Overhead, poses and present
View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|) Three thoughts to share with you in this issue of CreativeBoost.
- The new overhead
“Every business is a technology business.” That’s a quote from Jim Basillie former head of Research in Motion.
It caught my eye because it reminds me that as little as 20 years ago, I would not be able to run this business as a one-person operation were it not for technology.
That’s true of a good chunk of my client list as well.
Technology today shrinks conventional overhead (http://thinkitcreative.com/blog/belief-and-bias/) .
You don’t need a separate mailing address to have a place you can call an office. You don’t need three phone lines. Or an accounting department. Or a massive advertising budget.
On the other hand, technology means you have expectations (http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/business-technology/our-insights/accelerating-the-digitization-of-business-processes) to meet today that were not there before.
Customer expectations are the new overhead.
Examples: How do I grow my audience with an opt-in newsletter? How do I design (http://www.ninesixteen.ca) better products that customers are demanding? How do I create a faster payment system (http://pointercreative.com) on my website so I can sell more in less time? How do I keep my website secure (http://darnermedia.ca/web-design-and-database-development/) so that I can protect the hard-earned trust that my customer have in my operation?
Get the help you need to meet those expectations. This is not hard to do.
- Embrace difficult poses
Over the past little while, I’ve made yoga a core part of my weekly routine. One of its core tenets is this line that resonates deeply with me: learn to breathe and smile while in difficult poses.
Isn’t that a beautiful way of expressing how we can use resiliency to greet life’s challenges? It applies just as well to our creative work.
Don’t run from the projects or ideas or choices that scare you. Recognize each one for what it is: a difficult pose.
It will teach you the absolute clarity you need to get things done with the mastery you are capable of demonstrating.
- Be present
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
The first time I heard that wise bit of advice from investor Naval Ravikant, I misunderstood it.
The tragedy of desire isn’t that it exists.
Rather, it’s what happens next when we choose desire. It makes us live in the future (or dwell on the past), robbing ourselves of the only thing we really own, which is the present (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/222770-true-happiness-is-to-enjoy-the-present-without-anxious-dependence) .
Very best, Patrick
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