I’ve known art and creativity my entire life – I grew up in a household where art was celebrated and appreciated, it was almost like I was destined to be an artist. When I kicked off my career as a full-time artist many moons ago, I never thought that entrepreneurship would be something that I will also be doing full-time.
It is not by coincidence that I found my art and entrepreneurship merging together, as I quickly realized early on how crucial creativity in entrepreneurship really was. My journey as an artrepreneur really went into overdrive over the past 3 years, as I became the early adopter of NFTs into my artistry which brought me significant attention and exposed me to a whole new clientele. In order to capitalize on this, I not only had to be adept at creative problem solving but also had to build an entrepreneurial mindset. This realization was vital in building the brand and career which you now associate with me.
So, in this blog, I would like to share three important takeaways that have been crucial in building my very own entrepreneurial ecosystem utilizing my innate creativity. They are as follows:
- Challenges in business are opportunities to think out of the box
Whenever I found myself facing a particular challenge in my business, I initially used to get paralyzed by self doubt and anxiety, always thinking that I was over my head. This is the mindset that I had to change and approach everything from a place of growth and learning. I had to take every challenge as if an opportunity to flex my creative muscles. This is how we develop an entrepreneurial mindset, one that is comfortable being experimental and making mistakes.
Just a reminder: In a business setting, when you make a mistake, it might result in a monetary loss but this is the cost you pay in learning a crucial business lesson. It comes down to you to acknowledge the mistake and making sure that your employees are aware of what happened, so you put up systems in place to avoid that mistake from happening again.
- Innovation in entrepreneurship is equal parts creativity and knowledge
In order to be innovative when it comes to the matter of business, it is important that you are knowledgeable on various facets of your industry and its developments – so you can make the most out of them when the opportunity arises. I will always encourage budding entrepreneurs to always be on a consistent pursuit of upgrading their skills and knowledge. Having a well-equipped toolbox of developing skills and market updates is what any entrepreneur needs to make decisive and creative moves with their business.
- A creative collaboration is a win-win if done right
I have been a part of many creative collaborations in my career and initially they were not the most beneficial opportunities for me. I will chalk that up to growing pains as an artrepreneur – like I mentioned earlier, mistakes are learning opportunities and that is what I did: learn. Now all of my creative collaborations are done after considerable thought and strategic planning to ensure that they are mutually beneficial. I find that collaborations with brands and other artists is an incredible opportunity to exchange knowledge and learnings to add to our toolbox.
I have to remind and emphasise that having a creative partner or partners could be quite advantageous in spreading out the risk of embarking on a business venture. However, if caught in a partnership where there is no transparency or trust, you will really have a hard time getting your business going and also without a doubt, your art will suffer. So, be very careful in vetting out who you will be getting in partnership with and ALWAYS have a formal partnership agreement drafted to avoid problems in the future.
These are the three key takeaways that I have attained over the course of my career as a creative and an entrepreneur. I hope after reading this blog that you are motivated to infuse more creativity to your entrepreneurial ventures, so you are able to maximise on potential creative and business opportunities, as well as developing yourself professionally.
As George Kneller very wisely said, “Creativity consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.”
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