Faithful

I Want to Start a New Creative Project... How Can I Make it Successful?

You love to create. You love to write, to sing, to paint. Whatever your craft is. You’re bursting with ideas and plans. Big dreams and visions. The online blog, the YouTube channel, the short film. You’ve thought about it countless times and can’t wait to start. You want your desires of success to manifest right before your eyes. You want to live the dream.

My Best Advice for Creatives

Whatever it is, you want to make things happen but... you don’t know how exactly. ‘Where do I start?’ you ask yourself... ‘How do I make sure the plan won’t fail this time?’ The questions always abound.

In this post, I’m calling fellow creatives out there to share my tips and advice on how to execute that new project you’ve put on the back bench. I’ll be sharing things I’ve done that have helped me turn my dreams and ideas into tangible things such as my poetry collection Words of Faith and even this blog right here.

No matter what field you’re in. Whether you’re a visual artist, a songwriter, a dramatist or a blogger – I hope these tips and words of advice can inspire you to take your creative projects and plans forward.

How to start a creative project (a blog, a channel, a book, etc) and make it successful

Before you can start putting creative projects into practice, you need one to begin with! Start by looking through notes or brainstorms of ideas you’ve had before and establish what project you would like to move forward with.

If you’ve not already got a body of ideas waiting, start by brainstorming things you’d love to do. Create a vision board or a simple mind map of the things you want to achieve in your field. No matter how big or small, write them down and see where your aspirations stand so far.

For me, I have a brainstorm of all the things I’d love to achieve and I attack them one project at a time. A project may be done in a few months whilst another may be continual. My aim with this is just to keep a track of the creative ideas I have and to inspire me for my next move.

Don’t get overwhelmed with too many ideas when you write them all down but aim to pursue one or two goals at a time. For the purpose of this blog post, I’ll be giving tips on working towards one creative project (a poetry book, a blog or a music video for example) at a time.

1 - Clarify your vision for the creative project

With the vision that you have for your creative project, it’s important to clarify exactly what you want to do creatively and what you hope to achieve. Do you have a dream to write a novel? To start a thriving YouTube channel? To put on a theatre production? Whatever it is – write that vision down!

One of my favourite encouragements comes from Habakkuk 2:2-3 which reads:

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”

So, write down clearly all of the visionary details for the project. Define what success would look like to you and envision it from the jump. If you have an image of success for yourself, you’re less likely to fall off track.

For me, what this does is it sets my mind on a goal and takes it from being just an idea in my head to something I am now aiming to work on.

2 - Strategise and plan content for the creative project

Now that you’ve got your creative vision written clearly and detailed, you need to strategise how you’re going to make it happen. Now is the time to plan.

Write down the specific action points of the little things that you can do each day or each week to move your vision forward. If you don’t do this, the ideas will remain ideas instead of transitioning into reality. When your project is collaborative, make sure everyone in the group is involved and knows exactly what part they play in taking the plans forward.

I love feeling organised so I really enjoy taking the time out to get things well planned.

My advice is to write schedules, strategise and give yourself deadlines. Make to do lists. Have bi-weekly reviews to see how you’re progressing. Note down all of the practical steps that need to be taken for your specific creative project.

For example, do you need to research and hire venues? Do you need to save up to invest in equipment? Do you need to write more? Whatever it is, make sure you’re aware of all the little details that will fill in the bigger picture.

3 - Create, create, create – content is king!

You’ve got your vision sorted, you’ve got a detailed plan and even a to do list. All the theory work is done so now you create! Create, create and create because content is one of the best things that drives your project forward.

Ideas and plans won’t help us if we stop there so start putting things in action.

You don’t have to wait until you have everything perfect before you create, use wisdom to utilise the things you have right now and see how you’ll grow in that. Start where you are and you’ll soon be where you want to be. Your skills will grow and the quality of your content will increase.

For me, I didn’t wait until I had a publisher to pick up my poems... I self-published my poetry collection using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). You can do similar with your craft and creative project.

Take pictures with the camera you have right now no matter how bad you think it is. Write and publish on your blog even if you only have one reader a month. Edit films the best way you know how. Just keep creating. If you never create - nothing changes and you never improve with skills you never use.

4 - Be consistent with your content for the creative project

This step is crucial because many people start projects but don’t see them through until the end.

Don’t take unnecessary and eternal time off from a project you were once passionate about. Fight the feeling of being discouraged by lack of initial success or the results you were hoping for.

If you’ve heard of the ‘10,000-hour rule’, you’ll understand why consistency is so important. Through consistency, you’ll develop skill and practice.

So, aim to be as consistent as you can with the content you create. Even if it feels like no one is watching or reading or enjoying the things you create. Even if you only get two likes. Even if your friends are the only ones who buy it. Even if your friends don’t buy it. Don’t stop creating until that project is rightfully finished.

What helped me was creating a schedule that I followed accordingly for each specific project. I also kept visual reminders through my phone screensaver and posters in my house to keep the project fresh on my mind.

Above all, stay motivated and remain consistent because one day the right people will be watching.

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

5 - Enjoy the journey towards success for your creative project

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” - Arthur Ashe

The best piece of advice I can give to anyone starting a new creative project is to enjoy the journey and the process. Don’t get overwhelmed by a destination or an unattainable mark of success but take pleasure in each step along the way.

Make the journey as enjoyable as possible and remember to be kind to yourself. Don’t compare your journey or level of success with someone else because only you have the power and individuality to create something in the way you do. Others may be doing the same thing, in the same field but there’s only one person doing it like you!

Celebrate the little successes along the path and one day you’ll look back in awe at how much you truly have accomplished thus far.

And those are the top five top tips that I have to offer. I hope they’ve been helpful and inspire you to bring your creative projects to life.

Lastly, my creatives – don't stop creating!

The world benefits and so many people are blessed by the numerous forms of arts that we enjoy daily. Don't leave your ideas locked up inside your head for life. Share your gifts and release the talents you have - even if it only has the potential to bless one person. They’ll thank you for it.

- Faithful xoxo

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Buy the book: Words of Faith: A collection of poems and verses written to challenge growth .

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