Creative Warriors

Some of you might know that I moved down to Miami from New York City in order to combine my love for city life, architecture, and a more relaxed pace of living. For me, Miami inspires me in more ways than one. Additionally, I’ve always known that my environment heavily informs my productivity and thus have always strived to create an optimal workspace that promotes both efficiency and creativity. So how can we best design our spaces to spark creativity? There are some tactics that many might already know, like surrounding yourself with certain objects, scents, and sounds. But for many the design ends there. There are, however, many studies that have linked a variety of techniques to robust idea formation, and I’m thrilled to share some of these fascinating tactics with all of you Creative Warriors today. To help me dive deep into designing  the best creative spaces I’ve brought on, architect, author, and educator, Donald Rattner. Donald helps individuals and organizations maximize their creativity by drawi

There are two episodes coming up where I speak to experts about setting up your work environment to inspire creativity, innovation and productivity. In this episode, I add to that conversation a couple tips about considering your health and well-being in your work environment. Equally if not more important in my opinion. Although it's not an either/or. It's all integrated--creativity, productivity, health, well-being. I hope you can apply my suggestions for your optimal life. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Leap Year Course Website Services and Support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your websit

I love discovering new ways of thinking, especially if it means finding creative ways to view my business from a different angle. Especially when things are going well, it can be difficult to see the things that might be holding your business back. The question then becomes, what can we do to see our business with fresh eyes?   Every once in awhile brands should do an internal health check. Not only to clear out what is not working, but also to find new ways of connecting with more clients. As my guests and I often say here on Creative Warriors, business is about human connection and not just the product. But sometimes it takes a bit of thinking outside of the box, or “thinking wildly,” to find the right answers.  To dive deeper into thinking I’ve brought on author and a founding partner of The Clearing, Richard Buchanan.  The Clearing was voted the UK’s best branding consultancy at The Drum’s Network Awards two years running. His work with brands including McLaren, Fitness First, Wimbledon and Ocado has

There are many unique challenges to being an entrepreneur. The fact that there's a fine line, or no line, between ourselves and our business. Therefore, our mindsets can easily get in our way. The fact that we are constantly learning new strategies in business and can't possibly find the time to keep up. We end up running all over the place trying to improve ourselves and apply more action in our businesses. What we need is a healthy, thriving entrepreneur ecosystem.  The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Services and Support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website speaking the right LINGO

Has social media ruined the meaning of engagement? Actually, social media is just the base camp for the type of engagement that is currently available to us. There is nothing wrong with getting ‘likes’ but humans are desperate for more. What do we do with these ‘likes.’ How do we build from there? Whether it’s taking care of employees or courting customers it's time we start striving for a higher level of connection. Whether it’s taking care of employees or courting customers it is imperative to always strive for a higher level of connection. You’ve heard me say it before-  in today’s world the businesses that are the most successful are the ones who consider seeing people as more valuable than serving them. The more personalized the approach, the deeper the engagement. We have the access and technology to deepen engagement, now we need to learn how to use the tools rather than let the tools use us.  To dive deeper into fostering impactful engagement with both customers and employees, I’ve brought on best

Social media has diluted what engagement means. In the real world, engagement means creating real relationships. Not just capturing a "like" or a comment on a post. Engagement means to gain someone's full attention and create a dialogue, a conversation and a relationship. What are you doing in your business to create real engagement with your customers? Listen in to see how important this is and how engagement is next level customer service. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Services and Support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website speaking the right LINGO of your ideal customers?

Most entrepreneurs understand how important it is to have a clear purpose. Unfortunately for many, “purpose” has become more of a marketing tool and has lost its authenticity. There are plenty of brands, however, that have been able to keep their purpose clear, instilling pride from their consumers, and, as a result, have a competitive advantage to those that don’t. It’s important to understand the different ways having a purpose can drive a brand beyond being a marketing scheme. Consumers want to do business with companies that align with their personal values. There is nothing wrong with making a profit. The profit’s purpose is to help deliver the brand’s purpose in all facets of business. To dig into this idea further, I’ve brought on author, consultant, and professional speaker, Jeff Fromm. Jeff has keynoted more than 500 events all over the world and helps his consulting clients - including Amazon, Dairy Queen, Wingstop, and Gallo -- on leveraging consumer trends, technology and innovation. He is the

The world around us and our customers are changing all the time. Paying close attention to these changes can make the difference as to whether your business stays relevant or not. Have you ever seen a business close and wonder, "how could they have not seen this coming?" Make your business future proof by learning to pay attention. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Services and Support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website speaking the right LINGO of your ideal customers? Having reviewed hundreds of websites, I can tell you 98% of websites are not. Fill out the simple LINGO Review a

Most of us have something that we’re really into. Maybe it’s a band, a sports team, or Harry Potter. Whatever it is, most of us can say we’re big fans of something and that we enjoy sharing in that community. But we often think of fandom as a surface level experience. In reality what we’re experiencing is a human bonding through a shared experience. And these days fandom can be found in so much more than sports or entertainment. Customers are hungry for human connection. Because of this, businesses and entrepreneurs are going back to the basics of building, connecting with, and honoring their fans. Some might even believe that nowadays cultivating relationships with their fans is more important than making sales.  To dive deeper into the power of fandom I welcome back to the show my buddy, David Scott Meerman.  David is an internationally acclaimed marketing strategist, entrepreneur, advisor to emerging companies, VC strategic partner, and bestselling author of 10 books. He is best known for his book “The

In big ways and in little ways, our worlds often get rocked. Especially as Creative Warriors. It can be something like losing a client, something not working or a sudden change. My world was rocked in a big way recently with the sudden death of my 59-year-old brother just before Christmas. But what I want to share is how you can handle the situation when your world gets rocked, whether it's in a big way or not. I think there's something for us all to learn here. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Coaching support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website and are all your marketing materia

We’re going to change things up on Creative Warriors. This week I’m thrilled to welcome a guest who’s 6-week course I will be taking in the new year. Once I’ve finished the course, I plan on having this guest back to discuss my results. Sure, it’s a little intimidating to be doing this so publicly. But my goal is to show you all how important this work can be. What is it I’m going to be working on? It’s called “Positive Intelligence,” or “PQ” for short, and I’m hoping this year we can all raise our PQ together. Positive Intelligence is the measure of your mental fitness, or your positivity quotient. It is how quickly you can recover from negative reactions to challenges and turn them into positive challenges. Understanding one’s PQ is also understanding what your “saboteur” is and how or why your personal mindset can be overtaken by negative things. When we work on our PQ we can begin to live, work, and respond from a place of joy, peace, love, and inspiration.  To dive deeper into understanding the power

I always love it when an episode lands on Christmas Day! It's yet another time when I get to reflect and be thankful for everything my Creative Warriors community has given me. So, I wanted to revisit one of our special Christmas episodes where we had two very special guests. First, we had the extremely rare opportunity to chat with the big man himself-- Santa Claus! I mean, seriously, how often do you get the chance to speak directly to Santa?! Our second guest is my good friend and fellow warrior, the very talented Cecelia Otto who performed a special holiday song for us. It's one of my favorite songs! I loved this very special episode, and send you all my very best wishes for the holidays. THE WARRIORS OF HOLIDAY SPIRIT “Love has always stayed the same. Love is love.” -Santa Clause Highlights - We should give and receive all year long.  Presents have changed, but love has always stayed the same.  Guest Contact - Cecilia's Website Jeff's Contact - Website Coaching support My book, LINGO: D

I’ll admit that the idea of creating a brand new category is intimidating. Not many of us feel like we might be the next Steve Jobs. But creating categories is not only more approachable than we think, but often right in front of us. All it takes is a simple re-framing of how you position your business as a specific human-focused solution. When broken down, creating a new category can be the answer to some very simple problems. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you only have to position yourself in a way that speaks to a group. Once the validation comes then you can explore the world- or category- you’re creating. If you’re not receiving a response, you’re probably not creating a category. But if it’s working, the category will organically unfold.  To help us better understand the process of creating categories, I’ve brought on marketing expert Anthony Kennada. Anthony is the CMO of Front, and was the founding Chief Marketing Officer at Gainsight. He is passionate about creating new market categories,

In this episode, I offer you a tool to evaluate the true hourly value of your business. I call it the rule of thirds. Listen in and you'll understand why. Once you understand this, you'll know better what to say yes to and what to say no to. You'll be able to reevaluate what services and products are worth your time and which aren't. You'll be more clear on where to put your attention. And you can figure out how to scale your business. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Coaching support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website and are all your marketing materials speaking the right LING

I consider myself a productive person. I have hard systems, apps, and even color-coding that I use to make sure that I complete projects and tasks in a timely fashion and still have time for myself.  However, it’s a topic that I love digging into. Who doesn’t want to find new ways to streamline their productivity? We Creative Warriors often have a lot of projects we are juggling and in an industry that is becoming more tech-reliant, it is important to know when things are helping, and when they are slowing us down. You’ve heard me talk about the soul’s gatekeepers which keeps us from doing the things that are the most personal to us. Often the projects that matter the most are the things we find ourselves putting off. How do we dig into those things that we fear? How do we stay on task with projects that don’t have a hard deadline? It can be daunting to begin a project near to your heart, and even more daunting to finish it. To dive deeper into finding your productivity, I’ve brought on productivity master

2020 is a leap year on the calendar but it can also be YOUR leap year. The year you make a big leap forward in your life and business. Find out how and the story behind my new talk, Life is an Everything Bagel, that will inspire you to stop choosing between things and choose everything instead! The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Coaching support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website and are all your marketing materials speaking the right LINGO of your ideal customers? Often it's not which is why you're not converting traffic and leads to clients and attracting your most profitable cu

The world is moving deeper into the digital world and at an alarmingly fast pace. As a result, today’s technology has leveled the business playing field. In this fast-moving virtual age, establishing a strong personal brand has become a critical part of being a Creative Warrior. Whether it’s on or offline, your personal brand is about giving people in your community a choice. When you can be pure and clear about your values, product or services, and you why are most memorable, you will be giving your community the opportunity to choose you. Furthermore, the virtual age has brought upon the need for more skills, dexterity, and understanding of how AI can enhance your brand and what you do. To dive deeper into branding in the digital age, I’ve brought on entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and a leading authority on the topic of personal branding, William Arruda. William is the CEO of Reach Personal Branding and the co-founder of CareerBlast.TV. He regularly shares his thoughts on workplace trends and bran

The thing about goal setting is you can set all the goals you want, make all the plans and create the lists, but if you don't have mindsets to support you, your goals aren't as likely to work out. In this episode, I share ideas to strengthen positive mindsets and weaken mindsets that are obstacles. The Talking Stick is in your hands now. Let us hear from you. Be part of the conversation - Join our community Facebook group, Creative Warriors Unite, at www.joinwarriors.com and share your feelings and continue the conversation. Contact Jeffrey - Website Coaching support My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Watch my TEDX LincolnSquare video and please share!  Resources - Have Your Website Brand Message Reviewed! Is your website and are all your marketing materials speaking the right LINGO of your ideal customers? Often it's not which is why you're not converting traffic and leads to clients and attracting your most profitabl

As entrepreneurs, we can always learn from studying companies that really understand what they’re doing. From branding to customer service, there is always more to learn. I especially get excited when I get the opportunity to unpack a brand with someone who understands it intimately.  Airbnb is a brand that I’ve come to truly respect. I’ll be completely honest- for the longest time, I was not a fan of the brand. But I’ve come to understand and appreciate why they are a brand that is incredibly respected in the hospitality and technology-driven space. Airbnb is a leader in making their customers feel like they are part of a community. They understand how to make people feel like they belong.  To dive deeper into harnessing the power of community, I’ve brought back a friend of mine, Joseph Michelli. Joseph is an internationally sought after speaker, author, and organizational consultant. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. Joseph

Often when launching a new company or business, we are looking for a map that will guide us from seed to conception. On my journey, I looked for any source that would help me on my path. Some strategies worked, but many of them did not. Looking back, I have to think of how helpful it would have been if someone would have been able to provide a map or guideline that spoke to my specific needs. A plan that lays out the process, framework, and proper sequencing of events that will reap the most significant benefits.  To dive deeper into launching a start-up, I’ve brought on serial entrepreneur, advisor, and author Jon Warner. Five-time company CEO, Jon Warner is a widely respected entrepreneurship expert and mentor having founded and led 3 start-ups. Jon is a noted speaker at businesses, colleges, and conferences across the world. He also lectures on entrepreneurship at both undergraduate and MBA levels. Jon is also a prolific author, having published 40 books, all concerning business, management, leadership,