What is the value of an idea? Simultaneously infinite and worthless. No single idea has value. The value of the idea is its influence on the next idea. The series of ideas creates action, action creates movement to manifestation, manifestation transforms during its process and finally in its result.
In our TikTok, Instaeverything world we live in today, we confuse the process of idea building with the notion that the grand idea is the goal. Silver bullets never were but they persist in our culture because it is wonderful to live in that hope. The issue is not the beauty of what change can bring but the sacrifice necessary to make it happen.
How many times have you heard (or, come on, said) my role is to make your life stress free? How often have you compromised yourself, your art and your creative business in the guise of making the client happy? The client is always right after all.
Except, for creative business, the client is always wrong. Well, maybe not always. A broken clock is right twice a day. The entire point is that if they could see the world as you do, you would not exist. You know more about them in this context than they could ever hope to know themselves. So your advice, even if it was not what they were thinking (because how could they?), is actually a better version of themselves. Period.
Now seeing someone (or a select group) as they are will make those people all at once happy (who does not deeply desire to be seen?) and terrified (being seen beyond the surface is the stuff of intimacy and why mental health professionals will always be in demand). The value of an idea is to give you permission to use that idea to bury deeper with the next idea. The next idea and the one after that is what gives dimension to the project, vision to those who have not yet seen. It means you have to hold the center as an artist and creative business owner.
Fear of the unknown is a powerful demon. When you see indecision, the unwillingness to meet a budget, the desire to get ever closer to the Monet painting, it is fear. If you have done your work well you will be the one that has either created the fear or at least brought it to the surface. Your willingness to find resolution is everything today.
To those of you who wish to compromise, placate, ignore or otherwise, good luck. You are about to get run over. The overhang of emotionality from all things COVID to the stark reality that issues caused by the pandemic are far from over. Everything from PTSD, to current disastrous situations, to disruptions in supply chains continue to wreak havoc on all of us. And it will not end any time soon. Emotionality begets desire which exacerbates anything you and your creative business are tasked with. The sofa never was just a sofa but man o man is it not today. It is all about what the sofa represents about your client, why it matters for them to own it and your willingness and sacrifice to both imagine it and bring it to life.
It is a fools errand to ignore the value of an idea and its impact on the next idea. Truly, there are no shortcuts. For every YouTuber/TikTokker/Instadarling out there that seemingly struck it rich with their branding, there is equally an artist out there seeking to reach those that care the most. While it need not be a dichotomy, we have made it so in our culture. Social media needs to be the start of a conversation, not THE conversation if you really do want to make change happen.
My high school daughter is taking constitutional law this semester. I love constitutional law and all of the twists and turns the Supreme Court has and will take in its interpretation of our constitution. I have given her an underpinning of the first two cases she has read. Think less cliff notes, more highlights without judgment. Something to give her a wedge in to what she is reading. From there she can dig in to the opinions with a sense of direction and discover the nuance for herself. She might very well end up with a different viewpoint than I have with the help of her very very skilled teacher. And that is the entire point of me giving her a wedge in.
The purpose of your idea is to earn permission to reveal the next one. If you feel like you have done what is necessary to earn that permission, let that be more than enough. Fear may paralyze your client and then you can be grateful in the acknowledgment that they might just not be ready for you to see them as plainly as you do. Oh, and everyone wants to believe they are ready even if they are not. When you know the wall is immutable, let it be. Move on. The value of the idea is for those who wish to see what is next.
There are three fundamental points here. If you are not invested in the value of an idea and earning the permission to show the next one, the time to start doing that work is yesterday. Next, if your clients do not appreciate the value of your idea despite your investment, that is on both of you. Again, do your work on how to be a better communicator of the idea(s) you hold so dear. Last, if you have done the work, feel confident in your communication, but meet the immutable wall of fear and/or indifference, then allow yourself (and build into your agreements) the permission to be done. You can never compromise those that deeply care about you, your art and your creative business with those that really do not.
