I remember a negotiation I once had with a business owner, Mr. M. We were discussing a host-parasite relationship.
Mr. M organized conferences and masterminds composed of other business owners in his industry.
I provided a service that was of interest to those business owners — sales letter copy.
Mr. M offered to repeatedly refer people in his sphere of influence to me — for a 10% fee of what I made from his referrals.
“It’s a good deal,” he shrugged. “You wouldn’t ever have to hunt for new clients or negotiate fees. I know you must hate that since you’re a creative type.”
I just kept quiet. The fact is, I never minded hunting for clients or negotiating fees. And the other fact is, I’m far from a creative type. But why argue?
You might think it’s false modesty when I say I’m far from a creative type. After all, I write this newsletter, and I’ve done it every day for the past four years. Fine. Let me give you a snapshot from last night to illustrate:
Last night, I went to my Spanish class. We had a task to write a “Wanted” ad for our ideal roommate.
After a few minutes of creative idea generation, we went around the room sharing what we had come up with. Everybody had fun and surprising roommate criteria. I want a roommate who…
“Won’t organize parties without inviting me!”
“Knows how to cook food from around the world and is willing to share!”
“Is the same height as me so I can wear her clothes!”
My turn came. I looked down at my notes. “I want a roommate who can pay the bills.”
This isn’t about Spanish knowledge. It’s an example of something I’ve notice about myself over and over.
I’m extremely literal. My mind is sticky. It often jumps to the most immediate association and refuses to budge from there.
I’m telling you all this to maybe get you to budge.
I’ve repeatedly been told that what I write is creative, unique, surprising. And maybe it is. It’s certainly made good money for both my clients and for myself. Some of what I’ve written has even stood the test of time – if by time you are willing to accept months and years, instead of decades and centuries.
So here’s my bit of advice to get you to budge:
The secret is to recognize how your brain operates, and to work with it.
Business coach Rich Schefren likes to say, “Don’t put self-growth goals before business goals.” Meaning, don’t wait until you fix your laziness, procrastination, lack of money-motivation, fear of managing employees, flakiness, or distaste at self-promotion.
You will never fix those things, or it will take decades. If you want to start a business, start one now, and figure out how to make that business work in spite of all your faults.
Same thing with creative work. If you want to make a living off your ideas, insights, or just plain content, figure out a system that works with your brain. A system that allows you to consistently come up with creative, unique, surprising stuff, in spite of your natural literalness and mental stickiness.
I figured out a system that works for me. I will be describing it in my upcoming Insight Exposed training. If you like, you can get that training when it’s out, and it might give you one or two or three good ideas that allow you to be more creative, more consistently.
Insight Exposed is not released yet, but I will release it before the end of this month. So it makes sense to start seeding the idea in your head now.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to create, start now. Write something.
And if you want a constraint, one that helps you be more creative instead of hindering you, take a look here: