Stop Disqualifying yourself.

Thoughts on Value and the Creative Path.

Your Work Matters

Good art, writing, music, etc. isn't made “good” by how much money you made from it.

Value and Revenue are independent properties.

If a master’s painting had been hidden in a cellar for decades and never had the chance to sell, would that make it less worthy of our respect?

What about if it was an amazing painting, the best painting, of circles ever? But somehow only people that like triangles saw it?
Does that mean the painting wasn’t any good because it never sold?

No?

Then, it would seem that Value and Revenue are independent attributes.
There’s plenty of amazing things out there that are never a financial or critical success.
(Something tells me Socrates never made it onto the NYT Best Seller’s list.)

Craftsmanship and Salesmanship are independent properties.

Sure, revenue is nice. And it can be a good way to evaluate your success at selling your work. And, to be sure, we all need a way to pay the bills. But, sales might say more about your ability to market your work than your skill at making the work.

Please remember that not everything needs monetized.

There’s so many good and valid reasons for you to make your work that can be more important than revenue:

• Because you enjoy it

• Because you like challenges and learning

• Because it helps someone else or fills a need

• Because your kids like watching you create or enjoy creating with you

• Because creating is an important human experience and you want to do more with your life than simply consume

• (…and many, many more reasons.)

Every Creative Path isn’t the Same

From where we stand it certainly looks like their work is far beyond our ability, their output overwhelming, the gallery exhibit is stunning, the grant unbelievable, the opportunities unending.

May I kindly remind you that very few people are posting images and articles highlighting their worst days and this absolutely skews our perception of what a “good” Creative’s Path looks like.

We don’t see their tossed sketches, destroyed canvases, and smashed ceramics.
We don’t see the 10 exhibit calls they were rejected from.
We don’t see that this grant is the only thing keeping them going for the next few months.
We don’t see the slow work of networking that brought about a few flashy opportunities.

And, maybe most importantly, we don’t see the years of hidden effort that brought them to this point.

Instead, we only see our own continual missteps, failings, and missed expectations along our own unpredictable Creative Path. And that can make us feel very unworthy to even compete on the same field as these others who have “made it.”

But, there is no committee declaring whether you are good/productive/influential enough to be in the cool kids club.

You’re already in because you are making things! Stop comparing your Creative Path to theirs! You’re one of the few that takes the time and risk to make things.

So, embrace all the ways you’ve made things, whether they are Instagram-able or not.

Your personal creative projects count.

Your low paying projects count.

Your cancelled projects count.

Your volunteer projects count.

Your unpublished projects count.

Your creative practice is valid no matter where you are in your journey, the size or location of your studio, or if your work is self sufficient and profitable simply because you have been brave enough to make something.

Be kind and generous with yourself and keep making.

And keep in mind that Value and Revenue and Craftsmanship and Salesmanship are all different attributes that make up your unique Creative Path.

-Daniel