July Retrospective: Back in July 2014, I wrote a daily series exploring the realities of navigating the creative economy. Twelve years later, looking back at these entries (and my original awful hand-drawn illustrations!), I’m struck by how the core truths of a creative career remain completely timeless. Each day this month, I’m opening up the archive to share these foundational lessons—with a few modern reflections layered in.

If you’re a new creative graduate looking to find your footing in the creative economy, a Gen X looking to pivot into a creative business, a side-hustler or someone who just wants to up their creative business game, there’s something for you in this series. Just don’t judge my drawings 😉

Understand Their Problems

There’s a reason WHY we want to do all this work getting close with your target audience:

So we can understand their problems.

It’s simple, and yet it takes a lot of digging to get there.

Why?

If you understand their problems then you can address them. By addressing their problems you will find a fan base.

Did you have a grandmother or elderly aunt who would welcome you with open arms, make you a cup of tea, give you some homemade cake and listen to you talk about your problems? Okay, I didn’t really have that either. But didn’t you WANT it?! Wouldn’t you have melted if this person had been there for you when your need was greatest?

That’s the kind of relationship you want with your customers. You want to be their go-to gal when they need a funky amazing painting, or their go-to guy when they need a 30’s science nerd for their TV commercials, or the go-to person for funny choreography that will make children laugh, or the go-to creative for a fantastic  user-friendly engaging web site.

They’ll come to you because you understand their problems and you know how to offer solutions. That makes you invaluable to them. It also makes it a heck of a lot easier to market to them. Your glove fits their hand. You’re a square peg to their square hole. That’s when it’s easy for everyone.

But you can’t get to that point until you understand their problems.

As you dig into your target market and how you can solve their problems you will discover one of two things:

1) There is a delicious fit between your product/ services and their problems! Hurrah! Life is good. You’re on the right track.

2) There isn’t a delicious fit between your products/services and the needs of your target market. This then presents you with two further choices:

a) alter your products/services to meet the needs of this market or

b) look for a new target market that will be a better fit.

The choice is yours. But choose you must or risk facing a long time floundering. Many struggling creative businesses have this problem, but haven’t addressed it. They are still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. No good. Find that square hole or manufacture a round peg. It’s the only two options.

Action: What are your target market’s main problems? List them. Can you address them? If not, what will you do?

We’re almost halfway through the July Challenge. I hope it’s shaking up your thinking about your creative business. At this point, it’s sometimes like a snowglobe that you’ve given a good shake to – the snow is still flying around and you can’t quite see the picture inside. Be patient with the process. The snow will settle and you will see clearly the vision of your creative business.

If you are getting benefit from this series, please share it with someone else who might find value in kick-starting their own creative business.

Longevity in a creative career isn’t accidental—it’s built on strategy.

While the landscape shifts, the core principles of thriving as a creative freelancer haven’t changed. For deeper, modern frameworks on building a sustainable creative practice:

• Read the Book: Looking for a step-by-step field guide to building a resilient career in the creative economy? Pick up my recent book The Thriving Creative: Successful Freelancing in the Creative Economy available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from my publisher Routledge.
• Stay Connected: Join my community and to receive the complete 31-day hand-drawn playbook as a single PDF at the end of the month. Sign up below.