A lot of people will tell you that in order to succeed with your creative work, you need a website, newsletter, social media and the like.
It’s not true.
What you need is RADICAL CLARITY on what you create, how to do it, and how to ensure it reaches your ideal audience. Without these things, all the social media updates in the world won’t help you.
To get RADICAL CLARITY, you need to:
GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO CREATE. Not only that, but you have to accept that the world needs what you create. That you are ready to be seen and heard as a creator.
KNOW WHY YOU CREATE. Deep down, why are you driven to create?You have to answer this because without it, you will stop when things get hard. Writing and art changes lives. Be clear how it is changing yours, and the potential it has to change someone else’s.
CREATE EVERY DAY. Establish the practices and processes that ensure you show up day in and day out, even when things feel difficult.
PUT CRAFT FIRST. Not trends, not rushing to for the easy “like” on social media. Your growth as a writer and artist relies on the mastery of your skills.
ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUCCESS REQUIRES COLLABORATION. Your work dies in isolation. When you collaborate, you are no longer swayed by the winds of trends, of negative anxiety that may drive you, of making incorrect assumptions about process. If you don’t have colleagues to help you along the way, you are destined to always be an amateur.
ESTABLISH A SUPPORT SYSTEM. Have a safe place to work through challenges. This is a support system of coaches, colleagues, and collaborators who hold you accountable to your creative vision.
MANAGE YOUR ATTENTION. Identify what distracts you and create a system to manage your own attention. Sometimes these things are outside of you, but oftentimes they are internal narratives. Learn to control them.
DEVELOP THE RIGHT MINDSET. Your attitude matters more than your tools. Focus more on developing a creative mindset than on whether you have the right tools or the best process.
FILL YOUR CREATIVE WELL. Your most important resource is creative energy. Not time, not access, not money, but having the energy to create. Keep this well full. Become a student of your own physical and mental health needs. Identify ways to feel more healthy as you grow, instead of more overwhelmed by all that life asks of you.
UNDERSTAND WHO YOU HOPE TO REACH. This is not some vague demographic. It is a real person with a name, a face, a lifetime of experiences, and someone searching for what you create.
CONNECT TO A PERSON, NOT AN AUDIENCE. Connecting your work to others should be a process of deep connection, not one of trying to amass faceless followers, judging your success on likes and reshares. It is about connecting through writing and art, and how that changes someone.
HOW I CAN HELP
I believe in the value of collaborating, that it is important to connect on a human level. I do that in three ways:
- When you want to make a big leap forward in your path as a writer or artist and finally gain the clarity, the creative habits, and a connection to your audience, join my three-month Creative Shift Mastermind group. Here you join me and 10 others to finally find the community, accountability, and process to make a major creative shift in your life.
- When you want to resolve a single problem in a day — writer your mission statement, launch or refine your blog, master social media and more, join one of my Studio Time workshops. Here we collaborate for a day-long live online workshop.
- When you need a co-pilot to get get radical clarity, setup your platform or prepare for a big launch, hire me for One-on-One Consulting. Here I work with you for 3-12 months to do the work.