EPISODE 001 | APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

As a creative entrepreneur, you might find yourself in a constant struggle between following your artistic vision and growing a successful business. After all, you want to create something unique, but at the same time, it has to be a truly viable and profitable business, you need to make a living out of it.

I know this only too well, as when I first started my creative business, many around me queried whether I would manage to turn my passion into a viable offering. I was previously working in a corporate role and with a young family, it was important to be able to maintain the same level of income. I had to ensure I could generate a living from my business quickly, and at the same time, it was so important to me to LOVE what I was doing in a day-to-day role that incorporated my creativity.

Finding the right balance between creativity and business can be challenging, but it is CERTAINLY POSSIBLE. I would love to share five brilliant tips with you, number two you can apply straight after this episode and number five is perhaps the most important of all. Each tip will help you to achieve the right BALANCE between being able to focus on your creativity and THRIVE as a successful and profitable business owner.

number one: set clear goals & priorities

To balance creativity and business, it's essential to set clear goals and priorities for your work.

I believe it’s so important that your goals must genuinely excite you, these are not labourous tasks, but a clear vision of something that will bring huge value and benefit into your life. Goals that you will continue to strive for, particularly when you hit obstacles and come up against challenges.

They also should be a mixture of big, audacious goals, ones that may well scare you a little (or a lot, but in a healthy, positive way!) and goals that you can see yourself achieving relatively quickly. The mixture between exciting and realistic goals will help you to keep the focus you need.

Within my first few years, one of my biggest goals was to secure a concession for my brand within Selfridges & Co, London, which was at the time and still is today, one of the world’s best and biggest department stores. It was one of those crazy audacious goals. At the time I was literally working from my kitchen table and had I said my goal out loud, I honestly would have been laughed at. I kept this one quiet but worked continuously towards this very definite goal.

There were of course times where I completely doubted whether this would happen, and questioned my levels of ambition, but it was made easier to continue to pursue, as alongside this huge goal, I was also setting much smaller, achievable goals, and the combination gave me excitement and ambition, as well as the feeling of possibility, as I began to tick off the much, much smaller, but still important goals. One of my smaller goals at the time for example, was to create a template for my design documents, something that I had full control of and simply needed some research and my own time to make happen. And if you are wondering, after two years of persistence and somewhere in the region of five very definite no’s, I did finally open my branded concession in the Food Hall of Selfridges & Co. I will share more on this process in an upcoming episode, as there are so many learnings (both approaches you could follow, and mistakes to avoid) in an upcoming episode.

Coming up with your goals will and should take a little time. Give yourself the headspace to work out what’s really important for you and your business. And for those bigger targets, break them down into bite size chunks, each one becoming a smaller task. For example, with Selfridges & Co., my first goal was to find the correct contact within Selfridges, before I even considered contacting them, this goal in itself was pretty big at the time and I knew would take a few weeks and plenty of investigation and dead ends. It was a goal in its own right and it was where I placed my initial focus, rather than being overwhelmed with the somewhat ridiculous goal of kitchen table to significant and notable concession. By breaking the steps down, this helped me to keep focussed and stopped me from feeling overwhelmed and helped me to feel that the dream remained possible.

Within a Journal or Notepad, write your weekly, monthly and annual goals, both the realistic and your audacious ones.

Alongside your goals, it’s essential to set financial targets. With a clear head, work out the exact income you need to generate from your business, to ensure you can have a balanced lifestyle, and include these figures alongside your goals.

When you have clear goals and financial targets written down, to refer back to, it becomes much easier to focus on what's important and help you to avoid getting sidetracked by distractions.

number two: stay organised & efficient

Running a successful creative business requires high levels of organisation and efficiency. The wonderful balancer in life is time. We all have the exact same amount of time available, the same 24hours in each day. And it is up to each of us to decide how we best allocate our time.

You can use tools like project management software and time tracking apps, to streamline your work and stay on top of deadlines and to help you steadily work towards each of your goals. I have tried many different software platforms, but often find they are unnecessarily complicated, if you prefer minimalism like me, simply create a series of tables in a word document, one for each week, accounting for seven days and add your daily tasks. I then colour each box once a task is complete, which I find really satisfying!

Create a schedule for your workday, either using a dedicated platform or create your own, and prioritise your tasks based on their importance and urgency.

By staying organised and efficient, knowing at the start of each week and day exactly what you have to do, you'll be able to focus and start your projects quickly, without wasting time, and ultimately, you will be able to devote more time to the creative aspects of your business that you love.

Often that feeling of wanting someone else’s business and lifestyle, is not actually admiration of their life, but instead it’s the desire for their processes and systems, this is what you are admiring, and this simply comes down to focussing on organisation and efficiency. When you have the right focus on efficiency and streamlining your processes, you can then devout more of your time to the creativity in your business, the area that you love and brings you the greatest sense of satisfaction.

number three: collaborate with like-minded brands & individuals

Collaboration is a brilliant way to balance creativity and business, and grow your audience and brand. It’s essential to find like-minded individuals who share your creative vision and work ethic, and collaborate with them on projects that can benefit both of you.

Ideally you are looking for a brand outside of your own field, but with a similar style and ethos. It’s great to collaborate with a mixture of brands that are both smaller and bigger than you. Interestingly, I have found some of my most successful collaborations have been when I have partnered with much smaller businesses. These smaller businesses have a huge advantage as often they have very loyal and strong relationships with their customers, which is very powerful when it comes to collaborations.

Whether with big or small brands, the most successful collaborations are the ones when both parties are aligned in their vision and where they both benefit equally.

Collaborations can help you expand your creative ideas, learn new skills, and gain exposure to new audiences. They can lead to rich relationships that can often take you in exciting directions and as long as these align with your goals, that’s perfect. Plus, they can be a great way to share the workload and reduce the stress of running a specific project.

number four: KEEP LEARNING & GROWING

As a creative entrepreneur, it's so important to keep learning and growing. Almost everything in business moves at a fast pace, with trends, technology and your customers’ needs changing regularly. Throughout the last ten years we have continually evolved, and explored and embraced new concepts, offerings and systems, and I am certain this is one of the key reasons for our continued success.

There are so many free resources available online, including publications to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to. And for areas where you want to deep dive, there are incredible workshops, online courses, books, and networks with other creative professionals you can join, to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, techniques and systems in your field.

By continuously improving your skills and knowledge, you'll be able to create more innovative and unique work, which can help you stand out in a crowded market.

And, for me, this ongoing learning helps me to continually find new solutions and streamline my processes, so I can become more efficient as my business grows, and maintain an ongoing passion and excitement for all my projects. I’m sure the same will be for you too.

number five: STAY TRUE TO YOUR ARTISTIC VISION

Finally, it's essential to stay true to your artistic vision. Don't compromise your creativity for the sake of making a quick profit or pleasing others. Instead, focus on creating work that speaks to your unique perspective and values.

Remember that your creativity is what sets you apart from others in your field, and it's what makes your work special and valuable.

A great example of a perfect balance between creativity and growing a successful business while staying true to its artistic vision is Patagonia. Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and gear company that has built its brand around environmental activism and a commitment to sustainable practices.

Patagonia's unique perspective and values are deeply ingrained in the company's ethos, which is evident in their product design, materials, supply chain, and marketing efforts. The company has consistently stayed true to its artistic vision by creating products that are both functional and environmentally friendly. They have introduced numerous innovative materials and processes in their products, such as using recycled polyester, organic cotton, and Fair Trade Certified sewing.

Patagonia also differentiates itself through its activism, donating 1% of its sales to environmental organizations and supporting grassroots campaigns. This dedication to environmental and social causes has helped create a loyal customer base who appreciate the company's values and are willing to pay a premium for their products.

Despite being aware of competitors and trends in the outdoor industry, Patagonia has stayed focused on what makes their brand uniquely their own by prioritizing sustainability, ethical practices, and environmental activism. By doing so, Patagonia has managed to strike the perfect balance between creativity and growing a successful business.

Another great example, with a much smaller, and equally inspiring brand is Little Seed Farm. A family-owned and operated business founded by Eileen and James Ray in 2012. They create handmade, organic skincare products using sustainable farming practices on their farm in Tennessee.

Little Seed Farm's unique perspective and values are rooted in their commitment to sustainable agriculture, small-scale production, and the use of all-natural ingredients. They prioritize sourcing ingredients locally and growing many of the herbs and botanicals used in their products on their farm. This connection to the land and the community sets them apart from other skincare brands.

The brand's packaging reflects its artisanal nature and emphasizes the handcrafted, small-batch production of their products. Their marketing efforts focus on telling the story of their farm and the benefits of using natural, organic ingredients in skincare. This approach helps to foster a sense of authenticity and trust with their customers.

Despite being a much smaller brand, Little Seed Farm has successfully carved out a niche in the natural skincare market by staying true to its artistic vision and focusing on sustainability, local production, and high-quality ingredients. By doing so, they have managed to strike the perfect balance between creativity and growing a successful business.

I often talk about putting “blinkers on” to help you keep focussed on your own creativity, vision and goals. Yes, of course it is important to keep aware of what is happening in your industry, you can absolutely be inspired and learn from others, but it’s far more important to not worry too much what everyone else is up to, and instead to remain focussed on what’s most important to you, and what makes your brand and voice uniquely you. Balancing creativity and business can be challenging, but it's not impossible.

CONCLUSION

Balancing creativity and business can be challenging, but it's not impossible. By setting clear goals, staying organised, collaborating with others, continuously learning, and staying true to your artistic vision, you can truly SUCCEED and THRIVE as a creative entrepreneur.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Remember, it's all about setting clear goals, staying organized, collaborating with others, continuously learning, and staying true to your artistic vision. By embracing these strategies, you'll be well on your way to achieving the balance you need to succeed and thrive in your creative business. Thank you for joining me today, and I look forward to sharing more insights, in future episodes. Until then, stay creative, stay focused, and keep chasing your dreams!

Warmest,
Philippa x

If you would love to contact me or have any feedback about this episode, send me a DM on Instagram.