When you stick with it for the long run, creative entrepreneurship is a fulfilling journey. However, it’s vital to ensure that you’ve got the necessary traits to keep going for the long run.
If you’re a little confused about what you need, don’t worry; you’re in the right place. Keep reading to discover the most crucial traits for embarking on this path.
1. Experience in Doing Your Business Idea as a Hobby
It’s natural to be inspired by other creatives, such as photography YouTubers, that make a living doing what they love. But if you’re only trying to start a business of your own because you think you can get clout and money, you’re going to burn out quickly.
Having an interest is the only way to excel in any walk of life and feel fulfilled. This underlying love for what you do will motivate you to get up on the days when doing so feels a little trickier. And as you learn more about the industry, you’ll become a thought leader and an innovator.
Before turning a creative pursuit into a business, do it as a hobby for at least two or three years. If you’re still interested in doing it after the novelty has worn off, you’re probably onto a winner.
2. A Willingness to Learn and Adapt
If you have a job you aren’t interested in, it’s easy to get comfortable and not focus on learning new skills. You need to change that way of thinking to become a successful creative entrepreneur. Industries like photography and design evolve all the time, and your style will naturally mature as you become more experienced.
If you’re reluctant to adapt as you progress, you’ll stagnate. And at some point, you’ll probably decide to quit.
3. Patience
Social media has made it easier for us to keep connected with our friends, and for many creatives, it’s a crucial tool for building their businesses. But at the same time, it’s easy to get caught in the trap of envying everybody’s seemingly-polished lives.
Comparing yourself to people that have years of experience is a zero-sum game. When you embark on your creative entrepreneurship journey, you must understand how long it’ll take to build yourself up.
In the first couple of years, you’ll probably find yourself putting in a significant amount of work and seeing few gains. But over time, these will compound.
Give yourself at least three years to make something work. Set smaller goals that will keep you moving forward, and try to absorb as much information as possible.
4. A Clear Idea of the Problem You’d Like to Solve
Having an interest will give you additional motivation to achieve your goals. But if you can’t solve a problem for your audience, your creative entrepreneurship journey will hit a stumbling block.
Through doing whatever you want to pursue as a hobby, you’ll probably have noticed several issues that need fixing in your industry—whether that’s from experiencing them yourself or the content you consume.
Once you know the types of things that people want to solve, you can start thinking about how you can cater to them. Put together a strategy that offers them free value, which will later allow you to move your audience further down the sales funnel.
5. Possess Good Gear
In your early days as a creative, the best gear is whatever you’ve got at your disposal. But at some point, you’ll need to upgrade and ensure that what you have is good enough to create professional-level work.
For example, if you’re a photographer, you don’t need to have the best camera on the market. However, what you have must be able to at least take very good images—and it needs to be something that you’re comfortable using.
Other creative fields will require different equipment. If you want to be a podcaster, you should invest in a high-quality microphone. Similarly, aspiring videographers and YouTubers should ensure that they’ve got a camera and setup that enables them to produce the creative results they’re looking for.
Buying better gear can get expensive, but you’ve got several choices for funding these purchases. Consider the following:
Sell your old equipment to free up funds. Take on freelance work while you’re building your business. If you’re still in your day job, put some of your salary into a savings pot. Look around your house for items you don’t use, and sell them.
6. Have Effective Systems in Place
To succeed as a creative entrepreneur, having effective systems in place is just as important as setting goals—if not even more crucial.
When creating efficient systems, it’s a good idea to first think about where you want to be a year or so from now. Then, outline the actions you’ll take to meet your ambition.
It’s also essential that you think about the technology you can use to improve your efficiency. For example, you might want to use a productivity tool like Todoist to track your daily goals. Having the right software, such as Adobe Lightroom if you’re a photographer, is also important.
Your systems will need tweaking as you become more advanced, so it’s worth revisiting these every three months or so.
7. A Diverse Range of Skills
As a creative entrepreneur, you’re going to wear many hats. Yes, you need to be skilled in the field itself—but you must also learn the ins and outs of running a business effectively.
To succeed in creative entrepreneurship, here are some of the things you’ll need to teach yourself:
How to create impactful social media content. How to create high-quality products. How to build a website that converts leads. How to file your tax returns.
If you’ve never run a business before, it’s worth giving freelancing a try for a bit. In addition to learning the basics of business ownership, you’ll also build your professional network.
Creative Entrepreneurship Is an Exciting Journey
Creative entrepreneurship is a fulfilling path to choose if you stick with it for the long run. But at the same time, it’s not a walk in the park, and you need to pick up several skills to make it work in the long run. These tips are a helpful starting point, but becoming a master requires going out and taking action on your own.
