The Path to Mastery & How to Monetise It

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; monetising creativity is one of the hardest things you can do. After all, creativity can be very subjective and if it isn’t directly solving a problem or functional, it’s difficult to get people to buy into it. This is even before we get into the realm of understanding what an audience needs versus what a client wants, which a lot of people unfortunately fail to understand. One thing I have found however is that with more experience, I create more opportunities, which leads on to more commercial success, but it’s not a straight path…or a short one either, which got me thinking about how we develop our creative skills from incompetence through to mastery.

Some of you reading this may already know that on average, it takes 10,000 hours of continual experience to master something. That’s just over 2 years of continual craft, not counting for the weekends and hours that you need to sleep. But how do we define mastery? Well, there are four stages of competence, known as the “conscious competence” learning model, starting from the very beginning of unfamiliarity to mastery.

Unconscious Incompetence (Ignorance): In this stage, individuals lack awareness of their incompetence or lack of knowledge or skills in a particular area. They may be oblivious to their deficiencies and may underestimate the complexity or importance of the skill. Essentially, they don't know what they don't know.

Conscious Incompetence (Awareness): In this stage, individuals become aware of their incompetence. They recognise that they lack knowledge or skills in a specific domain. They realise the gap between their current abilities and the desired level of competence. This stage often involves a sense of frustration or the realisation that there is much to learn.

Conscious Competence (Learning): In this stage, individuals actively develop their skills and knowledge. They make a conscious effort to learn and practice. Competence is achieved through deliberate practice, focused attention, and active engagement. However, individuals still need to concentrate and consciously apply their knowledge and skills to perform effectively.

Unconscious Competence (Mastery): In the final stage, competence becomes automatic and integrated into the individual's repertoire. The skills and knowledge have been internalised to the extent that they are performed effortlessly, without conscious thought or effort. Individuals reach a level of mastery where they can perform tasks or apply knowledge instinctively, with a high degree of proficiency.

I think it’s always importance to regularly self-reflect on where you might be on this scale. Individuals may move back and forth between stages, experience setbacks, or progress at different rates. The key is to recognise where you are in the learning process and actively engage in deliberate practice to advance towards mastery. How many of you can say you’ve truly mastered something and what’s more…are you being appropriately valued for it?

You’ve mastered something…what’s next?

What do all good brands do? They communicate their product or idea effectively and concisely. Now you’ve mastered your craft it’s time to treat yourself as a brand and communicate in the same way. At the heart of every company is a brand manager and marketing manager working to find ways of effectively translating a concept to their audience, so it is understood and adopted. This is equally important on an individual level and although it seems to be the simplest, many people including myself, find it the most difficult to master, however it should be at the top of the list for soft skills.

I have found the best way to develop communication skills is to constantly place myself in a position where I am required to do so. Meetings, conference calls, presentations, one to ones all help to evaluate how I communicate. It provides an understanding of how people perceive your words and way of talking. The truth is, communication is a skill that can be developed, but only by seeking opportunities to do so and constantly self-critiquing. As you go through this process, it is important to additionally find some public speakers who you particularly like, through their methods, tone of voice and mannerisms, which you can adopt and emulate.

This skill is transferable, from face-to-face communication to emails and even, yes…blog posting. Communication is a soft skill that can be developed over time and improved upon indefinitely. The key is practice and patience. If this is a skill you have identified to improve, take note of how you communicate now, apply these rules to your development and assess how you have improved a year later. Rinse and repeat. In time you will see that this is the main weapon in your arsenal to push out your personal brand.