There are 9 counter-intuitive principles you must absorb if you want to generate money from your art or your passion

Unlike most advice on this topic that focuses solely on marketing tactics and selling strategies, I'm here to unveil a different approach. While those tactics have their place, I've found that they can fall flat without the essential foundation and experiential understanding.

There are some lessons you learn only by being in the field, playing the game, and falling hard. What I am sharing with you in this post are these lessons.

My experience of trying to sell my art has brought me to fully understand 9 principles that defy conventional wisdom and seem counter-intuitive, but absolutely must be absorbed if you want to generate money from your art or your passion.

I have faith that these principles will serve you well.

#1. Embrace being thought of as the bad guy

Embracing the idea of being seen as the "bad guy" is a crucial step to effectively generating money from your art or passions. By "bad guy," I mean being seen as less than ideal, seen as making stupid, risky decisions or seen as wasting your time. Embracing this means being ready for possible ridicule and judgment from others.

Accepting this early on is important for keeping your motivation. If you're caught off guard by these reactions, it can hinder your progress and make you doubt your path. It's important not to let doubt hold you back. Being okay with the fact that not everyone will like your choices is key. Once you free yourself from constantly seeking approval, you can pursue the life and work you truly want.

You can learn more about this principle in an in-depth article I've written here.

#2. Lean into what you desire and abandon what you think you need

If your aim is to generate income from your art, it's essential to shift away from operating out of need. In life, the act of creating art or pursuing your passion isn't driven by an obligatory "need"; it stems from genuine desire.

If your focus is always on what you "need," you'll likely struggle to find the time to create, follow your passion, or even make money from it, because fundamentally, you don't need to. What's vital is that you want to. I'm reminded of the insightful quote, "People often miss out on what they truly want by constantly seeking out what they think they need." This holds true. When your attention is solely on acquiring what you think you need, you expend no energy or focus on what you genuinely desire.

Abandon what you think you need.

Once you do this, you realize that actually you need very little and operating from what you think you need has been just holding you back. Don’t let what you think you need be the lens you filter your art, passion, or business models and operations through. It will begin to control you, your decisions, and your actions if you do so. It limits your imagination and puts you in survival mode.

In every area of your life, operate from the lens of what you most desire.

#3. Sometimes, how you feel matters more than being consistent

Generating money from your art or your passions requires you to be brutally honest about the work you’re doing and how you’re doing it. There’s a space where you must actually prioritize how you feel about what you are doing and the direction you are heading in over your drive to be consistent with the work you are doing.

If you're constructing something you're not genuinely invested in, the challenge to dismantle it grows more difficult with every effort poured into it. Gradually, you find yourself building what some people call "a golden prison" around yourself because you are not doing the work you want in the way you want.

You should only do work that excites you in the way that it excites you. If the work exhilarates you and expands your horizons as you engage with it, then persist in it. In my absolute favorite book of all time, 10X is Easier Than 2x, there's a vital definition of what it means to be doing the work you're called to do in the way you're called to do it.

It essentially states that, if what you're engaged in doesn't make you feel like you're exposing yourself, rapidly transforming, entering a realm of play and unfiltered creativity, plunging into deep exploration, AND challenging norms while redefining the boundaries of reality within a specific domain, then you're on the wrong path. However, if it does encompass these feelings, then it's precisely what you should continue pursuing.

This is where your truest and most profound work lies.

#4. Cultivate competency over allowing the world to decide your value

If you are to efficiently generate money from your art or your passions, you have to KNOW you are great and what you’re selling is great BEFORE other people tell you. Rather than awaiting cues from the market or others to dictate your worth, you seize control as a driving force rather than a mere puppet following the world's cues.

When you hold a strong belief in your own greatness, evidence gradually manifests, even if you are not so great at what you do to begin with. Conviction becomes your path to excellence. Your faith in your own potential nurtures the very greatness that resides within you. This self-assuredness radiates as confidence and competence, qualities others can sense.

Confidence is magnetic and has the power to draw people toward you. It makes them want to combine with you and a great way to combine with you is to buy from you.

#5. Do your deepest, greatest work

Selling your art or monetizing your passions requires you to do your deepest work and do it efficiently. It's a common pitfall for people to create mediocrity and then wonder why they're not witnessing their desired outcomes, despite harboring an internal awareness that they can do better. Drawing inspiration from my all-time favorite book again, 10X Is Easier Than 2x, I follow a comprehensive three-point framework for producing my best work. Here's how it breaks down:

Firstly, you must establish a clear objective. Whether it's creating a one-hour masterclass, composing a 3,000-word blog post, or recording a fresh podcast episode, defining your goal for each deep work session is paramount.

Secondly, your undertaking should surpass your existing skill level. Aim to create from a vantage point just above your current abilities. This approach ensures continuous growth by constantly stretching your capabilities.

Lastly, immediate sharing of your finished product is vital. Seek out a platform where you can receive prompt feedback – whether that's through posting on social media to tap into your audience's thoughts or sharing it with colleagues who offer candid insights. This feedback loop facilitates ongoing improvement by enabling you to focus more on what's well-received.

This three-fold qualification is both profound and effective, as it pinpoints precisely why some individuals fail to enhance their craft, leading to stagnation in growth and an inability to monetize their efforts.

The reasons are diverse – some create but never share, depriving themselves of the fruits of their labor. Others create and share, yet lack an audience to offer meaningful feedback, thereby inhibiting their progress. Then there are those who produce mediocre work, which just simply falls short of the mark.

Adopting this three-point criteria empowers you to transform each deep work session into a success.

#6. Immediately act on inspired instruction

Among my most remarkable accomplishments in selling my art, many were the result of me taking seemingly spontaneous actions guided by inspired instruction. These instances often involved impromptu live videos, unscripted and random, composing and dispatching email blasts to my subscriber list, or even initiating contact with a specific individual within my audience.

Strikingly, every time I followed these inspired inclinations promptly, a substantial transformation followed shortly thereafter. The core principle is simple: Move when you feel on fire to move. Act on the idea that is exciting and lighting you up. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense… do it anyway.

I believe, when you receive specific inspired instruction, those actions are backed by GOD, giving them even more potency and creating waves that transcend your understanding.

#7. The unfolding is more important than a specific outcome

People get too wrapped up in the question “is this going to work?” for every idea they have. This is especially the case when they are trying to market and sell their art or pursue their passion. However, the reality is surprisingly counter-intuitive.

The ultimate truth lies in the fact that the success of an idea doesn't depend on it panning out exactly as you envisioned.

Yes, you've heard right. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work the way you want it to work. Rather, the important point is that it's perpetually in motion, continuously unfolding something more profound to you, through you, and for you. This holds true even for those endeavors you perceive as failures.

There exists a depth beyond your immediate view, obstructed by your limited perspective. I find resonance in the words of Myron Golden, a distinguished entrepreneur, who eloquently puts it as, "It works on you until you become the person it works for."

In essence, everything you engage in is working.

The trap lies in fixating on a precise outcome you believed you wanted.

In reality, everything happens the way it's supposed to, aligning with a greater design.

#8. Rest matters more than working long hours, being consistent, and working everyday… especially when you’re doing the wrong work

Rest carries more weight than the myth of laboring tirelessly, maintaining a constant grind, and working ceaselessly – especially when the work isn't aligned with what is calling you forward.

Yet another pitfall many tumble into is the "hard work" illusion. Allow me to clarify: Am I suggesting that selling your art or following your passion doesn't demand hard work? Absolutely not. These pursuits entail substantial challenges. What I'm emphasizing is that people often get ensnared in working for the sake of it, losing sight of what truly propels progress.

Understand that hard work doesn't equate to success; success hinges on doing the right work.

In your context, the right work is your profound, significant work.

Clocking in long hours seven days a week amounts to mere busyness if it lacks purpose. Pouring effort into lengthy, demanding hours without granting yourself rest solely for the sake of appearing consistent is a wasteful expenditure of your energy, focus, and precious time.

I, too, learned the hard way that neglecting rest inevitably diminishes the quality of my deepest, greatest work. In my perspective, it's crucial to detach from work and grant yourself substantial time for rejuvenation.

At first, I allocated two 90-minute blocks for rest within my work days.

Currently, I've embraced weekends as a complete disconnection from work and limit myself to a mere 3 hours of work each day. You might presume this to be insufficient, yet my experience aligns with Parkinson's Law – work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.

Confining my time has empowered me to eliminate all nonessential tasks and allocate my time more wisely and intentionally.

This results in 3 hours of doing all the right work which absolutely beats 10 hours of idle working.

#9. You must be consistent even through the pivots

This point is important because I’ve placed 2 things as seemingly being more important than being consistent in this post.

Nevertheless, the point of the matter is that context reigns supreme.

In life, the skill to concurrently embrace dual truths and discern when to apply each one in a specific situation is a requirement.

Ultimately, the act of maintaining consistency likely emerges as the MOST pivotal stride you can take to monetize your art or passion, especially if you’ve successfully absorbed and integrated the 9 other principles.

Being consistent with doing and sharing your deepest work allows you to gain momentum.

This momentum allows you and everything you do to compound, to become more valuable, to call in the right people, and to make money from your art. My own journey has uncovered a crucial lesson – a point at which I often faltered.

I'd stop producing my deep work during periods of business pivots. Whether I was introducing new offerings, elevating my messaging, or reshaping my business model, I'd discontinue my deep work; which for me is writing.

Regrettably, this practice was a big mistake, as it disrupted my momentum and prevented my efforts, and consequently, myself, from experiencing cumulative growth in value and from magnetizing the right audience. This erratic, start and stop behavior forced me to laboriously regain lost momentum. Repeated instances of this pattern taught me a vital lesson – consistency must prevail even amidst pivots.

This didn't seem sensible to me at first because I was changing large aspects of my business. I wondered... how could I continue anything through all of these massive shifts?

However, a revelation unfolded before me. Amidst the all the pivots, certain aspects in my business remained the same. My love for content marketing through extensive blog posts remained (because I am a writer at heart).

Also, my commitment to constructing my personal brand remained intact. This realization crystallized the notion that regardless of how extensively I restructured my business, my marketing strategy consistently revolved around written content anchored on my personal brand's foundation.

Therefore, it became abundantly clear that if I was destined to continuously market via writing, all-encompassing consistency in producing my profound work was the most logical course of action, irrespective of external shifts and pivots.

In other words, the most sensible thing is to keep on doing my deep work no matter what to keep on compounding and growing.

As you set out on the path to turn your art and passion into a reliable income, keep in mind that achieving success involves more than just using techniques and strategies. It's also about embracing a complete viewpoint that combines practical wisdom with your own experiences.

While strategies for marketing and selling are helpful, they truly shine when they're built upon real-life knowledge and principles gained from trying things out and learning from mistakes.

The insights I'm sharing here aren't just ideas on paper; they're practical lessons that I have tested in the real world. These lessons have been shaped by actual experiences and refined through challenges.

As you take in these 9 principles that go against the usual ways of thinking, you're giving yourself a blueprint that breaks the mold and leads you to financial success in your creative pursuits.

I hope this served you.

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