While stories of woe filled the news, the entrepreneurial spirit was quietly marching on in all sorts of ways and places. I kept thinking of the Louis Vuitton ad that asks, “Does the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?” Here are some creative/inspiring/useful things I came across on my journey this week.

Who’s your ideal customer? Although I’ve been talking about getting a clear picture of your ideal customer in my seminars, I have never seen a better example of that then the one SHIFT-IT coach Christina Merkley shared on her blog. Take a look and then do your own version. 

Practical problem-solving.  Since Springwise mentioned this last week, I can’t stop thinking about this brilliant idea of building a corps of thrifty British grandmothers to share money-saving tips. That’s what Oxfam is doing with it’s Green Granny program. 

The service aims not only to help UK consumers save cash, but also to encourage recycling and help tackle climate change, which it notes has a particularly hard impact on the world’s poorest populations. You can find them on their own YouTube channel and at “Ask a Granny” on Oxfam’s Website. Sheer genius. 

Your business on YouTube? Yesterday I had a link to the spiffy video Linda Gannon did about her Rhinestone Gypsy handbags business. After I saw it, I asked her how it had been produced. She assures me that it’s extremely easy to do yourself thanks to OneTrueMedia.

Ideas for Freelance Writers. Susan Johnston, writing at Freelance Switch, has a list of 50 ways for freelancers to find article ideas. Lots of great suggestions.  

Need ideas for an encore career? Make friends with Jane Kirsch at Life and Work by Design. Her blog is full of great business ideas, including a woman’s enterprise that’s just smashing.

Seth scores again. Grave New World, Seth Godin’s blogpost this week, begins with this attention-getter: “Creativity loves a problem, but it hates a lousy audience.” It’s a brilliant and brief examination of how a negative attitude makes problem-solving impossible. 

Creativity boosting teleclasses. Alice Barry and I are wildly excited about our upcoming Better Than Brainstorming teleclass on Wednesday, February 18, 8-9:30 PM Eastern, 5-6:30 PM Pacific. Whether you have too few ideas or too many, this teleclass will help you operate from a creative perspective in all areas of your life. The following week, Outsmarting Resistance and I Hate Marketing make a return engagement. If you sign up for two or more, you get a discount off the already affordable price. And, of course, everyone gets an audiio download of any teleclass they’ve enrolled in.

Shoestring marketing in action. Julie Knudson sent me this story along with this note: “This story from one of my local news channels reminded me of your advice to be creative in marketing.  His approach is inexpensive and catchy.  Brilliant!  Lucy of Peanuts fame would be proud.”

Marketing is telling a story that sticks, that spreads and that changes the way people act. The story you tell is far more important than the way you tell it. ~ Seth Godin