Creative Business Sense
Written by Joana Chemel- PICHA| Image Credit: Mohamed Abdulrahman- PICHA
Being a creative and building a creative business are two different things. Being a creative is using your talent and inherent abilities to help others. Building a creative business is using skills and learnings to ensure that your talent outlives you and sustains you while it continues to help others in more ways than you could possibly do alone. It has become very important for creatives such as designers, photographers, painters, musicians, etc. to build more sustainable creative businesses. In this blog, we share with you three essential things to invest in as a creative to help you build a strong creative business. Popularly known as the three ‘A’s, we learn to invest in an Attorney, Accountant and Assistant
Attorney: Investing in an attorney (or lawyer) is a vital aspect of building your creative business. One may say, 'I am a musician, why should I invest in a lawyer'? Such an investment is important because your music is your property and legal will always play a significant role in intellectual property issues, contracts with record labels, etc. If you are a photographer, legal will play a significant role in ownership of your images, contracts with clients and commercials, among others. Aside the inclusive nature of legal on business dealings, a lawyer can help you register your business and ensure that you comply with the relevant laws that govern your sense of creativity in your region or country.
Accountant: When people enjoy your creative work, they make an effort to exchange something for it. Usually, the basic form of this exchange is money. Money and (to a broader scope) finance are very crucial in the sense that understanding pricing, taxes, and investments helps an individual make the most of the financial systems that underpin our economy in today’s world. Investing in a financial person to help you on budgeting, managing your expenses, ensuring financial compliance with government, guiding your spending and advising you on investments, is very necessary for every creative.
Image Credit: Emmanuel Obuobi- PICHA
Assistant: Creatives can be ‘loners’ sometimes. You are the very embodiment of your talent and it goes everywhere with you. Sometimes, managing yourself and the people who enjoy your creative work can be a challenge as you grow. One of the important investments you will need to make is the Assistant. Someone to help you plan your days, manage your time, your energy and help you delegate some work in order to create more time for replenishment. Someone to run ideas by, to guide your interactions, help you with your communication and public engagements, assist with the relevant administrative work, etc. Investing in an assistant is very helpful in ensuring that your creative business runs smoothly with another eye in place to check and balance you. In the instance where as a creative, you are no more, an assistant who believes in you and the impact you create with your work is likely to be the one to ensure that your legacy continues for as long as they can hold the fort.
There are a number of investments to make as you build your creative brand. Today, we share with you three important ones to help you set yourself up, manage your means of sustenance and your legacy. These three are also going to help you build resilience in the years as you impact the lives of others with your creative talents.