Top tips for getting unstuck in your creative business when you feel a bit lost or frustrated
So, you're feeling stuck right now in your creative business. You feel like you're at a crossroads, that there’s a big decision to make and you can't move forward in case you make the wrong one. Feeling stuck is never easy to move past, even if subconsciously we do know the reasons why we’re in this predicament. And if you're reading this article then there's a high possibility you haven't felt very creative in your business for a while. I believe the very nature of being an entrepreneur is to be ambitious, have goals in your mind and have a plan that helps you reach those goals. But there might be times when everything seems to fall apart and all you have is fear, frustration and uncertainty – times when you're stuck.
During my time as a business coach for creatives over the last few years, I’ve frequently worked with women who have reached that certain point in their business - whether it’s progressing with launching in the early days, or even 2, 3, 5, 10 years+ in to their entrepreneurial journey - and this is often when they reach out to me for some help overcoming this hurdle.
Reasons for Feeling Frustrated, Lost or Stuck
There can be many reasons for feeling unable to move forward, here are some common ones (you’re not alone!):
Overwhelmed with the tasks needing to be done.
Veering away from your initial core purpose and ‘why’ for your work.
Allowing the business to take you in directions you don’t want.
Unable to progress to the next step financially or professionally.
Reaching the limits of what you can do alone.
Working too many hours.
Lost your creative spark.
Top Tips for Overcoming Feeling Stuck
If you have been feeling stuck for a while, this often leads to procrastination and taking no action at all, but here are my tried and tested methods for overcoming it:
Set aside time to work ‘on’ your business not in it. I like to schedule in a day every 6 months or so to look at the past few months and analyse what I enjoyed, what I didn’t and how I can pursue more of what I love in the next 6 months.
Set goals. Whatever your business setting goals is a vital part of ensuring not only financial success, but personal and creative satisfaction. [More on goal setting in this podcast].
When we start a business it’s usually because we have a passion for sharing our creativity and often other core ‘whys’ - writing a mission statement for yourself and your business and having it somewhere you can see it every day can help keep you focused and prevent you straying too far from your original purpose.
All of us have taken work to pay the bills at some point, this isn’t something to be ashamed of or feel guilty about, but just be sure you are putting in the work to strive for the type of work you do ultimately want - this means paying attention to your core messaging on your blog and social media, not sharing work you don’t want more of, and being proud of yourself for running a business.
Figuring out systems that work (eg marketing, advertising, content creation, selling platforms etc) is tricky, and once we have found success (however big or small) with a particular method it can be scary to step into new opportunities of reaching new customers. But if you are struggling to raise your sales/bookings beyond a certain level for a while, it may be time to start exploring new ways to get your brand out there. The unknown is scary - but you can do it - if you already run your own business you’ve taken the hardest step there is!
You may simply have come up against the the ceiling of what you can do alone - perhaps it is the time to start outsourcing - your time is the most valuable asset you have when you run your own business - protect it and get more of it wherever you can. [More here on outsourcing, when, why and how]. Getting an accountability partner (or coach!) can really help you stay on track - offer a sounding board for your ideas and challenge you to stick to your goals.
It can be incredibly exhausting and make it difficult to focus on the important aspects of running your own business if you are simply working too many hours - again outsourcing could be the way forward, or perhaps re-evaluating the truly profitable and/or enjoyable aspects of your business. Do less but with more purpose.
Losing our creative spark - the energy that drives us to want to work for ourselves in the first place, can be one of the most frustrating and thought-provoking periods in our entrepreneurial journey. It often comes when we are selling our creativity for the first time - the balance between making art and selling it can be a difficult one to reconcile in our hearts. Make sure you spend time creating just for the joy of it - whether it’s for work or not. [More on finding the balance here].
And if it’s just the sheer weight of trying to figure out what needs to be done to run a successful creative business, then try writing a list of tasks and look at them by priority, difficulty and cost - try and carry out 1-2 tasks each week that help you to grow your business step by step. Taking action, however small initially, can really help with moving past your block. And just know that we have ALL been there - it will pass!
If you’d rather have a handy list all ready and waiting for you then you can check out my latest business resource below - 100 ways to grow your creative business in exactly the ways I’ve described above, each ranked for you with examples, the business purpose explained, and helpful tips for how to do them.
