The Creative Genius Corner
Lessons, musings and advice from the author of ‘The Life I Won’
Will The Real Mandy Nicholson Please Stand Up…
Over the last couple of months, in between moving house and renovating a ‘mini castle’, I have been delving deep into ‘identity’. Studying the Jungian Archetypes and reading autobiographies about four artists.
Why? Because I wanted to create a completely bespoke quiz for my ideal clients so that they could really understand who they are and where they are. In doing all this work I have been able to truly understand myself at a much deeper level. It has been transformative and exciting – oh and exhausting!
I always say that how you do anything is how you do everything so as usual I immersed myself in the process. I specifically chose the four artists because of their personality types; I already knew them well due to my fine art degree and art history diploma. So, I started from the end result and worked and studied backwards (I do this a lot).
I wanted to be able to ‘sort’ my ideal clients into four categories:
- At the beginning of their business journey and struggling with confidence issues – Foundation
- Dabbling in the business world but often struggling with money issues – Intermediate
- Ready to put a basic strategy in place and learn about the online world – Evolving
- Ready to create something BIG with the right mindset and energy – Advanced
I already had the teaching programs and infrastructure in place with four programs at each of these levels. I chose the artists that I thought best reflected the levels:
- Vincent Van Gogh
- Claude Monet
- Pablo Picasso
- Salvador Dali
Then I got to work reading their biographies so that I could check that their personalities matched the Jungian Archetypes. It was a wonderful exercise, but time consuming!
When you are exploring identity, it is truly valuable to have a framework to fit into. I have done loads of personality tests in my time as a leader in ‘corporate land’, I always come out the same, so I know who I am and how to play to my strengths. It is a gift to understand why you behave a certain way and how you can shift between the personality traits at different times for different reasons.
I have always come out of these tests with a combination of 3 traits, every single time. Without fail, no matter what they title the traits, I am always the creative, the leader and communicator. So, I decided to stick to discovering the 3 strongest traits for my ideal clients. Why? Because when you understand how you are wired, you can see why you do what you do, it’s as simple as that.
Sometimes I need to be the leader, sometimes I am creating and sometimes I am communicating. Sometimes I am doing all three. It is valuable knowledge, but also valuable guidance. It helps you to show up more authentically and step firmly into your role in life. The knowledge allows you to see where you want to go and the skills you have that can help you to get there.
For example, one of the Jungian archetypes is ‘The Hero’. This is the person who goes charging in to rescue people, businesses or causes. It is an admirable quality, but when you also understand the flip side (the shadow) you can improve the behaviour that holds you back or causes you problems. The hero often does ‘too much’ to their own detriment, so if you know this about yourself you can take remedial action. Self-awareness is an extremely powerful tool.
I decided to ‘launch’ my brand-new quiz during my upcoming 5-Day Challenge for creatives as a bonus. I thought, great, now I know these artists intimately and how they fit the archetypes it will be easy to create the questions for the quiz. It was, BUT then I had to do the tech!! This has challenged me big time. My creative brain gets bored very easily, so I have had to engage the leader to keep me on track. Knowing I have this skill and that I can switch it on when I need it really does help me manage ‘creative Mandy’ who chases shiny objects and then wants to share everything with the world!
As I write this blog, I am at the end of the first week in August and I have managed to finish the quiz, write a 5-e-mail automation for each Archetype, produced an amazing workbook that my ideal client can buy which helps them understand themselves AND gives them 30 days of social media prompts based on their archetype. This will help them attract their people! I have also written 5 blogs, 5 newsletters, the content for my 5-Day Challenge, an e-mail automation 25 pages long for the 5-Day Challenge and a landing page. See, when I engage the three archetypes together, I can achieve great things, but I must do it consciously.
To do that I need to:
- Create a detailed plan and timeline – Leader
- Identify which parts can be outsourced – Leader
- Communicate with my team and allocate tasks – Communicator, Leader
- Create all the content – Creative
- Send it with instructions to the relevant team member – Communicator, Leader
- Check and test everything – ALL 3
- Create graphics and schedule content – All 3
- Deliver the training – Leader, communicator
- Follow up – Leader, communicator
Can you see how valuable knowing your traits and how they fit into your life and business can be? I know when to oversee myself and others and when to relax and create. This is GOLD!
If you are fascinated by this and ready to do the quiz and find out which creative archetype you are, you need to sign up for the next 5-Day Challenge. You can do that here
The challenge is all about making more money as an artist/creative and I have tons of value in it for you, so I would love to have you on board. I am going to pretty much guarantee that you will experience more Ah-Ha moments in one week than you have all year. I know this because I have had them in creating it for you. When we are not learning, we are dying!
Get yourself in, brace yourself and be ready with an open mind and a willingness to really get involved and you will thank yourself later. No matter who you turn out to be!
So, will the real Mandy Nicholson please stand up…she is already standing, and I know her better every single day!
See you in there!