Creative people can make amazing business owners because they often have lots of great ideas and a strong vision for what they want to achieve.
That being said, there are some common mistakes that creatives often make when running a business that can make life unnecessarily difficult for them. Below, we will look at some of the most common so you can hopefully avoid them and make your business the best it can be:
Taking on too much work
If you are a creative running your own small business, then one of the worst things you can do is take on too much work. All that will happen is that you will either burn yourself out fulfilling orders or you will end up disappointing customers when you simply cannot meet deadlines. It is better to be conservative about the amount of work you can take on so that you always deliver on your promises.
Focusing too much on the end product
This might sound strange, but it is possible to focus too much on the end product you are selling. When you are running a business, you need to create products the consumer will love, of course, but if you spend too much time worrying about perfecting it by picking out the just right piece of perspex, agonizing over the exact shape for way longer than you need to and spending more time making the thing than you probably should, you will not have enough time for marketing or copywriting to a million and one other things you need to do to make your business a success.
So, absolutely spend some time on product design, making sure it is good enough, but don’t paralyze yourself by trying to attain an unrealistic level of perfection.
You don’t fight for your vision
If you get a brief from a client and you think it will not work out for any reason, do you tell them? If you know that their creative vision is likely to fall flat, you need to tell them because you are the actual creative, and if you stay silent in a bid not to upset them, then you will only end up delivering a poor end product that they will not be happy about. You need to guide them to make the best possible decisions they can to make the most use of your skills and talent. You can do this tactfully. But do it you must if you know their ideas will not work.
You don’t charge enough
So many creative entrepreneurs simply do not know their worth and they end up considerably undercharging, which means their companies never really take off in any big way. If you know your skills and what you’re capable of, charge a fair price for them because, actually, you will probably get more business that way because when you know your own worth, other people will come to know it too.
If you can avoid making these common mistakes creatives often make in business, chances are you will be heading for success.
