What if you could completely sidestep the biggest mindset mistakes that destroy many creative businesses?
We’ve been lawyers for creative entrepreneurs for over a decade and have seen inside hundreds of innovative businesses. Our team has learned that success as a creative entrepreneur isn’t about having the best or most groundbreaking ideas or art (but that helps).
Success means knowing how to build a business from your creative work to produce impact, abundance, and opportunities for yourself and those you care about.
To get there, you need to fix the significant mindset mistakes that hobble creative entrepreneurs. The good news is that these can be fixed easily.
If you address these five, your creative business will unfold exponentially.
Mistake 1: Thinking Money and Art Are Opposed
It’s a common misconception that art and money oppose one another – the “starving artist” fallacy.
Too many creatives have the outdated story that money somehow compromises the integrity of creativity. When approached correctly, money provides opportunities for more creative freedom. When artists understand how their work makes money and embrace it, they give themselves the resources they need to build their desired business.
Failing to embrace this reality leaves the money on the table for someone else to take.
Mistake 2: Trying To Do It All Yourself
Succeeding in business means focusing on what you do best.
If you’re answering the phones, sending out invoices, and fixing tech issues – you’re not creating. Bringing on help lets you focus on the creative work that produces the most value. Your goal should be to focus on your zone of genius as much as possible and have other people do the rest. Learning to delegate is critical to growing your creative business while you do more of what you want.
As a bonus, you give other people a chance to do what they do best while growing your business.
Mistake 3: Not Understanding Your Legal Rights
Too many creatives avoid thinking about legal stuff until something goes wrong – and that’s far too late.
Understanding the law gives creatives access to the hidden playbook that successful companies use to protect, grow, and scale creative assets. Knowing the basics of copyright, trademark, business setup, and contracts lets you address these things proactively. When you address these things proactively, legal goes from being something to fear to something that helps your business grow exponentially.
The good news is that plenty of free resources help you understand these topics.
Mistake 4: Getting Caught In The Perfectionism Trap
Creating a business means finding out what people want and need.
You build a business by putting things out, getting feedback, and using that feedback to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. Perfectionism kills that cycle and keeps you small. It keeps you small because instead of finding out what people like and giving it to them, you rely on your assumptions, which may be wrong.
So don’t let perfectionism hold you back from putting things out there and learning what people want.
Mistake 5: Not Taking Ownership of Everything
The buck stops with you.
When you own a business, you must take ownership of everything, including mistakes and failures. Doing that allows you to learn and grow as a business owner and human being. By taking ownership of mistakes, you empower yourself with the agency needed to change things in your favor.
So, while it’s a natural human tendency to want to blame others when things go wrong, good business owners try to figure out what they can do differently.
🟥
