This week we are celebrating our Inkiversary because we are officially 5 years old! 🥳 To celebrate that, I thought it would be fun to share 5 things I've learned over the past few years. Without harm or shame. Who knows, maybe you recognize yourself in them or they give you something to think about. If so, we'd love to hear about it.
In the beginning, I was afraid to trust myself 100%. Partly because I was intimidated by my own ambition, partly because of others. Being a woman? With your own creative agency? And what about the fact it's something that didn't exist yet and few people really understood? It just wasn't there yet and, to be honest, I didn't quite believe it myself. That's really something I had to learn step by step. To not be guided by the opinions of others around me, but assume that what I want makes sense. So even if you don't quite believe it yourself, just get started and work at it every day. Then you'll get somewhere.
As a creative, you quickly see what something has the potential to be. But before any solution becomes a reality, you first have to do a lot of research, develop, dare to make adjustments and change your mind and then implement it. That is a process, which in our industry sometimes takes years. And since certain tasks aren't ideal for creatives, it's important to involve the help of others. Some of our concepts that were developed five years ago are only now making an impact. And some of them were a great idea but they will never be realized. It's all part of the game.
At first, I thought I had to be able to do everything myself before I could hand it over. But that is not true. You have to look for people who can do things better and smarter than you do. Whose work impressed you and not just people that are similar to you. It is precisely complementing each other in perspective and qualities that makes a good team work. A diverse team requires an inclusive working atmosphere and you need to keep working on that.
Dare to look in the mirror. I believe the best thing I did as a director was to go to therapy. To really examine my weaknesses and fears and be able to talk about them. That just makes you a much more bearable person for others, which makes a huge difference if you have to work together every day.
And if it's not fun, stop. Collaborations, employees, projects: as a creative entrepreneur, you have to give so much of yourself to your work, which you can do only if you work in an environment and with people who give you energy and inspiration. And it really doesn't have to be a party every day or never difficult. But I've learned to say goodbye to things that cost me too much energy. I had to be almost 40 for that.
That's it. Cheers to the Inkredibles ✨
