And connect more dots.

One of the most important attributes of a being a successful entrepreneur is having the ability to generate fresh and meaningful ideas, often. Then, connect the dots to move your business forward.

Many times circumstances for entrepreneurs make this pretty darn challenging. You have a microscopic budget, no staff, juggle two full-time jobs to pay your bills and your cat has the chicken pox; all while you’re building your dream.

No problem. Some of the biggest and best ideas are birthed because of the above. Why? Because you are forced to be a truly creative problem solver.

My best creative thinking happens when I stimulate my brain by exposing myself to other cool ideas that empower me to recognize patterns, think in a metaphoric way, and absorb a lot of information quickly.

Here are 4 easy ways to increase your idea flow.
1) Visit online and offline, high-volume idea venues.
Trend reporting websites like Springwise and Iconoculture are two of my favorites. Springwise showcases entrepreneurial ideas from around the globe, and Iconoculture recaps top consumer and business trends with a good mix of recent market facts and statistics in a free newsletter.

Schedule a trip to a shopping mall. Don’t go to shop. Go to discover with a conscious eye. Watch how people behave and respond to marketing initiatives; evaluate displays, and listen to conversations.

Annually attend industry tradeshows in innovative sectors. Journal what you see; the good and bad, pick up marketing collateral and take pictures of exhibits and people.

2) Pay attention to smart, successful companies and people.
My list includes competitors and random organizations, both large and small. I keep an admiration notebook and folder on my computer. I include words, images, and processes that I find intriguing.

3) Develop a habit of producing idea quotas.
This means, need a solution or big idea? Set a daily volume quota for your ideas. For instance, need a new product name? Jot down five possibilities a day for two weeks. Invite a friend or colleague to do the same. In 14 days you’ll have at least 70 seeds for finding your big idea. Remember, don’t set any limits for your ideas, the wilder the better. Ignore budget restrictions and don’t strive for the perfect idea; aim for quantity.

4) Master the art of scan and skim, and read more.
Early in my career I attended a workshop on how to read the Wall Street Journal in less than 15 minutes. This 60-minute class dramatically increased the amount of information I can absorb which, in today’s world of massive data deluge, is a necessary skill to have.

Here’s the fast track on how to be a better scanner and skimmer of publications.

Turn off distractions like music and the TV. Go straight to a publication content summary, sometimes this is the table of contents, sometimes it is a special section that features top stories. Find subjects that interest you, jump to those articles. Then read the subheads, the intro and the last paragraph. This filtering method is a quick and efficient way to cover a lot of ground. I also scan all visuals, images, and charts and graphs and set a reading time limit on a publication. I also use an index card to underline what I’m reading and I highlight information I want to retain.

New, different, and sometimes even recycled ideas are the vital ingredients for problem solving and connecting the dots. The better and bigger the idea flow, the higher propensity you’ll achieve success.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com.

Time Magazine recently released its top 100 influential people. The list has gotten a lot of blog chatter and media coverage. It also made me think about my base of inspirational people and why they are important and influential to me.

Some I don’t see often. Some I’ve not met yet. And some are no longer here.

As an entrepreneur, it’s valuable to have a list of business and life rock stars, people that you admire and who somehow add more good to your destiny and being.

For me, these extraordinary souls have accomplished incredible outcomes and overcome challenges. They possess characteristics that I appreciate and their stories somehow act as surrogate spirits that stay very present in my chosen path.

Some are fictional friends and some are real-life mentors. Some are business leaders who I know will be legends one day, and others are people from my past.

I look up to this group often, (most of them don’t know this). I don’t agree with everything they do or have done. I am in awe over their achievements. And often consider how they would handle certain tough situations.

My group of inspiration is not in my everyday, every moment zone, but they always somehow challenge me to be better. And I am grateful for all of them.

1) Jay Leno, such a funny, seemingly uncomplicated guy with a big genuineness about him. Comedy is very important in our world and Jay symbolizes good, plain funny.

2) Madonna, talent, fitness, business focus and drive. Came from simple beginnings, built a global brand. And looks so fabulous for 50 something.

3) Denis Calabrese, started USA Fit, a national marathon training program. He’s a political strategist, astute problem solver and always is calm and confident.

4) Seth Godin, born in the same hometown as me Buffalo, NY, same year too, we are both young. Seth is a gifted, super cool writer, thinker, speaker and entrepreneur.

5) Jeffrey Gitomer, the sales and sales tool machine. Not too many years ago he was pimping t-shirts out of his car. Today is THE sales guy. Gitomer practices what he preaches with direct, smart, optimistic energy everyday.

6) Nancy Walker, a design diva, a brand builder, an entrepreneur, a mother, a dog mom and a wife. She leads a team of forward thinkers and creates positive and memorable experiences and environments.

7) Marcus Buckingham, former researcher with Gallup Organization, today he’s a best-selling author, speaker and enterprise builder. At still a young age of thirty something, Marcus commands nearly $50k for a single speech and he’s an extremely captivating personality.

8) Diana Marshall, first female partner in the prestigious law firm of BakerBotts and now leads her own practice. Probably the most intelligent and creative woman I’ve ever met.

9) Jill Griffin, a fireball authority on loyalty. She was one of the youngest brand manager at RJ Reynolds and today has three best-selling books under her belt.

10) My dad, Norm Post no longer resides here, but remains in spirit everyday. Three days left in his life, leaving us with cancer, he requests my mom take him to work. Why not? He said, with a resilient attitude and a big smile on his face.

11) Dara Torres, even though I’m a card carrying tennishead, Dara makes my list, she’s beautiful, a spectacular athlete, achieved Olympic greatness and is an awesome communicator.

So who are some people on your leading list? And why.

That’s an interesting mix of subjects that should resonate with most of our readers. I must admit, I’m starting to really enjoy this blogging thing. Sharing what I know and what I believe with a bunch of creative-minded biz friends is fun and challenging.

Blogging.
As I sit down at my keyboard tonight and begin to write this week’s posts I ponder about some things.

1) Should this blog and Oddpodz for that matter be more narrowly focused, our content, tools and offerings?
Today, we strive to give creative-minded business people and organizations, from a 1 person solo practice to a 500-person enterprise, good ideas, free tools and a network to find and connect with other valuable resources and people.

Is diversity a good thing? Or is a more laser-like target better? Please tell us what you think.

2) What does it take to build a power blog?
In general terms, we know it’s about good content, ongoing SEO efforts and participating in other high traffic communities and blogs. But what are the top 10 most powerful actions a blogger can do to significantly move the reader meter.

I’m going to post both of these questions in our forum and invite you to add your feedback. I’ve been using my Linkedin groups quite a bit to have discussions on a bunch of issues. I’ll be compiling these soon and sharing them with in Oddpodz.

Headlines.
It was my intention to next blog about my friend Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success

Me 2.0 teaches people how to use social media tools for personal brand building and is the first book of this kind written for the millennials generation. I suppose us older folks can also learn from this book, since we often act like we are 30 something. The book is great and I will be posting a review in the book review section in the Oddpodz forum and will dedicate our Tues. blog to some of the book’s highlights and the topic of personal branding.

Sorry, I got side tracked.
As I was crafting my blog title on personal branding, I discovered a very cool, free tool that analyzes headlines for its emotion marketing impact. As you know, reaching your customers in a deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

The Advanced Marketing Institute provides the free headline analysis tool.
The Advanced Marketing Institute is a group of researchers, educators, and developers who have come together to provide real tools and knowledge to businesses and individuals who are tired of struggling to control their chaotic systems.

How does the Headline Analyzer work?
Simple go to: Headline Analyzer

Type in your headline. It must be under 20 words. Hit analyze this.
Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline. In addition to the EMV score, You will find out which emotion inside your customer’s your headline most impacts:

Intellectual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation.

Empathetic
Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people.

Spiritual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation. Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people. Words which have the strongest potential for influence and often appeal to people at a very deep emotional level.

So I tested out a few headlines. There is no limit to how many headlines you can get feedback on.

Remember this title is for a blog post for Dan Schawbel’s new book,and other personal branding insight.

My first headline: Be a business magnet Project Authority Earn trust Win Contracts
My Headline’s EMV Score: 40%

My 2nd headline: How to be a business magnet, project authority, earn trust and win contracts today
My Headline’s EMV Score: 42.86%

My 3rd headline: Stop losing opportunities. Be your strongest business magnet, exude authority, earn trust and win more clients today My Headline’s EMV Score: 52.94%

This score indicates that my headline has a total of 52.94% Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Words. To put that in perspective, the English language contains approximately 20% EMV words. And for comparison, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.

Yahoo, I’m gifted! For at least a few minutes.
This is a cool tool and gets you really thinking about how to write more emotionally charged copy. But for a blog title, it also has me thinking search engine results. So my recommendation is: Headlines should be short and include keywords, use the highest rated title as a subtitle.

In closing, what does constipation have to do with any of this?
Well for starters, brilliant comedians have been leveraging this writing technique for years. It’s called a triple. Two words are normal, expected and could go together. The last word is goofy, unexpected and some times shocking. Which makes the choice and combination of these three words so effective in getting attention and hopefully a laugh. You can use this method when you are speaking or writing.

Last week I talked about dealing with creative brain freeze, which could also be described as creative constipation. This week I’ve been jamming, pumping out ideas and enjoying my favorite things, writing, thinking and problem solving. If my thawing your brain tips and the free ebook on creative productive we recommended didn’t help, start reading Mark McGuinness’ blog, it’s amazing! Or, eat more fiber.

The past few days I’ve suffered from a less than productive head. I absolutely could not get anything finished or even put a dent in a project. The more I tried, the less I achieved. It was like my brain was at a stop sign and then I ran out of gas. I could not think, create or solve any problems. After a couple hours of useless work, I started feeling very stressed and then I couldn’t even focus on what I was doing. Why does this happen? What can you do, when your brain feel less than productive?

This theory is not scientific. But for me, I think your brain gets clogged up and too many “ta does” and stress can actually immobilize your brain’s function. I noticed that when I stare at my computer screen for long periods of time, this brain freeze happens the most.

Get way from your computer and move around.

My good pal Doug Stevenson explains in his CD series on “How to Deliver a Dynamite Speech” that too much typing on your computer will keep your brain and your thoughts in the left sided, logical mode and will make solving problems and being creative a very difficult task. He suggests creative thinking should happen away from the computer. He also recommends moving around and that sitting still does not empower creative thinking. I agree with that idea. After I go for a run or play tennis my brain is on fire with fresh ideas. And I’m in great mood.

Manage disruptions and doing things tomorrow.
Another friend of Oddpodz is Mark McGuinness. Mark lives across the pond, is a poet and leads Wishfulthinking a consultancy for creative professionals, agencies and studios. Mark suggests managing disruptions like email and responding to clients, along with doing more things tomorrow and not today. Mark’s work and blog has been hugely helpful in moving me out of the brain freeze zone. Two of his brilliant pieces of work are featured in Oddpodz FREE Biz Findz. Both are FREE ebooks. One is called Time Management for Creative People and the other is called How to Motivate Creative People. I recommend both reading both of this and visiting his blog.

I’m out of the brain freeze now. Thank goodness. I know it will be back. I continue to battle this state of mind when my plate is very full. But, I am making progress. When I feel it happening, I change my environment, schedule uninterrupted time and get away from my computer.

In case anyone you’ve been wondering, the Oddpodz team has not turned into a slacker blogger team. We know our last post was over a month ago. Sorry about that.

We’ve been cranking on a few new things that we know you will like. One is a new feature that will save you time and provide you some awesome free stuff, the other is huge partnership with with one of the top job placement/resume board companies in the US and finally the every improving front page project of our site in an effort to make your journey a bit easier on Oddpodz.

This new action is scheduled by the week of November 25th. Please check back and make sure you’ve signed up for ezine too. Thanks for your continued support.

~K & J

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

Whether you are writing a blog post or a note to kick your romantic pal to the curb, your choice of words says a lot about you. Do you want be a mere lame, language lightweight or an author with personality and punch?

Here’s resource I use to keep my tongue tone, tantalizing.

Wordspy.com
My pal Paul McFedries is the brain behind this resource. His Web site archives over 2,500 current life, trend, culture and behavioral-centric words. You can sign up for a regular email dose, which I love.

Here’s a recent post:
white pollution n. Litter, particularly plastic bags, but also papers, cups, and food containers.

He also includes:
Example Citations
Earliest Citation
Related Words

I asked Paul how did this word resource get started?
Paul explained, “It amazes me that the language has this extraordinary capacity to generate neologisms. I view the language not as a solid mountain to be admired from afar, but rather as an active volcano to be studied up close. This volcano is constantly spewing out new words and phrases; some of them are mere ash and smoke that are blown away by the winds; others are linguistic lava that slides down the volcano and eventually hardens as a permanent part of the language. Both types of ejecta are inherently creative”.

His Word Spy work grew out of this. Word Spy began as a mailing list where each day he’s send out an interesting word to a collection of friends and readers. The first post to the Word Spy list was back on January 2, 1996. After he’d accumulated a few dozen words, he created the Web site to give people a record of what had been posted and to make it possible for other people to join the list. The list and site have grown by leaps and bounds since then: He gets over a million page views each month; the list has over 10,000 subscribers; and Word Spy has been cited or profiled in over 150 newspapers and magazines around the world.

He does accept suggestions, although prefers new words and phrases seen in the media, not neologisms that people have made up themselves.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Nettie Hartsock

In this week’s “Five Questions for Creatives” we turn to Lloyd Dangle, graphic artist, comic strip artist and blogger. Lloyd is widely known for his Airborne™ brand illustrations and at night he dons his comic cape and draws his highly popular Troubletown comic strip. Lloyd blogs at - www.troublogtown.blogspot.com/. Lloyd’s web site can be found at www.lloyddangle.com.

Lloyd is a multi-disciplined writer, designer, and artist whose works, over the past 20 years, have appeared in over 100 magazines and newspapers of every type. His weekly comic strip, Troubletown, was first published in the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 1988 and has grown to become a widely-syndicated cartoon feature in alternative newsweeklies and lefty political magazines. Lloyd is also widely sought for his live Dangle-tooning at corporate events and meetings.

1. What do you think is one of the biggest challenges to being a successful creative person?

Lloyd: To protect and feed your creative side while simultaneously squashing it into the box of corporate America. Seriously, being creative, while employing a marketing system and an effectively run studio is not easy. It’s almost like you have to become two people. Three would be more helpful.

2. What are three tips you would give to anyone who wants to empower their creative career, whether it be as a copywriter, web designer, artist?

Lloyd: It’s taken me forever to figure this out, and I am resistant to it, but you have to go out to public events and meet people face to face to get great projects and relationships.

Second, you should always market yourself with the idea of what you want to be doing, not necessarily what you think you do best, because that’s how you get stuck.

The most important tip is to really look at your creative endeavor as a business, develop your studio policies, terms, and contracts, have everything in place so that you don’t have to think about it and you’re ready to make a deal with the ultimate client tomorrow.

3. What is most rewarding about being on your own and working to grow your creative business?

Lloyd: It requires persistence, but after a while, if you’ve been doing your marketing, you eventually get to a point write your own ticket. You can choose the projects that offer you the chance to express yourself in the way you want, and you can make enough money, that’s important too! If your business is ramped up and working well you can enjoy flexibility. You can take vacations in the middle of the week and pick your kids up in the afternoon and play with them.

4. What inspires you to be creative?

Lloyd: Trying to provoke laughs, thoughtfulness, or irritation in the public, depending on the task at hand.

5. What is the greatest benefit to working as a creative professional?

Lloyd: I remember in some exercise I did one time years ago that I wrote the statement that I wanted to be able to go to work and tackle something creative every day. And that’s the greatest benefit for someone who feels compelled to make pictures, or products, or creative solutions to client’s problems. I just love being engaged in that way. I know people who like their corporate jobs and wouldn’t want the headache of running a business full time. But I’m able to live the kind of life that works for me.

Bonus: What is your favorite book about business or creativity?

Lloyd: Oh, I have an enormous library, way more books than my house and studio can hold. It would be too difficult to narrow down an inspirational book for creativity. In business, “Graphic Artists Guild Handbook Guidelines: Practical & Ethical Guidelines” had such a profound effect on me that I became the president of the organization.

About the author: Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist helping authors, creatives, musicians and companies create actionable how-to 2.0 programs to establish a powerful base for attracting both blogger and journalists attention. Her website can be found at NettieHartsock.com.

By Karen Post, The Branding Diva®

OK, for all you folks who love statistics, here’s one: 89.7 percent of all statistics are made up. This next one is actually true; 90 percent of all kids are considered creative—yet only 2 percent of all adults are. What happened to all those creative people? Did aliens come down and surgically remove their creativity, while erasing all memory of the procedure?

“As adults we are so conditioned by the four Rs of adult thinking; rules, restrictions, rejection, and reason,” Michael Michalko, explains in his book “Thinkertoys”, Handbook of Business Creativity.

Well the good news here is you can be a born-again creative with a little devotion. All humans have creative capacity. They just get kind of lame or lazy at times. Now there are few gifted folks that don’t give much effort to creative development, they are the lucky, natural ones. Some of you may be in this group and yes, we hate you.

Wherever you land on the creative meter, I’m going to share some ideas that can keep you in the brilliant, creative zone. Some of these creativity ways are from my experiences, some are from other cool thought leaders pals, and some I made up, because I can, I’m creative.

5 easy actions that can pump up your creative muscle.

1) Back into the problem.
Instead of thinking about the challenge as a big overwhelming project, start with your end goal first. From here section off the desired outcomes into small pieces that, combined, could be the ultimate solution.

2) Work in three-part timed capsules.
If I chunk out eight hours on one project, I spend 95 percent of the time thinking, procrastinating, and then feeling stressed. Not good. Instead, I’ve learned, block out a maximum of three hours at a time on a project, one hour thinking, one hour downloading or writing down my ideas, one hour tightening or different connecting dots. By scheduling these sessions, the deadline drives me to a much more productive outcome.

3) Exercise your mind just like you exercise your body.
Work both sides of your brain.
If you are a fluid writer, spend some time drawing and visualizing your ideas. If you are already visual, try crossword or number puzzles.

Practice thinking with flexibility.
See how many four-word sentences you can craft. Take a set of words (or use your own, just follow the type of word and quantity) like:

I apricots frogs enjoy don’t irritated eagerly anger

4) Pig out on new brain food
Expand your idea simulation bank with obscure publications, movies, and places. Start by going to a magazine or book store, pick up five or six publications not related to your industry or creative challenge. You will be pleasantly surprised at the abundance of new things you will see and then apply to your situation. The same goes for places to visit; try a flea market, a comedy show, a circus, or a specialty store for something that does not connect your problem.

5) Don’t be a duke of habit
Mix up your schedule, break up regimes, change your routine. You will be amazed at what you see, lots of new landscape, and ideas. Do you go to the same coffee shop to chill? Try one on the other side of town. Do you collaborate with the same folks on idea generation? Try a new group of minds, kids, a different lifestyle segment, or a special interest club.

Building creative muscle can be done. It just takes some discipline and work. Here are a few of my favorite books and tools on the subject.

“Creative Block” by Lou Harry
A small square book packed with big ideas.

Roger von Oech’s “Creative Whack Pack”
A deck of 64 ideas stimulating different perspectives to look at a challenge and find the solution.

“Juicing the Orange” by Pat Fallon and Fred Senn
A great read with lots of smart, inspirational thinking from two veteran ad guys.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Nettie Hartsock

Note: we usually publish this feature on Tuesdays, but had a hiccup this week, we’ll be back on track next week.

In this week’s “Five Questions for Creatives” we turn to Lisa Haneberg, author, blogger and management guru. Lisa is the author of the much-lauded book, “Two Weeks to a Breakthrough” and blogs at managementcraft.com. Lisa’s web site can be found at www.lisahaneberg.com.

Lisa shares her insight on all things creative.

Five Questions for An Author, Business Strategist and “Breakthrough Champion”

Q.What do you think is one of the biggest challenges to being a successful creative person?

Lisa: Giving yourself the time to allow you mind to wander. Often we expect creativity within a two minutes - and creativity doesn’t happen like that.

Q. What are three tips you would give to anyone who wants to empower their creative career, whether it be as a copywriter, web designer, artist?

Lisa:
1. Plan time and create a space that makes you feel good. This can be a home office or a favorite chair in the local coffee shop.

2. Create the context for creativity.

Q. What is most rewarding about being on your own and working to grow your creative business?

Lisa: Having choice about how I spend my time. This is also at times a burden and can feel like pressure (pressure to produce, pressure to get clients).

Q. What inspires you to be creative?

Lisa: Intrinsic satisfaction of something well-crafted.

Q. What is the greatest benefit to working as a creative professional?

Lisa: My mind stays fresh and I am always learning. After I crossed the 40 year old mark, it became crucial that I do work that helps me learn and keep my mind engaged.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite book about business or creativity?

“The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund Zander and Benjamin Zander

“Make the Impossible Possible” by Bill Strickland*

*Note from the editor: Bill Strickland and Manchester Bidwell Corporation are friends of ours at Oddpodz! Check out his and the MBC story, both are truly inspirational.

About the author: Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist helping authors, creatives, musicians and companies create actionable how-to 2.0 programs to establish a powerful base for attracting both blogger and journalists attention. Her website can be found at NettieHartsock.com.

by Nettie Hartsock

In this week’s “Five Questions for Creatives” we turn to Lynn Kindler, freelance blogger, writer and life/career coach. Lynn is also the host of the show “Book It! Words for the Soul” on the popular Coaching Commons web site – coachingcommons.org. Lynn’s web site can be found at sacredpathcoaching.com.

Lynn shares her insight on all things creative.

Q. What do you think is one of the biggest challenges to being a successful creative person?

Lynn: Yourself. Once you get over yourself and get out of your ego and on to the business of fully realizing your creativity you can then hear and heed advice, recommendations, and suggestions given to you to help you sustain success. It’s about learning to engage the atrophying side of your brain that we don’t usually use when we’re creative.

Q. What are three tips you would give to anyone who wants to empower their creative career, whether it be as a copywriter, web designer, artist?

Lynn:

1. There may be over a billion people in the world, but there is only one “you,” be the best “you” that you can be;

2. Meditate or take 30 minutes of time each day to teach your mind how to quiet itself and align with divine order (this may be more challenging than you realize!).

3. Identify and hire people and/or their services to do for you what you don’t do well. Feed the business beast side of your work so that you can be free to create.

Q. What is most rewarding about being on your own and working to grow your creative business?

Lynn: Not having to “answer” to someone that I don’t have respect for (yes, I’ve had authority issues in my life!). I love being able to create my own day with systems, processes and an environment in place that enables me to do my work without the adrenal depleting stress. There’s nothing quite like working on your own book with a cat purring in your lap and dogs asleep around your desk!

Q. What inspires you to be creative?

Lynn: What I call my “higher power”. When I am taking care of myself (head, heart, body and soul) then I can align with this higher power and the creativity flows through effortlessly. There is a really, really big lie floating around out there that says in order to be creative you have to imbibe large amounts of mind altering substances. Not true. If anything I believe that dilutes our creativity.

The musician Stevie Ray Vaughn was just hitting his stride in sobriety when he was killed. I wonder what music he would have created after several years of a connection to a higher source?

Q. What is the greatest benefit to working as a creative professional?

Lynn: I’m in my bliss and amazed that I get paid for doing what I do. I believe really everyone is creative it just reveals itself in different ways. I love the combination of intelligence and heart that shows itself through the creative work of the professionals I work with…I’m constantly delighted.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite book about business or creativity?

Lynn: I’m going to have to say Mitch Ditkoff’s latest book, “Awake at the Wheel”, for both business and creativity. It’s got some great points, is a fun read and made me laugh out loud more than a few times. I also recommend Steven Pressfield’s book, “The War of Art” which is this thin little beguiling book all about resistance. He’s thought of it all because he’s been there, and it’s a must have for all writers.

About the author: Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist helping authors, creatives, musicians and companies create actionable how-to 2.0 programs to establish a powerful base for attracting both blogger and journalists attention. Her website can be found at NettieHartsock.com.