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, \u201cDoes the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?\u201d Here are some creative\/inspiring\/useful things I came across on my journey this week.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s your ideal customer?<\/strong> Although I\u2019ve been talking about getting a clear picture of your ideal customer<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Practical problem-solving.<\/strong>\u00a0 Since Springwise mentioned this last week, I can\u2019t stop thinking about this brilliant idea of building a corps of thrifty British grandmothers to share money-saving tips. That\u2019s what Oxfam is doing with it\u2019s Green Granny<\/a> program.\u00a0 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 \u201cAsk a Granny\u201d on Oxfam\u2019s Website. Sheer genius.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your business on YouTube?<\/strong> Yesterday I had a link to the spiffy video Linda Gannon did about her Rhinestone Gypsy handbags<\/a> business. After I saw it, I asked her how it had been produced. She assures me that it\u2019s extremely easy to do yourself thanks to\u00a0OneTrueMedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ideas for Freelance Writers<\/strong>. Susan Johnston, writing at Freelance Switch, has a list of 50 ways for freelancers to find article ideas<\/a>. Lots of great suggestions. \u00a0<\/p>\n Need ideas for an encore career?<\/strong> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seth scores again.<\/strong> Grave New World<\/a><\/em>, Seth Godin\u2019s blogpost this week, begins with this attention-getter: \u201cCreativity loves a problem, but it hates a lousy audience.\u201d It\u2019s a brilliant and brief examination of how a negative attitude makes problem-solving impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Creativity boosting teleclasses<\/strong>. Alice Barry and I are wildly excited about our upcoming Better Than Brainstorming<\/a><\/em> 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<\/em> and I Hate Marketing<\/em> 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\u2019ve enrolled in.<\/p>\n Shoestring marketing in action<\/strong>. Julie Knudson sent me this story along with this note: “This story from one of my local news channels\u00a0reminded me of your advice to be creative in marketing<\/a>.\u00a0 His approach is inexpensive and catchy.\u00a0 Brilliant! \u00a0Lucy of Peanuts<\/em> fame would be proud.”<\/p>\n 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<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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, \u201cDoes the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?\u201d Here are some creative\/inspiring\/useful things I came across on my journey…<\/p>\n
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