Your Legacy

When you stay at a great hotel, what do you remember?  The décor?  The food? The service?  Since Valentine’s Day is coming, what do you think will be the highlight of your dinner out?  The food?  The lighting?  Conversation?  How about your trip to the dentist?

Think about the millions upon millions of dollars spent on infrastructure, image and all things polish.  In the end though, it is the smallest details of human encounter that define all of us.  A series of moments, rooted in process sure, but deeply improvised is what helps us to feel heard, seen, and, I daresay, loved.

Perhaps all the money you spend on a fancy office, website, PR, etc. is worth it.  For many creative businesses, image matters.  However, without the ability to relate, to find yourself in the underneath of a client’s dreams, it will all be an empty shell – a monument to your own ego.  You will live and die on your ability to pull it off in the end, to have your finished art shine against the competition.  Maybe you are just that good.  For the rest of us though, memories of the art will be driven by the experience of our humanity first, talent second.

So what would it mean to build your creative business around moments, details, human reaction and interaction?  It would have to start with the first contact.

No potential client is calling you to say hi.  You know why they are calling and so do they.  Then why would you start the conversation like they are ordering from a drive through?  The who, what, when, where of the project?  If your business is about legacy, moments, you know those questions will be answered in the course of the conversation.  How well can you listen, learn, embrace, engage the person in front of you?  Will their memory be a smile, knowing that they matter to you, your art and your creative business or the feeling that you are competent to do the work?  It can be both, just not at the same time.  Your legacy, your choice.

And what about when times get rough as they always do in creative projects?  Will you say the proverbial “suck-it-up”, roll over and play dead or choose humanity?  Humanity is to acknowledge the reality, embrace its truth, and offer guidance as the professional you are.  If your culture is perfection, mistakes will come with blame and blame will breed resentment.  There will be bullies and Teflon Don’s.  On the other hand, if your culture is about process and a steady, wise hand, then the journey will be the point and seeing through to the end will breed community.  More we have each other’s back than kumbaya.

Most important though is what clients, employees, and colleagues will say about you in the in-betweens.  What happens when the potential client signs?  What deliverables do they get BEFORE you deliver your final product?  Everyone should take a lesson from architects.  Think about the models, plans, renderings, etc. that they have to show just to get a client to agree to build.  What would your creative business look like if you did the same?  What would everyone say about you then? Do you care?  Value is in the unexpected, the gentle knowing hand.  What about after the project is done?  How do you say goodbye?

Clients have to talk about what lies underneath your art, how your creative business embodied their essence at every step.  All creative business is about connection and your ability to nurture the connection throughout your process.  Make meaning and let that be your legacy.  The art will take care of itself.