Business Borrowed: What Creatives Can Learn from CEOs

The unsexy systems, habits, and decisions that actually hold a creative career together.

If you crave structure, working for yourself is going to test your limits.
The lack of routine, the emotional whiplash of feast-or-famine work, the spinning plates you never trained for — it can all start to feel like you’re building a house in the middle of a windstorm.

So you have to build your own.

And let me be honest: this is not something I’m naturally good at. It doesn’t come easily. This is a hard-earned lesson, fought tooth and nail every damn day. I still have to rework my routines depending on what season I’m in. Some times of the year, I’m an early-morning machine. Other times, my brain doesn’t click in until the sun’s gone down. So I adjust. I flex. But the principle remains: discipline, rhythm, and some kind of structure — even if it’s patched together from scratch.

That’s where this piece comes in.

Because we don’t need to guess anymore. We don’t have to white-knuckle our way through a career built on intuition alone. The business world has already written half the playbook — we just need to adapt it to our reality.

What CEOs Know That Creatives Need to Learn

Let’s start with this: creatives aren't exempt from structure.

In fact, the ones who last — the ones who are building something real — are often some of the most structured professionals out there. They’re not “winging it.” They’re not just going with the flow. They’re running operations that look an awful lot like corporations — because they are corporations.

There’s a perception that creative careers are somehow looser, freer, more instinctive than the rigid world of business. But I promise you, Pat McGrath isn’t one of the biggest powerhouses in beauty because she floats. She has systems. She has a vision. She has a machine.

The only real difference? She’s not sitting in a shiny glass skyscraper.
But the behaviours — the habits, the infrastructure, the momentum — are the same.

Clarity of Vision

The first thing CEOs do is define the goal. In creative industries, we tend to chase opportunities instead of building direction. We think if we stay “open,” we’ll be chosen more. But that just scatters your energy.

At some point, you have to decide:
What am I building? What do I stand for? What do I not do anymore?
It doesn’t mean you say no to everything. It just means you stop drifting.

Operational Energy & Effort (AKA, Show Up and Do the Damn Work)

Emma Grede said one of the biggest lessons she learned from Mark Cuban was simple:
Effort is your edge. Show up at work every day. Outwork the people around you.

And not just on the glossy parts — the pitch, the shoot, the fun bit. I’m talking about the stuff no one applauds: the invoices, the planning, the moodboards, the rebooking emails, the spreadsheet you hate.

This lesson is hard-earned for me. I don’t find consistency easy. It doesn’t come naturally. But the deeper I get into running Proshine — and trying to maintain a career while building a brand — the more I realise effort really is the differentiator. Not talent. Not timing. Effort.

Creativity without follow-through is a hobby. And hobbies don’t pay.
So yes — keep the spark, but also show up to work.

Decide Quickly — Because Fast Is Better Than Perfect

This one changed my life: Decide quickly.

We’re told that being slow and meticulous is professional. But the truth is, fast decisions — informed, instinctive ones — are often what move you forward.

Think like a founder here:
Fast gets you in the room. Fast gets your name remembered. Fast builds momentum.
Slow waits for clarity. Fast creates clarity through action.

And the thing about speed is: it compounds.
You get things done faster, you learn faster. You make mistakes earlier, and fix them earlier. You don’t sit on ideas until they die. You move. You learn. You move again.

Creatives sometimes wait for perfection — the right time, the perfect contact, the finished website. CEOs don’t. They launch, they test, they tweak.
First to market gets market share.

In creative terms? That might mean you reach out first. You post first. You try the thing before it's perfect. Because being seen, being in motion, is often more powerful than being flawless.

Habits, Systems, and the Back-End of Brilliance

Here’s what I wish someone had told me earlier: your talent is not enough. Your instincts are not enough. Even your taste — which might be impeccable — is not enough.
If you don’t have systems in place, everything you’re building will eventually leak.

This is where Atomic Habits by James Clear hits hard. It’s not a productivity book — it’s a blueprint for consistency. And if you’re creative, consistency is the one thing no one teaches you to value. We’re taught to ride the wave, chase the rush, move when inspiration hits. But that’s not a business model. That’s a burnout model.

Here are the three concepts that shifted everything for me — and how I’ve had to translate them into real creative life.

Identity-Based Habits

Clear says: “Every action you take is a vote for the person you want to become.”

So instead of saying “I want to be organised,” you say: “I’m the kind of artist who always sends the invoice the same day.” Or: “I’m the kind of founder who does 15 minutes of outreach every morning.”
The habit doesn’t have to be big. It just has to reinforce the identity you’re stepping into.

Environment Design

If your environment works against you, you’ll always be fighting uphill. I’ve learned this the hard way. If my workspace is chaos, I work like chaos. If my phone is in front of me, my brain is somewhere else.

Designing your environment is one of the most underrated business tools out there. And no, that doesn’t mean a Pinterest desk setup. It means:

• Your kit is always stocked the same way ( which I rage against all the time!)

• Your client email folder is labelled, not across 4 different apps in random notes.

• You’ve pre-written the captions you hate writing under pressure.

• You’ve cleared physical and digital space so your brain has somewhere to go.

Structure doesn’t have to be pretty — it just has to function.

Habit Stacking

This one is gold: if you already do something regularly, attach a new habit to it.

Examples I’ve used (and am still working on):

• After I unpack my kit, I log expenses from the job.

• After I make coffee, I spend 10 minutes on brand outreach.

• After a shoot wraps, I send a thank-you text and update my invoice tracker.

It takes the friction out. You’re not reinventing your life. You’re just attaching small systems to what’s already in motion.

The point is this:
Systems aren’t restrictive. They’re what free you up to be consistent, creative, and strategic — all at once.

I’m still fighting this every day. I fall off the wagon constantly. But when I’m in rhythm — even a basic, scrappy one — I can feel my work moving forward without dragging my entire life behind it.

Management Isn’t Optional (Even If You’re a Creative)

There’s this old, tired narrative that creatives aren’t good managers. That we’re “ideas people.” That we’re not wired for systems or structure. That someone else should handle that part so we can stay in flow.

Honestly? It’s bullshit. And it’s one of the biggest things that holds people back.

The creatives who are financially secure, in demand, and building real careers — the ones at the top of their game — are not chaotic. They’re not disorganised. They’re not throwing things together last minute. They’re incredible managers. Or they’ve built a structure around themselves that is.

They know how to hire. They know how to delegate. And they know how to outsource the things they’re not good at — without shame, without drama, and without trying to control everything.

You don’t have to do it all. But you do have to know how to run the thing you’ve built.

If you’re brilliant at makeup but crap at finances, get the best accountant you can afford and give them everything. If you’re drowning in admin, find someone detail-oriented and pay them to keep you in check. If you’re hiring for a shoot, book the person who’s better than you at that particular task. That’s not weakness — that’s leadership.

And if you don’t know how to delegate, can’t manage a team, and refuse to hand anything over?
You’ll never get the promotion you think you’re working for.
Because the real promotion isn’t a title — it’s the ability to operate at a higher level without falling apart.

CEO energy isn’t about being a boss in the vibe-y, hashtag way. It’s about taking responsibility for how your work gets done — and who’s helping you do it. That’s how scale happens. That’s how time frees up. That’s how momentum builds.

If you want to go from busy to booked-and-building-something, management is not optional. It's the job.

Structure Isn’t the Opposite of Creativity — It’s What Sustains It

We glamorise the instinct. The spark. The raw creative rush.
But no one tells you that staying in the game — and building something real — requires structure. Systems. Rhythm. Delegation. Discipline. It’s not sexy. But it’s everything.

This isn’t about becoming a productivity robot. It’s about giving your creativity a solid foundation to stand on.
A business isn’t built on brilliance alone. It’s built on how you protect that brilliance, manage it, and move it forward — consistently.

The older I get, the clearer it becomes:
The artists who endure aren’t the ones with the best kit or the slickest Instagram. They’re the ones who figured out how to run their careers like a business — even if they never say it out loud.

So no, you don’t need to be a CEO.
But you do need to start thinking like one. Even just a little.

Because effort is your edge.
Systems are your power.
And how you build behind the scenes?
That’s what shows up in the work.