One of the manifesto principals here on the WhiteHotCenter states– to thine own self be true, no excuses and no exceptions. When you are growing your business and stating your value proposition to prospective clients, it can be tempting to adopt the popular point of view. To remain true to yourself, your vision, your ideas, you have to sing in your own voice.

When you find yourself in new and unfamiliar territory, it takes some experimentation to find your way around the new space you are occupying... you have to learn the language of the new land you find yourself in... finding your voice so to speak... the one that is authentic and true to your forward thinking vision. And just like a singing voice, it requires development and practice to express it through your continuous growth phases.

Your “voice” is part visual – expressed through your personal physical presence, your brand identity and in the manner and design of your physical surroundings.

Your “voice” is part verbal- how you talk to yourself, the language you use with others to express who you are in the world and how you can serve their success.

Finding your voice or the mojo to clearly and confidently express your value proposition to clients you seek to serve takes some time to discover, develop and put into practice. Here are a few suggestions to help you experiment with finding your voice in the new territory your growth places you in:

Relax
There’s no need to stress about it. Be yourself. I know it sounds trite and cliché, but it’s easy to loose sight of the fact that you have unique gifts, talents and capabilities to share. When you worry and stress about the manner in which you present your ideas to the world, you block yourself off from clarity and confidence. When your mind is relaxed and you are in an inspired state, you’ll naturally express yourself in a manner that people will instantly connect with. Try it.

Maintain an open mind.
An open mind eliminates a closed future.  Whatever actions you take, nature will provide you with the feedback necessary to move in the right directions­– if you keep an open mind and pay attention to the signals. When you are at the beginning of any growth phase, you might be tempted to think in terms of the generally accepted or status quo. This limits your scope of opportunities. Keep yourself open to suggestions, coincidences and even random thoughts, but never follow the herd.

Play with ideas.
Seemingly, many people enter a growth phase with a pre-conceived notion about how things ought to be.  My suggestion is you allow yourself to think like a kid and play with your ideas.  Don’t work on your ideas play with them. Out of the innocence of your playful inclinations, your truest nature and authentic voice will begin emerge. You’ll recognize it instantly when you become aware of your experience of ease, joy and the limitless nature of your unique talents and capabilities.

Focus on what matters to you.
Whatever you focus on expands in your life. That’s why it is critical you remain focused on what matters to you! Say no to the anything that distracts you from what really matters to you. This is difficult at times simply because many people believe they have to please others first. Believe me, you’ll never discover your voice pleasing others.

Your voice is your higher nature expressing itself through your commitment to follow your passions, living your truth, and trusting in the process of doing so. You will be far more effective, experience your greatest success when you sing your own song in your own voice.

Collaboration is required component for innovation. Thinking about challenges and opportunities to grow your business from different points of view is absolutely necessary. “Six Thinking Hats” developed by Edward de Bono, is a powerful tool for masterminding a problem or opportunity. For those who may not know, de Bono is regarded by many to be the leading global authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.

I use the Thinking Hats technique at PULL. It 's a useful tool to open us up when we are seeking to validate ideas with our clients. When diverse people are all thinking in the same room at the same time, there can be tension and a tendency to go with the strongest voices in the room. Six Thinking Hats is a powerful tool because it inspires transparent and inclusive parallel thinking. Next time you have a problem solving session with yourself or with a group of masterminds, try using the Six Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your thinking and decision-making that will follow. Each “Thinking Hat” is a metaphor for a different style of thinking:

White Hat:
With this thinking hat, you focus on the raw information at hand. It’s about the facts and nothing but the facts. Look at the data and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.

Red Hat:
Wearing the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. What are you afraid of? Also try to think about how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

Black Hat:
Black hat thinking is cautious and defensive. It’s our common tendency to be the devil’s advocate, pointing out the flaws and why an idea won’t work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise down the road. Black Hat thinking helps you spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many people tend to think too positively and under-estimate complexity, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties.

Yellow Hat:
The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of an idea and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks dark and difficult.

Green Hat:
The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop unbridled creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. Green hat thinking is about possibility and potential with no limits and no logic.

Blue Hat:
The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by whom ever is facilitating your discussion. When ideas are running dry, or there a blocks in your process, the Blue Hat referees and can decide to move the conversation into any other thinking hat mode that keeps the thinking alive and moving.

Try this technique out. We have a good deal of fun every time we use it. Share your results with us here.

One of the fundamental topics of interest here on the White Hot Center is this idea of creative business.
For many, that term may seem a little vague and ambiguous. In this post I’ll explain what I mean when
I use the term creative business and more specifically “creative entrepreneur”.

Many business people get hung up on the word “creative”. So many people do not believe they are creative. Many people think of the term as it relates to the creative arts, expression or artistic ability. If you have a dry cleaning business, you might not think of it as creative business at all. In truth, being a successful entrepreneur in any business requires lots of creativity and innovation. My fellow bloggers at Lateral Action, have an in-depth article on the subject that I think you would find helpful regardless of the business you are in.  I encourage you to check it out.

There are three characteristics all entrepreneurs have:

Creativity
–generating new ideas, evaluating them effectively, taking action to turn them into new products and services.

Collaboration
– connecting and working with partners, and other significant players in their network, which will increasingly be scattered beyond local geography and contain more ‘virtual’ relationships than face-to-face ones.

Entrepreneurship
– identifying opportunities in the marketplace and using their business skills to transform formless ideas into physical products and profits.

Entrepreneurs have always relied on their creativity to produce wealth, but the modern creative entrepreneur goes further and deeper. Noted author, John Howkins defines creative entrepreneurs as people who “use creativity to unlock the wealth that lies within themselves rather than with external capital”. The value that creative entrepreneurs create lies not in their physical products (if any) but in intangible assets such as their brand, reputation, network and intellectual property. This forms the “inner game” that I call the white hot center of competitive advantage. Creative entrepreneurs inherently “know” their success begins inside them, and they go from there. How do these three characteristics show up in you?

The New Age of Connection

There has never been a more favorable environment for creative entrepreneurs with big ideas and the will to bring them into form. Social Media is transforming every human structure and business model of the last half-century. We are truly in a new age of human connection and interaction. What’s different is the transparent and  “virtual nature” of these interactions as a result of the exploding phenomena of social media.

For awhile, I thought social media might be a passing fad– the CB radio of our time. However, after more research and participation (this blog), I have come to the conclusion that it is far more. We are experiencing the embryonic beginnings of how humans will build more transparent, tribal and profitable relationships with others of like mind. It is in this fertile soil that the creative economy will grow.

Ideas are its currency–particularly ideas that have a viral potential. This gives the creative entrepreneur a leg up simply because, by their very nature, they are predisposed to thinking with creativity and innovation about their business. The social web is not going away, it will only grow in its potential to bring humans closer, providing a powerful venue that is favorable to ideas that create more value for people. Creative entrepreneurs will form the core of this emerging group who will become the new visionaries–people who create financial value from their intangible ideas. Creative entrepreneurs are driven by:

Autonomy
– the desire to direct the course of their own lives.
Mastery
– a never-ending capacity to grow and get better at something that really matters.
Purpose
– the yearning to do what matters to them, and have that serve the good of others.

What this means to you.

Many people believe they don’t “have enough” resources to pursue their ideas. They blame their lack and limitation on the closed structures of the past fifty years. If you continue in the belief of lack and limitation as a reason for not pursuing your ideas, and you will miss the opportunity of your lifetime. Snooze, you lose.

On the other hand, creative entrepreneurs are “possibility thinkers” framing their ideas around “what-if and why-not” questions. The emerging creative idea-based economy is a system favorable to this point of view. Never has potential and possibility for success been more available!

When you embark on the journey of pursuing your ideas to grow your value to the world, you’ll be focusing your energy on trusting your intuition and imagination, (which is where all ideas come from) and less on the evidence interpreted by your physical senses. New opportunity will show up to strengthen your faith and belief. And with faith and belief, you will have the will to set meaningful goals and persist in your action. Persistent action gives you more momentum, momentum leads to results.  There is no better time than now to begin to take your creative business to the next level. Think about these questions:

What is important to you, what really matters?

What motivates you? Are you moved by intrinsic ideals (doing what matters), or do you prefer the outside “carrot and stick” incentives (money, social status) for motivation?

Let me know what you think about this.

Building your business is a process not an event.
It will always involve change.  Many factors drive that change– new opportunities, bigger ideas, even a competitor’s threat to a your core business. Most change that occurs within an organization (or yourself for that matter) is usually driven by external influences (fear), and rarely is initiated through forethought (inspiration).

If your entrepreneurial business involves many competitors, much of what you currently provide may be perceived by clients as less differentiated, in abundant supply, and consequently, less valuable. Naturally it’s tempting to respond to this by changing something.  It’s only logical to assume that maybe you can duplicate success by copying the attributes, features or capabilities of what’s working for others.  The sobering truth is this tactic will not sustain real growth in your business, or add more value to your clients.  In the long-run, you’ll only contribute to the sameness and doom your business to the slush pile.

We adapt by copying others.

Social observer and author, Mark Earls demonstrates the simple fact that humans have largely evolved by copying others. For thousands of years, humans have adapted through a  “do what works” mentality. In fact, Earls points out “copying is our species’ number one learning and adaptive strategy.” The temptation to copy what works is…well– very tempting.  Here’s why:

It’s easier and less risky to copy what works than to invent more value.

Humans have always sought the safety and security of the known, and avoided the risk of the unknown. When it comes to most businesses, the majority of change is really just copied from what came before, or from what’s influencing the the status quo.  The gravity of the urgent (get more clients, cash flow) seems stronger than creating greater value (inventing new stuff that serves people).

Seemingly, the more success that you may copy, the more your business becomes the same– the result is your diminishing power and influence in the buying cycle with your prospective clients. Let that not be your business!

Your business must stand for something.

I’ve said this before; your business must matter to people, but not to everybody. There is no competitive advantage in doing what others do, or have done before. The idea that you promise your clients a “total solution” is just another way of saying your business doesn’t stand for anything. Get your business (what matters to you) to be what matters to your clients (serves their growth and success).

Don’t confuse value creation with copying success.

The key to your business growth (bigger fees, better clients) is to focus your business development strategies on attracting and serving only those clients who demonstrate they value what you provide, engage with you, and in doing so, share their good fortune in working with you to others. Copy that formula and you can change the world.

Authors Note: This post is an edited version of a post I created for the Influence by Design blog. In that article, the focus was on building identity strategies that are highly differentiated from the clutter in our current marketplace. Marketers are always copying the success of others as a proven method to sell more stuff. In the long run, most marketing just adds to the clutter.

The best way to competition-proof your creative business is to create loyal clients. Loyal clients are the ones who believe they are receiving more compelling value doing business with you as opposed to your competition, and they wouldn’t think of working with anyone else.  The marketplace will reward those who earn and deserve, never because they desire or need.  Do you deserve your client’s loyalty?

The word “deserve” comes from the latin “de serve” which simply means to serve. You only deserve any result you desire from your client when you are serving them with commitment to create more value for them then you are receiving in cash from them. Think about this.  This is an important principle in creating raving loyal clients. This does not mean that you work for less money. On the contrary, it means that whatever the amount of money you are paid, you always provide more “use value” than the cash value received.

If you’re in a creative business selling your talent, knowledge, and expertise you might ask yourself, do I deserve the fees I charge? Am I fee-worthy?  Do my clients perceive my value to them as greater than the money they are paying me?  Providing deliverables aligned to your client’s expectation is not enough to deserve their on-going loyalty. All your competitors can provide acceptable deliverables.  Doing what is expected is not enough to differentiate you from the other alternatives available to your client. You can provide more. Here are several suggested ideas for you to think about:

Loyalty in client relationships is never static.

Think of creating loyalty the same way you would think of physical exercise.  The more your focus is on finding ways to serve your clients the stronger the relationship will be. It’s an on-going process. Nothing strengthens without effort. Stop exercising and things eventually will begin to go downhill fast. Everyone has heard the expression “familiarity breeds contempt”.  This basically means the longer a relationship exists, the more things begin to be taken for granted. The more a client feels you are in “relationship entitlement mode”, the more open to options they will become.  Let that not be you!

It’s all about them–never you.

It’s easy to get caught up in the method, details and minutia of doing the work you’re hired to do. It’s even easier to let your thinking go somewhere in the direction of “they can’t get this kind of quality, price or  delivery from anyone else. We’re doing a big favor working for them”.  Obviously that kind of shortsightedness will never create a loyal client who will sing your praises to others.  To deserve loyal clients, your focus will always be on your client’s desire, never yours.  If you take care of creating value for your clients, your value to them increases accordingly. Do the unexpected, go the extra mile!  Do this with grace and humility. You’re in business to create success for others first. Everything after that will take care of itself.

Be trustworthy.

This may sound like an over simplification, however when a client shares something of a personal nature with you, they are essentially saying “I trust you”.  In order for trust to be deserved, demonstrate your sensitivity to “moments of truth” when your client shares something of personal importance. Your best client relationships, the ones that are of greatest value to the growth of your business, are the ones where you are trusted.  Respond with your thoughtful consideration and respect. Over time, you are building your relationship chemistry– the core elements that comprise the essence of how valuable you are to them, and their loyalty to you. It begins with trust.

Be everything to a few people.

Not all your clients will be of the kind where loyalty can grow. Some client relationships are transactional. You really can’t be all things to all clients, it’s absurd to even try. Be selective by cultivating deeper relationships with those clients who empower you, respect your contributions, and refer you to others in their circle of influence.

Take some time to think about the factors that have comprised your most successful client relationships. When you have defined those attributes, look into your current list of clients. How many are fulfilling that criteria right now?  If there are clients who are no longer a good fit, respectfully disassociate from them. Establish the “rules of engagement” for your new clients early in the game. This creates immediate respect not only from clients, but for yourself. After all, if you don’t demonstrate a respectful value for yourself, why should anyone else?

Scarcity creates abundance.

As you continually evolve and grow in your business, you will no doubt be reminded of one of the fundamental principles in economics–supply and demand.  The supply is your “availability”. Clients  provide the “demand” by requesting your expertise. Your supply of time is finite. Excess demand creates competition among your clients for your time. By limiting your availability (supply) you are in effect creating more demand for your time and perceived value.  In doing this, you differentiate between clients who deserve more of your time and the ones who want it. People typically want more of what they can’t have.  Say no to those clients who demand more of your time than they contribute to your growth. By employing the scarcity principle you create more supply and increase demand from more empowering and deserving clients.

As you can see there is great deal of difference between deserving success and desiring it. You can only get your business to the next level when you develop the conscious mental habits that vibrate to the universe that you are enlightened and ready to receive the loyal clients you inherently deserve. You can take the first step.

What are you doing right now that is creating the loyal clients you deserve?

Please share your thoughts in the comments box below.

As a creative entrepreneur, you’re in the business of ideas. You love thinking of creative ideas that will serve your clients/customers, and bring more value to them. Consequently, you probably spend a lot of time thinking. So, let me ask you to step back from your busy day for a moment and honestly answer this question for yourself:

What are you always thinking about?

Now look around you and carefully observe the current results in your business, and in your whole life. Whatever results you see around you, right now – in the form of your current circumstances –is what you have been thinking about. Your current circumstances (results) are the prophecy of your past thinking fulfilled.  Your results can be no greater, or less, than the source thinking behind them. If you want to change anything in your current physical reality, you must first change the seed of that reality–your thinking.

If you want to operate your business at the highest levels doing work that really matters to you and serves the world, plus be highly paid for it– you must elevate your thoughts…

If you want to be associated with the best and the brightest people– you must elevate your thoughts...

If you want to create a profitable and growing business supported by clients who love and appreciate you and your work– you must elevate your thoughts…

If you want relationships with clients, colleagues, partners, employees that are joyous, exciting, and fulfilling– you must elevate your thoughts…

If you want to experience your professional and personal life filled with endless opportunity and possibilities for continuous growth and success – you must elevate your thoughts.

The Science of Mind and Matter

Proper thinking is a more powerful and important idea for your growth and success than the warmed-over, self-help “law of attraction” cliché it may appear to sound like on the surface.  Actually it’s more than an idea–it’s called the Law of Cause and Effect.  In our physical world, all effects in the physical have their causes in the formless. Like gravity, this law is always “on”.  Science is much closer to understanding the exact composite nature of the structures and forces involved in how mind and matter co-mingle to create “reality”.  As you think, so it is. Quantum science proclaims the fundamental basis of all matter is nothing more than vibrating energy. Thoughts are energy. Your creative ideas are bundles of formless thought energy vibrating in an infinite sea of potential and possibility. I like to call this unseen substance that surrounds our existence “the goo”.  As you place your thoughts, wittingly or unwittingly, into the goo, they form themselves into their physical counterparts known as your results.

It’s amazing how few creative business people are consciously aware of this truth, and its powerful impact (for the good or ill) on their business development and life success. In other words, it’s not the economy you find yourself in at the moment that determines your potential for success. Your business is a reflection of you– success or failure determined by your prevailing mental state.

It’s not simply who you know, social status, education, talent, skill, capability or a robust economy that determines success. People with the most unfavorable circumstances, with past failures of the most unbelievable nature, have come back to create massive success simply through the power to use their disciplined mind to think in a certain way.  On the other hand, there are those with unbelievable advantage and resources who never seem to succeed at anything they attempt.

Author and Philosopher Raymond Holliwell, in his 1960s classic book “Working with the Law” phrases it more beautifully in poetic language:

“It is evident, therefore, that of all the factors which regulate the life and experience of man, none perhaps exercise greater influence than the ruling state of mind”.

There is nothing outside of you that controls what you think about.

You have the power to choose what you think! You decide your thoughts in each conscious moment. Your magnificent mind is an instant reality-creating machine! You create the reality you perceive through your prevailing state of mind. If you are often fearful and thinking about what is presently lacking or limited in you, you will experience exactly what you fear. On the other hand, if your prevailing state of mind is focused on the potential and opportunity that is always available for you now, despite whatever circumstances you currently “see” around you, you will in time, experience the wicked-fun reality that is congruent to your higher source thinking.

It’s essential to be aware of what dominates your state of mind, and develop the discipline to master your own consciousness.  Make a daily habit of thinking more about what you truly love and aspire to, and less about what keeps you safe and secure.  Through the complexities and day-to-day urgencies of running your life, hold your vision for a bigger, better future in the center of your conscious mind and believe what you desire is already ‘in the making”, even though you may currently have no idea how you will achieve it, or have any physical evidence proving it is possible.

Believe and trust in the unseen forces that govern how stuff comes out of the goo to become the physicality of your current circumstances. As a creative entrepreneur, your business and life success depends on your mastery of this fundamental skill in everything you put your mind to.

Are you satisfied with your current results?

What are you thinking about?

Go ahead, give it some thought!

It has been two years since I committed myself to follow a new direction and higher ideal for my business and my life. What was then a formless idea, (being a writer and thought leader in the professional development field), is now in physical form, (this blog, web site, and my growing business). Through this venue, I have achieved an important milestone goal I set for myself... now it is here to inspire you to move closer to your bigger ideas!

Where all this will lead me is a glorious mystery indeed. This is certain– I trust the process of creativity and I am on my way to my bigger future!

My goal here is to share ideas that will inspire you to discover a greater vision for your business that is not simply about making more money, but creating a life of significance and fulfillment. To accomplish this, you must pursue what really matters to you and serves others. When your business is remarkable in its service to people, your business will be elevated from the slush pile of competition, your clients will love you for the value they receive, and gladly pay the price premium your product or service commands.

I believe the methods you choose to create your business success will always be hard-wired into your own inner beliefs about:

your life purpose and vision

your unique talents and capabilities

your core values

your conscious awareness of how your reality is created

your ability to set a goal, maintain your focus and discipline

your response-ability to empower yourself through empowering thought

There is an inner process of thinking that must guide all your outer action. Your business and life success is not just about more sales, marketing, advertising and finance. It is in your thoughts–which means your visions, ideas and innovations to better serve people.  The venue of business provides the most compelling of all human interactions. Every human advancement ever conceived has come about because there was a commercial intent to make life better for people. Your business is no exception.

From the invention of the wheel to the internet– commerce has been the engine that drives human ingenuity, and all creation begins as a formless idea.

Your business is your playground. It's the structure that allows you to be the most creative in discovering ways to serve people and make life better. If you want your business to be elevated beyond commoditization, you must operate from a higher level of thinking. Through the writing on the WHC blog, and in my consulting practice, I present a point of view and offer guidance to help entrepreneurs master the inner game of creative thinking that is the source cause of all outer results. Take a moment to review the “Manifesto” link above. These principles outline the basis for the White Hot Center philosophy. I’ll be sharing a point of view about these ideas through the content on this site.

Meantime, allow yourself an opportunity to ponder these questions about the trajectory of your business and life pursuits:

Where will you go from here?
Where do you desire your ideas to lead you?
What does the success you desire look like?
What really matters to you and will serve others?

Please feel free to leave your comments and feedback below.