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 😉

Know, Like, Trust

Any new buyer needs to go through three stages of know, like and trust before they make a purchase.

First they need to know that you exist. If they don’t know about you, there ain’t no chance they are ever going to be able to buy from you. So your first step is to get as many of your target market to know about you as possible.

Once they know you, even if it’s to recognise your name or logo, they need to like you. Do you ever buy from someone you don’t like? No. You go down the block to the other grocery store if the staff at the one near you are grumpy all the time. I go hugely out of my way to where I know there are good coffee houses to avoid drinking bad coffee from somewhere close by. We’ve got to like you and like your product or services before we will consider buying.

Lastly we have to trust you. We have to trust that your services are going to deliver what you say they are and that your products aren’t going to fall apart the first time I use them. This is about trust. I have to trust that you aren’t going to sell me rotten apples.

Your job as a creative entrepreneur is to be constantly guiding potential customers through these three steps.

How?

This is where the actual sweat of running a business comes into play.

How do you get people to know you? You’ve got to get out there into the world and tell people about your work. You’ve got to make your work available and work endlessly and repetitively at letting people know it exists. Many creative businesses fail because they tell people about their work once and then wonder 3 months later why nobody remembers. You have to constantly remind people you exist and find new people to tell. But you want to limit this to your target market. There’s no point screaming to the world if they aren’t your customers. You have to keep discovering new ways to reach your target market. Creativity and hard work are the two most important components of this.

How do you get people to like you? If you’re targeting the right market, you should be halfway there because your products or services are the right fit for them. Then it’s a matter of how you go about doing what do. Are you nice? Are you and your work presentable? Do you talk to people? Do you engage with potential customers? Give people your freebie. Take an interest in other people. These actions will go a long way towards getting customers to like you.

How do you get people to trust you? Trust is often built up over time. I might need to see you at my local farmers market for several weeks, visiting each week, chatting with you, looking at your website, taking your freebie and engaging with it, reading your blog, and then after this process of several weeks (or months – or even years) I might feel ready to make a purchase from you. Your job as the creative entrepreneur is to keep the dialogue going. Keep talking about your work. Keep engaging me. Keep sharing with me. Keep showing up. This is where tools like having a blog or a newsletter go a long way as it helps you to keep a presence in their sphere.

Action: think of three things you can do for each step to move potential customers through the process of know, like & trust.

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.