From Passion to Prot

8 Working Creatives Share Strategies & Insight

Introduction

This aint your mamas American Dream

As weve been told for several years now, theres a New American Dream.

Our desires have evolved. We are no longer content to work for a paycheck in order to support our nights-and-weekends life. We want work with intention; we want to enjoy and contribute on a deep level while were earning.

Lucky for us, the economy and workforce have changed as well. Expectations for what a career might look like are drastically different from a generation ago. People who are much smarter than I have singled out creativity as the driving force of the economy. Creativity = innovation = creative thinking & solutions = having valuable ideas and implementing them. Lucky for us, there are more and more opportunities to innovate and profit on our own terms.

All this to say

You can profit from your passion! And we have a series to prove it.

Introducing the From Passion to Profit Series

This series was created for passionate, at least slightly unconventional folks with an interest in pursuing meaningful work. Whether profiting from your passion is a twinkle in your eye or youre already on track, you will find rock-your-world insight and strategies here.

Youll hear from leaders in different niches, new & established voices, men and women. And because the New American Dream is not just for Americans (how American!) youll also hear from an Aussie & a Brit. Well-rounded, well spoken; this group is ready to lead you down the path theyve already tread.

Meet Your Contributors

Rebecca Leigh of Smart Fresh Writing Thom Chambers of In Treehouses Laura Simms of Create as Folk Michelle Ward of When I Grow Up Tara Gentile of taragentile.com Alexandra Franzen of alexandrafranzen.com Dennis Baker of dennisbaker.net Lisa Sonora Beam of The Creative Entrepreneur Connect with Rebecca: website | twitter | facebook Connect with Thom:website |twitter Connect with Laura: website | twitter | facebook Connect with Michelle: website |twitter |facebook Connect with Tara: website | twitter Connect with Alexandra: website | twitter Connect with Dennis: website | twitter | facebook Connect with Lisa: website | twitter | facebook

Contents

From passion to profit and all the intimate work in-between Stepping off radar, stepping up to the plate Moving beyond myths How to know youre on the right track How to find the we in earning more Agony + (boys) + SUCCESS 3 vignettes from a year on the verge Living the freelance lifestyle The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala: Or, How do I make money?!?!

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Rebecca Leigh Thom Chambers Laura Simms Michelle Ward Tara Gentile Alexandra Franzen Dennis Baker Lisa Sonora Beam

From passion to profit and all the intimate work in-between

To get from doing the thing you love (your passion), to having people pay you to do it (profit), you need connection.

Passion + Connection = Profit

This means (amongst other things) finding your right people (and/or making it easy for them to find you), allowing them to experience the value of what you have to offer, and building a trusting relationship with them. As someone working from the heart, wanting to contribute as much as you earn, youve got a head-start in this economy of intimacy. But youre also more vulnerable to one of the major blocks to connection.

What gets in the way of connection?

When youre writing to connect you need to be clear, and you need to create mutual understanding. There are techniques that help with this process, but the underlying block I see most often (including in myself) is not a lack of technique, its fear.

Fear seeps through your language

The most obvious is the fear that your passion and belief in meaningful work somehow impairs your business judgment and ability to sell, which means you suppress your true voice and mimic the marketing gurus (who encourage and feed on this fear!). And your people sense the discord in what you are saying, and not saying. But there are more insidious fears The fear that youre not good enough, or wont be taken seriously, which expresses itself in About pages bloated with official credentials and self-congratulatory tales that put more distance between you and your people, rather than building intimacy. Or the fear that youre only going to get one shotat this dream, on this website, with this person reading your page right nowand the opportunity is going to pass you by if you dont explain every little detail of how your thing works and how great it is for them regardless of who they are. And you need to download all of this to them as soon as possible in one overwhelming mass of information.

The fear is understandable

In case you feel as though youve been singled out and put on the naughty chair at this point, please dont. We all feel this way. Ive worked with clients who are aware of the fear and how its affecting their communication, and who still struggle with it. Its difficult because we care about what we do and how we do it.

The answer is courage

I found this wonderful definition of courage in Brene Browns latest book The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who You Think Youre Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. The root of the word courage is corthe Latin word for heart Courage originally meant To speak ones mind by telling all ones heart. Bring to mind anyone you deeply admire in the world of creative, meaningful work, and I doubt your admiration grows from them replicating someone elses passion or message. Each one has found the courage to tell their own heart, and by doing so theyve made a connection with you. To turn our passion to profit, to truly connect, we need courage. The courage to choose only the tools and techniques that resonate with our true voice. To forge a path for our story, and to do it with skill, awareness and an underlying belief in the integrity we all share. The courage to be wholly present in our interactions with our people, to appreciate their needs, observe where we are connecting and where we are not, and then to respond in an agile, open way. The courage to examine our motives and recognize when we are being driven by fear. To make our offering to the world honestly and with passion, and to accept the inherent vulnerability of doing so.

Be the change
I believe part of our calling in turning our passion to profit, in remaking a meaningful work life, is to remake the worlds understanding of business. How we conduct our businesses, including our communication and relationships with our clients, can be as transformative as the goods and services we deliver. Take heart, take courage!

Stepping off radar, stepping up to the plate

At the end of March, I published a premium ebook called The Free Fans Kit; it was the result of months of work, and it consumed almost all my spare time. Since publication, Ive been a little bit off radar, catching up with life and sleep and friends. This hasnt been an extreme digital sabbatical or anything like that, just a step back to survey the landscape and take a breath. And you know what? The only thing Ive missed is the work. Not Twitter, not Skype, not chatting or reading blogs, but actually creating the work. Stepping back has shown me just how much of all this is just sound and fury and bluster. This, perhaps, is the disconnect between passion and profit. When youre passionate about something, youre happy to talk about it to any and everyone. But talk isnt work. This morning I woke up without a job. Yesterday was my last day of employment; from here on out its all about the magazine and the upcoming related projects Ive got brewing. Because of this shift, Ive spent a while now thinking about the change I need to make from being a passionate amateur to being a profitable business. Sure, you can be a profitable amateur, working on your passion on the side whilst in employment, but making the leap has put more pressure on me to think about the business side of things. To do this, Ive been looking outside of the blogosphere and if youre serious about turning your passion into profit then you should too.

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If you want to create a lifestyle brand, look at how Abercrombie & Fitch do it. If you want to create a small boutique line of products, look at how Tiffany & Co does it. If you want to learn about how to blow your competitors out of the water, look at how Tiger Woods did it. Online, you spend so long amongst the bluster that I mentioned above, and you forget that its possible to build something incredible. Your ambitions shouldnt be limited to what the crowd of bloggers around you is doing. The pervading emotion that Ive had in stepping back into things and catching up on blog posts and on Twitter is that I dont feel as though I missed anything too important. Turning your passion into profit isnt about chatting on Skype or reading your RSS feed, its about creating remarkable things that customers want to buy. Its about stepping up and being willing to be professional and take risks and go for broke. Businesses know this. And if youre serious about creating profit from passion, you need to know it too. So Im going to step off radar for a little while longer to create, to improve. If Im going to make the jump from passion to profit successfully, its going to come from work, not from talk.

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Moving beyond myths

Myths got you down?

Here you are, trucking it from passion to profit, and all this mythinformation is weighing you down. Lets debunk and carry on without the baggage, shall we?

myth: I dont have a passion.

I am surprised every time I hear someone say this, and I hear it more often than you might think. Let me assure you: you do have a passion. But you may not have found it yet.

The word passion can be misleading. Oh, if Im not serenaded by angels when I think of it, then it must not be my passion! Not so. Think of passion as an interest with drive.

A passion is something that excites you and challenges you. It simultaneously feels like home and just out of reach. A passion grows with you. You chase it, it chases you.

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Also likely is that you found your passion a while ago, got spooked, and tucked it into a nice, dark corner. Where youll be safe. But by its nature, passion is persistent. Regardless of where you banish it, itll try to wriggle out and be acknowledged.

myth: I have only one passion.

AhhhhhSoul Mate Syndrome.

Theres only one thing in the world you can do that swells your heart and pocketbook simultaneously? Im not buyin it. I think you got more goin on than that.

But this myth is often perpetuated by artists. Its a common saying among actors to pursue acting only if you cant do anything else. Its a very romantic notion. But its also kinda insulting to acting and to individuals. The actors I know are wellrounded, competent people who could excel at many different things. They are actors because they choose to be, not because the are fated by their limitations.

myth: If I do what I love, Ill never have to work a day in my life.

Tricky thing about love: it takes work. Marriages dont survive on love alone, not every moment of parenthood is bliss, and passion-based work sometimes feels like work.

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There will probably be stuff you gotta do that you dont likedealing with difficult personalities, working on the weekend, handling numbers. Just because you run into things that feel like chores and have-tos doesnt mean youre doing the wrong work.

Expect some tough work. The best thing you can do for your passionate work is lean into the challenges of the yucky stuff. Your love for your work is not enough for everything, but it is enough to fuel you to the other side of any unpleasantness.

myth: If Im good at what I do, the customers will come.

I was floored when one of the big movers and shakers of social media tweeted something like this recently: If what you do is great, you dont have to market it.

Augh! Nooooooooo!

You do need to be great, and you do need to market. Marketing is essentially creating awareness. If people dont know you & your great thing exist, they cant have at it. You need ways for your message and mission to find its right people. Word of mouth is powerful, but its just one way of creating awareness.

myth: I have to start my own business to profit from my passion.

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If you spend any time in the blogosphere, you may absorb this message. Lots of people online have quit their job to start their own online business, and lots of them now teach people how to do the same, and lots of them insist that working for yourself is the only way to go. Its a great option, but its not the only way.

When searching for your ideal passion to profit gig, youll consider many factors: what kind of work environment you prefer, if you like working in a group or going solo, what kind of lifestyle you want to support, and a billion other things. Working for yourself is the answer to those conditions for many people, but its not the answer for everyone.

myth: Im going to figure out this passion to profit thing once and for all and ride into the sunset with my money bags.
Mmmmmmaybe. But maybe not. Its more likely that you, your interests, the work you are drawn to, and the demands of the market will evolve over time.

But hey, evolution is good! Your business may change, and you will adjust. In a way, your work is a fluid, living thing. Let it move and do its thing. You will grow together.

The best way to bust a myth? Test it.

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You will find the glorious sweet spot of passion-n-profit overlap when you get out and try things. Hypotheticals and theories must be tested. You run the experiments, you make the adjustments, you get the rewards.

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How to know youre on the right track

The Guarantee.
Thats what were all looking for, arent we? The Sign/Letter/Skywriting thatll say Its all going to work out! Keep going! Youre gonna make it after all! (hat toss a la Mary Tyler Moore optional). Well, I hate to bust your bubble/keep ya from tossing your hat, but unless you know a psychic that has a 100% success rate it aint gonna happen. And while I would have had the tendency to groan right along with you a few years ago, now I feel strongly that (a) if someone did tell me my future, I dont know how much Id trust/believe em to begin with and (b) it is Bor-to the -ring to have everything mapped out for you. I mean, Geez Louise Louise, were Creatives! We love new, shiny, out-of-the-box, get-our-hands-dirty, DIY projects and wanna live our lives on our own terms but then..what? We want someone else to lay our lives out for us? To tell us whatll work out and what wont? To that I say: Hooey! I spit on that! A big gross loogey right on its stupid face! Now get that image out of your head (sorry my bad) and lets move on. Lets, instead,look within (hippy-dippy but true) to see if youre on the Right Track:

Please dont hit me in the face, but the hippy-dippy in me has to say that you feel an almost-equal mix of nerves and excitement. Too many nerves, and its probably a bit too out of your comfort zone (and might lead to overwhelming fear and lots of roadblocks that you have trouble knocking down). Too much excitement, and while fun it usually means theres not much at stake. I know the risk is scary and there are no guarantees in life, but Id be more worried if you didnt feel that fear/risk/nerves.

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You want or need to do it not that you should do it or are supposed to do it. If you say your plans out loud with the words need or want and you dont get chills/smile wide/cry happy tears/wanna do the Rocky dance, then dig deeper. Is this something that you feel is expected of you? Is it coming from the advice of others and not from your want within? See what you can say using want or need and notice what excites you from the top of your head to the tip of your toes.Thats your path. The sacrifices dont feel so, well, sacrificial. In order to get certified as a life coach and launch my business to feel secure enough leaving my day job, I needed to give up lots of Happy Hours and phone dates and TV time with the hubs (who was my pre-husband at the time) to make it happen. And while I hated saying No (I still hate saying it!), I was never in despair about it. I loved my classes, my coaching sessions, and the business-related work I was doing on nights and weekends, and I made sure to not totally cut myself off from those who liked/loved/put up with me. But if I was on those calls for school and/or with clients and was regretting not beering it up with my pals instead, I wouldve taken that red flag seriously. Doors start opening, but youre not pushing them. Yes, it took me over a year (I think) to get a request to guest post on someones blog, and then another year to get a literary agent, and then another year to be asked to speak. But man, it felt like doors were opening quickly when I wasnt even standing on the other side. I didnt seek out those posts, or those speaking gigs, or the agent I was just here, working my tail-feather off each and every day and putting myself out there. Despite all that, it felt easy even though I knew I put so much work into it indirectly. If youre putting the work in consistently and have been at it for a number of months, youll notice the doors opening. It means that not only are people picking up what youre putting down, but that youre in your right place. Keep doing the work there and be amazed at what follows. And if the doors arent opening.it doesnt mean you need to find an entirely new path, but maybe theres a slight turn up ahead you could take to make an adjustment or two and see how that affects your results.

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Give yourself the space to try. If you sell yourself short before you even attempt the first 5 steps, I will be really mad at you. It doesnt mean you have to quit your job tomorrow, but it means that you have to just start making progress in some way. For the love of all thats holy. Dont knock it til you tried it. You feel confident that you wont have to pull the emergency lever too soon. OK, this doesnt have to do exactly with knowing youre on the right track, but I had to include it nonetheless. Whether youre planning on making your passion a full-time business or youre hustling on the side, make sure that youre sure itll be X number of weeks/months before you run out of time/resources/money. Its tough/impossible/unfun to continue on The Right Track if any of those things run out too quickly. Put yourself in that position and youll have to get off the path completely. So for goodness sakes, embrace the unknown, find your love of adventures (Ive never even rode an upside-down roller coaster, for Petes Sake!), and notice your feelings. The Answer lives within 80% of your gut/heart (and probably 20% of your brain dont let it take ya for more than that), so listen to it and listen to it good. Itll keep ya on your right path, and thats all that matters.

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How to find the we in earning more

I started my business with about $80 that I put on my personal credit card so that my husband wouldnt see the bill. That was what it cost for my first web hosting plan. I dont think I spent another dime on the business for a few months. Nothing more substantial than a fiver here or a ten spot there, thats for sure. By necessity, I did everything myself. What I didnt know how to do, I learned or ignored. It was about 5 months until I started to bring in more that a few dollars per week. That was the summer I bought Scoutie Girl with a loan from our local credit union. The 2 block walk with the check from my house to Jans was exhilarating. I felt like I walked there a wannabe and walked back a real business owner. That very real exchange of money kick started my drive to grow the business. This wasnt about some cash on the side anymore. It was about profit. Passion-driven, profit-earning business building. The very first month the site was under my management, I brought in more ad revenue than ever before. I also created a fall advertising package that earned more in a month than I had at my previous full-time job. I was making a profit!

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Of course, that was the first time I felt uneasy about the money appearing in my PayPal account. It was the first time I really questioned whether it was okay for me to be pulling in a profit in a way that was just so much fun! I got really uneasy about me and my skills. That initial exchange was also a dive into the deep end of collaborative business relationships. You see, my business is not an island. Nor is yours. Over time, I came to understand that making a hefty profit isnt about me, its really about the we.

My profit is part of the communitys profit. My growth is part of the communitys growth. My success is part of the communitys success.
There is no room in microbusiness for a business that is not part of the greater whole. Youve heard it said that you gotta spend money to make money. I would argue that the flip side is true as well:

You gotta spend money because you make money.

The more money I make, the more I can let flow back out to other businesses that support me: my assistant, my coaches, my technologies, my designers. The more I profit the more sustainable those other businesses are.

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I increase my expenses as my profit increases because, each time I do, I gain freedom, security, and support. My business no longer relies upon my ability to get stuff done now I have a team to fall back on, to trust. Without profit, there is no team. Without the team, I cant profit. If I try to hoard my profits, I end up becoming overwhelmed & disillusioned. And I owe a ridiculous tax bill.

You cant DIY yourself to sustainability. And you cant DIY yourself to freedom.

The road between passion & profit can feel like a greedy one. Who am I to earn money from something that comes so naturally? Yet, earning a substantial living from your passion allows you to support others in their own passions. The cycle is generous and unending.

Profit isnt only about me profit works best when you consider the we.

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Agony + (boys) + SUCCESS 3 vignettes from a year on the verge

Theres a New American Dream.

So states Laura Simms, creator of From Passion To Profit. If you hang out here once or twice a week, I suspect youd concur. Climbing the corporate ladder, in the hopes of a 3.5% annual salary increase and (joy of joys!) three blessed weeks of vacation, stead of two? Not the apex of awesomeness it used to be, for many. Not even remotely appealing, for some. Nostrils to the grindstone, from 18 to 65, and then a blissful retirement in south Florida, with the grandkids bouncing on your knee? Maybe. Or maybe several careers that serve your multifarious talents and interests, and tai chi lessons in the permaculture garden that you helped plantat age 103. Dating, then engagement, then marriage, then mortgage, then baby, then another? Possibly.

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Or possibly buying a house on your own, as a 24-year old cause it feels right. And not having kids, ever cause it doesnt. 389 days ago, I quit my 9-to-5 job. In the months leading up to quittin day, I heard the following phrase about four dozen times: Well, if anyone can do it, its you.

It was a compliment a vote of confidence but it saddened me. Deeply. Why me? Why not you? Why noteveryone? The idea that freedom, travel, adventure, breathing space and sizzling-circuit-board passion should be relegated to a select few a special breed was a major brow-furrower. A year (& change) down the line, Ive had a few minor epiphanies. One of em? Not everyone is die-cut for entrepreneurship and thats not sad, its just diversity. After all, someone has to flip the burgers. Deliver the mail. Fly the jet planes that get me where I wanna go. One mans calculated risk is anothers catastrophe. My field is your box. My box is your circus. So, when Laura Simms asked me to write a post for From Passion To Profit a post about the highs & lows of my first year of full-blown entrepreneurship my first instinct was to do a tactical, bullet-point, what-worked-what-didnt parade of pointers. And then I remembered: My field is your box. My box is your circus. Sometimes, I dispense tactics, when what I really wanna deliver is a story. Stories are universal. Tactics are personal. In the spirit of storytelling and of alchemizing passion into profit Im offering three vignettes from a year on the vergeof (my) new American Dream.

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Agony
About 10 months ago, I had a Come To Jesus moment. With $1,600 in my checking account, and gads of (low-paying) rsum design & cover letter editing projects for (highly-demanding) clients, I felt a pulsing sense of dread in my cardiovascular system. Things were looking pretty dire for Ol Man Franzen. I wasnt playing to my strengths, and it showed. In my bank account. And in my aura. I cuddled up to my worst-case scenario (losing my house could have a certain Dust Bowl / Great Depression charm! Hobos always look pretty chipper! I kinda like ramen noodles!) and got real about my rates, revenue streams and client boundaries. I called my mom. I sobbed a lot. I liquefied my retirement account (just in case). I put all my bills on my credit card (temporarily). I took a deep breath. And then, I launched my shiny new website, re-positioned my services, designed my last rsum (thank you & goodNIGHT!), got crystal-clear bout my ideal clients (rejoice, rejoice), and watched, agog, as the cash came crushing in. Doing my taxes this year was pretty fun. (Tripling your income is neat.)

(boys)
Im a lesbian, but this year I dated a boy. Or three. As they say on the Facebookz, its complicated. My dark-haired RogueBoy called me up, at 2 pm, one afternoon. A walk by the river? A beer? Why not? 15 minutes later, I was horizontal on the sun-warmed grass, watching Union Pacific trains crawl across the horizon, my thumbs hooked into a boys (!!) belt loops. He smelled like French Fries and cigarettes. I couldnt stop grinning. Crazy. Stupid. Totally happening. At 2:15 pm on a Tuesday. Totally happening, because of my new work-life-sex-play-biz mantra: Never again. Except just this once.

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SUCCESS
One week ago. Twas a Sunday night, and my mom pulled out her ukelele. We sat down and started jamming. I was crooning in my virgin-choir-girl soprano. She chimed in with her retired-opera-singer vibrato. We recorded our first track. It was light. It was lovely. It was purely for pleasure. And we vowed to take our One Song Band on the roadto Ireland, Scotland, Wales and beyond. I was there. Present. In my PJs. Unplugged. Unfettered. With my momma. Because I OWN my time. Because my entrepreneurial life is location independent. Because spending time with my family not just for birthdays and funerals, but for spontaneous cups of tea, Richard Thompson sing-alongs, and walking by the sea is a priority. For me. You can set and shatter barometers. Lock down and loosen metrics of success. Hold yourself accountable to your progress. And all that jazz. But success can be a simple ballad, too.

Whats your American or Canadian, or Australian, or Lithuanian Dream?

Are you sure? Just checking.

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Living the freelance lifestyle

Skills & Time Management

To continue the freelance myth busting, started by Laura, the saying jack of all trades, master of none does not mean one can not have multiple passions in which profit can be made. The odds are you are reading this blog series because your passions are not paying 100% of your bills. That means you are left balancing multiple income streams from multiple projects as you start the journey of a freelance entrepreneur. If you could not tell from the website, I am actor, teacher, web designer/developer and social media/SEO specialist. These multiple income streams all contribute to my overall freelance income. All of these require me to have various different skill sets. What are your different skills sets (or passions, per the series topic) that you can create into income streams? What online classes, books, workshops can you access to build your skill set to the level that you can create income? Once your skills are built to the level of being able to create income, time management becomes key. This can be as simple as how you keep a calendar to what are your sacrificing to get all the work done. And as soon as you have it figured out something will change. More work will come in, for me recently it has been working with a two-year old in the house. If it is your passion, you make it work. Living in Los Angeles, there are times I can commute up to an hour and half. I try to schedule phone meetings, in which I dont need to be in from of my computer, for when I am driving. How can you structure your time to be the most productive? Once you get far enough along the journey, you will be able to set up a team, as Tara so wisely suggests. Before you have that team, you will be doing it all your self. Take that time to really assess want you enjoy doing, and what you would be willing to pass off to your future team.

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Networking: Sometimes You Have to Go to Wyoming

I recently presented at the annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice in Laramie, Wyoming. It was the last day of the conference, and I was not planning on attending, as I had to drive down to Denver to catch my flight. There was a morning session on the topic of using theater as a tool for social justice to empower at-risk youth and communities, presented by Los Angeles theater company. Moving back to Los Angeles in the last year, I was struggling in finding theater companies that needed teaching artists to work within communities. I was hesitant to attend the session as I was afraid of being late to my flight. I decided to risk it, and I was I was glad I did. I met the program director and quickly realized that we had worked in similar circles in the arts education community in New York and knew many of the same people. We immediately hit it off, and a connection was made. A connection that I was trying to make for eight monthsI just had to go to Wyoming to do it. Networking is a must, but how one networks is the key. There are many reasons why we might not network, fear of being needy to too busy working to get out of the office. Whatever the reason is, time needs to be scheduled to get out and meet other people in your field. Number one rule of networking: get out and meet people. This ties into the second rule: find commonalities away from the field. I consider twitter a networking tool. I follow people who are highly involved in the entertainment industry, theater, arts education, web design and social media fields. And while I tweet with them about their respective fields, and I also look to connect on other topics. There is a casting director I follow on twitter whom I have never met. She tweeted once that she just found out about the social media speaker Gary Vaynerchuck, some one that I have followed for years and have blogged and tweeted about. I knew he was coming to speak in the area the following week, so I tweeted her back letting her know and giving her the link to his speaking schedule. Did this have anything to do with acting, or me asking her to cast me in her next project? No. This was me reaching out and helping a colleague. Does she know I am an actor? Sure, my twitter profile says so, and it is clear on my website. Life is bigger than the next job you are trying to get, or about the field you work in. So look to connect, and be of genuine service, in lifejust not the field you work in.

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Resources
These resources have helped me in finding my own journey as a freelancer. Websites: 43 Folders Freelance Folder Freelance Switch Unclutterer Email and Productivity Tools Books: How to be a Rockstar Freelancer One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success

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The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala: Or, How do I make money?!?!

The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala consists of four intersecting pathways that form a flower shape. Arriving the center sweet spot is the result of refining each pathway.

From Passion to Profit with The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala

Whether stated or not, the primary presenting problem for most creatives who come to my workshops or call for individual consulting is: How can I make more money???!!!!(The number of question marks or exclamation points attached to that question is completely individual.)

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Its a good news / bad news kind of question.

The Bad News: There arent any easy answers that will solve the problem overnight. But youre smart and have already tried a bunch of things, so you already knew that. Buyer beware of methods that promise easy and or overnight success.

The Good News: By thinking about this question a little differently, and applying your creativity to it with some fun Mandala map-making (described below) youll not only figure out how to earn money, youll get to experience a hell of a lot more of Who You Really Are and What You Really Want To Be Doing.

That is, living the life you want to live, with money being the icing on the cake.

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More good news: We creative souls are a unique species. Who else can create something out of nothing? Your ability to do this in your art can be applied to making money. Keep your creative powers in mind as you read on.

Instead of asking the More Money question, try framing it this way:
What is the unique gift I can leverage that has a value in the marketplace people will pay for?

This opens the question up to get at some answers that will be useful to you, and is also the kind of question our creative brains like to wrap themselves around. Living that question myself and with clients led me to create a model for creative business development I call the Creative Entrepreneur Mandala.

The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala consists of four intersecting pathways that form a flower shape. Arriving at the center sweet spot is the result of refining each pathway.

This sweet spot of your business is the absolutely unique value you deliver to your ideal clients that is aligned with your innermost aspirations and idealsresulting in profits for you.

Read on and Ill share what the pathways are and how to construct your own Creative Entrepreneur Mandala.

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The Four Pathways:

Heart & Meaning: How to follow your bliss. Do what you love. What happifies you.

Gifts & Flow: How uncovering and using your unique gifts contributes to flow, or less-effortful accomplishment. Otherwise known as: Its easy to work all hours of the day (when necessary) because I dont even feel like Im working.

Value & Profitability: How to create and deliver value that people will pay for, that is aligned with the first two pathways (i.e. youre not having to prostitute yourself even though the money is good to keep a roof over your head.

Skills & Tools: Determining the appropriate tools (what sort of website, which sales channels, supply chain management and other initially-intimidating business-ey stuff) you need to run your business; and developing the leadership skills (sales, marketing, communication, wizardry, ability to talk clients off the edge) to achieve the results you want in the first three pathways.

Making Mandalas in the Puerto Vallarta Studio at the Creative Entrepreneur Retreat

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How and When to Use The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala

The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala is a wayfinding tool. Its a way of visually mapping out where you are right now in your business (or life), by tapping into your right-brain, and the thought centers of imagination and intuition.

The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala can be used as a diagnostic tool: discovering the weak areas will show you where you need to focus your energies. It can be used as a planning tool: for testing and shaping new business or product ideas. And it can be used as a decision-making tool: how do you know which opportunities to say yes to? Which gigs to turn down?

When youve done the work up front of filling in your Creative Entrepreneur Mandala, all of these decisions and choices become so much clearer, and will ensure you are actually getting from here to where you really want to go.

Image Hunt and Mandala construction at the Creative Entrepreneur Retreat in Mexico

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DIY: Creative Entrepreneur Mandala

I recommend doing this in several small segments, maybe an hour or two at a time for each step, with some time (up to a week) in between. Dwell time does wonders for this type of problem solving. Dont rush. Allow things to percolate, marinate, simmer, whichever cooking metaphor you like.

1. Get a big piece of paper (like a roll of butcher paper, or tape some sheets of copy paper together) and sketch out the outlines of The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala as diagramed above.

Then, using Journal / Image prompts (below) for each of the four pathways, go on an image hunt through books, magazines, your own work portfolio, photo album, google image searches, etc. to find pictures of the people, places, things, activities, feelings, outcomes that best answer those prompts. Dont try and get too literal with your images. Suspend your rational mind and allow your imagination to play and dream. You want to answer the questions with images first. Words (from the magazines/ books) color, pattern, texture all count as Images.

2. Paste your images for each pathway into your mandala. Hang it up on a wall. See whats there. Keep it somewhere you can see it everyday, for at least a week or so. Make notes on what you observe, what connections you see, how things can go together in new ways.

Only after youve done the image hunt, go ahead and do some quick written responses to the Journal / Image prompts. If you jump directly into writing, stop. Go back and get your images.

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Why am I insisting on this? Writing uses language, which is the realm of our known. We want to get at things we dont knowthings that are not obvious to our critical minds. Getting the images first uses that other (90 percent?) part of the brain that is typically wasting away and feeling woefully under-utilized.

4. Take your written notes and combine with the images in some way (use your creative noggin again). Now take notes about what intersections you see between all four pathways. This is the sweet spot you are looking for. Remember, dont sweat it if isnt immediately obviousnew ideas emerge when theyre ready (usually when youre in the shower, without paper and pen). Trust.

5. Take these insights back to your business or product idea afresh. Plug them into a business plan. Play with them some more. Share with your interested stakeholders ask them to help you connect the dots. Keep adding images, making observations, hanging out with the mandala until you get clarity.

Dont be discouraged if getting all four pathways seems daunting at first. The mandala is a tool for reflection and critical thinking, which requires time and space to evolve.

Personally, I make a new Mandala every year during my annual review for myself, but also for my various businesses, and any time Im thinking of launching a new product.

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Exploring the Four Pathways of The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala

Pathway 1: Heart & Meaning

Theres so much hype these days about doing what you love. But without considering how what you love fully utilizes your gifts, or will add value in the marketplace, or teaches you how to manage your businessits probably not going to bring you that money. There are lots of people doing what they love, and the money is not following. Most likely because they are pursuing what has Heart & Meaning in isolation.

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Journal / Image Prompts for Heart & Meaning:

Ive always wanted to: What do you do for its intrinsic valuethat is, what would you do even if it didnt pay?

If you were to answer your creative calling and knew you could not fail, what would you do?

Pathway 2: Gifts & Flow

The Pathway of Gifts and Flow asks you to consider what your unique gifts are and how pursuing those gifts leads to effortless accomplishment. Everyone is gifted at something, usually many things. Using a gift doesnt mean were not working hard. Flow could also be called effortless accomplishment. When were in the flow, we can be working our butts off but it doesnt feel hard.

Journal / Image Prompts for Gifts & Flow:

What do I do so well that I barely have to exert effort?

What do people compliment you on accomplishing that seems so easy to you?

What do you get absorbed in for hours?

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Pathway 3: Value & Profit Ability

What is the unique value you offer your customer? Essentially, this is how you make money. Please do not confuse your value as a person, or the value of your creative work, with the concept of value as defined by the marketplace. This is a common mistake creatives make.

When we create something, offer it for sale, and no one buys, we conclude that our workor ourselves, or bothis worthless. The consequences of this line of destructive thinking are never good. Its more constructive to understand that value in the marketplace is defined by the customers willingness to purchase the goods or services for the asking price.

Think of it this way: We profit when we provide value people are willing to pay for and when we are able to communicate that value in ways our customers can understand.

Journaling / Image Prompts for Value & Profitability

The pain I eliminate for my client is is:

How am I helping my clients get what they want?

What my business does better than the competition is:

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Pathway 4: Tools & Skills:

You can be smart, gifted, creative and even providing value to your customers, but without the appropriate Tools & Skills to manage your business and yourself, you are likely to experience only short lived success, unsustainable growth, or things like cash flow, staffing, and supplier problems, just to name a few potential issues.

The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala is a tool. So are marketing plans, financial projections, the type of website you have, how effective your branding is at reaching your target audience.

Skills refer to the areas of development that effective business leaders practice: excellent communication and presentation skills, salesmanship, savvy in working well with suppliers, employees, customers. Both Tools and Skills must be learned and practiced. They rarely come naturally to most people, but they can be learned and applied by anyone. Yes, you.

Pay attention to Skills you already have (giving a great presentation, selling ice to Eskimos, being masterful under pressure, meeting deadlines) that are also in your Gifts area. This is pure grace and something to lean on whenever you get stuck with the parts where you need to really apply yourself to learn new skills, or master new tools.

Journaling / Image Prompts for Tools & Skills

What one tool, used well, would make the most significant difference in my business?

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Who in my field is a rock star and what skills do they posses that I need to develop?

What other Tools and Skills seem to be missing from your repertoire? What is your plan for filling in those gaps?

In closing:
Consider that there is much less competition for those who can (eventually, with some work) answer the question:

What is the unique gift I can leverage that has a value in the marketplace people will pay for?

This is simply because most people (not just us artistic types) do not make the effort. With that in mind, here is one more Journal / Image Prompt to explore when youve worked on your Mandala:

What is my plan of action for using the information in my Mandala? What will I commit to now?

Arriving at the sweet spot of your creative business is not only a competition-buster, but its also a road map to living the life you are meant to live, doing the work that only you can do, and serving the clients that you really enjoy working with.

When you get to do that, youre truly rich, and not just in cash.

If you do make a Creative Entrepreneur Mandala, Id love to hear about your process, questions and results.

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Theres a whole chapter on this process (from where this article was partially excerpted), with lots more pictures and prompts in my book, The Creative Entrepreneur.

Images: Are from the bold and courageous participants in my Creative Entrepreneur Workshops.

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Contributors

Smart Fresh Writing

Smart fresh is for writing that is breathtaking in its clarity, for stories that are deeply affective and effective, and for expressions of truth that pulse with life. Smart fresh is for business writing that hums and thrums and beats to your very core.

@rebecca_leigh

I call myself an intuitive business writer and message medium because I dont conjure these stories from nothing, I dip into the energy that already flows in you, in your business and in the world. I gather and concentrate what is already shining within.

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In Treehouses
Thom Chambers is the writer, editor, designer, and publisher of In Treehouses. In April 2011, he left his job as Marketing Manager at a design agency to start a digital publishing house. Thom studied at the universities of Exeter, Edinburgh, and Santa Barbara, and currently lives and works in rural England, from a studio amongst the lanes and fields of the Hampshire countryside. In Treehouses is a free micro-magazine designed to help microbusinesses reach 1,000 True Fans. Lots of micro, basically. Established in June 2010, In Treehouses has grown into a lively young thing. This year, there will be ten free editions of the magazine on a variety of topics vital to entrepreneurs and microbusiness owners.

@intreehouses

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Create as Folk
I help creatives design the life and work they want. I empower you to live a ful-

@laurasimms

filling creative life, take permission, andact on your passions. As the daughter of an artist and an attorney, I have dual citizenship to the lands of Big Dreams and Practical Action. How that shakes out: big ideas sprout from my noggin, and then they actually happen. By chasing my own improbable dreams, Ive found friends, my husband, travel, professional success, adventure, purpose, and yes, money. My role is to guide you as you navigate the deep waters of creativity, creative entrepreneurship, and living a life on purpose. Working with me, you will find the confidence, courage, and tools to step into the life and work you are meant for. Learn how to work with me one-on-one. 45

When I Grow Up
Michelle Ward, aka The When I Grow Up Coach, helps creative people devise the career they think they can't have - or discover it to begin with! A certified life coach by the International Coach Academy & a musical theater actress with her BFA from NYU/Tisch, Michelle has served as an expert source

@WhenIGroUpCoach

and contributor for such outlets as Newsweek, Etsy, and Psychology Today, as well as leading workshops and seminars at SXSW 2011 and the sold-out Etsy Success Symposium. She encourages everyone to claim their uniquity via The Declaration of You, an e-course with Jessica Swift, and could be found coachin', bloggin' & givin' away free stuff at whenigrowupcoach.com.

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taragentile.com
Im Tara Gentile and Im a philosopher of creative living and DIY culture & lifestyle design expert.

@scoutiegirlblog
What that really means is that I had the crazy notion, at the age of 26, that my degree in contemporary religious thought should be enough to afford me a small living, working from home with my brand new baby girl. Once that crazy dream became reality, I had another vague notion that odd jobs could become a full-time business. That notion led to a complete lifestyle redesign for my family. In less than 2 years, my business my brain and its output now support my family entirely. We live a life that allows me to concentrate on helping you to realize your own vague notions and crazy dreams. My goals for you exist at the intersection of technology, DIY culture, and the divine spark of creativity. I will empower you to find your own creative spirit, give you the tools to turn ideas into reality, and apply practical philosophy to your lifes challenges. 47

alexandrafranzen.com
Howdy! I'm Alexandra, and I'm a promotional wordsmith and pro-active pimp. I whip up wicked webcopy, pivot brand positions, and ghostwrite for entrepreneurs who want to expand their empireswithout the hassle of cloning. Think of me as your personal scribe and secret business-building weaponwith ruthless (but loving) attention to clarity, aesthetics and poetic details. Wanna play with me? Like, for a whole day? My 1-on-1 VELOCITY sessions are pretty righteous. What else? I'm captivated by heart-shaped crystals, Finnish power metal, anything chartreuse, and Leonard Cohen. Someday, I'll dye my hair turquoise. Again. If your world-shifting vision needs a voice to make it walk, we oughta talk.

@alex_franzen

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dennisbaker.net
Dennis lives the ultimate freelance life as an actor, teaching artist, audition coach, fight director also working in web design and search engine optimization. He grew up in Central California and after studying at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival he went on to graduate from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in Communication and Theater. After graduation he spent four years in Los Angeles working as an actor, teaching artist and web designer. He worked with popular theater companies like the Knightsbridge Theater, Write Act Repertory and Actors Workout Studio. He currently resides in Los Angeles, after spending four year in the New York metro area. He received his masters in Educational Theater from New York University. He has worked regionally at the Two River Theater Company and with New York companies Gorilla Repertory and Instant Shakespeare. He continues working in web design, web development, and search engine optimization working with such companies as LexisNexis and Graphic Design USA. You can view his work at Website for Actors. He has written for BlogCritics Magazine and Backstage/Backstage West. 49

@dennisbaker

The Creative Entrepreneur

Lisa Sonora Beam doesnt go for the whole starving artist thing. Shes worked for decades on her rebuttal: She thrives as a mixed-media artist, writer, and founder of Digital Hive EcoLogical Design, a San Franciscobased communications firm that works with green businesses. She earned her MBA in Sustainable Enterprise, whose business theories form the strategic backbone of this book. Lisa has learned that business savvy in an artist is rare: most creative people shy away from the strategic skills necessary to make a living doing what they love. So after yet another artist friend responded to Lisas business insights with, I never thought about that, she decided to help make sure they did. With The Creative Entrepreneur, Lisa has finally put passion to paper to help artistic types develop and harness their business savvy. The Creative Entrepreneur is the culmination of an eclectic life of business and art, strategic planning and creative calling. Its Lisa preaching what shes practiced: that its possible and practical to make a living doing what you love.

@LisaSonoraBeam

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