6 Tips to Become a Successful Multipassionate Creative

You might have heard experts say it over and over again, ad nauseum: “find a niche! Hone in on your niche!” 

While that’s great advice, sometimes, we’re multipassionate. Sometimes, we don’t want just one niche… we want multiple! 

Take me, for example. I love the work I do as a freelance writer and editor for clients. But I also love writing romance novels. And I also love teaching other solopreneurs about time management tips and productivity strategies. As a result, I’ve structured my business to incorporate all three of these components.

There’s no doubt about it: I epitomize the moniker of “multipassionate creative.” So, how does one go about being a successful multipassionate creative, without losing focus or letting anything slip through the cracks? 

There are a few important things you need to take into consideration… 

Don’t try to do everything all at once right away. 

I started out as a freelancer for six years or so before I began teaching other solopreneurs how to do what I do… and it was just in the past year and a half that I also started writing novels. It has taken me over a decade to get to the point where I am now, wherein I have these three different components of my business. 

It doesn’t need to take you that long to do the same, but you also won’t want to rush into doing everything all at once. Choose one thing to start with, and you can add from there. 

Identify what you need to do to bring in an income. 

When you’re trying to determine which thing to start with, keep in mind that you need to bring in revenue as a business owner. That’s the essence of a business. You need to pay your bills! So, now is a good opportunity to look at which niches can bring in a stable income, and which ones aren’t as profitable. 

For example, my freelance work is what helps me have a foundation so that I can write novels. My novels have not started bringing in a sizable income yet, so they’re something I can work on while my freelance work really pays the bills. That means my freelance work is something I need to balance with my novel-writing… and it also means that starting out with freelance work helped set the stage and make room for me to write novels.

Connect the dots between your passions. 

For example, here is part of my business mission statement: “SaganMorrow.com is dedicated to enriching the lives of others by providing practical, informative, and actionable resources in compelling formats, as well as unique perspectives, so that solopreneurs and readers can live the life of their dreams, broaden their worldview, and enjoy the journey every step along the way… making their own rules, and living life/doing business, on their own terms.” 

That’s just one part of my mission statement and vision, but it’s an important piece, because it encompasses the 3 pillars of my business: the freelance writing and editing side, the romance novels side, and the teaching solopreneurs side. 

There will always be a common thread between your passions, and if you want your business to act as an umbrella for all of them, then it is your responsibility to identify what that thread is. In my case, those 3 pillars of my business are all designed to be actionable, to make my client and readers’ lives easier, and to ensure that the resources I provide help people to live their lives or conduct their own businesses on their own terms. 

Schedule your time and energy depending on your various passions. 

For example, I typically do client work on Mondays and Thursdays. In another example, I like to block off a couple weeks at a time to do really intensive book writing, and then I’ll take multiple weeks off in between writing my next novel. 

You might also find that some of your passions require more creative juices or brain energy, whereas others are more physical activities or even mindless tasks, and in that case, you’ll want to organize those passions based on times of day for when your creative energies tend to be more condensed, for example. 

Learn more about how to save time and use your energy effectively.

Decide which passions you want to monetize and include in your business, and which passions you want to keep as your hobbies. 

For example, one of my great passions is dancing. I attend dance class for a couple hours multiple times each week, and I perform on stage several times each year. At this time, I’m really interested in keeping it as my hobby, and not trying to incorporate it into my business. Because of that, it’s easier to make room for it during non-business hours. If I wanted to include it as part of my business, then I’d doubledown and actively promote and market myself as a dancer, as opposed to it being an aspect of my lifestyle. 

You don’t need to turn every one of your passions into a business venture. Decide which ones you want as part of your business, and which you want to reserve for hobbies, so that you can more clearly allot your time and energy and organize your business in the best way possible. And, of course, because you and your business will change over time, you can absolutely change your mind about hobbies vs. business ventures in the future. 

Get clarity on each of your business passions. 

Just because you’re a multipassionate creative, doesn’t mean you can’t have focus! Being multipassionate doesn’t mean you can’t have a niche or an ideal client. Instead, you might just have a few of those, for example. You should absolutely still be clear and specific on your marketing strategies, goals, ideal client, and so on, around each of your passions. 

In fact, as a multipassionate creative, you arguably need to be even more clear on each of these (compared to someone who is not multipassionate), in order to make good progress and stay on track with your goals.

At this point, it’s important to recognize the difference between being multipassionate and being scattered. If you do not have clarity in your business, and if you are much more of a passive planner than an active implementer, then be honest with yourself: are you truly multipassionate… or are you just not following through on any of these areas? 

Only you can answer that question. You will generally be able to tell the difference between them when it comes to making progress. So, if you keep coming up with ideas and only half-heartedly doing any of them, or if you find that you never finish projects, then that either means that you aren’t actually multipassionate, or else it means that you really need to get yourself a lot more organized. 

However, if you find that you have the drive and motivation to keep following through and making progress—no matter how small of steps that progress might be—then that’s a good indicator that you are a true multipassionate creative. 

Multipassionate creatives are just as legitimate as niche creatives, and vice versa. It’s just a different style! You do you. But it’s worth noting that as a general rule, multipassionate creatives do need to be more organized, since you have your fingers in a few more pies. So you might have to do a bit more work, in some ways, to accommodate for that. 

At the end of the day, it’s okay to be multipassionate. In fact, it’s more than okay! It can be fantastic. I love that being multipassionate opens up so many more doors in my business, keeps me on my toes, gives me more opportunities to play around and explore different ideas and projects, and so on. 

Becoming a successful multipassionate creative is all about managing your time and energy effectively, building an actionable strategy that grows with you, and staying on track with the goals and action steps you set for yourself. You’ve got this!