There’s a tension that many artists carry: the belief that they must choose, between being the artist, drifting in the realm of intuition, inspiration, and muse… or the entrepreneur, anchored in metrics, markets, and making money.

But that divide was manufactured. And in today’s world, it’s no longer just unhelpful – it’s unsustainable.

The Starving Artist Myth: A Romantic Lie

Let’s talk about where this harmful idea came from.

In the 19th century, the bohemian movement painted poverty as a necessary spiritual condition for artistic brilliance. Henri Murger’s Scènes de la Vie de Bohème didn’t just describe the struggle of young Parisian creatives…it canonized it. Operas followed, novels followed, and suddenly, the world fell in love with the image of the suffering genius.

While we love to say stuff like…”you know me, poor and polite”, or “one day at a time, it’s not easy these days”, or “I am really not in this for the money” – and while all these statements might be true for you…here’s what I want us to examine together:

The starving artist myth taught us to undervalue ourselves. It taught our audiences to expect our creativity for free. It taught entire industries to believe that passion was payment and that was enough…we deserved nothing else.

This romanticization of struggle became a trap – one that still ensnares ALL talented creatives today.

• The truth is, starving is not noble.
• It’s not character-building.
• It’s not a prerequisite for brilliance.

Suffering may influence art, yes, but poverty is not the source of creativity.

• Presence is.
• Discipline is.
• Courage is.

Why Being Both Is No Longer Optional

Steven Pressfield, whose writing explores themes of courage, perseverance, and overcoming internal barriers to creativity and productivity says…

the modern artist must be an entrepreneur. Not as a punishment, but as a pathway to freedom.

The old system… where talent alone propelled you into visibility is gone. There are no built-in gatekeepers to usher you forward. No agent who does the heavy lifting. No publisher whose marketing team turns you into a household name.

Artists today must create like artists and think like entrepreneurs – building their own platforms, nurturing their audiences, and architecting the structure that allows their work to be seen.

And here’s a revelation that might surprise you:

Artists have always been entrepreneurs.

• We take nothing and make something.
• We turn feelings into form.
• We wake up daily to face Resistance — that invisible force that tries to stop all meaningful creation.
• We work without structure, without certainty, without a guarantee that our effort will translate into income.

There is no job description more entrepreneurial than that. The only difference now is that we must acknowledge it.

Integration: The Artist + The Entrepreneur

Creating like an artist asks for presence, intuition, imagination, and risk.
Thinking like an entrepreneur asks for clarity, structure, discipline, and stewardship.

When you integrate both, you unlock a kind of sovereignty that neither identity can give you alone.

The entrepreneur in you gives the artist:

• structure
• stability
• sustainability
• rhythm
• and the capacity to keep creating

The artist in you gives the entrepreneur:

• originality
• differentiation
• vision
• intuition
• and the courage to build what doesn’t exist yet

These aren’t competing identities…they are complementary.

Pressfield says that the professional artist is the purest form of entrepreneur because they rely entirely on creativity, consistency, and internal discipline. No boss. No safety net. No external schedule.

“Art is a transaction,” Pressfield writes. Not because it’s transactional in spirit, but because value must be created before value returns.

Claiming Your Dual Identity

Being both is a decision: a shift in posture and a refusal to let your work stay hidden or underpriced or undervalued.

It looks like:

• nurturing your creative practice
• understanding your market without pandering to it
• building a brand that feels true
• showing up even when resistance claws at you
• pricing your work with clarity and dignity
• allowing yourself to be visible

And just in case you need to hear this today, I’ll just go ahead and say it:

Your creativity deserves a solid structure, because your work deserves to be seen and the world needs fewer starving artists and more sovereign ones willing to put themselves out there and risk it all to honor the art being birthed through you.

To create like an artist and think like an entrepreneur is not selling out.
It is stepping into alignment – where your talent and your strategy finally stop fighting each other and start working together to your benefit, and to those who would benefit from your gift.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Where am I still creating like an artist but refusing to think like an entrepreneur — and what single shift this week would bring both sides of me into alignment?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — writer, possibility thinker, musician, Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, and MCODE Legacy Coach. I help leaders and soul-driven professionals decode the deeper patterns shaping their business, work, identities, and results especially when it look like a performance issue but it’s really misalignment in disguise.

If something in your life or business feels off and you can’t quite name it, message me. Sometimes one conversation is all it takes to see what’s really going on.