If your making creative work that is good enough you have two choices now:
1) (re)find your individual creative vision and make work that expresses it in its own, unique way;
or
2) quit now.
You all know that I don’t like to take the negative view, and this is no exception. I want you to pick #1 and do that. Unfortunately, the reality is that if you keep “playing it safe” you are going to, at best, struggle to survive in today’s business world; more likely, you’ll be forced to quit sooner than you think.
The great side of this equation is that the interconnectedness of the world now means the “impossible” businesses of the past–small, niche, specialized, creative–are much more likely to be successful. Being different, original, professional–these things are all factors in success now, more than ever.
In case you don’t buy that idea from me, read these posts from Seth Godin and a follow up from another blog: