We are inundated with choice: what to watch, what to wear, what to eat, what to click on, etc. Confronted with decisions big and small we reach for the familiar and the safe. If we did it yesterday, there is great comfort in knowing that we can do it today.
No, this is not a post about addiction and habit forming/breaking. Though fantastic subjects and well worth the exploration, this post is about consciousness for you, your art and your creative business in a singular way. Simply: what is the most irrational, personal, validating truth that you too often use to pummel yourself, your business and even your art with? Perfectionist? Scattered? Whimsical? Outrageous? Come on, we all have the word, the one you simultaneously love and hate.
Okay. The exercise is to go there with the negative and turn it into a positive. The essence of creative business is that its foundation is irrational, illogical, nonsensical. Nobody needs what you do. Ever. Yes, our lives are infinitely enriched by your art, but we can absolutely do without what you do. The reason what you do has meaning is, by definition, because you give it meaning. We care about your work because YOU care about what you do. Your perspective, your vision, your wisdom, your talent, your experience, your conviction, your hope, your faith, your understanding, your empathy, your courage. This is what we buy into and what we pay for. What we do not pay for is the thing, the platitude, the end result.
As you chart the course of things to come in 2020 and beyond, I ask only that you make one decision the honors the essence of everything you simultaneously love and hate about your art, business and perspective. Free yourself from the negative as it is who you are.
An example: you are an intense perfectionist. There is only one way for you: the right way, even if it is hard and cumbersome and nonsensical. For you, it is never about getting done, it is always about getting it done right. That does not mean you take longer or are not respectful of deadlines, it is just that you devote more resources to getting them done right. If every element going out of your business has to be seen by at least three sets of eyes, then that has to be paid for without apology. Would another creative business give more autonomy? Less? Of course. That is their show, this is yours.
Here is the thing: at the edge of your irrationality you will meet your shadow and be confronted by yourself (and others) that you are, in fact, crazy. My question is crazy how? Crazy can have the connotation of being ridiculous (negative) or quirky (positive). Throw ridiculous out just for a minute (or forever if you can) and simply own that it just is. From here you can give yourself permission to be idiosyncratic and ask yourself what if I made the decision to weave this element into the fabric of the business without apology.
Back to the perfectionism example. If you explain to your client that your are a perfectionist and this is what is paid for. Three sets of eyes on everything going out is what they pay for. Some math: everyone makes $100/hr. The task takes three hours for the main person doing the task (including revisions) and an hour for each of the other two employees before the work can leave the office. The price is $500 where another designer might charge $300 (i.e., only one person does the work takes responsibility). The right clients will appreciate and understand the value of this philosophy and pay for it, the wrong ones will not. You have to be okay with that and not try to back off the edge of irrationality and, say, charge $400.
This is why it is virtually impossible to make more than one decision like this at a time. You will literally kick your own ass. Yes, your shadow is that strong. We are all human and vulnerability has its limits each day. it might be completely random but make one of these decisions not more than four times a year. When you stir the pot you have to give time for the soup to cook. Patience is kindness to yourself and everyone around you – employees, clients and colleagues alike. Hold the tension, let it be uncomfortable, the edge is hot for a reason right up until it becomes validating. To those who refuse to walk the path with you, time will reveal the mismatch. And the beauty of not being for everyone is that you are not for everyone. At the edge, it is never personal because it is wholly so. You (employees, clients, colleagues) get to do them, just not with you and your creative business. Joy is authenticity and vice-versa, one decision at a time.
