Feb 15 2012

CREATIVE BUSINESS

TIMELESSNESS

Surely you jest! The closest we’ll ever get to this state of existence (and still be living) is on vacation (or drugs!), or by meditating or exercising. Reality dictates that timelessness is not a condition of most employment, unless you’re an Astronaut.

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So what’s a poor creative business type to do to achieve a big enough taste of nirvana, be inspired to greatness and  innovative genius . . . and to prompt meaningful sales?

First, manage your time more efficiently. Pay no attention to corporate trainers and consultants who advocate that life is not about managing time but should instead be about managing your self more efficiently.

CREATIVITY IS NOT SPAWNED

BY EFFICIENCY.

Creative expression evolves from dreaming, trial and error, inspiring examples, hard-nosed research, brainstorming, testing, communication, and often from sleeping on your ideas.

You’ll do –for example– a better job of creative marketing or website design after watching an animated movie, or after taking a walk or jog through the woods or a park, or along a waterfront.

You’ll get more creative traction out of playing with a toddler, or a puppy, or visiting your local ASPCA adoption offerings, or a nursing home, children’s hospital, school, theatre or day care center.

In other words, get yourself up and out of your element, away from your “normal” day-to-day environment.

ROUTINE EXPERIENCES

DON’T STIMULATE CREATIVITY.

Total immersion in the exceptional, extraordinary, bizarre, unexpected, and unusual DO.

Savvy creative directors send their writers, artists, and designers to different kinds of events to broaden their horizons and enable expanded thinking directions. It’s not unklike getting up from your desk, drawing board, computer, or workbench to take a short walk, a break, a stretch, or to get a cup of coffee. This also translates to not eating lunch in your workspace.

When we make a point of achieving little hunks of timelessness in the consciousness of our daily work efforts, grabbing at it whenever possible, we will perform better than those who don’t, and better than we normally would when we don’t take time outs!

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open   Minds   Open   Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Dec 19 2010

GOT GUTS?

Headed to 2012–and

                               

your business

                             

is still breathing?

                       

You got guts!

        

It takes more, much more, than an MBA, family inheritence, or good luck to have a living, breathing business survive this still-spiraling economy. It takes guts.

Guts? Right. You must have ’em, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Okay, enough with the backpats, where do you go from here? Yeah, into January, right. I know. But beyond that, what?

Since you’re an entrepreneur preoccupied with making your idea work, you’ll probably be doing all your gift shopping online, or running around at the 11th hour grabbing stuff off what’s left on nearby retail shelves.

If that’s not the case, and you’re a true romantic who has planned every inch, and had a thousand hours to plan and organize and wrap, you’re probably a corporate type who did all your Christmas shopping in July, and not reading this anyway.

So, here’s a thought: What about taking yourself through a group brainstorming experience —  by yourself?

                                                                                  

Is that like suggesting that you do a multiple-personalities thing? Yes, but not so close to the edge that you’ll need a shrink by New Year’s.

I’m suggesting you start with a pad and pen or pencil (if any of those tools are still within your reach). Laptops and all those other hand-heold devices just don’t cut it! They don’t give you enough time to think.

Besides a little practice with that lost art called handwriting, the experience alone could be a good stimulous (speaking of which, Red Bull isn’t a necessary accompaniment, but you may want a cup of coffee?). 

Next, turn off your cell phone; I promise the world won’t end. Then find a place where you won’t be interrupted. (HA! Talk about challenge!) Maybe it has to be a locked car in your driveway?

At the top of your page, write the one business issue that is most important for you to address in 2012.

Be realistic.

Draw a vertical line down the middle of the page.

                                                                

Put a + (plus) sign on the left and a – (minus) sign on the right. Start to write down everything you can think of (in the left-hand column) that could be a positive outcome of resolving this issue. Everything you imagine as negative on the right. Think freely.

Don’t criticize or second-guess yourself. Instead, go back over your list from the perspective of what you imagine to be your most trusted advisor or most valuable employee. How would it change?

When you’ve given these two columns about 10-12 minutes for each of your split personalities, STOP! Take a swig of coffee. Take some deep breaths. Rub your hands together briskly.

Next page: Write down the three steps you can take on Tuesday, January 3rd, to make some of that left-hand column stuff on your first page start to happen. Rank order the priority of steps.

Make some specific notes about the who, what, when, where, and how each of those three steps can/should/will occur.

Give them a timeline.

Be realistic.

                                                                           

Keep it all flexible: your rankings, your steps, your timeline, and what you expect for results (yes, without this, it’s hard to know why you’re pursuing anything) . . . flexible.

If you get close to the date and it’s not going to happen, don’t whip yourself (that’s hard to do anyway), just move the date. If the steps involve money or other people, leave them flexible enough to adjust in case things don’t go swimmingly (which as you know, they rarely do!)  

Fold up the pages. Put them in your pocket. Type them into your computer tomorrow (not today) and edit them in the process. Share the information as appropriate.

Congratulate yourself for doing goal-setting the right (most productive) way. Now make it happen! And stop worrying. Remember, you got guts!

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302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Dec 01 2009

5 WAYS TO BREED INNOVATION

It Doesn’t Fall From The Sky

                                                   

…Innovation Needs Ignition

 

 

We’ve all heard  how the lousy economy is getting better now, and will soon (fingers crossed behind backs) be booming again. And even those of us who are eternal optimists know better than to believe a word of it.

Small business owners and operators and managers  know that only job creation will turn the tide, and that job creation will only come from increased sales, and that increased sales will only come from great customer service and … INNOVATION.

Here are ways/attitudes/ideas  that can help jump-start innovation (the development of new products, services, markets, ways of doing things, from ignition to blast-off to orbit and back) beginning right now:

1. Do not tolerate paralysis. Some action is always better than no action. Inspire a “Do it” mindset and reward failures when genuine efforts are made.

2. Try stuff!  Test it out. Ask customers and suppliers what they think. Convene quick focus groups. Scramble together as much quick feedback as possible and LISTEN to it!

3. Instill a sense of urgency  about taking initial ideas all the way through the thought and strategic launch process. Insist on thorough thinking done quickly. Don’t wait for lengthy studies, follow-up meetings, and long assessments.

4. Be open and receptive  to and encourage bizarre and eccentric and cyberspace thinking, but cultivate ongoing teamwork to shake ideas loose and get them organized and moving.

5. Get EVERY one engaged. The best results can sometimes come from the least expected sources. Make EVERY one who contributes part of the launch crew, with small frequent reinforcement rewards (fresh fruit in the lunch area, personal handwritten thank you and acknowledgment notes mailed to “The Family of” at home addresses, local news releases, website mentions)

     Remember that it doesn’t take much to shake things up  and spur some new innovative activity, but it can take a lot of work and a long time to restore order if you try to take things to fast in too many directions at the same time. Keep the ideas flowing. Keep each step of the way a product of organized teamwork. And keep control.

You need to ignite fires and encourage brainstorming with one hand, then bring things into realistic focus with the other. Yes indeed, you are once again in that old entrepreneurship attitude that you thrived on when you started.

Maybe you’ve lost touch  in recent times with some of those “egotistical, competitive, passionate, persistent-beyond-belief entrepreneurial traits” (Thank you Tom Peters and Nancy Austin in “A PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE…The Leadership Difference”)?

Perhaps someone convinced you not to worry about it because the economy is turning around? Perhaps it’s time for you to turn your business around with more innovative pursuits and action. Perhaps?

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Hal@Businessworks.US       931.854.0474

Open   Minds   Open   Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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