In this pandemic era, the landscape of work and building new relationships has changed drastically.

We now carry out most of our activities online. The last one year has been a season to reinforce the need to embrace the opportunities present in our day-to-day environment.

As a creative, how do you benefit from the world as a global village.

• Start with what you have – Before complaining about a lack of opportunities, how have you managed the Five, Two and One Talent within your grasp. Do you complain about the lack of opportunities or your poor economic circumstance? Or you are trying everything to ensure you get the best out of our current circumstances? What treasures do you have? How can you make the best use of what you have available to you? These are pertinent questions that would help us achieve our goals as creative talents. 

• Build your own platforms- Many people are looking for platforms to showcase their work, but the easiest way to gain exposure is to build your own platforms. Simple way to start, simple things like having a Facebook page, twitter account, YouTube account, WhatsApp status and a website are some of the many platforms that we can use to share our works/products and continue to build an online presence.
• Be Original – The market is saturated with so many talents, and one of the unique ways to stand out is to be outstanding. Originality of thought and ideas is one way to thrive in the present-day world. I think the key question here is, what can I do differently?
• Have a web presence – Are you on the world-wide web? In this season where the world has moved from physical spaces to Zoom and Teams Meeting and online shopping, it’s expedient that as business owners move to online spaces, as creatives and business owners, we need to maximise the inherent opportunities available on the world-wide web. A little story – So many years ago, whenever I went to events, I would go with my books and people who had no cash would either not purchase my books or offer to pay me later via a bank transfer. I saw that there was a lacuna. I needed a POS machine and a web-shop to ensure that I was maximising my sales and getting the most out of my small business. A few years later, I set up a web shop and bought two POS machines for my business and those have been great tools to enhance my sales figures. Imagine if I had no web shop during this pandemic season, I would only be reliant on sales from Amazon and other bookstores selling my works. Having a web presence for your business is a sure way to ensure you reach more audience for your works.

To wrap things up, the last one year has offered endless opportunities to forge new relationships across borders. As creatives and business owners, the onus lies on us to maximise those talents and reach for the stars. Look around you, what do you see? Opportunities or Problems?

I will leave you with this question – What can you do differently?