A disgruntled creative commented to me this week that in the creative sector, it's all about who you know, and not about the talent any more. Is he right?
Here's my take on it. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you love meeting new people), success in the creative industries can be a lot about who you know. It makes sense in a way, how can anyone know how good the work is unless they get to see it? Commercial success often relies on good relationship building, so it's best to get in on the ground floor. It's also true that the most successful people aren't always the most talented, but they are likely to be the most ambitious, the most adept at networking, and the most able to maintain their self-belief in the face of rejection. The ironic thing is that the most successful people aren't the ones who always succeed, they're the ones who keep picking themselves up and trying again when it all goes wrong. As creatives, rejection can be all the harder because it feels so personal, a very different situation to someone who sells advertising space or washing up liquid. No-one ever said it was easy, it's just possible to make it work.
Part of what I do as a coach is to support and motivate my clients when things don't always go to plan, and help them to extract the useful information from each experience so that they can be more successful in the end. The reality is that there are a lot of very successful creative people out there, so work out how they are doing it, and apply the same techniques to getting your name out there.
The bottom line is, you can be as talented as you like, but if it's your own best kept secret, you may as well give up now! If it's all about who you know, then get out there and meet the people who matter, you never know which random conversation may turn into something significant. To paraphrase the author Jonathon Safran Foer "if you want to meet someone, you actually have to leave the house`'.
I'm not advocating random sociability however (as lovely as that may be). The trick is to identify your target audience. Who are the people who matter? Where can you meet them? Pick your networking opportunities with care.
Be clear about your goal. If you know what you want, and why, it will allow you to deal with any setbacks, and celebrate each little success as a step along the path.
Be prepared for meeting someone important. Do you have a pitch? An interesting way of talking about what you do? Make sure you know what you want to say, and rehearse as often as you can.
