A Life Well Lived

What do impressionist paintings and a successful life have in common? They both become much clearer when viewed from far away.

Think about it: when you initially set out after a goal, you're in the thick of things. This is the whole 'you can't see the forest for the trees' experience - it is incredibly hard to take a broad objective perspective on something when you're hiking through a valley forest and all you see are rocks, green stuff, and sky (followed by more rocks, green stuff, and sky). For all you know, that forest might go on forever -- and when you reach a difficult pass, it's easy to feel like that dark, thorn-infested, spooky-looking patch is just a preview for how hard the rest of your journey is going to be.

Worst. Hike. Ever.

For example, you may have heard of the man who wrote these words:

"That can't be my story.
That's only a start.
I'll say that a ZEBRA was pulling that cart!
And that is a story that no one can beat,
When I say that I saw it on Mulberry Street."

Jerk Alert.

That would be Theodor Suess Giesel, better known as Dr. Suess. Did you know twenty-seven different publishers rejected his first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street? How in the world do you say "no" to Dr. Suess? Apparently they all hated fun, and probably spent their days twirling their evil mustaches and despising green eggs and ham. No matter -- even before Mulberry Street found a publisher, the Dr. Suess success machine was up and running -- but it might have been hard to tell that from behind a desk covered by rejection letters.

And what about Oprah? She seems pretty cool - I mean, she's only one of the richest and most influential women in the world. But first, she had to survive an abusive childhood and numerous setbacks -- including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was "unfit for TV." Yes, the woman who presides over a massive media empire and and whose daytime talk show / awesome-stuff-giveaway-apparatus appeared in 2.6% of American households daily (that's 7.4 million people, Holmes) - OPRAH - was not the kind of person TV execs thought belonged in front of a camera.

Success tastes sweetest when served over hater's regret-flavored tears.

The point is that wherever you are in your journey, you need to keep in mind that things aren't necessarily going to fall into the imaginary narrative arc that you have planned out inside your head. Let go of those expectations, and just stick to the business of getting through the here and now. As Dr. Suess would say,

“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
ou can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go [...]
 You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”

Who's Laughing Now?

You are not a joke.

What I'm pretty sure most non-creative
people think of when they hear
I'm an artist. © Mitch O'Connell

Let me just say that one more time, YOU are not a joke.

One of the biggest challenges that I face as an artist (and that I think plagues most creative people) is this constant feeling of our profession being somehow silly and having to justify the importance of what we do all the time.  We sometimes get it from our family, when they constantly ask us when we're going to grow up and get a "real job."  Sometimes we get it from our friends, or our community, when we're asked, "So what do you do for a living?" We respond, and then are met with, "Oh… do you actually make money doing that?" But a lot of times, I think it simply comes from us.

It comes from us because we are scared.  As a society we have this idea that anyone who is creative and successful has somehow "beaten the odds."  Which sets up a very interesting idea that successful creative lives are not something readily attainable to the average person and can only be achieved by a handful of magically blessed individuals.  This is not true.

Creative professions are just like any other job, they take hard work and dedication but most of all, you have to take yourself seriously.  In most other professions, there are people who do a company's marketing, PR, accounting, market forecasting, selling, buying, social networking, negotiating, developing, production… etc.  You only have you.

You have to learn how to wear and juggle all those roles, or hire people to help you with them.

Most creative people fail because they think they can sit around in their studio all day making art and that if they were really good they would simply be "discovered."  When they are not magically "discovered" they give up, thinking their work was crap and that they were a joke.  However, they weren't a joke at all and they might have been very talented, they simply forgot to show up for all the other job titles they held.  Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at a major company if only the creative department showed up for work everyday and the CEO and accountants and PR guys and marketing dudes all just disappeared?  Yet that is how most creative people treat their lives, and when they fail, they think they simply weren't talented enough, not that it had anything to do with the fact they were missing their support team.

There is an old saying that is more true in the creative fields than anywhere else I think:  the fastest way to get a job doing what you love is acting like you already have a job doing that thing; eventually all your pretending will turn into reality.  This is ridiculously true.

What you do is not a joke.  Yes, it may seem at times like, "Who is ever going to want to pay money for this thing that I made?  I mean, I'm nobody…" These are just our insecurities talking.  What we do has value, what we do is important, and what we do is not, and never will be a joke.  Which means we need to give it the honor and respect that it deserves.  We need to get serious about ourselves, we need to get serious about our creative well being, and, most importantly, we need to get serious about our work.  Because when we start taking ourselves and our own work seriously, people take notice.  Stop living your creative life apologizing for what you do and start taking pride in it instead.

On that note, I will leave you with this video from Jackie Battenfield, author of "The Artists Guide: How To Make A Living Doing What You Love."  If you are really looking for a place to get started in understanding how to get serious about your creative career, I HIGHLY suggest picking up a copy of Jackie's book.  It is down to earth, easy to read and full of fantastic information for creative individuals.  Enjoy, be inspired, and remember, You are not a joke.  :)

Challenge #5: Take Yourself Seriously

Okay people -- we've had our playtime, we've exchanged encouragement, now it's time to buckle down and take yourself seriously. Not just as an artist, but as a business person. You'd like to get paid for your work, right?

If that's the case, you're probably going to need business cards.

Here's a handy-dandy .PSD template to get you started. If you don't have access to Photoshop or would rather create your own template to work from, the standard dimensions for business cards are 3.5" x 2".

Now, I know how easy it is to say, "Oh yeah, I'll do that one day, right now I just need to focus on my actual work. Marketing can come later." Here are five reasons you might want to rethink that.


5) Business cards make it a lot less awkward to give people a way to get in touch with you.

• Think about it: you're chatting, you mention what you do, they mention that they're looking for someone who does just that, and then --- you awkwardly attempt to give them your contact information on the back of a grocery receipt. Soooooo classy.

4) Business cards give you a lot of bang for your buck.

• There are some great sites out there for printing affordable business cards -- we particularly love Moo.com and Vistaprint.com -- but you can also print your own as you need them. Once you have your card design, get some cardstock and ink, and go crazy -- or, if you're like me, go print them over at a copy shop where they have the giant paper cutter (it saves SO MUCH time). Voilà -- not only do you now look super professional, you also have a tiny paper army of mini advertisements working to get your name out there.

3) Business cards give you superpowers.

• Remember that tiny paper army I was talking about? You might not be able to be everywhere at once, but they can. All you have to do is carry them along in your pocket and leave a few at businesses and public spaces where you feel your future customers might frequent. Be sure to ask permission before you set them down -- most places will have a spot where they display related businesses' materials. And be sure to keep up a relationship with the places you've left your cards - the cards might be able to talk for you, but it's the people working at these establishments that are going to be referencing your cards when customers ask.

2) Business cards are another chance for you to make art.

• Wouldn't it be fun to make little pieces of art that you could give away and make people smile? My favorite version of this is what photographer and street artist Katie Sokoler did when she found she was out of business cards:
  


Now that's a card I'd pick up and want to learn more about! Here's a list of a bunch of other brilliant and creative ideas to get you started.

1) Business cards not only help others take you seriously, they help you take yourself seriously.

• Since quitting my 9 to 5 and going full time freelancer, I've dealt with my share of friends making jokes about my "job" and "working" from home. While these statements may have been intended purely as jokes, they still brought up a deeply-rooted fear I have about freelancing; that I'm just spinning my wheels, not actually growing a business. Taking direct business-related action, like creating and distributing business cards, not only helps me develop my company, but it gives me tangible things to point to anytime I or other people question my progress. No, it's not the cure-all, but it is a productive way to combat those fears.

Convinced? You should be. Even if you're not, how about you make some business cards and pass them around this week anyway? There worst thing that happens is a couple more people hear about about what you do. That can't be too bad, can it?