Creative Entrepreneurship Basics: Treat Your Creative Genius Like a Full-Time Job

So, here’s how I ended last Tuesday’s post, which you can find here: “I’ll leave you with your brain dump/brainstorming session(s) to work on. Then, we’ll plan on meeting back next week to work on some more of the Creative Work-Life Balance process, unless something else comes up to change my plan. (I have to put that little caveat in there, because you just never know.)”

And guess what?

I’m so glad I put that little caveat in there. In fact, something else DID come up and change my original plan to continue on with the next step in our goal setting for the Creative Work-Life Balance process. It’s called that active mind of mine. Sometimes, I have so many ideas and thoughts pop up all around the same time — all good ideas and thoughts — but I just have to figure out how to arrange them in my mind and deliver them out to you in a way that isn’t so disjointed. It can be mind-boggling at times. But, I love it. I’d much rather have a lot going on up there than to be scrounging around for content scraps to piece together and make something out of.

In essence, I just thought I’d break up the work (associated with the creative work-life balance) by bringing in some creative entrepreneurship basics for you to ponder over. And then, you can go back to brainstorming again. Yes, you get to work on last week’s assignment for another week. So, no excuses for late work (unless they’re really, really good ones), since I’m giving you ample time to get everything done.

Oh, and feel free to refresh your memory by clicking on that highlighted link above and you’ll find the assignment listed in that blog post up there, if you’ve not had a chance to see it yet or have forgotten about it altogether (shame . . . shame on you).

Anyway, I had one of my creative sessions with me, myself, and I — simply thinking about great topics to talk about on this blog. And, here’s what I came up with: the idea of treating our creative genius (whatever that looks like for you and for me) like a full-time job as one surefire way to get incredibly good at it. And if you’re utilizing this creative flair of yours in your business, it becomes even more essential to make sure you’re on point when it comes to delivering your creative expertise to the world.

Now, let me just say that it may not be possible to put in the actual full-time hours needed to hold down a full-time job, when it comes to your creative genius. However, you can fully carry out the following 5 work-related behaviors (even if you can only commit to a part-time hours work schedule).

• Set a schedule for yourself each work day and try to stick to it.
• Show up for work.
• Fulfill your job description.
• Work to become more proficient at your craft.
• Be customer service focused in everything that you do.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Do I have some good ones listed for you right there. And I can easily name another 5 more and another 5 more after that, but I’ll concentrate on the 5 work-related behaviors (above). Quite frankly, that’s enough to focus on in one blog post. And I won’t even go into all the different routes I can take with each one. I’ll just give a brief discussion on all 5, and I’m confident that’ll be enough for you to get where I’m coming from.

Here we go.

Set a Schedule

I have several blog posts that go into the importance of a schedule. And no matter what type of schedule is created, all of the discussions focus on the routine aspect of that schedule. In other words, you have to have some structure to your schedule each day in order to make the most of the creative work time you’re given in that day.

I bet you know exactly what I mean. For instance, when someone works for an employer, usually there’s a set schedule. It may not look the same each day, but there’s a certain time that employee is expected to show up and a certain timeframe in which that individual is expected to do his or her work and be done for the day.

Everything regarding start time, stop time, and what’s done in between can be flexible if the employer sets it up that way. But the idea to keep in mind here is that expectations are to be carried out. Within the flexibility of a schedule are certain expectations that the employer requires of the employee within his or her schedule each day, and the employee is expected to meet those expectations. And striving to meet expectations keeps you on track with creating routine ways of responding to work-related scenarios. (How many times can I say “expected” and “expectations” in this first discussion point?)

So, set a flexible schedule for each of your working days, but make sure you create expectations for yourself around that schedule and stick to them. Developing a routine way of going about your flexible creative work day is a great way to develop consistency in your work flow in order to GET THINGS DONE.

Show Up

Show up physically. Show up mentally. Show up spiritually. Just show up, in general. Bring all of YOU to your creative endeavor when you’re working on it. It’s important, friend. I mean whatever your creative genius happens to be (or will come into being) is an extension of you, so you need to be “all in” . . . highly involved in every aspect of it. Your reputation’s on the line.

Need I say more?

Well, I’m not since I was a little long-winded in the “Set a Schedule” section. I did promise you brief, so let me keep with that line of thought.

Next⇓

Do Your Job

Okay, so this is a statement that should go without saying, but it needs to be said. As creative entrepreneurs, there’s no use in whining about lackluster results in our businesses when we’re not even putting in the work, according to our job descriptions.

And I’m not even referring to “being perfect” at carrying out our jobs. I’m just referring to simply doing our jobs at all. If you don’t put in the work, you can’t see the results. It’s just as basic as that.

Let’s create job descriptions for the roles we hold down as creative entrepreneurs. And let’s be honest. We hold many roles in the areas of administration, research and design (new product development), human resources, customer service, finance and accounting, marketing, public relations, legal, transportation and logistics, etc.

Now, you don’t have to be super complicated with your job descriptions. But, you need to know what your roles entail, be able to communicate them to yourself and others who are interested in your creative business, and live them out in daily application. You should probably even physically document your processes and what your roles and responsibilities look like in each area. (You know what happens when you leave everything up to the old memory bank, don’t you?) So, documented processes are great reminders for keeping you on track and accountable for doing your job.

Get Better

Again, I was a little lengthy with my response above, so let me just say that “getting better” at your creative genius means putting in the education (independent research, traditional and non-traditional schooling, mentoring, on-the-job training, etc.) needed to continuously grow in your area of expertise.

Never get complacent about your craft or think you’ve learned everything there is to know about it. Life encompasses change — ALWAYS. And if we’re not in a mode of change somewhere in our existence, then we cease to exist altogether. Get where I’m coming from?

So, DON’T let your creative spark die out. Keep it burning. Let it live and get bigger and grow brighter and become stronger. Work on your creative process(es) and stay on a path of continuous process improvement.

Serve Your Customer

In retail, I was taught that the customer is ALWAYS right. In theory, I get the message, because I fully know that the customer can make or break a business entity. Case in point: just have customers stop frequenting their local retail establishments and see what happens to them in a very short period of time. (COVID showed us all what this looks like.)

In reality, the saying is not ALWAYS true. We know that. But theory is highly critical here. You have no business without the customer. You may have even heard a similar statement such as . . . “if you’re not making money at your creative genius, then you simply have a hobby.” I won’t go that far, but I will say that you have to be making money in order to have a true business. And you have to have paying customers to make money.

So, give the people what they want in whatever your creative genius is. If you’re wanting to make money with your creative flair, then don’t gear it ONLY toward what you want (I mean have what you want mixed in there) but gear it toward what your customers need and want. That’s the ONLY way you’re going to experience sustainable money-making progress at your creative skills sets.