How to Set Social Media Boundaries as a Creative Business Owner
Social media has a way of sucking you in. If you’re not careful, you might find both your working hours and your days off revolving around it. You need to create content for it, but you might also find yourself just mindlessly scrolling through feeds when you need your brain to be a jelly for a bit.
And that’s when you start seeing all the amazing reels and highlights that creatives or art businesses have. Cue the comparison, envy, self-loathing for taking a day off etc even if you know it makes no logical sense to feel that way. So rather than letting your emotions get tangled up, here are some personal boundaries you can set to prepare you for the inevitable moment you feel like you aren’t as good as everyone else.
Stop the comparison
There’s always the temptation to compare yourself to others, especially if their work is similar or overlaps with yours. So what if your focus is on prints while someone else is doing washi tape? If you’ve had a good long think about it and you know prints are your thing, stick with it. If not, you’ll find yourself getting pulled in every other direction every other day. That’s no way to stay focused and develop excellence in what you do. There’s nothing wrong with getting inspired by other creatives. But there is quite a line between learning from others and getting pulled away from your original purpose.
Not everyone will love what you do
The same way you are not friends with everyone is the same way not everyone will like your work. Art, especially good art, is an immensely personal craft. To some people, non-offensive government building art is what they would pay for. Others want something edgy or with real character. For a great example on how (cruelly) subjective art can be, here is a clip from Parks & Recreation.
Set aside time to go and play
Just like exercise, more doesn’t necessarily mean better. Read a book, go for a hike, have a coffee and stare out the window for hours. Working 14 hours a day a week before a big launch might be an urgent necessity, but keeping it up long term is only going to burn you out and kill your productivity in the long term. Go enjoy life and smell the roses, because wasn’t that why you became an artist in the first place?
Setting boundaries for client interactions
While most clients are reasonable people, you will occasionally get someone who might DM you at 11 p.m. and expect an answer within an hour. Setting boundaries for how and when you will respond to them is important to ensure you don’t end up frustrated when you should be winding down and resting. Purposeful rest fuels you for purposeful work.
Curate your social media
If you’re going through a rough patch, sometimes the last thing you want to see are others enjoying their jet-setting lifestyles where money is no problem. Even if you don’t want to, the reality is that we all sometimes envy others being born into wealth or having a family that wholeheartedly supports their endeavours.
Create a work space
Everyone has a different situation so it’s understandable if you don’t have the ability to do this. But if you can, try to carve out at least a little corner of your home to act as your workspace. You want to train yourself to enter a ‘zone’ of productivity where being in that space means you are there to get stuff done. It will also help those living with you to understand that when you’re at your work space, you shouldn’t be interrupted unless truly necessary.
A creative business is one that can take years to get off the ground. Keeping yourself emotionally and mentally healthy will help ensure you thrive for years to come.
