Not enough money, not enough time. The scarcity model, when it comes to running your creative enterprise, and your life, is over.
If you haven't already noticed, you can get a LOT online, for free. This blog post is not about accumulating free stuff, but points out and asks why much of our consumer market has veered in two directions: incredibly, exorbitantly expensive, or basically free.
A dear friend passed along a killer article about happiness, via the Atlantic. Absolutely worth a read. I "don't have enough time" these days to read long articles, but I made time for this one and it was worth it.
“I’ll also link these ideas to self promotion and the artist conundrum:
self promotion is scary, money might be bad - or is it good?
I’m not good enough, or I’m so good that I don’t need to promote.”
The summarized point: Scarcity isn't just a term in economics. It's also a mindset. And lately, a number of the most successful companies and industries in the world gauge their collective success on two things: is the creative process enjoyable? And is my team passionate about their work.
art by cristina rusu.
These two values are the exact opposite of scarcity. They speak to opportunity, freedom of choice, and an increased value for good work (people's work gets better when they enjoy their work, and more likely than not, they master that work as a result = increased value), and giving away information with the objective to help others, also increases (back to point about our economy's fork in the road).
I'm writing about this not because I had an 'ah ha' moment but rather because I have long shared this perspective: there's plenty of everything (but don't waste), and do what makes you happy. Always. Period.
I also link these ideas to self promotion and the artist conundrum: self promotion is scary, money might be bad - or is it good?, I'm not good enough, or I'm so good that I don't need to promote. As a creative person, you have an infinite affinity to make. And as a creative person, you have an affinity to make because you feel something as a result. Mostly, you feel good. Self promotion and 'marketing' your work might feel in conflict with the euphoria, or ecstatic state.
But it doesn't have to. Let your experience of happiness move into the promotional space. Share that with the rest of the world. You don't need to give away what you do, and you don't need to extremely price it.
But you must share work and it's happiness. You must get rid of this idea that promotion is bad - or that you don't have enough time, or enough resources, or enough anything. That model is dead.