Creatives and Their Screwed Up Relationship With Money

Is there anything more unaligned than creativity and making money? I’ve worked with many creatives over the years, from my early days as a photo editor, to running a stock syndication that I sold to Bill Gates, to the consulting and mentoring I do today.

Creatives, for the most part, have a bad relationship with money.

But why?

In essence, the answer is very simple. Being a creative is a full-time job. You want to get better by mastering the technique, the lighting, the software program, etc. You want to connect deeply with your inspirations and you must know about trends before they arrive. It takes a lot of time.

Creativity cannot be bound

The creative process needs inspiration and emotion, and it doesn’t care whether it’s happy or sad. Many creatives have accomplished some of their best work when emotionally shattered, like Adele’s famous song “Someone Like You” written after a nasty breakup that catapulted her into the hearts of millions. Even Pink has proclaimed that she’s useless when she is happy, and when she is upset her creativity skyrockets.

Artistic expression allows us to connect to our innermost feelings and opinions and shout them out through our vehicle of choice.

Creatives are vulnerable because our work is so incredibly personal and connected to our feelings. To have our art critiqued feels like we are being personally judged because what we create is an expression of ourselves.

And society believes we are comfortable being poor. Some of the artists we value most today died in poverty because they failed to gain recognition during their lifetimes. Even the term “Bohemian lifestyle” is about being broke while steadfastly dedicated to your art, no matter what.

The solution is a mentor of some sort who sees brilliance and takes the artist under their wing. Often, these mentors become business partners or talent agents.

I know this well because I represented creatives for 15 years.

The times they are a-changin’

I see that the business has shifted dramatically and the age of internet access has leveled the playing field. It no longer matters where you come from. As long as you have an internet connection, you too can be an overnight YouTube sensation.

Reps and agents are going out of business faster than you can count to ten if they fail to be highly specialized and recognized for a niche. Generalists are long gone because buyers now demand subject matter specialists.

Suddenly, the creative entrepreneur is faced with a new dilemma. Not only is it a challenge just to keep the art alive, but the traditional model of finding representation is also falling away. Unless you figure out how to build your own authority platform you’re forgotten, invisible, and virtually undetectable in the ocean of wannabes searching for their 15 minutes of fame.

This shift has ripped a gaping hole in the hearts of creatives. You are asked to be more courageous and sell yourself as though your life depends on it.

Because it does.

Nobody is coming to your rescue

You have to rescue yourself from mediocrity. From being like all the others who will never make it.

So, who makes it as a creative? The one who has figured out the business side of things.

You see, you only need to know enough about it to get to that next level. Then you can start to hire people to help you.

Unfortunately, even that is a challenge for so many.

Because it is difficult to wrap your head around the business side of things, I have created a master course that I am making available for free. It’s called YourBusinessMC: More Clients, More Confidence, More Cash.

My mission: To eradicate the bohemian lifestyle and help you to make a good living.

Why am I doing this? Because life without you and your creative community would be horrifically boring.

I called my friends. Multi-millionaires. Emmy winners. Oprah nominees. NY Times Bestsellers. Growth and reinvention specialists. Confidence creators.

And they are all coming together for three days to share their insights and brilliance with you for free. All you need to do is show up and listen. It couldn’t be easier for you. You can register here: YourBusinessMC.com

Here’s a little about two of our 12 amazing master teachers.

Master Teacher Daven Michaels

Super entrepreneur and CEO of 123Employee, Michaels has made a career of doing it his way and living the American Dream. Starting his entrepreneurial career at age 15, Michaels never fit the mold. He turned his passions into prosperous businesses and careers. He is a bestselling music and television producer, author, speaker and successful entrepreneur.

Michaels has helped thousands of creative entrepreneurs transform their businesses by showing them how to play ball with the big corporations—and beat them at their own game.

His book ‘Outsource Smart’ has propelled Michaels to the top of bestseller lists: New York Times Best Seller, Los Angeles Times Best Seller, and Amazon #1 Best Seller. Michaels is an advocate for the small business owner and he has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows globally.

Master Teacher Michelle Patterson

Michelle Patterson couldn’t play small even if she tried. Her name conjures up many credits including visionary, author, acceleration executive, founder, passionate talk show host, and dynamic speaker. Patterson is a woman of many talents and dimensions. She is also the founder of Global Women Foundation, a non-profit public charity created to empower women to transform their communities with the ultimate goal of global change. Its mission supports women to effectuate this change through serving as a world-wide conduit for connecting community, mentorship, education, and financial support.

Patterson is an author and the CEO of the California Conference for Women, a role she took over from Maria Shriver, with the mission to spread the message that we are “stronger together.”

You are invited to join these two master teachers and 10 others who are equally as brilliant. Register here: YourBusinessMC.com

If you enjoyed this post please consider joining the LinkedIn groups The Women's Code or Creative Entrepreneur Forum.

At her lowest point, Beate Chelette was $135,000 in debt, a single mother, and forced to leave her home. Only 18 months later, she sold her image licensing business to Bill Gates in a multimillion dollar deal. Chelette is a nationally known ‘gender decoder’ who has appeared in over 60 radio shows. She is a respected speaker, business and career coach and a consummate creative entrepreneur who continues to be an advocate and business builder for her entrepreneurial clients. 

Passionate about women’s issues Beate founded The Women’s Code, a unique guide to women leadership and personal and career success that offers a new code of conduct for today’s business, private, and digital worlds. Determined to build a community of women supporting each other, she took her life-changing formula documented it all in her book Happy Woman Happy World that Brian Tracy calls “an amazing handbook for every woman who wants health, happiness, love and success!”

Through her corporate initiative “Why Acting Like a Girl Is Good For Business” she helps companies with gender diversification training, and to develop and retain women.

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on The Women’s Code: Tools for a New Leadership Balance or Creative Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect with me to find out about our programs.