Integrating Passion, Purpose, Artistry, and Business
In today’s maze of options and noise, people everywhere are seeking work-life balance. Balance, by definition, is an ongoing process rather than an arrival at any constant, unmoving state. What we’re really yearning for when seeking balance, is an integrated life. Integration, by definition, is an amalgamation of seemingly disparate parts.
From integration of personal and professional lives to integration of purpose, passion and work, creators especially, are seeking fulfillment from meaning more than money. Passion and profit are often disparate aims, yet creators need money too to be free to pursue their purpose.
This is a huge subject, for after all we’re talking about LIFE as a whole and all that comprises it. So let’s break it down into some of the slices of the pie of life.
Creators need meaning over money, but we need money too to be free to pursue purpose.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Table of Contents
- Passion and Purpose Expressed Through Business
- The Integrated Life of a Personal Brand
- How Do I Integrate My Life and Work?
- Your Personal Life: Private or Share it Out Loud?
- It’s Your Turn… Choose Yourself
- Self Awareness
- The Benefit of Being Your Brand
- Build Your Platform on the World Wide Web
- The Integrated Life
- Q&A on How to Integrate Multiple Areas of Life and Business
- Q1. How do you allocate the time and brand building to each area of importance?
- Q2. What if I have two different and unrelated creative businesses?
- Q3. Do I make it work together, or would I do two different businesses and keep it separate?
- Q4. How do we do it and stay centered instead of flying off in all different directions?
- Focus on One Thing, They Say
- The Multiple Projects Approach
- You. Your Life… You Art… Your Work. Integrated.
- The Big Picture of You
Audio Article – The Integrated Life:
Integration of Personal Versus Business Life
Social Profiles – Personal vs Business
A common challenge for people growing a business is how to manage your personal versus business lives, including your presence in the various online platforms such as social media and your website. For creatives and entrepreneurs, the lines between personal and business have become increasingly blurred, especially if you’re working from home.
Some, include sharing of their personal lives as a part of their business brand. Others, prefer to keep them separate.
There’s no right or wrong way. How you approach your personal and business persona in the world is unique to your personal proclivities. What’s important is that you be true to what feels right for you rather than wondering what is the right way, for there is no one right way.
Do you have more than one thing going on? More than one business or passion that you’re building simultaneously? Many creatives do, and they wonder if they should have a separate website or social for each different endeavor. The answer really depend on you, so let’s explore that, but the bottom line is to be true to you.
When you are authentically true to yourself, it shows and flows through you to reach the people drawn to who you are and what you do.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder – iCreateDaily.com®
Are You Struggling or Balanced?
Are you just in the conceptual stages of your career or business ideas, or already established? Maybe you are seeking to synthesize and organize your various interests into a more cohesive vision with less chaos and struggle and more focus and progress?
If you’re doing well financially perhaps you aspire to imbue more creativity and purpose into your workdays. Or, for you, it could be that your days are filled with creativity and doing work you love, but not yet financially successful.
No matter where you are in your business goals, an integrated life is essential to a healthy and happy life. But take heart. By definition, a balanced life is an ongoing process of adjustments to achieve. So an integrated life includes the struggle, growth and balancing of aspirations amidst the resistance of other, of circumstances and of our comfort zone.
Stepping Into Balance
It has been said that walking is a process of being out of balance, and that running is a process of falling forward. So don’t fret. Striving for balance is a normal, ongoing process.
If we raise one foot to take a step, we will not long be stable before we begin to hobble out of balance. It’s the same thing for all growth for our entire lives. If we’re growing, we’re moving and if we’re moving, then striving for balance is a natural part of the process.
We don’t fret between each step that we may fall. We trust in the process of walking. Well… as we grow and mature through the journey of life, often, many of the steps we must take are more like giant leaps. Yet the process of growing more capable with each step is the same relative to when we first learned to walk and then run and then ride our bikes.
Whatever new challenge you’re facing, don’t fret the struggle. Embrace it as part of the journey.
The Integrated Life of a Personal Brand
Today, you no longer need to separate your personal and professional interests. In fact, it’s often best not to. Obviously, if you’re employed in a job while working a side gig, then yes, you may need to build your side hustle quietly and separately, unless you work for an innovative company that encourages employees to pursue their passions.
For the purpose of this article, we’re going to assume that you’re now free to pursue your dreams of building your own creative endeavors, or that you’re already in process of growing your business and your brand. But how do you synthesize your areas of interest, and how can you do it all?
We’ll delve into that in this article. First and foremost, realize that you don’t have to do it all perfectly and you don’t have to have it all figured out before you start. Just identify your goals, one at a time, then head in that direction daily and your way to a more integrated life will become more clear.
Step daily into your vision for your future, followed by daily actions in the present toward that making it real.
~iCreateDaily.com®
Our mission is to help people be more free to pursue their dreams in their own way.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder – iCreateDaily.com®
How Do I Integrate My Life and Work?
So how do you integrate multiple brands or businesses, and all that you have going on? These are some of the questions that may come up for you:
- How do I allocate the time and brand building to each area of importance?
- What if they are unrelated creative businesses?
- Do I make it work together, or do I do two different businesses and keep it separate?
- How do I do it and stay centered instead of flying off in all different directions?
We’ll break these down into Q&A below. Just remember, as we’ve indicated in other articles, the best way, is what’s best for you. What we advise is what we’ve found to work for us and for others. But there’s no one right way and each way has numerous nuances you can personalize to your preferences.
If the idea of blending your personal and professional lives onto one platform doesn’t resonate with you, then you also have your answer based on what not to do for you. It’s definitely not for everyone. However, keep in mind that if you are thinking about integrating your personal and business lives, the amount and degree of sharing is always entirely up to you. The bottom line?
“Ha, well you see… this notion of a balanced life, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to have that… but I can have what I call an integrated life.”
~James (Jim) Collins, author, business mgmt. consultant, lecturer
Your Personal Life: Private or Share it Out Loud?
Today we see reality TV to celebs who bare all, to fiercely private public figures who never discuss their personal lives, and everything in between. How you grow your brand should be based on your natural inclinations… on who you are and on what works best for your family and your personality.
Here are a few examples of people in the public light who’ve chosen to take a more private approach.
Gary Vaynerchuk, a.k.a. GaryVee – Extremely Public but also Private
One of the most popular and highly successful online entrepreneurs, is Gary Vaynerchuk. His cameras roll 5-7 days a week, sharing as much content as he can. He doesn’t share his family, though he does talk about them and shares everything else that he can. Gary is intent on growing his already mega success platform around himself, as the influencer.
You can read more about Gary in this article on personal brand examples.
Seth Keeps it Separate
Seth Godin is another prominent thought leader popular amongst creators, who never shares information about his personal life.
You can read more about Seth in this article.
From Expose-all Reality TV, to Extremely Private
Of course we’ve probably all heard of the Kardashians’, and whether or not we have ever tuned into their content, are probably aware that they are a family of entrepreneur creators living their personal lives largely in public.
There are extremes, such as the Kardashians—who live their private lives out loud, to Seth Godin, who does not share any personal and family info, to everything in between. Just as much as people are different, so too are the degrees of sharing, blending or separating personal and business. Not only for the entrepreneur’s preferences, but also for the audience.
Some in your audience may follow you for who you are personally, and others, for who you are professionally. You must do you… what feels good and right to you and your loved ones, no matter anyone else’s opinion.
If it feels right to you, then it probably is right for you and you will in turn, attract to you, those who are more like you.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Creators with Integrated Personal and Business Lives
Here are 7 online entrepreneurs who blend their personal and business to varying degrees.
- Pat Flynn – Always transparent and sharing of and with his family; now, c0-hosting a podcast with his son
- John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson, of EOFire – sharing some personal anecdotes and background
- Jeff Goins – shares about his life as a writer, husband, dad and Christian
- Lewis Howes – shares personally about his struggles growing up and his journey from failure to success, and a little bit about his family and early life.
- Tim Ferriss – shares moderately, about his family, and very rawly open about his personal struggles, habits and challenges
- Jim and Jamie Sheils – share their entire family journey of homeschooling and growing from entrepreneurs into an entrepreneurial family serving other entrepreneur families.
Ultimately, your best fans will be those who like who you are and what you do.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
It’s Your Turn… Choose Yourself
This heading above is inspired by one of our many favorite books by Seth Godin, What to do When it’s Your Turn.
Part of our mission here and in general in our family and collection of brands is to help people be more free to pursue their dreams in their own way.
So as you read this you may want to take notes on what resonates for you and what doesn’t. Just don’t be so quick to rule out the “doesn’ts” though. First, consider where it’s coming from… your past or your future?
Sometimes we react positively or negatively, from our past programming. Sometimes we react out of fear, and sometimes because we don’t want to leave the comfort of the present for the struggle required to grow.
“We’re capable of creating work that matters only if we’re willing to be uncomfortable while we do it.”
~Seth Godin, in his masterpiece book: What to do When it’s Your Turn
Self Awareness
Self awareness is essential to your optimum growth. Don’t criticize, don’t judge, don’t fear. Don the eager curiosity of a child and the fearlessness of an explorer, then mine the depths of your soul.
What if you had no fear, no past, no struggle… just eager optimism? Because well… since this moment forward has never existed before, you do. You need not let your past define your future. In fact, best not to.
Our immediate reactions are usually more a part of our past programming than it is our future success.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
The Benefit of Being Your Brand
It’s your platform… your brand… your art… your ideas… your business, so you should be in it.
Then wherever you go, whatever you do in your changing platforms, interests, businesses and partnerships, you can take your audience with you.
If creating an influencer platform around yourself feels weird, you may have to get over your shyness—and indoctrination—of self promoting being a negative. In today’s increasingly crowded online world… and the world where the “middle man” is disappearing from every industry, it’s essential to place yourself out there in order to be found.
Many baby boomers grew up in the era of indoctrination from their parents—The Silent Generation—around not bringing attention to yourself. Naturally, they then passed this onto their kids, mostly Gen Xers.
In the baby boomer generation and its precedents, instead of self promotion, you waited to be chosen. In every era, there’s a period of the old overlapping the new.
This past decade’s “American Idol” type obsession of seeking to be chosen, is still a strong player in the global psyche, and these shows are indeed wonderfully entertaining and usually life-changing for those who get on them. However those are few and far between compared to the swelling sea of creatives seeking to bring their dreams to live, to not wait to be chosen, but to choose themselves and forge their own path.
Today we see also, the rise of the individual artist making his or her name by virtue of growing their own fan base through sharing freely on social media. We’ve written examples of that in this article on the time of your life.
The Age of Influencers and Artists
This is the age of influencers. Many who build social followings end up being sought out for paid sponsorships by companies of all sizes wanting access to their audience.
Don’t wait to be chosen… to be good enough… for permission or perfection. Rather than waiting to be chosen before building your dreams, start now, where you are with what you have. Choose yourself and proceed to bring your visions to life.
We’ve written about influencers who’ve made a name for themselves by virtue of building their own social profiles and putting their work out into the world, which we’ve linked above. We’ve also written about secrets of successful artists, which you can find here.
This is not the industrial age. It’s no longer the age of the cog in the wheel of the system. This is the age of creators.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Build Your Platform on the World Wide Web
Now—no matter your generation—if you want to bring your work to the world… if you want it to be seen, found and successful, not only in exposure but in ability to support yourself, you need to build your platform in the world.
Today’s biggest art gallery, stage, soapbox and megaphone is a digital device and social media. So grab your cell phone, pad or laptop and connect yourself and your work to the largest platform in the world.
Like Seth Godin, author James Altucher, also nails all of this in his book, Choose Yourself.
You don’t need permission to do your work the way you think best. You go do you.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®