Having It All - Part I

In this two part piece, we will review the keys to business success for the creative professional. The basic problem is that you must promote and create at the same time. Sound familiar? In most firms, you are the chief of new client development as well as the head of the creative. As a one-person shop, you wear all the hats. When marketing works, and new clients come in, there is always a tendency for marketing to lose momentum. As a result, new business slows down and you have the traditional "feast or famine" syndrome. To avoid this, here are some ideas for helping you in creating and promoting at the same time.

• TIP# 1 - BUT I JUST WANT TO CREATE
  Understand that you are first in business, then a creative. If you have recently said to yourself, "All I really want to do is be a designer (photographer, illustrator)," you need an attitude adjustment! The most successful firms today take a "business first" and this is reflected in everything from their portfolio presentations to their pricing strategy. It's not art, but commerce that you have chosen as a career.

• TIP #2 - GOAL GETTING
  Owners of creative businesses need to plan for success and not wait for it to happen. You need to get goals, not just set them. The key to successful goal achievement is to WRITE IT DOWN. Your subconscious simply does not recognize the unwritten goal. Putting your desires onto paper creates an unrestricted flow of energy and dedication to achieving those goals. Then, with the Marketing Plans discussed in two previous Tips, you create "action plans" to get specific goals.

• TIP #3 - STAYING MOTIVATED
  Staying motivated day after day to do it all - both the marketing and the creating takes an assertive attitude. You may already be doing this and not have identified that you have taken a position on the subject! If you find yourself tossed around from job-to-job or client-to-client and losing your direction and motivation, you may need an attitude check! Here's a "self diagnostic" for attitude:

  • Step 1
    Confidence is made, not born. Motivation comes from testing yourself and winning the tests. The most important thing to know is that YOU MUST NOT WAIT TO FEEL CONFIDENT TO ACT CONFIDENT. You'd wait forever! No, it turns out that your feelings follow your behavior. In other words, acting confident will eventually bring the feeling of confidence and motivation to you. Don't wait to overcome doubt and fear before facing any professional challenge. Accept that they are part of the process of testing and winning.

  • Step 2
    Anxiety and hesitancy may feel like negative and de-motivating feelings, but you have to look at them as indicators that you are doing something you haven't done before - that's all! The lack of motivation and confidence comes from the lack of practice. For example, the first time you quote a really big job or tell a client you can do something you haven't done many times before, you will feel some fear and anxiety. Don't worry, you are experiencing a perfectly normal reaction any business owner will feel when being confident. Acting confident may cause you some short term discomfort, but will deliver LONG TERM motivation, satisfaction and confidence. The trick, of course, is to learn to accept the fear without waiting for it to go away and go on to do the work at hand.