Whether fresh out of college, five years out of college, or gathering that spoiled-fruit funk near the ten year-mark, it's a sure thing you've had your head kicked by some stubborn mule in corporate middle-management. Look, it wasn't entirely your fault that individual misunderstood what motivated you. You were probably missing the skills to communicate your more passionate, creative aspects, and they were probably tossed into a jackal-cackling rush to avoid something costly about you they didn't get.
That's the key ingredient to personal motivation in all generations of workers: it really weirds out the people with the money when they don't understand it. But the mystery also gets them hard.
There's no better time than now to slam a bridle on what you're passionate about and ride that animal till it collapses. Here's what you need to know about making money off what jerks begrudgingly admit is important. Let's get creative.
Can you recall why somebody rebuffed your creativity at work?
Creativity means mastery over one's sense of self-expression. If you've got it in you, you want to breathe along in unison with it. You're happiest when you get to share it. At a job in a building where people have corporate healthcare packages though, your thoughts and creative aspirations are kindly asked to be redirected. You're to focus on the bottom line and the sailors fighting in the dance hall. If you're lucky, you'll be asked to either take money or stop breathing like that.
Odds are high you haven't encountered training, encouragement, or a geo-political society that'd like you to keep breathing like that.
It'd be more cost-effective for your full-time employer to couch you within a job title such as "the girl who does, the, well, I mean, the social, all the social, Twitter and Facebook. Probably Instagram now. She writes the site's downloadable free books—and social media," and that looks hecking baller on a resume. It's also very tangible, come Q4 assessment time.
Keeping things brief, the investment to channel your passion either didn't fit or they couldn't hear your explanation.
Before moving on, please recognize the visible irony from those dispassionately serving a corporate structure: the psychos quietly pantomiming the true creativity they can't make themselves. Why do tech industry moguls adore musical artists? Why was Steve Jobs obsessed with Bob Dylan? They despise how important this craft is.
Dispite treasuring American craftsmanship and fondly recalling eras of rock & roll, lauding the accompanying raw style and personal confidence, the only measure of good taste in America is money. Or, so they say.
How can you make your creativity economically viable?
You need to tell the world, in their local language, what you've created and why they want it. You need to market and sell yourself. A lot of people go to fancy, thousand-dollar schools to learn that lesson. And, yeah, they learn it.
Chances are, you've osmosed a great deal of business practicality in your head during your full-time job though. No, it's true. You felt it every time you observed an inefficiency, an injustice, or annual review.
Lock onto that. This will be the rope that binds your creativity together. If you love to paint with oils, to make garage music, to write novels or share free books on the internet, that passion will spill over into the business you build around it. You'll give it value. You'll build a cathedral around it, a website, a social presence, a mission statement; it must be done, because that's how you breathe.
If you're good at something, never do it for free. Don't shoot free videos, don't manage free social feeds, don't write free books. Be proud of the work to the proper standard and live up to those expectations.
Don't fear your creativity's less tangible marketability. Don't abandon your passion because it's a weirdo jigsaw puzzle piece. Learn to speak a language of business, it's far less difficult and much more universally-applicable than people would like you to believe. You must always infuse your creation with viability, no matter the craft. If this is your life, then it's your business. That is the first rule.
Run your creativity like a business. If those with money demand you give it a dollar-value, do it. If it requires a certain explanation to be economically viable, do it.
Right, so what do we do now?
You're not alone. People start businesses every day. They sell coffee, and management consulting, and vaporous software soaked in lies in a desperate hope to capture millions from VC investors. And maybe they derive self-worth from those efforts, so why not you, too?
With complete focus, you won't be exploited or taken advantage of. Your passion won't be redirected or misused for less than it's worth. Happiness won't be used as leverage against you ("Sorry, we can't pay you as much, but at least you enjoy it!").
Most important of all, this is the moment when you begin channeling your vision and speak to your audience. Maybe you need more thinking time to decide what that audience really is - that's okay. You'll build from there. Apply what you've learned. Ask for help. People are just people, and there's no rule that says you can't be your own boss. That's how you sell the dream. Because - like it or not - it's what everyone wishes they were doing, if they were brave enough.
Build something genuine. Bring it to the world and help them breathe how you breathe You know it's critical.
