Creativity is the hardest thing to sell.

I’m a Creative. The thrill and satisfaction that I get from creating something is the greatest feeling. I’m always trying to push myself to try new things, whether that be writing a new joke, producing a new episode of my podcast, or by just word-vomiting onto this self-titled blog. As long as I’m able to be creative, I’m pretty content. Us creative-types are often described as “unicorns” because we stand out from the rest. We are also very horny but that’s a story for a different time. Unfortunately, monetizing that creativity is the bane of anyone who has ever made anythings existence.

We live in a capitalist society where what you can sell or do is the most valued trait. Sure, you can paint for fun, but if that is what you want to pursue as a career, you better be selling paintings. Sadly, not everyone is going to see value in what you do because tastes are different. This is unlike someone who is say a plumber, where the only objective is to make sure that the plumbing plumbs. There’s nothing wrong with being a plumber; we definitely need them and you can make a good living doing it. But if you try to get a creative to do that job, we’ll slowly die because we aren’t creating anything that hasn’t already been done. Unless your plumbing company has really loose standards and you can make badass crazy straw-esque designs with pipes.

Instead, we live the life of unicorns. Grinding out day jobs so we can afford our creative endeavors. And that’s fine, but there comes a time in every creative’s life where we ultimately ask ourselves why the shit we do this to ourselves? Why couldn’t we just do plumbing or welding or, God-forbid, sales, and live the good life of financial security? We choose to try to do things our way because we think we have something to say and are a little bit entitled. Nobody likes to talk about that part, but we all have to think what we are doing deserved to be bought or seen, or else why are we doing it at all? And you should be proud of what you create. People accuse artists of having egos, but shit, we have to create something from nothing on almost a daily basis. Let us have a little bit of ego. Our egos often help us know our worth so we don’t get screwed over, which brings me to the next point.

We creative unicorns are often prone to being duped by opportunities that seem perfect for our skills. In these cases, we think they want a unicorn, when really, they just want a horse with a fake horn glued to their head. Horses are easily herded and controlled. You get the illusion that you are free to be a majestic mythical beast, when really we are just as tied up and restrained as any horse forced to the track weekend after weekend.

I took a writing job like this once. I was convinced that this was going to be my big break and finally all the comedic writing I had done throughout my life was going to pay off. Alternatively, everything that I wrote was heavily scrutinized or shot-down immediately. Instead of being free to roam the hills as a creative unicorn, I was held in the barn by someone who wished only to ride me when it was to get to his own ideas. I realized that creative differences exist and sometimes it’s better to leave that situation than to put out content that was sub-par. I’m always going to choose putting out “no content” as opposed to “bad content.”

The last thing I wish to address with the idea of creative unicorns is the idea of believing in yourself. I know that unicorns aren’t real and I’m not writing this to debate their existence. But if they do exist, you best believe that magnificent bitch believes in themself. Who else is going to? We certainly don’t. But still, if you have something to say through comedy, acting, art, or juggling chainsaws while whistling the Harlem Globetrotters theme, then just keep doing it. If your art isn’t hurting anyone and is filling the world with something unique and different, why should you stop? Enjoy the journey of creating and hopefully it will one day turn into the joy of paying your bills.