I lost the client to another creative business. The publication turned me down. I was too expensive, too cheap. If I go too far, all I will get is no. My job is just to execute my client’s vision. It is not about me or my firm.
The Moon is wondrous and beautiful in its reflection of the Sun. The grace and wisdom of the reflection is never lost on me and something I, as an individual, will always savor and aspire to. However, and it is a big however, at a certain point, if you are to live the truth of your creative business, you must choose to be the Sun.
Every statement I made at the beginning of this post is an example of the Moon. No matter how we all got started, we were reliant on someone or many someones to give us the opportunity to do what we do. On the most positive and valuable side, we all have those patrons who see us and give us the acknowledgment and opportunity we all crave. A thousand shoulders to take a single step.
There is the underbelly though. Those that become threatened with your success or the limitations of their own understanding. The client that simply will not ever give you the credit you have rightly earned. Even more, the client or colleague that judges you as less than. Late payments, last minute changes, an unwillingness to accept the significance of your work to their lives. Perhaps they even call you a fraud in so many words without using the actual words. The light of the Moon is derivative to the Sun. The power to shine brightly or be shrouded in darkness belongs with the Sun. There are moments a Moon might block the Sun but they are as rare in allegory as they are in reality.
Ultimately, you have to be the Sun. The light has to come from you directly as you know what those in front of you do not. Just because your client has multiple degrees, an enormous bank account, and incredible gifts of perception and foresight does not mean that you are not equally brilliant at your work, your vision, your craft. The two are meant to coexist. It is your narrative that belittles the endeavor, your inability to live fully in their orbit. The Moon. If only you would own the power of yours.
An example I have given many many times. An interior designer is tasked with designing a room for $7. She finds the most exquisite, perfect lighting fixture for $2. She knows the fixture is the star of the room and she pairs a couch that is the exact complement. The couch is $3. The rest of the room she fills in for the remaining $2. When she shows the room to her clients, she stresses the beauty of the lighting fixture and how it is quintessentially “them”. They say that if it is so beautiful and perfect, why is the couch fifty percent more? Then they argue about the price of the couch and if the lighting fixture is so wonderful, go find a couch for $1. Oh, the Moon.
The narrative that drives the decision to show line item prices, to engage in a discussion about relative value, to ask the impossible — for someone blind to value to see it as you do when the rational understanding eliminates the irrational — is based on your perception that you have to inhabit your clients world to access yours. Except it is your light, literally your ability to see what they cannot, that is on order. If you cannot own that you must be the Sun, you will forever be frustrated in your inability to “sell”, to manage client’s expectations, to work truly on your terms.
Clients who recognize your creative business, your art as the Sun will demand that you make them uncomfortable, seek to move to the edge every time. They will understand that backing off of your obsession is the effort not the search for yes.
The power of power is to effect change. If overblown, it will destroy faster than if it is derived from the Moon. Noone needs pedants. What we need are those willing to stand in their own light now that the stage is theirs. Change your narrative by acknowledging the strength of you talent, wisdom, and experience without relativism. Let it be enough because it really is and will be the foundation for the new story yet untold.
One caveat: it cannot be a struggle. It is a decision and a choice you must make for yourself, your art and your creative business. Binary. Both the Sun and Moon are wondrous and horrific all at once. I am simply acknowledging that those who choose to be the Sun have the opportunity to chart a path singularly theirs without asking permission. The path is based on those who can say that they do in fact know better and see the ability to share that knowledge with those who seek it as a gift. Not an entitlement, a judgement, or a value statement. Just a gift that nurtures and transforms all involved. Make the choice to be the Sun when it is time. We will all be better off when you do.
