The One Question That Can Fix Your Business and Free Your Art
How knowing who it’s for brings clarity to every choice you make
I used to think art was the good guy and business was the bad guy. Art felt honest and free. Business felt cold and greedy.
That story made sense. I saw it all over movies and tv as a kid and i believed it; until I started making things that needed to work. That’s when I saw the real split. The choice wasn’t between good and bad, It was between two kinds of intention.
Business is for them. Art is for you.
That one line changed how I make everything. It helps me see why I’m creating something and who it’s meant to help. It clears the fog before it forms.
The One Question That Changes Everything
Before you begin any project, ask one question:
Who is this for?
If the answer is me, that’s art.
Art is how you share the truth. It’s what you make to feel alive. Writer Lewis Hyde says art begins as a gift. It exists first to feed the spirit, not the market.
If the answer is them, that’s business.
Business lives where your care meets someone else’s need. The management thinker Peter Drucker said the purpose of a business is to create a customer. In other words, it only works when it helps someone else win.
Both paths are good. Neither is bad. The trouble comes when we try to meet both needs at once without realizing which is which.
When Passion and Purpose Collide
Picture a young woman who took up baking and become wild about sourdough. She perfects her starter, designs beautiful labels, and fills her feed with crust photos and after raving reviews of her loaves from friends and family she ventures out on her own to sell her goods. But no one buys.
Or a tarot reader who builds a glowing website, full of poetic descriptions and detailed archane analysis. Still, she struggles to bring in few clients.
Or a real-estate agent who fills her social media with quotes about hope and home. No calls come.
Each one followed passion but expected passion alone to attract people. That’s the “Field of Dreams” trap—if you build it, they will come. Entrepreneur Eric Ries warns that this is how most ventures fail: when personal passion replaces listening to what people need.
They made art and called it business.
Can It Be Both?
Yes—but not all at once.
Art and business are like breathing in and breathing out. Human beings need both, just not in the same moment.
You can start with art; what’s real for you. Then you can translate it into business; what’s useful for someone else.
Writer Kevin Kelly calls this the “1,000 True Fans” path: make what’s true, then find the few who need it deeply.
You don’t have to choose forever. You just have to know which step you’re in right now.
The Honest Mirror
If something you’ve built isn’t landing, pause and ask, “Was this made for me, or for them?”
and it’s not about guilt, It’s about clarity.
Seth Godin says every act of creation needs two answers:
Who’s it for?
What’s it for?
Once you know, the next move becomes obvious.
Check your specific choices:
Check Your Pricing: Is it matched with their sense of value or is it only based on what you need?
Look at Your Design: Does it express your taste or does it make their path clear?
Read Your Words: Do they share what you love or what helps your potential customers decide?
Clean intention makes clean choices. Mixed intention makes confusion that no amount of effort can fix.
Serving Without Selling Out
Many people worry: “If I make my business choices for them, do I lose myself?” Not at all. Serving someone isn’t selling out. It’s prioritizing their care every step of the way.
Story coach Donald Miller reminds us that every customer is the hero of their own story. Our job is not to be the hero. It’s to be the guide. When you see it that way, business becomes empathy in action.
How to Use This Lens
Take a blank page. Write down five specific choices you’ve made or are making—a post, a product, a program, pricing, a headline.
Next to each, write one answer: for me or for them.
If it’s for you, understand that if you’re trying to make money from it, you’ll be mixing intentions and it’s chance of serving OTHERS as well as YOURSELF is a monumental feat to pull of.
If it’s for them, don’t get invested in your own preferences. Talk to real people. Ask what they’re trying to do, where they get stuck, and what would help.
Harvard researcher Clayton Christensen called this the “Job To Be Done.” People don’t buy products; they hire them to solve problems.
Then look again at your prices, design, and words. Do they match your answer? If not, now you know what to change.
Making Your Intentions Clear
When intention is clear, problem-solving becomes simple. Product thinker Teresa Torres calls this focusing on outcomes instead of outputs.
If it’s for them, measure success by their result. If it’s for you, measure it by truth.
Clarity saves energy. It builds trust. People can feel when something was made for them. And you can feel when something was made from your heart.
That’s when work starts to flow. That’s when both sides win.
Our Invitation
Take a quiet look at everything you’re building—your offers, your art, your ideas. Ask one question with courage and honesty:
Who is this for?
When your intention and your actions line up, your art feels alive, and your business starts to breathe.
If you’re ready to bring that kind of clarity into your own work; to build a business that finally fits the heart that made it - schedule a free strategy call with Waitlist Ready.
Together we’ll clean up your intentions, your message, and your marketing, so what you create truly works for them—without losing you.