The One Critical Skill Every Creative Business Needs (But No One Talks About)
The Soulpreneur Series Free Issue No. 32
A colleague of mine has built a successful creative business from scratch.
Fast growth. More and more hires. Bigger and more lucrative contracts.
People praising growth and momentum:
“Look at those revenues!”
“Look at that scale!”
This is the kind of story that fits beautifully into the masses of online business advice, courses, and posts.
Grow your business! Scale. Monetize. Optimize.
More customers. More revenue. More subscribers. More reach.
The louder the advice, the more it insists:
“Scale to six figures!”
“Monetize your passion!”
“Grow your audience 10x!”
And yet, in any small business — especially a one-person business — the most critical resource isn’t revenue, subscribers, or leads.
It’s you.
It’s the “I” in business.
The one making decisions, creating, adapting, thinking, doing, etc.
Yet, almost no one talks about how to manage and support that.
When We Lose The “I” in Business
Is a successful business actually successful without a content and healthy business owner?
That’s often quite a different story.
For my colleague. As far as I’m aware, behind the scenes, two bouts of shingles and other health challenges. Problem hires. Some frustrated clients.
A constant barrage of securing more work to support the growing churn of overhead, employees, contractors, and expectations (many probably unexamined and maybe even false).
From the outside, it’s easy to call this sort of business growth a win. A thriving, high-growth business with good revenues.
But I’ve navigated burnout before. I know what it looks and feels like. It’s brutal. And it does a fine job of hiding under the surface.
So I can’t help but wonder when I see some ‘successful’ businesses:
At what cost?
Why the endless scaling and growth?
Do they have a clear definition of enough?
Keeping two balance sheets
A business has a balance sheet.
So should its owner.
One for the business. Revenues, expenses, profits.
One for you. Energy, alignment, sustainability.
I track my “enough” just as carefully as I track revenue.
Because I’ve learned the hard way—if I ignore it too long, the work will let me know. My soul will let me know. My body will let me know.
I use Learning Journals daily to track my Self balance sheet.
Keeping the “I” in Creative Business
A business of one is not just a business.
It’s a relationship—with yourself, your energy, your values, your ideas, your Soul.
It’s an ecosystem, and you are at the centre of the network.
The decisions you make—the work you take on, the pace you set, the revenue you pursue (or reject)—all come back to how well you understand yourself.
This is where most people struggle.
Because growth is easy to measure.
Numbers are easy to track.
But self-knowledge? That’s a slower, messier, often uncomfortable process.
The Hidden Cost of Scaling Without Self-Knowledge
Most businesses fail not because they lack strategy—
…but because the person running them burns out, loses interest, or builds something that no longer fits the life they want (or never did).
Consider the following questions:
Have you ever chased an opportunity that drained you more than it fulfilled you?
Have you grown something only to realize it wasn’t what you wanted?
Have you found yourself trapped in commitments that felt misaligned?
For me, the answer is a resounding “Yes” to all of these.
Thankfully, those experiences were all as an employee.
I spent about a decade growing a career in the corporate public sector. Over that time, I almost tripled my annual salary.
I kept moving up the corporate ‘ladder’ to more and more responsibility, managing bigger budgets and running larger teams.
But eventually, the soul-sucking nature of the work, toxic workplaces, and a fake ‘success’ metrics became too much to bear.
I walked away (in April 2022). I began to build a creative one-person business from scratch.
I swore to do it with soul, with intention, and with consistently growing self-knowledge and relationship with self.
A Soulpreneur business isn’t about chasing a number.
It’s about building something that fits—your energy, your rhythms, your reality.
Not a static blueprint.
A living, evolving, intentional system.
Building a Creative Business To Fit You
A sustainable creative business requires balancing:
Structure and Fluidity. A creative ecosystem needs both.
Ambition and Enough-ness. Not all growth is good growth.
Momentum and Patience. Some seasons are for building, others for reflecting.
Public Presence and Private Reflection. The work behind the work matters (often the most).
The challenge isn’t picking one side.
It’s learning to live in Both/And—then adjusting as needed.
When you are a Business of One (or a small business), you are the engine, the ignition, the batteries and the brakes.
And knowing when to speed up, slow down, or take a new path (maybe even offroad) is the difference between a thriving business and a dying business.
What This Looks Like in Practice
I’m never one to suggest that everyone should quit their job cold turkey and launch into building a creative business from scratch.
Nor do I claim to have all the answers (if any). I simply know what’s worked well for me, and what hasn’t.
I believe The Creator Economy's rapid expansion presents immense opportunities—whether as a side gig or a full-time creative enterprise.
Just be prepared: it will take time, persistence, constant learning, and constant adjustments.
Here are four principles that have been essential for me.
1. Define Your Enough
What level of revenue and workload sustains you?
When does “more” become a burden?
Know your floor. Know your ceiling. Track it.
2. Map Your Energy
Are you best in deep, focused bursts? Or slow, steady consistency?
What’s your peak creative time?
Design your days accordingly. Be firm. Protect what fuels you.
3. Audit Your Choices
What commitments, projects, and clients feel aligned?
Which ones drain you?
Adjust as needed. Be ruthless.
4. Create Cycles, Not Straight Lines
Build systems that support seasons of growth, rest, and experimentation.
Most optimize for growth. But those who last… optimize for themselves.
The Business of Knowing Yourself
In life, this is the most important business you will ever do.
In business, it’s the most critical work you will ever do.
Your business grows when you do. The best business strategy?
Know yourself better than anyone else does.
Are you building a business (side gig or full on)?
What’s one critical thing you’ve learned about yourself while building your business?
Drop a comment—I’d love to hear.
Define Your Enough ... that's a key concept to contemplate.
Solopreneurs are bombarded by the YOU too. You do this, you do that. And the YOUTUBE "mentors" feed this frenzy. These 4 principles - Enough, Energy, Choices, Cycles - are vital for creators to find their solo rhythm over getting stuck in the stat race.