A man once wrote to tell me he’d been homeless and living in his car when the old adage, “It takes money to make money,” came to him. Realizing that he couldn’t test this notion, he continued to contemplate his options and came to the new realization that “It takes ideas to make money.”

Having hit upon this thought, he started to get excited about solving his problems with his imagination. That led him to start a little service business that’s grown and prospered.

Struggling entrepreneurs often convince themselves that if they only got their hands on some money, it would solve all their problems. Not only is that position not very helpful, it also postpones the possibility of lasting success.

As Paul Hawken reminds us, “Money follows ideas. Money doesn’t create anything.”

Real estate people talk about sweat equity—investing time and energy rather than cold cash. Creative capital is a similar concept, but it goes a step farther.

When we use our imaginations to grow our businesses, we not only generate bigger and better ideas, we keep our passion alive and build confidence in our own ideas at the same time. Those are powerful ingredients for succeeding at any undertaking.

No one understood creative capital better than Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. She showed a natural flair for what I call Hansel and Gretel marketing. When she opened her first little shop in Brighton, England, she would spray a trail of scent from the main street to her side street location, hoping people would follow the smell.

She writes, “Believe me I was prepared to try anything in those early days to get customers into my shop. I wanted to get passersby to stop, so I put big, old-fashioned sandwich boards outside promoting one or another of the products. I drenched the front of the shop in the most exotic perfume oils so that it always smelled wonderful.”

Early on, Roddick came to understand the power of free publicity. After many runners in the London Marathon complained about sore feet, she got busy concocting a foot lotion and the following year got permission to stand on the sidelines of the marathon and hand out free samples.

The media took note. She also became a regular on talk shows, plugging The Body Shop as much as she could politely get away with.

Instead of spending  money for advertising, Roddick insisted on finding creative ways to communicate her unique message. “How we communicate is gob-smacking,” she wrote in her autobiography, Body and Soul. “We use every available medium to preach, teach, inspire and stimulate, and in everything we do our single-minded passion shines through.”

Another entrepreneur who understood and used creative capital brilliantly was Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens. From their earliest days, the Geek Squad stood apart from other folks in the computer repair industry through their clever use of humor, attention-getting automobiles and badge-carrying employees.

Starting on a tiny shoestring turned out to be an asset, not a liability, says Stephens. As he discovered early on, “In the absence of capital, creativity flourishes.”

The most successful entrepreneurs seem to understand the importance of valuing and nurturing their creative spirits. They experiment, try things, find ways to do more with less.

In fact, the creative business is more like an artist’s studio than a factory production line. It’s a model we can happily adopt.

Just feed your creative spirit well and put it to work on your behalf. This is one investment strategy that works brilliantly—in any economy.

4 Responses to “Investing Creative Capital”

  1. Sherri Garrity

    I’m writing an article for my blog this week that starts with a favourite Anita Roddick quote: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.” I know you’re from Minnesota originally, and that you will appreciate the truth in this statement! From the tiniest spark of an idea, the most amazing things can grow! The magic is in what we have, not what we don’t. Like you said so brilliantly last week at the Joyfully Jobless Jamboree, if we use our OWN imagination, and what is uniquely us, we create our own natural monopoly. Many business owners get caught up in what everyone else is doing, and their imagined obstacles like money, lack of expert status and so on. Imagination and your own experience is truly priceless.

  2. Barbara

    Thanks, Sherri. I’m also thinking this is the up side of your current lack of mobility…you have more time to share good ideas online.

  3. D.K. Upshaw

    Just what I needed, Barabara! As a cartoonist, imagination is my business, so this is a practice that suits me fine. I can dream up not only new cartoon products but ways to sell them on my website. I can figure out a way to get my cartoons on my city’s cable access TV channel. I can come up with a Christmas promotion. Ooh, better start now!

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  1. Surf’s Up, Condensed: Top Creativity Links for November 11, 2010 « Creative Liberty

    […] Investing Creative Capital | Buon Viaggio Barbara Winter discusses the importance of good ideas (vs. money) and creativity in launching a business.Sample quote: “The creative business is more like an artist’s studio than a factory production line. It’s a model we can happily adopt.” […]