Business Planning as a Creative Act
What if sustainable business strategy starts with play?
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Lately, I’ve been making my way through Rick Rubin’s The Creative ACT. Rick is a well-known record producer who’s worked with musical acts like Weezer, Aerosmith and Johnny Cash. His thing is that he’s really non-traditional; he’s known for laying on the floor and not saying a word while he listens to new albums. Once he’s suggested a change to a song, he wipes the slate clean and doesn’t refer to that change again. His new book is all about approaching art and life in this non-traditional, open-minded way so you can build something that’s fascinating to you and highly innovative for your audience.
Interestingly, I’ve found his words to be most applicable to business planning and strategy. This might sound wonky to you but hang with me for a moment: I’m hoping I can convince you that working on your business plan is a creative act. Approaching it as such means that business planning becomes play. It’s genuinely fun.
Creativity is defined as “the use of imagination or original ideas.” I’ve also heard it referred to as “fully participating in every moment anew, and seeing limitless possibility.” Typically, creativity involves creation; you’re making something new. That new thing can be intangible, like an idea, or tangible, like a sculpture.
I’d argue that creativity is a life approach rather than a skill. Everyone has the opportunity to be creative because everyone has the opportunity to think outside the box and be present. Most often, though, we think of creativity as something that’s applied only to traditional “art.” But what if we got creative with our business models, too? What if business planning was about using your imagination, fully participating in every moment, and choosing unique ways of working?
I coach creative people — artists, writers, designers, photographers, and beyond. Most of them look nauseated when I mention that we need to do some business planning. Yes, they hire me because they know they need to change something in their business, or they want to make more money, or they’re hoping to diversify. But they dread the actual acts of auditing their businesses and making changes. For most creative people, business planning feels like the opposite of creativity and art. But I think we can take the same approach to both.
This is what I did a few weeks ago: My capacity for work just opened up a bit more. (I wrote about that change last week.) This means I need to look at my business model again and adapt it to meet my family’s ever-changing needs.
Here’s what my business planning session looked like:
Instead of sitting down at my desk and crunching numbers, I dropped my son off at school. I stopped at Barnes & Noble and bought a large, blank sketchbook. I took a hot yoga class, then headed to my local bookstore. The bookstore has a cafe in its attic, so I bought a latte and headed upstairs without my laptop. I took out my notebook, a set of colored pencils, and some gel pens. I read a bit of Rick Rubin’s book, then I read some poetry. (Both of those things tend to get me in a creative headspace.) Then I stared into space. And finally I started to analyze my business model.
I knew, coming into this session, that I needed to define a few things:
I wanted to understand my writing process (especially related to product reviews). I just brought a research assistant on board, and I wanted to figure out how to make best use of her time.
I have an idea for something new that I want to teach freelancers, but I’m still foggy about the form that will take. Is it a course? A book? Another podcast? A live event? I wanted to spend some time brainstorming about this.
My 1-1 coaching practice still feels pretty sticky, and I need to adapt it to better fit my scheduling needs and my clients’ needs. (I also need to raise my prices.) I’ve been avoiding figuring this out, so I wanted to do an open ended brainstorm about all the possible options available to me.
I just finished taking a 6-week class with Nisha Moodley and wanted to memorialize the things I learned from her!
I also hoped to walk away from this session with a 90-day action plan for building that new thing, and for building my audience for this newsletter.
Here’s the creative part: I always come up with more innovative — and more aligned — plans when I work by hand. So I started to draw. I wrote down key quotes that I’d recorded in my phone over the past few months. I created a list of core beliefs and defined my mission. I mapped my processes, took note of things I needed to change, and covered 3 pages with messy brainstorm notes related to pricing. By the time two hours had passed, I was deep in a flow state. I grabbed some lunch, then I kept working for another four hours.
The result was a fully aligned business plan for the next two years. In looking at my notebook, you might not see typical words like “services” and “marketing.” But what I see in the notebook is basically a snapshot of my brain; it’s a business plan that I can follow easily for the next few months.
It’s non-traditional: I defined my vision for my family’s life first instead of leading with my vision for my business. I spent a while figuring out what kind of support I need, and I drew pictures of how that support might feel. I played with words and admired the way the letters looked on the page. I still haven’t quite landed on the delivery method for the new thing I want to teach, but I have a lot of cool ideas. And now I have an incredible handbook — mapped visually — that reminds me of where I’m headed in my business. I spent almost the whole day without any kind of technology.
This is play. It’s art. It’s creativity. It’s making something new. It’s thinking outside of the box. It’s being present, then allowing my brain to wander. It’s business planning for creative people.
I’ll follow this creative session with some practical add-ons, like defining my rates, checking my client list to see which clients are aligned for this next season, and defining my audience’s needs. I’ll eventually map out a marketing plan and work to understand various distribution options for the things I’m making. And I’ll land my schedule desires on my Google calendar.
But all of this starts with creative flow. I can’t build a business that serves my needs if I don’t take time to get into this flow. Why? Because I tend to rely on my rational brain first, and this doesn’t always serve me. I can quickly see that an idea might be “smart.” But when I work offline, I notice that my handwriting changes when I’m working on an idea that has a creative spark. I follow that tide.
Here are some key aspects to this exercise, if you’re tempted to implement the same approach to your business planning:
1. Change your context
I’m in a different headspace when I work at a bookstore, compared to working in my office. Taking myself out of my usual work context allows me to be more playful and creative. Some of my clients will do their business planning in the bath with a glass of wine. Some will rent a cabin in the woods. Some go to the beach. Some take themselves out for a solo fancy dinner, notebook in hand.
How do you know which context is right for you? Pick an option that makes you feel like you’re getting away with something. Choose the one that immerses you that giddy, little kid kind of joy.
2. Prime your creative engines
Notice that I practiced yoga. Then I read a bit of Rick Rubin’s book. Then I read some poetry. Then I went back to my journal and pulled out words or phrases that resonated. It’s important to put yourself into a creative headspace before you begin your work; most of us can’t just dive in immediately.
For many people, priming the creative engine involves reading or viewing art. For others, it could be taking a mindful walk in nature. Fill up your creative tank before you require significant output.
3. Revisit this exercise regularly
You’ll want to revisit your business plan quarterly. I look forward to these sessions, and I start to crave them a few weeks before that quarterly mark hits. Why? Our business change, and they change often. Our needs change, our desires change, our clients change.
Checking in with your desires, approaches, pacing, mission statement, and beyond can help you make small pivots. If you don’t do this, you’ll need a complete overhaul after a few years — which is much harder! Learn to adjust course by 3 degrees, every few months, and you can build something that feels sustainable.
4. Set aside time on your calendar
Put these sessions on your calendar. Don’t book over them. I know it’s hard to see the forest when you’re in the trees, but you need to step back for exactly this reason. I’ve found that if you don’t book these creative sessions on your calendar, they’ll never happen. (Bonus points: Tell someone that you’re doing this, and ask them to hold you accountable.)
5. Before the session, note your desired outcomes
Go into your creative business planning session with a few goals, so you know where to aim your reflective energy. If you currently offer a service that feels pretty miserable, that’s the thing you’ll want to brainstorm. What else could you do with that service?
If you feel like you don’t really know where you’re headed with your career, your creative work is to define your vision and mission statement.
I like to build this “stuff to figure out” list in my iPhone Notes app over time.
I could spend almost every day playing with business models in this creative way. It doesn’t feel like work to me! When you play with your business, you’re thinking expansively about your approach, your structure, and the projects that are emerging as potential priorities. The results are so, so cool. Even things like rates are creative: How can you meet your needs in the most easeful way possible?
Take out those markers and summon the little kid energy inside you. Then start writing and drawing. So often, we don’t need to take business planning as seriously as we think we “should.” There’s creativity in everything, if we start to expand our viewfinders.
xo,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with non-linear business building and teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here and follow me on Twitter & Instagram!
I love this Jenni! This more gentle, heart-first approach certainly makes biz planning feel a lot less scary. Thank you for the inspiration.