I wrote a whole chapter in my book last year about creating assets that provide ongoing value.
It was a lesson I had learned over and over again – trading time for dollars wasn’t getting me ahead and is a much slower path to creating wealth and freedom.
It’s fun, however, that life will often send us little reminders of things we already know and aren’t taking action on in the way we could be.
Recently, in about the last three months, I got some clarity around the Crafsman Creative project that I’d been noodling on for a year or two.
That clarity helped me get unstuck, align the project with my values, and start making much more meaningful progress than I previously had.
As I sit here now, about a month from launching the first course, I am reminded that this isn’t just an extension of who I am as a creative and striving to be as a coach, but it is an asset that I’m creating that is already providing ongoing value, both to those I seek to serve as well as myself and my business.
So, a few thoughts for you as you’re thinking about your project(s) and/or your craft:
You already have the answers you’re seeking.
There are ways to uncover those answers, but nothing I learned in the last year was something that I didn’t already understand at some level. The decisions on how to move forward on the project, how to change it to align better with my needs and values, all came from inside me.
I don’t think I’m unique here. I think that if we are creatives, we understand how to create, not just projects but ideas, emotional states, outcomes, progress. We know the answer to the thing we’re stuck on, we just need to uncover it.
You already know who your audience is.
I believe this because at our core as creatives we are creating for ourselves. We are making something that we want to exist in the world that hasn’t in this way or at this time.
Because we are the first person we need to please with our work and our art, we can use that to discover who else might be a good fit. You already know the other musicians you sound like, the products people are using that aren’t quite getting the job done, the books and authors they like to read, the groups they’re in, the websites they visit, etc. because it’s the things that you already use, and listen to, and participate in.
When I was building the focus group for the course that launches next month, I made a list of 150 friends that I knew were the people I was making the course for. I messaged them individually in hopes that about 10% – 15 people – would sign up.
I believe that because the fit was so great, the response exceeded my expectations. 60 people signed up to help me build the course through feedback and testing.
We already know who we seek to serve. Now we just need to tell them.
It has to serve them and help meet their needs.
Lastly, for today, I believe that anything we make has to either serve the people we made it for, or solve some deep need that they have.
Prior to my “breakthrough” on the project, I was so ridiculously focused on the financial outcome. I knew exactly how many courses a month I needed to sell in order to make $10k, and then some. It was the main driver – which is why I believe I was so stuck.
Why? Because none of you care about what craftsman creative does for me! You care about what it does for YOU.
Whenever we look at something – a course, a piece of art, an experience, anything – we ask, consciously or unconsciously, “what’s in it for me?”
I had lost sight of that.
As soon as I shifted the focus from financial gain to service and contribution and growth for those I’m building the course for, it felt like it just took off! All the resistance and friction and fear and hesitation was gone, and I’ve been making so much more progress every day building the course.
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar
Whatever it is that you’re building, wherever you’re stuck, I hope that these principles will help you. If you’d like more principles in the same vein, my book Craftsman Creative was written for just that purpose. It’s free, and I hope you’ll grab a copy for yourself!
PS – If you are interested in the course, it’s called Make Something and it’s currently available for preorder.