How To Lead A One-Person Creative Business
Over the last few months we’ve seen countless posts, videos, and articles about “these uncertain times”.
I’ve found myself over and over again clicking on something in the hopes that it would help me with my situation…
Only to find out that it’s written for a business owner with a dozen employees on “how to update or ‘pivot’ your messaging with your employees” or some other unrelated topic.
(The only messaging going on in my company is in my head…)
None of the posts I found were all that helpful.
I’m a one-man show, a solo-creator!
Why is no one talking about what I’m going through?!
I decided to take everything I had ever read about leadership, pick out what was relevant right now, and write it down.
Write it in a way that would help the artists and creatives that are struggling to keep their heads — and their businesses — above water.
Ideally, I would solve my own problems in the process.
Win/win.
This is the first post in a short series about how to lead yourself in crazy times like these, and how to lead your business through hard seasons like the one we’re in now.
There are three things that are important to realize before we go further down the rabbit hole and cover how to implement everything in later posts.
Thing number one:
1. THE SUCCESS OF ANY BUSINESS IS DETERMINED BY THE MINDSET AND SKILLS OF THE BUSINESS OWNER
There’s a truth-gem that you won’t read in Forbes or Fortune magazine!
Tony Robbins is to thank for this principle.
He even went on to say that the skills only represent 20% of that success. The remaining 80% is the leader’s mindset.
Now, if the success of your car being able to make it from Utah to California across I-80 (one of the most boring drives on the planet…) was 20% the amount of gas in the tank and 80% the alertness of the driver, what would you do about that situation?
- Get adequate rest
- Stay hydrated
- Remove distractions
- Stop for breaks
Easy, right?
Not so much with your business though.
If your mindset represents 80% of the success of your business — and I’d argue that it’s even more in crazy times like we’re experiencing with COVID-19 — then what important steps would you take to get through all this?
- Maintain a healthy emotional state
- Come up with new ideas, find new clients, create new opportunities
- Take action throughout the day, despite the new working conditions of staying at home, being let go, not having as many gigs or projects
Here’s a quick question to test your current mindset:
Who is responsible for all of this?If your answer is “the government,” “the idiots outside who aren’t wearing masks,” or someone else, how does that affect the decisions you make on a daily basis to help your business?
I imagine it’s hard to take action when you believe that anything you do is doomed to fail, since it’s all out of your control anyway…
The reality is that when you’re a one-person business, the responsibility falls on you.
If you’re not leading your business…who is?
It’s literally the same thing as Spider-Man.
You’re Spider-Man.
You have received great power — you own a creative business — and with it you have a great responsibility.
(And yes, because you’re a one-person business, it also makes you a superhero. There aren’t many who are able to do what you do, and we’re in the middle of a global pandemic unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes. So cut yourself some slack!)
(But also take responsibility.)
Now, here’s thing number two:
2. WHAT YOU FOCUS ON DETERMINES HOW YOU FEEL
If you focus on things that are bleak, negative, panic-inducing, or infuriating, how do you think you’re going to feel?
You’re gonna be freaked out!
Afraid!
Full of fear!
Scared scatless!
How much time are you spending on activities that make you feel down, or sad, or frustrated, or powerless?
In every super-hero story there’s a moment often referred to as “the dark night of the soul”.
It’s the point, generally in the second act of a movie or tv show, where the hero doubts themselves.
It’s their darkest moment.
(The example that comes to mind is James Bond in Casino Royale when he’s been stripped naked, tied to a chair with the seat cut out, and a deranged man swinging a steel-tipped rope at his manlihood… talk about a dark moment!)
Everything they’ve tried up to that point hasn’t worked.
Their self-talk starts with “I can’t…”.
It’s painful.
They are so focused on how bad things are that they’ve missed the obvious answer that’s right in front of them.
Only when they change their focus — their perspective, the meaning of the events — are they able to see a new approach, and then they go and defeat the bad guy, save the world, and set up the next movie.
Like in that same scene, Bond starts laughing — looking at the situation differently — and the whole plot shifts at that point.
Is it formulaic? Yes.
But it’s formulaic because it works, and it works because it’s true to life.
If you are doing more consuming than creating, if you’re reading about how bad things are, how bad they could be, about how badly people are screwing up and how everything around you is crashing down, you’re in that “dark night of the soul”.
You have to change your focus.
Turn off the feeds. Remove the negative influences. Stop focusing on things you can’t control.
Once you’re determined to do that, ask yourself: “what’s the obvious thing that’s been right in front of you the whole time?”
Where can you focus that energy now that it’s no longer being sucked out by all of that fear and negativity?
It may be as simple as laughing about the situation, which will change your emotional state and your focus all at once.
In that new state you can access new answers and solutions to the problem that you couldn’t see before.
Alright, you’ve made it to thing number three:
3. YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
I need to circle back to that responsibility thing.
Think of it as another Spider-Man reboot — we’ve seen that a few times so it should make sense.
When the world around you is crashing down — the economy, our healthcare system, your finances, your clients, projects, gigs — you have three choices:
- Blame — you can blame your situation on everyone and everything. Will it change anything? No. But it might make you feel better, for a minute or two.
- Shift your expectations — meaning: reframe the situation and see the silver lining. That works for things like a project falling through (out of your control) or a chaotic economy (this is expected every 5–8 years, we were overdue!) But it doesn’t always help with the thing you need most right now — projects, income, economic stability, physical safety.
- Take Responsibility And Change Your Situation — this is the only option that is going to change your reality right now. You have to realize that there isn’t anyone else, no one is coming to save you, everyone else is going through the same situation, and many are struggling even more than you are! The only difference between those that are thriving and those that are struggling to survive are the decisions they make and have made up to this point.
Now, here’s a secret for you because you’re still here reading this thing:
There's a ton of power when you combine #2 and #3.All your gigs dried up overnight?
- It’s out of your control (shift expectations).
- You can find new opportunities to serve your clients (take responsibility).
No money coming in?
- I could have prepared better so that money wasn’t so tight going into this moment (shift expectations)
- There are people who need what you make/do, and you can find them and help them now (take responsibility)
Over the last two months I’ve spoken with dozens of creatives and artists and checked in on my friends who are in these creative industries.
The interesting thing that I’ve seen in these situations is that they are evenly split between struggling and thriving.
Some are having the best months ever.
Those that are struggling are finding it harder and harder to stay afloat the more time passes.
But those that are thriving are enjoying the “new normal” and see it as a blessing:
- more family time, less expenses, and no commute (shift expectations)
- taking massive action when everyone else is hunkering down waiting for this to cycle out (take responsibility.)
Where you fall on that spectrum of thriving and surviving isn’t determined by your circumstances…
It’s determined by your mindset — what you’re choosing to focus on and what you’re deciding to do about the current situation.
The good news is that you are 100% in control of your mindset.
No external force can come and bankrupt you, or cancel your mindset, or take it away from you.
You’re not dependent on anything external in order to shift your expectations and take action.
You’ve likely done it before in other areas of your life as well.
When something tragic happened and you leaped into action.
When you saw someone in need and were able to help and comfort them.
It’s the same process, just focused on you and your business now.
So how can you shift your mindset into one of leading yourself and your business through these crazy times?
There’s no one else. Just you.
One thing that pops up often is the concept of blind spots — not understanding what is causing all of the struggle and frustration in a business, or even mis-identifying the cause.
In the next post, we’ll step into the role of a leader and learn how to diagnose the problems in a one-person business accurately so that we can build a stronger, more resilient business going forward.
If you enjoyed this post, share it with a friend who needs it.
If you’re looking for guidance on how to get through these crazy times, get my free, seven-email course on how to create a profitable and resilient creative business below.
