Fiction writers and all artists are creative, but most importantly, they are born leaders. If they weren’t leaders, they wouldn’t begin creating at all. A great artist is someone who keeps improving and gains energy with every new work.
A true artist never stops exploring new ground with their art.
Artists are open to feedback (and feedback is often negative), are resilient in the face of adversity and use all that happens in their lives to improve their self-expression. They balance the challenges of staying true to their vision with commercial viability.
If you’ve been in social media for some time, you probably understand the challenges artists face. Like talented artists, top social media marketers are creative and have a natural ability to lead. Inspired artists share their thoughts freely, without needing a manager or supervisor. They simply follow their instincts.
Be willing to experiment
You probably jumped on social media marketing without any manager or boss telling you to use social media as a marketing channel. As a marketer, you have the innate curiosity to find out how you can shape the new social media channels and like all great artists, you’re not afraid to experiment. You don’t allow trolls to deter you and you keep pushing for your vision for your business or career.
Maybe you’re already inspired by a mentor, a manager or a business person and are seeking to become more like him or her. You have a vision for the life you’d like to create for yourself. You are focused on self-actualization and insist on delivering the best of your abilities no matter what you do. You are in a way, an artist.
The habits
So what are the seven habits of artists who end up enjoying success in their careers? By the way, success can have different meaning to different people. It does not always mean fame, fortune, you know the trappings. It could be the mastery of a particular style, a mentorship or acceptance by a group of people whom one respects highly.
1. Be inspired
Follow those who inspire you. Observe what they’re doing. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. For beginners, visionaries like Steve Jobs, Sir Richard Branson and Arianna Huffington all have biographies that you can read. Once you’ve started there, find out the people they worked with and start following them on social media. Observe very carefully what they talk about, what they share, read, read and read.
2. Connect with others
As you go on reading about those who’ve made a huge impact on our lives, you’ll also observe some of the people they’re inspired by and some people they collaborate with. By all means, connect with these people on social media. Make an attempt to find out what they’re working on. At this stage, start forming a strong idea of how your strengths (you know your personality type, your strengths, skills, weaknesses and what you love to do) can contribute to projects that you’re finding yourself getting excited about.
3. Get Personal
You will get rejected and you will have good and bad interactions with others in your pursuit of strengthening your personal or business brand on social media. Let all of these interactions be a lesson to you. Do not be afraid to be vulnerable. Reveal any weaknesses you felt and how you could improve for next time. Think and express these thoughts on social media in a way that can help others express themselves and objectives better.
4. Get over yourself
I love to throw in the random Prince reference. If you haven’t seen Purple Rain, check it out ASAP. In the movie, Prince is a real dickhead. He bullies his band mates and refuses to look at the songs they write (even though they’ve just written Purple Rain). He strokes his own ego by literally jerking off on stage with his guitar. Don’t be that guy. Write stuff that will be meaningful to others and that also brings me to my next point.
5. Seek collaboration
There are people out there who are possibly doing a better job than you are. Acknowledge and seek collaboration opportunities with them. You will learn so much by working within a team. Yeah, yeah, creating and being an artist is a solitary profession, but consider this, David Bowie is known to have brought out the best in the musician he’s worked with, so seek people who have a knack for bringing out the best in you, and do great work together.
6. Accept that sometimes your less inspired work will be rewarded
I will throw in another David Bowie reference here, my apologies. I’m somewhat obsessed with his career. You will also find that sometimes your most inspired work will not be the one that gets the most amount of attention or attracts the most funding. Ziggy Stardust was truly inspired stuff, as was Thin White Duke, but when we talk about David Bowie’s commercial success, that peaked with Let’s Dance, an album that David Bowie does not consider to be his most inspired work. Such is life.
7. Never stop exploring
No matter how many goals you’ve kicked, how many followers you’ve got, who you know, etc… there’s always got to be something you’re striving for, otherwise you might be on your way out. Find some way to always have something to look forward to. You can.
Take these tips, apply them liberally and see where it takes you. I look forward to connecting.