Just Start!

Over the past 15 months, we’ve interviewed dozens of entrepreneurs from throughout the arts economy. In the 60+ podcast episodes we’ve released, themes are beginning to appear—and so far, those themes are occurring across all arts disciplines and around the world. The theme we’ll address in this post is the encouragement to take that first step on your journey as an arts entrepreneur.  Or to paraphrase the many responses we’ve received, “Just start!” 

What holds people back from starting? Here are some reasons I’ve been told in conversations with students and entrepreneurs, and my counterpoint: 

• It’s too soon—They don’t feel ready, or their offerings aren’t yet ready to be launched.

Much has been written about the effectiveness of launching a minimum viable product and letting the first customers help to refine it. Just start!

• Fear of negative evaluation—They lack confidence, or are self-conscious their offerings won’t be well-received in the market, or they have a fear of failure. 

Stop ceding your decision-making authority to others! Just start! 
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• Imposter syndrome—Waiting to finish their degree or some other means of “validation” or vetting: essentially waiting for permission or affirmation from others.

There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to start successful businesses. If your offering has value, the market won’t care if you have a degree or some other validation. For example, I’m not a fireman, but if I help someone put out a dumpster fire, didn’t I offer a similar value that one time? Just start!

• They don’t have professional equipment--

The legends in your part of the arts economy, say those who thrived 50 to 100+ years ago, were using “inferior tools” when they were creating their art. Think about the technical advances that have taken place in all industries over the years and what’s available to you today. It’s highly likely that current prosumer, or even consumer, items are at least as good as the professional items that existed 25 years ago. Just start!

• Waiting for optimal conditions--

Optimal conditions rarely exist! Many years ago I knew a very talented young musician.  I’m not sure if it was because his talent came too easily, but he always had trouble practicing or getting started on projects. He could often be found in a coffee shop with an excuse: he was tired, had a busy schedule, his rehearsal space wasn’t motivating, and so on. It was curious to me that someone with so much talent wasn’t doing more in his art… I suppose he was doing what he wanted to do? After all, except for those with extenuating circumstances, people spend their time doing what they want to do. Just start!

• Anchored to a sunk cost such as a degree in a different discipline or time spent in another industry--

Remember this, the only constant is change. Businesses and people aren’t static, they are dynamic.  We change. Things change. Situations change.  All businesses have processes, and those processes are constantly being tweaked, optimized, augmented, etc. We all apply knowledge learned from one experience to another.  Just start!

If you’ve not started your entrepreneurial journey, what’s holding you back? Just Start! You’ll figure it out.

Thanks for reading,
Nick