Being a creative entrepreneur isn’t just about what you do, it’s also about how you do it.
But most importantly it’s about who you, as a creative entrepreneur, are or want to be.
Will you create something new and aligned for yourself? Or will you perpetuate the harmful behavior and structures you are trying to get away from?
Because let's be honest, many people are in a really unhealthy (abusive) relationship with their job and possibly (likely) their entrepreneurial endeavor(s).
Leaving a corporate job and/or becoming a creative entrepreneur doesn’t mean because you leave that suddenly all of the patterns, beliefs and habits you internalized to (kinda) survive suddenly leave as well.
Your offerings, your art, your services, your mission statement and your business model will all change and evolve over time.
The most important foundation for creative entrepreneurship is YOU.
Being clear about how to align your unique energetic blueprint with your unique creative entrepreneur blueprint is how you will create a business that makes sense for you; offerings that are in alignment with your soul and who you're meant to be of service to; relationships that are generative and reciprocal; and a lifestyle that supports you vs. drains you.
When you fail to unlearn the tactics and strategies that allowed you to (maybe) survive in corporate, you run the risk of creating a carbon copy of a business and a lifestyle that you most likely were trying to get away from.
I know this firsthand after leaving my corporate job in 2018, starting a coaching practice and a DEI consultancy at the same time also in 2018 and the next thing I knew I had created the exact same structures and stressors I was trying to get away from.
But I also know that when I started to transform myself and the beliefs that were running me, everything else - including entrepreneurship - started to shift.
Below are 10 beliefs to unlearn whether you are just beginning to think about transitioning out of corporate, you are on the precipice of doing so or you’ve already left and want to more fully step into your unique creative entrepreneur blueprint…….or maybe you aren’t thinking about leaving at all and just want to exist differently in your corporate context.
Addressing these beliefs at the root is an integral (and liberating) part of the journey we’ll be on in the Corporate to Creative Cohort, starting June 24th.
his is not an exhaustive list and it’s certainly not one that gets “completed” overnight…..or maybe ever. Because many of these beliefs are deeply woven into our personal and collective DNA as well as with capitalism, this is more of a lifelong untangling.
But the way I see it, regardless of when (or if) you transition out of corporate, unlearning these beliefs is both a commitment to your own liberation and a contribution to collective healing and liberation.
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10 Beliefs to Unlearn Transitioning From Corporate to Creative Entrepreneurship (and just in life)
1.) Your worth is connected to your productivity
This is a recipe for burnout regardless of your occupation. You are worthy because you exist not because you checked every box off your to-do list
When you transition into creative entrepreneurship, it’s important to define what your version of success is because it can actually feel like more pressure to be productive when you no longer have anyone telling you what to do or what your goals are
2.) Grinding is the only way to achieve success
Grind culture isn’t just a part of corporations, it’s a part of all of us.
Success is a product of aligning your own unique energy and your personal values with your actions to create your external world (and therefore your entrepreneurial endeavors), not pushing your body past its limits.
3.) Valuing the Brain Over the Body
Intelligence comes from the brain but wisdom comes from the body. Disconnecting from the body disconnects us from our intuition and the instincts that will lead us in the direction of truth and clarity.
Listing to your body and its signals, understanding your intuition and applying it towards your entrepreneurship is a huge part of creating a business that is not harmful to you and/or who you are looking to be of service to.
4.) Emphasizing Individualism vs. Collaboration
Individualism perpetuates separation, competition and isolation. Collaboration creates connection, interconnectivity and intimacy.
Being a creative entrepreneur is amazing and it can also be really lonely and very challenging (if anyone tells you differently they are lying). Finding, creating, nourishing and utilizing community and collaboration is supportive to not only you and your nervous system but also helps to create an ecosystem of care that can help many people.
5.) 9-5 as the normal working schedule
Every human being has a different energetic blueprint and way of working that’s best for them which may or may not be 9-5 (or more likely 10-8pm).
Despite the fact that it’s potentially painful and draining, it can be really common to just re-create the work structures you’ve always known on the path to Creative entrepreneurship; but it can also be a beautiful time to attune to how you actually function best outside of long held beliefs about work hours
6.) Striving for Results over Process
Focusing on process promotes presence, growth mindset and a sense of wonder with life. Focusing solely on outcomes creates tunnel vision, disconnect & burnout.
You most likely want more of a sense of freedom and fulfillment if you’re on the Creative entrepreneurship path but it can turn into yet another "job" without fulfillment if choosing to just focus on outcomes and results. Re-aligning with the process helps to keep you fulfilled and maintain a broader POV on what’s possible for your path and your business.
7.) Believing Emotions are a Weakness
Tuning into our emotional state gives us important access to our needs, where we may be out of sync and our boundaries. Tuning out our emotions keeps us disconnected from important and possible life-changing truths.
When we learn to honor our emotions (and not become them), we can use this information to help build a path and a business that is not only intuitive but also creates far more ease.
8.) Money Is Scarce (And hard to get)
Everything is energy including money. Money, like energy, is also abundant and limitless. Our negative association with it points to deeper beliefs, generational patterns and/or possible trauma connected to our own safety and self-worth.
Cutting the ties from a steady corporate paycheck can feel really…..jolting (terrifying). But it’s also really liberating to be able to actually heal and define what you want your relationship to money to look like vs. what’s been told or passed down to you.
9.) Separating Spirituality From Business
Regardless of what you believe in, acknowledging a larger force at play allows you to surrender, access to deeper wisdom, creativity and the ability to co-create with life instead of pushing, controlling and fighting against it.
We need all the help we can get in this life and definitely in entrepreneurship. Learning to trust something bigger not only helps with your own building process but also helps to infuse whatever you are creating with truth and life force (vs. ego, harm and trauma).
10.) Creativity is Only for Artists
You are creative because you exist. Every human is born with their own expression of creativity. That creativity may get suppressed but it never leaves, it’s just a matter of giving it proper time, space and attention.
Creative entrepreneurship can mean you are an actor, painter, writer, dancer or singer but it also doesn’t have to mean that at all. There are an infinite amount of ways to look at creativity and how you infuse it within your entrepreneurial path and the most important and defining aspect you bring to it is you.