Why creativity leaps matter for solopreneurs

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Creativity isn’t a magic, secret sauce only reserved for artists. It’s more of a competency anyone can hone with intention to solve complex problems, find joy in your work, and reach new goals.

Solopreneurs are some of the most creative professionals as we run a business of our own design that requires an ongoing commitment to the 3 I’s: inquiry, improvisation, and intuition.

That’s the 3iCreativity model for building creative capacity coined by Dr. Natalie Nixon in the 2nd edition of her book, The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work.

She argues we can all work to become more creative through inquiry (the practice of asking questions), improvisation (experimenting with constraints), and intuition (your wisdom).

The point of being more creative is to achieve the innovations we’re after professionally.

For solopreneurs, these innovations manifest as identifying solutions to meaningful problems, developing new services, adapting to shifting demand, and building sustainable businesses.

We can’t get too comfortable with the status quo or do what always worked when self-employed, as some level of innovation is necessary for continued relevancy and success.

Plus, it can be quite fulfilling to take risks that challenge us intellectually and allow room for enjoyment and playfulness at work in service of us preparing for the future.

Dr. Nixon describes this effort as creativity leaps, a dynamic process “to bridge the gap between the churn of work and the highly sought-after prize called innovation.”

These creativity leaps are intentional experiments supported with an established system, so meaningful exploration is happening in your workflow on a continuous basis.

She argues these leaps are the “only way to solve the complex problems of our time and to innovate for the future.”

And I most certainly agree. Solopreneurs must take creativity leaps to provide continued value to clients, remain engaged in their own work, and position their careers for longevity.

We have a unique advantage when it comes to embracing creativity leaps. We can move forward on new ideas more quickly, skip the need for group consensus, and exercise more agency than is possible in corporate settings. That’s leverage we can use to our benefit.

First off, you’ve got to stay sharp when your expertise is what you sell to clients. You’re responsible for directing your own continued education in your craft and industry.

Exploring new solutions, collaborative approaches, and bringing on complementary skills is how you continue to remain a value-add to clients who need support in solving important problems.

A regular cadence of creativity leaps is necessary for having the space to test and determine what actually works, before offering your findings and frameworks to clients.

This manifests in more structured experiments like conducting user testing of a new app you’re launching, as well as more informal ones, like piloting a new service offering with a single client to gauge interest and iron out any issues before expanding it further.

Whether you’re an HR consultant or a freelance creative director, the expectation is you’re bringing cutting-edge thinking to clients and are better equipped to help them. That’s one reason creativity leaps make a difference: the process can noticeably increase your impact on clients.

Next, creativity leaps are necessary for your continued engagement in your own business.

Engaging in continued exploration of your own professional interests can boost your dedication and connection to your work as a solopreneur, says a study by Tilburg University.

I’ve seen this firsthand in my own business and across the work of the solopreneurs I’ve coached; exploring new areas of interest is one way to stay engaged and inspired.

And for many of us, joy is a metric for success as small business owners beyond the traditional corporate measures like salary and title. It’s something we have to actively seek out in our work.

Finally, creativity leaps can help you remain adaptable and resilient, so your skills stay sharp, your experience is relevant and timely, and you’re equipped to seize today’s opportunities.

One leap I took a few years ago was learning how to produce my own courses. Up to that point, I had worked with various e-learning platforms and universities on co-creating courses.

For the first time, I led the whole process from start to finish. I started by paying a video production expert to recommend the right equipment and train me on it. From there, I developed the curriculum, recorded the courses, edited them, and finally distributed them.

It was a trial-by-fire experience of learning some of these skills firsthand. I produced eight to ten courses entirely on my own. Some of these courses were a success; many of them didn’t take off.

But this creativity leap was worth it as I built out a stronger skill set around course development, which has served me in expected and surprising ways across different projects ever since.

To learn how to leap more confidently in your own work, grab a copy of The Creativity Leap.

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