This is a story about what happens when humans do not value creativity. This a case of a person not being coachable, not willing to learn the 86 essential sales and marketing questions and DO whatever it takes over long periods of time create and write a simple plan of action that gets you a the sales, or any other result you want.
It’s not about the logo. In stark contrast to what you are about to read, ask someone at Google or Amazon what they paid for their logo.
I was speaking with a business owner a few months ago. Richard, not his real name, was giving me his life history, mostly focused on the business and financial success he had working as a finance guy. On this day Richard’s business is not going so well. This is why he called me. Richard believes I can fix his sales and marketing problems.
After about five minutes talking with Richard I get the clear sense he’s got the emotional intelligence of a rock. He seems bright, sure. But not in an emotionally intelligent way. He’s in his mid-sixties, gray hair, soft spoken. I wonder how a guy like this can actually build and sell anything for millions. He’s telling me he’s rich. I don’t get it.
Man On A Mission
I’m on a mission to help business owners get what they want. I’m a self-employed, contract VP of digital marketing and sales. I’m really a salesman who got frustrated working with marketing people over the decades. So I jumped on the hood of the digital marketing bus in 2006 and made a business out of it.
It’s not long before Richard begins to complain about what’s not working for his business; marketing, lead generation, sales website, etc. It all boils down to his website really. Richard needs customers and cash flow. But first he needs a website and story to tell and sell. And he needs it fast and cheap. No pressure.
If it were easy for people to start a business, find customers and make a profit, more of us would be doing it. But the failure rate is extreme. Owning a business is not for the weak of heart. As if owning a business isn’t hard enough, the rules of marketing engagement changed when the Internet rolled in. There are 10,000 reason why being a business owner is insane, for people like me. It beats a day job.
New technology freaks people. Creating content too, because generating great content for websites, blogs and more is tough work. It’s creative and technical work. It’s not enough to just write. We must put the writing to work inside the tech! Take all the elements of sales, marketing, team and tech and it’s often too much for most people to learn, know and manage. Sales, marketing, team and tech is a team sport, which is why my business is booming.
Why The Pain?
Why are so many business owners, CEOs, sales and marketing executives losing their minds trying to make sense of digital, content and search engine marketing? First, they don’t know what they don’t know. This means they usually get their asses handed to them when they invest in marketing and technology. And there aren’t enough great people to help. The digital, content and marketing automation business has one of the most serious wars for talent ever seen. And it’s only going to get worse.
There aren’t enough creative people in the business world who “get it.” What business owners and companies need today is action planning that integrates sales, marketing, your people and tech. These pillars of profit are not silos unto themselves. Today’s marketing plans must align with sales, people and tech. No wonder I love my job most days.
As if being in business for yourself isn’t tough enough. All marketing, sales, people and tech serves a purpose. Having a website or logo is just the beginning. Business owners need sales. Unless you’re a non profit. Or need tax losses.
Richard desperately needs more than a website now. He needs a new logo, new copy, and most importantly, to distribute a “story” in the form of creative content that his customers will find attractive. He needs it all to produce a result. Once Richard gets these new, essential marketing elements in place, he will need more articles, social media content, new LinkedIn contacts, and customers. Richard, like the rest of us, has to “feed the content marketing machine” to keep his customers coming in. Mostly, like all small business owners, Richard needs a paycheck.
Complaining Instead of Creating
Richard is complaining about his website for a very simple reason; he built it himself, 12 years ago. Because Richard designed and built his own website, and the logo he created using Microsoft Word, and little else, the website has no traffic. Even worse, the first page would likely cause a gag reflex, rather than create interest in his company. I’m not sure if it would be the shock and awe of how ugly the site is, or the logo, “Captain Finance, Low EQ” decided to create himself, 12 years ago. Probably both.
I attempt to see Richard’s website on my phone. I can’t. It is a “non-responsive” website. Responsive websites didn’t exist 12 years ago. Then Google changed the rules again. Richard doesn’t know this. Today, “responsive design” is the de facto standard if you want your website to be functional. No website today is effective unless it will adapt to various mobile devices. Richard’s website is barely visible. This is not good for sales, or Richard’s income.
Focusing on mistakes doesn’t help the creative process because it’s fear-based. Fear cripples creativity. Complaining never helps. Take the wreckage of your past and put it to work. Yes, let’s create our way out of this mess! We can do it.
What Are Your Goals?
I ask Richard about his goals, ideal prospective customer, sales process, and other essential things I need to know before I agree to work with any client. If the goals are vague or weak, I am less likely to want to help him. If he is honest, motivated and willing, I want to help. Then we begin co-creating. It’s never just me or a single creative who produces the best result; diversity rocks when it comes to creation.
As I listen to Richard and debate the pros and cons of working with him I remind myself why I do what I do; I love creating. I love to write, teach, coach and consult. Thirty years ago I made it my professional purpose to be self-employed. I’m still here helping business owners create the new futures they see for themselves. I’ll work like this until the day I die because I want to help small business owners succeed.
I choose to serve people who want to help others. I choose to serve people who are honest, real and coachable. I don’t want to help people make money for the sake of making money. This is why I always ask a prospective client, “Why do you do what you do?” I want to know your purpose because when you carry a higher purpose with the intention of making the world a better place, I’m all in. Especially when they will pay me for performance results!
The Big Question
After about an hour getting to know Richard, I’m doubting I can help him. Sure, he needs someone like me to write a marketing and sales action plan, hire and manage a new website professional, write buckets of new copy and get the branding dialed in. (Yeah, Richard did his own branding and wrote all his own copy, too.) Richard needs a part-time digital marketing guy like me to drive his marketing and sales bus.
Later, I suggest Richard get a quote for the new logo and I introduce him to a great designer I know. The logo needs to happen before the new website design. My friend quotes Richard $300 for a new logo. My friend is doing me and Richard a favor. I know it, my buddy knows it, but Richard doesn’t.
I realize this when Richard asks, “Why should I pay $300 for a new logo?”
I pause, attempting to breath like the Buddha so I will not get upset. My breathing technique doesn’t work. I blurt, “Because that’s one hell of an amazing designer who is doing you (and me) a favor by charging you a fraction of the cost to produce a quality logo; it’s the cornerstone of your brand!”
This is the same guy who designed and built his own logo and dysfunctional website 12 years ago. I don’t expect him to understand that $300 is a steal for this creative talent.
Richard doesn’t get it. Remember, Richard has zero emotional intelligence; a rock. I’m doing my best to deal with it. He mumbles, “Okay, I guess that makes sense.”
Lesson Learned
In the end, I chose not work with Richard. We parted ways. Because asking me that question was only the beginning of what is a complete and utter disregard for creative talent. This put me over the top. I knew then that no matter how much I wanted to help Richard, he was not ready to be helped. Nobody can coach the uncoachable, especially when they can’t appreciate the value of creativity.
I share this story with all the love in my heart because this is a HUGE lesson for all of us. This is not an unusual circumstance. In fact, it happens all the time. Every creative person I know tells me the same thing; business owners ask for free work. Only a fool will ask or provide this for long. A wiser professional will have learned the lesson that asking for or providing free work is never good for the client or the creative. It doesn’t work because there is never enough alignment or commitment to get the hard work done. Unless it’s charity.
Why is it so hard for some people to appreciate the power of creativity? Perhaps it’s their life-long curse. Surely, we’d be long gone by now were it not for creativity, empathy, and compassion. Creativity drives all disruption, innovation and change. Every form of art sustains and inspires humanity; music, paintings, books. Without art we’d all be dead. Most art comes from living through pain.
Wisdom
The older I get the more I embrace the diversity of all the creative, outlying misfits like me who get to do what we love. We wake up and create the business and life of our dreams. Yes, we live through occasional, mortal combat fought in our minds when we create our art. But it is deep suffering, desire and transformation that drives the most creative among us. Yes, we are crazy and we love it.
Part of me gets angry when people disregard the power of creative talent. The success of the world lies in the hearts and minds of people who create. To ask, “Why should I pay $300 for a new logo?” is simply a sign of low or no emotional intelligence. This is why Richard decided 12 years ago to design his own logo, build his own site. He does not honor the power and essential value of creativity.
Not valuing creativity is tragic. I am learning to have more compassion for people like Richard. It must suck to have little creative power or reverence for it. Think of the joy and beauty, the conflict of the heart and mind, that thrives inside the creative. In most cases, creative people carry extreme emotional intelligence. We feel more. We sense what is because we learn to think more with our hearts than our heads. We can’t seem to change the Richards, no matter how hard we try.
True creatives, like healers, know that our work is not “of us” but, “through us.” Creatives like me learn to tap into the collective consciousness of the Universe. This is the source of all creation, even though I don’t completely understand how it all works. People like Richard have no clue about this. I wish they knew. Nobody can teach them.
Being creative is beautiful. Being emotionally intelligent is a gift. I won’t work with people who can’t appreciate the value that gift. Because the real answer to Richard’s question about why he should be pay next to nothing for a logo is because he doesn’t have the creative power to design it himself. If Richard wants a new logo, website, compelling copywriting, customers, cash flow and a paycheck, he needs to pay for it. And be happy about it.
Poor Richard
Richard will continue to have no paycheck until he values the talents of others. This is not likely to happen in his lifetime because he will never know what he does not know. Richard is not coachable. He will abuse those foolish or inexperienced enough to serve him for too little or free, because he doesn’t want to know what he doesn’t know.
This is the tragic, high cost of not appreciating the creative, outlying misfits among us. Richard can’t understand that investing a few thousand bucks in a new logo, story and website could make him millions. It is possible to create the small business and life of your dreams. I’ve lived it and it was not easy at times. I have to constantly keep creating.
What is the right price to pay for creativity? There is none. Beauty is subjective, in the eyes of the beholder. The best of the creatives among us embrace the infinite value of creativity. All of us must be happy to pay for creative talent.
Here’s a suggestion if you want better results for your business and your life. When it comes to creativity, don’t be a Richard.