This time of year, most creative businesses begin to make plans for next year. For the wedding industry, Michelle Loretta from Sage Wedding Pros is writing a series of posts about setting realistic goals and the terrific Lara Casey is offering an intensive workshop on moving your business forward. The work is necessary and will yield great fruits if done well. However, I would also like to remind you to be still, to release yourself from trying to find THE answer or any answer for that matter. Whether you do it for an hour, a day or a week this season, permit yourself to let it all be BEFORE you dive into your business.
No matter how large or small your creative business, you are its leader. What will be is as important as what is. Your job is to decide what will be. You simply cannot do that if you are mired in or overwhelmed by what is. The best ideas come when we permit ourselves to be untethered by our own version of reality. If you can step away from your reality, you can create a new one. Stepping away can mean a version of Vicente Wolf’s annual year-end two month trip to the far reaches of the globe (this year it is Mali and Timbuktu). But it can also be a series of yoga classes, bike rides, car trips, walks in nature or even around the City.
The goal is perspective – an understanding that there is and will be a better way for you to honor your art. Hopefully, you will also discover what it is you don’t know, but need to. One thing we can all be sure of: the world next year will look nothing like what it does today. The skills you will need to be successful as your world evolves will be what they have always been, yes, but so much more about what you never thought they would be. How many of you thought three years ago that you would have to be competent in Social Media to be relevant?
A few examples of skill sets I think certain creative business owners will need to have (or hire) to stay competitive: A florist will have to understand how commodity markets work. An event designer will have to know how an interior designer delivers her work for a commercial project. A photographer, stationer and planner will have to know how a subscription business works. A production company and rental businesses will need to know how the music business works.
Above everything else, the point of your creative business is to change the world, your world. Give yourself the permission to be still. Your perspective will tell you what will be for you, your art and your creative business. From there, you can take advantage of all the resources available to you to make it happen.
{ 2 comments }
Can you elaborate more on why a photographer would need to know how a subscription business works? Thanks.
Brittany — I think that photographers are going to have to figure out a way to extend and diversify their client base. Creating a membership might be one way to do it.