I regularly listen to podcasts about creativity, innovation, ideas and enthusiastic people building businesses from scratch. What occurred to me was that there was a disproportionate amount of people who had done a degree in law, and then decided to become an entrepreneur.
I once heard someone say (don't ask me who, as I'm terrible at remembering names. I can barely remember my own infinitely-long-name) that they thought everyone should go to law school, just so that they could learn to think in a certain way. (In fact, I can tell you what I was doing at the time when I heard this quote (folding clothes) instead of the much more relevant information of who I'm citing - typical!)
This got me thinking: what is it about law school that helps people build and scale a business idea?
Is it the confidence (standing in a room full of people convincing them of your argument)?
The brains (because let's face it, if you qualify as a lawyer, you're probably not a dullard)?
Is it that they are people-focussed (lawyers essentially are there to serve the people)?
Logical (analysing facts and coming to a likely conclusion)?
Emotional detachment (you can't fight a case if you're emotionally invested)?
Or even the fact that they most likely come from wealthy families who have less of a stigma around the acquisition and retention of money?
And if all these are (essential) ingredients to business success, what are mumpreneurs and bootstrapping artists doing that overlaps with this? What can we learn from the successful entrepreneurs that can shift the mindset of the starving artist? How can artists become more people-focussed to know what's needed from their work, without sacrificing the need to look within (and should they have to?).
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