“You are a small business owner and entrepreneur. Your art is your product. You are in charge of your marketing, branding, production, PR, finances, and YOU NEED CAPITAL to get off the ground like any business. The "starving artist" mentality is a means of disempowering yourself and not taking responsibility for your destiny.” - Jen Rudolph

Value (How It Works)

When I decided to go all in with photography, I avoided the thought of making money with it.

Subconsciously I saw it as jeopardizing my integrity.

IT MADE NO SENSE.

Many of us in creative work subconsciously believe what we do isn’t really valuable.

The first time I accepted money for my work was actually BY FORCE.

Yes. I was literally forced into accepting payment for a days worth of shooting around a D.C protest.

I’m glad I eventually caved and accepted the money.

It came with a mindset shift and a new vocabulary word.

Value.

Something of importance or worth.

Maybe it was some sort of childhood trauma breakthrough for me, I finally felt like I had some value.

It was value placed on what I provided without me actually seeing it myself.

That was the point of no return.

I continued to work as the word spread that I was talented with a camera.

I’ve worked for my friends that became clients and met clients that became friends.

I either set the value of my work or they did.

Terrible mistake.

My work progressively got better as I kept shooting.

Even the “perceived” value of my work went up.

Until one day my bank account didn’t quite agree with the outside perception.

I was mad broke.

Zero dollaz broke.

This went on for a long time. Not only in my bank account, but in my mindset.

No matter how much I got paid for a shoot I blew it all.

I couldn’t stop blaming everyone around me and refused to take responsibility for my own conditions.

Then all the mental chatter stopped one day.

I had to get it together.

Financial stability is essential to being able to reach our artistic goals.

It gives us the freedom that is our life line.

Remember that if people want your work, you are now a business.

Businesses that provide value must play the game. It is essential to educate ourselves on the rules.

Here are some of the things that I have learned that broke me free of the Starving Artist Mindset.

1) Learning to Negotiate

It’s easy to see negotiation as a win or lose situation, in reality it is problem solving.

Every business negotiates.

Retailers test products to see if they sell at a certain price, if they don’t, the price drops.

Real Estate Agents set property value anchors in dollar amounts.

We as creatives set a price for our time and work.

The root: Perceived and Provided Value.

Since the value is apparent, it’s just a matter of claiming it.

Regardless if you have your prices on your website or charge a fixed or hourly rate (which is negotiation too), you are going to want to learn deeper negotiation skills.

This hit for me when I realized, no one is going to pay me more than what I think my work is worth.

Ever.

Unless they are really kind, but let’s face it…

Everyone looking for creative work is out here trying to get the best deal for themselves.

Everything we seek today is a want, not a need.

Those are taken care of.

Creative services are always going to be a want.

And that want may be your potential clients 20th want on their list of wants.

We all just want to claim the most value for what we pay for.

It’s natural.

Learning negotiation is basically protecting and claiming your value.

How strong is your business if you lack this skill?

Most gigs you score you will feel off about until your provided and perceived value match up.

Knowledge + Skill Level + Experience = Price You Charge

You will also have to negotiate your way to the biggest job of your career in some way.

Just remember when it comes to your work, you hold all the cards.

Research negotiation techniques and apply them to not only your business, but to your life.

You are guaranteed better results in getting what you need and want.

My favorite book on the topic so far is ‘Negotiation Genius’.

It taught me a couple techniques like:

1) Investigative Negotiation

The key to success in negotiation is to learn the most information possible to then make the best decision for your business.

For us it is about selling our services and products.

It is beneficial for us to find out a clients budget or what they are willing to spend for our work.

This rings especially true with providing services.

We all usually get stuck in the ‘what are your rates vs what is your budget’ death loop.

I have a fixed rate for what I will come out for of course, but you can always get the information you need by investigation.

Learning as much as possible about who you are about to go into business with will help you greatly.

Always seek something deeper in the information that is given to you.

You don’t want to price your work as a normal two week delivery if your client needs a rushed two day delivery.

You don’t want to price your work as a three day production if the project will take multiple months to complete.

It happens when there is a lack of communication in the negotiation stage.

Both parties can be held responsible but you won’t have to be.

Learn as much as possible to make a deal worth it for both parties.

This topic goes much deeper than this, and can be applied to everything about the client that wants your services.

The main takeaway is to focus on the other side’s interests, needs, and perspective.

2) Strategies of Influence

Influence come into play whenever you are dealing with other people in life.

So when it comes to your protecting your pockets and your time, you should study up.

It’s learning psychology at this point.

Some basic influencing principles are:

Loss Aversion
Understanding people’s tendency to be loss averse will help you highlighting your value to your clients or new potential clients.
Just think about those anti-smoking ads.
They show someone who has lost their entire voice and has to use a voice box to speak about why smoking is bad.
This is a more subtle for of it but it is essentially appealing to your loss averse thinking
You don’t want to lose your voice over smoking a cigarette, so stop.
That’s the angle.
Think about another anti-smoking advertisement that shows what you’ll gain for stopping.
They may show a guy having a better relationship with his family, or going on a peaceful walk or something.
I’m still thinking about the fact that I don’t want to lose my voice forever after typing that out.
Loss aversion is a powerful tool for getting what you want.
Power of Justification
“I am asking for X because… Y”
The justification of a claim adds to it’s perceived legitimacy.
It can be true or false, but adding a justification to your demands or suggestions always makes it more likely to influence an agreement.
For the sake of the shared perception of freelance artists, let’s make our justifications true.
Don’t be a scammer trying to claim the value you deserve.
Be true to what you provide and what it is worth.
Then justify it properly.
Social Proof
If other people like it, it must be good.
We all more or less follow this built-in rule for where we spend our money or take our partners to dinner.
Other people’s reviews and critiques are important to us.
Learning how to use social proof to your advantage will greatly increase your results in business.
It all compunds.
The busier you look, the more people want to book you it seems.
Or at the very least they will inquire.
And inquiries are all we need to start a business negotiation.

3) Confronting Lies

Ah… it’s ideal that there are no lies in a negotiation.

But that’s just not true.

Even if it’s not a lie there is a thing where we ‘technically’ tell the truth.

A withholding of information if you will.

Or even a sort of lie where we don’t know that it is a lie.

Lies can be direct or indirect.

We can usually only go on the feeling that someone isn’t being truthful when trying to book us.

This sucks.

So this is definently a skill I don’t take for granted.

Just how to confront that feeling gives me more confidence when dealing with those feelings on when I know for sure.

How you confront lies in different situations will vary of course.

You may even find it worth it to still provide your services after confronting one.

It’s up to you.

Three ways to confront lies:

Gather as much information as possible
Set trap questions
Use contingency contracts

Don’t let people take advantage of you when you feel something’s not right.

2) Basic Business Practices

I went so long without making people sign contracts it was crazy.

Mainly because I wasn’t a registered business in my state and I worked for my friends that would run at the sight of a contract.

It’s no excuse, your first and last name on a contract will work before and you should let your friends run away.

However you make your money, learn how to operate safely and effectively.

Three things that give my creative business more structure are:

Formalizing Services and Products
Please make or buy yourself some contracts to use.
So many times I’ve had people just pay me half or less than what it costs to work.
I’ve had people even pay 'kinda too late’.
They didn’t know it was too late cause there was nothing in writing.
Then they were surprised when the project wasn’t done yet.
The ‘no-rush’ projects can fuck off.
Make contracts and invoices and avoid the headache of maybe being paid or not.
Managing Time and Money
In this game, you will get to know inconsistency on a first name basis.
She’s always around the corner of a good month.
Plotting on your built up savings no less.
So you have to learn how to manage your money better than most.
Especially if freelancing is your main thing.
You will have to wait longer than two weeks for your next check.
It was hard for me to track my spending habits and to save money.
It made me uncomfortable due to my upbringing.
The work it took was well worth it.
Managing time is of the same value.
A bit harder.
Since we set our hours of operation, it’s easy to feel at ease about what we should and shouldn’t do.
We tend to take more liberties with ourselves than if we are on the clock for someone else.
The time for yourself is more valuable due to the endless opportunities.
We were conditioned to think that this time should be to sit and chill.
To not do anything important for ourselves.
To take that productive energy and pour most of it in to something we don’t care about.
Then to relax and do it again tomorrow.
Even when I decided to freelance full-time I felt these effects.
Not having an ‘obligation’ to work made me relax and chill.
But that was only because I didn’t have an obligation to my future-self.
The time we use for ourselves is the most important time.
Make sure you use it to the fullest.
Network Building
The internet makes this extremely do-able.
You can build a strong professional network within a year.
You already provide value.
Now you just have to get that value in front of people.
Use social media, emails , or go out to events.
Your marketing and image makes this process easier.
I will talk more in depth about marketing another time.
For now, just realize you have value and be willing to meet others.

3) Learn from Others

Guidance.

That’s it.

Find guidance from creators in your field that you either know or don’t.

Reach out to them online and take an interest in what they are doing.

If you meet someone in a position that you would like to be in do not be afraid to talk to that person.

Even if they have taken a different path you still have something to learn from combined experience.

Share your experiences and get their takes.

Everything helps at this stage.

Give more to receive more.

There’s a lot of different information from everyone in the creative space at this point.

Anything you want to learn is right at your finger tips.

4) Study Your Market

“Your promise is directly connected to the change you seek to make, and it’s addressed to the people you seek to change.” -Seth Godin

Learn about who you are working for.

Who is your work attracting?

Who do you want it to attract?

Now that you are in business this is one of the most important questions.

This process can honestly take awhile so be kind to yourself as you are learning.

Your market is based on what you provide, how you provide it, and who you speak to.

Whatever you believe in basically.

As a start you should study other creator’s brands and who they seem to be marketing to.

Apply what you learn to your own business and test it.

Read, Write, Practice, and Test.

When you begin to pin-point your own market you will test your ideas on what you think will appeal to them.

If your tests lead to failure you will begin to innovate.

Failure leads to innovation.

Innovation leads to success.

That is the system.

Follow it and find yourself successful.

Test, Fail, Innovate, Succeed.

5) Don’t Stress Yourself Out

Stress will turn a Starving Artist into a Tragic Artist.

It’s not a very positive thing to be to say the least.

In fact, the negativity on your shoulders will repel the opportunities you want.

Most people associate their happiness and positivity to factors outside of themselves.

In other words, things they can’t control.

When things wrong, stress goes up.

Stress is natural.

To be stress out will make things a lot worse for you.

Not to be dramatic but…

It will destroy you.

When you’re feel the stress levels rising, make sure to do thing that manage it.

Retain a positive self-image by working on your personal life.

Most of us our the hearts of our business so must keep ourselves healthy overall.

Whatever you find that keeps you in the present moment will raise your self-image while reducing stress.

Some of these things for me are:

Reading
Meditation
Physical Exercise
Watching Films
Walking

You will obviously have your own.

My only suggestion is to keep them from being self-destructive or having side-effects that will slow you down.

If your de-stressors give you pleasure with side effects or leave you feeling empty when gone, you are working against yourself.

You will be leading yourself away from the growth aspect of this journey and invite that negativity back into your life.

Build habits that align with your ideal self.

Limit the habits that make you like everyone else.

You are already different from everyone if you’re reading this.

Embrace this fact.

6) Abundance Mindset

The journey to financial stability as an entrepreneur is tough.

That’s why most people just get jobs.

We are a sensitive bunch so you have to find peace that you aren’t gonna win em all.

You will gain the right opportunities as you stay true to your work.

Keep producing.

Don’t let the gigs and jobs that you don’t get put you down in a rut.

Have the attitude that there is always the next one.

Maintain an abundance mindset will allow you to think of other ways you can flourish monetarily and creatively.

You won’t be scared to try anything!

Taking these type of calculate risks are important.

“Reality is neutral” -Naval Ravikant

How you view the world is through your own interpretation.

Keep these steps in mind as you progress in your creative business journey.

Remember that there isn’t just client work out here for us.

We are creators.

We have the power to build brands and images.

Why not start with ourselves.

We’ll talk soon.

-Ezra

How To Stop Being a Starving Artist