honoring your creative energy in business

 

an ongoing exploration of artist business ethos

after eight years of working primarily for myself, I'm reframing what business means to me.

I’m moving away from thinking about business as "work that makes me money" or, as "selling products/services that people pay me for…” even though, technically, that is what happens. these last eight years, this kind of (call it transactional) mindset hasn't felt inspiring or expansive.

why?

first of all, because two questions naturally follow from this definition:

1. will this activity that I’m doing lead to money? (if not, is it even worth my time?)

2. how can I get people to pay for this?

resistance against business

for a long time, I thought that I was just bad at business -- because I really didn't enjoy asking myself these questions. under this framework, thinking about how to sell or how to make things people will buy felt like pulling teeth. I hated it. I avoided it. I did it half-heartedly, or I made an offering — then, too exhausted by the effort, I ghosted it. as a result, for many years, I did very little "selling" or “offering” or "advertising;” most of my money came from incoming client requests that arrived, seemingly, out of nowhere.

last year, I did a lot of inner/shadow work around art and money through writings on becoming an artist-entrepreneur. in deliberately thinking about what kind of business I want to grow -- I've slowly formed a new framework -- a framework to help me fully inhabit, commit to, and embody my business — as my full creative self.

this is the ultimate purpose around ALL the work I do: the practice of continually asking: how can I show up to this (whatever this is) as my true self?


a new framework

rather than thinking about business as the exchange of value for money, instead, I’m thinking about business as:


a set of systems and processes
to help me honor my creative energy,
shared with purpose in the world.


first, this framework starts with seeing all business exchanges as about the giving and receiving of energy — including money.

the purpose of a business — all of its systems of marketing, selling, and operating — is thus to make energy exchange feel as easeful and efficient as possible. it’s about treasuring and making the most of this energy — and finding ways to magnify its power and effect.

in other words, my business exists to help me share my creative gifts -- in service to my values and ethos -- in the most energetically efficient way possible. when my business is in alignment with my energy, it is a generative, self-renewing ecosystem. it is an ecosystem which allows me to rest.

I’ll explore this framework in a few parts:

1. why focus on energy, not labor -- as the essential resource

2. the concept of energetic reciprocity

3. what is energy generative work?

2. creating efficient systems and containers for energy to flow

why focus on energy, not labor

creative energy is any process within you that imagines, envisions, guides, manifests, shapes, or evolves a raw form — into something new. this is why I talk about creative alchemy; it is alchemical in that it transforms.

this energy can be tangible, intangible, or energetic; it takes creative energy to send a newsletter, edit a podcast episode, to open a cafe, to grow a garden, to build a website, to write a book, to do tarot readings, or to offer therapy sessions. each activity is the directed movement of energy through processes of creation, or co-creation.

within this framework, the key input into a business system is NOT labor -- defined in measurable blocks of units/time -- but instead, creative energy.

labor is an approximation of energy — but it is NOT energy itself.

labor is contingent on time and effort. energy is not.

labor is measured in minutes and hours. energy is not.

energy is far more fluid, nebulous, and shapeshifting. there is energy in a spark of an idea. an intention or desire. a singular moment.

labor can be monetized (and thus compensated) with an hourly wage.

energy can only be channeled into containers of time.

most importantly: labor is not renewable. once you spend labor, you cannot get it back. energy, when given in alignment, can be generative. energy invested in the right places can create more energy.

energetic reciprocity

here's a simple example: five hours of writing might be deeply energy nourishing, but more "labor" for no immediate profit. a 2 hour meeting with a misaligned client can be much less "labor," (and yes, you're being paid for it) -- but it could be energetically draining in such a way that its effects linger on for days.

(or is that just me?)

in this situation, how do you decide where to spend your time and energy? if you are prioritizing labor-of-hours-for-money, than it'd be hard to silence the voice that clearly distinguishes between "paid work" and "unpaid work" (as if all creative work lives so easily in this binary dichotomy of capitalist-defined worthiness.)

but if you're focused on energy as the primary resource, then your decisions will depend on your sense of energetic reciprocity; that is: you'll see money as another form of energy. you'd ask yourself: is this dollar amount an nourishing, net-positive exchange to compensate for the energy I'm spending on this person/project?

to be honest, most of the time, I don't know the answer to this until I've tried it. and -- this amount is always relative, depending on where you're at in your life and business.

prioritizing energy-generative work

so, how does your perspective change when you see energy as the key resource -- rather than labor?

you'd see activities that replenish your creative energy (like rest, or wandering, or daydreaming) as absolutely essential to the wellbeing of your psychic and business ecosystem as a whole -- rather than feeling guilty for taking time off, when you could be working.

you start to see how energy works in mysterious, non-linear ways; how the yin is a source of insight, wisdom, and creative power.

when labor is the limited resource, the business prerogative would be to minimize how you spend labor-time — per unit of money earned.

but if energy is the resource, then the objective would be to channel energy in a way that not only creates money (one form of energy) -- but also feeds and propagates more creative energy.

you'd prioritize directing your energy into the places and projects that feels most generative — capable of giving back in folds. this is like planting a seed that grows more seeds — which will feed you, in later seasons, or years.

building efficient systems & containers


the practice of business, thus, is about taking raw creative energy — and cultivating the systems and skills to harness its power — that is, to be creative/prolific/expressive/aligned, AND to be in service for a higher set of values or ethos. I write about this integration of art and service here.

this deliberate devotion to harnessing creative energy is what makes you an artist — while dedication to serving a higher purpose is what makes you an entrepreneur. at least, this is my very personal definition of those two words.

I’ll explore this further in three parts — that is, the purpose of business systems is to:

(1) CREATE: channel creative energy

(2) SHARE: sharing creative energy with the world

(2) OFFER: direct energy into paid offerings & containers

CREATION: channeling creative energy

to be energetically efficient is to take creative energy and build clear channels for it to flow through. these are the systems, processes, and creative rituals that harness raw power -- not like unlike harnessing water, or wind power. the weather might change, but the systems are always there to catch it.

this work requires designing the systems that dance with time and creative rhythms -- to create a sense of effortlessness and momentum. it's like carving out multiple paths in a mountain for a stream to flow through, so that when it rains, the water will have places to go. learning how to ride your own creative energy and psychic metabolism is a cultivated skill; a muscle that you can improve with time and practice.

I’ve written a gazillion posts about channeling creative energy here.

SHARING: giving creative energy to the world

my philosophy for sharing creative energy was born from the question, “how do I do it in a way that is most energy-efficient (nourishing to my soul), effortless, and generative to my ecosystem?”

from this question, I came up with a few key principles, which you can read about, or listen to — here:

OFFERING: directing energy into paid containers

when it comes to directing your energy into paid containers - as offerings, services, or products - consider how to make each output of creative energy more efficient.

here are a few questions to consider:

  • efficiency: how can this energy feel more efficient and effortless (ie, by riding natural cycles and momentum, or through batching projects, doing intensive sprints)

  • generative: how can my energy create more creative energy, and/or also feed other parts of my ecosystem? how can the same amount of energy can have more of an impact — by fertilizing other ideas, systems, or processes? how can each energy output be a growth experience for the system as a whole?

  • projection: how can this energy be projected outwards — to have more of an impact? (the key here is to think long term; hence why I prefer building digital worlds rather than giving my work to platforms).

  • self-sustaining: how can this energy continue to give, without my time-effort input? how can this energy be more renewable?

the results of these explorations differ depending on the specifics of your business, but here’s an example of some shifts that it’s inspired in mine:

  • creating more offerings that shares my creative energy without my active time/psychic input (or, "products" over services)

  • how to “sell” in a way that requires minimal to zero energy? instead of doing launches (which are very energy draining) or marketing funnels, building labyrinths of integrated offerings and creations that connect to each other

  • offering my creative services in time-bound intensive sprints, to save start-stop energy and lost momentum.

  • using each website/branding sprint as an opportunity to hone my systems, templates, and processes, and as fertilizer for other offerings.

the practice of cherishing energy

this way of doing business is about honoring and making the most of my energy —

it feels 1000% human design projector style — working with energy that usually gets easily depleted from “labor” and overwork — by designing the right systems and containers to magnify its power and effect.

for me, these practices are most certainly centered around:

when I focus on designing the business systems that, first and foremost, cherish my creative energy -- rather than attempting to offer enough “value for money” — I'm able to focus on building an ecosystem that prioritizes my energetic wellbeing, above all else.

a business that nourishes me — is a business that will allow me to be more giving and generous.

a business system that deeply honors my creative energy — is a business that will honor the energy of others — and the time, money, and energy they invest into my world.

this is a business where I don't constantly exhaust myself, and burn out from over-giving (and subsequently feel the need to disappear). the kind of business I want to build is one that allows me to give fully, in aligned ways, and receive fully.

it is the practice of letting my energy — not my labor — to do the work of sustaining, inspiring, and making magic in the world. that, to me, is alchemy. ✨

 
 
growing a businessKening Zhuenergy studies, guiding principles