Three Creative Clichés to Ignore
by Andy Strote, photo by Anders Norrback Bornholm
If you’re a creative freelancer or entrepreneur, you’ve heard these three clichés:
Don’t compare yourself to others, just to yourself
Don’t copy others, you’re being paid to be creative
Don’t waste time in meetings, text and email are fine
Why Compare Yourself to Others? Because Everyone Else Does
It feels good to say, “Just compare yourself to who you were six months or a year ago. Just track your own progress as you grow in your business.”
Yes, it feels good, but the rest of the world doesn’t care.
The truth is, we’re wired to compare. We make dozens of comparing decisions every day. Would you like coffee, tea, or water? What kind of coffee? Which cookie do you like better, the chocolate chip or ginger molasses?
When you make either/or decisions, you compare.
When clients decide who they want to work with, they go through a similar decision process.
For example, when editors have writing assignments to give out, they usually have a variety of writers they could call.
How do they decide who to call? Usually, it’s some combination of easy to work with, doesn’t require hand-holding, doesn’t need many revisions, etc.
They compare past experiences or reputations if they haven’t worked together.
How Can You Publicly Compare Yourself to Others?
You can’t just say, “Hey, I’m the best, hire me.” So, what can you do?
First, you could have an up-to-date website featuring a portfolio of your best work. You’re counting on your work to set you apart from many others like you.
You could have testimonials of happy clients who say, “She’s the best, you should hire her.” Many creative freelancers don’t bother getting testimonials. That’s a mistake. Let your clients make you look great by comparison.
You could feature any awards, business results, or stats related to your work. Was your article the cover feature? Did the website you created for a client increase business? Did your work get thousands of views for the client?
Put yourself out there so that when clients compare you to others, you’ll come out on top.
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Great Artists Learn by Copying
If you work in the creative field, you might think you must create from a brief and thin air.
Writers sometimes speak of “confronting the blank sheet”, in other words, creating by starting from nothing.
But the truth is, real artists learn by copying. Writers have hand-copied the texts of other writers into notebooks. Why? Copying lets you absorb physical feedback from the other writer’s words, sentences, and story structures. Note this isn’t plagiarism. These are exercises not meant for publication.
One of my favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh, copied many paintings. It was the fastest way for him to learn new techniques, new ways of looking at the world. If you visit public art galleries, you might see artists at their easels copying paintings on the wall.
I think the best way for creative freelancers to copy legitimately is by copying structures or layouts, not the actual words and pictures.
If you’re a photographer, that might mean trying to copy another photographer’s composition but shooting your own picture.
If you’ve never tried a copying exercise, try it. You’ll quickly learn a new perspective.
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Meetings Help Cement Long-Term Relationships
We’ve become meeting averse. Many people will tell you they’re a waste of time. “That meeting could have been an email.”
I think that misses the point. Meetings build familiarity. You get to know each other. You’ll share non-business information. You learn how to work together. You become “business friends”.
My whole career through freelancing and founding two successful agencies was based on relationships. Most of my clients were physically close by, so it was easy to have meetings when it made sense.
Note I didn’t want to waste time any more than the next freelancer. But when it came to important briefings or presentations, I wanted to be in the same room as the client.
The other thing many freelancers miss about meetings is the few minutes after the meeting.
Let’s say you had a successful presentation meeting. The client is happy, you’re happy. You’re standing around, making small talk, before saying goodbye.
What often happens? The client says something like, “While you’re here, do you have a few minutes to talk about something else?” Yes, yes, I did have a few minutes to talk about the next project.
That’s how you roll from one job to the next one. And that’s why I liked meetings.
Free 1-Hour Consultation if You Bought One of My Books
I’ve been doing this but never publicized it. If you bought one of my books, I’m happy to chat on Zoom, Google, or whatever platform works.
I’ve done it for quite a few people and have enjoyed it. For some, it helps them give their business direction or solves immediate problems.
No proof of purchase is necessary. I’ll take your word for it (but I might ask you what you liked most about the book).
So, buy a book and get in touch. If you already own one of the books and want to talk, let me know.
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