Reasons Why Creators Fail

[Mondsee]

Hey! Short question:

I was thinking about a friend of mine who is musician and does something quite unique, but he isn't as successful.

He lives well and everything, but it isn't a massive success and also I have the feeling that he doesn't think that what he gets is enough to always make ends meet.

If he is being an original creator, why doesn't he have a bigger success?

He is not new in the field, he is actually a professional and has been dedicating his life to music, and that specific original field I'm talking about literally since he was a kid.

I know you don't know him, and you cannot tell me the exact diagnosis of what is going wrong. But what do you think are potential reasons?

Thanks!

[Prabhaker]

1 hour ago, Mondsee said:

If he is being an original creator, why doesn't he have a bigger success?

If you really want to be creative, then there is no question of money, success, prestige, respectability. Then you enjoy your activity; then each act has an intrinsic value. You dance because you like dancing; you dance because you delight in it. If somebody appreciates, good, you feel grateful. If nobody appreciates, it is none of your business to be worried about it. You danced, you enjoyed – you are already fulfilled.

There have been many creative people who have never been recognized. It is accidental for a creative person to be successful. Creativity means loving whatsoever you do – enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of existence! Maybe nobody comes to know about it. 

[AndreiC]

Poor "marketing" is a likely culprit.

 

Does he network enough with people relevant to his job?

Is he likeable in social settings for people who don't already know him.

Is he good at negotiating? This is a pretty big one. I suffer from it myself.

 

In my experience it's this type of stuff that really holds good people back. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by AndreiC

[Evilwave Heddy]

I don't know if we are comparing creators to competitors, but if we are..

..creators do what they do because they love what they do.  They don't do it for some big success.  Competitors on the other hand are competing for something even though they can't win, so they are in this endless cycle.  Therefore creators are happier and happiness beats success.

[Sparkie]

Isn't there a bit of a mixture of the two? Creator and competitor? What if the creator feels that their work needs to get out and be heard so that they can spread their message? That would require the creator to start acting like a competitor when it comes to getting his art out to the world. He would have to use tactics, strategies, and utilize his entrepreneurship skillset in order to compete with the others in his field when it comes to attracting an audience.

[LowPlanetary]

4 hours ago, Sparkie said:

Isn't there a bit of a mixture of the two? Creator and competitor? What if the creator feels that their work needs to get out and be heard so that they can spread their message? That would require the creator to start acting like a competitor when it comes to getting his art out to the world. He would have to use tactics, strategies, and utilize his entrepreneurship skillset in order to compete with the others in his field when it comes to attracting an audience.

I think that a sensible creator that would want to spread his message would understand the dynamics of his competition and will be actively persevering to the top but at the same time not be egotistically attached to the competition. If he fails that mean he can't spread his message, not that he has failed his mission as a creator, you see the difference? 

Beating the competition isn't the end goal, it's a tool that can be used if desired to reach the end goal. And that end goal i think varies person to person, therefore making it not necessary for everyone but an important factor to consider for some. 

[Mondsee]

On 18 de abril de 2017 at 7:14 PM, Prabhaker said:

If you really want to be creative, then there is no question of money, success, prestige, respectability. Then you enjoy your activity; then each act has an intrinsic value. You dance because you like dancing; you dance because you delight in it. If somebody appreciates, good, you feel grateful. If nobody appreciates, it is none of your business to be worried about it. You danced, you enjoyed – you are already fulfilled.

There have been many creative people who have never been recognized. It is accidental for a creative person to be successful. Creativity means loving whatsoever you do – enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of existence! Maybe nobody comes to know about it. 

@Prabhaker Yes but you cannot live from air. He can love and enjoy his profession very much, but if he isn't able to provide for his family at all times, it's easy to feel unfulfilled for that reason. Now we can ask ourselves, what to do? What if you are a creator, have found your purpose in life and are working to make it a reality, but no one cares and you struggle for that reason?

On 18 de abril de 2017 at 11:01 PM, AndreiC said:

Poor "marketing" is a likely culprit.

Does he network enough with people relevant to his job?

Is he likeable in social settings for people who don't already know him.

Is he good at negotiating? This is a pretty big one. I suffer from it myself.

In my experience it's this type of stuff that really holds good people back. 

@AndreiC Interesting, yeah. I don't think he has "bad" marketing, just maybe he isn't focusing so much on that. His networking seems to be really good, but again, it apparently isn't being enough. Negotiating is one that I ignore from him, good point.

@Evilwave Heddy What if you are happy doing what you do, but unhappy because you can't provide for your family?

@Sparkie In the theory, a creator doesn't need to compete with anyone because what he/she is putting out is unique, i.e. there is nobody to compete with.

[Prabhaker]

4 hours ago, Mondsee said:

What if you are a creator, have found your purpose in life and are working to make it a reality, but no one cares and you struggle for that reason?

We destroy creativity. Nobody is born uncreative, but we make ninety-nine percent of people uncreative.

To avoid struggle, drop creativity, become a businessman, more clever, more cunning , satisfy peoples demand and ego. 

[Guest username]

Is he actually good at what he does? Time spent in the field doesn't mean squat alone; it requires dedication, deliberate practice, and a strong vision.

Check out the following books:

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361

https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493003995&sr=1-1&keywords=so+good+they+can't+ignore+you

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted-ebook/dp/B00X47ZVXM/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3SBVZCB379QSEQDXHSQW

[Jordan wang]

To be honest,

There might be several things going on:

1, Your friend doesn't have a specific target that he wants to hit. (ex. making an album by December 2017; Selling 20,000 CDs by 2018...)

2, Your friend isn't using any of the success techniques. (Ex. Power of visualizing, law of attraction...)

Sometimes being passionate about something is just not good enough, you also have to know if you really want to be successful in this field. If you really do, set some goals (specific targets that you want to reach by when)

hope this helps,

Jordan wang