Dear Creative

These are 7 nuggets from my upcoming book ‘Dear Creative’ coming out next year (yes, you heard it here first). Enjoy!

• Dear Creative, 85% of the work you keep postponing is because you didn’t charge well or you’re doing it for free, it’s not because of lack of inspiration. Next time charge and charge well lol.

• Dear Creative, as difficult as it may be, if you don’t gather the confidence to charge high and lose some gigs in the process, you’d never know when it’s time to raise your rates. Sometimes just mention the price, it will change everything for you.

• Dear creative, if you nail the work, they’ll come back. They won’t come back because of that 60% reduction you just gave them. Don’t let anyone deceive you. Do a bad job and see if they’ll come back. Charge well and kill the work!

• Dear Creative, A lot of creatives say they’re broke and always blame it on clients but these same people only want to work when in the ‘zone’. Sometimes it’s not lack of inspiration, it’s laziness. Comfort is where poverty stays. Unless you’re not in for the cash, you can relax.

• Dear Creative, you’re one conversation away from your breakthrough. Never lose the opportunity to talk and share your work. Don’t let the Ghanaian mindset of fake humility keep you from being proud of your work enough to talk about it.

• Dear Creative, having experience is good but be careful of your experience. It could make you stagnant. Kill the attitude of “it has always been done this way” and look at each project with fresh eyes.

• Dear Creative, availability and reliability will do more for you than talent ever will. The people who get the best clients are not always talented. They’re the ones who were available at the time.

Cover Photo by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash