Being a successful creative entrepreneur is not a zero-sum game. Our success doesn’t have to lead to someone else’s failure. We can all share, give, and learn without worrying over scarcity of success. As Adam Grant says in Give and Take, “But there’s something distinctive that happens when givers succeed: it spreads and cascades.”1
One of the most impressive examples I encountered while researching working intentionally is Cal Newport, bestselling author and professor at Georgetown University. When you visit the contact page of his website, you’re informed that as of spring 2017, Cal switched from the publicity phase into book research phase, and as a result, he doesn’t accept any interview requests “with the exception of very well-known shows.”
He’s also intentional as far as his email correspondence discouraging anyone from contacting him with the exception of significant opportunities. In his book Deep Work, Cal explains that not responding to an email is acceptable if the recipient finds its content not worthwhile. Cal’s intentional and deep work has paid off. During the same year that he wrote a book and his son was two years old, he published nine peer-reviewed papers. He managed to do that by conforming to his rule of not working in the evenings.2
Pamela Barsky is a successful designer of quirky pouches and bags. This is the information on her website about getting her items wholesale: “unfortunately, none right now. however, if you have the coolest store on the planet and make a really good argument, i might reconsider.”3
Pamela and other designers who made it can now choose where to devote their efforts. They can work intentionally, focusing on the projects they love and growing their businesses accordingly. Potential clients have to understand that their projects may not be chosen simply because they’re not in line with the designer’s creative career goals.
Being busy and hustling are glamorized. However, successful creatives started realizing that to thrive creatively, we need some creative space. Either on canvas or in real life, we need to start our creative process with some white space. Jonathan Fields, in Uncertainty, claims, “For me, downtime or seemingly nonproductive, non-interactive space often results in a great tilting of soil that yields big ideas.”4
There are days when we’re in a constant battle with our minds to bring ourselves back to focus. Most of the time, it’s our thoughts that get in the way of us staying fully concentrated. We day dream, start thinking about food, get thirsty, notice little things that bother us. It seems like so many things around us push our buttons and get us out of focus. Our battle to stay in focus continues.
Sometimes it’s the adrenaline rush and deadlines that keep us going. The novelty of the project sparks excitement, but this initial energy may fade if we let it. Dreading the project and boredom may put us out of focus. The real challenge is to deeply concentrate on our project and stay in this mindset. There are three things that we can do to help us achieve focus state:
John Lee Dumas applies the FOCUS definition of the personal finance guru Robert Kiyosaki: Follow One Course Until Successful. He manages to be focused, eliminating all the distractions and noises when working.5
Because achieving focus is such a struggle, when it happens, I treat the time when I’m concentrating as sacred. I try to foresee what could possibly get me out of my flow of work. Whether my precious time when I’m focused lasts for 20 minutes or a few hours, I take advantage of it. I try to eliminate interruptions. For me, one of the most challenging ones are phone calls. It’s not only the call itself that interrupts our flow, but also the time it takes us to get back into what we were doing after the phone call. One study even measured the set up time—the time to get back to what we were doing before the phone rang—and came up with 23 minutes. Since my company’s early days, I’ve always disliked phone calls for that reason. Because it’s so hard to stay focused, when it happens the last thing I wanted was for that time to be interrupted. I did let my customers know about my aversion to phone calls by not sharing my phone number on the website, my business cards, etc. Once in a while, I’d get an email complaining that someone was “not able to reach me” and my response would be that the best way to reach me was via email. I’d even record a voicemail explaining it. This strategy may have frustrated some of my customers used to calling companies, but it most definitely saved me a lot of time.
I noticed a lot of companies are trying to avoid phone calls as well. I’ve been a devoted Square customer since it started, and last year I needed to contact them. Square customer service number is not openly displayed on their website. To reach the company by phone, you have to have a Square account, log on, and then you’ll be given a customer code to enter. Needless to say, all these steps are not easy to follow when you’re on the go and on your cellphone. You need something to write a long customer code on. By not making the calling process straightforward, Square is hoping to steer the customer service communication to email, a less costly and more efficient way of communicating. It’s more advantageous to communicate via email not only because we don’t get interrupted when the phone rings, but also because we are able to “batch” answering emails. I’ve been a huge proponent of batching since I read the Four Hour Work Week, where author Tim Ferriss calls batching “the cost- and time-effective solution” to our task filled days.6 In the book, Ferriss urges us not to answer emails when they come but check our email twice a day instead. By checking your inbox twice a day, you batch, read and answer a group of emails instead of just one at a time. Batching contributes to better, uninterrupted focus. Answering the emails when they arrive not only interrupts our flow but also makes us waste time to set-up. Every time an email comes in and we want to read it, we have to open the browser and click on it. We’re like a plane, which takes time to take off before reaching a comfortable and steady level of flying. Just like it wouldn’t be advisable for a plane to keep taking off, we also should try to just take off as few times as possible, and keep flying instead. Deep concentration and staying in the flow may even make us forget to eat. Mark Twain wrote much of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in a shed isolated from his main house. He would get so deeply in the flow of writing that he would neglect joining his family for meals.7
Creating a lifestyle rich in constants helps maintain focus. Steve Jobs’ iconic black turtleneck was a sign of keeping his wardrobe constant. Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie based style also takes little effort to maintain.
One of the elements in my constant-rich life is my car. I bought a brand new Toyota Rav 4 for a reason. I never have to wonder if my car starts; it’s not eye catching enough to get stolen. It simply serves its purpose: to get me from one destination to another one. It’s a constant in my life and I love it.
Constant-rich lifestyle extends beyond material things. It also includes having a steady personal life. American actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who got her breakthrough in 1990 with a nine-season run playing Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, has been known as one of the most credited actresses in the history of Emmy Awards. She has received seven Golden Globe nominations, winning one, and 18 Emmy nominations, winning five. When Louis-Dreyfus was asked in an interview what contributed to her success, she said it was her steady, close to 30-year-long married life with Brad Hall.8 Your private life can make or break your professional career. There’s nothing more detrimental to your focus than a tumultuous relationship. Some may argue that a vivid or dramatic dating life is not helpful either. Steady personal situations, whether in a healthy relationship or single, are most focus-conducive.
Charity Navigator describes itself as a “Guide to Intelligent Giving.” Information on how monetary donations are used is available, and we can access it before making our giving decisions.9
We can now determine how we want to give and make our decisions based on the charity administrative costs and how effective their efforts are. Entrepreneurs can make a larger impact because they have learned about effectiveness running their businesses and can notice which organization’s efforts bring results.
Effective altruists want to do the most good with the resources they have available. They don’t need to satisfy their ego and start yet another charity. They know that there are already enough charities out there. It’s more important to support the ones that are already out there and often struggling instead of focusing energy and efforts on starting new ones. Effective givers make an impact and spread the word about it, not to get exposure but to make their actions visible and inspire others to follow suit.
Celebrities are effective altruists; their fame and reach make a significant impact. By engaging their fans, they spread the message virally, making things happen. It’s not just famous actors whose voice matters. It’s YouTubers, bloggers, and everyone with a large online following who can globalize a message. Effective giving is not just about the monetary amount donated, it’s about spreading the word, popularizing, and making giving a part of our culture. It’s about making a noticeable difference or creating a setup that will one day contribute to changes. The movie Poverty Inc. stresses how important it is to create jobs in underdeveloped countries instead of offering donations, which don’t offer solutions. Donated products have a negative effect on the country’s economy because they don’t provide people with opportunities to make, produce, and grow. Needs are temporarily satisfied by free products, but it’s living to get by, surviving until the next free shipment comes. The free food, shoes, and appliances don’t help the impoverished countries; they create dependence. Effective altruism is helping sustainably. It’s creating and developing industries. It’s not about giving goods; it is about giving work.
Stereotypical descriptions of East Coasters depict them as driven, sharp, and money- and results-oriented. When generalizing the West Coasters, we say they’re creative and laid back. One of the main things that gets in the way of people enjoying life in the East Coast more is the weather. People in New York or Boston choose to work after hours because they often look outside and determine there’s nothing better to do. It takes some effort to be outdoorsy and go for a hike when it snows or rains, which it often does on the East Coast. California lifestyle is different. It revolves more around enjoying life and having a healthy life/work balance. The sunny weather is a big contribution to it. Considering these stereotypes, the workaholic mindset of people on the East Coast might make us assume that East Coast is where things get invented and most companies start.
And yet the conglomeration of technology companies naturally happens not on the East Coast but in California. Why did Silicon Valley emerge in California? Wouldn’t New York be a better place for that? Paul Mckun, in his research paper Silicon Valley and Route 128: Two Faces of the American Technopolis, analyzes two technological concentrations: Silicon Valley with its world class academic institutions (Stanford and University of California at Berkeley) and great scientists, and Route 128 with its electronics-related companies and major research universities surrounding Boston and Cambridge.10 Both areas have had the best predispositions to be the greatest technological conglomerate in the world and yet most of the world talks and knows only Silicon Valley. If you were going to attribute the Silicon Valley success to one thing, the answer would be sharing. The technology companies in Silicon Valley are closer together and their culture is interactive. This resuscitates free flow of information between businesses and contributes to catalyzing innovation. Because of the ease of changing jobs, Silicon Valley workers stay for approximately two years with a company. People change positions and businesses often and freely, which, in effect, contributes to lots of talent working on common causes. Knowledge is shared; information is passed over and used by anyone who listens, no matter where they work. Route 128 is quite the opposite: the firms are not interconnected; the manager-created companies have complex cultures and expect their employees to be loyal and climb professional ladders leading to a hefty retirement. Silicon Valley emerged thanks to the sharing mentality. This attitude had not been openly accepted among the New York or Massachusetts companies, which are more focused on guarding new ideas and signing confidentiality agreements.
In the early 20th century, modernist architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright saw office walls as restricting. They started seeing open-plan offices as innovation conducive. However, companies took up that idea not as it was intended. They filled up rows of desks with as many white collar workers as they could, creating the look of white collar clerks working in assembly lines. Through the years, the open-floor office idea evolved and had found many proponents. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder of Square adopted an open layout of the Square headquarters. He usually walks around, joining discussions at different areas of the office. By interacting mostly with employees who don’t directly report to him, he leaves a lot to chance.11
Marina Willer, in her 2016 article in Creative Review, underscores how crucial it is for designers to collaborate and co-create. This doesn’t imply that everyone could be a designer. This is a call to create agile structures, leaving room for organic growth. “Design isn’t decoration, it has to reflect the behavior of its users, and our users want to have a voice,” says the Pentagram designer.12 Including users in the creation process makes them feel important. Work is less likely to be the result of a single designer’s myopic vision. Thanks to getting the final users’ feedback in the early stages of the process, creators are able to correct flaws and, as a result, be closer to coming up with a perfect version of a product. Co-creating also amplifies the impact of creative work by exposing it to a larger audience because the number of followers and fans is multiplied. Fans who were a part of the creation process become super fans, gladly spreading the word about it. The advantage of getting the end users’ feedback during the entire creation process, pivoting and iterating accordingly, will contribute to creation of a star product. Working in isolation, keeping the product secret, and revealing it at launch doesn’t make an impression anymore. Customers prefer to have a say about the product they’ll invest in.
Michael Bierut created a 100 Day project during the workshop for the graduate graphic design students at the Yale School of Art. In his essay in the Design Observer, he mentioned that he had been always fascinated in observing how creatives balance inspiration and discipline.13 It’s easy to make stuff when we are at the height of our inspiration. What’s challenging is to keep being creative even when we lack energy. Elle Luna, author of The Crossroads of Should and Must, created an online version of #the100DayProject. Every year, thousands of creatives participate in the challenge, posting their daily projects on Instagram using hashtag #the100DayProject.14
This year I started my own version of a daily challenge, writing an article a day on Medium. Medium is an online publishing platform developed by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, launched in August 2012. It became popular with writers who appreciate the platform’s sleek design. Shaunta Grimes, writer and creator of a popular writing group Ninja Writers, started a Facebook group for those who wanted to join a post a day on Medium challenge in May. I was reluctant to join because the manuscript of this book was due in July, but decided to give it a shot nevertheless. The results of the daily challenge exceeded my expectations. Here are the benefits I noticed after only one month of writing daily articles on Medium:
Chase Jarvis, global filmmaker and founder of CreativeLive, a premier source for online education, said that by creating daily, we build a habit in people who love our work.15 We also develop our creativity, which is not a habit but a skill. By accessing it daily, we increase the amount of creativity that’s available to us. Another insight he shared with me during our conversation was that we often identify ourselves with our work, which can be toxic. Detachment from our work is important in running our business mindfully.
A few years ago, it was a fad to start a company with a social mission. Every business, large or small, wanted to be sustainable and green. They were so into the idea of jumping on the sustainability bandwagon, that they started paying less attention to the product. What these companies didn’t realize was that a mission doesn’t sell the product. You have to have a strong product that people want to buy first in order to succeed. A mission is like a reassurance that the customer made a good choice.
Imagine a woman purchasing a necklace. She will first touch it, think if the piece flatters her skin color and if it goes with the clothing she has. Then she’ll probably ask to try it on, see if she likes the length, ask about the price and the material it’s made of to determine if the piece is a good investment. She may ask if the piece is made in the United States, as this often is a sign of quality craftsmanship. Having been in the jewelry business for more than 10 years, this is the usual process of my customers purchasing Lucid New York jewelry pieces. The length of the process will depend on how much time they have to shop and if they’re buying the piece as a gift or for themselves. Sometimes they ask a friend, or snap a picture with their cell phone and send it to ask for an opinion. The mission behind the product is a reassurance that she made a good choice. If she felt any buyer’s remorse, the mission could help eliminate it. She may also search for the company in the future because the mission made it more memorable. It’s rare that the mission alone would sell a product though. If your only objective for having a mission is to increase sales, I’d spend that effort on creating a more effective marketing strategy.
However, if you feel strongly connected to the social mission behind your products, it can motivate you to run the business successfully. It’s as if you had an accountability partner and one more reason for your stellar performance. It’s not just about your ego, personal success, and financial gain. There’s now a more significant reason for you to succeed and keep going: your chosen social mission.
Since having been introduced to Co-active Coaching and becoming a life and career coach, I became a huge advocate of coaching and being coached. Seeing amazing results in my clients, friends who have coaches, and myself, I would recommend hiring a coach to everyone. A coach walks with you, steering you, helping you, and opening up the possibilities ahead. The coach’s powerful questions will inspire and empower you to come up with your own solutions thanks to the resourcefulness you have within you.
A coach will help you sift through feeling overwhelmed, and help you prioritize and realize what’s important. I have a coach and after every session, I feel as if I was given the power to look at the big picture, dissect, and evaluate what I really need. Coaches don’t steer us back into the past to analyze and ruminate; they motivate us to look into the future with excitement, getting ready for what’s ahead. We realize what’s important to us and direct our energy and efforts to things that matter. Having a coach is transformative; it can spark change and guide us through the process.
Being a creative is often solitary. We don’t feel understood, so having a coach who can hear us talk about our unconventional life is beneficial. Most coaches offer a complimentary discovery session where you can check if your energies align. During the initial session, you’ll be “designing alliance” together—discussing your expectations and what you would like to get out of the sessions. Coaching in an expense that may bring benefits which are hard to measure.