Here we are at the dawn of a new decade and 2020 promises to be quite remarkable. For creative businesses, the beginning of the year is a slower time for most and many of you turn to what you can do to improve for 2020. That said, a lot of projects are already on the books for 2020, even 2021. Sales do happen, of course, but the idea is to not just improve sales but the execution of those sales too. So away creative business owners go to conferences, workshops, seminars, etc. in the effort towards growth.
My career is made on those creative business owners who seek to grow beyond their current limitations. I am forever grateful to those artists who do the hard work of challenging themselves to change with me at their side. I will never ever criticize anyone who seeks help from others as it is the essence of strength to me — to absolutely know what you do not know. Whether with me, some other advisor(s) or on your own, daring to be better is its own reward. So please do hone your process, shun the non-believers, define your value, own your outrageous promise(s) and your outrageous demand(s). Write it all down (or put it on audio and/or video) and then workshop it with those you trust. Those you trust never say “that will never work”; instead, they say “here what I think will happen if you go down that road, is this the choice you want to make?” You are all professionals and if you see the landscape as it might be then the risk is yours to own. Hear all voices to discover your own.
This post is about something else though, something that too often gets lost in this effort to change. I am taking about dignity, humanity, kindness, relationship, even love for the work, and those who are involved in its manifestation — clients, employees, colleagues, even family.
Our world is moving ever faster and the tools we have to communicate (manipulate?) our message will only continue to explode. The pressure to conform, to be the regular, digestible kind is overwhelming. The notion that there is no right way, only your way will be tougher and tougher to abide. And yet.
In the noise of those who seek to go ever faster should be the wisdom of silence, patience and purpose. Creative business will never be the means to an end, an adjunct to the endeavor. You are nobody’s helper if you believe that you see a world those you seek to serve cannot. It is your voice that is singular and must be steadfast.
Here is the thing: one interior designer might contemplate design from the outside in — start with walls and windows, then to the floors then lighting and ultimately furnishings. Another interior designer does it the exact opposite way. Which way is better? Why? If you can agree that the only way that matters is the way that works for the particular designer, then you can put the same question about the way a designer’s business runs and know that there is no right answer, only the way that works for them.
The dignity, humanity, compassion and kindness we have to extend is the notion that idiosyncratic value is, in fact, idiosyncratic and judgement of the idiosyncrasy is what will rob us of the very dignity, humanity and compassion we seek by undertaking the project in the first place. Without question, the work begins internally. The effort to improve is to evolve not to transform. Leave the transformation to your art. Evolution is the courage to strip away the platitudes and compromises to be an ever purer distillation of what you most believe. Courage of conviction can only happen if you strive diligently to create the foundation that will demand it from you. So be kind to yourself in the effort. We all hide in one way or another and coming out of our own proverbial shell is an eternal endeavor.
As you move towards your singular purpose with the willingness to own the inherent value in your way, then you might discover practices and methods to improve your way, never before. You have nothing if you cannot be rewarded (financially or otherwise) for that which you most value in your process of creation.
A last note. Ignore those who want to tell you how to make more money. You make more money because you own your own idiosyncratic value without compromise. If you do not do this work first, it will be like adding lighter fuel to a lit fire. It will burn bright and hot for an instant and then it will be done.
You cannot make a ruckus until you find stillness within yourself as both an artist and business owner. My prayer for you in 2020 is that you shun those who would seek to tell you otherwise.
