Apologies in advance for the fighting metaphor, but sometimes the work of being a creative entrepreneur feels like that. A battle between two essential activities-the creative work and the work that gets the creative work a paycheck, usually marketing stuff-that unfortunately wreaks havoc on my nervous system when I feel as if I am doing neither well.
I actually love both parts of the business. I’m just finding it challenging lately to keep my creative inspiration high, while answering emails and tweeting and writing workshop descriptions and planning next year’s schedule.
Professionally, I’ve always had jobs that required creativity “on-demand”. An ad campaign due or copy written or some clever design crafted on deadline, whether I felt inspired or not. Or even getting out of bed or not.
That gave me a lot of practice with the 99% perspiration part of creativity.
Lately, though, I am exploring just what it takes, really (and takes out of us) to create on-demand. The creative process is quite mysterious at times, and I’ve made a lifelong study of it. Always more to learn.
I suppose I am very eager about learning some more gentle strategies for getting things done. More ways of doing my creative work in a way that feels more harmonious with my ebb and flow of energies. And still staying in business. The bacon does need to be brought home. By me.
I’m curious to know how you creative entrepreneurs are wrestling (or boxing or maybe tai-chi’ing) with this dilemma between being “in the studio” vs. having your CEO of everything hat on. It is not lost on me that setting this up as a “this vs. that” issue may be part of the problem. But that’s pretty much how I experience it when I feel the conflict.
So what are your thoughts? Ideas? How do you get stuck in this regard? What have your tried to get unstuck?
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Howdy! I’m Lisa Sonora Beam, author of The Creative Entrepreneur. I teach people how to get unstuck and use their creativity to make a living doing what they love. 
