I'm re-reading The Creative Professional by Howard J. Blumenthal because it has so many awesome nuggets to ponder over and over again. It is so practical for me, one of those "creative types" that doesn't quite fit into the mold of regular jobs! LOL.
My favorites:
After years of developing your skills, processes, and contacts, why would you throw that away? In fact, you don't throw anything away. Instead, you build on the experience, and if things go well, your opportunities become more interesting over time.
Creative people who prefer to work only in their own creative domains, learning little about business, might seal their own fate. Business people control the budgets and, in today's economy, they also control the size of the company's payroll. In the eyes of a hard-nosed business person, a creative professional who takes the time to understand the company's operations and manages his projects accordingly will be far more likely to win the business game than a creative who simply writes or designs with talent and skill.
Successful creative professionals know that the market changes constantly, and that adaptation is a key component in winning the game, or at least, staying alive long enough to remain a player.
A creative professional who delivers work with minimal hassle, on time and on budget, will typically work more often than one who is perceived as "high maintenance," or misses deadlines or over spends the available budget.
Creative work is about doing things people have never done before.