Business vs. Art and the Blurry Line
How to find success in passion projects by working with a strong intention
Artists start from the inside, expressing themselves and reveal hidden truths.
Business people start from the outside and create for a specific customer segment and need.
Creative entrepreneurs ride a Blurry Line between both, seeking both to express themselves and get market validation.
The Blurry Line is a satisfying space with more obstacles than an Indiana Jones movie. The key to avoid trap doors and make it to where you actually want to go is a strong intention.
Art
As an artist you're discovering what's inside you through your work or making a statement. You’re trying to avoid trends, or you’re actively commenting on them. You stay present as the work unfolds into something that’s even mysterious to you. You’re working with spirit. Sometimes you reach people deeply in an unspoken way.
In my own life, I can think of several passion projects that I’ve pursued solely for the art.
In 2009, I was living in Mexico City when the swine flu H1N1 virus hit. My sculptor friend and I went out to make a mockumentary style photo series of him wearing his resin sculpting mask, but then stuffing a sandwich in his face at the park. It struck a chord with the absurdity of that time and It ended up on the NY Times.
Business
Business is the opposite of art. You’re working from the outside in. You're seeking to find out what people want. If you don't reach people profitably you've failed. If your investment money runs out before you’ve shown you can serve a big market, you’ve failed. Go back to the beginning and make things people want and reach them profitably.
A great way to successfully launch into business is finding an underserved market and delivering something irresistible with high margins, IP, and proprietary distribution.
I’ve taken the purely business path a few times in my life where I needed to raise funds to keep pursuing the lifestyle of my twenties.
In 2015 shopify was growing, and I could see there was unmet demand for apps to augment its functionality. I picked a specific problem, created an app, later gave it to someone to run, and five years later we both had an exit (I’m making it sound easy for the purpose of this article, but it’s not… 😎 ).
The Blurry Line
You come up with an idea, product, service that is exciting to you. You think other people may want it too and you’re excited that it could be a business. You develop it fanatically on faith investing your time and money. Forget market research… This is an awesome idea and people have to love it.
You launch it. You’re already farther than most folks.
You may fail or succeed, depending on luck, connections, runway, and your awareness to adjust as you go.
If it’s a success, you deal with the growing pains of turning it into a business. You are no longer an artist, you're a business person. Hiring, agencies, systems, legal & accounting. It’s still satisfying because the source is something authentic and meaningful to you.
More likely than not, your idea fails. You pick up some lessons, and apply them to the next project.
Most of my projects end up in this category. I remember creating a product called Mixcard in 2013. It came from a spark. Why don’t we bring back mixtapes and put them as playlists on postcards with a QR code. Aha! lightbulb! fireworks!
I worked on this project for at least 6 months, until I learned about distribution.
Businesses don’t work unless you can acquire customers profitably. The product didn’t fit under any specific customer need. I wasn’t a good fit with my cofounder to keep moving through obstacles. Lessons learned. Next thing.
How to Ride the Blurry Line
Many people think the Blurry Line isn’t the best place to be. However it’s a very satisfying and exciting space. It’s the area many creatives exist in. You’re holding a delicate balance of expressing your deep ideas and connecting with others, while also finding a way to create a living.
This is the realm of shark tank, side hustles and passionate inventors and even some tech startups. We love these stories of passion and risk turning into success: Chobani, Burt's Bees and Numi tea.
We want it to be true that this is the way to be successful and not by doing boring marketing research.
The key to approaching the Blurry Line is intention and awareness
If you need to support yourself and have a short time line, this may not be the place to play. Think about working backwards from a market and building something a specific customer segment definitely wants.
There is nothing worse than running a failing business that’s supposed to be a passion project.
If you're creative, and want to exist between the Blurry Line of business and art, keep honestly expressing yourself as your business grows. Or consciously let it be a business and find another outlet.
You can also explore Ikagi, where your passions intersect with other important desires. According to the government of Japan, it’s the secret to a joyful life.
However, In the Blurry Line is the biggest chance of lost intention. Forgetting what you're in it for. Your passions don’t have to overlap with your profession.
Starting with a passion project that turns successful and having others encourage you to alter its direction in exchange for scalable growth (Their idea of success).
Or if you’re intentionally trying to build a business, turning away people and stubbornly investing in offerings that don’t work. This is the land of stressed out and grumpy small business owners.
Instead, try working with a clear intention, revisiting it for the weeks, months and years while you work on your passion project. Check in with your initial intention, and be ultra present if you need change it.
Are you in it for the art, business, or are you consciously riding the Blurry Line? What is your self defined version of success?
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