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Showing posts with the label Creativity

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
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3 Truths About Meeting a Need

Recently I attended a writer's conference in California. I had new business cards printed just prior to the conference, to take with me. Although I knew I would need cards, I gave no thought to a card holder. Soon after arriving I was smack dab in the midst of groups of writers who were networking and exchanging cards. Most of them had fancy little black or silver card holders. I had nothing. Each time someone said, "do you have a card?" I was left to stand there digging in my purse, pulling cards out of a little ziploc bag I had hastily stuffed them in prior to leaving for the airport. Ugh. How embarrassing. Everyone else had fancy schmancy...I had ziploc. I thought, "hhhmmmmm....what can I do? I am totally out-classed here..." So, I stepped into the ladies room and started going through the black hole that is my purse, rummaging for anything that might be a suitable business card holder. This is what I found: Yes. Seriously. I quickly mo...
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Why You Need to Take a Bath (Beyond Hygiene)

This is Ernest Hemingway's bathroom. Yes, I imagined myself there too. I didn't limit myself to the writing room or the kitchen . I get some of my best creative ideas sitting in the tub. I wonder if Hemingway did too. I was thinking maybe he kept a little notebook and pen on the little stool there by the bathtub, to write thoughts.  Maybe because that's what I would do. I make time to take a bath vs. a shower most everyday simply for the creativity factor. When I relax in my tub I get message ideas, song ideas, even solutions to problems that have perplexed me. If you've never tried taking a bath as a way to set the atmosphere to create solutions or share your art, let me give you a few pointers: 1) Light the candles - just for you.   This isn't reserved just for romance. Aromatherapy is a tremendous help for relaxation. My favorite scent for candles or bubble bath is Moonlight Path at Bath and Body works. I have our children's pastor's wife,...
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Are You Acting Upon Your Freedom?

The thought came to me this morning about how many people don't act upon all their freedoms. Usually when we talk about "freedom" it's in the context of freedom to worship, or to own firearms or land. I'm certainly grateful for those things being that I worship God and I also own a house and a gun. :) Our freedom goes far beyond this, and how many never take advantage of their blessings? We have the freedom to create. How many people never venture into the realm of creativity? Like any other freedom we've been granted, there are those who aren't happy when you take full advantage of the creative giftings inside you. They'll try to stop it or at least curtail it by attempting to red tape it to death. The freedom to create is worth fighting for. Worth standing your ground. Worth a blood-bath once in a while if it's necessary.  
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How are you different?

This is Steve Martin's business card. It's different. I really love it.  I've been considering what's going to go on my new business cards that I use exclusively for writing. This post yesterday was really timely in helping me to develop my ideas. Different is good. The world has so much of the same. God didn't create you to just blend in. Stop blending in and embrace different.
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Go cut a hole in the roof. I dare you!

Are you facing roadblocks on the way to your dream?    God gives people creative ideas to get things done in an unconventional way. Think about the biblical account of the  four people who wanted to bring  their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing,  but couldn't come through the door because the room was already so full.  They brainstormed to think of how their goal might be reached to get their friend to Jesus, and ended up cutting a hole in the roof and lowering him down to Jesus. It worked! Maybe today you're in a situation where conventional things aren't working. You can't get through and when you try, you encounter "Catch 22's". Things like being told, "you've got a lot of talent but no experience."  You think, "How am I supposed to get experience if somebody won't give me a chance?" You can stand there and get frustrated. You can complain. You can quit. Or maybe... it's time to cut a hole in the roof.
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Of art and miracles

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.    This is the level of freedom I need to create what's in my heart.  
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How much will you sacrifice to do your art?

Where is your creative space to work on your art? I have logistical space.  My issue is space of time. Others have all the time in the world but no physical space or resources to work on their art.  Either way moving forward requires change to create. Do you need physical space?  Rearrange a room at home. Give up something else in order to prioritize your art. A friend of mine gave up a closet and made it an office. She had to figure out somewhere else to put her clothes but she had a place to work on her art. Do you need space of time to do your art? Do the painful work of examining your agenda. I understand this dilemma.  Currently I'm working several jobs, one of which was supposed to be something I was covering temporarily but has turned out to last longer than I would have ever imagined.  We're coming up on several years now, not months. If you had told me this back then I'd have either told you that you were crazy, ran away, or gone to my docto...
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Are you normal?

When it comes to our art, we have a choice when we wake up each day. Create vanilla or create a new flavor. Create based on what we've seen before, or create outside the lines. Create within the parameters of normal or risk being called abnormal. Create what soothes people  or risk creating what might make them uncomfortable. Create what the establishment expects you to keep churning out or create what just might change the world.
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