Most people would be lying if they said they weren’t a little jealous of professionals who manage to make a living out of their creativity. But, here’s something you probably don’t realize – behind every creative company, there’s an artist who may be feeling a little strung out!
As great as it is to find firm financial success by leaning into your creativity, it can also be difficult to find balance here. That’s why we’re going to deep-dive into why your creative company might be sucking the life out of your artistic pursuits right now, and how you can overcome that setback moving forward.
# 1 – Playing to An Audience
Sorry to say it, but successful businesses don’t happen by accident. Making a company work relies on your ability to find and satisfy an audience. Many creative professionals find themselves making products that they don’t particularly care about to keep that audience happy.
This is a tricky issue to overcome, because creating what you want despite your audience is no way to make money. However, really taking the time to research and pinpoint the audience that enjoys what you’re already creating can be a huge help here. After all, this already-interested audience will be far more willing to buy the stuff you like making, rather than the things you think will sell best. And that’s a far more conducive creative relationship overall.
# 2 – Failing to Compartmentalize
Career creatives often fail to compartmentalize in various ways. This is especially true within the workplace, where their creative areas might be right next to packing materials or accounting files. This can make it incredibly difficult to enter a truly creative headspace, and it’s something you’ll want to address using techniques like office zoning or even a standalone rental business space that makes it far easier to keep admin and creativity apart.
Many company creatives also make the mistake of failing to compartmentalize their personal and professional creative pursuits. By tying all of your artistic self up in work, you can limit yourself greatly, which highlights the need to keep up with personal artistic hobbies as well.
# 3 – The Paralysis of Perfection
Perfectionism gets in the way for a lot of creative professionals who either struggle to produce finished products or become overly protective and anxious about the quality of their creative work. In either instance, business inevitably suffers as a result.
Again, finding a supportive, relevant audience can help here, as it provides the space and understanding you need to experiment. Knowing the kinds of things your audience likes can especially free you from excessive warrior self-doubt. Equally, you’ll want to work on building a great team that is well aligned with your creative vision, and that can help with both experimentation and the refinement of finished products that are the highest quality possible when they finally hit the shelves.
It’s all too easy to lose your creative vision to the stresses of your working life, but you can bring it back by overcoming these issues.
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