11 Unglamorous Things About Being a Creative Business Owner

If you started a creative business and you’re at the point of experiencing all the 2am work nights and all the unglamorous moments of being a creative business owner, first let me say CONGRATULATIONS! No really, that means you’ve put in the work and you’ve transitioned from a hobby to an actual business! You go Glen Coco! If you’re just starting out, that’s awesome, I hope I can help you with any tips and tricks and ideas along the way.

If you’re lucky, you have a business partner or anyone on your team who can help you with tasks like marketing, photography, social media, shipping, etc. Or, like many of us, you are a Solopreneur. That’s a one (wo)man team for ANY and ALL tasks having to do with your business. There is no one to delegate tasks to or bounce last minute decisions off of, it’s all on you. It can be very stressful and exhausting; but hey, that’s business. You need to develop resilience to be a business owner. That’s why I’m here today to tell you 11 unglamorous things about being a creative business owner. It’s better you go into this journey not thinking it’s all not having to go into an office and peaches and rainbows. Let’s jump in.

1.Taxes & Finances

This is my number one because, well it sucks. As a creative entrepreneur what’s your favorite thing to do? I’m guessing your craft? Duh, that’s why you started your business! You deeply love your craft and believe in your skills as a maker that you said “I can make this into a business”. It’s easy to get excited, dive head first into your new business then March roles around and you remember you have to file and pay taxes. Meaning learning how to file and pay business taxes. Learn early, not the week before taxes are do, it helps a lot. (I’ll write a post soon about how to pay LLC single member taxes and what paperwork you need. Something I would have paid so much money for!)

2. Finding your manufacturers (OR having to reconfigure your printer)

This will differ depending on what you create but as you grow your business you’ll most likely reach the step where you have to find a manufacturer. This means A LOT of research and trial and error in finding someone who will help you expand into the next level of your business or help you create a product that you couldn’t on your own. For example, my tea towels, while I hand paint the designs, I use a small family owned company to print my designs on the tea towels and send them back to me as a finished product. I don’t manufacture or sew the tea towels and I don’t have the printer to print on fabric therefore I had to find someone who could.

Reconfiguring: This may seem silly. But if you print anything yourself (greeting cards, art prints, etc.) than you’ve more than likely gone through the torture of a Mac update messing up how you print or a new ink coming out completely different. It takes days, even weeks, to reconfigure your settings, paper inputs, levels and ink colors. Once you can expand out of printing items yourself, DO IT. I promise you it will save you so much time and money in the long run.

3. Bad decisions are all on you

When you work for a company, there is a chain of command and multiple people to help make big decisions. When you own your own company, especially if you’re a one woman team like myself, you not only have to make all the decisions by yourself but if it’s a bad decision? That’s all on you.

4. No money

Prepare to have a lot less to no money. Unless you inherited some rich aunt’s fortune, your bestie is the buyer for some big store, or you invented something everyone needs (but this is about creative businesses and as much as we love our crafts, they’re most likely not solving any issue) you’ll probably be broke for awhile. Money will be TIGHT. Pressure cooker tight. To start a business you have to invest, and like most, you’re company will be self funded. That’s your savings and likely keeping your day job for a while to pay bills.

Your monthly manicure in a year is $360 you could put into your new website. You’re dining out and shopping spree’s are $1000’s you could put into product materials. You’re starting a business and that business requires money so be prepared to live with less money for the first few years. Just prepare yourself that in order to make money, you have to spend money. It will be worth it when you earn those luxuries back through your business succeeding.

5. Hauling

Most likely if you’re a creative business owner you’re selling physical products. This means your lugging around products, packing and unpacking monthly for shows, bringing products to shop owners, and in general just constantly hauling products around with you. This does get better down the road. As you grow you don’t have to do as many craft shows and you’ll likely have a shipping account as part of your business expenses.

6. Loneliness

To be totally honest, running you’re own company can be really lonely. There’s no group lunches, no friendly chat around the office, or Christmas party to look forward to. At least until you build your own team. Most likely for the first 3+ years you’ll be on your own and it gets really lonely at times. I try to work at least one day at a coffee shop (just to talk to strangers) and plan family and friend times throughout the month. If you know other business owners, connect with them whenever you can! It’s really great to have someone else to talk to who knows what you’re going through or you can bounce ideas off of.

7. Optimizing photos

I swear with every website, application, product submission, craft show etc. everyone has a specific photo size, uploading process, and editing requirements unique to them. This means having the same photo of your product sized and optimized in 15 different formats.

The good news is, once you’ve been doing this long enough, you have more than enough to choose from and you’ll start to find you already have the size/dpi. someone is looking for in your files.

8. Reading contracts

If you don’t have a lawyer for your business, which almost none of us starting out do, it’s important to learn how to read contracts. Whether you’re signing a contract to bring on a new shop, contract to do a mural, or contract with a client, you have to know exactly what you’re getting into.

9. Lunch hunched over your computer

Many days will be a blur. A lot of late nights, a lot of where did the day go?, and a lot of lunches eaten hunched over your computer. You’ll look back and be proud of your commitment.

10. Family and friends will likely not understand

Whether it’s the social aspect or the fact that you told you parents you’re going to essentially “paint for a living” it’s really hard for most people to understand. Firstly, you need to explain to them boundaries. Just because you work from home doesn’t mean they can call whenever and ask “what are you up to?”. You also need to understand where they’re coming from too.

Most people were raised to go to college then find a good job and stick it out until retirement. So starting your own business, especially around a craft is difficult to accept. Use this opportunity to prove yourself! Show them art isn’t just a hobby.

I include this in my 11 Unglamorous things about being a creative business owner because it’s important to establish yourself as a real business owner and learn early how to brush off comments about not being able to make a living from your craft.

11. Never ending

When it comes to owning your own business, whether its a creative or any other kind of business, the work is truly never ending. That doesn’t mean you can’t take breaks but it’s not like big companies that when you go on vacation your co-workers pick up the slack. If you’re not working, nothing’s getting done. You could see this as a negative or focus on the positives you’ll get out of being your own boss. Creatives are already the kind of people who can’t sit and watch tv without doing something with our hands or feel the need to draw or paint or sculpt in our free time. So while the work may seem never ending, when you love what you do, work mode is enjoyable.

Owning your own business is not for everyone. There are many ups and downs; these are just the 11 Unglamorous Things About Being a Creative Business Owner that I’ve personally experienced. It is a serious hustle and grind day after day. You have to be your own pr company, cheerleader, financial advisor, shipping expert, and many many other rolls. You must be willing to put in the time and effort not only into your work but yourself. This isn’t the kind of job you’re getting paid for just for showing up Monday-Friday 9-5pm. It’s a lifestyle. If you’re all in, it’s so worth it. It’s why I eat breath and live Teluna. Good luck my fellow creative entrepreneurs!

Find more business tips here: FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Luckily there are plenty of things you can do to make it easier to run your own business. If you’re a creative business owner looking for a few pointers, check out these:

• Ensure that you have the right business account, (compare services and look for an account that offers lots of useful benefits and features).
• Listen to creative business podcasts, (here you’ll find plenty of inspiration).
• Use content creation tools to help you with marketing.
• Collect plenty of customer feedback (you can use this to improve).
• Attend creative business networking events (collaborations can help you grow).