On the Huffington Post, film-maker, writer and photographer Lee Stranahan explains why he quit his job to bet on his creativity. A tough call in today’s economic climate, but here’s part of his reasoning:
“There's never been a better time to be a creative person or artist than right now. When I started my job five years ago, the creative landscape was very different. There was no YouTube and social media was in its infancy. The costs of the tools and technologies has dropped dramatically… Now the trick is to integrate art and commerce on our own terms, As creative people, we now have to think like business people. You can complain about this new reality or embrace it.”
OK, but more specifically what can we do? He suggests:
“It's also true that our services as creative people are more vital than ever to companies struggling to survive and needing someone to help them become 'idea rich'. Find those companies [that] are struggling and use your creativity to help them. Maybe it's the restaurant you love but [which] is on the verge of closing. Maybe it's the indie bookstore down the street or your favorite charity. It might even be the company where you work right now. Could they benefit from your knowledge of viral video or ability to design a brilliant poster?”
At my recent "Writing Where the Money Is" workshop we explored options like this. I'll be offering the workshop once more this year, probably in mid-September--you'll read about it here. I'm also developing a multi-media version for those who can't attend the workshops, again for later in the year. Whether or not it's by choice, I suspect in the days to come we are going to have to be as creative as possible at generating income.
(First notice of my workshops and new products appear in my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin--you can have it by sending an email request to [email protected])
