I love co-creating with my core audience.
How do you balance your wandering creative spirit with the needs of your audience and the practicalities of business development? This is a tension that plagues many holistic practitioners I’ve worked with. And y’all. I have certainly let my freak flag fly in building my business.
Check out this old video from when I was exploring the dermatomes of the feet way back in 2017! There is no defined audience, no point, no SEO, no problems are solved here.
Least popular video on my channel. And yet…I still love it. I dunno. Do any of you aspire to dance with cats? To slide smoothly on the floor? To feel like a slinky in your body?
Your wandering creative spirit is the breath and life of your practice.
Without it, you lose your USP – your unique selling point or unique qualities – the one thing that actually differentiates you from other people in your field. Yet, if you don’t find the golden thread that connects your creative spark with the aspirations of your core audience, your offerings don’t sell.
Y’all. This is me. For real. It’s caused me some problems in business.
I spent the first 40 years of my life coming at the world from an artist’s point of view. Sorry not sorry!
Yes, it’s indulgent. It has to be. It was so amazing and fun! There is no other way for me to be. It’s in my bones, it saved my life, it gives me hope that we can make meaning and beauty out of nothing.
The world without art would be a horrible place.
And, the labor of a dancer is not valued economically in this culture. We are not cared for.
Which is a metaphor for how we treat bodies in general. Eventually it became clear to me that most of the folks garnering success were in a different economic bracket than me, and not because they were earning money from dance.
I got interested in making money, and taking responsibility for conveying the value of embodiment education. I stopped waiting for someone to come rescue me/us.
I made my artist self a teacher self, and stopped worrying about what other people called me.
Post art life, this artist-turned-somatic-practitioner (and successful business person) still feels the push and pull between two common schools of thought in business coaching:
The “Audience Comes Last” Approach:
This school, epitomized by Rick Rubin, encourages creators to ignore their audience and focus solely on true self-expression.
This is absolute hogwash. The most powerful art has always been made in conversation with its culture and its audience. Sure, you have to go in the studio for as long as it takes and dive deep into yourself.
However, artists who succeed most definitely get regular feedback and critique – that’s a part of the practice. Especially performing artists. What you do with feedback is your business, but art is relational.
Humans are relational. Rick Rubin doesn’t understand humans, art or business, from what I can tell.
The “Audience First” School:
On the other hand, traditional business advice pushes you to focus entirely on your audience’s needs—sometimes at the expense of your own creativity. This can stifle creative energy, especially for those whose work deeply draws on personal insight and innovation.
If we can’t breathe, if there is no inner fire or creative spark, we have nothing to offer our audience in service of their aspirations. You have to have both things.
The Embodied Learning Systems way: Co-Creation and Iteration
Why not iterate and co-create your offers in collaboration with your audience? This means engaging in real conversations and letting your clients “pull” the best work out of you, rather than creating in isolation.
It’s more vulnerable and it takes more time, but if you have an innovative spirit, it’s the only way to go. If you are like this, you know what I’m talking about.
And if you don’t identify that way… that is so cool. Relax into it.
Everyone does not have to be innovative! That doesn’t mean you aren’t creative, though.
If you have a super clear audience, and you know how to make your work and modality deeply relevant, the creativity is right there in the work with them. You just stay true to your modality and dive deep.
Either way, the creative spark is important. It’s your willingness to dive into the unknown with your audience. If you really trust your modality, your healing process, your audience will trust you and know that the courage you show is a key part of the healing you offer.
Have courage! Your creative fire has a place in your business.
Upcoming Business Development Online Jam Session Dec. 1.
On Monday, December 1st, I’ll be leading a hands-on workshop from 12:30 – 2 pm EST. It’s focused on this intersection between your creativity and your audience’s needs. You’ll leave with two actionable sketches for new offers to increase your income.
Why a sketch? It’s a lighthearted, free flowing way of outlining what might be possible. If you have to work hard, or even smart, it’s not a sketch. Over-efforting is a sign that you are forcing things. You don’t need to do that in business, or in life.
You can find out more and register for the Business Development Jam session HERE.
P.S. Got thoughts on balancing creativity and business? Email me to share your experience. It can get lonely out here. I’d love to hear from you.