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| Natalie Wright |
I am a
creative entrepreneur. It’s not something I dreamed of being. When I was a
little girl, when people asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I said,
“I want to be a writer.” I never said, “I want to be a creative entrepreneur.”
Yet a creative entrepreneur is exactly what I have become.
Until a
few weeks ago, I’d never even heard the phrase creative entrepreneur let alone
know that I was one. Recently I was asked by three different bloggers to write
a post on the subject of the creative entrepreneur (CE for short). That’s when
you know a topic is hot or on people’s minds.
My first
question was, “What the heck is a creative entrepreneur?”
John
Hawkins defines a CE as a person who “uses creativity to unlock wealth that
lies within themselves rather than [through] external capital.” Wikipedia says
that CEs “are investors in talent – either their own or other people’s.” Hawkins
distinguishes CEs from freelancers. Freelancers, notes Hawkins, think in terms
of finding more work. CEs think in terms of creating opportunities.
Harvard
economist Richard E. Caves is oft quoted on the subject. Writing in past
decades, he noted a distinction between “artists” and “gatekeepers” with
gatekeepers deciding on the potential value of the artists work. Now writers
are, increasingly, bypassing the gatekeepers and taking their work directly to
readers. Now more than at any time in the recent past, writers are taking on
the dual role of not only being the creative artist, but also becoming
businesses to produce and sell their work.
Just so
we’re clear, being a CE is nothing new. For as long as humans have been
creating, there have been CEs. I recently spoke with a writing and publishing
veteran, Dan Gutman. Dan, a children’s book author, had his first book
published in the 1980’s and currently has over 100 books in print. When I spoke
with him about writing, publishing and author marketing, it was clear that
Dan’s isn’t an “artist” sitting in a coffee shop, typing passionately away
while the nasty business of selling his work is taken care of by a benevolent
publisher. Dan’s advice to me – and one that has become my mantra – was, “Bust
your ass. Every single day.”
Early on
in Dan’s career, he took marketing into his own hands and visited as many
schools as he would have him. He gave school talks for free and met and
befriended teaches and librarians, i.e. people who were in a direct position to
influence his would-be audience. That one
librarian/teacher/school/reader-at-a-time approach was a successful strategy.
Dan is a
CE. He not only uses his creativity to produce a product (his books), but he
uses his creative energy to think of ways to market (i.e. sell) his product as
well. I don’t want to discount the help that his publishers may have given him.
Dan noted to me that he has had more than one publisher and some of his books
are out of print and others are not, and that that has more to do with the
publisher than it does with Dan. But Dan used his creative entrepreneurial
genius to create his own success. He took control of his own destiny and he did
it before the surge in self-publishing or the existence of social media. Though
Dan built his career by taking himself and his books on the road, he now
leverages social media to maintain his readership just the way you’d expect a
CE to do.
And that
highlights another characteristic of the CE: adaptability. The publishing world
is changing rapidly and true CEs see the change as opportunity rather than
crying in their Malbec and bemoaning the loss of the “good old days.”
Being a
creative entrepreneur means you don’t get stuck in one way of doing things.
It’s about being open to try new things. It’s about collaborating with others
who have talent and skills you can leverage to make your project a success.
Being a CE means that you are willing and able to drop something (or someone)
that isn’t working and move on. You are agile and you pursue new opportunities
that are exciting to you or show promise.
I like
this quote from Mark McGuinness. “The only real security lies in taking an
entrepreneurial approach to our own careers, by taking responsibility for
developing our skills, building our networks and reputation, and creating
opportunities for ourselves.”
Perhaps
for writers, this has never been a truer statement than it is today.
Action Item: Take five minutes and
brainstorm 10 things you can do this year to increase the reach of your author
brand. Use the same creativity you apply to your writing and think outside the
box. Try some things you haven’t tried before.
Are you a creative
entrepreneur? And if so, did you set out to be one or did you find yourself in
the role by happenstance?
Natalie is the author of The Akasha Chronicles, a
young adult paranormal fantasy trilogy. When not writing, blogging,
Facebooking, Tweeting, Wattpadding or eating chocolate, Natalie nurtures her
young daughter, plays with her two young cats, and feeds her dog too many
treats.
Natalie enjoys walking in the high desert,
snorkeling in warm waters, travel, and excellent food shared with family and
friends. She was raised an Ohio farm girl, now lives in the desert Southwest,
and dreams of living in a big city high rise.
Natalie enjoys chatting with readers, so
stop by and say hi:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/natwrites/
