Most creative businesses are micro-businesses. Only a handful generate more than a million dollars and it is rarified air to be generating more than ten million. I can count on one hand (ok, maybe both) those that fall into the latter category. Yet, the perception is that the creative businesses you admire are not only hugely successful but also of a scale that they are not. Call it great PR, marketing, a bit of celebrity worship or a combination of all three, it does not matter, the result is the same. Your business pales to theirs and prevents you from seeing what you have and where you can go.
To co-opt an old horse-racing adage, do not look in someone else’s wallet. More important, do not use the stature of others to relegate you to a case of the tinies. Many creative businesses hope to grow from say $50,000 this year to $150,000 five years from now. The plan is to keep doing the same old same old to chip away at the loaf to get more crumbs. The big ideas get relegated to “visionaries”, the celebrities with the “high-end” clients that either dominate a local market or are (inter)national players.
I am all for realism and staying true to yourself. However, if you never push yourself to be uncomfortable, you will never know what is possible. So instead of trying to figure out how to turn your $100,000 business into a $200,000 business, why not ask yourself how you can turn it into a $2,000,000 business (yes, I used numbers for effect). There may be a whole host of reasons why you might choose never to go there – time away from family, reluctance to become a manager, fear of investment, etc. – but to not do the work to understand how it could happen keeps you stuck.
Being stuck has ramifications. It means you spend money on things that may not matter. Jazzing up your website and blog, joining all things social media and advertising in the name of progress without substance will keep you frustrated. On the other hand, if you know in your belly that doing all of these things will change the world (or even how the world sees you), then it is money well spent. Moreover, if all you care about is incremental change (read: incremental growth), almost by definition you will miss the forest for the trees. Perception of value is tainted by our own bias. Imagining a bigger world removes the bias if only for a moment. And sometimes a moment is all you will need to find the courage to go another way.
Do not mistake faith and conviction for arrogance or conceit. We are all entitled to believe in something, ourselves most of all. Give yourself the permission to think bigger than you are and embody what that image looks like. Whether you choose to bring that vision to reality is your choice.
{ 7 comments }
What an insightful post. As always, your words of wisdom are fantastic and quite helpful.
Amazing post Sean. Thank you for sharing your infinite wisdom.
Very well said, we need to dream big, why make sacrifices to be average? We need to go for it, ALL of it!
“Perception of value is tainted by our own bias. Imagining a bigger world removes the bias if only for a moment. And sometimes a moment is all you will need to find the courage to go another way.”
Love that!! Thanks for your insight and great perspective.
Amazing post Sean… My mind is now spinning – it a very very good way!
Always so insightful. We are the only people holding us back! Thanks for yet another great post that pushes us to be better!
This is something all business owners need to listen to. Basically, it’s go big or go home.