The Dog Days Of Summer
Here we are where all collectively catch our breath after, hopefully, a busy Spring and before an even busier Fall. A place where we can all just put it in idle for a little bit. There are things to be done but the imperative is slightly diminished. And if that time is not yet here, it will likely be shortly.
So, by all means, check out for a time. There is awesome value in being bored. No joke. Shut it down to let the next wave come.
Then how about the following contemplations: what makes ideal clients ideal? Beyond that they are nice and respectful, what specifically did they do that made your work sing? Make a list of at least five characteristics/moments that really stuck out to you as the project progressed. Hopefully, there is more than one great client (or at least one), so the list will be more than five items long. Now, take those items and ask yourself if you are paid for these moments in dollars and/or decisions as they happen. If not, why not? Do you not have a deliverable associated with the moment? Does it seem too random? Or does your business structure not work that way (i.e., design was great but you get paid fifty percent up front and fifty percent two weeks before completion)? What you have just done is uncover a disconnect. Since you now know better, you have to do better. How are you going to get paid for the moments in the Fall? Remember, you have defined these moments as the most valuable for everyone. You MUST get paid for these moments if you are to move your art and your creative business forward.
Sure, you can look at the mistakes/awful clients and work to fix those issues too, just do not start there. First, improving a strength is always more important than improving a weakness unless you believe that the weakness can ever be (or needs to be) your greatest strength. Likely not, so do not start there. Next, plugging one leak will leave room for the next, and the next. What fun is that? How about getting a bigger bucket? Taking the flaws out of your system is almost never worth it. We can all drive tanks (literally) and auto accidents would plummet. Silly right? Same with your creative business.
Since you are shutting it down, contemplating what makes your great clients great and how you can make all clients great, how about beginner’s mind? What if the idea that you did not know was exciting and interesting to you and the possibility of what could be still remained. The narrative you currently tell yourself about how what you are doing is in fact real is actually a function of the narrative. Change the narrative, change the reality. Going back to when you did not know what you know so that you give yourself permission to rewrite the narrative is critical in the dog days. So many of us just use the time to retrench into the same same, just refreshed. We become convinced that the story is as it is. You do not have the right clients. The budgets are shrinking. The economy is going to tank. Doing it any other way just is not done. All of that is a choice you get to make. You were crazy to think that you would be able to start in the first place. Time to get back to that crazy. You need more of it, not less when you are contemplating what could be next for your art and your creative business.
The last is to go plant a seed (maybe literally). Start something that will take time to grow and will need to be nurtured along the way so that the return will manifest longer than your typical window. Start small. Maybe it is an e-book, a video series, a pet project that will have meaning for a core group of fans. Do not do it for the money specifically, do it for the value of the long-term.
We live in a world of instant everything. Most of us are wired to deliver as quickly as we can under the pressure of an imposed deadline. There is no counter-weight to our lives, our art, our creative businesses. And there needs to be. Simply having something there that reminds you of the value of the methodical, the “you will get there when you get there”, is a place to find solace in the notion that there is another story other than get it done yesterday. You will know that what matters often takes time and enduring attention. Perspective matters especially when you find yourself in tunnel vision again.
