Creativity is an exciting yet painful and iterative transformation.
While it’s healing to be in the company of people who continuously experience this transformation, the knowledge that we are not alone also makes us more productive and loving towards ourselves.
On a rainy Saturday morning in Porto, I was sitting close to the crowd of excited Portuguese participants slowly filling the large hall, thinking about all the things that brought me to this point. As someone who advocates on every frontline for a systematic support mechanism for creative professionals in Turkey, someone who tries to collaborate with every institution or person who can prove to be an asset, I once again notice that my passion is as universal as it is highly personal. If we — as people from Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Spain, England, and Turkey — can gather around a table and discuss the same issues and needs, if the remarks of Elize from Belgium serve as a lesson for me, or if the questions asked and books written by Hendrik from Germany have a place in my repertoire as tools to improve my work, I think we have to analyze this similarity well.
In my beloved country, we’re seeing the termination of special talent tests, which determine some of the basic skills required to enter and receive an education at many of the design departments in universities. There are also ongoing debates regarding what it means to be a creative entrepreneur, where design ends and art begins, which professionals they encompass, and even what creativity is. Regardless of definitions, there are still thousands of creative professionals, designers, and artists in Turkey who continue to produce work each day, and they are alone in facing the results of their output, whether positive or negative. To combat the loneliness generated by this process of solitary creation, creative professionals, designers, artists, and changemakers all over the world are coming together under different concepts and themes to discuss these issues, meet those who offer solutions, learn from one another, and to be able to say, “I’m not alone.”
I was in Porto as a solopreneur — a creative entrepreneur who is the boss of her own work and herself, a designer who often has no other employees — who has recently and often experienced the benefits that being part of a community brings. There, I attended the Porto Indie Workers Bootcamp from October 18–20, which was organized to support local, independent workers, designers, artists, and creative professionals by providing a platform where they can forge meaningful connections with the rest of the world. I had the opportunity to speak at this fantastic event as an ATÖLYE member, a creative entrepreneur growing and shaping her work within the creative community of ATÖLYE, which itself is a member of the European Creative Hubs Network. Sure, the 1.5 hours allotted to us for the “Creative Work and Collective Spaces” panel discussion might have enabled me to be a part of this event, but the things I learned during those three days far exceeded the things I expressed. This is why I wanted to turn this experience, to the extent that it is possible, into a brief resource for creative entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, changemakers, and all those passionate, creative, and prolific people who are involved with their own craft.
The event kicked off with an opening speech by Vassilis Charalampidis from Athens, the artistic director of the creative hub Bios as well as the president of the European Creative Hubs Network.
He began his presentation by illustrating, via photographs, the differences between the popularized image of Athens and the life that is actually experienced there. Vassilis spoke about the role that these two perceptions of reality play in his own creative output, as well as recounting that the desire to produce together and the excitement to learn from one another was the unifying force that led to the formation of Bios. Such a speech fluctuating between reality and dreams was the perfect way to greet a diverse group of participants from various corners throughout Europe.
The second day began with the talk, “Myths of Creative Entrepreneurship.” A Belgium-based professional who has provided consultancy to hundreds of creative entrepreneurs over the years, Lieza Dessein helped me understand that, whether they only sustain themselves or manage large teams, creative people all around the world combat similar issues as individuals who produce works that are created by passion and nourished by personal stories or skills. She also helped me see just how universal the solutions to these issues could be. I would like to share a few of the topics she mentioned during her talk, as I believe they will be useful for us all:
-Network. While it is true that most people don’t enjoy networking, try to discover the format that best suits you. Don’t get stuck in your creative mind at home; tell your story and introduce yourself so you can find people who are able to share in on your excitement.
-Be visible. If you keep your work and your projects to yourself, no one will be able to find you. Be visible in the outlets that you think may work for you.
-Ask for help. Start with those closest to you, and ask for the support of people who believe in you the most, those who want to see you successful and happy.
-Acknowledge your responsibilities. Following up a sentence like “I don’t understand how taxes and accounting work” with “because I am a designer/artist” should not be an excuse for why you don’t comprehend this standard adult responsibility. Even accountants don’t love dealing with taxes and accounting. These are processes you must comprehend and complete as a business owner; that’s all.
After providing fundamental and useful recommendations such as these, Lieza was also forthright enough to share the fact that, at this point in her own career, she decided to change her entire approach to work for a third time, and that she has been in the thinking and reframing stage for several months. She also didn’t neglect to mention that it is completely natural for a creative mind who wants to constantly evolve, improve, and learn to experience pain and go through existential crises during these periods of transition. I know from my own experience that, while change is exciting, it also brings about a destructive and scary kind of exhaustion that forces you to question your core. Remember that the suffocating ambiguity emerging from all those possibilities suspended mid-air is temporary, and since you will eventually reach a conclusion, you will overcome this period with either a short- or long-term plan.
In the remainder of the event, I came across Lisa Lang (Founder & CEO | ElektroCouture &ThePowerHouse), who took over the stage with such energy and delicious humor during her talk that the audience erupted into laughter. As a female engineer in a male-dominated world, her expression of how she embraced her feminine energy to break the mold, and the freedom she felt to describe her red nail polish and lipstick with as much excitement as she did while recounting her coding projects, made me come to my own senses as a woman who has worked in male-dominated businesses for years. As someone who founded a huge techhub with 45 employees and established a space for both young girls and creative women to produce works in this field, Lisa realized she was unhappy, so she decided to change everything, to shut down the company and return to work as an individual. Although this decision may seem radical, she also showed us all that it was real and profound enough to emerge from the answer to a simple question:
So, are you happy?
I’m noticing that I will continue to feel grateful for every individual in some corner of the world who shares stories with us, as if to say, “You aren’t alone,” and “I am in the same boat as you.” As someone who is prone to experience recurrent existential crises during different stages of my life, who views this not as a shortcoming but as an opportunity for continuous improvement, transformation, adaptation, or forming cracks in the system, I was able to see people who follow the same passion. These people who repeatedly forge paths for themselves amidst the same cyclical crises and who gauge each imminent end through the filter of “am I happy?” enabled me to love myself again, and I am thankful for them.
So, if these crises repeat and form a pattern in our lives, isn’t it possible to approach them with greater awareness, to try to discover ourselves first before attempting to learn the work and then get to know ourselves as the person who performs that work? Can’t we first find balance within ourselves and then frame the right work for that person? Can’t we perform work that emerges from an inner journey where we slowly find balance, work that’s borne of a dream where we feel we belong?
We were able to discover the answers to these questions together with Jörn Hendrik Ast, the founder of New Work Heroes.
And the answer? Yes, it is possible. :)
All participants who attended the nearly two-hour workshop, “How to Activate Your Career Superpowers,” had the chance to discover firsthand how their personal journeys, childhood stories, confusions, and inner superpowers affect their careers, output, and dreams for the future. As someone who designs and manages training and support programs to coach founders, entrepreneurs, and organizational leaders, Hendrik helps us notice how we, as independent professionals, draw on our personal stories and experiences, how we form our own barriers via our fears and suspicions. He then transforms this awareness into a systematic journey of balance.
There is an online journey he’s designed to aid this discovery, and I believe it will prove quite beneficial for everyone. We’ve already started to collaborate to make this journey of self-discovery and much more available in Turkey. :)
One of the best parts of events such as these is that the stage isn’t the only space for learning. In a line for coffee, I met David Parrish, a consultant as well as a chatty and enthusiastic creator who supports creative entrepreneurs all around the world and who has advocated for the value of the creative economy within development economics for years.
Written with the aim of supporting creative professionals who struggle within the confines of the business world in finding their own path, his book, “T-shirts and Suits,” is an interesting resource that’s been translated into 13 languages. In it, Parrish describes the contrast between creative professionals and the business world, as well as the value that togetherness can create. You can access many other resources for free on his website.
Of course, there was also the “Creative Work and Collective Spaces” panel discussion, where I was among the speakers. It was led by Tania Santos, the super brain behind this entire fantastic organization. She is the founder of the creative hub CRU Cowork, a fantastic organizer, and a moderator who means business. :D The other guests of the panel discussion were Pablo Fernandez del Castillo, an illustrator and founder of the brand YouNameIt, from the Barcelona coworking space MOB; Mariana Emauz, a fashion designer and wild mind from the Lisbon-based TODOS who is also the founder of Stoners, an initiative that introduces Portuguese marble into the world of fashion. I joined them as the founder of Cross Change and a creative entrepreneur from ATÖLYE. :)
During the panel, we discussed our own personal career journeys, where we are presently, and the influence of our respective creative communities in getting us to our current status. I can’t neglect to mention the common threads that unite us:
-Creative people are unable to remain indifferent to the resources surrounding them, and as the resources get more varied, they discover surprise areas of production. (A laser cutting machine can open the doors to a brand-new career for you.)
-A well-curated community can be a resource pool, a trusted family, as well as a space where you can explore your passions.
-Each new conversation or introduction can turn into a new space for exploration and production; you just have to be open.
-Everyone I met is looking for a family where they can be themselves and be productive without judgment.
A few of the things I’ve learned while preparing for this panel, listening to the speakers that came before me, as well as during my own career journey:
-If you exist, so do people similar to you. You’re not alone!
-Requesting help and asking questions don’t make you look weak; on the contrary, it indicates that you are aware of what you know and what you don’t, and that you’re open enough to seek support.
-Trust your inner voice and intuitions!
