Some time ago, a favoured content creator of mine posted a video about her journey with her business during and after the Covid outbreak that put the world on hold. Being inside all the time lead people online where businesses like hers (and ultimately, mine) flourished and grew the longer we were locked in; people were looking for creative tools and outlets, finally getting to writing that novel that everyone says they’ll write – “eventually”.
I was coming to the end of my second year of university when the first lockdown hit. It wasn’t until two years later, after finishing my postgraduate study that I started my business. I felt like I missed out on the perfect time to develop my career, all because I didn’t know it was what I wanted to do. In fact, I didn’t do much of anything during the lockdowns – did I miss out on the perfect opportunity to better myself?
I suspect I’m not the only one who feels this way, and nothing productive will come from dwelling on my inaction. Should anything like that happen again (heaven forbid), I’ll learn from these feelings and make the most of the opportunities that come my way.
But Rachel here brings up another point – since the world opened up again, creatives have been struggling more and more to make ends meet. Towards the end of 2020, the UK government put together a campaign encouraging people who work and qualify in the Arts to re-train with tech based skills. Obviously there was huge outrage, especially coming off the back of several lockdowns where people read a lot of books and watched a lot of films and revelled in the days where they could go to the theatre and other creative events. Not to mention that a graphic designer had to be hired and paid to do their creative job and produce the campaign materials used… a round of applause for our government! The point is, people with creative jobs are viewed as less important because… our jobs help other people do theirs?
These events have acted as a catalyst in creative industries, putting pressure on creatives to put all of their energy to create products and services that receive enough revenue because of the fallout from lockdowns; the cost of living has increased to a point where buying books to read is an extreme luxury, and people making authors tools don’t receive orders authors have to work other jobs and don’t have time/energy/passion to write.
It is soul crushing to see a project you’ve worked so hard on fall flat because the audience isn’t there. No matter how hard I push a new book, the number of pre-orders declines further and further. Pre-orders is where I make all my money, so without them I can’t make future projects.
And I’ve done what Rachel does in her video. I had an admin job that sucked my soul dry and took up time, meaning I had to neglect the projects I was so passionate to work on. Evenings and weekends became work days and late nights. My mental health took a hit so hard I turned to professional help for the first time in my life (it really helped, talk to mental health professionals if you need to). The environment I was working in was so toxic that I quit before my contract was up. It was the best decision I could have made at the time, and I don’t regret it for a second – I could finally work on my passions again, and help authors achieve their dreams of being published. It is what I was made to do.
Despite the business coming up on 2 years old, I still haven’t made a profit. People are still impressed when I tell them what I do, but the reality is I am struggling beyond belief. Projects are still coming out, but only by the skin of my teeth. I’m incredibly fortunate that I have such an amazing support network, but there is only so much support other people can give.
Like Rachel, I’m still looking for part-time work that I am qualified for. It is a necessary evil that many people my age must embark through; it brings me some level of comfort that I’m not the only person doing this. Perhaps I too will end up behind the counter of a coffee shop. At the minute, every effort has been met with rejection, which is a whole other beast; knowing that I am more than qualified for the jobs I am applying for, but getting nothing in return is a different level of gut wrenching. But if working in a creative industry has taught my anything, it is perseverance.
