EPISODE 039 | APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

Over the past six months, we've conducted extensive research, uniquely tailored to the creative industry, gathering insights from hundreds of small business owners who, like you, are passionate about turning their creative visions into thriving businesses.

In this episode, I’ll be sharing the findings of this research with you, revealing the top challenges and the underlying factors that can either stall or propel a creative business forward. Understanding these challenges is crucial for anyone looking to break through barriers and fully realise their potential in the world of creative entrepreneurship.

So, whether you’re just sketching out your ideas or already managing a growing venture, this episode will provide you with valuable perspectives and tools to help you get through the complexities and move your business towards greater success.

I’m excited to look at what holds us back, how we can thrive in all our creative markets and transform challenges into stepping stones for growth.

The Research

Just over six months ago, we began comprehensive research to capture a wide array of feelings and thoughts from small business owners across creative industries. We reached out to a diverse group of entrepreneurs - from florists and fashion designers, artists and scientists, to property developers and interior designers, plus many more sectors - each bringing and sharing their unique experiences and challenges.

The research process involved an in-depth questionnaire completed by 250 creative business owners, with follow-up interviews and case studies to gather further and more in-depth insights. This approach allowed us to truly understand the business and personal challenges at a deeper level.

From all of our findings, we identified 18 of the most commonly faced challenges by creative entrepreneurs. These challenges are a series of obstacles, but they also show what it really takes to succeed in a small business. Each one reflects a fundamental aspect of business that, when addressed, can dramatically shift the growth and success of a small creative business.

In this episode, I’ll be going through the top five of these 18 challenges, the ones that came up most frequently. I’ll discuss their implications, and share a series of steps to help overcome them, to give you a clearer path to success within your business.

I’m excited to take a closer look at what holds many creative business owners back and more importantly, share my thoughts, based on my own experience and from working intimately with hundreds of small business owners, on how we can move beyond these barriers to help us thrive and enjoy what we do.

You can also grab a more in-depth free guide where I share a little more of the research (link below):

The Top Challenges

As a business owner - if though you are still at the idea stage this is still hugely relevant to you, so stay with me - we've typically created businesses based on our unique interests, skills and strengths, and in doing so, we have taken huge, significant steps to launch our ideas into the world. It’s honestly no easy feat launching a business idea. I believe it’s the hardest stage, and you’ve already done that. So please, take a moment to reflect on all that you have achieved so far. We are often so busy focussing on what’s ahead and what we want to achieve, and it’s all too easy to compare ourselves to others, who inevitably are at a different stage to us, but we so rarely take time to see how far we’ve come. So before we look at the top five challenges that many of us are facing, let’s first recognise how far we’ve already come. I would love you to take a moment to reflect and realise that having already come this far and figured out a whole bunch of inevitable challenges along the way, you will continue to take great strides and move forward.

I know that not everyone is achieving their business dreams within the timeframe that was originally hoped and expected. I know many of us feel we are not thriving, and instead, we often feel drained, distracted, and at times, pretty overstretched. If that’s you, please, please know you are absolutely not alone. And I hope you gain plenty of comfort when you hear the top five challenges, to reinforce that you are far from being alone, and that there are practical and straightforward steps to help.

one - Struggle to Prioritise

We discovered that prioritisation stands as the foremost challenge for many creative entrepreneurs, as a stumbling block in business development. The ability to prioritise effectively determines the speed and direction of business growth. However, creative minds often face 'paralysis by analysis' due to having so many ideas.

We are far from being lazy, we are not afraid of hard work, but we would love to know what it is we should be focussing on, to help us feel more in control of our day-to-day and know how to grow our business successfully, which very much includes growth in profitability.

With all the array of ideas we have and potential projects laid out in front of us, it’s really tricky to know what should be a priority and what should actually be placed at the bottom of the list or in fact, dismissed completely.

The two most common phrases we heard were, “I have more great ideas than time” and “How do I know which idea to take forward?”

I am not surprised “How to Prioritise” came out as number one. I think so often we get embroiled in the day to day operations and management of our businesses, and it becomes very hard to see where we’re heading.

If this resonates with you, to help you gain clarity, it’s so important that you take time to stand back and analyse exactly where you are heading. What is your clear and compelling vision for your business, the one that will help guide all your business decisions, and help you decipher what is a strategic step forwards versus what is a mere distraction and time waster? Knowing when to say “yes” and most importantly, when to say “no” is so important.

Understanding this with clarity and gentle confidence, will ensure you can easily and quickly make informed decisions, and begin to really move your business forward to the next level. It’s really exciting when this begins to happen, and your calmness, confidence and overall happiness increases as a direct result. It can be very tricky to do, especially when you have so many ideas and you think creatively, what solves this though, is to have a framework and specific set of questions to answer.

I mentioned earlier the free guide which includes further details, which you can download below:

TWO - Time Management & Efficiency

OK, so moving onto number 2, I don’t have enough time nor practical methods to help improve efficiency. We grouped these phrases together as they are directly related and in doing so, this feeling and challenge came second in the list of the 18 challenges, of which we are discussing the top five most important ones in this episode.

Efficiency in time management does not necessarily equate to working more hours; instead, it's about working smarter. And I know, we hear this all the time, we should be working smarter, not harder, and it’s actually quite annoying to hear, because without a clear system to help, it’s pretty meaningless.

And this is particularly true for creatives, we are often juggling multiple roles within our business.

I feel that it’s one of the hardest elements to manage. However, you’ll be happy and relieved to hear, there are solutions.

Interestingly, having a clear overall vision for your business helps significantly with task management, along with time blocking.

Many years ago, in my first few years of my business, I created a very simple schedule and instinctively used time blocking, rather than using a diary and working to the clock.

This helped me to schedule my tasks across days, weeks and months planning every step of my projects. This included all the steps I took in the earlier years, right up to some of my huge, audacious set goals - including securing a concession in London’s Selfridges & Co., where I was the only instore florist, which at the time was considered the “the world’s best department store”. I went from creating flowers at my kitchen table, to taking over one of the most prestigious department stores concessions, literally kitchen table to London department store. And over the years, I set myself many, many project goals - from securing editorial coverage in America and British Vogue, and perhaps what I’m most well known for, designing and creating the wedding flowers for Harry and Meghan. None of these were achieved because of luck or because of contacts, or people I knew, I pro mise you that. And I think that’s hugely important to know, because although some of my dreams and goals have been pretty far fetched, the steps I took to reach them were not.

THREE - EASILY DISTRACTED, UNFOCUSSED & tricky to MAINTAIN MOTIVATION

Life is busy and we are faced with so many distractions. So many people said quite openly, how easily distracted they are. And I fully understand, maintaining motivation and keeping on track when you are managing your own business is really hard, and it’s especially so when our lives are so busy, we are surrounded by noise and there are other more fun or easier tasks that offer a quick win!

Sustained focus can be a significant challenge. Managing distractions and staying motivated is not something that you can make happen by simply hoping that today will be better, it’s so easy to slip into a reactive, distracted state.

To combat this, it is one area of business that proactive and practical strategies can really help to keep you excited about your work, focussed and move forwards with intention. Within the free guide that I’ve mentioned, I share four strategies that I use, that really help to maintain motivation and manage distractions in a simple way:

• FIRST, UNDERSTAND YOUR MOTIVATIONAL PURPOSE. What I mean by that, is to take time to really understand what it is that you are working towards and why is it that you want it?
  
  If you know what you are working towards, and this needs to be beyond simply financial return, although that is of course important, it is easier to say no to distractions which do not support your higher purpose.
  

• SECONDLY, USE METHODS TO HELP YOU BREAK DOWN YOUR BIGGER GOALS into manageable tasks so you can see what needs to be done each day. When you look at a day of tasks, rather than focussing on the larger project, it is very possible to make progress each day and genuinely feel like you are steadily moving forwards, which motivates you further.
  
  Breaking tasks down into smaller chunks seriously helps to remove procrastination and overwhelm, and as you begin to tick off a far larger number of tasks than you previously managed, it feels really good to see yourself progress.

• NEXT, ALLOCATE APPROPRIATE TIME TO EACH TSASK. I mentioned previously that I use time blocking, where I allocate a block of time to each task. To start with, it can be a bit of trial and error knowing how long something will take, but with practice, you begin to get better at predicting the right amount of time. Having said that, life happens and it’s so important that we remain flexible, which brings us to the fourth tip to help combat distraction and a lack of focus and motivation, and this is ensuring that you build in flexibility. That you allow for change.
  
  I always have complete flexibility built in to my schedule, to account for everyday life; things change and challenges crop up for all of us, both within our businesses and our lives, and it’s so important that we use a dynamic schedule that allows movement, and ensures you still feel in control and focused, rather than distracted and overwhelmed.

FOUR - LACK OF Confidence & Imposter Syndrome

I totally get this, none of us are immune from this, and I fully resonate with this. I've certainly been there, but I still found it really tough to hear from such a brilliant group of successful creative business owners, how many of us frequently feel that we’re not quite good enough. That we compare ourselves to others (regardless of where we are in our own journey, this was said from both those in the very early stages of their venture, right through to those with strong 6 and 7-figure businesses).

I don’t think we can ever truly escape from imposter syndrome, you hear from some of the most extraordinarily successful people in the world that this is still true for them today, but there are superb ways you can channel this in a wholly positive way. I actually feel that a level of imposter syndrome can be positive. It keeps you humble, focussed and down to earth, all attributes that are essential in business, but it does need to be channelled and viewed in a positive way.

Success as an entrepreneur is hugely down to your mindset, the way you choose to view things. The most successful entrepreneurs I know are highly positive and see failures as learnings, and obstacles as positive challenges. Often a lack of confidence originates from us looking outside of our world, looking at people or businesses who are in a different stage of development to us, but who, in our eyes, are successful and have all the answers.

If this is resonating, one step you can take right now is to gain a new perspective. It forms part of the core framework that I teach within the Goal-Getters Masterclass.

A simple way to gain a different perspective, is, rather than focussing on the ideals and successes of others, instead, exactly as we did at the beginning of this episode, take a moment to reflect on your own achievements, the moments you are most proud of and think about how you got there.

Take a moment after this episode and write a list of your biggest achievements within your business, and deeply acknowledge them. And please know, those achievements that so often we quickly move on from, are so many other people’s dreams and huge goals right now. And you have already achieved them.

Celebrating the milestones you've achieved is about a balance between being proud of how far you've come and ambitious about where you’re going.

And then the next time you come up against a challenge and you don’t think you can overcome it, think about the last time you solved something seriously hard.

I would love to read a note I received just this week, this was from a participant inside our current Goal-Getters Masterclass - as a side note, we run the Goal-Getters Masterclass three times a year, and our next launch at the time of recording is late June. This note is from Hattie, she is an expert in event planning, and she said:

5 - Overwhelm & Difficulty with Task Management

The sheer volume of tasks and decisions that we all face each week can easily lead to overwhelm, not to mention all the new projects we would love to start.

As a creative thinker, we are renowned for having heaps of ideas, this gives us a huge advantage, but in contrast, when you have too many ideas and you don’t know which to choose and how to act on them, this can easily cause procrastination and overwhelm. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s rarely about laziness or a lack of will.

In addition, the balance between work and life can often be off kilter - for many of us we have additional responsibilities and family who need us. This means we have to be exceptional at maximising our time.

Like many of you, in my early days I was squeezed for time with young children, no childcare, a house renovation and just a few hours available for work each day.

For me, finding time and giving myself headspace to work out solutions was so important. I found pockets of time when I could think without distractions. Either I set my alarm a little earlier in the morning or I found time during the day where I could focus, and I was strict about that time. All distractions were removed, and I focussed deeply.

I discovered ways to get into the zone quickly, so I could really focus on the projects that mattered. One of the game changers was to work out how to break my larger projects and goals into manageable and digestible actions. To do this, I created a framework which helped me to break everything down, it gave me head space to think through what was needed, and it enabled me to be organised and productive and get everything done.

I share more about this in the free guide I mentioned earlier, which you can download below:

Conclusion

As we come to the end of this episode, it’s my deepest hope that sharing these findings reminds you that you are not alone.

I hope this episode bolsters your confidence by highlighting that these are common, global issues experienced by all creative business owners at one point or another. You are definitely in excellent company.

It's so important to recognise that overcoming these challenges often requires addressing a combination of elements. It's tempting to think that solving a single issue might simplify everything, but running a business is rarely that straightforward.

It involves a blend of skills, strengths, and strategies to navigate the myriad of issues we all encounter. Today, we've delved into the top five challenges, but there are many more we'll explore in the next few episodes.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share more insights from our research, which included comprehensive surveys and in-depth interviews. This further learning will help us all in understanding the broader landscape of creative entrepreneurship.

And right now, to help you straightaway, if you only take one action from this conversion, I would love you to spend time to deeply understand your vision, this is so important. It may seem like a straightforward step, but getting it right can dramatically help you in prioritising your actions, managing your time, boosting your confidence, and helping you become more proactive and less reactive.

A clear vision can be one of your most important focuses in saving you time and energy. For me, having a clear vision right at the beginning, in the early days of my business, was one of the reasons for my success.

And don’t forget to download the free guide that accompanies this episode (links above). Thank you for joining me today, and I look forward to sharing more insights with you. And if you have any questions, over the next few weeks you can find me on SUBSTACK, where I have shared a neat summary of today’s episode and I would love to answer any questions or thoughts you have from today’s conversion.

I’m trailing substack over the next few weeks, to see if it proves helpful for you, as a space for us to talk and for me I hope to offer a little more support, beyond each of the episodes, answering your questions and replying to your comments directly. It’ll be great to see you there!

I’m also on INSTAGRAM or if you prefer, you can send an email to news@philippacraddock.com … I read and and try to reply to every message received.

With much love,
Philippa x