While we strive for the respect that is easily assigned to the other professions, we must acknowledge that we are different. We aim to bring to our enterprise the business savvy that they bring to theirs, but we know we can never be them. We didn’t choose our craft; it chose us. And we were never in this for the money. Even though we can no longer deny the importance of it, it is still not money that drives us. Profit is the proof of the worth of our enterprise. It validates our gifts and gives us the strength to make our mark on the world, and that is all we have ever wanted. Like all creative people, we only seek to create, and in doing so, somehow change the world.

We aimed this high in the early days of our practice, but then got buried in the minutiae of running a business. Perhaps we started to believe the lie that to get new clients we had to sacrifice a little bit of self-respect. We occasionally found ourselves groveling. Too often, we did adequate work for poor money for people who didn’t value us. The acts of creating and problem solving bring us fulfillment, but the struggles of running a creative business often push us further from our lofty goal. How can we harness our gifts to change the world if they are so common or undervalued that they must be given away for free?

The Return of Vision

What we once saw as a battle with our clients we now see as a journey of personal transformation. One proclamation at a time, the fog lifts, the path becomes clearer and soon success appears possible, then inevitable.