How Training In Artistic Disciplines Is Good For Business

How training in artistic disciplines is good for business contrary to popular belief

By Sharon Rowe, author of The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don’t Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living and founder of Eco-Bags Products

Writing is like acting is like entrepreneurship. It’s an art, a discipline and, if you choose, your business.  It takes time, focus, energy, commitment to artistic process, with the ability to let go and start over, together with a consistent focus on meeting deadlines, expectations and building relationships to generate income. It’s a tall order.

Your discipline, the tiny consistent steps you take…how you approach and maintain a steady practice with writing and the business of writing is what will move you forward. You can set goals and employ strategies but “not all seeds grow to be tall trees.”

You can’t always predict the market but you can be ready for an opening…or you can, over time, create the opening. This is where, with any art form, being comfortably uncomfortable comes into play. It’s challenging to feel safe in this space when our data-driven culture is about go big or bust.

When I got my first book deal, I knew about acting and entrepreneurship, but I didn’t know about writing a book or what it would take to deliver a manuscript in less than five months. I didn’t’ know how to write a proposal or even what editors did. Now, all I can say is “thank God for editors.”

I boldly made up an intriguing (and market researched) proposal which was a lot like buying awesome ingredients but not knowing how to cook with them. I knew I had something to say but could I connect with my half-baked ideas? I was told to trust the writing process.

With improvisational acting skills I confidently pitched my book and got a deal. I was told that hardly ever happens! But…then I had to figure out what I needed to start because I had a deadline five months away. This is where creative discipline came into play.

I knew what I knew and I knew what I didn’t know so I hired what I didn’t know and set up a writing schedule. I literally created a time sheet that I signed in and out of, four-six hours a day, starting at the same time with two large carafes of coffee. I sat in the same chair in my kitchen every day with my coffee mug to the left. I got to work as if it would all go along swimmingly.

The thing about acting and business, though, is that you do it with other people. You show up with what you have and you work together to generate the art. With writing, I didn’t factor in sitting alone with an impatient cursor waiting for my brilliance or shit to spill onto the page.

When I finished my first draft and brought it to my writing coach she smiled, called it a “vomit draft” and said, knowingly, “ok, let’s get started.”  

Process takes Practice

As I’m writing this blog I feel as if I’m still only peeking into what professional writers do. The insecurity I feel, even as a published author…I don’t know if it ever goes away.

I wrote a non-fiction book. I wonder what it takes to write a novel? I can only imagine it’s like acting or the days in my business when I start something and hours later I realize I’ve been completely absorbed. With acting the character forms from the choices made, experiences I’ve had, and my practiced process to surrender and allow the creative process to flow through me.

The days I wrote, and I was “on” it was the same thing. There was an effortlessness. Other days there wasn’t enough coffee. Still I knew to show up the next day and keep writing. Did I second guess myself?  Absolutely. However, I didn’t allow that to stop me. I couldn’t. I had a deadline. With or without a deadline it’s about showing up to write, rehearse and with persistence, attend to the business parts that support the art.

With writing, as with any art entrepreneurial journey waiting to be perfect does not put you into “play.” Stepping out with an idea puts you on a path to connecting with others who, in the short or long run, may become part of the community you rely on for connections or insights. In my case, it led me to the door of a publisher who greenlighted my book before it was fully baked.

Creating art is about allowing vs. pushing in a very pushy culture. When you add making a living with your art, that’s where it gets hard. I know because I left my acting career when I couldn’t make a living at it. I know now, however, through the lens of entrepreneurship that’s what most important is connecting at your core with whatever you endeavor to do.

Your “core” is your best articulated version of “why” you do what you do. Your “why” is rooted in what matters most to you. When you know it, you can set your priorities and create a practice.  Then you can move “confidently in the direction of your dreams…” When you are disciplined in practicing your priorities by showing up to do your work every day you will get to a different place.

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About Sharon Rowe

Sharon Rowe is the author of The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don’t Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living (Berrett Koehler Publishers, May 2018), and the CEO and Founder of Eco-Bags Products. The “Original Reusable Bag Company,™” ECOBAGS® Brand, is recognized as a category leader,  since 1989. The company is known for their commitment to outstanding quality, socially responsible supply chain and innovation; “cleaning up the planet one bag at a time.™”

Sharon has been featured as an environmental pioneer in TIME Magazine, Glamour Magazine, and in the award winning documentary “BagIt.” She has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Nylon Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Conscious Choice Magazine, and heard on National Public Radio and Air America. ECOBAGS® products were featured on Oprah’s first dedicated Earth Day show in 2007. She has won numerous awards, including the national 2012 Enterprising Woman Award, issued by Enterprising Women Magazine.

Eco-Bags Products, Inc. is a long standing certified member of Green America (www.greenamerica.org), a certified B Corporation (www.bcorporation.net), a certified Woman Owned Business (www.wbenc.org www.wpo.org), and a member of the Organic Trade Association (www.ota.org)

About The Magic of Tiny Business

Too many of us feel trapped by work that keeps us from living our purpose. We fantasize about starting our own business, yet we’re warned against falling into debt, working eighty hours a week, and coping with the pressure to grow. Eco-Bags Products founder Sharon Rowe says there is another way to go: go tiny. 

Like a tiny house, a tiny business is built on maintaining a laser focus on what is essential by living an intentional life. As an entrepreneur and mother, Rowe is most concerned with putting family first, maintaining financial security, and doing something that makes an impact on the world. Using the success story of Eco-Bags Products, Rose distills a step-by-step process, of building a profitable, right-scaled, sustainable venture that doesn’t compromise your values. She shows you how to test your concept, manage your money and priorities, and more, while staying true to the “tiny” ethos. 

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips