Being a professional maker - which means making things that you sell -
no matter how many of those things you are
actually selling
is kind of like having another marriage -
(
or a first marriage for you singletons or another civil union for those who are unjustly unable to even get married in the first place)
a marriage - that hopefully started with the falling in love part -
maybe love at first sight
(
which I am pretty sure I have never experienced with man or makings)
or maybe the love that grows on you over time until you are thinking "hey, I think I've got something here"
(
which I find to be true of both man and makings ... *winks at hubs*)
And that marriage started out with
passion with a capital P - it was red hot - you could have fried an egg on your brain it was working so hard
(
or maybe that was when you were on drugs, I forget, but there was some egg frying at some point, I'm sure).
I mean we were up all night with this stuff - our heads and hands full of ideas. We couldn't sleep. We couldn't eat (well, except for me, I can always eat, actually). We were creating.
This is what we will call the "
falling in love" part of building a business, the
fun part, the part where dreams are made flesh in the form of ingenious and original little whoseewhatsees (
yes, I said whoseewhatsee).
But, alas just like any marriage this honeymoon phase is destined to give way eventually to the "
you must work at it - this stuff is work, did you think you were going to get to party like it's 1999 forever" part of building our business -
the part that separates the men from the boys, the one night stands from the relationships, the divorce lawyers from the 25 year anniversary dinners.
And this working part of our business is just as important as the working part of a marriage until ... well, until it just isn't working anymore ...
which is the reason you need a brand and not a business, a brand and not a product, a brand that is all about you - so when the working part isn't working for you anymore
(
this is not a death til us part kind of marriage after all)
you can saunter off (
yes, I said saunter) in a new direction and take your people (
ie cohorts, friends, customers) with you while still staying true to your brand because you
are your brand.
You are your brand, right? That is a kind of important part of my theory here because when the working part is just not working for you, you need to be able to make changes. A creative without that passionate honeymoon phase to fire 'em up once in a while (
this is an open marriage after all) will find the work to be well ... work. And when your makings become just work to you, well, people can tell and most importantly you can tell.
When artists become business people who are left to be artists?
(
disclaimer - I stole borrowed this line from an HBO mini series about doctors, but I think it applies equally to creatives)
Passion
must come first or we are just business people who make things.
(
and that sounds like an awful thing to be and would look just crappy on your business card)
And, keeping that passionate spark lit in the midst of production and business thinking can be a challenge; maybe the biggest challenge of your business.
Part II later this week - Being a Candle in the Wind
* just because I love you card by
TheWallaroo
