Some people are “naturally” creative. They seem to be able to pick up a paint brush and paint masterpieces. Of course, we forget that they’ve studied and trained for years to hone their skills.

We appreciate the skill, agility, and beauty of dancers, who also spend years practicing to be able to perform the intricate dance moves that we so admire.

What about musicians? How many of them sit down at a piano and begin to play without any training? How many of them can read music without training and serious practice? And it’s not just training and practice. They have to feel the music inside of them to really create the sounds that touch us all.

The same goes for any creative endeavor. It takes practice and training to create. Like anything worth doing, you have to understand the process and feel it inside you. If a singer doesn’t feel the song, the song won’t touch the hearts of the fans.

Do you have to be an artist, singer, musician, or dancer to be creative? Of course not. You just have to appreciate some of the art forms and have an open mind.

Do you like to read books, magazines, etc.?

Do you like to listen to music . . . any music? Do you remember the Charlie Daniels Band singing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”? I could listen to that song over and over again.

Do you like to dance or watch others dance? Do you remember what a phenomenal dancer Michael Jackson was in his prime? I loved to watch Michael dance.

Do you appreciate art? Do you like to paint yourself?

Do you like scrap booking? Decorating your house for the holidays?

Do you play a musical instrument?

Do you enjoy writing stories or articles?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you’re creative. You don’t have to create in order to be creative. You just have to appreciate what others create.

To learn how to think creatively, you have to change your thought processes a little, which is what we’re doing with this 12-step program. You have to learn how to think with the right side of your brain, the fun, illogical, creative side, rather than the left side, which is the logical, rational side.

The creative side dreams and comes up with ideas galore. The creative side doesn’t worry about how something is going to get accomplished–it simply bounces ideas around until the ideas shine like the brightest light on a Christmas tree. Then the creative side passes it off to the left side of the brain, the logical side, to determine how to implement the idea.

Without the creative side, there would be few ideas, and certainly very few ideas that truly shine. And without the left side of the brain, there wouldn’t be the logical, rational aspects to implement those ideas. Working in tandem is what’s truly necessary in a company.

(more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

I believe we can learn so many things in life through ordinary experiences, things we can apply to our Web sites if we are open to the experience. With me, it seems that almost everything I do can be translated back to Web sites.

I recently picked up a copy of a game and fish magazine and flipped through it. I saw a picture of the bottom half of a hunter dressed in camouflage holding a wooden pop gun. He was walking toward a huge deer. The caption read, “Don’t go out UNDER protected.”

This was a full-page ad for Progressive auto insurance–”the essential vehicle insurance for outdoorsmen.”

I found this fascinating. They created a very targeted ad just for hunters and fishermen and placed it in Mississippi Game & Fish.

Isn’t this what we do when we create targeted pages for specific target audiences on our Web sites? If we sell industrial brushes and one of our target audiences is the janitorial industry, the wording and graphics on the page may be considerably different from the page we’d create for the same brushes being sold for the construction industry. How you’d approach one audience would be entirely different from how you’d approach another audience.

The content wouldn’t be duplicate in any way, and generally neither would the graphics. You would be appealing to a totally different audience. Try it and see if it works for you.

Keep your eyes open to life’s experiences, and see how you can apply those experiences to your online business.

Listen to people talk. What do they tell you about their businesses? Visit Web sites. What Web sites do you like? Why? Read magazine ads. Watch TV commercials carefully. Listen to them with your eyes shut. Look at billboards. How do local businesses advertise?

Be curious. Ask questions . . . about EVERYTHING. We’ll share more of life’s experiences as time goes on.

Robin

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

It’s Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what we have. Sometimes that can be difficult–I know. But there’s always something to be thankful about.

Thanksgiving is also a time to build memories, so let me tell you a story.

My mother and I recently went shopping at an outlet mall. We spent the night in a motel on the 2nd floor. When my mother opened the drapes, our view was the Coke machine, a snack machine, and the ice machine.

We laughed until we cried. We called it our “Room with a View.” We could have called the front desk and asked to be moved, but the new room wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. Our Room with a View created a memory. To be honest, to us, it was the best room in the motel. We could have had a view of the swimming pool or a view of the shopping mall, but we wanted our memory.

Several years ago, I took my mother with me on a trip to France, and we stayed in a hotel right next to the Eiffel Tower. Our view was the Eiffel Tower. You can imagine the view from our window at night. I told my mother that we must be going down in the world to go from a view of the Eiffel Tower to a view of a Coke machine. That made the whole thing even funnier.

Our crazy Coke machine Room with a View is one we’ll never forget.

I travel all the time and stay in countless hotels. I rarely remember the views. They all blend together. But I will always remember those two, not just because of the views, but because of the memories.

What is the point in all of this? Try to make a memory this Thanksgiving. If you’re spending time with family or friends, really listen to them as they talk about their lives. We so seldom listen when others talk. We’re too busy gearing up for what we’re going to tell them when they’ve finished talking. Take time to listen.

Laugh! Smile! Have fun! Play with the children. Enjoy yourself. Make memories.

If you spend the day by yourself, rent some old movies you haven’t seen in years. I watched The King and I the other night, and it was fabulous. Take a walk and smile at the people you see. Wish them Happy Thanksgiving. See if they don’t respond back.

Buy a jigsaw puzzle and begin putting it together. Get involved in a movie at the same time. Go out and eat a turkey dinner at your favorite restaurant. Have a friendly conversation with the waitress. Make a memory.

It’s often not the big things in life that we remember. It’s the little things. The Room with a View.

We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a day full of memories that will last a life time.

Robin

P.S. Thank you to Hilary Rinaldi for the delightful Thanksgiving hat I’ve been wearing this season. She’s got the cutest site for dog names. Be sure to visit! Happy Turkey Day, Hilary and Murphy!

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

If I were to visit your office, what would I see? Would I see a desk, file cabinet, phone, and other functional items from a typical office, but nothing that would give you that creative spark?

If you have children, do you have something your children have drawn for you in your office? Something that makes you smile when you look at it?

Do you have a picture on the wall that is special to you in some way?

I collect little animals that open up, and there’s usually something inside. They’re collectible boxes, normally by Harmony Kingdom. I have a whole curio cabinet full of them in my office. They’re just one part of my inspiration. The hippo in today’s picture is part of my collection, and his tummy opens up and is full of baby alligators.

At the end of one of our workshops, we were all sitting around talking. One of our students wandered into a gift shop. He bought two little Disney pins, the type that the heads wiggle. He told me that he had no idea what he was going to do with them, but they just made him smile.

I couldn’t agree more. When did you last buy something that made you smile? Put it in your office. That could be your creative inspiration.

Do you have candles in your office? An oil lamp? Treat yourself to the new bamboo oil reeds. A relaxing scent can certainly make you smile . . . and help you relax. (more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

Since we haven’t taken time out of our daily 12-Step Creativity Program lately for some content ideas, I thought today would be a good time.

According to Fun Better Than Physics, published in 1877, “Whiskey cures a great many ailments, infallibly, by killing the patient.”

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

What Web sites could you use this fascinating tidbit of information on? Obviously, trivia sites would work. Joke or quote sites.

Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups might appreciate that piece of trivia, though the “lightness” of something so very serious might not work.

Sites that sell recipes containing whiskey could use trivia like this.

Here’s another one centered around alcohol — it’s a cure for the love of liquor:

The prescription is simply an orange every morning a half hour before breakfast. Take that and you will neither want liquor nor medicine. The liquor will become repulsive. By Dr. Chase’s Recipes, c. 1884.

Millions of people only wish it were that simple.

Robin

Added note by Robin: The next day after writing this post, I re-read it and modified it slightly. It seems so callous to me. I didn’t mean it that way. I have lost family members to alcoholism.

Do I think that, “Whiskey cures a great many ailments, infallibly, by killing the patient,” is a funny quotation out of an old book from the 1800’s? Sure.

Alcoholism kills many people today, and there’s nothing funny about that. Alcoholism ruins people’s lives. Believe me, I know.

This is one of those areas where you have to use good judgment and discretion.

I apologize if I offended anyone.

Robin

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit