Love for the art you create every day; passion for delivering that art to your clients; and an unending desire to use your creative business to grow your love and passion for all that you do.”
This post moved me to tears. I know I have the “it” you mentioned. It is almost a tangible, touchable thing with me, my clients feel “it” and are drawn to that side of me. Hearing about “it” reminds me and makes me aware that I still have “it”. I think my mad walk from the St. Regis Hotel to the San Francisco flower market just so I could design flowers in my hotel room proves I am one of the “it” people. As a mother of 7 kids I have also become one of the “have to” people. I am one of the many people looking for the solution.