From the very beginning, we were driven by some bold ideas. We were taught in school that the artist’s place in the world was special. We were encouraged by our teachers and fellow students to live the dream, to surrender to our passion and revel in the nobility of our craft. Absent among these early encouragements, however, was any discussion of money or basic business practices. We were never taught to address the very issue of sustainability: how to ensure our practice thrives so that we may keep doing what we love for as long as it moves us.

There is nobility in our craft. There is a special place for those with our skills of seeing and creating. When we commit to building an enterprise around these skills, however, we must also commit to acquiring another set of skills that will allow our enterprise to thrive. Let us dream the dream but also be practical enough to make The Difficult Business Decision, and let us make a habit of barging headlong into the sometimes-undesirable tasks that must be done if our enterprise is to thrive. Dreams alone are not enough.

Selectivity is Power

When we express our resentment for the client who does not value us, we are really expressing our self-loathing for not being able to walk away from him. We must accept that the bad clients and the ridiculous selection processes are not going away. Those that expect us to work for free as a means of proving our worth are not suddenly going to disappear. It is, after all, the client’s money. He can employ any means he likes to select someone to help him, no matter how absurd or insulting. We can only control how we respond. The power we wield is the power to walk away.

There is always another, better opportunity behind the one facing us. If we cannot see it, we must at least believe it. In following the twelve proclamations we will leave the poor clients to our competitors, and in this way acknowledge that the free-pitching problem is never going away—it is only going away from us.