How long will you susidize your creativity?

By
At a rest area in Iowa

All art is subsidized in the beginning.

All ideas and creative projects are subsidized at the outset.

In business it’s called research and development. Another version is venture capitalism. Angel investors are an iteration.

Subsidizing your children till they’re capable of self sustaining is the most widely practiced form.

Bootstrapping a small solopreneur business is the ultimate subsidy. You take funds you’ve earned or received from elsewhere, combine that with prodigious effort . . . and push forward maniacally until the small biz can sustain itself . . . or you collapse.

Every creative project is subsidized by sweat and money until it succeeds. Or fails. 

Big business will write off its failures. If an investment isn’t paying off within a reasonable timeframe — and all efforts to right the enterprise miss the mark — then executives make the decision to pull the plug on that effort. So they can focus their resources in another direction that offer greater reward.

We as creative individuals often fail to do what business does so well. Periodically review.

I have a writing jones. No amount of reviewing will ever change that.

What does beg review is what I’m writing, the projects I’m working on. How it fits into my life as a family man and art gallery owner and friendship juggler.

I write this post partially for myself — as a spur to review! As a nudge to dig in and analyze. How can we improve our art business? How can we better address the off season? What new legs to the income stool can we create?

I also write this post partially for others I know who’ve put in long years at unsuccessful endeavors. Endeavors that are not soul projects.

How long will you subsidize your project?

If you are the only one subsidizing it, then you can go on indefinitely if you wish. If you are also asking others to subsidize you and your project, then review time with them is a must. Especially family members.

You will always subsidize your creativity in the beginning. If you’re well past the beginning, then it’s always wise to ask if this particular effort continues to be worth your investment.

For you —

 Evan Griffith
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What creators do

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