Ideas don’t have expiration dates, but they do have a “best if used by” date. Many ideas may take a person an entire lifetime to realize. Postponing your ideas wouldn’t be my first recommendation, but the truth is life and personal responsibilities can frequently force you to put your ideas on the back-burner. In some […]
Every proposal you put in front of a prospect to pitch an idea you believe will help them should include a Problem Page that recaps the challenges (and opportunities) they told you about during your initial meeting. These problems and opportunities are the basis for the ideas you’re about to present. A vital component of […]
There are opportunities for you to help your customers and prospects (and earn yourself a profit) by helping them with the things they need before and after sales you’re trying to make to them. During a brainstorm session with a client who needed ideas for generating additional revenue for her business, I made the suggestion […]
Sure, you have to come up with a halfway decent concept, but to be considered brilliant (or to have had a brilliant idea), you’re going to have to be brave. You’d be surprised at how many people have brilliant ideas every single day (you probably do too!), but most of those people (you, too?) are […]
Are you an Amplifier or an Attentuator or a Squelcher? An Amplifier increases the power of a signal so a message can be heard by more people in more places. Do you use your resources and talents to help spread good ideas to those who need them? Do you retweet, and share, and like, and […]
Do you have a Thinking Cap? Something you wear when it’s time to get down to business and generate ideas? Perhaps you have some other creative totem that you keep close and “activate” when you want to get into the zone or trigger your flow state. For me it can be as simple as brewing […]
Creative people in a variety of industries (design, photography, broadcast, writing, etc.) complain when they feel that client instructions and project guidelines somehow limits their ability to be innovative. I completely disagree with the idea that there are limits on creativity If anything, a project’s boundaries will likely force you to be more creative in […]