It should be no surprise that creatives are oftentimes the folks who are starting businesses. The metronome inside of them just beats to the rhythm of creating. The rhythm of making. The rhythm of building the thing they want to see in the world. This is both an incredible gift and also a curse because creative folks often try to do entirely too much at the same time.

Now, before you hit that back button, you need to know that I’m pointing the finger at myself on this one. I consider myself a creative, not because I can draw a pretty picture or design a cool brand. The way I create is through storytelling, drawing out brands why, creating systems, structure, and processes. Personally, I find so much enjoyment, fulfillment, and life in the creation of something new. In fact, I have found that I often come to secretly resent the thing I have in my hand, so I can feel the freedom to make a new thing. On my worst days, it goes beyond resentment and leads to even undermining the very thing in my hand. What I’m getting at here is the process. The process often feels like it’s pushing against that drum inside that beats to the rhythm of creating, but the process is the thing that creative folks need to get really comfy with.

The Creation Loop

The only way to keep yourself from succumbing to what I call the creation loop (continual creating at the expense of what is already created), is to look the beast in the eyes and with declarative defiance, say “I see you, I respect you, but I’m going to channel this desire to create something new into sustaining the thing I already have. What I have made is not perfect, but it’s sure worth sustaining.”

If you find yourself in the creation loop, it’s likely dragging you, your team and your brand down. See, the more clarity you have on who you are, where you are headed and what you do, the more surgical your brand and team can be in doing what you have set out to do.

Wring The Sponge

My team has likely heard me say, “We need to wring the sponge till no more water is in it,” a few dozen times just this year. What I mean, is that we need to make sure we maximize the work we are doing. We need to make sure we are designing things intentionally. We need to mine every last piece of gold and pick up every little fragment to piece together the collage we are working on.

Still not sure what the sponge metaphor means? Well, let's take this blog for instance…it's 1 piece of content in itself, but we’ll also take a few quotes from it and share them on our socials. We’ll also take the concepts and flush out some of the topics in our newsletter(shameless plug for our newsletter…click here if you want to sign up). We’ll also film a video or 2 that summarizes the content in this blog. Finally, we will also post an announcement about this blog. So from this one blog we are getting anywhere from 5-15 pieces of content depending on what our content calendar looks like at the time.

This is what we are talking about when we are talking about wringing the sponge out. For you / your design project, don’t just put it together and throw it into the world and move on to the next thing. Really take the time to design the product, the release, and the post release promotion intentionally. If you build one thing at a time, the whole force of your organization can be behind that product and push it towards success.

A Caveat

I’m not saying that you should only work on one creative piece forever, but that you should wring the sponge of the creative project out until no more liquid drips out. Then, move on to the next thing. I believe this approach actually allows for even more creativity, because there are boundaries to what, how, and when you can flex your creative muscle. These boundaries push the creative into a new orbit within their current projects. Working on one thing, makes that one thing, the best thing it could possibly be and prepares you for your next thing. It’s all about preparation for the next thing, not an abandonment of the next thing.

What would happen if you only built 1 thing.

I’ll tell you a story. When I started The Lev Co, we initially were what I described as a “full service agency.” Unfortunately, that’s what everyone else who starts an agency says. I also didn’t limit our niche because I was worried that if I niched down too deeply, the market wouldn’t be large enough to sustain the business. Again, another thing that everyone who starts a branding agency says that I was wrong about.

2-3 years later, we aren’t a full service agency any more and we have niched down. We are a branding agency that works in the specialty coffee industry. This decision to focus our attention on just 1 thing at a time and niching down further and further has made finding our ideal clients easier and also helped to clarify our value proposition to them well. Why? Because it is clear who we are, what we do, and most importantly who we serve.

So I’ll leave you with this question, what would happen if you just built one thing at a time? What would happen if you only offered that one thing that you make the most margin on? What would happen if that one thing, was the only thing you did?

Design is one of the things that has the ability to stop folks in their tracks and make them notice your brand. When you design one product at a time and push as an organization to launch that product well, thats where things get really interesting. Do you want to do that with your brand or the next product that you are designing? We’d love to help your brand do just that. You can reach us at thelevco@gmail.com or you can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram @thelevco.

Be well,

Luke & The LC Team