Lonesome creativity

Creativity was always considered a strength of mine, but now I’m almost redacting that thought. Almost.

When I was a kid I never understood why older people were so impressed by creativity. New ideas, big picture thoughts, always came easy to me in a professional or scholastic setting, but I think I know why. I had time, no pressure, and a bunch of people to collaborate with.

But now, while running a business I have less time to think of new and “innovative” ideas. I also don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off of, at least nobody that understands the space like I do. And every “creative decision” I make has consequences.

I finally understand why it’s so impressive when someone who has held a corporate job for 50 years is creative. They have to be decisive, have a ton of balls, and be able to think through new ideas without 100 other people. It’s much easier, albeit maybe less rewarding, to just chase work in which you know how to do everything.

Let me tell you the exact situation that has me thinking this way:

I have worked the past 3 months on building systems, outreaching to potential clients, and selling advertisements for clients. All very put head down and grind type of work. Now I’m beginning to get clients who all require unique newsletter structures, formats, and strategies to grow into a successful revenue stream. Meaning I need to be creative again, and it’s freaking hard. I’m all by myself in this and I just want to get into a room with a whiteboard and bounce ideas and talk through things. I like to talk through problems, I find it more efficient to sitting alone at my laptop.

I know this is literally what I do for a living, but it’s like a muscle I haven’t trained in months, trying to be reignited all at once without a gym partner there giggling when I fail.

It’s intimidating, daunting, and truthfully a little scary. BUT, and I don’t want to sound like an inspirational tiktoker here, it’s kind of exciting. I get to build out creative assets that are going to make others a lot of freaking money.

So what am I going to do about this funk?

I don’t know, I guess just figure it out. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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• I have a sudden urge to play Pokemon leaf green until completion in one session

• Fantasy football is overwhelming

• Sports documentaries are my heroin

• My dog loves country music

• Slack-lining is hard

• Dan hooker is also hard (damn that sounds weird)

• I curse too much over the phone

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• Creator Economy is the most exciting industry to be a part of

• Moving out in September, nice.

• Calgary is the best city in the world