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Deciding to pursue the arts as a career path is a risk in itself, so as an artist you must get comfortable with taking risks in your business early on. It’s a risk to create something and put it out there for the world to see for fear of criticism from the general public. It’s a risk to purchase supplies and invest in startup costs when you have no idea if you’ll see a return on your investment or not. It’s a risk to book events when you have no idea if people will come and it’s a risk to put a value on something you created when others might laugh at the price tag.
Risk comes with the territory of being an artist and a creative entrepreneur, and the sooner that we get more comfortable with taking risks, the faster we’ll be able to advance in our careers. As Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”. If you want different results in your business, you’ll have to take some risks. Here are some reasons why risk taking is important for you to adopt in your art journey.
Risk comes with the territory of being an artist and a creative entrepreneur, and the sooner that we get more comfortable with taking risks, the faster we’ll be able to advance in our careers. As Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”. If you want different results in your business, you’ll have to take some risks. Here are some reasons why risk taking is important for you to adopt in your art journey.
1. You Know What Works and What Doesn’t
By taking risks, you move into the realm of knowing, rather than just dreaming. You don’t have to wonder if something works or not for your business, you now know, and that’s super powerful. If you just sit back and keep repeating the same behavior over and over again without challenging yourself in some way, chances are you’ll keep seeing the same results (like our friend Albert said). If you try something and fail, don’t perceive that as a failure, look at it as part of the learning process and new knowledge that you now have.
Where a lot of people fail is that they are afraid to take risks because of failure. If they looked at failure as time well spent in order to help them steer their company in the right direction, the game would be changed forever. After taking many risks, you’ll eventually start seeing some small wins, and then you’ll know what type of behaviors you need to repeat in order to see the positive results you’re after.
By taking risks, you move into the realm of knowing, rather than just dreaming. You don’t have to wonder if something works or not for your business, you now know, and that’s super powerful. If you just sit back and keep repeating the same behavior over and over again without challenging yourself in some way, chances are you’ll keep seeing the same results (like our friend Albert said). If you try something and fail, don’t perceive that as a failure, look at it as part of the learning process and new knowledge that you now have.
Where a lot of people fail is that they are afraid to take risks because of failure. If they looked at failure as time well spent in order to help them steer their company in the right direction, the game would be changed forever. After taking many risks, you’ll eventually start seeing some small wins, and then you’ll know what type of behaviors you need to repeat in order to see the positive results you’re after.
2. You Develop New Skills
As you take more risks in your creative business, you begin developing new skills which is very rewarding. Think about when you first started your business. You probably didn’t have a business card, a company website, or a social media account, but because you were determined and ready to take some risk, you invested your time and money into designing and ordering business cards on Vistaprint, creating an eye-catching website on Weebly, and starting to build your fanbase on Facebook or Instagram. Now, you have the experience of building your foundation and you could repeat the process again if needed, and probably a lot more efficiently.
Not only that, but because of these new skills, they could be lucrative for you as well. Now that you know how to design business cards, setup a website, and create some social media accounts, these new skills could be offered to customers as a way to make some side revenue while you build up your own brand in the process. The newer skills you learn, the more potential revenue streams you could have. This doesn’t need to be your focus, but it’s great to have options.
As you take more risks in your creative business, you begin developing new skills which is very rewarding. Think about when you first started your business. You probably didn’t have a business card, a company website, or a social media account, but because you were determined and ready to take some risk, you invested your time and money into designing and ordering business cards on Vistaprint, creating an eye-catching website on Weebly, and starting to build your fanbase on Facebook or Instagram. Now, you have the experience of building your foundation and you could repeat the process again if needed, and probably a lot more efficiently.
Not only that, but because of these new skills, they could be lucrative for you as well. Now that you know how to design business cards, setup a website, and create some social media accounts, these new skills could be offered to customers as a way to make some side revenue while you build up your own brand in the process. The newer skills you learn, the more potential revenue streams you could have. This doesn’t need to be your focus, but it’s great to have options.
3. Developing a Growth Mindset
When you continually take risks in your creative business, this helps you foster a growth mindset which is a huge advantage to have in business. If you keep challenging yourself and keep reaching for bigger goals, you begin conditioning your mind to get use to the uncomfortableness that failure brings. As you get more comfortable with failure, the more mental strength you’ll have to propel your business forward.
When you continually take risks in your creative business, this helps you foster a growth mindset which is a huge advantage to have in business. If you keep challenging yourself and keep reaching for bigger goals, you begin conditioning your mind to get use to the uncomfortableness that failure brings. As you get more comfortable with failure, the more mental strength you’ll have to propel your business forward.
It’s this growth mindset which will help ensure longevity in your business. When you don’t have a growth mindset, you remain still and complacent and you don’t really move the needle forward in your business. When this happens, you don’t tend to take more risks that could lead to more revenue generating ideas or ramp up your momentum in anyway. But, if you adopt a growth mindset, you’ll be more apt to maintain the momentum that you currently have in your business along with the desire to take new risks that could help pull your company forward even more. Basically, you want to keep growing and expanding as the leader in your company. People will look up to you and see you as an expert in your field, which is what you want.
To Wrap Up
What are some of the ways that you take risks in your creative business? Are there other ways you’ve benefited from taking risks in your business than the reasons above? I’d love to hear your ideas! To leave a comment, click on the blue “comments” link underneath the Facebook and Twitter buttons where you can leave a reply. Thanks for tuning in friends!
Cheers,
-JJ Long
What are some of the ways that you take risks in your creative business? Are there other ways you’ve benefited from taking risks in your business than the reasons above? I’d love to hear your ideas! To leave a comment, click on the blue “comments” link underneath the Facebook and Twitter buttons where you can leave a reply. Thanks for tuning in friends!
Cheers,
-JJ Long
