Here I am with two of my favorite small business owners, Angel from Sevenality and Melissa from Jelly Design Studio.
Misery loves company but so does creativity. I’ve always found myself drawn to other people who are creative and having creative friends has always been important to me, but over the past year, I realized just how important creative friendships are to your success and well being. As an entrepreneur, there are certain things that some people will simply not understand about your life but friends that are creative or entrepreneurs themselves will most likely understand.
Your Crazy Schedule
Other creative people will understand your need to sometimes work at strange hours during the night and small business owners and entrepreneurs will understand your long hours and booked weekends. Friends with “normal” schedules sometimes won’t understand why you can’t make it out on Friday night because of a deadline that you gave yourself.
Constructive Criticism
I have amazing friends and family members who will sing my praises for just about every image I create. Even though it feels great to be on the receiving end of all that praise, I have to admit that they all have a biased opinion and a limited knowledge of photography. My creative friends however, sometimes sing the opposite of my praises. When I ask a creative friend for some creative criticism, they will give it. Although it is not always easy to hear that something you worked so hard on may not be as amazing as you think it is, it is important to hear different opinions so that you can grow to be a stronger and better artist. A good creative friend will give you kind criticism and ideas for improvement.
Support
I’ve been working in the wedding industry in some capacity since 2009. I knew that I wanted to use my knowledge of all things wedding related and my passion for all things equality related to do something good in the wedding community. I had been thinking about starting Equal and Forever for awhile but I was unsure if I could do it properly. When Bobbi came to visit me last Spring, I told her about my idea for Equal and Forever. I had only told my husband and my brother at this point so I was nervous about putting the idea out there. After hearing my entire plan for the blog, she said to me, “Charisma, go home and buy the domain name right now.” I respect her so much as an entrepreneur and a creative and her confidence in me is exactly what I needed to remember that I am fully capable of running Equal and Forever and Charisma Moran Photography. I am so happy she was there to support me when I needed it and that I followed her advice!
Someone Who Fully Understands
Sometimes your business is going through growing pains, or perhaps you have taken on a demanding client that is making you reconsider owning your own business. Maybe you have been stressed out and you are having trouble coming up with any new designs or possibly, you are having what feels like never ending issues with your equipment. Having a friend in a creative field that fully understands what you are going through can be helpful and almost necessary. I am blessed to have an amazing group of close friends who will listen to me when I need to rant, hold me when I need to cry, and say all the right words when I need to laugh. However, there is something to be said about the way I feel after grabbing tea with Angel or Melissa. Not only will they be sympathetic to whatever I am going through, but they will be able to completely understand and relate to it. Although they are designers and I am a photographer/writer, so many aspects of entrepreneurship and the creative process overlap. Whether it is clients, taxes, a new business plan, or a brand identity crisis, they will definitely understand it and they may have possibly lived it.
