Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur (Part Two)
This week I took in a lot from The Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur—especially how embracing responsibility, tuning out the noise, and just putting in the reps can really shape how I grow as both a creator and entrepreneur.
The last half of the Sixth Annual Full Sail Hall of Fame video, The Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur, had great insight. The key points that stood out to me were to embrace the responsibilities, ignore the naysayers, and practice your craft.
Embrace Responsibilities
I enjoyed Nathaniel Howe's insight on embracing responsibilities in the video The Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur. That point of view is a great way to look at obstacles and make almost anything less scary (FSU, 2015, 56:40). Ric Vier’s quote about fear ties in very well to this. He said, “Fear is your enemy, but fear is imaginary for the most part” (FSU, 2015, 55:30). Seeing everything as a growth opportunity and not as something to fear is such an incredible skill. I hope I can teach my boys this skill as early as possible. I plan to use this tactic and point of view on my entrepreneurial journey, helping that forward momentum towards being a successful entrepreneur.
Ignore Naysayers
When Nathaniel and Ric gave their thoughts on the inevitable naysayers, I immediately thought about the quote from Mastery. “In dealing with fools you must adopt the following philosophy: they are simply a part of life, like rocks or furniture” (Greene, 2012, p. 163). I enjoyed Ric’s breakdown of the stages of the naysayers, and I have plenty of experience with all three stages of criticism (FSU, 2015, 1:01:10). Sometimes, I am sensitive to comments; it’s inevitable; I’ve learned it depends on what the target of criticism is. For example, in my most recent job, I would create user flows or designs in Figma, and there were plenty of times that my designs were torn up during design meetings. I could always roll any criticism off and never took it personally; I took notes and fixed what was needed. I could deflect taking things personally because it wasn’t about me but the company. However, I would’ve been a lot more sensitive if the critiques were about something more personal that I had created from scratch. Moving forward, I try to internalize my feelings about where I am and remind myself that we are different people. Ultimately, all that matters is that I am happy with my trajectory.
Practice your Craft
Getting those reps in for your craft does wonders for your growth and success. There are many talks about getting 10,000 hours or more of practice in your craft and the importance of those experiences to gain mastery. Robert Greene, Malcolm Gladwell, and Chris Do are some of the people I have personally listened to or read stress the importance of those hours. In The Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur video, Kim Alpert brings up a quote, “Don’t worry about the quality, worry about the quantity” (FSU, 2015, 1:05:25). Under the context of being successful and genuinely knowing your craft, I agree. This mindset will be helpful for me in marketing and networking; the more you do it, the easier it gets. I am not a content creator or overly active in commenting on social media posts. However, it is something I know I will need to do to help amplify my product.
Summation
In short, embracing growth and change is vital to successful entrepreneurs. Mastering how you embrace responsibilities, ignore the naysayers, and put in the hours to practice your craft will help you on your entrepreneurial journey. As mentioned above, I plan to apply these thoughts and tools for my journey towards being a successful entrepreneur.
References
Full Sail University [FSU] (2015, March 19). The Rise of the Creative Entrepreneur. Full Sail University, Hall of Fame. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KVqLfTrXCFg
Greene, R. (2012, November 13.) Mastery. Viking Adult.