Amongst Other Things

This is a sentence opener I’ve found to be super useful when I get asked “so what is it you do?”.

That question used to freeze me in fear, especially when asked by someone who wasn’t in the creative sector.  “Well, I do a few things…” I’d mumble.

Fast forward a few years and I now confidently say, when asked what it is I do, “Amongst other things I…” and follow it with the element of my work which I think that person would be most interested in. 

If I’m talking to extended family members it might be followed with “...I produce arts projects that help people be more creative in their everyday lives” because that can open up a whole range of interesting conversations.  

At a networking event I’d say “I’m a creative business coach” as that is the most sellable element of my work in a networking context.  If I’m at a bead fair, it would be the niche “...I run beading retreats” (for obvious reasons).

It’s interesting how freeing and empowering those three words can be: “amongst other things”.  It somehow gives me permission not to be defined by a single job title or a simple way of explaining what my business does and how I earn a living.  It lets the questioner know there’s more to the story than what I’m telling them initially.  

It confuses some people that I am a coach, a creative producer, a training provider, an entrepreneur, a retreat organiser, an arts consultant and anything else that pops up that looks interesting, creative and piques my curiosity.  Those people aren’t who I’m talking to though.

My ideal client loves the fact I do a lot of different things and often they have multiple interests as well.  They also love that all those things are on my website for people to browse and click through.  This goes against a lot of conventional wisdom about how to position your business and communicate what you do, but it works for me.  I see my website as a library of interesting things: each blog, snippet about a project, workshop or service is a star in the firmament of my business, as are all my social media posts.   

There are so many subtle and nuanced “shoulds” when it comes to building your career and shaping a business:

• I should have a really specific niche
• I should be able to sum up what I do neatly in a sentence
• I should be able to deliver my elevator pitch and for anyone to be able to understand it
• I should be an expert
• I should focus my energies in one area
• I should avoid confusing my potential clients

Blimey, that list was easy to write!  I could have written loads more - they were just flowing out of me.

Flipping the script on those, here’s some wants:

• I want a career that I find exciting, rewarding and creative
• I want variety in my days
• I want to utilise my skill set in different ways throughout my working weeks
• I want to have impact through working with a big range of people in lots of formats
• And, perhaps most importantly, I want to do it my way.

Those “shoulds” make me tense and feel I’m collapsing in on myself.  Those “wants” make my heart glow and remind me that the advice I see whilst scrolling comes from people who have a very different success criteria as me.  

Have a go at this exercise yourself.  Jot down the “shoulds” in a couple of minutes.  Then, just as quickly, jot down the “wants”.  What do those lists tell you?  Is there any wisdom in there that you already know but could do with reminding yourself about?

Are there any exceptions to your general rule of thumb?  I ask because there’s one for me… Being an expert.  A little bit of me craves this.  I recently went to a Model Railway museum in Malahide near Dublin.  Every carriage and tram in there (and there were hundreds on display) were built by one man, Cyril Fry.  I was utterly enchanted and very much envied his life’s work.  Work that was done for the sheer love of it.  Maybe, in time, I’ll become a specialist in something.  What, I don’t know yet, but maybe.

If you’d like a whistle stop tour of the Casino Model Railway Museum (pun intended), I made a little reel about it.

If you had all the time in the world and could be an expert in something, what would it be?  (Answers on a postcard).