Making Money Shouldn’t Kill Your Creativity
Starting a business or side hustle is so easy to do now. With so many easy options online and people to teach. But there is still a stigma for a lot of creative work to make money from it. It comes from a combination of things. People not respecting it, not thinking its worth much, or its so easy to do so why should it cost.
Mindset
On one side if its to help people so many think that it should be for free. Just out of the goodness of your heart. Since you want to help there should be no barriers. On another, the idea that money is evil and connecting it to something good and creative is not good. It will somehow cheapen it. Money should not be the important part, but the art itself. That you are not a true creative/artist if you make money from it.
Either way, its all bull. We all need to get away from the idea of the starving artist. That there should be struggle in creation. That getting paid to do something you love and are good at somehow cheapens what you do. That is a mindset you need to work on. Money is not evil and you can do a lot of good if you have the money you need. Also that struggle is not necessary to create. You do not need to make up problems just to feel something in order for your creativity to come out.
Practical Business
On the other hand, there are things to look out for so all the pressure to make money doesn’t stifle your work. I’ve have this problem when it comes to my writing. I cannot have hard deadlines when it comes to fiction books. Those big projects are very different then a blog post, podcast episode, or even nonfiction books. All the others deal in facts with some story telling. So I have to self-publish my fiction stuff just so I can take my time writing and tinkering.
You also need to keep up with what is popular and what sells, which if you don’t pay attention can take you away from what you originally loved. That the stress can get to you that you do not want to work anymore. You start to lose the spark because too much structure is put in. Or you feel like you have less and less say in what you create.
