Creative Business & Parenting with Michael Wolfe

Peter asks veteran creative pioneer Michael Wolfe how he’s successfully managed to balance family and an award-winning creative team.

Here’s some advice if you have young kids, and you’re running a creative business; just hold on to your hat, develop a real talent for delegating responsibilities, and be sure to take family vacations.

I also recommend a healthy dose of honest laziness from time to time. If you can’t be lazy, you can’t be creative. That’s my motto. I don’t recommend it for everyone, we’re each a bit different, but taking time out to sniff the honeysuckle and dandle the daughter(s) on your knee is an easy assignment for guys to dismiss as frivolous.

Sometimes we need to be forced into change before we realise how valuable the time is. The week before the birth of his daughter, a friend of mine lost his job. At first, of course, it appeared to be a total disaster. In a very short time, however, his wife was fit again from the pregnancy, and she went to work (in the law enforcement field), which gave them an income and excellent health insurance; she was glad to be able to get out in the world and not be housebound. Meanwhile, my friend, the father, now has the pleasure of spending large amounts of time every day with his one-year old, and working when he wants to, out of his home.

Extract from a conversation with Michael Wolfe – Poet, Author & Film Producer.