10 Ways to Grow
As a Creative
FREE EBOOK
This ebook covers many of the challenges that come with being a creative.
How to deal with insecurities as a creative.
What is an artist and are you one?
How to get your art out there and will anyone care?
Hey, I’m Justin.
For the past 20 years, I’ve been a full-time creative with a career in writing and producing music, movies, and musicals.
There have been many moments of joy on the journey, along with tons of pain, fear, and setbacks. I know what it feels like to want to be a full-time creative but feel overwhelmed with your weakness, insecurity, or loneliness. This is why I wrote 10 Ways to Grow as a Creative.
Maybe like me, you've felt alone on your creative journey. Maybe you're confused or struggle to pursue what you feel impassioned to do or create.
I believe every person's calling is significant and we all have a responsibility to steward what we’ve been given. My goal with this ebook is that it would help you do just that. Get your free copy below.
The Lone Genius
Is a Myth
Throughout history, the men and women who invented or created incredible things did so in community.
C.S Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were part of a group called The Inklings that began meeting in the 1930s. This group of 19 men from Oxford would meet 1-2 times per week for seventeen years. They would share stories, and ideas, and challenge one another.
After the unexpected success of The Hobbit, Tolkien got stuck on the follow-up work he called “The New Hobbit”. He told Lewis “I don’t know what to do, I think this story is done”. Lewis replied, “No you're not done. The problem is that the Hobbits are only interesting when they are in un-hobbit-like situations. Get them out of the Shire”. That was all he had to say.
The greatest work of literature and story in our modern history was soon completed because of a single passing comment from another creative.
This 10 Ways to Grow as a Creative ebook speaks to the need to create in community and gives practical insights of how to do it.
About Me
Music and creativity have always been huge passions in my life.
My musical journey began at the age of 9. When I was 12, I told a mentor that my dream was to impact people through music and the creative arts.
So, I set out on that journey.
Over the past 20 years, I've led over 10,000 hours of worship, written hundreds of songs, and written and produced multiple movies and musicals.
But that's not the whole story.
There has been great pain, fear, setbacks, and insecurity over the years.
I know what it feels like to want to press into your creative calling but feel overwhelmed with your own weakness, insecurity, or loneliness.
I know what it’s like to wonder, am I even a creative?!
After two decades and thousands of hours of trial and error, I have found the pathway forward. I've found a way to overcome the challenges and create with confidence, joy, and longevity.
This is why I created this ebook 10 Ways to Grow as a Creative.
Maybe like me, you've felt alone on your creative journey. Maybe you're confused or struggle to press into what you feel impassioned to do or create.
I believe every person's calling is significant and we all have a responsibility to steward the calling we’ve been given.
That's a bit of my story.
How about you?
I would love to go on a journey together and see your life transformed as you walk boldly into all that is in your heart to create.
On the journey with you,
Justin Rizzo
How do you grow as a creative?
How do you continue pursuing your creative dream?
These were questions I spent years asking myself.
Through much trial and error, I figured out the answers and have been a full-time creative in the realms of music, movies, and musicals for the past 20 years.
This simple ebook on growing as a creative will be beneficial no matter your creative field and no matter if you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting out.
Though this list of 10 things is not comprehensive, I believe these 10 Ways to Grow as a Creative are some of the key pieces needed to be a successful creative.
If you’re an actor, painter, dancer, chef, or stay-at-home mom artist, (just to name a few) or maybe someone who is trying to figure out am I even a creative, this ebook is for you.
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
– Vincent Van Goghry
An Incredible Story
In the 1970s, a man named Dr. George Land created an assessment that NASA used to determine its most genius-level applicants.
Dr. Land then used this test on 1,500 kindergarten students.
What happened was absolutely crazy.
98% of kindergarten kids tested at the genius level.
5 years later, those same kids took the test, and only 30% scored that high.
Then, at the age of 15 years old, only 12% tested at the genius level.
As adults, only the top 2% of people 18 and older graded out genuises.
SO…..what happened to these kids as they grew?
There are 2 main things:
The school system as we know it does not foster creativity.
There are those who use their minds and those who don’t. Unused creativity does not disappear - it either lives with us until we express it, neglect it till it dies, Or we suffocate it with resentment and fear.