Gold. We all know what we are supposed to do with gold, right? Protect it. You don’t leave it out waiting for anyone to take it that passes by. Gold needs to be protected.

There is another kind of gold that you have, and I have. We all have it. It’s our confidence and willingness to create. To create something that we just have to create. I call this an entrepreneur’s gold. It demands care, it must be protected at all costs, and it is the underpinning that brings greatness to everything that flows from one’s business.

This past week I had a client session that reminded me the importance of speaking this out into the world. My clients need to know they have gold and that not everyone will see it. Not every client or customer you have will like what you create. They may not like your idea, they may not like your product, they may not like your art. That’s fine. We aren’t here to satisfy everyone. You can’t be everything to all people. Maybe that customer needs to find another business that aligns more with their taste. Let them go, it’s okay. They will be happier and so will you.

Just don’t let them knock you off course and cause you to forget where you placed your gold in the process.

Whenever we create, we open ourselves up to critique and judgment. It's part of the deal. If you are going to share something, then you can’t control how it is received. All you get to control is what you put into its creation. So give it all you got, and then let go.

People may love what you make. People may hate what you make. People may be indifferent to what you make.

Create anyways.

Make art anyways.

Give someone the same freedom that you give yourself when you decide what you like. You like this song, not that song. This color, not that color. This food, not that food. It’s your taste. It’s part of what makes you you. Do you always know why you like what you like? I don’t, and I doubt you do either. You just like it.

Try to make a super compelling argument about why your favorite color is better than the rest. It’s not easy to do because the crux of the argument is simply that you like it, and it matches your taste.

It isn’t bad to have a “taste.” It’s what makes us unique.

You may have a client, customer, or follower that doesn’t like something you made. It’s going to happen. Don’t let them get to your gold. Don’t let them kill your confidence and your willingness to create. Don’t let them kill your taste, your talent, your unique perspective. Guard it. Fend for it.

When the objections come, be ready for them. Don’t be surprised. Be willing to look at an objection or a critique and see if there is any silver lining in it. Is there any truth to be found from it? Put it in the fire and test it and see what is left. If there is something there for you to learn or grow from, then take it and add that lesson to the mix of what makes you smarter and stronger. Leave the rest. Take the teeth out of that ugly review and see what remains. Then get better. Don’t let it knock you off course.

It’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be. But if you have open hands and truly want to be better, you’ll find the harder clients and objections can actually make you stronger if you let them. They help you level up.

We live in a world where we are used to constraints and scarcity. There isn’t an unlimited amount of anything…or so we believe. Yet, I have found that the more you create, the more you create.

Read that again…the more you create, the more you create.

What you focus on you create more of. Creating, building, and making makes it easier to create, build, and make. The more art you make (whatever it is that you create is art, if you weren’t sure 😊), gives you ideas for more art to make. The more iterations you do, the easier it is to do another. (I wrote another blog on iterations being your superpower 👉 here.) You build the muscle, and it gets easier the next time.

Your creation matters, and its fullness will only come to life if you have the confidence to give it your fingerprints. To create without being afraid of what the critics say and with the confidence to say – this is what I’m going to create. This…not that.

Your true customers want your fingerprints. They want the art that you create, not some lifeless template or idea/product/service copied from someone else. We already have enough of that. They want you to show up and give your gift, and you can only do that if you keep your gold protected.

If you need some confidence, then act yourself into it. Recently I heard Alex Hormozi say that you can get confidence through proof. Create a body of evidence that you and your art is great. Do so by making a lot of it and seeing the proof of its greatness. If you need more gold, then go mine some.

Get in the mine.

Your office.

Your art studio.

Your lab.

Your shop.

And get to mining.

Find some more gold, and then protect it so you can give us all something with your fingerprints all over it.