Artist Entrepreneurs often lead messy lives. We all know the stereotype of the messy artist. But more than that, the entrepreneurial life, especially in the startup phase, means long hours and uber focus on the work of building a business.
Building a business is like constructing a building. It takes a long time and a lot of work before that building is habitable. And… construction sites are always messy.
Like the frazzled new parent, the artist entrepreneur… or creators and business makers, are bringing a new entity to life. Like the elated but tired new parent, they have to let some things go more than they’d like to. They also know that they’re in it for the long haul.
Not A Pro Artist Or Entrepreneur?
Whether or not you’re an entrepreneur or professional artist (or aspiring to be), we all go through trying times and challenges, such as our current global pandemic. Just remember that nothing lasts forever. When fear and anxiety, fatigue and doubt plague you, just remember, this too shall pass.
So settle in and enjoy the journey.
When you commit to the long haul of any endeavor or relationship, it’s easier to be patient with what’s not done and what’s not perfect. Your vision of the horizon before you propels you onward and makes it all worthwhile. So settle in and enjoy the journey.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Audio Article – Artist Entrepreneurs
- The Artist Entrepreneur
- Imperfectly Messy Lives
- Artist and Entrepreneurs Need Deep Friends
- Normal is Out
- It’s not a Job, it’s a Way of Life
- For Creative Entrepreneurs, Their Business is Their Art
- Entrepreneur Relationships
- Famous Entrepreneurs in Families
- Board Meetings for Entrepreneurial Families
- Creator Couples
- Keep Your Day Job
- A Perspective on Family Pressures
- Self Esteem from the Inside Out
- The Family is the ‘Why’
- Focused, not Flawed
- The Startup House
- You, the Artist Entrepreneur
AUDIO ARTICLE – Artist Entrepreneurs
The Artist Entrepreneur
To an architect, his building is his art.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
To an entrepreneur, her business is her art.
To an artist, her art is her life.
To thrive, she must also make it her business.
The Artist Entrepreneur
We use the term ‘artist entrepreneur‘ because the entrepreneur’s creativity is fully engaged in the art of business… in creating something from nothing. And because artists need to be entrepreneurs to grow their work in the world.
Entrepreneurs often don’t have time to also be Sam/Suzy Homemaker or Mr./Mrs. Fixit at home. Whether you are an artist or an entrepreneur, you are a creator, creating something from nothing.
And if you’re a creator, you need to build a business around your creative endeavor for it to survive and thrive. That’s what artist entrepreneurs do.
WARNING: Startup House.
iCreateDaily.com®
Crazy Entrepreneurs Live and Work Here
Knock at your own risk.
The Messy Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs lead messy lives, because they typically work seven days a week around the clock for months and even years on end. Often, without pay. The entrepreneur’s insanely intense work load is her tuition to success.
They may not get to events, or remember birthdays, or reply to those emails or social posts. It’s not because they don’t care. They do care. Deeply. They’re immersed in their vision of a better future. It may even be a matter of survival. Probably is.
They’re working to create a stable foundation from which there will be plenty of time to nurture all the people and things they care about. Until then, they’re hyper focused on the goal, for they must to succeed.
I’ve never thought of myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. While the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working.
~Will Smith, actor, b.9/25/1968
The Struggling Artist
This is where many creatives give up. The entrepreneur knows that she may need to work for months or even years barely scraping by in order to bring her vision to life.
But artists sometimes give up too soon. Perhaps it’s the meme of the starving artist, or perhaps it’s because the creator has less of the hard-driving energy needed to see her vision to fruition. He just wants to do his art… write her book… play his music.
But the successful artist works and creates for years before his work is a commercial success enough to support himself and his family. If you’re going to need to work hard for years anyway, best that it be doing what you love.
Creators must create to come more fully alive. But you must also do the work of art and the artistry of business.
Artist entrepreneurs are creators; bringing visions to life.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Artist and Entrepreneurs Need Deep Friends
If you are friends with an entrepreneur in a new venture, you may not see her for a few years. Your author friend may seemingly disappear off the deep end of mutterings about characters and fantasy worlds. Your painter friend may show up with paint-stained nails if she shows up at all; or he may need to shuffle clutter aside to find a place for you to sit if you drop in for a visit.
The creator in you—or the creators in your life—need your faith, your support and your belief.
As a creator, you need to believe in yourself and do all that you can to ensure the healthy life of your offspring… your creations. You need to form a vision of your goal, write it down and work that plan daily.
If it’s an entrepreneur or creator in your life, your belief, encouragement and support can make or break their efforts and aspirations to bring their ideas to life.
Creators need deep and substantial relationships. The kind that — no matter the gaps in sharing of time and space — when you do come back together… when they surface from the depths of focused absorption, you can pick up right where you left off.
These are the lasting relationships… relationships of substance. Kindred spirits understand and are often similarly occupied in their own meaningful pursuits. Those are the relationship that withstand the ravages of time and the storms that may pass through, intact, fortified by the mutual love, respect and appreciation.
If the journey wasn’t challenging, the destination wouldn’t be rewarding. It’s the challenge that makes the greatness.
~unknown author
Normal is Out
Sure, there are some creatives who are naturally messy. They’re absorbed in the creative zone (“right brain“) all the way and don’t have strong organizational skills. But there are also those who let the order of their normal tidy housekeeping and home maintenance go in order to focus on their work… their lifeblood.
Gone are the dinner parties with the table decorated just so. The hours spent cooking and cleaning, entertaining, and then cooking and cleaning again. No more weekends shopping for the perfect bedspread or end table, or outfit.
No more hanging out discussing Games of Thrones, or whatever else may be the popular series obsession of the time. There’s just no time for that in the startup house. The creator has to let go of the distractions of the masses because he/she is too busy creating than consuming things that don’t move her closer to her goals.
The artist entrepreneur has to let go of the wonder woman complex, because she cannot do it all.
He has to let go of being Superman: perfect husband, dad, and boss. For the entrepreneur, it’s more than a matter of choice. It can be essential for their survival and that of their business. Like the new mom who forgets to wash her hair, or the new dad who leaves the house in his bedroom slippers, “normal” goes out the door.
‘Normal’, doesn’t live here anymore.
~iCreateDaily.com®
It’s Not a Job, It’s a Way of Life
Now obviously, folks who work the proverbial 9-5 job, two working parents with kids have it tough too. Their weekdays are often hectic. The biggest difference is that entrepreneurs typically work through the weekends. They don’t clock in—or out—they often work around the clock.
It’s not unusual for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial families to feel different and outside of the norm of what their friends do. The “norm” is parents who are usually home and not working on weekends; they’re usually home at night too. They have regular holidays off and tend to work eight hour days.
Yes, of course they have stress and pressure from work and life too, everyone does. But it’s a different level. They usually have health benefits and a regular paycheck coming in even when they’re sick or on vacation. They do not have the pressure of the entire livelihood of their family resting on the success or failure of creating a business.
The artist entrepreneur, can withstand the intense commitment required because she loves her work.
To the artist entrepreneur, work is her playground.
Entrepreneurs don’t clock in… and they don’t clock out. Building a business is a round-the-clock obsession!
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
We can say the same thing for artists, because both are creators. The creative muse is ever at work… and at play.
Artists don’t clock in… and they don’t clock out. Creating, is a round-the-clock obsession!
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
For Creative Entrepreneurs, Their Business is Their Art
Entrepreneurs are creators of business. Artists are creators of the arts. Bring the two together and you’ll probably have wonderfully creative ventures, but a messy house, and things left undone. Entrepreneurs are like new parents who don’t get much sleep and who may forgo their usual self-maintenance details and anything regular. Non-essentials are let go soonest.
Everything but work, tends to get squeezed out of the equation, necessarily, because the beginning of any new business is like a newborn in ICU on life support: it needs around-the-clock attention and focus. Full time for entrepreneurs is often 12-16 hour days, seven days a week.
“Artists and entrepreneurs live courageously. On the other side of 12-16 hour days, there’s no guarantee of a paycheck.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Entrepreneur Relationships
If you’re close to an artist entrepreneur, it can be a challenge. They can be so busy and immersed in their work that the relationship suffers. Unless you’re a part of their enterprise or find a way to join them, in which case it can be immensely rewarding for all.
In our experience, families that work together tend to stay together in more loving and cohesive relationships. Of course there are always exceptions. Ultimately, any relationship can excel or suffer in any scenario, depending on the people involved and their attitudes.
But often, relationships that bear the weight of the entrepreneurial burden together, thrive together, especially when they have a conscious and optimistic attitude. Moving forward focused on similar things, couples and families that work together tend to grow closer with more in common to strengthen their bonds.
“Families that work and play together, stay strong together.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Famous Entrepreneurs in Families
Look at Richard Branson’s family. It’s a large family and all are still very connected and integrated into each others lives, from Richard’s mother, Eve Branson, and his wife, Joan Templeman, to their kids and grandkids.
Image from RichardBranson Twitter.
Other Famous Entrepreneur Families
- Ralph Lauren, (Polo Ralph Lauren), daughter, Dylan Lauren, Dylan’s Candy Bar
- Donald Trump and daughter, Ivanka Trump, (The Trump Organization, plus Ivanka’s own name brand)
- Tom Yeardye, (Vidal Sassoon), daughter, Tamara Mellon, (Jimmy Choo shoes)
- Tom Velez, (Computer Technology Associates); daughter, Maria Vogt, (Ayuda Management)
Source: Forbes.com for more
Board Meetings for Entrepreneurial Families
Some of the most dynamic marriages—and families—are those who are working together in building their businesses or creating their art. We know of a number of couples, who are an incredible inspiration to many entrepreneurs, creatives and parents in general. In fact, they know first hand and through their large entrepreneurial network, the needs of entrepreneurial families and how they may differ.
Our friends, Jamie Lee and Jim Sheils with their four children, are an example of an entrepreneurial family who work, educate and play together. Jim and Jamie are hosts and co-founders of Board Meetings International—now called 18 Summers—a program that supports, inspires and strengthens entrepreneurial family ties.
Artist entrepreneurs live on the other side of different.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Creator Couples
Artist Erik Wahl and his wife Tasha work together. Tasha does the business side while Erik is the artist. More recently, Tasha has also begun doing more of her art and product creation.
The key is that they’re mutually supportive and encouraging, each of the other. We enjoyed our podcast interview with Tasha Wahl where she shares how they’re making it all work.
Keep Your Day Job
Artists and entrepreneurs often live in the fear of not knowing where the next paycheck will come from and if it will come in time. This is extremely stressful, so if possible, keep your job for as long as you can.
Keeping your job while starting your side gig means a lot longer work days and less sleep. However, far better that than the stress, fear and worry of ending up on the street or losing it all if your money runs out before your passion project becomes profitable.
As an artist entrepreneur, you won’t have time for many of the usual social activities. Find friends who are equally aspiring and you will lift and support each other. It matters who you hang out with.
To start a business and bring it to success takes tremendous courage and fortitude. Same thing being an artist.
“Don’t let the modern meme of not being there for your kid’s game or recital guilt you. That’s upside down programming.”
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
A Perspective on Family Pressures
So whether it’s a marriage or a friendship, if you want to maintain the relationship while supporting them—and believe me, they need it more than they know—you may want to find a way to join them.
But if that’s not practical, please know that their absence of calls, texts, and showing up for events, invitations and just to hangout is not a slight. It’s survival for them.
The entrepreneur has entered a realm of battling drag