Beyond Profit: The Heart of Creative Ventures

Is creativity the missing ingredient in your business? 🌟 Listen to the latest from  'The Water Trough' podcast to uncover the essence of the creative spirit and how it can transform your approach to success. #Entrepreneurship #CreativeMindset"

Transcript

Ed Drozda 0:10

Welcome to The Water Trough where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Welcome back to The Water Trough folks. This is Ed Drozda The Small Business Doctor. This past week I had the good fortune of having a singer-songwriter and a contemporary fine artist on as guests. I refer to people such as these as creatives. By creative, what I'm saying is that these are folks that rely upon their own intuition, their own technical skills, their own vision, to bring their work to life. To be clear, I believe that every one of us has some degree of creativity within us, but the concept of"a creative" is unique and is not applicable to all of us. I look forward to publishing their stories in the next few weeks, but in the meantime I'd like to share some of the inspiration that these folks, as well as some clients of mine, also creatives, have brought to me. Well, my takeaways at any rate. First of all, I've come to see that a creative is someone who is self-aware. They've heard the stories over and over. You're never gonna make it as an actor, a musician, an artist. Be a lawyer, a doctor, something where you can make money, raise a family, and all those lovely things. Surely these external voices are impacting the creative as they'd impact anybody, making us question our choices, asking us to relook at what we've done, what we plan to do. But it's the self-awareness that they possess that allows them to know precisely who they are and what motivates them. That self-awareness allows them to acknowledge the steady drumbeat of advice against their choice, but gives them the strength and the courage to proceed despite it. Secondly, I've become aware of how much of a risk taker a creative actually is. Faced with all the naysaying suggesting they can't accomplish what they're looking to do, faced with their own insecurities, It seems it's quite an uphill climb. To get beyond these influences one has to take a chance. For the creative it is a mandate to fulfill that internal dream, that internal drive that they have. They know that they're the sole owners, the sole proprietors of this dream. That which they're going to bring to life is of them, it's personal, and so they're willing to take this risk. I'd go so far as to say that this risk is necessary for the creative. It is an integral part of them that they can't ignore. Now, it's not that others aren't willing to do these things because certainly if we didn't take risks we wouldn't have much in the way of business. I understand that. But I do believe in the case of the creative, it is so much more visceral than it is for the vast majority of us who are in the business world. The third inspiration that's come to mind from my encounters with creative clients as well as with my guests from last week, is that of the motivation that drives the creative. In business, the impetus is to become profitable through whatever means. Selling a widget, selling a service, providing answers, whatever it might be. Profitability is generally considered to be the core intent behind any business. But for the creative, I've learned that it's a lot more than simply that. Surely the creative needs and desires to make a living, but it doesn't appear to be the impetus behind going down this path in the first place. There's something far more visceral going on in the creative. They see themselves as having this gift, a gift of their own creation. Being able to share that gift, to express it, to present it to the world is a goal in and of itself. If in fact that gift is received and for lack of a better term, bought, then surely they'll be able to monetize the creative spirit that they express. I sense that a creative is not necessarily looking for a return on investment in the typical fashion. A creative is one who's inspired by bringing something to life. Not by the money that they'll make, not because of the recognition and accolades that they'll receive. But because it's inherently important and personal to them, something that is of them, and those things don't necessarily equate to money, recognition and fame. To say it another way, for the creative I sense that fame, recognition and money are the icing on the cake, but the cake itself is pretty darn tasty. Not to mention filling. It may sound as if everyone is a creative, but again I would argue that's not quite the case. The motivation that drives the true creative down their path is distinctly different, I believe, than the rest of us in business. While we may all have creativity in us the creative stands apart in the manner in which they approach their life's work. I believe that there's much to learn from the creative. Particularly in the realm of motivation, and in the sense of ownership over what they do. For many of us, the end goal, profitability, can cloud our drive at a very fundamental level, and I think it can deprive us of that sense of ownership. For the creative, their purpose is so personal that everything they do is rooted in themselves. Now, I don't mean this in a selfish way. I mean this in a very positive way. For the rest of us, driven by an external factor such as profitability, I think we have the potential to lose sight of what really matters to us, and what ultimately leads to success on multiple levels, not just financial, but on multiple levels. Things to think about. To my creative guests and to my creative clients before them I want to thank you for the inspiration that you've given me, and I hope you folks will listen to these things and will also walk away with some degree of inspiration. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor at The Water Trough, and as always, I wanna wish you a healthy business.