The best approach for marketing a creative practice involves PinPoint Positioning followed by a consistent content strategy. The long-term benefits of this approach pay huge dividends to creative entrepreneurs. Of course executing on a content strategy requires a significant time investment. If you make weekly or monthly deposits into your content investment portfolio, you may want to consider some additional opportunities to diversify and extend the impact of those contributions.

Mastering the basics of marketing your creative practice can take many years. So you might not be thinking about what comes next. But when you're ready to take your marketing to the next level—start thinking about finding speaking engagements. Speaking opportunities can be extremely powerful ways to deepen your position in your chosen market.

We all hate time-wasting intrusions of spam marketing. And so we surely don't want to be counted among those that use such irritating methods. And yet, at a basic level, much of your marketing involves reaching out to prospects who don't yet know you. Is there a way to approach a cold prospect and not be immediately lumped in with the spammers?

As creatives we help our clients by producing media that they use in their marketing campaigns. In many cases their marketing channels include advertising, direct mail, and other mass media broadcast channels. When we spend so much time focusing on broad business-to-consumer marketing methods for our clients, it's no surprise that when it comes to our own marketing, we think along the same lines. But business-to-consumer marketing tactics don't work for creative practices.

Over the past few episodes we've considered growth in the light of the goal of remaining involved in creative work. While this is a common goal, it's not a common outcome. Without a carefully planned hiring process, the path of least resistance will lead you away from creativity, requiring you to become a business manager instead. But how can you find the right people to fill your carefully designed roles?

Should your first overhead hire—and be a client facing account manager, or a market-facing account maker? If you try to economize with one person for both roles, you may end up struck in the growth gap. But that's not the only gap you'll face in growing your creative business. There are other points along the path that have similarly difficult obstacles, which, if you aren't prepared to maneuver, can likewise get you stuck.

Growing a business is one of life's greatest challenges. There are millions of people, with business training, who have failed to accomplish this dream. If building and growing a business is hard for people who's entire training was toward that end, what chance do creative entrepreneurs, without business training, have to establish a growing practice? And if we do succeed, will the demands of running a business take us away from the creative work we love?

When your creative practice takes off, your inclination will be to hire other designers to lighten your load. This sets off a chain reaction. Soon you'll find yourself consumed with managing projects more than doing creative work. And you'll feel the pressure to keep work coming in. If you prefer creative work over business management, you'll need to hire someone. But should it be for sales, or for client service?

As creatives begin to build up a client base, and demand for their work starts to grow, we inevitably face the question of what to do when we've tapped out our own personal time resources. Do we simply say "no" to new clients, or do we expand our capacity by hiring help? This is a pivotal decision. Because without intentionality, and careful planning, growth can quickly turn from the fulfillment of all your dreams, to your worst nightmare.

This past year has been tough on many small businesses. Certain sectors of the economy were entirely shut down. If you've been listening to 5 Minutes on Creative Entrepreneurship for very long you know how important PinPoint Positioning is to marketing a creative practice. But what if your industry focus was in the live entertainment space, or the travel industry, or event management? If you focused on any of these areas, this past year may very well have been your last.