20 years and still one of my favorite movies. The Matrix has a scenewhere the hero must choose between seeing the truth of the world he truly inhabits or continue the facade constructed by the matrix. Red pill truth, blue pill matrix. Take the red pill and no turning back, blue pill and you live in blissful ignorance. Of course, Neo chooses the red pill and the story unfolds from there.
For your creative business, are you really wiling to swallow the red pill? To absolutely know the truth and live to the consequences? To feel the pain of change? You can read The Dip all you like (and you should) but owning the truth of where you are and where you are heading are not the same thing.
We forget the pain of compromise, the feeling that happens when you do not make (either in terms of dollars or respect) the money you need. We associate that pain with how little exists today and the need to book business to ease that pain. A negative cycle if there ever was one.
You take the red pill because there is no turning back. Better to quit than do bad business. Bad business is cancer and you will die, if not today, then tomorrow. This much is certain. Own that truth. Compromise and half-truths, depletion, frustration at not having what you want from yourself, your art, your creative business. This is not sustainable. The blue pill lets you believe it is and you become a slave to your business, your clients and to all those you believe you need to stay afloat. Slowly but surely your power goes to other, with you blissfully unaware until it is too late.
The red pill means that, given the choice of panic and stress when business is not materializing as you thought it would or cash is short, you move closer to yourself, your art and your vision rather than away. Specifically, when you know the truth of the world you inhabit, you can change that world by writing about why you do what you do. Sweating about money? Write about why you are the best in the world, your world, at what you do. Feeling anxious about the level of inquiries? Write about why you are compelling to create what you do, about what would happen if you could not do it any more. Frustrated with your current clients? Write about why you are grateful to create art for them and, if you cannot do that, why you are grateful to create the art — period.
Do not just say it to yourself or your team. Actually do the work of writing it down. Better yet, put it out to the world and let the world see what is underneath the facade you believe is drawing people to you and your art (it is not). From there, you will see the business implications that you must abide by. Your price is not a number, it is a series of value points you must describe and assess for your potential clients and colleagues alike. If you know what you must get paid for, then not getting paid for it is soul-sucking. Do what you do and get paid for what you do when you do it. The red pill. It is the truth and it is up to you to live by it.
Which leads me to pundits and soothsayers and those who need to scare you into the solution you are missing. Fear and FOMO are powerful mistresses. They draw you in to what can save you from yourself if only you can follow along well enough. If all the cool kids are doing it, then that has to be the answer for you. Hundreds, if not thousands, of creative business owners reach at this time of year for those who have the temerity (gall?) to say this is the way.
There is no way, only the truth that is yours. You have to do the work. You have to own what matters. You have to appreciate that cutting vegetables does not make you a chef no matter how fast you cut them. To be a chef you need education, intention, perseverance and conviction. There are no shortcuts and I loathe those who prey on fear and FOMO as if their answer is better than what is inside. Learn new tools and practices every day. But never ever mistake them for the answer. Run away from yourself, your art and your creative business at your own peril.
Invest in community, those who will make you better, those that will consistently and constantly show you the truth of the red pill. No turning back.
