Are you a starving artist or sleazy salesperson?

Hey passionate creator,

I take my role as a creator pretty seriously. Sometimes a bit too seriously. I'm always honing my craft and I take pride in it. I spend a lot of time executing - coming up with ideas, writing, filming videos, and editing. But as I've been reminded numerous times, creating on its own won't help me to build a business or grow a company.

This tweet sums it up perfectly:

The pendulum in my case definitely swings towards the starving artist. I have an audience and I have plenty of content. I've just not done a huge amount with it. I've neglected things like analytics, distribution, thinking about my offerings and marketing those offerings. This has resulted in creative burnout, not a whole lot of cash, and whilst I get a lot of praise for my creativity, I guarantee you no one is admiring my entrepreneurial spirit.

So if like me, you're a starving artist, here's how you can focus more on marketing:

• Understand your audience. Find out who they are, their problems, and what they come to you for. You might do this by jumping on a call with some of your most loyal fans or by sending a survey. This will help you to work out your offerings and ensure that you're marketing to the right person.

• Get clear. What value do you offer? How do you communicate that value through your content, landing page, and even your social media bios?

• Consider your funnels. You're consistent with publishing content, but what comes next? What's the journey you want your audience to follow?

• Make time for non-creative tasks. I still get stuck on the hamster wheel of creating, but I now schedule time to jump off the wheel to get a good overview of what I'm doing. This might include looking at your analytics to see what's working, exploring new leads, contacting sponsors, or planning for new projects like outlining a course.

Not every creator starves for their art. In fact some go in the other direction completely. I see lots of creators who solely focus on their offerings. They're consistently plugging their courses, coaching services, or paid newsletters. If this sounds familiar and is a category you'd rather not be in, here's how you can get back in touch with the art of creating:

• Get inspired. Find 5 creators whose work you admire. Think about why their work resonates with you and reverse engineer their creations. Then add your own spin to it to get your creative juices flowing.

• Master storytelling. I think a lot of the "art" in creating is telling stories that evoke emotions and connect us with our audiences. How can you improve your content so that it tells a story?

• Go back to the beginning. What part of being a creator do you love? If it's writing, spend some time writing something that's irrelevant to your business. If it's podcasting, be a guest on another podcast where the pressure isn't on you. I recently created a video for someone as a birthday present and it made me fall in love with editing all over again.

Finding the balance between art and marketing is tricky. But that's exactly what you need to do if you want to succeed as a creatorpreneur or solopreneur (or whatever term the kids are using these days).

Justin Moore explores different pricing models for sponsorships, including adjusting your rates for the holidays. But he shows that these models won't give you the leverage you are looking for. Instead there's only question you should be asking brands.

If Dan Koe's tweet about the starving artist and sleazy salesperson resonates with you, you'll want to check out his own strategy for creating content and promoting his offerings.

I made the mistake in thinking that the more I edited my YouTube videos, the better they would do in terms of retention. I was wrong. 

Technology has developed to make things more efficient. So why do we still seem to have no time to get things done? These 3 theories give interesting insights into psychology and remind us to take the pressure off.

These meeting "rules" will help you and your team to use your time and communicate more effectively. You might be sick of hearing Elon Musk and Twitter in the same sentence, but Elon Musk even commented on this with "good thread".

I'm super excited to announce that Creators on Air is coming back! Season 1 was filled with incredible lessons on growing as a creator and building a business from the likes of Ali Abdaal, Alice Lemée, and Gabriel Nussbaum. If you missed it, I did a season 1 round-up so that you can catch up before season 2 is released.

What are your thoughts on creating vs. marketing? I'd love to know any advice you have for striking a better balance!

Stay passionate,

Akta