It might not seem like creativity takes courage.

After all, your life isn’t in danger when it comes to creativity (at least for some of us). And for most of us, getting creative is an enjoyable activity.

However, to share your creativity to the world and put yourself out there takes tremendous courage. It take somebody who has dedication, determination, and most importantly, bravery.

But how do you remain courageous amidst all of the doubts, fears, and naysayers that jump out at every corner? How do you hold onto your faith when the expectations seem hopeless? And how do you keep marching on with your head up high?

There’s many different ways to deal with fear that I’m sure you’ll find on your own pathway to creativity. In the meanwhile here’s some of my own that I’ve learned along my own journey.

1. You’ll never be a true master: While you can be a master at whatever you do eventually, you’ll never have true mastery over something. Which isn’t to sound depressing but rather, uplifting. Because you no longer have to worry and wait until you know how to do everything perfectly. And besides, I think the journey is much more fun when there’s always something new to learn.

2. Stay cool, stay classy: I think this is one of the most important rules and one that I have fortunately followed most of the time. No matter what the critics, haters, and criticizers say, remain calm and collective. If you feel angry or depressed about it, feel that way in your own privacy. But whatever you do, don’t explode out in the public. It can only create more drama. By having class and character, it gains you respect in the end, regardless of what the other said. [Note: You can argue back if you need to. Just make sure that your rebuttal is calm, collected, and cool.

3. You’ve got nowhere to go but up: One of my writing heroes is Stephen J. Cannell. Not because he was born a genius. But rather, he grew up with the notion that he was talentless and not a genius due to his dyslexia. But you know what? It made him a writer. Because he realized that if he was the “worst” writer, then he had nowhere to go but up. And that’s what you have to realize too. That no matter where you currently are at, you have nowhere to go but further on up.

4. Take it with a grain of salt: Don’t let it get to your head, good or bad. If someone gives you a bad review, laugh about it. If someone praises you, nod your head and leave it at that. Because not taking yourself too seriously will keep you from being arrogant and it will also keep you from having a self-depreciating attitude.

5. Love the future, don’t hate it: The future can be a scary place. It’s an area of great expectations but also of great uncertainty. But not knowing what’s in store makes it exciting. Because who knows, perhaps you’ll stumble upon something far beyond your wildest goals. I’m not sure if I’ll achieve my goal to be an author who can make a living at it. But the journey so far has brought me plenty of wonderful surprises and lessons. And I’d rather be open to whatever comes next, then be bitter over not knowing if I’ll achieve my goals or not.

6. The worst that can happen, isn’t the worst that can happen: Imagine the worst that can come out of creativity. Everyone thinks your book is unreadable, your art is an eyesore, or you can’t play a decent chord. You stand there in front of everyone as they laugh and throw tomatoes at you. Now is that bad? Of course it is. You might live like a depressed hermit for a while. But is that the worst that can happen? Are you lying in a hospital bed or jail? No. Don’t get me wrong. If you don’t feel ready yet, practice your craft. But otherwise, try to remember that the worst that could happen isn’t really the absolute worst.

7: You’re never the worst: Just like taking everything with a grain of salt, it’s also important to remember that while you might not be the best at what you do, you’re probably not the worst either. If you have passion and you’re practicing at it, trust me, there’s someone far worse at it than you are.

Rising above your creative fears is not always an easy thing to do. As I prepare to release my own novel Drift on December 10th, it feels like I’m going to need more courage than I ever had before. But you know what? You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. All you need, is just a little courage.

Andrew Cyrus Hudson is a writer as well as a reviewer for ComicAttack.net . Originally from the San Bernardino Mountains in CA, Andrew Hudson now resides in the San Fernando Valley and is planning to move to wherever life takes him next. Along with working hard on getting the word out for Drift (coming out on December 10th, 2011), a mainstream fiction novel mixed in with some elements of horror and even mystery; he’s also writing Strange Happenings, a science-fiction anthology coming out Summer of 2011 and revising Poem for the Wolves, an epic science-fiction novel about relationships, poetry…and explosions.

http://andrewcyrushudson.com
http://andrewcyrushudson.com/drift/
http://comicattack.net/category/journalists/hudson/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=577943880
http://twitter.com/hudsonian

I was searching for successful marketing campaigns online to get inspiration for what I wanted to do to reinvent myself.  I came across this ingenious article by Andrew Kelsall discussing how he came up with his marketing campaign to garner attention using SPAM. In today’s society, it is my conviction that in order to survive you have to get creative. Regardless of you work 9-5 or you are seeking employment it is vital to utilize your imagination. You must adapt to change. Hopefully, this article will inspire you as it did me . . .

This article is dedicated to the Blog Action Day Poverty Fund as part of the Jacob Cass Group Writing Project, together with a PayPal donation. The proceeds go directly to the fund to help stamp out World-wide Poverty. You can visit the official Blog Action Day site here.

Now, for the article…

Image copyright here

A few years ago, when I left the Coventry University School of Art and Design, England, I landed a freelancing contract just a few days after returning home. How? I quite literally spammed some design companies!

STAGE 1: POSTING TINS WITH NO EXPLANATION

The first stage of this marketing campaign was very simple. I posted out empty tins/cans of SPAM meat in the post. After eating the SPAM (it tastes OK on a sandwich — there’s millions of staving people out there, I wasn’t going to waste it), I targeted a few design companies that I would like to work for and stuck a stamp directly onto the cans with their addresses and posted them. Yes, that was it. Just an address with no explanation on the tins.

I repeated this process over several days, until each company I targeted received about 5 tins through the post. Here in the UK, if you post something with a stamp on it, and it’s not hazardous, the ‘posty’ has to deliver it, so the SPAM got through okay.

My hope was for staff at the targeted design companies to ponder the meaning of the SPAM tins. I hoped it would create discussion between team members, with bemusement with each and every can posted to them. I anticipated reactions like this:

What the heck is this? Another tin of SPAM…this is the third one this week! What’s it all about?

Hay you guys, does anyone know who posting this SPAM? If someones playing a joke on me, which one of you is it?

Well, I found out later than I did promote discussions like this…read on…

STAGE 2: POSTING A SPAM-BRANDED FOLDER WITH MY CV

After I had finished posting of the SPAM cans, I waited a day or two, then sent out a folder showing a tin of SPAM on the cover stating “You’ve Been Spammed” (shown in the image below).

The folder was about A5 in size and opened up like a four-page brochure.

When opened, my covering letter and CV (printed on A4 paper) were folded in half and tucked inside the mock-up SPAM can, as shown in the three images below.

This folder was designed to put to rest all discussions and curiosities surrounding my “Spamming Campaign”. My covering letter contained this text:

Title in Spam-Shaped box at top simply said: What?

Dear Sir/Maddam

I am a recent graduate from the Coventry University School of Art and Design seeking employment. As a former student, I’m hard-up and living off SPAM — so your Post-Box has been Spammed rather than your In-box to let you know who I am!

Ok, I’m not really living off SPAM, but I am looking for a job in a company such as yours in this region. I believe that I could be a benefit to you and your clients…[and so on].

STAGE 3: THE JOB OFFER

Well, those curious reactions I was banking on to land me a job was a reality. I was invited to do various free-lancing work at Wobble Design Ltd in Leeds, UK. When I went to work there on the first day, the design team told me the reason I got the job was for my ingenious marketing campaign. They said they were curious to the reasons they was receiving my little empty cans of tin meat, and it promoted many discussions between them and the architecture firm next door!

So, if you’re wanting to stand out from the crowd, be different and do something unusual. If you want a Graphic Design or any other job, just be creative, be different and set yourself apart from the crowd. You never know where it will lead you.

But if you’re fed-up with hearing about SPAM, heres a lovely photo for you instead. Enjoy!

Image copyright here

Have you marketed yourself in an outreagous manner? If so, did it get you anywhere? I’d like to hear your stories…

Some people go their whole lives without considering the prospect of working for themselves. For many, it’s nothing more than a dream;
something to occupy their minds each time they find themselves unfulfilled in their current job. And then, there are the ones that actually go
out and start something: entrepreneurs. It’s an undertaking that’s glamorous and ugly; exhilarating and depleting; the path to wealth and ruin;
all at the same time. So, how about you? This issue, we’ll outline a few things to consider if you’re wrestling with the dilemma of finding a job or
starting business for yourself.

Paycheck to Paycheck vs. Project to Project
One of the most important factors in your decision will be the issue
of money. In most cases, working for someone else means getting a
steady paycheck. While the size of that check may be another issue
entirely, the biggest advantage is its dependability — a consistent
stream of cash you can organize your budget around.
Working for yourself can be a whole different story — especially in
the beginning of your endeavors. Depending on how many clients you
secure, how well their business does, and how much they rely on your
services, you may find yourself in a “feast or famine” cycle of income,
with your bottom line varying quite a bit from month to month.
In the end, the biggest difference from a financial standpoint
is that as a business owner, your financial success, rather than
being dictated by a set salary, is directly tied to the success of the
business. In banking terms, it’s much like the difference between the
old reliable savings account and the thrill ride of the stock market.
And just the same, the latter is not for the impatient, the weak of
heart, or the poor planner.
Each issue, we’ll be analyzing a point of consideration in the world of
the creative professional. We’ll look at numerous factors of everyday
dilemmas, try to see what makes the two sides tick, and offer
some insight on how to best approach issues in your own life.
We are two highly-informed, creative
professionals with strong opinions and
a sincere interest in helping others grow.

Punch-clock vs. Internal Clock
For tax purposes, the distinction between a salaried employee and
a “1099” or freelance worker is the degree to which the employer
dictates their work time and location. While not every employer
will expect you to check in with a punch-clock at 9 am, the
majority will expect you to work on a regular schedule — both in
terms of number of hours and the time of the day.
As your own boss, your hours are only as regular as you choose
to make them. If you’re the type whose creative juices start
percolating sometime in the late night and flow until 3 am, you’ll be in
a prime position to take advantage of your unique bio-rhythms. Of
course, it’s not a total free-for-all. When your client wants you on call,
or needs to meet during their business hours, that’s a request you’ll
have to take seriously. To some extent, as long as someone is paying
for your service, you have a boss to answer to.
Conscious reminders of the way you’re managing your time are
prevalent in the workplace because, as a salaried worker, someone
else has a vested interest in helping you do so. On your own, it’ll
be 100% up to you to develop a routine, track your hours, and
maximize your productivity to ensure you’re earning a living.
Mentorship vs. Control
Control may be hard to come by in the early stages of your
career. If you’re working as a paid employee, chances are the
organization you’re working with will be filled with people who
bring more knowledge, more clout and most importantly, more
experience to the table. It should come as no surprise then, that
these people get a lot of control over what you do on a day-today
basis.
In exchange, giving up control early in your career can bring
opportunities that would be rare, if not impossible, to score on
your own. However, it gets to a point for a lot of us free-spirited
creatives where we just have to try things our way. Call it ego;
call it drive — whatever you label it; you’re not going to want to
be second (or third, or fourth) in command forever. You’ll want
to do it smarter, differently and better than the people you’ve
been groomed by. And if this point comes before you’ve been
able to climb the creative ladder, breaking off and starting
your own thing will be the natural way to quell that hunger.
The impending journey will be filled with growth, a different
kind than you learn from day-to-day mentorship, but arguably
beyond what you’ll ever get working for someone else.
Leadership Learning vs. Business Burdens
A lot of that “different” kind of growth and experience that you
only learn when running a business is just that—how to run a
business. If you’re a creative working for someone else, there’s
a good chance you have very little to do with the business
operations of that organization. Someone else keeps the books,
files the taxes, pays you, pulls in the new business, manages the
projects/clients and takes the financial risks. When you’re running
a business, it’s up to you to do all the administrative things you
might otherwise take for granted — plus your creative work.
Sadly, some great creatives fail when they set out to start a
business simply because, by nature, they’re not savvy business
people. The extra business-related responsibilities can be very
time consuming and seriously eat away at your free time.
Of course there are still significant freedoms involved in running
a business. As the owner or partner, you get to call the shots—
exactly what type of work you do, where you physically work,
who you will (and sometimes more importantly won’t) work
with. To the right personality type, this kind of power makes the
sacrifices well worth the investment.

Morpheus:

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. [to Neo who is choosing the red pill] Remember… all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.