- Posts tagged Advice For Revolutionaries
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you are NOT the only ship on the sea. get over it.
Interesting idea ... As the "Chief Innovation Guy" at my company Kind, a big part of what I do is about keeping the Revolutionary Thinkers that make Kind magical focused on possibilities. One of the biggest distractions that I can probably note, and one of the things that can at times make my work go into what I like to call "passion overload" is the emergence of what "looks like" competition. If you are as revolutionary as you say you are, I am sure you have faced this idea at one point or another while you are trying to spread an idea...
YOUR idea.
This is another opportunity to turn up the passion, and truly prove that you have what it takes to be a contributor in the creative economy.
You are NOT the only ship on the sea. Get over it.
One thing that can "sap the hunger" out of your team faster than anything else on the planet is the emergence of an idea that looks like, smells like or even REMOTELY resembles your teams leading idea. Let me give you some examples of this ... I am not 100% sure of these scenarios happened this way BUT I am going to try and paint a picture so that you can get a good context of what I am talking about.
Scenario ... You are a young start-up company called Gowalla and you are passionate about getting in the geo-location check-in game. You have the idea to make a check-in service that's not only very powerful, BUT it's also sexy as "all get out" aesthetically. You and your team of Ninja's start crafting the work and one day, a colleague sends you a link to a platform called Foursquare. YOU, being the visionary you are quickly reviews the site/platform that is launched and actually gaining some users. You have two choices here...
1. Be dillusional and think that you were the only ship on the sea and go put your head in the sand OR
2. Start to compare feature sets and illuminate your unique value propositions and forge on ...
You are NOT the only ship on the sea. Get over it.
Scenario ... You are a thriving coaching business, and you have been in the game a while. You think of a new and innovative way to extend your coaching practice through a visionary approach to dealing with relationships and you start crafting your ideas, writing a strong case and approach. You go to the bookstore and you pick up a book (in the coaching section) that is similar to what you have been thinking. You have two choices here...
1. Be dillusional and think that you were the only ship on the sea and go put your head in the sand OR
2. Start to compare strategies and illuminate your unique value propositions and forge on ...
Fact: We are in the middle of one of the greatest economic revolutions this country has seen in over 100 years (if not more). Everything is changing and being re-invented. There will be hybrids of every type of technology, every system, every design. In the midst of the revolution, it's not so important if there are other ships on the sea, what IS important is the crew that is sailing the ships that have set sail. Setting sail is the first step, and the rest of what happens is dependent upon the crews ability to be more clever than the waves. It's not so much about the "competition", it is very much about being able to navigate the waves of possibility.
In conclusion ...
Get in your lane and run hard as hell. Do not get so distracted by the artillery that WILL be firing off around you, keep your mind steadfast on the revolution at hand and make a commitment to being a contributor to the "what will be". Some say that "there are no new ideas under the sun..." Believing this would suggest that there are no new problems. Think collaboration and deeper innovation. If a team jumps on your radar, and they are doing similar work, DO NOT put your head in the sand, find out FIRST if you can help or compliment one another.
Creativity and innovation are vast seas of possibility... Trust me, you are not the only ship on this sea. Get over it.
create the impossible...
We were NOT designed to fly as humans. The idea of humans flying was an impossible one until the Wright Brothers made it up in their minds that flight (impossible) could become the "possible".
Closing Thoughts
1. Do not chase competition ... That's a finite route at best...
2. Pursue possibilities if given the choice to either "compete" or do so...
3. If given the option to pursue "possibilities" OR create the "impossible" ... Chose the later.
the python client... beware.
The Python Client... Beware.
Today I was in a discussion with a very close Revolutionist, Hope Allen. We were tossing ideas back and forth about freelance work (usually the type of work that Revolutionaries love...) and the issue of client management, more specifically, the gap between the "commission" and "output" was where we spent most of our time. This discussion is one that Revolutionaries, Artist have often OR maybe I should say "the conversation is tossed around a lot". By any means, the conversation led us to talking about what I like to call "Python Clients". NOW before I talk about this, I want to make it clear that a Python Client does not become a python all by themselves. It's USUALLY the fault of the Artist, so I thought I should write this blog post to lessen the chances of it happening to you. The Artist.
What is a "Python Client"?
I totally made this up, BUT a Python Client is a client that has a VERY tight budget but a long list of demands. They are usually "friends" OR "family" OR people that we have put at a higher position on the "totem pole" because they are "cool" or "nice", OR perhaps we grew up with them... Point is, they have managed to gain a "soft spot" with you. Because of the unique relationship that you and the Python Client may have, you find yourself extending to them a discount or some grace as it pertains to their budget. AND though you know this is a BIG business "no no" you do it anyway... Well this is where it CAN get crazy. I say CAN because it does NOT always end up this way... BUT it can...
You KNOW the list of demands is far outside of the level of commission that you have charged, yet you still go with it...
More times than not, when you discount your art, you are setting yourself up for a python situation. A BIG part of the problem rest with the list of demands. You KNOW the list of demands is far outside of the level of commission that you have charged, yet you still go with it, and when the commission runs out, and the demands keep coming, you quickly start to feel the squeeze of the python. This "squeezing" takes you from doing art, to just "doing" and it's the "just doing" that eats away at your passion and it's the death of your passion that ultimately starts to kill you.
This is TRAGIC at the least, and dismal at best...
I have had many friends who were amazing Revolutionaries, mind blowing Artist with the capacity to produce amazing works just QUIT because the income they were making was NOT adding up to all of the demands that they were having put on them. This is TRAGIC at the least, and dismal at best... The key is leveraging the commission vs the demands while finding balance in the heightened state of the relationship, and sometimes the solution boils down to saying one word...
No.
My coach and colleague, Coach Charrise McCrorey is a master at saying no. In-fact she had me execute a week of saying "no" 50% more than I said yes to potential projects. If the project did not fit my fee structure, and more importantly, the style of how I executed my art, I had to say "no" to the opportunity. EVEN when my emotions would kick on, and my desire to see my friends go to the next level started to leak in, I had still had to say "no". This may sound selfish at first glance, BUT I am willing to bet you, that if YOU are not executing your artistry on behalf of those who may get a little "shifted" at the idea that you would not discount your art OR break your rules, they are going to find someone who WILL discount and break rules. Saying no 50% more than I said yes (which is something I still do...) bought me to a point where I was...
COMPLETELY LIBERATED.
The second solution is rooted into charging fairly for your art. If your fee is 120.00 an hour, it's not 60.00 an hour, it's not even 75.00 an hour... It's 120.00. Period. By making a deal with your art, that you will not sell it short, and you make it BIBLE that you live up to THAT covenant, that DEAL, then the deals that you make outside of THAT relationship will be healthy.
"The FIRST relationship that you have to be willing to die for, when it comes to your art, is the relationship that you make with your art as it pertains to how you conduct trade with it..."
Closing Thought...
Python Clients can ONLY be pythons when you give them the power to be. Always be willing to look at the list of demands that the client presents and charge fairly. If the client does NOT have the budget to acquire your art, you owe it to your art not to sell it short. You have a relationship with your art that you have to maintain. If you don't... You may find the passion that you are your art shares dwindling away. The first relationship that you have to be willing to die for, as it pertains to your art, is the relationship that you make with your art as it pertains to how you conduct trade with.
your art is not confined to your hands...
I am under the belief, now, with the advent of fresh new ways to share and spread ideas, that your art is not confined to or BOUND to the capacity of your hands... The way that you view the world with your mind, and your translation through sharing your view, your truth rather it be by way of a shared link, or blog post of another artist artistry, is also a divine expression of your own creativity... Your art."




