The Creative Entrepreneur

Every entrepreneur is a creative entrepreneur. You may not be an artist or a designer. You might not dress in bright colors or play a musical instrument. But if you’re an entrepreneur, then you’ve been called to create. You look around a tired marketplace and think, “I could create a better product. I could provide a more appealing service.”

You feel it deep inside you – a need to add your mark to the world.

Why else would you start your own enterprise instead of joining up with an established business?

Being an entrepreneur is difficult, but it’s also worthwhile. At Faith Driven Entrepreneur, we believe that every entrepreneur has been called to create, and this drive is what makes starting a business so compelling to so many of us.  But what does it really look like to be a creative entrepreneur? What are some examples of creative entrepreneurship? And how does the call to create manifest itself in our day-to-day entrepreneur journey?

To answer these questions let’s know the details of the creative entrepreneur and what it means to be a creative entrepreneur.

When we say “creative entrepreneur,” we don’t quite mean artists who sell their art through their own businesses. While Easy shop owners and painters who sell their pieces through galleries are considered creative entrepreneurs, we’re not equating creativity with art.

An entrepreneur is creative in a much different, much broader sense. For those of you who quit your artistic ambitions at stick figure doodles, don’t close your browser just yet. If you ask a random entrepreneur on the street why they started their business, they’d probably give a similar answer. They saw an opportunity to make the world a better place through business. Then they made it happen.

The creative drive of entrepreneurship comes down to basic Business 101: “How do we meet a market need?” Human beings are always going to be hungry, uncomfortable, afraid, tired, and lonely. The creative entrepreneur comes up with new ways to meet those needs.

The pizza shop owner says, “My pizza can solve the hunger problem.”

The banker says, “My bank can help reduce financial instability.”

The hotel booking site says, “My service can help people relax by taking vacations.”

But can you see the issue with these examples? All of these business ideas exist already. If an entrepreneur were to start a new business in these industries, they would have to come up with a creative way to stand out from the crowd. They must not only meet a felt need in the market, but they must also differentiate themselves from competitors.

Again, we’re back to Business 101. To differentiate a business strategy, an entrepreneur will almost always prioritize one of three tactics:

Be the best – Discover a creative new way to increase a product’s quality

Do something different – Meet a brand new need in the marketplace or adapt an older technology for a new purpose.

Do something for a lower cost – Think outside the box to create new efficiencies in the market

No matter which differentiation strategy you choose, you’ll need creativity. And in our fast-moving world of high-speed data and constantly shifting market preferences, creativity is becoming a non-negotiable, not just for startups but for every company. Companies that begin as industry vanguards but refuse to rely on entrepreneurial creativity soon fall by the wayside.

The creative entrepreneur is first and foremost concerned with curiosity and adaptation. To put this into the perspective of faith, we might say that the creative entrepreneur taps into the infinite nature of God to imagine a brand-new world. Simply put, the entrepreneur creates a business that offers a product or service to uniquely address unmet needs in the marketplace.

In a way, entrepreneurs do the same thing on a much smaller scale. We have visions for businesses that don’t exist yet. Creation is what sets us apart from other business professionals who may manage, steward, or analyze already existing endeavors without bringing about something new. For example, an R&D engineer uses their skills to create someone else’s next big product. But the entrepreneur is the one who hires the R&D engineer to make their vision a reality.

It’s not enough to define creative entrepreneurship as being able to meet market needs through business. That’s too vague. We must get exceptionally clear on what needs we are going to meet.

Anyone who studies science will tell you that God’s created universe exhibits layers and layers of order. Chemistry studies the way elements and compounds interact based on observable rules. Astronomy wouldn’t manse sense without the regular workings of gravity. In fact, all of science is based on the basic premise that we can conduct observable and repeatable experiments. But what does this have to do with business?

Do you ever think you could use more order in your life? Or have you ever considered how Google, one of the world’s largest companies, is only valuable because it organizes information so effectively? Look at QuickBooks if you want a great example of a company that creates orderly systems to benefit others.

Facebook was supposed to usher in a new epoch of community and connection. Despite the grandiose headlines, we all know how that turned out. It seems that we’re more disconnected than we’ve ever been.

But Facebook also proves that human beings have a deep need for community. And entrepreneurship can meet that need. From Meetup.com to Pinterest to bowling alleys, there’s money to be made in facilitating relationships.

Creativity can be a difficult trait to harness. It seems to come and go as it pleases. But thankfully, creativity is not random, and it’s not a quality you either have or don’t have. Rather, creativity is connected to curiosity, brain chemistry, and social environment. If you’re feeling uninspired in this current season, know that there are practical steps you can take to improve your creativity. Here are a few examples.

Don’t let narrow cultural narratives around creativity create mental roadblocks. Earlier in this piece, we mentioned that art and creativity are not the same. You also don’t have to participate in shallow stereotypes like “being quirky” or wearing outlandish clothes to be considered creative.

Sometimes we get obsessed with “originality,” the idea that every invention has to be revolutionary for its field. But in fact, most technological advancements have been simple upgrades to previous systems. Apple understood this when they set up the “desktop” as the hub of their computer’s graphical user interface. In effect, Apple digitized an already accepted concept, which was key to its acceptance by the mass market.

People often ask whether entrepreneurs are more creative as individuals or in groups. As it turns out, both contexts contribute to creativity. It’s not an either-or question. According to creativity research summarize in Fast Company, “The way to maximize creative potential is to flow between being alone and being in a group, and back again.”

However, many entrepreneurs tend to isolate themselves. Loneliness and isolations are topics we cover extensively at Faith Driven Entrepreneur. Therefore, we recommend that entrepreneurs find mentors and communities that spur creative thinking. Find a trusted advisor who will help you think through new ideas. Join a co-working space or a Meetup group where you can brainstorm with like-minded entrepreneurs. A balance between individual reflection and community thinking will most likely lead to creative insights.