Making it work in your new creative business.
The pressures of business will kill your creativity. More than likely if your business is growing, and you want it to continue to deliver you more money, it will require you manage your mind more effectively to continue liking it. And for it to continue delivering to you.
Why is this? And what does that even mean?
It’s fairly simple.
As businesses grow, from say a creative hobby to a baby business, your relationship to your creative pursuit can (and most likely will) change.
In the beginning, the stakes are low. When you start your business from a creative hobby, there’s really no external pressures on you. You’re doing it because you LOVE it. There is typically no reason for it to be ‘efficient’ and your relationship to the craft or creative hobby is all about how you feel doing it– which is usually AMAZING. It’s usually a break from your boring day job and you are just super duper in love with it.
Sharing with others makes you feel like an expert. THEN you start sharing it with others. Cool, right?! As soon as you do that, via social media most likely then your friends and family all begin complimenting you about how amazing you are at this thing! You’re really living on a high at that point.
It becomes the THING that is not the thing you’re doing now. Wow! Maybe I SHOULD turn this into a business so that I can truly ‘live my purpose’!!!!! So, you are just super future-focused at this point. A little scared, a little excited!
Blank canvasses (like a social media) are all dreamy. You might decide to start an instagram! And trepidatiously begin sharing your creative adventures. Your first big order! Your materials and tiny ‘studio space’ (ie your kitchen table or corner of your bedroom). But it looks so creative and just so fun and professional and real!
Being a beginner means you have no concept of failure. Then you decide you’re going to make a go at this thing. You’re going to take it seriously. It’s scary but exhilarating. You do some research, you apply to take part in Cleveland Flea (or a craft market / pop up shop) so you can be with other real-life business owners and (eek) CUSTOMERS! And you might even do well, but what do you know? It’s not like you have any goals or have even calculated how much any of this creative-hobby-turned-baby biz costs or could be making!
THEN YOU DECIDE TO ACTUALLY DO THIS THING.
All of a sudden, your relationship becomes one of fear.
You have pressure to ‘succeed’.
Now, instead of just being a hobby that everyone applauded, you have CUSTOMERS that expect you to be as good as the business next door.
You start doing numbers (how much time you’re spending, how much money you’re spending) and you realize that you’re not doing very well. Mind you, it’s the SAME THING you were doing before and you’re now defining it in a totally different way.
You spend all your time trying to be better, making more money, taking better photos, build an online presence AND for some reason it just doesn’t feel the same anymore.
WELCOME TO BUSINESS.
IT’S NOW TIME TO BEGIN MANAGING YOUR MIND, YOUR TIME, YOUR MONEY, YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
You are seen differently in the world once you join the ranks of business owners. And that can be spectacular! But it can also be scary. Because you are now competing for people’s money AND attempting to turn your efforts into money, the payout is not just fun and creativity and hopes and dreams. It’s time. It’s money. It’s more happiness at work. And when you’re pretty new (and kinda shitty) at something, it’s hard to make all of that work. Today.
How do you make it work then?
Consistency. You show up every day until you’re no longer a beginner.
Look inward. This business stoked your creative fires before, it should do so again now. And there’s not better match for competition than being super original. You’ve got to find a way to set yourself apart.
Track numbers. Be aware of where you stand. See your progress. Understand the facts. Sure you might ‘feel’ like a failure, but are you actually? No. Probably not.
Celebrate your actual victories. When anything great happens, recognize yourself for it. Otherwise you’ll be drowning in all the ‘I’ve got to get betters” that come along with business. You will only see how you can improve, not how far you’ve gotten.
Define your own success. That’s crucial that you do that every year, at least. And maybe even more in the beginning.
Realize it’s got to do with managing your mind. You are now a BOSS. It’s time to think and act like one.