When you run your own business as freelance creative, you might find it difficult to take time off. If you shut off your phone and close your laptop, there’s no one else to take over. And if you charge by the hour, taking a day off means no revenue. But everyone needs to rest. So if you find it hard to take time off, let me make some suggestions to help you free yourself up for a much needed vacation.    

Creative entrepreneurs not only face external struggles, we also face the struggle within. The creative process is marked by struggle. We agonize to find that perfect solution. This angst ridden process is baked into creativity and adds an extra layer of difficulty to our form of entrepreneurship. In order to push through all these challenges, it can be helpful to remember the incredible privileges we have in our creative callings.    

There’s no question that being a creative entrepreneur is not the easiest path. Going into business for yourself demands considerable effort, diligence, determination, and plain hard work. When you’re just starting out you may need to hustle and grind. But that can’t last forever. Eventually you need to get strategic, and find a more sustainable path.

Does your company’s operating budget adequately anticipate infrequent future expenses? Planning your budget based on our known monthly expenses, doesn't prepared you for when an expensive annual software license comes due. You need to regularly set aside revenue to cover unanticipated future expenses. If not, you might end up facing a budget crunch that can crush your business.

Last time we explored the topic of creative methodologies, and how they can improve your sales and marketing. A proven methodology that focuses on solving specific problems not only boosts your sales game, but it also leads to efficiencies that enable you to increase the margins you retain from your project fees. A well-oiled methodology will make you more profitable, significantly increase client satisfaction, and improve the impact of your work.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for very long you’re probably acquainted with the five motifs that structure 5 Minutes on Creative Entrepreneurship: Money, Minutes, Marketing, Management, and Motivation. Well there is a sixth motif that could be added, and conveniently it also starts with the letter “M.” Your creative Methodology can be a powerful addition to your marketing and radically improve your closing rate on sales opportunities. But only if your methodology is truly unique.

Throughout history new technologies have always had beneficial, yet disruptive outcomes. The printing press put many scribes out of work. Photographic typography ended the careers of linotype operators, and digital photography has put tons of pressure on professional photographers. Today, the Internet’s enabling of world wide crowdsourcing, is having similar effects on creative freelancers. How are you supposed to do battle with Upwork, and win?

The creative service business is made up of two main parts. Creativity and service. Obviously. But the path to bringing these two things together professionally is neither obvious nor simple. Providing any kind of professional service is challenging. But if you can learn the skills of excellent client service, you will reap the rewards that come from establishing trust and deepening the value of your professional creative services.

Very few creatives launch their practices planning to cash out with a big exit down the road. We get into our trade out of love for our craft, not so much for the financial rewards. But if you were planning to sell, like a typical entrepreneur, you would pay much more attention to your bottom line. And so managing your practice, as if you were going to sell it, could help you improve your profits, and would lead to other positive outcomes.

Back in episode 23 I talked about how marketing is a marathon, not a 100 yard dash. I’ve been thinking about that analogy recently, and I need to revise it slightly. Really marketing is more like training for a marathon than actually running one. If you want to run a marathon you would need to make a plan and stick with it. Marketing, like exercise, demands discipline. It depends on building new habits, and keeping them up for months, and years at a time.