Letting Go of Your Creative Identity in Order to Grow
Episode 538: Show Notes
Today we are going to talk about doing #allthethings, or rather, not doing them. We know a lot of you have so many things on your plate and are really struggling with what to let go of. You are feeling married to every department that you are the head of, and not really seeing or understanding how you could give up any of those things. So with that in mind, we want to holler at you in the way that we do best and permit you and help you let go of some stuff if you have been trudging along in your workspace, your day, and your business.
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We used to be the people who didn’t only not want to pay to give up things but also were super intimidated and concerned with delegation. It has been something we have had to work hard to do because we used to be aware of everything that happens in our business and we were at the point where if we didn’t let go of some of it, we were going to slow down the business. So we have had some life experience in this department and hope you can take away some of the lessons we have learned and apply them in your own life and business after this episode!
Growing By Detaching Ourselves From Aspects of Our Craft
Like we said before, we used to get so attached to being a part of every aspect of our businesses. We have got to the point now where we trust other people or software to handle tasks we can’t do anymore and this has helped our business scale. As creative people, it is easy to wrap our identity up in the results of our work or in the addiction of learning the new things our businesses require us to. This makes sense because as designers and photographers who are starting businesses, being successful at first requires us to know how to do each step of the process ourselves. We are here to pop that balloon and remind you not to see yourself as inauthentic or ‘less than’ if you start to delegate part of your process to other people as you scale. When you start to scale and outsource, you are not being dishonest if you withhold that information from your client either. What matters is that they are happy with the end result. There is also a kind of software elitism in our industry where people feel inferior because they use some rather than other programs but, again, the end result is what matters, not how you got there. In fact this debate of what makes an authentic photographer or artist has been going on for a very long time. Cindy Sherman never clicked the button on the camera but set up the entire shot and many people believed that this meant she was not a photographer. We are here to tell you that as an industry we need to get over this kind of thinking. As you grow your business, you simply won't be able to do everything, and the less hung up on whether that makes you the real deal or not you are, the more time you will have to focus on doing great work.
Letting Go of Jaded Beliefs and Focusing on Our Zones of Genius
In regards to this narrative about what software real designers should use, we used to adamantly use Squarespace to do web design. We remember that people used to tell us that we would never get the traffic that we would get if we had used WordPress instead. This is total nonsense because what we built on Squarespace still gets huge amounts of traffic. We really feel that it would do our industry so much good if we let go of this type of chatter. There are things you are telling yourself that are jaded and holding you back from your success. People who are successfully growing their businesses are not having these conversations with themselves. If you need to work out what to let go of, ask yourself what you love doing the most and focus on that above all else. Alternatively, if you are still doing everything yourself, ask yourself which things are slowing you down from getting paid and outsource them. There are cogs in your business that are preventing customer happiness, a project being complete, or you getting paid, and these are prime indicators about things that you can free up and delegate. We recently had Rachel Rodgers on the show to talk about her book, We Should All Be Millionaires, in which she talks about zones of genius versus zones of competence. Often our zones of competence are the things we are trained in and good at, whereas our zones of genius are the things we are just naturally gifted in. It is important not to get too attached to our zones of competence even though we might have worked very hard at them. Rather, we make the best contribution to our business by focusing on our zones of genius!
Taking the First Steps Toward Automation By Using Our Favorite Software
Once you have figured out what to let go of, we want to tell you not to expect the implementation of a good system of delegation to happen instantly. It took Abagail years to figure out what her leadership role in the business required her to do versus delegate, and then to actually implement that in real terms. One thing we can recommend is that the easiest way for you to start taking things off your plate quickly is by figuring out what parts of your business you can automate. One of the best ways of handling automation is through software so we want to make some recommendations for two software systems we use that have saved us so much time. The first is Dubsado. You can get a free trial here that will allow you to serve your first three clients and then once you have gotten paid you can upgrade to a membership. If you are struggling with marketing, design, client collateral, or getting things approved, then The Creative Template Shop is the second software we strongly recommend. You can get access to our extensive and frequently updated collection of templates in your monthly membership by signing up here. If you are a service-based business, you should be golden by using just these two tools. So before we wrap up we just want to finish off by saying that we permit you to let go of a few things that might be holding you back. Not everything is required for your success. Reevaluate yourself, your life, your business, and your decisions and if you need any help with support or brainstorming don’t forget to reach out to us!
Quote This
We all can have this absurd attachment to being in charge, and we just want to say that you don’t have to do all the things.
Highlights
Growing By Detaching Ourselves From Aspects of Our Craft. [0:04:07.1]
Letting Go of Jaded Beliefs and Focusing on Our Zones of Genius. [0:14:53.5]
Taking the First Steps Toward Automation By Using Our Favorite Software. [0:29:15.3]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
SHOW KEY TOPICS
Attachment, Creative identity, Delegation, Automation, Dubsado, Creative Template Shop
