Hey Reader,

I'm coming clean about lies I've been telling myself. 🤥

Specifically, lies about creativity.

​As I recently told you, this year I've decided to prioritize my creativity above all else. (it still scares me to type that.)

The only reason I ever got into the SEO industry was as a way to earn money off my true passion: writing. I wanted to be a novelist, but was pleased to find a a marketing agency that would pay me for my words.

Not long after I started working in SEO, my creativity dried up like a prune.

I told myself it was because writing all day for my SEO job made it impossible to write creatively in my free time. And there was some truth to that, especially in the early "content farm" days of my career.

But there were other forces at play, blocking my creativity --- and these forces were coming from within, in the form of believable lies I'd picked up.

Many of these lies were about money 💸

🤥 I can either be creative or earn a good living - not both.

🤥 Creativity has to wait until I'm earning [arbitrary figure that constantly changes]

Other lies were about time ⌛

🤥 I will make time for creativity when I'm working fewer hours

🤥 I waited too long, and my window to be a successful creative writer has closed.

I see now that all of these lies were excuses, ways of talking myself out of being creative.

My brain had some good reasons for this. Creativity is vulnerable, and therefore scary. Creativity means trying new things, and often failing spectacularly (oh god).

It wasn't just my own fear talking me out of it. Society talks us out of creativity, too. Especially here in America, creative work is devalued and scoffed at.

This is why writers and designers are so often underpaid. The thought goes: "If they want to be creative, they don't need to be paid well - they get joy out of creating."

👆 It's utter BS, but this thought is so pervasive, it's internalized by us creatives ourselves. As a result, we undervalue our work and are too timid to charge top dollar.

Society would also like us to believe creativity has no place in working life. From a capitalist's perspective, art and creativity lead to community and criticism of the status quo --- two major threats to that economic structure.

But as much as society and our interior selves might try, creativity cannot be suppressed, only delayed. I believe most people have creativity inside them, and if they don't have an outlet for it, it will come roaring out on its own.

This is why I love working as a coach for freelancers. Because for many people, the dream of freelancing is tied to a deep-seated need to regain creative control over their work.

Starting a freelance business is an inherently creative act:

🌱 You create something from nothing

🪩 You make something that reflects your values and experience

🎨 You design a visual aesthetic

✍️ You carefully choose the words that best reflect your message

And most importantly...

You put yourself in a vulnerable space, and you let others watch.

That's art, baby.

This explains why the leap into freelancing is so scary. Like any creative act, you are taking a risk, and you will most certainly make mistakes. You might even fail. But you won't know if you don't try.

This year, I've set a goal to bring more creativity into my life, both by putting creative acts at the top of my priority list and by injecting more creativity into my paid work.

I am starting with a few mantras that counter the "creativity lies" still lodged in my brain. Here are a few I'm practicing:

Creativity comes first. Everything else can and will follow.

Focusing on creativity will not make me go broke.

There is space for creativity in everything I do.

👆 I don't fully believe these things yet, but the first step to internalizing them as truths is to repeat them every day. If mantras work for you, try one of these out this week and tell me how it feels. (You can reply to any of my emails, any time. I always get back to you.)

​

No matter where you are on your freelance journey, lean into the creative truths behind the work you do.

And if you want to talk about how to make space for more creativity in your life, why not book a planning call with me? It's free. 😉

Keep creating, you beautiful and vulnerable people. ✌️

- Liam
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