I’m a creative entrepreneur. My favorite people to work with are also creative entrepreneurs like writers, authors, speakers, coaches, designers, artists, and similar professionals. We build our businesses around creative ideas, unique talents, and intellectual products and services.
Some people think creatives are not strong in business, but this not always–and never has to be–the case. In fact, the very same qualities that set creative thinkers apart from traditional business entrepreneurs, breathe interest and life into our work, enabling us to provide inspired solutions and services, and give form to ideas that didn’t exist before.
That’s not to say being a creative entrepreneur is without challenge. Far from it. Not every creative person has what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and not every entrepreneur has the creativity it takes to be successful in business. From a business perspective, creativity in itself is difficult to define, quantify, and control. These are the things that typically fall outside the realm of creativity anyway, but the fact is that business–in order to have sustainable success–requires definition, a manageable workflow process, and measurement. Click to Tweet!
I can only write about this is because I’ve been working on developing these routines in my own business for quite a few years now. In all honesty, I would choose to play with my box of color crayons all day, rather than take care of business matters any time. Over the years, I’ve learned the business routines it takes to stay in business (with a few detours along the way), and how to actually make it profitable. So while I’m happy to share with you what I’ve learned, keep in mind the solutions you find to make your business work for you might differ–and that’s fine! You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t a creative entrepreneur yourself, so your approach to business is bound to be different. In fact, I hope you’ll share your routines in the comments–the more ideas we can share with one another, the better!
Essential Business Routine #1 – Definition
Creatives like to fly by the seat of their pants. Are there exceptions (the methodical creative)? Sure…but by and large, creatives tend not to be planners. Successful creative entrepreneurs define their idea–the initial one and all the ones that follow (Click to Tweet!). What’s the why behind what you plan to do? The problem you’re going to solve? The needs you will meet? What opportunities will you create?
Definition involves a detailed understanding of who you are going to serve and how you are going to do it. If as a creative, your strongest desire is to serve your own creative expression–you’re an artist, not an entrepreneur. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but, if you want to attain business success (whatever that might mean to you), you’ll have a much better chance of getting there if you define your business, and every new idea you plan to implement as you grow and move ahead.
If you could use some help with this practice, here’s some resources to help you out:
Brand Bootcamp – is an online course from branding expert, Maria Ross, that will help you learn how to pinpoint your brand and message, plus the reasons WHY you do what you do.
XMind – is a free online mind-mapping tool for creative thinkers. Try it to help you organize your ideas in different ways (from charts to spreadsheets).
Essential Business Routine #2 – Workflow Process
Successful creatives know what their process looks like (Click to Tweet!) from beginning (getting the word out on a new product or service: marketing) to end (product sale/project completion). If you’re a creative entrepreneur who works alone, the processes involved in operating even the smallest business can get overwhelming fast. To be successful, routinely define your workflow process for each area of your business so you can make adjustments when you need to, and can identify where you need help.
Here’s a list of some of my favorite workflow resources:
*Client Attraction System – I love this system. You get step-by-step actionable steps to attract your ideal clients from powerhouse marketing expert and coach, Fabienne Fredrickson–and they work!
Platform University – Michael Hyatt is an insanely accomplished online entrepreneur and he’s generous about sharing what he knows. Platform University is an affordable, self-paced online class that’s a must for anyone serious about raising the online and offline visibility of their business. Learn how to get noticed online from the best.
Customer Relationship Management
Highrise – track all of your contacts including contact information, call and conversation notes, meetings, to-do items, deals, proposals, leads and other important details–all in one place. You can make it accessible by your entire team online, all the time.
Planning + Productivity
Monthly Action Planners by Productive Flourishing – free and premium version planners created by creative giant Charlie Gilkey specifically for creative entrepreneurs.
The Pomodoro Technique – is a free and easy time management technique that helps you stay focused and fresh. It’s simple: set your timer for 25 minutes while you work, and then take a five minute break. After you’ve worked four 25 minute blocks, you take a 15-20 minute break. Try it–it really helps you stay on track and get things done!
Social Media + Blog Content
WordPress – is the best blogging and website content management platform in the world. Hands down.
Mailchimp – is simple, painless, and free (for up to 2k subscribers) newsletter management software for small business.
Solution Sessions by Sarah Von Bargen – you might be a creative entrepreneur, but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily a writer. Sarah Von Bargen is, and her content plans and social media checklists will help your online content be awesome. Sarah has been blogging for over six years and has 11K+ followers on her blog.
*Sprout Social – is an easy to use online tool that enables you to schedule, manage, and measure all of your social media in one place. Although it’s not free, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to see if it’s a good fit for you.
Project Management
Basecamp – is an online project management platform that lets you manage all of your projects including client notes, internal and client communications, to-do lists, file sharing, time-tracking, and everything else in one place. You can make it accessible to only you or your entire team online, all the time.
Google Drive – keeps all of your documents in one place and makes them easily accessible to anyone you want to share them with. I couldn’t run my business without Google Drive.
Contracts + Legal Documents
Rocket Lawyer – provides an inexpensive alternative to hiring a private legal team for your small business needs. A low monthly membership gives you access to lawyers on call, and all the tools you need for things like incorporating, creating contracts, binding agreements, and more.
Invoicing + Payments
Freshbooks – is a simple, easy-to-use online tool that makes it painless to send invoices and receive payments online. There are also a lot of tracking and reporting features which I’ll touch on below.
Essential Business Routine #3 – Measurement
This is probably the least attractive area to the creative mind. But if you make a routine of measuring where you started against where you are now, you’ll be able to see what is and is not working. Successful creatives know measurement is essential to determine what steps they need to take next (Click to Tweet!).
Check out the following tracking and measurement resources if you need help with this routine:
Google Analytics – is a free online tool that gives you detailed statistics about you website traffic and where it’s coming from to help you measure conversions and sales.
*Sprout Social – does everything mentioned above plus allows you to generate detailed reports to help you track your social media roi. It’s not a free tool, but you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to see if you like it.
Costs + Profits
Freshbooks – is a simple, easy-to-use online tool that lets you track expenses, and provides time-tracking and accounting reports for taxes. It includes customizable invoices, late payment reminders, automatic and recurring-expense tracking, and profit/loss reports.
Panalysis – is a fee online tool to help you figure out how much it costs you to acquire each customer. You enter the amount your business spent over a period of time on sales, marketing, and related expenses, plus how many customers you gained during the same period, and it shows you your cost.
*Profit First – Mike Michalowicz is one of my very favorite business gurus. He is nothing if not creative! You know what I mean if you’ve read either of his first two books, Toilet Paper Entrepreneur or The Pumpkin Plan. He’s funny, original, incredibly smart, and insanely successful. Profit First drops in July so you can pre-order now and get a jump on his new book that turns traditional accounting on it’s head (what could be better for creative entrepreneurs than that?!). Profit First promises to help you transform your business from a cash-eating monster into a money-making machine. Yes please!
So there you have my essential business routines for creative entrepreneurs. Do you have anything to add to this list? I would love it if you would share your own business routines in the comments below!
Hey there! If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line here or email me directly at norma [at] connectinteractivellc [dot] com. And if you like what you’re reading, be sure to subscribe or sign-up just below for email updates so you don’t miss a thing. I look forward to connecting with you!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products and services I use myself or for my clients. When possible, I use a special link that allows me to earn a small commission (but never changes the price for you!) to help compensate for the time I invest to use, review, and bring outstanding products and services to your attention.
By the Way… If you like what you read today, you’ll love this post: Three Easy SEO Tools for Busy Entrepreneurs!
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