The Creativepreneur

CreativepreneurThe Volume 1, Issue 2 October 2012

...because business is messy

Creativity’s Wild Ride:Will You Be Ready When Creativity Comes Knocking?

Living the Marketing LifestyleMeet Silver and Grace’s Eliza Fayle

5Great Tips for Keeping Your Website Running Smoothly

Plus:More Tips and Treats to

keep you motivated!

The Creativepreneur, October 2012

The Creativepreneur Studio

Volume 1, Issue 2

October, 2012

The Inspired Artist Studio is pub-lished on the third Friday of every month.

Send submissions or contact us at: [email protected]

Blue Sun Studio, Inc. 4695 Marnell Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89121

Find us on the Web at: http://bluesunstudio-inc.com

Copyright © 2012 by Blue Sun Studio, Inc.

“If you fell in love with the Twilight series or the infamous Vampire Chronicles you will be more than delighted and totally hooked on Bonds of Blood and Spirit: Loyalties! ….watch out Stephenie Meyers, Anne Rice and even Nora Roberts….you have competition in Deborah Dorchak and Wendi Kelly!”

- Lynda Starbuck; Brewster, NY

Order Your Copy Today!(click here to read more reviews)

mailto:[email protected]

http://bluesunstudio-inc.com

http://poewar.com

http://www.amazon.com/Bonds-Blood-Spirit-Wendi-Kelly/dp/098321090X/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

http://bondsofbloodandspirit.com/reviews/

The Many Faces of Creativepreneurs

In This Issue:

The Marketing Lifestyle of Eliza Fayle

Are You Ready for a Wild Creative Ride?

Turn Someday into Today!

147 22

From the Editors .......................................................................... 4

Meet the Team ............................................................................ 5

Riding the Purple Pony ................................................................ 7

Mindset Matters: Could This Be Happening To You? ................... 8

Online Community Management for Dummies .......................... 10

Website Design: Should You Do It Yourself? ................................ 12

Marketing Lifestyle: Eliza Fayle .................................................... 14

Your Pre-Website Checklist .......................................................... 16

Looking At The Big Picture ........................................................... 18

I Want To Do that Someday ......................................................... 22

4 The Creativepreneur, October 2012

This month we are exploring the many faces of Creativepreneurs. After all, not only are we creative business owners, we are artists, moms, sisters, friends,and have

several caps we wear as we go through our journey. The road to balance is bumpy at best and for creatives, balance isn’t usually our genius area!

How do we keep all of the various aspects of ourselves in one piece, while honoring our creative natures and still keep the homefires going, the business cranking and our souls and spirits soaring?

We have some tips and thoughts about that, and some stories to share. We’ve got an inspiring story from Eliza Fayle about her Marketing Lifestyle and one about trading Someday for Today from Greg Dorchak. We’d love to hear from you, too. Sharing our experiences is so vital to all Creativpreneurs. You’ll be surprised to hear that you’re not alone in your journey, we all go through the same trials and tribulations.

So grab a cup of tea or coffee and settle in for a good read.Happy Halloween!

Wendi & Deb

From the Editors

The Many Faces of Creativepreneurs 5

Be A Part of The Creativepreneur!

Give us your feedback AND your submissions for next month’s issue! If you like it (and we know you will!) be sure to share this magazine with anyone you know would enjoy it.

See our submission guidelines here: Magazine Submission Guidelines. The deadline for next month’s issue is October 5th.

Wendi KellyWendi Kelly is the International business coach behind Cre-

ative Clarity Coaching, a division of Blue Sun Studio. Wendi is devoted to coaching creative entrepreneurs who are ready to take the leap into clarity, happiness and success in business and life.

Deb DorchakDeborah Dorchak has been a graphic designer for more

than 28 years and an artist since she could hold a crayon. Deb got her start in Illustration, and her passion for telling stories through images hasn’t wavered yet. She is the designing force behind Blue Sun’s graphics department.

Meet the Team

mailto:[email protected]

http://bluesunstudio-inc.com/magazine-submission-guidelines/


My daughter, Tania used to have an imaginary friend, The Purple Pony, when she was little. She could see it, and it went everywhere with her and our family

when we went out. It talked to her, sat on it’s own chair at dinner time and she would share delightful tales about what it was doing and what it said, and it’s opinion about just about anything.

Including my cooking.We smiled, nodded and did not roll our eyes or exchange odd glances over her head

when she wasn’t looking. I said that creative kids often had imaginary friends and that it was something that she would grow out of. After all, I had had them when I was little, didn’t everyone?

Then I got the look. Apparently not.I think about my daughter’s purple pony often. Why a pony? And why purple? For

those that know her, it isn’t a reach to figure it out. Why a pony? Because she could climb on and go for a ride. Hop on and go on a magical adventure to imaginary lands where she got to make up all the rules. Why purple? Because she said so. Because it’s whimsical, crazy, and breaks the rules. It’s absurd and unexpected, like coloring out of the lines and off the page.

That’s Tania. Even as an adult, she has her purple ponies. She still manages to find her whimsical, creative, colorful, out of the lines and off the page ways of taking life for a ride.

And she’s not the only one like this that I know.Since all of my coaching clients are Creative Entrepreneurs, in one way or another,

Wendi Kelly

Purple Pony continued on p.26

Riding the Purple Pony


Everyone is familiar with it. That strange unexplainable thing we do to ourselves just when we were on a roll of awesome improvement. Just about the time when we are

proud of our new-found success, all of the sudden some mysterious thing happens and we find ourselves back to square one, or even worse, two steps behind square one, scratching our heads wondering what happened.

Why does this happen? It’s called self sabotage and none of us are immune to its seduc-tive lure. And worse of all, we might not even be aware of the secret reasons the sabotage occurs. If we did, we could put a stop to it on the conscious level. But more likely, the reason you suddenly ate half a chocolate cake right after celebrating your five pound loss is as much of a mystery to you as it is to anyone else.

This is because subconsciously, our belief systems are being guided by a series of hidden rules deeply embedded inside of us that we may not even be aware of. Whenever we get to far out of the “Box” that these hidden rules have set up for us, we sabotage ourselves until we get back in line with this belief system.

These rules are like keeping hidden ghosts in your house. You can’t see them, but they may very well be interacting with everything you do! Want to stop the sabotage once and for all, you have to do a little bit of ghost hunting and uncover the hidden rules that are holding you back from the life you have been trying to achieve.

There are an unlimited amount of them, but here are ten of the most popular. Which ones are hiding in your mental house?

BOO!

Mindset Matters:Could This Be Happening To You?


1 Everything has to be perfect before I start

Nobody is interested in what I have to say

I don’t know where/how to start

I don’t have time

I don’t know enough/have enough information

I can’t afford it

I don’t want to make someone else look

bad by competing with them

My family won’t be able to survive without me

I don’t want to be selfish

What will I do if I actually succeed?

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10


Online CommunityManagement for Dummies

Blogs, social networking and forums are all a necessary part of business in our world today.

These tools provide business owners with the means to reach a much broader audience than the print ads and static web pages of the past. Ev-erything is about interaction and getting to know your clients and potential clients on a much more personal basis before diving into a project together.

Simply having a blog on your website or having a Facebook account isn’t enough. You can’t just put up a site or start a fan page and expect it to grow and thrive on its own.

With the first comment you answer on your blog, or with the first member you welcome to your business’s fan page, you are stepping into the realm of online community management.

I won’t kid you, managing an online community isn’t easy. Fun? Yes. A lot of work? You bet.

No one knows this better than Deb Ng. I’ve known Deb for many years now. I first met her when she asked me to do some design work for her former site Freelance Writing Jobs (FWJ). Back then, Deb had a massive community. FWJ drew writers from all corners of the globe to visit her network of writing blogs. Every day, hundreds of people would drop in and leave comments on the posts she wrote.

Deb was a community management pioneer. She always handled the discussions with


grace and the utmost professionalism. Even when discussions got overly heated (and some downright nasty), she always kept her cool and treated everyone with respect.

That’s why when she announced she was writing a Dummies book for online com-munity management, I got very excited.

Diving In

I’ve seen a lot of online communities come and go over the years. I’ve managed a few, too. Some were extremely successful and others…not so much. The thing about online communities, whether they’re a blog, fan page or forum, is you can never tell how successful they will be. You can have a beautifully designed blog, a forum with all the latest bells and whistles, but if people aren’t actively participating with lively discussion, that community will die.

Wendi and I have seen a lot of clients who have struggled with their communities. They’re either frustrated they can’t get the kind of participation they want, or they’ve gotten such a huge response, it’s overwhelming.

This is where Deb Ng’s Online Community Management for Dummies comes in. This book is the definitive guide to all things dealing with online community management.

What I like about this book is it’s not the kind of instructional guide you have to read

Community continued on p.29

To read more from Wendi or contact her for your own personal creative coaching, visit us today at Creative Clarity Coaching.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118099176/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

http://creativeclaritycoaching.com


Deb Dorchak

There are three types of people in the world of start up businesses:• Those who don’t want to be bothered with tech stuff• Those who are all about Do It Yourself (DIY)• And those who thought they could do it themselves and ended up way over their

heads.The people in the first group will usually hire a professional right from the start. They

know their limits, they understand what is and isn’t their genius work. Doing some things for themselves is really not the best use of their time.

The second group is the most adventurous. They have the confidence to roll forward and tackle the project on their own. For them, it’s usually more of a learning experience than wanting to save on the budget. They already know that DIY doesn’t always come cheap and they may end up spending just a little bit more in time and effort than they would if they went the route of hiring someone else to do it for them.

The last group is the one I want to address today. This group is definitely trying to save some money by attempting to do it themselves. They’ll look at the project and declare a hearty “How hard can that be?” and jump in.

I think all DIYs start out in the “I think I can” category. But when the sticking point rears its ugly head, the ITYCDIY folk falter. They try to fix what’s gone wrong, only to find the fix doesn’t work as well as they thought it would, then everything starts to get worse. Eventually, more money is poured into the project to fix it. And when that still doesn’t work, they hand the whole mess over to a pro, who either has to untangle the massive pile of knots or scrap it and start over clean.

And that’s not for free, either.

Website Design: Should You Do It Yourself?


How Not To Become an “I Thought I Could” and Be an “I KNOW I Can!”

1. Do Your Homework First. Not everything is as easy as it looks. A professional is a pro for a reason, they’ve been doing this particular work for a very long time. They know where the problems will arise and how to avoid them when they do. Before jumping feet first into a new project, research it. Learn as much as you can about the tools and techniques so you have some idea of what you’re getting into.

2. Know Your Limits. Everyone has limits. Even the pros. The moment you feel the proj-ect is going wrong, stop. Pushing through out of sheer frustration won’t help you and can only make things worse. You’ve reached your limit when you start to feel like that. Ei-ther put the project aside and come back to it later with fresh eyes, or take some time to do a little more learning to get past the sticking point. Ask a pro for advice, you’ll be surprised that many won’t mind giving you a quick tip or two — as long as you ask nicely.

3. DON’T RUSH! The need for speed will kill your project before you get out of the gate. This isn’t a race. Or it shouldn’t be. Not if you took the time to plan well enough in advance. Give yourself plenty of time to complete each phase. Baby steps! If you take each portion of the project in a timely manner, you’ll make less mistakes and give yourself plenty of breathing room for when you do.

And if you’ve done all this and given it your best shot, but still haven’t gotten the results you wanted? Call in the pros, like us.

But if everything has gone well and you have a finished product you’re happy with, con-gratulations! You’ve just entered the ranks of the DIY!


Getting here has been an interesting process. Here being my life as a Creativepreneur. Although I did not start my

business, Silver & Grace, until my mid-forties, the journey truly started forty years earlier.

Come take a little ride with me.I am five years old, lying in my bed with a fever. The room

is barely lit; my mother sits on the edge of the bed. In my doorway is a man, yet not a man. He is blurry around the

edges and translucent. I ask my mother who he is. She looks, and of course sees no one. “Is he a bad man?” she asks. “No, he is making sure I’m okay,” I reply. I am eternally grateful that my mother allowed me to understand that the inexplicable does not need to be explained.

I am ten years old, walking through my grandparents’ woods. I hear the wonderful tinkling sound that poplar leaves make. I hear the starlings chirping to one another. Sud-denly, the sounds speed up. Just as if I was playing one of my 33 rpm records at 78 rpms. Although I did not have the words for it at the time, I instinctively knew that time is not linear.

I am fourteen years old, sitting in science class. My teacher is explaining that the desk I am perched at is not solid and immobile. It is in fact made up of minute particles all danc-ing up a storm. This was an incredible revelation to me. The world was not as it seemed.

I am somewhere in my twenties, reading a book by Deepak Chopra. He is telling me that scientists can unknowingly create physical outcomes in their experiments based on what they expect the outcome to be. This was beyond revelation. This was a complete

Eliza Fayle

Marketing Lifestyle:Eliza Fayle


epiphany. Not only was the world made up of dancing bits of energy, but I could ma-nipulate that energy with my thoughts.

I am in my thirties. I am studying meditation and Tarot. I am able to leave my body and become pure thought through a simple meditation technique. This allows me to meet people through visions who provide me with guidance. I do not question this, because my mother never questioned the man in my doorway.

I work with the Tarot cards, and in a seventy-eight card deck the same three cards keep showing up repeatedly until I get the message. I realize the odds of that are as-tronomical and that there is a link between my energy and the selection of the cards. I do not question this, because my science teacher and Dr. Chopra introduced me to quantum physics.

I am in my late thirties and through a relationship crisis I am forced to make a major lifestyle change. I have no external compass to go by, so I go with what I know. I know that I have the power to manipulate my outcomes through my own intuitive thoughts. I vow right there and then to live an intuitive life. Not just when I am meditating or doing Tarot. Day in day out, minute by minute.

I am in my early forties, and my life is incredible. I meet the man who enhances me.

Marketing continued on p.29

Blocked? Unleash your creative power!

No predictions or premonitions. Practical intuitive guidance.

Click Below for Eliza Fayle’s Email Intuitive Tarot Reading

http://silverandgrace.com/services/tarot-reading-by-email


Many of our clients come to us wanting to build a website. And why shouldn’t they? It’s what we do. Very few businesses can get by without one these days either. A

website is no longer a luxury or a hobby. It’s a business tool, that when used correctly, can boost sales and get your message out to the widest audience possible.

But are you ready to have one? Just because you have a business doesn’t mean you’re ready to open a site. Before we create a mockup, we take the time to have an in-depth consultation with our clients that has a lot more to do with their overall business and goals than just the look of a site. Not every design company will do that. They’ll gladly take your money, give you exactly what you think you want, and send you on your merry way.

We want our clients to carefully consider the whys and hows before they start. Clarity is important and it’s that clarity that will define the brand, and the brand will define the look. Your site won’t be a look you’ll change before the year is out. It will say exactly what you want it to say and how you want to say it.

So what are some of the questions we ask during our consultations? I’m glad you asked. Here are a few you can use as a self-assessment on your own. These are just a few of the questions we ask our clients. If you can answer yes to all of these questions with clear, concise responses, chances are you’re ready for a website. If you can’t, don’t worry, there’s still hope. You may just need to brainstorm it a bit. We can help you with that and take you from concept to finished product. Call us. We’re ready when you are.

Your Pre-WebsiteChecklist

Deb Dorchak


1 Do you have a specific goal? A website isn’t just a compilation of pretty pictures

and inspiring words. Every site has a purpose. Do you want to generate sales? Do you want people to see you as an authority in your field? Do you just want to give out information? What do you want to DO?

Who do you want to do it for? You need to know who you’re selling to. Every business has a target audience and when you build your site, you’re building it for them. You have to know your ideal client inside and out, and understand what it is that gets them to hire you.

How will your site function? How do you want your site to work for you? Will you be blogging and offering a regular schedule of posts for your audience or will your site be static with basic company information? Do you want to have a shop-ping cart and sell products/services right from there? Do you want video or other types of multi-media?

How involved will you be with site maintenance? Websites don’t run them-selves. Unlike ten or fifteen years ago, webmasters are no longer a necessity. Plat-forms like WordPress and others make it very easy for individuals to update and maintain their own sites. In fact, we strongly stress to clients how important it is for them to have full control of everything from updating content to having access to files on the server.

How often will you update your site? Decide whether or not you’ll be blogging and what your schedule will be. You don’t have to post every day, but be consistent about what you do post.

Do you have an overall theme in mind? Some people have a very strong idea what they want their site to look like. They’ve carefully considered the image they want to present to their audience, the colors they want to use, and the types of images they see in the header. This question is closely tied with who the target audience is. Yes, you’re hiring a designer to help you figure out your look, but not even the best designer in the world can do that without some careful thought and input from you.

23456


One of the ways that a creative business can add

a sense of purpose and value to the company is by donating time, proceeds and publicity to important issues that make a difference. Many studies have shown that giving back to others is a great way to boost our own happiness and satisfaction factor and keep our motivation levels high. And in a 2010 study (Cone,

inc,) researchers reported that 83% of consumers wish the companies, products and services they used supported good causes.

We have found that that a variety of volunteer projects works for us, from using our theater background and consulting skills to direct theater projects that raise funding for teen work camps and working with design projects that help others spread their important messages.

What are some of the ways that your Creative Business helps to make a positive difference in your corner of the world? We asked that question recently and here are a few of the responses we got back. Write in and tell us what your company does to shine a light on your corner of the world and we may feature it here!

Wendi Kelly

Looking At TheBig Picture


Becka Aiello-Marsch “It’s not mine as you know, but I volunteer. Built of Barnwood creates works of art

using reclaimed and recycled materials. Nothing in their creations is new material. In turn, they also donate profits to the Ian Somerhlader Foundation, which is trying to build an animal sanctuary that will benefit both animals and children alike.”

Michelle Pier “My name is Michelle Pier and my little corner of the world is here on Guam, the

little island in the Pacific where I was born and raised. Through my business Creative Indeed, I give Guam awesome opportunities for getting creative as well as supporting the creative arts. I create original intuitive artwork, and hold weekly Creative Sessions where people can come and create art, expressing themselves in a sup-portive environment. Every year around the full moon in October I put together a creative celebration called the

Luna Festival. This year marks the 4th annual, and the island is excited. Guests come in costume to enjoy a full day of music, dance performances, art-making, local vendors, activities for kids, magicians, theatre groups, & creative stuff of all kinds! We close off the evening with a bonfire & fire dancing.

Creative Indeed brings people together here on Guam, to focus on solutions, creat-ing art of all kinds, creative expression, and living a positive, purposeful life. Guam is a relatively small island, a U.S. territory that has become very diverse, and Creative Indeed celebrates that diversity. In a time of conflicting opinions about the status of Guam, the presence of the U.S. military, and the dynamics between the diverse population, Creative Indeed strives to look past invisible boundaries and unite people with a common purpose through creativity.”

http://www.builtofbarnwood.com/

http://CreativeIndeed.net


2

5Easy TipsTo Keep Your Website Happy

Keep all plugins current and remove inactive ones.1

Download your site before making changes or updating.

Your website is a vital part of your business. This is the first impression on the world, an informative home for your clients and potential clients, where they get to know

you better. You want to keep your website healthy and happy. Making updates help shield against hackers and creating periodic backups keep your information safe should one of those hackers actually get through.

These five easy tips are ones that take no time at all. Schedule them into your weekly or monthly routine and you can kick those virtual monsters under the bed to the curb.


Easy Tips 3Run a monthly site backup

4 Check your site for broken links or outdated information

5Keep your Content Management System (WordPress, Drupal, etc.) updated to the most recent version.


We all have a “I want to do that someday” idea in our heads, some are big, some are small, but almost

all of them lie on that imaginary timeline of “someday,” and oftentimes by placing that “someday” deadline on the idea, we might as well just say “never.”

I’ve always wanted to make my own movies someday; yeah I’ve been an actor and a writer for a lot of years, be-ing content with helping other people make their movies, but a few years ago I got the “My Movies” bug big time. I

helped a friend make her short film, then rewrote another friend’s short and acted in and co-directed it, then co-wrote and started to produce a feature in the fall of 2008. Yeah THAT fall. The fall when everything came crashing down financially, and our production got hit just as hard.

Oddly enough, as that production was gearing up – I was the voice of gloom and doom “but what if this happens, what is our plan? What about if all the sudden that happens – how do we handle it?” The one thing I just plain did not see coming was financial collapse of the country. Wow. That hurt.

Four years later things started to loosen up, and the folks that normally used to enter-tain thoughts of giving money to small film productions began talking to us again. This time I thought, it will be my company. And I began planning and planning and planning. I say planning three times, because planning is not my strong suit, so I have to work harder at it; but because of this I almost planned myself into the “someday/never” deadline. There is a need for planning and thinking things out – but at some point, in order to get

Greg Dorchak

I Want To Do that Someday


Someday continued on p.24

that giant snowball rolling – you have to actually make that first little one and then push it down the hill.

So I did. At the end of September I looked at all the stuff I put together – all my planning for someday, and I said “yeah, this’ll work,” and I made that snowball and kicked it over the side of the hill. So Class Clown Pictures is now official and we are gearing up for our first feature film, the first in a slate of five comedies. And like most indie prodcos, we are raising money. Any production company out there starts somewhere – and has to ask for money to get a production going – we aren’t any different, so at classclownpictures.com - click on the “wedgie!” link, and then on “DONATIONS” - we appreciate the help both financially and in spreading the word to others!

The company name comes from the Senior Superlative award I earned through blood sweat and tears in High School. I had my yearbook out for some reason or another when

"...the art is in the storytelling, not in the medium..."

I was coming up with a name for the company – and this seemed very appropriate. I love the logo, and had fun putting together a bump for the videos I produced in school and the marketing materials I produced for the donation drive.

Very few filmmakers start out with a complete compliment of crew, money, etc – and smaller indie production companies rely heavily on donations and the generosity of strang-ers. That ain’t so bad, but because of this the film maker still has to work at their day job while they also plan and produce their films. And that is where I am at – fortunately I have more time now – my kids are grown, I am out of school, and all I have to worry about is 10 hours a day for rent-paying jobs, and then 10 hours a day for film related jobs – and the whole rest of the day is mine to do with as I please.

The digital age has offered a lot of flexibility to the film maker – I still remember helping my grandfather edit and fix our old home movies shot in 8mm, it was so time intensive, and if you ruined footage, man that was it; it was gone. Shooting the titles with clay figures and


plastic lettering took all night it seemed. With digital technology you can pretty much do a lot of different things and never worry about losing your footage, just dump the old files and grab another original to start over.

Putting together promotional and marketing items is much easier as well – I can go from concept to writing to shooting to editing and delivery in a matter of hours; need a fancy location but can’t travel? That’s why God invented the green screen and internet images. I must say that when things started going digital I was one of the “purists” who vowed never to shoot ANYTHING EVER digitally; but I finally realized that change has always occurred in the arts – from cave paintings to printing to digital books, and from stage to shadow pup-pets to “flickers” to YouTube – the art is in the storytelling, not in the medium. And now, quite frankly, I’m glad that the digital revolution has given me the ability to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather and make some films that people will enjoy for years to come.

If you have an idea, you will never be in a better place to do it than right now. You don’t have to produce the full-blown realization at this very moment – but start the groundwork, plan, gather resources, get information. Stop thinking “someday” and just do things to start you on your path today. Seriously. Life is short…

Someday continued from p.23

A new Indie Film Production Company needs your help!

head on over to:www.classclownpictures.comClick on “wedgie!” and please donate—get your friends to do the same for karmic rewards!

www.classclownpictures.com


Words of Wisdom: Persistance

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determi-nation are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”

~ Calvin Coolidge

“If you do not have persistence then no amount of education, talent or genius can make up for it.”

~Stephen Richards

“The difference between people who believe they have a book inside of them and those who actually write books is sheer cussed persistence. The ability to make yourself work at your craft, every day- the belief, even in the face of obstacles, that you’ve got something worth saying.”

~Jennifer Weiner

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. “ ~Albert Einstein

“Paralyze resistance with persistence.“ ~Woody Hayes


they all have their own versions of Purple Ponies. They get swept up in their own cre-ative dreams, obsessions, distractions, with brilliant ideas that pop out of nowhere that are so fantastic they stop life in mid-stream and take them for a ride. They have visions that knock them out of balance and leave them breathless with a vibrant high that is hard to explain.

We get it. Deb and I are not immune to the Purple Pony. We get off in tangents in design, new business ideas, coaching projects and have a stuffed full idea list the size of an encyclopedia Especially when writing fiction, in the novels that Deb and I write

together, the Bonds of Blood and Spirit Trilogy, we can be swept away by the characters and the story and find it hard to pull ourselves out of the story to get back to reality. A few weeks ago, there was an eight day streak where every night the dreams spoke to us, revealing scene after scene, and we couldn’t get to the page fast enough to record it all. One idea spurred another and characters chatted with each other in our heads. We couldn’t stop discussing the story with each other, sharing plot, story arc, finding ourselves freakishly in-tune to each others very thoughts from half a country apart, often writing the same notes down at the same time.

The Purple Pony had showed up at the door, and we had climbed on for a ride.So what’s the problem?We have lives. We have a company to run. We have clients who need attention, and

we like giving it to them. Ditto our families. They look at you kind of funny when you are talking to imaginary people out loud. When you are walking around in a daze, muttering to yourself, they suggest perhaps you should get on medication.

They don’t get it.

“...how do creatives take advantage of those special—and precious—moments when the cre-ative muses bless us with their magic without letting the real world fall apart around us?”

Purple Pony continued from on p.7


Your Designers for Life

See how our unique approach to design will help your business. Visit us today: http://bluesunstudio-inc.com

So how do creatives take advantage of those special—and precious—moments when the creative muses bless us with their magic without letting the real world fall apart around us?

Deb and I do it by having systems and priorities in place ahead of time. We have a weekly Clients and Projects list, including high priorities, as well as In Progress and On Going projects so that nothing ever falls through the cracks. We have systems and automated processes that streamline repetitive tasks so that they are habitual and take very little brain effort or time.

When the Creative surge hits, we can take a quick look, make sure we are taking care of every high priority, and take action on ongoing projects, putting all First things First—and all Important People first—before we allow ourselves to succumb to that creative ride.

If that list isn’t already in place and attended to ahead of time, nothing feels important enough when that siren call of creativity hits. It’s easy to let everything go by the wayside and run off to crazyland.

It reminds me of my kids when one of their friends knocks on the front door. “Can I go

Purple Pony continued on p.28

http://bluesunstudio-inc.com


play with so- and-so?” They will ask. My answer is always the same. “Is your homework done and your room clean?”

If it is, they are off and running. If it isn’t...then they are rushing...hurrying to do a sloppy job to get it done quickly, while the friend waits at the door. Because there was no planning ahead of time, because the friend just appeared, they were caught off guard and their best effort is thwarted.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but being organized and structured is actually very free-ing. Because everything is on paper and systems in place, time is saved, clients are served with focus and best ability, and barriers to the creative process are broken down.

Plan for the Purple Pony to show up at any Time.Expect her to show up at the door. Don’t be caught of guard. If you are a creative, she

is coming. Be ready. Know your priorities, have your First Things First list always in front of you. Do your most important tasks first thing in the morning, and if it works for you, batch your time so that you have a large amount of time to let your creative muse run free. By being organized and efficient, you are freed up to play, whenever that pony shows up at the door.

You can climb right on up and go for the ride of your life.

Purple Pony continued from p.XX

Inspiring peace and joy Offering beautiful wares.

Spiritually mentoring dear souls.

Creating a soulful newsletter.

Leading journaling workshops

Come along! www.joyonyourshoulders.com

http://www.joyonyourshoulders.com/


cover to cover and do step by step to get results. Deb even tells you in the introduction to skip around, skim and scan and use what’s applicable to you right now.

From the very beginning, Deb tells you what to expect as an online community manager and the types of people you’ll encounter. She will give you valuable tips for growing and maintaining your community, and how to assess the health of that community.

Another aspect of this book I like very much is the practical approach. The advice in this book applies to any type of online community. Whether your community revolves around a favorite hobby or you’re using it to grow your business, Online Community Management for Dummies gives you the tools you need to establish a strong, professional foundation for your audience.

Community continued from p.11

I move to a culture that embraces arts and the esoteric. I wake up each day knowing exactly who I am. I am happy.

I am in my mid-forties, and I realize that I want all women to have what I have. They deserve it, and holy crumpets, I am going to do my part to help them get it. I launch Silver & Grace to inspire and guide women to their own intuitive answers.

I am forty-nine and a half. I am an intuitive mentor. I am a psychic. I am a Creativepre-neur.

Find Eliza On The Web:

Eliza Fayle is an international intuitive mentor and psychic. She believes that all women over forty are fun, sexy, intelligent and real. Through Silver & Grace she offers a range of products and services to enhance those qualities.

Visit Eliza at Silver & Grace, or at Silver & Grace Gifts.

Eliza continued from p.15

http://silverandgrace.com

https://www.facebook.com/SilverAndGraceGifts

The Creativepreneur

Documents

Transcript of The Creativepreneur