Is Your "Business Problem" Really An Artist Problem?
Something that comes up a lot for my clients is this feeling that they've outgrown their online presence.
They've evolved.
Their ideal client, and therefore ideal offerings have changed, and their brand doesn't reflect this evolution.
It's a relic from another era of their life and business.
I felt this way back in my musician days when I was working on an album that took years to finish.
By the time we hit the recording studio, I had already moved on from the scenarios I was singing about.
They felt stale and dead.
At the same time, if I didn't put out the album, I couldn't make room for and fully engage with fresh song ideas.
I felt creatively bottlenecked.
This is a natural transition in the life of a solopreneur but it can feel like you want to crawl out of your skin.
Transitions are like that.
Some animals literally crawl out of their skin when they're ready for a new phase. 🐍
But it's hard. It's uncomfortable. And it can be confusing.
It can feel like you don't even want to direct people to your website or your social media pages because they don't accurately represent you anymore.
They no longer say what you're trying to say.
A tricky layer to this is that you can feel this way even if your business is thriving.
It can feel like your business is a runaway train on the wrong track and if you could only catch it and stop it, you could recalibrate and set things in the right direction.
The problem is if you stop the train, you stop the financial flow.
So, now you're trying to be Jean Claude Van Damme (my cousin 😉) straddling two semis.
As creative people, we evolve like speedboats.
But businesses are cruiseships.
It can feel excruciating to be ready to move in a new direction and only be allowed to move at the speed of the systems you already have in place.
If you're an solopreneur, you're an artist.
If you are choosing a life that is tailored to your unique gifts and expression, you're an artist.
Period.
Because we are both artists and business owners, the deep need to accurately express ourselves through our business can lead us to believe that our artist problems are business problems
Here's the thing: If people are still coming to your website and signing up for your offerings—even if they're not your "ideal" client and you're not totally sure you want to even offer those offerings anymore— you don't have business problems.
You have artist problems.
My advice?
Be patient.
Get clear on your goals, visions, dreams. Write them down. Spell them out.
And one step at a time start chipping away at what makes you feel trapped and slowly, at a pace that is right for you, create the things that will make you feel more free.
I don't know any shortcuts. Do you? If so, please tell me your secrets!
As my business bestie, Yvonne Druyeh Dodd likes to say, “Stay in the doing.”
Don't kvetch. Don't struggle.
Just do the work. And accept that it may take a while.
And don't forget to ask for help. Hire someone. Trade with someone.
Do whatever you need to do to fully express your work in the world, whatever that is right now.
In my experience, that's the life of an artist. And it's much better than the alternative.