Mixing the creative field with the business field is not easy, but through the interviews and advices of prominent figures who have achieved this accomplishment one can gain insight into how to master being a successful yet creative entrepreneur. This paper will be explaining what has been learned through the interviews of a successful and rising artist, Ali S. Saiyan, a self-made entrepreneur, Abraham Ben Aish, and the creative director of Mama Tierra Entertainment, Jose Salves. These interviews mainly focus on how one can begin their career after college, what skills to gain proficiency in and how competitive the industry is.
The business in the creative field starts with improving various skills in the dedicated field which needs a lot of effort. According to Abraham Ben Aish, the generic knowledge and skills lead to better and more qualified business opportunities and gradute should master their skills in general and craft/improve them with their own unique creativity. Aish explains his life story of having to generate a platform for him to thrive on which turned out to be easier than he thought due to his location. Aish suggests that to create a better network and easier access to the tools of the cretive field, California State is considered to be a better choice to be based at as it’s the center of art and creative fields in the US.
One topic that was common in the interviews was how everyone actively used internet, and social media to start their businesses off, maintain and expand their businesses, and integrate new and upcoming trends within the industry into their businesses. In most of these fields, internet is considered to be a very good channel tool and creative platform for those who are innovative to excel in.
Jose Salves, the creative director of Mama Tierra Entertainment, goes out of his way to ensure that he is getting the most he can out of internet. Instead of narrowing his search merely to his local region, Salves utilizes the internet to find artists and designers worldwide by constantly searching through notable portfolios in social media and artist blog websites. Salves’ search helped to create diversity within his company, and gained him a team of people that’re unique, hard-working and original.
Ali S. Saiyan, an upcoming artist who composes his own music and lyrics, uses internet to promote and advertise his music. Saiyan mentioned how recently he used the advertising features of Facebook’s business accounts to promote his newly released album. The feature that only cost him no more than $20 allowed him to target the specific locations he wanted his music to be promoted in, and displayed how many listeners were there to each song. Saiyan, who has had prior financial struggles and a difficult journey to set off his career over a lenghty period, extremely appreciates the existence of social media advertisement tools.
The wide range of skill sets in any creative field requires putting in extra effort for improving and to have the unique creative touch. So to stand out with their portfolios and experience the creator must have mastered their respective skills in their unique fields. All of the interviewees stated that what the society demands is something new and original; many new entrepreneurs make the mistake of strictly following in others’ paths, but what they need to realize is their own talent, their own innovative power, and what they can individually offer rather than how good of a follower they can be. Saiyan suggests to be proficient in communication skills for the way one communicates with others, and how one understands others’ verbal and nonverbal languages deeply affects the ongoings within one’s business.
As can be seen, although it’s challenging to be successful as an innovative entrepreneur, once accomplished, it is a career to be proud of. The field is very competitive and it’s usually hard for college students to immediately find a job after their education is completed.
Therefore, it’s significant to make connections while in school, develop communication and leadership skills, immerse oneself in available internships and researches to gain work experience. Doing so will increase the chances of one finding a job after their education because not only will they have made so many connections at this point but their prospective boss will see that they are dedicated and responsible just by the look at the history of his or her internships and background in education.
