How to make creativity a profession: step-by-step instructions

Creating and showing beauty can be a good source of income. We tell you how to develop and monetize your creative potential. And this does not always require practical experience! But first, subscribe to our Telegram channel. We often publish such valuable articles!

How to recognize your creative nature

Sitting in the office is unbearable. Paperwork makes my head spin and my eyes hurt. Vacation does not help get the fuse back to work — all these signals of burnout and not desire to change the profession to something more creative. Listen to your pleasure.

Particular questionnaires and tests will help to recognize talent and “measure” the level of creativity. For example, the Torrens technique will allow you to evaluate the originality of your thinking or the ability to perceive new ideas in three simple tasks with drawings without looking back at standard solutions. The easiest way is for you to take the Menteora career guidance test right now, and our AI will name the professions for which you have a predisposition.

There are also indirect signs of creative natures. For example, researchers at Northwestern Illinois University found that people who are often and easily distracted may be more likely to achieve creative success. The fact is that information that is not directly related to the current task is a potential source of fresh ideas. And people who “filter” the flow of incoming data less have a little more potential for creative ideas. Another international study found that high levels of creativity are associated with sarcasm — it involves abstract thinking, which helps develop creativity.

If you were often told in childhood that you were “head in the clouds,” perhaps this is also a signal to start a creative career. Confirmation was found in the study of neuroscience professor Moshe Bar. The “wandering” of thoughts helps to awaken neural activity in the brain, which leads to the stimulation of creativity.

How to monetize your abilities

1. Believe in yourself

Unfortunately, “She is a subtle, creative personality” can often sound ironic and disapproving. But someone else’s skepticism is not a barrier to true talent. Try to remind yourself more often about your past achievements, and remember what you did well at university or school. Notice your strengths and turn to them when you feel like you’re not good at anything. And, if possible, try to talk to loved ones about your vulnerability during your job search and calling (read How to find your calling). It is possible that others need a hint on how to support you.

2. Find the right direction

Writer, artist, composer — these are far from the only professional paths for creative people in the modern world. Today, one’s potential can be successfully monetized even in areas close to IT, for example, in game development or design. In the first case, creative tasks await writers, concept artists who create game characters and landscapes, and texture specialists engaged in a realistic recreation of materials in clothing and environment elements.

Design is an even wider field for realizing creative ambitions. You can create and animate 3D objects or work on special effects for movies. And those who are drawn to people and psychology may be interested in interface design. Specialists of this profile study user behavior on websites and applications to lay comfortable routes for them, for example, the path from the home page to the shopping cart. Here, not only is aesthetic flair essential — but you also need to be able to analyze human behavior on the other side of the screen.

3. Consider an employment strategy

You should not give up if there is no relevant experience in the workbook and the portfolio is empty. “Without experience” is not a black mark for beginners, and there is always a chance to get a dream job.

To increase your chance of getting a job, review your resume (read 93% of employers want to see these 8 soft skills in your resumes). Adequately placed accents will attract attention even to a candidate without experience. It is in your power to write about it so that the employer will pay attention to your ambitious attitude and mark it with a plus sign among other candidates. For example, in a cover letter, you can emphasize the seriousness of your intentions and readiness for large amounts of work.

Do tests whenever possible. Each is a potential case for a portfolio and a great chance to “try on” a vacancy for yourself. To reduce fatigue while looking for a job, create templates for different resumes and cover letters for specific vacancies. Plan your responses and workload for the day in advance. Burnout can come even before you find that offer — it makes sense to save your strength and desire to work until now.

4. Exercise creativity and practice specific skills

It is good to discover your creative potential, but it is also vital to develop it into skills that will be useful in the profession. For example, pumping creativity and imagination will help gut all the same exercises from the Torrens approach.

Another option is the Six Hats method. It is training in non-standard thinking and the skills of finding unexpected solutions. Choose a task for yourself: let’s say you came for an interview and were offered to sell pens to a recruiter. Look at this situation from different angles, trying on imaginary multi-colored hats:

The white hat is related to the available data on the problem. Think about what you already know about the pen, its properties, how you can test it, and how to get new information. Study and structure, but do not evaluate.
The red hat is experience. Turn to your intuition and feelings and think about what emotions buying a pen would evoke in a recruiter.
The black hat helps to assess the problem critically. What are the disadvantages of a pen? Why can a recruiter refuse to buy it?
The yellow hat gives a chance to appreciate the benefits of a task or item. Think about the benefits of a pen. Why should the interlocutor choose it and not a pencil or marker?
The green hat allows you to see unexpected possibilities and creative solutions. Even if a recruiter likes to write with a pencil, a pen will undoubtedly come in handy for him — it can be used instead of a ruler or twirled in his hands in moments of reflection.
The blue hat is the headdress of leaders who set goals and manage their achievements. When it comes down to it, you need to organize your thinking and reflect on the whole previous process.

The 10,000-hour theory says that this is how long it will take to become a master at your craft. You can not chase the number of hours, but you still need to practice in your favorite business. For example, if you want to develop in design, draw, read the cases of successful professionals, build up your vision and look for ideas and inspiration in modern media.

5. Look for internships

Often, newcomers get stuck in the classic employment loop: they don’t hire without experience, and there is nowhere to get experience because no one hires. Look on job aggregator sites for internships or assistant offers. Attractive offers can be found in Telegram channels and public pages on social networks (read Networking with empathy: what is it, how, and why to build it) with vacancies for young professionals.

During your internship, don’t be afraid to ask questions; remember that it’s okay to make mistakes early on. You can turn each of them into a training case and make the most of possible flaws.

Also, don’t underestimate work. For example, if you dream of becoming a designer, remember that you can show your abilities with the help of small tasks — presentations, checklists, and even memes. You can also look at the exchanges for freelancers. It won’t work to make serious money there, but there is a chance to fill the void in the portfolio with a couple of cases for a review or a nominal fee.

6. Join the community

Attending specialized events, participating in tenders and competitions, and subscribing to professional publics and communities help develop awareness in your field and employment.

You can start simple: leave comments and questions under posts in profile communities, and mark yourself in voting. Participate in drawings and chat with other representatives of the direction. Collect your playlists and share them with your craft mates if you go into music (read Scientists have confirmed that musical taste is associated with personality type). Choose a design — create a portfolio on Behance and other sites. The more active your activity is at the start, the more likely you are to be noticed. You can also attract attention at thematic exhibitions, conferences, and lectures. Sometimes you can cleverly wrap your ideas into a question for an expert and hook a potential employer.

Take the Menteora career guidance test; artificial intelligence will name your most suitable professions. The accuracy of the test is 70-80% because we use a mathematical-statistical algorithm (read about Menteora's unique career guidance methodology).