Ep 127: Take The Leap
Why Now Is Always The Right Time For Creative Growth
SUMMARY
Sometimes the most profound truths come from the simplest statements. Last night, I heard something that stopped me in my tracks and challenged everything I thought I knew about timing in creative business. Author John T. Edge shared a truth that every creative professional needs to hear: "Every time I took a chance, a leap that scared me in my career, it was always the right thing to do."
This statement hit me like a lightning bolt because it perfectly captures what I see holding back so many talented creatives and agencies every single day.
The "Perfect Timing" Myth That's Killing Your Growth
Here's what I hear constantly from creative professionals: "I just need to get a few things in line first." Sound familiar? Whether it's waiting for more sales, recovering from team expansion, or organizing existing processes, there's always something that needs to happen "first" before taking the leap into better systems, new opportunities, or necessary changes.
But here's the reality check: if you're waiting for everything to be perfect, you'll be waiting forever.
When my wife and I found out we were having our first child almost 15 years ago, I didn't feel ready. Honestly? I still don't feel ready. I still feel like a kid myself trying to figure out what to do with my life. But waiting for perfect readiness would have meant missing out on one of life's greatest adventures.
Why Fear Is Your Creativity's Biggest Enemy
Fear will crush creativity and destroy businesses faster than any other force you'll face. It's not the market conditions, the competition, or even lack of resources—it's the fear that keeps you paralyzed in your current situation instead of moving toward growth.
I experienced this firsthand when I changed careers in 2023 to start Chief Creative Consultants. I had no idea what I was doing, no guarantee anyone would see value in what I offered, and no clear path to paying the bills. It was terrifying. But looking back, I wish I had taken that leap sooner.
The Backwards Thinking That Keeps You Stuck
Here's where I see creative businesses getting it completely backwards: they think they need to have all their systems perfect before they can handle growth. They say things like, "We need more sales first, then we'll work on our processes."
This is like saying you need to be stronger before you start exercising. Your systems ARE what enable you to handle growth efficiently. Without them, more sales just means more chaos—more of the same problems you're already dealing with, just amplified.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
⚡️ Fear-based timing is never perfect timing - If you're waiting for all conditions to be ideal before making necessary changes, you're letting fear make your decisions instead of wisdom.
⚡️ Systems enable growth, not the other way around - Don't wait until you have more clients to implement better processes. Implement better processes so you can effectively serve more clients.
⚡️ The leap you're avoiding is probably the one you need to take - That scary decision you keep postponing? It's likely the exact step that will unlock your next level of creative and business success.
NOTABLE QUOTES
💬 "Fear will crush creativity and crush businesses and crush families more than any other thing that will come up against you."
💬 "Now is the only time. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Yes, be wise about what you do today, but make the most of the day."
💬 "The world needs what you have to create. And we all want to benefit and enjoy what you have to create as well."
EPISODE RESOURCES
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TRANSCRIPT
You know what I've learned after years of helping creatives build better systems? The one area even the most organized creatives still wing it? Their money. And I get it. You don't start your business to become an accountant or a bookkeeper, right? You started it to create amazing work. But here's the reality. Financial chaos will kill your creativity faster than any other kind of overwhelm. And that's why I love what the core group does.
They're not your typical accountants. They only work with creatives like us and they understand that you need systems that work with your brain, not against it. Their profit first approach flips everything you think you know about business finances. Instead of paying everyone else first and hoping that there's something left for you, you pay yourself first and build your business around that. They've got three service levels depending on where you're at in your journey from basic tax support, all the way up to full CFO partnership, which is what I use and it's amazing. Stop letting money stress, steal your creative energy. Check out coregroupus.com and finally get the financial systems your creative business deserves.
Last night I heard something that stopped me in my tracks and I knew I had to share it with you today. Sometimes the most profound truths come from the simplest statements and this one's going to challenge everything you think you know about timing in your creative business. Let's get into it.
Taking creatives from chaos to clarity. Well, everybody, welcome back to Creativity Made Easy. This is a podcast for all creatives who are struggling to actually get the work done that they want to get done. My name is Dustin Pead. I'm a creative coach and consultant, and I help creatives know themselves, their process and their team so that they can create with efficiency together.
This episode today is going to be a little bit different. I know last week, if you're a listener of the podcast I talked about what today's episode was going to be about and we are going to do that. That's going to be probably next week or maybe even the week after. But I really just felt like I wanted to kind of share a little bit of raw process out loud with y'all. If you know me, I'm an Enneagram Four and sometimes I just need to do that. In fact, there's a lot of things going on in my life right now that I would love to be able to share with you. But there's one in particular that I really want to share with you last night.
I went to the Atlanta History Museum to see one of my favorite authors, John T. Edge, talk about his new book right here. His new book is called House of Smoke. It's a memoir. It's a southerner goes searching for home. John T Edge is the co-producer and host of a show on the SEC network, which is owned by ESPN. The show is called True South and it's a beautifully cinematic and well-crafted storytelling 30 minute per episode type of show.
He does focus a lot on food because he's been a food writer in the past and still is a food writer. But just beautiful, beautifully told stories. And so if you want looking for something to be inspired, go look at True South. Look that up on whatever cable network or cable provider you have. There may be some stuff on YouTube as well, but True South is amazing. So he was there last night at the Atlanta History Museum talking about this book. Francis Lamb was actually interviewing him, who's a James Beard award winning food author as well.
And during the night he said so John said so many profound things last night, but there's one that he said in particular that I wanted to share with you today because it's what I really wanted to get into with today's episode. He said this he says every time I took a chance, a leap that scared me in his career, it was always the right thing to do.
When he took a leap, he took a chance, even if it scared him, it was always the right thing to do. Now I'm not saying do something every day that scares you. Maybe that's a great motivational poster. But my immediate reaction was, yeah, if I look back to anything in my life, when I moved away from the home that I grew up, born and raised in, to go, you know, several hundred miles away to pursue a career that I felt so passionate about and just kind of leaving behind everything that I knew and having to make friends all over again and set up community and things like that. That was super scary in the leap, but that leap set a trajectory for my entire life and career.
And then if I fast forward to 2023, when I changed careers and I started this business, Chief Creative Consultants, it was a giant leap. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how we were going to pay the bills. I had no idea if anyone would even see value in this. And now we're a thriving business and we're bringing on team members. And it's just incredible to see, frankly, how God has pulled all this together. And so I wanted to just kind of share with you about like, I think sometimes we just wait for everything to be perfect timing. There's a lot of creatives and creative agencies that I speak with and their number one kind of response to me when I start sharing here's what we do at Chief Creative Consultants and here's how we help is I just got to get a few things in line first. I just got to get a few things in line first. We just got to have more sales. I've just got to rebound from bringing on these team members. I just have to, I have to, I have to first.
It reminds me of when I found out that we were gonna have our first child. And in that moment, I didn't feel ready. And I'll be honest with you, going on almost 15 years later since we had our first child, I still don't feel ready. I still would go, wait, we gotta get some things right first before we can have a kid. Like we still have stuff to figure out. We're still kids ourselves. I was just sharing with a friend recently about how mentally I still feel like I'm fresh out of high school trying to figure out what to do with my life in a lot of ways. But this idea of just taking a risk and understanding that the fear that is in front of you is stopping the progression of the life that you could have. And I don't think it's any different when it comes to our creative businesses and agencies or even the solo thing that you're doing.
I think what might be holding you back right now is that you're scared to take a leap and fear friends will crush creativity and crush businesses and crush families more than any other thing that will come up against you. And so I just wanted to share with you in a few minutes today that we're not saying to be reckless, right? We're not saying to make unwise decisions, but when you wait...
I was just having this conversation with my aunt who lives back in Virginia. And we were catching up on life and what she's got going on and what I have going on and how our family's doing and her family's doing. And what I realized is that, and I tell people all the time, when I stepped out and changed careers in 2023, like I wish I had, I tell people all the time, man, I wish I would done it sooner. Now I will say, in the consulting world, like it's hard to be able to say let me consult you on something if you don't have experience and so I firmly believe that God was building up my experience over the 20 years of ministry before he had me do this thing that we're doing now. And I was scared to death and I wish I'd had done it sooner.
I just want to encourage you friends, creatives. Whether it's a business decision you need to make or it's a creative direction that you need to take or it's a new skill that you need to learn that you're afraid to learn or it's a conversation that you need to have that you don't want to have. I promise you that having that conversation, doing the hard thing, taking the leap will pay off in the long run. I do think in the immediate as well, you're going to feel some immediate relief, right? It's like the hard conversation that you keep avoiding when you are finally able to have that conversation. It may not be immediately resolved, but you feel better for getting it out. I talking to one of my clients just yesterday and he was having some frustrations and he was sharing with me and I said, is there anything I can do? And he said, honestly, it just feels good to get it out.
And that might be the first step is to just say out loud what it is that you're afraid of, that you need to do now than later. And so I'm not saying creative processes and systems are the answer for you right now. But if you're sitting there wondering, and this is not a sales pitch by any means, this is genuine me coming to you and saying, I care about what you're creating in this world and the world needs what you have to create. And I would love for you to stop making excuses about why now isn't the right time. Now is the only time. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. And yes, be wise about what you do today, but make the most of the day. And sometimes, making most of the day means I need to take this leap.
And so my challenge to you listeners today is what leap are you avoiding? What leap do you feel like you need to take right now that it's super scary, but you can't seem to shake that that's what that's the leap you need to make? Is it bringing help in to help tighten up your systems before you have the sales. I struggle with people that say they have to have all the things together before they work on the systems because I'm like, your systems, they have it backwards, right? Your systems are the things that help you do the things that you need to do. Hey, I need more sales. Well, what's gonna happen when you get more sales? It's just gonna be more chaos than it is right now. It's not gonna be any different. It's just gonna be a lot more of it.
Which you might be I would welcome a lot more of it, yeah financially you probably would but mentally and physically and emotionally you probably wouldn't. And so maybe this is a little bit of a sales pitch. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I just felt like when I heard that quote last night for John T, I thought that is a message for creatives. And that is a message that I want to share on this podcast. And most weeks I have a pretty tight kind of not really a script, but have a pretty tight kind of outline of like, here's what I want to walk you through today.
I know we went raw a couple of weeks ago with the episode in which I had PJ on and we were walking through some clunky processes. But I really just want this podcast at the end of the day to be helpful. I want it to be encouraging. And if it's helpful or encouraging for you, then I'm going to keep doing it I'm to keep pressing on. And I'm so very thankful for people like the core group who have come alongside and say, I see what you're doing. I believe in what you're doing. And we're going to sponsor your podcast. So when you hear the ads at the beginning of this podcast, just know that these are people that believe in you as creatives enough to be able to support businesses like mine because businesses like mine are here for you. We're here for your creativity, for your art to be released into the world in a big way that is hard to do alone.
And none of us at the end of the day, I think really want to be alone. There might be some introverts that go, no, no, no, I really love being alone. But when it when it all shakes out, like we want someone to walk through this thing with us. And I'm recording some client testimonials now, and I'm sure you'll see those on different things over the over the coming months as we start to drip those out. But I really just want to walk alongside you. So if you're a creative business, an agency, an agency owner who's listening to this right now. I just want to walk alongside you so that what you have in your heart to create, we can create it and we can create it with more efficiency and we can create it in a way that doesn't burn you out and doesn't leave you stressed out at 11 p.m. at night trying to figure out how you're going to finish projects. I want to help you finish what you started.
Let me help you. But most of all, just take the leap. If it's with me, if it's with someone else, if it's any other endeavor at all, whatever is stopping you right now, now is the time to take the leap. So I know it's super clunky and a little bit kind of all over the place, but I just wanted to when I heard it last night and I'm listening to John T. who is such an incredible storyteller, such a poet with his words. I just thought I need to share this and I had it on my calendar to record another podcast episode for you today and I thought today's the day.
So I wanted to share with you this idea of taking the leap. So I'm committed to taking the fearful leaps, right? And I encourage you creatives, I encourage you artists to do the same. Take the leap. Whatever is in front of you that you're scared to jump into with wisdom. But take the leap. Take the leap. The world needs what you have to offer. And we all want to see what you have to create. And we all want to benefit and enjoy what you have to create as well. In the words of my good friend and client, Darren Cooper, go out and create your art. Take the leap.
I don't know what next week's episode is going to be. Maybe it'll be more like this one. Honestly, I'd love to hear your feedback. If you made it to the end of this episode, just let me know. You sometimes I create these podcasts and I send them out there and I'll get a little thing kind of six weeks down the road. Oh, hey, that podcast episode, you know, but if this kind of raw conversation is helpful or encouraging to you, let me know. We're definitely going to get back into the practical takeaway elements of how to use, you know, processes and systems and your creativity to, you know, create with efficiency. We're always going to do that. But, you know, I've done some things like the front porch conversation and things like things like that. I just be curious to know, is this type of format for the podcast? Is this something that you like?
Is it annoying? Is it too clunky or is it helpful? And I hope it's I hope it's a genuine reflection of my heart and what I'm trying to build this business on as we grow together, as we all grow together. I'm growing and I want to help you grow, too. So, yeah, that's it for this week. I would love for you to tune in next week to the podcast. We're going to drop these every single Thursday. Again, thank you to the core group for sponsoring this episode. So very thankful for them and I'm thankful for you listeners and watchers and I would love to hear your feedback. Drop me a line. You can go to dustinpead.com and contact me there. You can go to Instagram. I think maybe LinkedIn handle is the same, but it's at dustinpead. P E A D. You can reach out to me. D P at dustinpead.com is my straight email. I would love to hear from you as well, but until next time, get out there, take the leap and create your art today. Talk to you next week.