Creative Clarity: Week 5

NXLevel Entrepreneur Program:
observations & highlights

Is there anything finer than a conversation with a good friend?

  

I am walking with such a friend on the public  trail north of the Community Schools.  We talk of many things on our walks but today,  we talk of nothing but ideas generated as result of taking part in the NXLevel course.  The class has gotten us thinking in new ways about our businesses.   Several women were recruited by a Maryo Ewell,  who thought it would be great idea for women who know each other, to take a class together and use that knowledge and understanding of each other to create something new for each other and the community.  Sometimes we have a full picture of what another business in the community does for us and what services they offer,  sometimes we need to expand on that picture.  Bring it into better focus.   Ultimately, that is what we are trying to do . . . . bring our businesses into better focus.   Better focus in business translates into better focus in life.  I am beginning to see how it all fits together.   An idea gleaned and applied may be worth more than the expected end product of the class to some of us. 

We brainstorm and offer suggestions to one another and we feel safe talking this way.   We talk about marketing ALL of our skills.  Try making a skill list of everything you do well and you will be amazed and maybe a little awed by yourself.      How do we maximize our individual business efforts?   How do we respond to a need, expand on that need in a way that actually creates a new market for us?   How do we keep track of all the balls we have in the air?  What kinds of systems work for each of us?  The questions just keep coming and I think I may be regaining some of that sparking vision of possibility.

Living in a small community has so many positives.  Discussing our business and our challenges in the classroom,  offering suggestions and ideas is a act of solidarity with our fellow classmates.   Other ideas are best shared with just a few.  We can do that now because we are building a network of resources and well,  community.