Recently, while at the ICF conference in San Jose, CA, I had a revelation. Hanging around in the company of some of my more successful Net marketing colleagues, I saw just how loose and relaxed you have to be in order to become a successful creative business person.
Sure, those other business types, the MBA’s, stock market jocks, and corporate biggies can plan and strategize all they want. When they set off to pursue a dream, they make marketing plans and business plans … and they stick to them. They’re amazingly mature and disciplined that way.
But those of us who are creative souls tend to work by a different set of rules. We bend and flow with our ideas. Impulses and ideas come charging in, riding the steed of inspiration, and we find ourselves changing projects mid-stream or doing fifteen things at once – all of them with sloppy gusto. And then there’s tax time, or inventory time, or marketing time, and we find ourselves scratching our heads in overwhelm.
For instance, one of my Net pals came to the conference with no particular agenda except maybe a little power networking. Well, he left with promises from four of the biggest operations in his field to do serious business with him. And why? Because he was totally in the flow of the moment, just seeing what he could create next … and next.
This is the difference between the creative businessperson and the regular businessperson. If you are an artist or creator of any kind you know what I’m talking about. The part of your brain ordinarily reserved for business may well have the attention span of a two-year old, often to your detriment. Yet, all is not lost. There are ways to actually be a businesslike creative person. and one of the keys is learning to relax about it.
I don’t mean relax, as in toss all of your important papers into a shoe box and forget about them. Yes, you do need to be responsible about business and handle the basics. I mean relax, as in make a loose creative business plan that allows for change as your concept opens up and develops. It helps to allow yourself to not know from time to time just what to do next. You want to create a plan that acts not as a strict set of guidelines, but one that ebbs and flows along the uncertain path of your dream, guiding you when necessary and retreating when unneeded.
That’s organic. And that’s creative … and authentic!
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