Fear is a powerful dream killer, bottleneck, myopia-inducing wall creator. Fear helps us define the possible and live with the notion that “not for us” is good enough good. I watch it happen over and over and over again. Artists living with a feeling that what they want is just out of their grasp. So they charge less than they should, work too much on projects that do not speak to them. And when told there is another way, the answer invariably is a mix of incredulous, fanciful possibility, until the resignation of “not for me” takes over, sometimes with the indignation of you cannot possibly know what you are talking about when it comes to me and my creative business.
Then there are the well meaning “experts” who say charge what you are worth, be confident in yourself and your art, buck up bucko. As if a pep talk is anything more than a sugar rush. The “expert” feels great since they rallied the troops and “inspired” their audience/clients to go for it.
I, on the other hand, am heartbroken. If you flip the keys to a Ferrari to a kid who just got her license, it is a thrill to hear the engine roar and the power of speed at your fingertips, that is right up until she realizes that it is far beyond her ability to really enjoy and appreciate. The “expert” who only throws the keys to the Ferrari is hoping that those who love to drive will figure it out. Of course, some will. Most, however, will just be terrified and bide their time until they can get into any regular car that is not a Ferrari, capable of getting them where they want to go, reliably and safely without much fanfare.
Would it not be better for those who actually know how to drive a Ferrari to show and teach those who care enough how to actually drive the car? To talk about the effort it is going to take to master what the machine can do? The willingness to understand that driving a Ferrari is at once dangerous and expected. Dangerous because the machine demands the operator to be on the edge, expected because that is what it was built for in the first place.
I know many will say that there are great creative businesses out there that are regular cars doing reliable, safe work that clients value. To which I say, let us not mix metaphors. All creative businesses are Ferraris. They are meant to be dangerous and expected because what is to come does not yet exist, yet will come to life as you, the artist and creative business, intend. If you live in the reliable and safe, certainly you are valuable, but you are not indispensable and that makes what you are doing NOT a creative business, but a business possibly in support of either a creative business or creative endeavor. Those who sell art supplies to the artist are possibly creative,wonderful support but noone would confuse the shopkeeper with Picasso. Ever.
I say this not to throw shade on those who consider themselves creative but celebrate safety and reliability, only to acknowledge the paradox and the contradiction. And this paradox and contradiction is what bites so many creative businesses in the butt. Instead of learning to drive the Ferrari by actively seeking out teachers, cohorts, communities that live to drive Ferraris, they come to see the simple, the practical, the digestible as the way. Then these artists are horrified when technology comes along and replaces them; when “newbies” flood the market and kill any chance of making a decent living (so they have to have a “side hustle” to make ends meet); when clients do not understand all they bring to the table. These artists want to believe those “experts” that tell them they are special snowflakes and then redo everything to tell a better “brand” story, focusing on their core values, blah blah blah blah buhblah. All the while they bathe in the safe and reliable because they have no clue, no real strategy as to how, exactly, to define what they are worth. When the sugar rush of the “new you” wears off, the reality of their non-existent, eroding foundation returns, as will the frustration, anger and resentment. How I wish it were not so, but you do not need to look far in the creative business landscape to see how prevalent the sentiment actually is for so many creative business owners.
Life is a choice. If you are in the business of safe and reliable, fabulous wheel greaser, live there. Own the idea that you will be facing competition from everywhere — new entrants, technology, etc. – and you will just have to be better at being better. Volume, mass, the power of dilution. You might command a premium to the market but please do not expect the rewards of driving a Ferrari, even if you talk like you do, since you do not, in fact, drive a Ferrari. Appreciate the value of tried and true and make promises that fulfill that reality and none other.
Now, to those who wish to believe themselves to be driving Ferraris, do the damn work. Awake to the changing world around you and know that your creative business has to be a reflection of the reality that you get paid, really paid, for what NO ONE (and I mean NO ONE) needs. If what is coming out of your proverbial mouth does not match the story your creative business is telling, change the story. Your clients have to want what you do — why, when and how – so much so that it becomes a need. Make ever-growing radical promises and then keep them. When you do keep your promises, get paid for them – every time. Rinse and repeat until you create and then manifest great art, all so you have the right and ability to do it again (and again).
Everybody is afraid, the question is what are you going to do with it. At a certain point, you have to acknowledge to yourself whether you want to drive the Ferrari or whether that is just too much.
As I told my twelve year old daughter the other day, talent and a quarter gets you a gumball, everything else is a function of showing up and doing the hard work of getting better. The age of platitudes, randomness, doing it because that is the way it has always been done (or, the other lovely, because that is what happens in my market) is dead. Thank goodness. Design can only be marginalized if the artist lets it be, willingly giving up its value for the sake of a sale. Nature abhors a vacuum and, the biggest risk to all creative businesses is if artists abdicate the value of design to the consumer and/or to technology.
How about we all agree that this is self-inflicted pain we should all collectively say a big fat NO to? Good. So today, not tomorrow, or next month, or next season – today – what are you going to demand (not ask, not inquire, not wish for – demand) of your clients to do better work for them. The one thing that will change your world and theirs. The one thing the client has to do to honor the one thing that matters to you, your art and your creative business. Do that.
