160. What is Creative Entrepreneurship?

“First principles are really: know how to be creative and know how to get into your creativity.” - Beth Barany

In this How To Write the Future episode, called “What is Creative Entrepreneurship?,” host Beth Barany gets interviewed about defining creative entrepreneurship and explains the importance of prioritizing creativity over business and why she believes being a creative comes first. Plus she goes in depth on how we can make it work for us as creative individuals.

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The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers and get curious about the future of humanity.

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Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.

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• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

c. 2025 BETH BARANY

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Email: beth@bethbarany.com
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EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
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Transcript

BETH BARANY: 0:03

So Beth, tell us what is creative entrepreneurship? So yeah, creative entrepreneurship. What is it? So a lot of people define creative entrepreneurship in different ways. I guess what's important here is the way I define it, so I see being a creative entrepreneur is about being a creative first and an entrepreneur second, which is very unusual. A lot of people don't think of it that way, and I break it down that way because when we create something like the actual zone of creating, yes, it may have marketing considerations, but the zone, what do people call it? They call it the zone, right? They call it the flow, being in the flow. And I think when you're in the flow, you're not thinking about the past, you're not thinking about the future. You're just in the flow. When you think about marketing your stuff and reaching the marketplace and reaching your fans and reaching new readers as authors, then now you're starting to think about marketing considerations and it takes you outta the flow. Let's break it down. I like first principles.

EZRA BARANY: 1:00

So first principles. Where are the first principles?

BETH BARANY: 1:03

Yeah. First principles are really: know how to be creative and know how to get into your creativity. And then when you're in the entrepreneurship space, now think about: How do you talk about what you're making? How do you clarify who your audience is? How do you reach your audience? And how do you create a place for them to purchase your material or enjoy your material? And all of those considerations seem to use a different part of our brain than the creative part. Now, that's not to say you can't apply your creativity to all those things. In fact, that's what I advocate for. Like the same energy that we use to come up with story ideas and, create things, let's apply that generative and like juicy, bubbly energy, and focus- often when we're in creative space, we're super focused.- let's apply that to entrepreneurship. I think of being a creative entrepreneur, as being creative first and an entrepreneur second. So

EZRA BARANY: 2:06

Great. What is the importance for becoming a creative entrepreneur?

BETH BARANY: 2:11

Sure. it's definitely an elective choice. For a lot of writers, and I'm gonna just speak of writers'cause that's what I know the most. We write to be read. I haven't met a single writer who writes novels and other short fiction and all those things because they just wanna keep it to themselves. They want someone to read it, even if it's an intimate group of fellow writers or their family, or a thousand of their closest friends. You agree with me, you're a writer. Yes. You've always been driven by having other people appreciate what you've created, right? What you've written.

EZRA BARANY: 2:46

Yeah. In fact it's what keeps me writing is picturing them reading this moment I'm writing about.

BETH BARANY: 2:52

Yeah. But a lot of people are stopped from getting their work into the marketplace for fear of criticism, for fear of- even I was super afraid when I was publishing my first book, but I also was driven just like you by that desire to be read. Because I also remembered being a reader, and I've been an avid reader since I was a child. So why is this important? We tend to think that we have to enter the marketplace a certain way. And there's all these rules and there's all these ways things have been done. Just like we write stories within a structure of what a story is and within that structure there's so much freedom. Even within storytelling. So why can't we enter the marketplace in a way that works for us? So I think by talking more about creative entrepreneurship, we can talk about how do we make it work for us? The principles I'm talking about actually doesn't apply just to being creative people, it applies to anybody.'cause I think, if you wanna be in business and you wanna do it your own way. now you're applying your creativity, you're applying choice and decisions, I kind of see it like an alchemy. You're basically saying, here's how I want it to be. Here's my ingredients. Now how do I cook this up in the way that would fit my taste buds? To just use a cooking metaphor, veering a little away from alchemy. Does that answer the question about why I care about this issue? okay, here's the big soapbox thing. I believe that the ability to be creative is a human right and something we're all born with. And bringing our creativity, our wild imaginations into doing business is going to serve not only us as authors, and it maybe you're a creative writing professional. It's gonna serve everybody because there's so many different ways to do it. There's not one way. So let's bring the conversation out. Let's be creative, let's be playful. I believe we need more examples of that. There's not one way to sell your services or sell your books. So let's play in that space of: What else could it be? Just like we play in the storytelling space of the kinds of characters and the kinds of stories that we wanna write. That's why.

EZRA BARANY: 5:04

So let me ask you this. What would be the next steps or the first steps for someone to take to become a creative entrepreneur?

BETH BARANY: 5:13

Yes, very good question. When I work with creative entrepreneurs, and I do, I work with people who wanna be- they wanna be a creative writing professional, like editorial assistant or a virtual assistant to an author or a book coach. Or an editor. The very first thing that you need to focus on is your skillset in the chosen field in the way you wanna help people. You need to get good at that. You need to get specialized training or get lots of experience and do everything you can to get lots of-, have your training wheels on for a while and then take off your training wheels. And, there are lots of training, different kinds of training programs for these things. Specifically I know in editing. And being a virtual assistant, and then meet people who are doing what you wanna do or are adjacent to what you wanna do. Like maybe you only know book designers or cover designers. Hang out with them, find out how they do things and just start to network. So I first get professional training. and or lots of experience, network with people in your adjacent fields. And then number three is learn some business skills. Learn how to talk about what you do in the marketplace. Learn how to write a short blurb about what you do, and have a professional bio and decide how you wanna market. Build a mailing list. As you get more refined in what your offer is, offer freebie. And then look for ways to do a one to many. You show up in front of a group of people, whether you do it online, or in person And lastly, or also in conjunction- these are all together. there are some order of this, but also not, it depends on your personality. And in fact, entirely depends on your personality, but you wanna learn how to have some kind of offer, whether you wanna offer small group classes or coaching one-on-one or editing one-on-one or working with a lot of clients or maybe just a few clients. That's the business model. Who do you serve and how will you earn your money? And at what price point? So there's professional development that you need to learn in your skills, but then there's also business development. I have been doing one form or another of business development training ever since I started my business 19 years ago. So it really never stops in my opinion And neither does the skillset training in like being a better writer, being a better editor, better teacher, better coach. Those are the things I mostly focus on.

EZRA BARANY: 7:49

Let me ask you this. What can you say to creatives, who, when they hear that they need to market and focus on the business aspect of their creativity, and they just want to shut down, what advice would you give those folks?

BETH BARANY: 8:06

That's a big one. I would be very, very delicate, or I would say sensitive, to that when people just wanna shut down. It often has nothing to do with their lived experience, although it might have something to do with their upbringing, but it also might have something to do with their ancestry because it has been very difficult, if not impossible, to be an entrepreneur before the 20th century. Before the 20th century, you had to have some kind of moxie. The economies weren't there, there was no social systems. There was no network there supported it unless you were in a guild. And if you're in a guild, then you're an apprentice and you become a master. And the pathway is very direct or you do what your parents did historically and genetically, humans have not been entrepreneurs in the way we can now. So it's very scary. So there's a lot of fear around that, around being an entrepreneur that we inherit from our families. And, marketing is often got a bad rap because there's a lot of negative stereotypes around it. We haven't seen any good examples and we have all experienced- we've all had bad experiences of being marketed to or sold to, or people trying to be in our face. But the really interesting thing is we all love buying things. How is that? How is that we love buying things? So in those cases and all those cases where we had a good experience buying something that was because of marketing. Nine times outta 10, that was because of marketing. Yes. Maybe we went out of our way. Oh, I need this thing. I'm gonna go buy this thing. But then we look at the packaging and we look at the ingredients and we look at the reviews, right? All of that is marketing. So I think it's a lack of education, but it's also an instinctive thing that we inherit. So it does require us to say: I am very scared about marketing and sales, but I wanna learn how to do it. So it's just shifting the mindset from: Yes, I recognize I have all this fear, and maybe you don't even know where your fear comes from. Maybe you don't even know why you shut down, but if there's another part of you that is curious... I'm like, I'm curious. I'm curious why I react this way. I really wish I didn't. I really wish I had comfort here. I had ease here. I really wish I could have the same feeling of creative flow I have in creating my stories in marketing and sales. And my challenge is yes, we can, we don't necessarily know the pathway, and that's the challenge of being a creative who wants to be selling their creative stuff or selling their services that relate to being creative is finding a way that's in alignment with us and it maybe it's small. Maybe we start really small and we start to get comfortable with all the bits and pieces and parts and ways of doing things. So yeah, start small. Be gentle with yourself and be curious.

EZRA BARANY: 10:55

I love that. And so it sounds like you're saying that, and would you agree with this? That there are multiple ways of marketing and some of which creatives might actually enjoy.

BETH BARANY: 11:08

Absolutely. When I've taught writers marketing tools often related to social media, people would cringe around the social media. And then I would say: What do you like to do? And this one author said to me, I love going to bookstores and doing book talks. and going to schools and doing my talks there. I'm like, that's great. Forget the social media. Go and do those things. And as soon as I said that, her whole demeanor changed. She got super excited. She's like, Ooh, I know what to do and who to call and who to talk to and how to prepare. She knew it was all natural. So do what's natural to you. Do what you love. Like you, Ezra, you love making videos, the idea of making images you love. and I just see you light up with that and it's so wonderful. And then, here's the other secret. You don't have to do everything. You can delegate. You can ask for help. You could do a trade, you could get a group of buddies and do things together. It's really important that we come from our strengths and stay in there, stay in our strengths. And actually, I heard someone today say it's not just your strengths. No. Be in your zone of genius. And I believe there is genius even in how we can market. We may think we have no genius there, but actually we do. It's just a matter of skills.

EZRA BARANY: 12:25

Thank you. Thank you for sharing with us your wisdom.

BETH BARANY: 12:29

Thank you. And that's a wrap.