Please get in touch if you have any thoughts
or responses to the subjects I write about, I'd
love to hear what's been useful or interesting,
or downright annoying...
A disgruntled creative commented to me this week
that in the creative sector, its “all about who
you know”, and not about the talent any more. Is
he right?
Here’s my take on it. Unfortunately (or
fortunately if you love meeting new people),
success in the creative industries can be a lot
about who you know. It makes sense in a way, how
can anyone know how good the work is unless they
get to see it? Commercial success often relies
on good relationship building, so it’s best to
get in on the ground floor.
It’s also true that the most successful
people aren't always the most talented, but they
are likely to be the most ambitious, the most
adept at networking, and the most able to
maintain their self-belief in the face of
rejection.
The ironic thing is that the most successful
people aren't the ones who always succeed,
they’re the ones who keep picking themselves up
and trying again when it all goes wrong. As
creatives, rejection can be all the harder
because it feels so personal, a very different
situation to someone who sells advertising space
or washing up liquid. No-one ever said it was
easy, it’s just possible to make it work.
Part of what I do as a coach is to support and
motivate my clients when things don't always go
to plan, and help them to extract the useful
information from each experience so that they
can be more successful in the end. The reality
is that there are a lot of very successful
creative people out there, so work out how they
are doing it, and apply the same techniques to
getting your name out there.
The bottom line is, you can be as talented as
you like, but if it’s your own best kept secret,
you may as well give up now! If it’s all about
who you know, then get out there and meet the
people who matter, you never know which random
conversation may turn into something
significant.
To paraphrase the author Jonathon Safran Foer
“if you want to meet someone, you actually have
to leave the house”.
I’m not advocating random sociability however
(as lovely as that may be). The trick is to
identify your target audience. Who are the
people who matter? Where can you meet them? Pick
your networking opportunities with care.
Be clear about your goal. If you know what
you want, and why, it will allow you to deal
with any setbacks, and celebrate each little
success as a step along the path.
Be prepared for meeting someone important. Do
you have a pitch? An interesting way of talking
about what you do? Make sure you know what you
want to say, and rehearse as often as you can.
Check out my website for links and resources for
networking in the Creative Industries
