Karen Mahony on Business and Creativity

Karen Mahony of Baba Studio (home of some of the grandest Tarot decks of the past 5 years, including the Victorian Romantic and Bohemian Gothic) is writing an inspiring and thought-provoking series of posts on her Live Journal:

How To Be Creative And Successful

Here are the posts in the series so far (she has 23 in all):

1. Take risks – even big ones.
2. Don’t worry about starting in a small, modest and slightly embarrassing way.
3. Accept you’ll be laughed at. Welcome it as a good sign.
4. Work hard. Then work harder.
5. Forget the “exit strategy”. If exiting is that important to you, maybe you shouldn’t have gone into it in the first place.
6. Don’t moan, don’t blame.
7. Let some things go - that might include your own sense of your own identity.

Karen’s focus is on artists in particular, but hers are words of wisdom for anyone following their heart and trying to merge soul and livelihood, especially metaphysical and holistic consultants. (Laughed at? We never get laughed at! :))

Even parts of the entrepreneurial crowd has some conventional wisdom, and I love how Karen flaunts it here. I’m not for making poor choices (very easy to do when you start out in business), but I AM for burning your bridges in your own mind. Go ahead - forget the exit strategy! As Yoda says, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

I’ve pondered long and hard about creativity and business over the past few years. Personally, I started my business in order to give myself the freedom I need to live my vision of the creative life. More and more I’m coming to realize just how much business IS that life, and how the separation between “creativity” and “business” is an arbitrary one.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the separation is made for us by others (personal responsibility, y’all!), but I think it’s fair to say that the “dominant paradigm” (ha!) presents them as such.  For me, merging the two has been such a relief.

The act of business (starting, running, growing) is, at its core, a creative act. The services we provide are acts of creation, too. The fruits of creation have real value. I could go on and on.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.