The Business of Being Creative

Here we are with the world in free fall in response to the Coronavirus.  Massive postponements and/or cancellations of organized public gathering (or any gathering or travel in Italy’s case).  Incredible disruptions in the supply chain.  No travel to China and now Europe. Body blows to the global economy.  All in the last week.  There simply is no escaping the pain your creative business is likely to feel. 

No doubt, I want everyone to be healthy and safe during this time, but man oh man the difference a week makes.  In that time, South by Southwest was cancelled, major universities are shutting in-person classes, the NCAA is shutting the men’s basketball tournament to fans and might postpone the whole tournament as the NBA and likely NHL will be doing.  More and more governments are banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people.  That is a world of hurt for those businesses depending on these events to bring in much needed income and a shock to the overall local consumer confidence we all rely on to move forward.  Oh, and the stock market is in bear market territory (down 20% from its highs), trillions of dollars gone in a week.

Yes, there is work to be done on your business — to tell a better story, improve the flow of information, invest in the technology and education you need to be better tomorrow than you are today.  And those posts will come back starting next week (I hope).  This post though is to acknowledge that you are in the middle of the storm and a few practical notions of what to do and not to do.

Last week’s post was about hope and philosophy and I stand by every word, but this one is about brass tacks.  In that vein, I know I am going to rile some of you since I am going to be really plain and blunt.  I am sorry in advance but know that it is borne of experience, having lived through owning a business being effectively wiped out by 9/11, running Preston Bailey’s business in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, and working with clients as they made it through various natural disasters over the past several years (hurricanes, fires, etc.).  With very real understanding comes deep compassion for what so many of you are now facing and also the need to be as harsh as I can.  Tough love beyond a doubt.

Panic is a virus and it is spreading uncontrollably now.  You can blame the media, government, your neighbor.  You can argue that it is overblown, underblown or whatever, but it does not matter, it is here.  Your life, your art and your business are in it now.  What it means is to act accordingly and brutally.

Additionally, we have to acknowledge that this shock to the system could not come at a worse time for most creative businesses.  Seasonality is real and most creative businesses are just coming out of the winter doldrums and are reliant on the burst of activity Spring brings with it to refill the tank so to speak.  Yeah, that is not happening.

Practically then, it means you must be ruthless and do all that you can to weather the storm.  Everything from laying off staff (other than the most necessary — see below), renegotiating anything that is costing money at the moment (leases, mortgages, etc.), forestalling any expenditure that you can.  The panic might subside tomorrow, next month or next year.  No-one knows and hoping that you can keep it all in place until the pandemic is over is a fools errand.  Terrible, awful decisions need to be made now.  Whatever you need to do to keep powder dry (i.e., maintain cash), do it. Oh, and this is no time to be sanctimonious or proud.  President Trump just ordered the SBA to start making disaster relief loans flow freely, will likely declare a national emergency to free FEMA to step in and there will be other grants and access to capital.  Perhaps business interruption insurance if you have it can apply.  Force Majeure clauses need to be enforced.  Go get it, even if you have a nest egg. Cash is king, queen and everything in between.  If you intend to keep going (not a decision to be assumed by the way), then go get as much as you can now without resorting to predators (no credit card, personal loans, etc. — real money from available sources at little to no interest if a loan or straight grants if not).

Next, beware the shiny penny.  When my dinner delivery business evaporated, we turned to corporate catering, sandwich wholesaling, fine dining, lunches, anything to use the asset we had (that no-one had any use for at that moment).  There is no such thing as a temporary fix for a hard asset nor for doing piece work with your intellectual property that you would not otherwise do.  Like blood in the water, desperation attracts the worst kind of predators.

Speaking of desperation, there will be tons and tons of players succumbing to the notion that they have to do more for less in order to survive.  As I said last week, good luck with that. 

Just remember that ultra-luxury goods sold by the likes of LVMH and Bentley exploded starting in the beginning of 2009 to 2012 and, by the way, the iPhone was first released in 2008 (announced in 2007).  Beware bottom feeders posing as Chicken Little. When the time comes (i.e., when you feel the panic start to abate), then my strongest advice is to go the other way.  Will that mean forsaking business when you are deeply hungry?  Yep.  But opportunity is never for the faint of heart.  The largest deal I ever made for Preston during my time running his business (multi-millions) happened in the Spring/Summer of 2009.  Lucky? Sure.  Convicted more though.

So while you are waiting for the storm to pass, let’s talk strategy.  Which of your clients are going to come back first?  Who might not come back at all?  Where can your creative business pivot to offer the most value to those coming back first?  And how can you strategize as to how you are going to tell the most compelling story for that effort.  You have to ask why you matter and how you are going to be the first to tell that new story, loudly.  It means that you will be pressing now to have conversations then.  For instance, social events might not be dead, but convincing families and friends to come together when grandma and grandma might die if you do is going to be a hard sell.  That said, it is going to happen, just not the way it happened last week.  You need to be working on how your art is going to serve this new normal now and then start telling your story.

To tell your story, you are going to need the assets and support of those that will serve that effort.  While you might have to lose your most valued personal assistant, maybe not your design team.  Those who will serve to create the tomorrow of your art are the last to go as are those who are responsible for selling it.

Here is another example.  If you are an interior designer serving the luxury client, how are you going to convince your clients to invest in their home as the sanctuary they will need it to be?  How will you recalibrate their understanding of “working from home” so that it feels most natural in everyone’s new normal.  Yes, how are going to set about solving new problems now that the game has changed?  The value is still there it is just that the translation has shifted.  Having just a place to rest your head might not be enough for anyone anymore.  So if you are an interior designer that believes in the power of sanctuary, what are you going to do about it now?  Specifically, how will you double your price to drive that point home?

It cannot be understated though, the time to sell the new normal is not now.  Now is the time to live to fight another day and weather the storm.  Tell your clients, actual and potential that you know now is not the time to do anything other than deal with the crisis at hand, but to set a date now to talk about the new world order.

The world will come back, just know the story of the Phoenix as it will not come back fully until we acknowledge that today is gone and tomorrow is its own ethos.  There is nothing good about the pain we are all in and do I ever wish it were not so.  However, we are here and endure it we must.  On the other side though, when this moment has passed, there will be a choice, a chance at rebirth.  The opportunity will be there if you are brave enough to let go of all that was, convicted that that day when it comes will be its own reward.

At the end of the day, what matters? That you made a lot of money? That you changed someone’s life? That you beat out the competition? That you are famous? That you are respected? Loved, even?

If the Coronavirus can teach us anything, it is that life is fragile and largely beyond our control.  Whether the disease turns out to be devastating economically, physically, psychologically, even spiritually beyond what it already is, or not much of anything beyond what we know today, what it has already done is point out how incredibly hard it is for us to deal with uncertainty.  Plan all you want but you cannot know the future.

As with all upheavals, natural disasters, economic downturns (crises), political machinations, tomorrow does come.  How then do you find your way forward?

Might I suggest that the answer to finding your way forward and to what matters at the end of the day is how you deal with uncertainty.  For creative business, the essence is that the end is not guaranteed. You are literally paid because what is sought might not work out no matter how many times you have been up the proverbial mountain.

The very beauty of the CV (if there can be any beauty in a disease) is that it knows no socio-economic boundaries when it comes to infection.   Treatment, of course, is another story, but we are all literally in this together when it comes to infection. And within that thought is the practice that needs to develop as to the idea that tomorrow will come and that it will demand its own contemplation separate and apart from today.

CV eats at the power of community, of coming together to share ideas and moments and memories.  If you in the business of creating the forum for those ideas, moments and memories how are you to assess what matters?  We are seeing the power of the digital age and our ability to manage without physical connection where possible.  Simultaneously isolated and connected.  How you communicate the necessity of holding both things while not diminishing the need for physical intimacy is the challenge of the moment.

Uncertainty will draw the best and worst from all of us.  The best of us is the conviction that humanity is larger than any moment and that our humanness demands art in its purest form — that which will help us chart an uncertain future. Hope.

Hope will not say that it will all be ok.  It might not.  No, hope is only that uncertainty will resolve itself within the ethos we demand.  CV might drive us physically apart in so many ways, make it wholly convenient to isolate ourselves in all ways.  Except we cannot go back to a fragmented world no matter how appealing it might appear.  The beauty of the idea today is not its ownership but its dispersion so that it might constantly improve.  You might not be a fan of Wikipedia but just think of how far and fast it shares information.  Still want to dust off your encyclopedias?  There is no going back even for a moment.

Instead, there is a redefinition of uncertainty, for which all artists must be now be paid.

Practically, it means that this is the moment to rediscover the value and power of what you are tasked to create.  Double down.  Yes, listen to fear (yours and your clients), acknowledge it and then find purpose and clarity to your work.  Do not ask for the world to stay the same as it has forever changed as it always does, just more intensely now.  Deliver the joy as only you know how to do.  This is an eternal constant that sometimes gets lost in the midst of upheaval.  Let it be your compass.

Fair warning: if you have not done the work of knowing your value and getting paid for it when you have earned it, but instead have focused on being marginally better than the rest, life is about to get really really hard.  Perhaps you can find your way to telling a better story that will be compelling and stop racing to the bottom.  Old habits and fear have a way of sucking all the air out of the room though.  The reason is simple — if you have not fully invested in mattering to those that care but instead have just tried to get better at finding a “yes”, you will become desperate as those similarly desperate will cannibalize you as acknowledged business contracts. 

Nature is cruel, albeit efficient.  If you have done the work, now is the time to acknowledge that just because you each deliver the same thing does not mean you are in the same business.  The journey, never the destination was everything, is everything and will forever be so.  At the end of the day you must be convicted in the desire to start anew, awash in the unknown.  This, of course, is faith.  And that is what you are left with, faith that your art will tell the story of tomorrow and we will all be enriched if and when you do.

There is nothing new about feeling shame, a sense of unworthiness, judgment when we look across the landscape.  Are you good enough relative to whatever or whoever you might be measuring yourself against?  Another designer’s projects, following, media coverage, bank account, etc.? Finding your way in this brave new world has been covered by many far smarter than me.  (HT Brene Brown).

My take for this post is a little different.  Shame, feeling unworthy and even a little intimidated is a huge driver to conform, to say I am that too, to trim the edges as it were.  Of course, most artists live in the desire to be on their artistic edge and want their work to speak its own truth.  They want their art to be a barrier to whatever shame, feelings of inadequacy they might be feeling.  Often though, the fear, intimidation and shame translates into their art and most certainly over to their business.  Ultimately, the dilutive effect of compromise, of being just a little bit of the regular kind is devastating to both the art and the business.

No place does this play out more than in the power dynamic between wealthy clients and your creative business.  With very rare exception, most of your clients live a life of means you cannot contemplate.  Many have built their careers with singular drive and ambition and are wholly unaccustomed to being out of control in just about any situation.  In this relationship it is so easy to fall into “artists are terrible businesspeople” when dealing with people who have been extraordinarily fortunate in business.  This is shame, feeling unworthy and intimidation playing itself out over and over again.  The shame that infects every aspect of the relationship. You walk on eggshells, firmly believing the client could deem you unworthy and walk away at any minute.  So you hedge for fear of all things — alienation, exposure, judgment. The very risk of being seen as less than prevents risks necessary for great work.

So what is it that you most want to say?  How can you own the truth of that statement to you, your art and your creative business?  Most important though, why should it matter to everyone else — clients, employees and colleagues alike?  How can you reframe your thinking to hold your shame but choose to come from another place?  The answer is simple to say, incredibly challenging to live: refuse to be the regular kind.  Ever.

I loathe the idea of making it easy to buy from you as it connotes that you will be working hard to be the regular kind, when, in fact, you are not and never ever can be.  The power of niche is that you are not for everyone and losing the wrong client (the one that cannot value what you do) is not a loss at all, but a huge gain.  Instead, focus on those that “get” you and your art and build your business for them and them alone.

Our world today makes it simultaneously harder and easier to be profoundly authentic.  Easier because there is an audience waiting for you, your art and your creative business to be the best, most radically pure version of yourself and itself.  Harder because we are all jaded that you are just trying to “differentiate” yourself across a sea of sameness (i.e., there is no there there).  Throw in the shame, intimidation and desire to simply feel adequate and you have a recipe of crazy making.

Clarity is your responsibility.  Your measure of success has to come from your own faith.  Making more money might not be a great measure if it costs you your soul as a both an artist and business owner.  So when you look around or even across the table, know that the choice for all to be at the table matters.  You need not see the world the same way as your clients and certainly not come close to inhabiting theirs, but you are there to enrich their lives by the gifts you have that they do not.  Simply, your clients need you and your creative business to fulfill their want. I am ever a broken when I say if your clients could do what you do, they would.

The illusion the world provides us today is that you might find success in being derivative, in being just like so and so only slightly different.  Perhaps you can even find some monetary success in the “hustle”.  Eventually though, you must step into the sun and risk getting burned.  As with fingerprints, each is unique no matter how much they look alike.  So too with your art and your creative business.  The reason you must step into your own light other than the necessary empowerment it will bring is much more mundane: eventually someone will be a better derivative than you and you will be lost.  This is a race to the bottom and, as Seth Godin says, this is a race you do not want to win, let alone come in second.  You do you matters in more ways than you can possibly imagine.

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.