Steal Like an Artist is subtitled “10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative”. The chapters are broken down into these 10 things. The book is a quick read, with awesome drawings peppered throughout. Although clearly aimed at artists and creative people, I found myself nodding along with much of the content and brainstorming ways I could put it into practice in business.

My favorite chapter in the book, and possibly one of the best chapters in any book I’ve read, was chapter 3 – “Write the Book You Want to Read”. I’m not planning on writing a book, so you’re probably asking – how does this apply to business? I mentally renamed this chapter “Start the Business You Want to Run” (in fact, Kleon even writes this line toward the end of the chapter.)

I plan on using this as a question when I consult with customers – is this the business you want to run? Is it the business you pictured when you started? The point is, you don’t have to settle for running a business the way it is “supposed” to run. You can try something new, find a niche. Build from those who have gone before you, but if you see an innovative way to improve something, do that. It probably won’t work 100% of the time, but that’s ok – I bet you will learn something, and have fun doing it. Sometimes failure gives you a good story to tell.

Speaking of stores, the other excellent lesson from this chapter was when you get stuck, asking yourself – what is my next move? Kleon suggest you simply ask yourself “what would make a better story?” How cool is that?

Wrapping it up, I definitely recommend this book. It is one I can see myself referring back to often, when I need a mental jolt. The world needs more creativity and Austin Kleon gives us 10 ways to do it.

If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

Someone (probably the owner) needs to set the Vision for the company. If there is no Vision, it is more difficult to see where the company is headed, who the company should work with and what needs to happen on a day to day basis to fulfill the Company’s WHY.

Inspired by our chat, I came up with this drawing.

A Vision is a puzzle, it could include pieces from the person’s past (stuff they like, or hate) what skills need to be acquired to reach our goals, what allies we need to make.

What’s your Vision? Have you shared it? Try it, you might be surprised that people are willing to help you get there.

“Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow.”

Build a community of people that can’t live without you.

Within that community there are (hopefully) some folks that LOVE you -  your tribe, your raving fans, your homies.

Within the tribe there are people Seth Godin calls “sneezers“. (see page 41)

Take care of your community, wow them in your interactions, give more than you get.

Thanks for reading.

If you asked 100 business owners if “growth” (either in revenue or profit) was one of their top 3 goals, my guess is at least 95 would say yes (maybe even all 100). But where does growth come from?

• you can sell to new customers
• you can sell more stuff to existing customers
• you can sell new stuff
• you can raise prices on existing stuff

These are all valid strategies, some likely more difficult than others depending on your industry. In addition, some strategies may result in revenue growth but not necessarily profit growth. That is something you accounting data should tell you.

We know profit comes from risk, so instead of cutting costs, trying to sell more widgets, increasing efficiency or other “top 10 ways to increase profits” you found on Google, perhaps risk should considered as the most viable option for increasing profit.

Risk can take 2 forms – either taking risk away from your customers or taking risks in your own company by doing something different. The best thing about taking a risk is the upside potential. Yes, you could fall on your face -  you’ll probably still learn something. But what if it works?

Apple could have remained a niche computer company and probably still been a tech giant. But look at what innovation did. Today Apple is everywhere and has changed many industries. (They also had a few flops along the way.)

Now, I’m certainly not suggesting taking crazy risks and potentially blowing up your whole business. Start small. Test on a segment of you business. Google gives its employees 20% of their work time to experiment, innovate and “blow stuff up”.

What if you took even 10% of your week (4 or 5 hours) and actually scheduled some brainstorming time? If you have a team, include them. Make it a priority. It may not be urgent, but it IS important work.

Please share your experience taking risk in the comments. What has worked, what hasn’t?

See that comment in the upper right? Been there too, like when I realized I was still paying off that computer I had to have a few years earlier (when it was nearly obsolete).

We’ve been debt free now (except our mortgage) for about 5 years and it feels great. Just having that weight off (and let me tell you it is heavy) is a great reward. Couple that with putting the money you had been sending to Chase, Citibank or wherever into YOUR accounts and watching it grow…man that feels good.

If you’re struggling with debt, it can be overwhelming and it likely will take time to get rid of it. But anything worth doing is usually hard, right?

Set a goal. I want to have it paid off in X years. Then figure out what you can do tomorrow, or each week, and do that. Put it on your calendar, reach out to someone that has done it and share your goal. Over time you’ll be amazed how little actions can build.

By delegating a result, you are effectively saying “Here is what I want, I trust you to figure out the best way to get it done.” This is a powerful, freeing concept, both to the leader doing the delegating and to the employee.

I started thinking about this in terms of the differences between managers and leaders. I suppose both are necessary in some organizations, but I wonder if, in some small organizations, the leader may slip into the manager role too often. Instead of taking a bird’s eye view of the business, they get bogged down in the minutiae of the day-to-day processes. We’ve all heard of the “micro-manager” and the horror stories that go along with that stereotype.

What if we led with trust and focused on WHY we are doing this project, instead of managing every little detail of HOW the job gets done. I bet the employees would appreciate the ability to flex their creative muscles and who knows, they may even discover a terrific new way to achieve a great result.

What do you think?

Well that’s my dream at least.

Just in case that doesn’t work out, we’re making them save $1,000 per year. Even our 1 year old will bank another $1,000 this year. Our 4 year old (if not for the stock market crash when he was about 1) would have about $4,000. Even with that dip, I’m confident we’ll bounce back before he’s 18. He learned early investing ain’t for crybabies.

You’re probably thinking we’re nuts about now…how the heck do these people make their kids save $1,000 per year? Heck, little Stella can barely talk.

Here’s our secret: the Child Tax Credit.

That’s right, the IRS will actually credit you up to $1,000 per qualifying child. Rather than blow our refund on some extra crap we don’t really need, we’ve opted to invest it for the kids.

If they choose to go to college, they should have roughly $20,000 – give or take – depending on how happy the stock market is between now and then. Will that pay for 4 years of college? Maybe not, but there are plenty of other strategies we can look at to close the gap.

If they don’t want to go to college, they can use that money to start a business (anybody know a good CPA?) or maybe do a little traveling (Mom & Dad will be happy to tag along).

Financial planning is really about planning for what you want out of life. Figure out your goals, get creative with a plan on how to get there and get started TODAY.

If you need guidance, give me a call, email me or leave a comment.

1) The process of figuring out my WHY and using it to guide what I do. I cannot tell you the freedom this one thing has given me. Being a CPA it is in my nature to solve problems. But now I realize it is OK to say no to someone that may not fit my Why and thus not allow me to use my gifts the way I know I can.

It is still hard to use words to describe my Why because it comes from such a different part of our brain than where we communicate, but here is my Why:  I want to help people overcome obstacles so they can own their life and achieve their goals.

2) I found a group of people that challenge, encourage and support me. My friends in the Thriveal CPA Network have rejuvenated my career and my life. I am forever grateful. Just knowing there are people out there going through some of the things I do and being able to talk and share with them is amazing. Having passion for what I do spills over into everything else in my life…I’m a better husband, father, friend, etc.

3) Scheduling “whiteboard”/reflective time in each day, or week to think about the direction my life or business is heading. This may be talking to an existing client to get feedback, or just sitting down with a notebook and jotting down what I’ve done that week. So often we are drowning in the urgent matters, we push our long-term “important but not urgent” goals to the back burner, or forget about them entirely.

4) Budgeting in money and time to spend on professional or personal development, even if it is just reading a handful of books. To innovate and create we must continuously learn. For a long time, I treated my Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirement as just that – a requirement to check off my to-do list each year. Now I see it as an opportunity to meet new people and learn new concepts that will push me to challenge my clients, along with myself.

A terrific example of this was the Firm of the Future Symposium I attended last October. It was definitely NOT a traditional (read: boring)  CPE seminar. I learned so much about business, client relationships and pricing that my head hurt for about a week after. The course has already paid for itself and added a ton of value to the service I provide my clients. I now see CPE as an investment in myself, rather than a requirement to be completed at the lowest possible cost.

I’ve also set a goal for myself to read 12-15 books this year and use concepts from each to help my clients.

What stuff has you excited for the rest of 2012? Have you taken any courses or read any books that have changed the way you do business?

We don’t have to make the perfect decision. We can allow ourselves to fail, iterate and move forward. We can define point A and point B and realize the journey may be a messy one.

On the other hand, our hubris effectively tells other people “I see into the future and THIS is what will happen.” That doesn’t leave much room for interpretation or error. We’ll probably get pretty frustrated if something goes wrong along the way.

Realizing that most of our lives is the messy middle, the Journey, humility sure seems like a good path.

(I love the word iterate. I’m glad I got to work it into this post somehow.)