In my early twenties, I wrote a number of “philosophical fragments.” These thought-fragments were inspired by Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Blaise Pascal’s Pensées, and Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosphical Fragments.

Fragment #92 I wrote says this:

Creativity thrives under limits, be they natural or imposed.

Since then, I’ve seen this principle at work time and time again.

So it was no surprise when I came across similar sentiments in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz.

We Are Innovative When Resources Are Scarce

“It’s awe-inspiring how careful, thoughtful, and innovative we are when our supplies are scarce. But it’s also confounding how quickly we use and abuse our resources when we perceivably have a lot.”

Lack of Money Forces You to Grow the Right Way

“Money covers up problems and weaknesses. Without money, you’ve got to bring your A-game every day. Lack of funds forces you to optimize everywhere and grow the right way.”

Conclusion

Do you lack resources?

Don’t despair.

It may be a big blessing in disguise.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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If you were to build your own house, you could not do it without first acquiring the raw materials. You would need wood, nails, windows, doors, shingles, siding, and much more.

This is common sense.

Yet, when it comes to writing, many people often sit down at the keyboard without any of the raw materials they need to write.

They stare at a blank screen.

The words don’t come.

They call this “writer’s block” and wonder why it happens so frequently.

And yet they never stop to answer this important question:

How can I “build” an article… or blog post… or sales letter… without the raw materials that go into that “structure?”

The raw materials for a written piece include (in part):

• Ideas
• Experiences
• Opinions & Feelings
• Facts & Figures
• Quotes & Excerpts
• Headline News
• Odd & Unusual News
• A Good Swipe File
• And other information gathered from your Research

All of these things lay the groundwork for good writing. They are the raw materials with which you write.

Next time you sit down to write an article, blog post, or sales letter… and you feel stuck… make sure you first have your raw materials with you. Research and gather information that you can use in your writing.

Do this — and writing will suddenly feel easy and effortless compared to your old way of doing things.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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Your idea is the least valuable “ingredient” in building a successful business.

So argues John Warrillow in this excellent article, “Idea is least important part of a company.”

If you run a business, you know that your idea was the least difficult part. My guess is that your idea has evolved considerably since you first conceived it.

The myth of the “killer idea” leads young and wannabe entrepreneurs to protect their concepts as if they had discovered the cure for cancer. They request that investors sign non-disclosure agreements before they reveal their ideas, which serves only to ensure those ideas never get funded.

I might argue the idea is the least important part of building a valuable company.

To this, I would add that ideas are not protected by copyright. This is why you can go open up a burger joint and compete against McDonald’s if you want.

Ultimately, it’s not the idea that makes the difference, but the quality and speed of execution.

For proof, look no further than the article linked above. He mentions the author of the 2010 book Do More Faster, which contains a chapter called “Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless.”

Guess who registered DoMoreFaster.com back on November 11, 2006? Yep, you guessed it. ;-)

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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No single guru or ebook or system is ever going to make you successful in life or in business.

The truth is, success is something you create… something you patch together from diverse sources of information and experience.

Maybe you learn something valuable from me. Maybe you learn something else valuable from another teacher. Maybe you learn something else valuable from a book.

And so on and so forth.

All this time you are digesting, assimilating, and synthesizing information based on your experiences up to that point.

You draw conclusions.

You try new things.

You readjust and move forward.

Success cannot be purchased in a box, even though that’s a strong selling appeal.

Success cannot be found by becoming a sycophant of “the guru of the month.”

But success can be found by recognizing valuable information when you stumble across it.

And then putting it to good use.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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Is the Internet making us stupid?

This is the question Michael Brown asks in his recent article about Nicholas Carr’s new book, The Shallows.

My take:

The Internet (and the portability of technology in general) is making us more distracted than ever. When it’s harder to focus, your ability to maintain a single line of thought is extremely inhibited, if not impossible.

One distraction leads to another. Interruptions pile on. Next thing you know, you can’t remember what you set out to accomplish in the first place.

So is the Internet to blame? Yes and no.

The Internet itself isn’t necessarily the problem — it’s the lack of boundaries. Without boundaries, there’s very little to control our behavior.

Therefore, I would argue that the heavy, undisciplined use of the Internet (and cell phones, iPads, etc.) is indeed making us stupid.

Want to kick your IQ up a few points? It’s simple, really.

Just turn off all your electronic devices that could distract you and focus on a single task for an hour or two straight. I dare you.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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In the middle of a big project right now, hence my lack of blogging lately.

But I thought I’d share one little tip with you that I’ve recently discovered.

If you’re working with a client or partner on a project, and you want to strengthen a subject line or email or headline or whatever — Skype can be a great way to do it.

Just hop on the instant chat and bat around your ideas.

For me, I’ve found it really enjoyable — contagious even — to collaborate in this way. You generate a bunch of ideas in a short amount of time, eventually zeroing in on the best one.

Next time you’re trying to hammer out some copy with a partner or client, log on to Skype (or any instant chat program) and see what happens.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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If you’ve studied business models, you’re probably familiar with the strategy of planned obsolescence.

It’s a strategy where you plan for products that you release today to automatically become outdated a few years down the road.

Planned obsolescence is how the software industry works. Every few years, software programs (and operating systems) get a face lift. Eventually, old versions of the software are no longer supported, which forces people to upgrade.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Without planned obsolescence, I’d probably be stuck in the computing stone age. Plus, planned obsolescence forces innovation — which can be a very positive force.

Here’s an exercise worth doing:

Plan Your Own Obsolescence

Imagine that whatever you do today to generate money is no longer a viable option one year from now. What would you do to replace your income?

At any given time, and in any given industry, there are trends away from certain things and toward other things.

If your income is generated from an activity, product, or service that is in a downtrend, then you really need to be planning for your own obsolescence. Because it will happen whether you’re prepared or not.

Consider:

• The automobile brought about the demise of the railroad barons.
• The invention of fuel injection put carburetor mechanics out of work.
• Online journalism is putting traditional journalists out of work — and killing newspapers by the dozen.

And these are just a handful of obvious examples. There are thousands of subtle trends that are always shifting power (and money) from one area to another. Few people detect these trends until it’s too late.

Keep Your Eyes Open and Your Ear to the Ground

Always be watching the changes happening in your industry and in your area of expertise — both the big changes and the small ones. Sometimes small changes become big quickly (because of new legislation, policy changes, tipping points, etc.).

But most of all, plan for your own obsolescence. How can you maintain (or grow) your business if you’re forced to do something completely different than you’re doing today?

Even better, how can you maintain (or grow) your business without being directly involved in the day-to-day operations?

These are good questions to consider, especially in a day and age when there is so much change and uncertainty.

Here’s your assignment: Start planning for your own obsolescence. Begin making strategic changes now, while you have time and flexibility, instead of later, when you’ll be racing against the clock.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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It’s not how much you write, but how much your writing matters.

Sometimes I get jealous when I see that somebody’s written 5,000 words in a day (or whatever the case may be). I think: “Man, I wish I could write that much in a day!”

And yet: Of the writing of books there is no end. (Ecc. 12:12)

The real question is not: How much are you writing?

It’s: Does your writing matter?

Wayne Buckhanan tweets:

Personally, I believe that writing more frequently — rather than writing more words — leads you to the writing that matters.

As in so many things, consistency is key.

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Creativity is vital for any idea worker. But it’s easy to let creativity die.

We get stuck reading the same things, thinking the same things, doing the same things in the same ways we’ve always done them.

Doesn’t matter where you live. A guy in New York can watch the same TV programming in San Francisco. A guy in Fargo, North Dakota can eat the same exact fast food as a guy in Houston, Texas.

Franchise businesses have painted the commercial landscape with a uniform color.

And take a look at the suburbs these days. It’s not much different. Nearly every house blends in in a sea of sameness.

It’s no wonder we have such a hard time being creative.

Copying Instead of Innovating

Here’s another problem:

Creativity often leads to valuable breakthroughs — then idea pirates copy those breakthroughs within days, weeks, or months. This can be very discouraging for the pioneer of ideas.

Not only that, when copying is rampant, it discourages creativity and only encourages more copying. Next thing you know, you’ve got copies of copies of copies.

A flaw in the first copy gets amplified in every successive generation. It’s devolution. For some reason, this process seems to happen faster than normal on the Internet.

Pioneers vs. Pirates

As an entrepreneur, business owner, or service provider, you have a choice. You can be a pioneer or you can be a pirate.

And although Hollywood has romanticized the idea of being a pirate (thank you Johnny Depp!), I believe the better choice is to be a pioneer.

Yes, I know: The pioneer is the guy with the arrows in his back. But making creative mistakes is not lethal. Just because one new idea fails doesn’t mean the next one will fail too.

Creativity takes work. It takes effort. It takes time.

How to Be Creative

Creativity (and its byproduct, originality) can only flourish when you are reading, thinking, and acting differently than you and other people normally do.

Creative action leads to creative thought.

This why it helps to get out of your routine every now and then.

Drive a different way. Do things in reverse. Read books outside of what you’d normally read.

Investigate a new hobby. Go somewhere you’ve never gone. Do something you’ve never done.

By breaking your routine and doing things that may even be uncomfortable for you, you’ll cause your brain to think in new ways. You’ll have new thoughts.

And perhaps you can incorporate some of those new thoughts and ideas into your own business. Perhaps you’ll have a breakthrough.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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If you take the time to look, you’ll discover you already have a number of untapped resources that could be put to work to grow your business immediately.

Unfortunately, most of us get caught up chasing shiny new courses — when the course that’s sitting on our shelf is probably just as valuable.

What assets do you already have that could be leveraged into something more than what it currently is?

Here’s an example to illustrate. Over the last few months, I’ve been getting a steady stream of traffic for the search phrase “interview questions for copywriters.”

But the article that is ranked in Google is my interview with Stephen Dean, so for a couple months I considered writing a new post that would be a better fit for the search phrase.

Finally, I did. And I published that new article as a page here on this blog. You can read the article for yourself: Interview Questions for Copywriters to Ask Their Clients

I then went back to my interview with Stephen Dean and put a blurb at the top to direct traffic to the new page. The result?

Now Google has BOTH pages ranked for the same search phrase. Take a look…

The new article may not displace the original article that got ranked — but a double listing in Google never hurts. And now, I’m noticing even more traffic from the search phrase.

This is just one unique example of an untapped resource in my business. (In this case the resource was “SEO traffic intelligence,” and it was being underutilized.)

How about you? What’s not being fully utilized in your business?

Figure it out and get busy. It won’t cost you anything but a little sweat equity.

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