The Key To Becoming A More Creative Person In Business
Dan Sullivan
The average person may not think that creativity is a particularly important skill for entrepreneurs. After all, they need to know how to run a business, not paint a picture. But in reality, entrepreneurs need to be creative if they want their business to thrive.
If you want to build a successful business, you need to be able to offer something inventive and unique. You need to create something that’s useful and valuable to other people.
And while creativity is often thought of as something you’re born with, it’s also a skill that can be learned. There are many ways you can become more creative as a business owner, and this skill has become increasingly important as technology improves and markets change.
With that in mind, let’s explore some of my best tips on how to become more creative as a business owner.
Being creative and useful.
I think most people have a misconception about creativity and entrepreneurship. They think creativity is useless because it doesn’t “pay the bills” so to speak, and as a result they feel that being creative as an entrepreneur is a waste of time.
Well, they’re correct in one aspect: being creative alone does not pay the bills. Many people do creative things—painting artwork, creating music, or writing books—that no one will ever see or pay attention to. That’s fine if it’s a hobby, but not if you’re trying to make a business out of it. You’ll likely need teamwork with others if you want to turn a hobby into a successful business.
Being creative by yourself isn’t very helpful as a business owner, but being creative and useful is. So instead of thinking about how to become more creative, I would urge entrepreneurs to shift their thinking slightly. Instead of just trying to become more creative, think about how to become more creative and useful.
Ask yourself, “Is what I’m creating useful to other people?” If it is, you will be successful as an entrepreneur. If not, you might have a great hobby on your hands—but it probably won’t help your business succeed.
Using teamwork to spur creativity.
The first thing to understand if you want to become more creative is that creativity is not about you—it’s about your relationship with other people. It’s about being more cooperative and more useful to those around you.
Being creative is a team activity. Rarely, if ever, do entrepreneurs create something entirely on their own—most of the time, it’s part of a larger team effort. If you want to become more creative, spend time thinking about what you’re creating with your team. Review the results of what you’ve created together and ask yourselves, “What worked about that? What didn’t? Next time, how can we do it faster, easier, cheaper, and produce a bigger result?”
The best way to become more creative as an entrepreneur is to find people you love to work with and then focus on constantly improving how you work with them. This will allow you to create more value for your customers, help more people, and grow your business.
Learning how to identify Free Zones.
I’ve spoken at length about why engaging in competition is unprofitable and a waste of time for entrepreneurs. But it also hinders creativity—when you’re in competition, you’re entirely focused on changing everything in your company to match what your competitors are doing.
Instead, your time would be much better spent identifying “Free Zones.”
A Free Zone is an area of abundance where entirely new value can be created. When you create a new Free Zone, it is completely devoid of competition at first, and so it’s incredibly profitable while also giving you complete creative control.
This is the ultimate form of creativity for entrepreneurs. When you create a new Free Zone, you eliminate all of the distractions that usually take up space in your brain. You’re no longer distracted by financial problems or what other people are doing. You’re no longer hindered by competition, and instead, you’re free to be creative and innovate within that Free Zone.
In order to take advantage of all the creative possibilities a Free Zone brings, you first need to shift your thinking from a scarcity mindset filled with isolated competition to an abundance mindset where there are ever-expanding creative possibilities.
When you learn how to do this, you’ll enter what I call the Free Zone Frontier. Here, there is no mimicking, imitating, or copying what competitors do. It’s all about creating new kinds of value in situations and circumstances that are completely different from any conventional marketplace.
Want to become more creative? Learn how to embrace an abundance mindset and make the permanent move to the Free Zone Frontier. You’ll become more creative, more profitable, more productive, and more satisfied with your business than you ever thought possible.
Being a hero.
I’ll leave you with a simple thought that is especially relevant to entrepreneurs looking to expand their creativity.
When we talk about being creative in business, it really comes down to creating value for others. The more creative you are, the more value you can create for others and the more people you can help.
So if you want to learn how to be more creative, you need to understand who you’re trying to be creative for. Who do you want to create value for? Who do you want to be a hero to?
Being a hero is always the purpose that most focuses and multiplies our best energies and skills in any situation. It’s like having a constant true north, a direction you can always be going in, where you can channel your creativity knowing that it will provide value for you, your customers, and your business.
You can’t become more creative if you don’t know who you want to create value for. Answer this critical question with Dan’s free ebook, Who Do You Want To Be A Hero To?
