Organizing for Creative People: How to Channel the Chaos of Creativity into Career Success

A practical and friendly guide to taming your chaos written specifically for creative people by the bestselling author of Banish Clutter Forever.

‘Sheila gave me the tools to hunt success, and the infrastructure to handle it when it came.’ Stik, world renowned street artist and author Most of the conventional ‘productivity’ advice you’ll find in the ‘soft business’ section simply does not work for creative people. Surprisingly, to date there has not been a single book that addresses the unique organizational challenges that artists face. This book sets out to change that, it addresses the myth that truly creative people are messy and that they need mess in order to create. Sheila Chandra applies her professional insights as a ‘creative’ and organizing expert to the lives of other busy creative people in all disciplines – showing them how good organization can liberate their creative ‘magic’. She begins with artists’ physical spaces, including arranging their workspaces and offices so that they remain tidy effortlessly. Her career ‘headspace’ chapters cover:

• creative well-being, including artist support systems
• career well-being, including networking and collaborations
• self-promotion and how to avoid working for free
• making social media pay
• personal branding, career planning and goals
• how to manage copyright issues and legal paperwork
• legacy management

And all from an artist’s point of view. These fool-proof, tried and tested systems are mixed with creativity tips and artist well-being advice that only one artist knows to give another. Written with real affection for the reader, Sheila Chandra takes the creative person by the hand and puts them on the path to success.

Sheila Chandra made some of the most beautiful and innovative recordings in the World Music category – beginning with her band Monsoon’s 1982, ground-breaking Asian Fusion, top ten hit around the world, ‘Ever So Lonely’ – until voice problems forced her to retire in 2010. Since then, in an unlikely twist, she’s become a bestselling author with Banish Clutter Forever (2010) outlining her own system for home organizing which she says makes it possible to “pretty much, never tidy up again”.