Creative people have a love/hate relationship with money.
We love it, because – well, who wouldn’t want it?
But we also hate it, avoid dealing with it, and avoid even talking about it. Here are some of the reasons why.
1. We Think It’s Not Important
And of course we’re right. There are more important things in life than money – love, art, justice, world peace and coffee being just a few.
We live in a world obsessed with money, where human beings are treated according to their bank balance, not their intrinsic worth, and we instinctively revolt against this.
Creativity offers a window on a different world, with different values. Art exists in a different, more meaningful dimension. In a world gone mad, it can serve as a reminder that money is not the be-all and end-all.
2. We Don’t Know How to Get It
The starving artist cliche didn’t come from nowhere. It’s no secret that many creatives don’t earn as much as they’d like. And it’s not much fun talking about something you don’t have.
If we were better at selling than making, we’d be salespeople, not creatives. Sales and marketing can feel like impenetrable mysteries – we don’t understand what makes people buy, so it’s tempting to retreat back into our comfort zone, doing the best work we can and hoping that will be enough.
3. We Don’t Know What We’re Worth
One obvious barrier to earning a decent living is not charging enough for our artworks, products or services. That might sound like a no-brainer, but many creatives simply don’t realise the value of their work to potential buyers.
To us, it’s nothing special. It’s just what we do. Looking at it with a perfectionist’s eye, we see all kinds of flaws that are invisible to the untrained eye. That’s great for perfecting your craft, but not so great when it comes to closing a sale.
Because what may seem barely good enough to us may well look utterly fabulous to a potential buyer. But if we price ourselves or our work too low, it knocks buyers’ confidence, and makes them assume there’s something wrong with it.
Believe it or not, many people are happier paying more for quality than shopping around for the cheapest option. Who wants to have a knockdown painting on their wall? Or to give their loved one a cut-price ring? Or to do their big launch or party on the cheap?
4. We Don’t Want to Sell out
One of the reasons creative people have a reputation for eccentricity is our ambivalent attitude to money and success. The rest of the world would jump at the chance for fame and fortune, but even when it’s laid on a plate for us, we hesitate.
We hesitate because we are terrified of selling out – selling our artistic soul to the devil, earning piles of cash by churning out commercial crap. We know that all the money in the world won’t compensate us for the loss of our creative integrity.
5. We Don’t Want to Look Greedy
We’re sensitive souls aren’t we? And we have to be, it’s part of our job. If you’re not finely attuned to the subtleties of sounds, images, words, textures, movement and/or rhythm, you won’t go far in a creative career.
But this sensitivity has a flipside. We tend to be shy and diffident, easily pricked by barbed words or the merest hint of criticism. So we’re not always the best negotiators, and can shoot ourselves in the foot by avoiding discussing money issues for fear of looking ‘greedy’.
6. We Don’t Know How to Manage It
Spreadsheets, balance sheets, cashflow forecasts, profit and loss sheets, amortisation, appreciation, depreciation, fixed costs, variable costs, cash cows, averaging ratios …
Have your eyes glazed over yet?
The language of finance can be bamboozling – let alone the actual numbers. No wonder many creatives do the bare minimum of accounting, often at the last minute, when the tax deadline is due. It just seems too complex, too intimidating, or too plain boring for us to get our heads around it all.
7. We Wouldn’t Know How to Spend It
The whole process of earning, collecting and managing money – while at the same time preserving our creative integrity – can seem so difficult that we never seriously think about how we would spend the money if we did succeed. In other words, we don’t consider the purpose of money in our work and lives.
Sure, we may daydream from time to time about winning the lottery or landing the big contract, but we stop at daydreaming. We don’t articulate our financial goals, set ourselves targets and make concrete plans for using money to bring us security, stability, freedom – and even to support our creativity.
So we creatives have plenty of reasons for looking down our noses at money, or ignoring it and hoping it will go away.
But deep down, we know this is dangerous. Money is a fact of life, it’s not going away. Sooner or later, we have to deal with it.
Because money is important. Not the most important thing, but maybe more important than we care to admit, when we avoid thinking about it, talking about it or doing something about it.
Money stress is no fun. It poisons every aspect of life. That’s true for anyone, but if your passion is creativity, then one of the biggest dangers is that worrying about money will kill your creativity.
As a creative, your headspace is your workspace. If it’s taken up by worries of any kind, it’s hard to settle to the task in hand, and harder still to get into the creative zone where you do your best work.
Does that sound like a reason to take money a little more seriously?
“OK so what do I DO about this?”
I’m glad you asked that. 🙂
The first thing to do is to visit this page and claim your free copy of the audio seminar I’ve recorded with Sarah: 5 Essential Money Skills for Creative People. It’s packed with practical advice to help you get a grip on your business finances and use them to support your creativity.
And if you want even more help getting on top of the finances of your creative business, check out Money for Creative People, our new course for creative artists, freelancers and entrepreneurs, teaching you the mindset and money skills that will help you succeed commercially as well as creatively.
What do you think?
Which of these seven reasons do you relate to?
What would you add to the list?
Do you agree that creative people could benefit from taking money more seriously?
About the author: Mark McGuinness is a poet, creative coach, and the owner of Lateral Action.
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« Previous 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next »Mark, do you think it would be possible to set up network for everyone here so that there is a sense of community and support for all our creative needs. How amazing would it be to be able to outsource things that you done specialist in to someone who does thus fostering a fun business environment for people to connect with
each other? I am just setting up an open Facebook group for creative networking. I am calling it Idea Bank - Creative Support and Networking. Look for it online and join so we can
offer each other support on all levels.
Well I do have a Facebook page where Lateral Action readers can hang out together (apart from the comments). I may do something on a bigger scale some day, but right now I have a few other things in the pipeline...
Good points Mark and all things I've dealt with personally over the years. It does seem.like not wanting to sell put and not really knowing the True value of ones work present a double-edged sword on top of everything else. Unspoken criticism from other artists who aren't charging as much or doing as well can sometimes compound the guilt tool
Thanks for bringing up these important things to think about because, yes, money is a very good and useful tool.
Oh yes indeed! Can't believe I missed that one! ;-)
I am not sure where my two issues fit into your seven, but I don't think they arise from being creative. First, I feel like in modern life, we are subjected to an ENDLESS barrage of selling to us. I often feel like one can't go anywhere or do anything without someone or many recognizing it as a potential opportunity to sell whatever they are selling, however mundane in quality or unnecessary. I just get so tired of being pitched to all the time, seeing all the ads, seeing relentless self-promotion... that it makes me not even want to think about.
A related issue that is harder for me to articulate is that I hold to a perhaps romantic notion that there are some things that should not be sold. Art and books should be sold to those who can enjoy them forever. Helping an old lady across the street, giving someone a shoulder to cry on, or providing encouragement and moral support to someone within ones community should not be sold. These last are certainly are of great value to those who receive the benefits, so my feeling does not have to do with value. It has more to do with my own values as to what people should just be willing to offer without charge.
Good point about the barrage of sales pitches. I guess none of us wants to be seen as adding to that.
The issue of charging for helping services is another big topic - as a psychotherapy supervisor I've helped a lot of newly-qualified therapists wrestle with that one. Short version: it's great to give freely with no expectation of reward. Whatever you do should be done in that spirit. But if the service (or art) is how you earn a living, I don't think it's a bad thing to also charge a professional fee for it. Otherwise the helping/creating enterprise is not sustainable.
I agree that professionals should be charging fees for services. But what makes someone a professional is her actual expertise rather than the desire to make money from providing that service. You should certainly charge for providing psychotherapy. I should not.
I disagree that what makes someone a professional is the actual expertise rather than a desire to make money from providing that service. Why then spend time, energy and wad loads of money on getting trained and gaining experience if you didn't want to profit from being good at what you do? True, money isn't the only reason for doing something but after reading this post/article, I have decided that my work is worth paying for. I even asked someone if they would like a price on something they liked (that is not a barrage of selling, if he is genuinely interested in having this particular artwork on his kid's wall and there are printing costs related to getting it made). AND he is still keen on paying for my work. I have also met someone who is highly connected. I will be doing volunteer work for him possibly, but there will be something to come from gaining those connections (where I live, it's not about what you know, it's who you know). I like volunteering very much and I love helping people and it's easy for me to just draw something (because I sleep and breath my craft), but somehow, I still can't eat at the end of it. I agree with Mark about not expecting an exchange from offering to help someone. If you are going to give away services then do it without expectation. Just make sure you can do it without starving.
Mark:
Great post. Just finished reading it and many of the comments - there's so much depth and texture in them.
A recurring theme seems to be perceived worth. Two very useful (and hugely divergent!) perspectives on this broad topic come to mind: 1) Brene Brown's TED talk, which explores worthiness from a psychological perspective; and 2) Derek Sivers' book, which touches on worth from a business perspective (he had no idea to what to charge for his work, so he looked to the most analogous thing he could find and charged the same amount). Sivers' take on the issue isn't nearly as probing as Brown's, but both are good to know about.
I was especially drawn to Melissa's comment on mindset. I agree with her - it's exactly the thing from which all else flows, including our work, the quality of it, how we present it and ourselves, and, perhaps most important, whether we do it at all. I think Carol Dweck's book, Mindset, is essential for anyone struggling with the issues you've written about here.
One last thing: I especially like something you wrote in one of your replies: "Supposing you stopped thinking about yourself, and focused on the potential buyer and their response to the work?" What a game changer that could be - I'll bet most people have never even thought of trying to get to the point of perceiving what we do, whatever it is, as less about us and more about the people we create it for. Awesome thought. Good of you to share it.
Well done!
Susan
Thanks Susan, very good point about self-worth. I need to read Derek's book soon! I've not heard of Brene Brown's talk but I'll check it out...
Hi
Great article and commments, its all very close to home for us, I've been working through this creative v commerce stuff for years!
Ant
Thanks Ant. Yes, fantastic discussion, one of the best we've had here.
Is it not possible to search for specific comment right here on your website. I mean previous comments. I just want to jump down to a specific comment of interest without having to scrollllll down. I love all the comment here, but I should be able to search base on name or..... this will be good.
Your web browser should have a search function. I'm using Firefox, so I just hit Apple + F and that brings up the search box.
Oh man, they are all familiar. As are everyone's responses. One of the interesting (and yes, terribly frustrating) aspects about talking money over creative work is that so many lay people also buy into this "it's just what you do" argument...that creative work is not quantifiable, not like their work and training are, they touch on that long history of misunderstanding the "work" part of "creative work". Aside from the fact that this is what I do for a living, I also have very real expenses (as do they). And that what makes my work different than anyone else's is a product of years of practice (regardless of what that practice is, I think). It's not just creatives that find it difficult to discuss money...perhaps it's that lay people cherish this romantic notion that at least creatives are "untainted"?
I like the point made that money stress will kill creative energy. I truly believe that many people in general let financial stress kill the joy in their lives. Even if individuals are not creative for a living, the enjoyment of planting a garden or creating a new recipe can lose effect when stress has overtaken one's life.
Oh yes, it applies to other areas of life as well...
Hi Mark,
just a final consideration!!
Emotional intelligence is fundamental to boost creativity!
Financial intelligence is crucial to deal with money in a wiser way!
Here is a link which might be useful to increase the Financial Intelligence!!
http://www.personalmba.com
The most meaningful review:
"File this book under NO EXCUSES" by Seth Godin, author of "Linchpin"
Ciao!
Fab
Thanks Fab, yes the Personal MBA is a great site.
I think this is usually attributed to Picasso (I got it from my friend Trish)....in those conversations where someone is evaluating your price for the perceived effort...q-"How long did it take you to do that?"; a-"My whole life." I find this helpful for everyone involved, including as a reminder to myself...my work is a product of the many different things I've done, while the technical aspects should be familiar to anyone else in the trade, what I do with that is mine. This realization made a huge difference for me to command a more respectful rate.
Yes! Charge by the lifetime, not by the hour. ;-)