There was a point I failed to make in the accompanying video. The point was this:
Would you benefit from getting an income from doing what you love and being financially independent as a result?
Making a Living
People suffer emotionally, mentally, and physically, when they exist in a persistent state of survival. In a culture in which more and more people are living on the edge of, or in poverty, this has become a stark reality that people have to live with on a daily basis.
Having money can, and certainly does mask many deeper psychological issues in some people. It can be a means by which people escape from themselves, or distract themselves from dealing with deeper issues. Poverty is not exclusively the cause of mental illness or emotional turmoil. That said, it can be a significant contributing factor.
It is fair to say that some people who struggle to earn money can suffer from other issues – often related to self worth – but this is a different story. The point is, that for many people whose emotional and mental suffering is rooted in the stress of an economic trap, financial freedom and a sense of prosperity can change all that for the better.
As I say, having money is not the solution to mental or emotional suffering, but poverty can certainly contribute as a cause.
In some way this topic follows on from yesterdays video titled ‘Life is Better When You Can Do What You Love (and Love What You Do)!‘ In so far as the prospect of being able to earn an income from doing what you love might be a good thing.
The question is, why does that seem so far removed as a reality in so many peoples lives? In the case that it might for you, how might you change that? How might you go about manifesting such a quality of life in real terms? How will you make doing what you love not only pay the bills but give you a better quality of life?
If you are going down the self employed route, the answer seems to come back to that thing we talked about, marketing.
Marketing
For those people who are clear on the value of the goods or services they provide, marketing can just be a simple case of getting on and doing it.
For others, the notion of marketing and selling themselves, this can be a little more problematic. For those people with a passion and a calling on what we might call the creative end of the spectrum charging money for doing what they love can feel problematic. The more creative and alternative the person seems to be the more creative and alternative their solutions to life tend to be. Often the consensus way of doing things that society seems of offer can seem outmoded or antithetical to their principles or beliefs. Where others see elements of society and its systems as stable edifices, they might see only shallow facades. They can see layers of subterfuge, and the persona they feel invited to play can feel meaningless, or puerile, or destructive, or nonsensical. They resent having to ‘play the game’, because for them the game seems rigged, or pointless, because it seems meaningless, puerile, destructive, and/or nonsensical.
Some eventually resolve that, at some level, if they are to get somewhere with their lives, they will have to participate in the world on these terms, even if they resolve that they will still find a way to do it in their own way.
The idea of selling themselves though, or what they do, can be abhorrent to them, because it is like selling their souls – which it can be. For those whose principles and values are aligned with life, exploitation, manipulation, and influencing others rarely come easy – or comfortably. The act of marketing and sales can feel like selling out, selling themselves, and compromising integrity.
For those who do resolve that there are ways to do it and maintain their integrity there are then the added complexities of trying to promote themselves and/or their product. Knowing how to calculate the value or worth of what they are delivering to others can also present a challenge. Most will just don’t want to spend time doing marketing or sales, they will just want to be able to get on making their work, or doing the thing they love.
Unequal Play
Working in the arts and specifically coaching creatives in business has showed this to me clearly.
It was a fairly common equation that 80% of a creatives time is taken up with trying to find the funds to make the work in the first place – or having made the work, trying to sell it.
Yes, as and when one becomes established in their practice, this ratio can shift.
It does seem a general theme though that about 0.01% of the time is about being inspired and 99.99% of the time is about working on manifesting and crafting the idea into a thing or event.
The trap can be, for those who are intoxicated by the gift of inspiration, to believe that the work is in that initial imagining.
What they don’t always realise is that their creativity has the potential to infuse its way through the whole process; that it is a real strength.
I mention this because, in my experience, what is often referred to as artistic temperament appears to be a quality of perceiving and being in the world that is innately creative. While this quality is generally expressed in the making of unusual or beautiful things or performances, in effect, it seems to be a motivation to make the world a better place.
People with an artistic temperament are often healing some part of themselves or the world, either by exposing an uncomfortable truth and making it digestible, or attempting to create or manifest a quality of beauty or prosperity to add to the mix. They are trying, as some level to expose and heal dysfunctional and maladaptive aspects of themselves, and/or the societies they inhabit.
Living Creative
Living creative is about adapting to what is.
Creative people are, from my perspective at least, psychodynamic attempts to cure the dysfunctionality and maladaptations in life, whose ripples spread from the personal to the collective and back again. Creative individuals are not assets to be tapped by industry, but rather, an expression of a creative universe attempting to heal itself.
I am not suggesting that this is some definitive truth, but rather a perspective, an alternative lens through which to view the act of creative expression. It doesn’t change the fact that what they create lives on in a capacity of it’s own.
Back to the question of marketing then.
The reason why I believe that it has such a bad press generally is that it is often taught as a science – as a numbers game. Which is fair. At one level it is that. It is also an art though. It is the art of finding your audience – those who will appreciate and value your work – and then sharing it with them.
As I say, the challenge is not in the art or the science for many people, but in the valuing of the products or services they are delivering. This is a whole other ball game that we we touch on in following videos and posts.
For now, here’s the video mentioned above.
Want to make your dream a reality?
1 to 1 FULL SPECTRUM COACHING
Book A Consultation with Clive
Join The Creative Instinct Course
©Live Creative on social media:
Youtube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram