Lukas De Beer Artrepreneurs 

From a young age, I was involved with music, making music, playing music, writing music - although I have no formal training in it. It's just something that happened and now I'm co-owner of a record label. The big shift for me happened when I was studying management coaching and I came upon this one quote by Eric Maisel, an American psychologist who specialises in creativity. He said, "Creativity is the result when you opt to matter and decide to make personal meaning."

It is the bringing together of two worlds that, at least in the mind of the artist, seems irreconcilable. And that is being a creative person, expressing yourself, following that calling of living your passion and, on the other side, being an entrepreneur, understanding that there's a need that you can fulfil to the point of making a living out of it. And also making economical sense and giving something to the world.

If they don't, I'm wondering why not? Why do you not see yourself as an artist? If you're an entrepreneur, you're in essence a creative being. Otherwise, get a nine-to-five. If you don't want to innovate, if you don't want to create, why be an entrepreneur? Why sign up for this kind of life, with all the risks that go with it, if you don't want to create it? Because that's really what it is. It's making something out of nothing.

I suppose they don't have to. Unless you want a career that you can sustain over time, then you're going to have to find ways of supporting yourself to be able to be in this for the long run. If you want a sustained career, you're going to have to learn some skills over and above what you know as an artist to help you do that. It becomes the vehicle that enables you to make your art and be able to do that. For most artists, it's the thing that they don't want to face. I call it the admin side of life - it's not nice. You don't want to go there. Who wants to do tax? Who wants to do e-filing? Who wants to sit down and work out a budget? It's so boring.

Artists have a way of isolating themselves, creating things, seeing what they've created and then having this deep need to share. But who do they share it with? And if they take that big risk of sharing it with them, will they be ridiculed or shut down? It's this massive idea for them, it's their lives. If they put it out there, what's the reaction going to be?

We are caught up in globalism, and we think because it's got an American or European brand or label, it's better. We have this beautiful South African coffee shop in Somerset West, where I live, and a Starbucks opened next door. Guess where my kids want to go? They want to go to Starbucks because it's got a name. And I think that we kind of do the same thing with art. Just because it's local, it doesn't get the gravitas or the attention or the proper respect for what it is. There has to be a conscious effort to do that, recognizing the artistry that is there and appreciating it. Something as simple as sharing it, if you're on social media.

According to Eric Maisel, creative people normally struggle with five things. The first thing is issues related to creativity itself. So, noticing when you are really creative or noticing what is stealing your creativity when are you not creative? And most of the time, it's related to the admin side of life - the journey just sucks up your creativity. So, find ways to protect that flow zone where creativity flourishes. That's the first thing, issues of creativity.

When I was younger, I felt ashamed to ask for help. I thought that if I wanted to go into this artistic field, I needed to know everything. That I needed to do my own website, make my music, create my own logos, do my own books, work out my own budget, set up my own business structures - and it drove me mad! As I got older, I realised, "Why do I want to do everything myself? There are people that are way better than I am at these things so let me surround myself with people who know better." It opened up so much space for me to focus on what I love doing, which is being creative and helping other people be creative.

If you know what it is exactly that you want to do, it's going to be much easier to get there. I love Tony Robbins. He has this fantastic thing that he says, "The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your decisions." Then he goes a step further and says, "The quality of your decisions is determined by the quality of the questions that you ask." If you ask rubbish questions of yourself, you know you're going to make rubbish decisions and find yourself in the same place over and over again.

I think a lot of the skills have to do with soft skills. They have, it goes without saying, the hard skills - you can play the guitar or the piano or you can write songs, you can shoot and direct movies, whatever. We take that for granted. But with that, I think, goes softer skills. And one is not to be afraid to fail. It's almost a cliche but it's so true, especially if you're a person that is a high achiever.