Think back over your life and pinpoint that one person who stands out head and shoulders above the rest. You’re looking for the person who has superglued herself to your psyche – through her inventive fashion choices or rallying laughter, her ability to always find the best in others or her knack for seeing the…
What do the owners of a boutique lingerie shop, a recycler of reclaimed vinyl, a lending library visionary, a real-life Willy Wonka, and a neon artist have in common? Tweet More than you might think, and the common threads that ran through our interviews with the modern-era fabricants can teach creatives valuable lessons on bringing…
A lot has changed since Aristotle proposed his six elements of drama. For one thing, people who were once thrilled at any opportunity to distract themselves from the drudgery of everyday life are now bombarded with distractions. So many, in fact, that modern storytellers have less than 9 seconds to captivate their audiences. Given that,…
You’re ready to launch your new brand. You’re slinging high gloss, bend-resistant business cards like the Annie Oakley of entrepreneurship. You’re penning letters to the editor on your premium linen letterhead. Your website looks so professional you’re already getting resumes from young go-getters ready to board your train to success. Your forms, manuals, and email…
In 1996, Israeli author and politician Natan Sharansky beat the chess world champion Garry Kasparov. He’d gained his chess expertise during nine years in a Soviet prison, and he did so without the benefit of a chessboard or a partner. Rather, he’d spent those years visualizing himself practicing to oust the standing champion. Likewise, research…
During wintertime, the color drains out of the landscape. We hunker down in our familiar studios and apartments to avoid the bitter cold, effectively cutting ourselves off from novel sights and sounds. It’s dark and drab and a bit depressing. It’s not uncommon for creatives to hibernate during the winter. Even if we don’t choose…
You are a designer. I can hear some protests now. You might argue that you’re not a designer. You’re a baker or a marketer or the owner of a small retail shop. After all, design is something professional designers do. Engineers. Inventors. Architects. Nevertheless, you are a designer.
It’s an exhilarating thought to wake every day and recognize that you will define the work that you do that day, that you are in control of your destiny, that youcan impact your community directly through your decisions. You can bring solutions to problems and color to dark corners. As creative entrepreneurs, we have a tremendous amount of potential and…
DRAWING IS GOOD FOR YOU. In the inky darkness of the caves of Lascaux more than 15,000 years ago, early humans carefully painted sketches of wild animals on the walls using stains from plants and minerals. This was during the last glacial period, when much of northern Europe was still covered in sheets of ice….
We’ve all been there: endless list of things we should do to grow our businesses and presence online. I did it, and it was exhausting. I also didn’t feel like myself for some time and my business became a strange entity that I could barely recognized anymore. What do you do when you find yourself…