I was really moved by a message I received Sunday morning from a lighting designer who shared, “You somehow managed to make me see that this association [of creative and entrepreneur] is my super power… I giggle even when writing it to you as it was somehow so far from what I truly thought of myself.”
Another message from an event planner described how she’s focusing on “what I truly love and what I naturally do best” and “getting back to the basics of how it all began, rather than conforming to industry standards.”
These messages—and dozens more like them—highlight something I’ve been reflecting on deeply: how many of us are quietly carrying the weight of comparison, measuring ourselves against others in our field and wondering if we’re somehow falling behind.
The Invisible Pressure of Comparison
Let’s acknowledge something important right from the start—comparison feels almost unavoidable in creative business. There are specific reasons for this that go beyond simple insecurity.
First, there’s the constant visibility of others’ work. Social media presents us with daily highlight reels of other businesses—the prestigious client announcements, beautiful studio spaces, expanding teams, and industry recognition. It’s natural to measure our own behind-the-scenes reality against these curated glimpses of success.
Then there’s the standardisation of business advice. So much of what we read and hear suggests there’s a “right way” to grow, to market, to structure our offerings. When we’re not following these prescribed paths, it’s easy to wonder if we’re doing something fundamentally wrong.
Add to this the perceived pace of modern business, with its emphasis on scaling quickly, “crushing it,” and achieving rapid growth metrics. If we’re taking a more measured approach, it can feel like we’re falling behind while others race ahead.
For creative entrepreneurs specifically, there’s an additional layer. Many of us entered business through our craft or creative skills—not through business training. This can create a sense that everyone else knows something we don’t, that they’ve figured out some secret formula while we’re still trying to align our creative work with business fundamentals.
I remember this feeling vividly in my own first business. At industry events, I’d listen to other business owners talk confidently about their methodical growth strategies or sophisticated marketing approaches. Even though my business was thriving, I’d wonder: “Should I be doing what they’re doing? Am I missing something crucial?”
What I’ve come to understand—through my own journey and hundreds of conversations with creative business owners—is that this comparison isn’t just uncomfortable. It actively leads us away from our greatest potential because it pushes us to adopt approaches that don’t align with our natural strengths.
The Transformative Power of Leading With Strengths
So what actually changes when we centre our business around what we naturally do best? I’ve witnessed this transformation repeatedly, both in my own journey and while working with others, and several profound shifts occur:
1. Your work approach transforms
Rather than constantly pushing against your natural work style, trying to force yourself into business models that don’t align with how you actually work best, you begin creating structures that support your natural flow.
This isn’t about taking the easy route—it’s about being strategic with your energy and skill set. When you build around your exceptional strengths, you bring your full creative power to the areas where you make the most impact. The work still requires effort, but it’s a different kind of effort—one that energises rather than depletes.
I’ve seen this with photographers who stop trying to offer every possible service and instead focus deeply on the specific type of photography that showcases their unique eye. With designers who move from trying to be all things to all clients to specialising in the particular style where their talents truly shine.
2. Your positioning becomes naturally distinctive
When you’re clear about your exceptional strengths, you create more distinctive offerings without trying. Instead of looking similar to everyone else in your field with slight variations, you naturally stand out—not through marketing gimmicks, but through the genuine uniqueness of what you offer.
This natural differentiation is far more powerful than trying to artificially distinguish yourself in a crowded market. It’s the difference between saying “I do what everyone else does, but a bit differently” and “I do this specific thing in a way no one else quite can.”
Think about the businesses that truly stand out to you. They’re rarely the ones that look like slightly better versions of everyone else. They’re the ones that have taken a distinctive approach, that have carved out their own space because of how they specifically work and what they specifically offer.
3. Your client relationships shift from convincing to connecting
When you build from your strengths, you naturally attract people who value exactly what you bring to the table. Instead of trying to convince people to work with you, you find yourself connecting with clients who already recognize and appreciate your approach.
This shift from convincing to connecting changes everything about the client experience. Your marketing feels more authentic because you’re simply sharing what you genuinely do best. Your client conversations feel more confident because you’re rooted in your areas of expertise. And the work itself flows more naturally because you’re operating from your strengths.
4. Your business experience fundamentally changes
Perhaps the most significant transformation happens in your experience of running a business. That constant sense of comparison, of wondering if you’re doing it “right,” begins to fade. Not because you stop noticing what others are doing, but because you become so clear on your own path that others’ journeys simply become less relevant to your own.
What I find beautiful about this approach is that it creates space for everyone to succeed. When we’re all trying to follow the same formula, competing for the same narrow definition of success, business feels like a zero-sum game. But when we each build from our unique strengths, we create distinct paths where we can each thrive without necessarily competing directly with one another.
Creating Your Own Momentum
One of the most fascinating aspects of building from your strengths is how it changes your relationship with time and progress. When we’re comparing ourselves to others, there’s constant anxiety about our pace—are we moving fast enough, growing quickly enough, achieving enough in the “right” timeframe?
But when you’re building your own path, you naturally find your own rhythm. This doesn’t mean lowering your ambition or settling for less. It means creating momentum that’s sustainable and aligned with how you actually work best.
As that event planner wrote about focusing on ‘what naturally comes to me. The art of the design, the art of the process, the art of collaboration, the art of creating, and the art of the event.’
That phrase—”what naturally comes to me”—captures something profound. When we build around what naturally flows for us, we create a different kind of momentum. Not the frantic pushing that comes from trying to keep up with external expectations, but the steady, powerful momentum that comes from working in alignment with our natural strengths.
This approach also transforms how we experience the inevitable challenges of running a business. When we’re building from our strengths, setbacks and obstacles feel different. They’re still challenging, of course, but they don’t shake our foundation in the same way. Because we’re rooted in what we do best, we approach problems with more confidence and resilience.
One designer I worked with expressed it beautifully: “Before, when I hit a roadblock, I’d immediately think I was doing everything wrong. Now, I just see it as a puzzle to solve using the skills I know I have.” That’s the power of building from your strengths—challenges become problems to solve rather than evidence that you’re on the wrong path.
Making the Shift: Practical Steps
So how do we actually make this shift from comparison to confidence, from following others’ paths to creating our own? Here are some practical approaches I’ve seen work time and again:
1. Get crystal clear about your exceptional strengths
This is often trickier than it sounds, because our greatest strengths are frequently the things that come so naturally to us that we don’t even recognise them as special. If you haven’t listened to it yet, Episode 082 – Finding Your Exceptional Strength dives deeply into this process.
The key is understanding that while identifying your exceptional strengths is foundational, it’s only part of what creates a thriving creative business. The magic happens when you combine these strengths with what your audience genuinely wants and needs – and importantly, what they’re willing to pay for. It’s this intersection that creates wildly successful creative businesses.
2. Look at your current business with fresh eyes
How much of your work, your offerings, your day-to-day activities are directly leveraging these exceptional strengths? And where are you perhaps trying to operate in ways that don’t play to your natural abilities?
This honest assessment often reveals opportunities to realign your business for greater impact with less struggle. Maybe it’s streamlining your offerings to focus more on what you do best. Perhaps it’s adjusting your client process to create more space for the parts of the work where your strengths really shine.
3. Shift how you communicate about your work
When you’re clear about your exceptional strengths, you can speak about what you offer with so much more confidence and clarity. Instead of generic descriptions that could apply to anyone in your field, you can articulate the specific value you bring because of how you uniquely work.
This shift in communication doesn’t just help potential clients understand what makes you different—it reinforces your own confidence in the value of what you offer.
4. Create regular strength-reflection practices
Consider implementing some form of weekly or monthly review where you note times when your strengths were in action, assess which projects felt most aligned, or simply acknowledge when work feels genuinely energising. These touchpoints help keep your strengths front and centre as your business evolves.
What’s wonderful about this approach is that it works at any stage of business. I’ve seen it transform the experience of creatives just starting out, helping them build solid foundations based on what they naturally do best rather than trying to copy others’ paths. And I’ve seen it revitalise established businesses that had grown in ways that pulled their owners away from their core strengths, helping them refocus on what made them exceptional in the first place.
The Broader Movement: A Different Way to Build
I believe we’re part of something bigger than just individual business owners making individual changes. There’s a broader shift happening—a movement toward more aligned, more sustainable ways of building creative businesses.
You can see it in the growing pushback against one-size-fits-all business advice. In the increased emphasis on wellbeing alongside growth. In the recognition that creative businesses operate differently from conventional ones and need approaches that honour rather than suppress that creativity.
At its heart, this movement is about rejecting the idea that there’s a single “right way” to build a successful business. It’s about recognising that our differences as creative entrepreneurs aren’t weaknesses to overcome—they’re strengths to build upon. It’s about creating businesses that not only perform well but feel good to run, that energise rather than deplete us, that create value without compromising our values.
What excites me about this movement is how it opens up new possibilities for all of us. When we move beyond comparison and competition towards building our own distinct paths, we create more space for everyone to succeed in their own way. There’s less pressure to conform, to follow prescribed steps, to squeeze ourselves into models that weren’t designed for how we naturally work.
Closing Thoughts
As you reflect on your own business journey, consider this: comparison doesn’t just fade when we lead with our strengths—it becomes largely irrelevant. Because when you’re building something that’s genuinely yours, something rooted in your exceptional strengths, you’re no longer on the same path as everyone else. You’re creating your own.
This doesn’t mean isolating yourself from your industry or ignoring what others are doing. It means viewing others’ approaches with curiosity rather than pressure. It means being inspired by different perspectives while staying anchored in what you uniquely bring. It means celebrating others’ successes without feeling they somehow diminish your own.
When we lead with our strengths, when we build businesses that genuinely reflect who we are and what we naturally do best, we stop feeling small in comparison to others. Not because we’ve somehow become “better” than them, but because we’re no longer measuring ourselves against the same things. We’re creating our own measure of success, one that’s aligned with our unique strengths and values.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic. Have you found yourself caught in the comparison trap? What has helped you focus more on your own path? Share your experiences with me in the comments below or join the conversation over on Instagram.
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