Creative careers can be incredibly rewarding. They can also be thankless, underpaid, and even downright discouraging.
What defines the difference between success and failure in the creative industries? Or between success and “not-success,” that gray area in which creatives make a decent living but never achieve the breakouts they dreamed of in the beginning?
People like Vic Mignogna, a multi-talented actor, musician, voice artist and producer, know exactly what it takes to find success in this business. They also know that “success” looks and feels different depending on who you talk to, and that it’s not always easy to reconcile with your expectations.
Here’s what Mignogna and his fellow creatives believe are the seven keys to success in whatever creative pursuit you choose to follow.
1. Identify Your Top Creative Strengths
You probably have an idea of your top creative strengths already. However, it’s important to examine them in depth before you launch your creative career in earnest.
There are several reasons for this.
First, time is of the essence. Building any career takes years, but this is especially true in the creative industry, where projects can take months or years and you only get so many shots at success.
Second, identifying your strengths helps you hone your creative brand early. Just as in any business, creatives with strong, easy-to-understand “brands” are more likely to earn opportunities to advance.
Finally, identifying your strengths will help you plot your own path to success. Rather than focus on any opportunity that happens to come your way, you can be intentional about your choices and expend less energy on dead ends.
2. Don’t Write Off Pathways to Success Too Early
You can identify and focus on your top creative strengths without writing off pathways that could lead to success. In fact, you should do both.
Why? Because early in your career, you won’t have the luxury of picking and choosing projects to work on. You’ll need to pay the bills before you build the sort of reputation that allows you to say “no” to anything you’re not deeply passionate about. Until you get there, it’s best to keep your options open.
3. Develop a Distinctive, Vibrant Brand
Creative professionals like Vic Mignogna know that these days, a strong brand is a key ingredient to creative success. Like them, you need multiple digital touchpoints that allow your audiences (and future employers) to find your work and learn more about who you are as a creative personality. Invest as much time and care in developing this brand as you do in your paying work, because the former will lead to more of the latter.
4. Find a Creative Mentor (Or Three)
In any career, a dependable mentor is an important key to success. Having more than one is even better.
Because the creative industry is difficult to break into and can be downright lonely for working professionals, finding such a mentor can be a tall order. To increase your odds of developing a productive, lasting relationship, treat every contact with more experienced professionals as a two-way audition for the role. If and when you find someone you click with, keep them close.
5. Set a Strict Schedule for Yourself
Time is the most important variable in any career. As we’ve seen, it’s even more important for creatives. Larry Rosen, a psychological researcher who has written extensively about productivity and time management, argues that the key to making the most of your time is setting a realistic but strict schedule with an eye toward reaching your longer-term goals. It’s a simple idea that we too often lose sight of.
6. Be Prepared to Fail (Often)
If you’re reading this, it’s possible you’ve already learned this lesson. If not, know that failure is an inevitability for creatives. Sooner or later, probably sooner, you’ll be involved in a dud that you’d rather forget.
When that happens — and it will — the most important thing is to get back up, dust yourself off, and learn from the experience. That way, each failure makes you stronger.
7. Know When to Pivot
Hopefully, it won’t be on account of repeated failures, but it’s okay to decide that the creative industries aren’t right for you. There are many other careers that you’d be good at and that you can learn to love, and there’s no shame in trying them out.
Find Your Creative Superpower
Do you have a creative superpower?
It’s okay if you don’t think so, or if nothing immediately comes to mind when you try to call it up. But if you’re like most people, you have a hidden talent or two, and there’s a very good chance that said talents have more potential than you realize.
Beyond the keys described above, one of the top secrets to success in your creative endeavors is finding and honing these talents. They might not manifest as superpowers right away, but with a bit of practice and lots of discipline, you can make them so. And when you do? You might just unlock a previously hidden pathway to bigger and better things.
