The Creative Entrepreneur Quotes

“In terms of target audience, trying to be all things to all people usually results in not being anything to anyone.”
― Lisa Sonora, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real

“Whenever we say yes to something, we are by definition saying no to something else.”
― Lisa Sonora, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real

“We profit when we provide value people are willing to pay for and when we are able to communicate that value in ways our customers can understand.”
― Lisa Sonora, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real

“The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala consists of four pathways that will help you design a viable creative business. Pathway 1: Heart and Meaning looks at how to follow your heart’s desire and creative dreams, while lessening the potential for heartbreak. Pathway 2: Gifts and Flow reveals how uncovering and using your unique gifts contributes to flow, or less-effortful accomplishment. Pathway 3: Value and Profitability is about creating a customer-centric business, and how to create and deliver value that people will pay for. Pathway 4: Tools and Skills presents the vital necessity of developing your business skills and leadership capacities (which few entrepreneurs are willing to do) to achieve the results you want in areas 1 through 3. Each of these four essentials is looked at as an individual pathway that, when put together, form a mandala, or flower shape. The goal is to find the overlapping center of the four pathways, which represents the “sweet spot” of your business—the absolutely unique value you offer to the marketplace that is aligned with your innermost aspirations and ideals. The mandala provides a template for working with the four pathways of the business in a visual manner. Awareness of and continual refinement of all four pathways is crucial for launching and sustaining the kind of enterprise that works for creative individuals. When even one pathway is missing, the outcome we get from our efforts is different—less—than if all four are used together. This process of refinement is meant to be continual, reflecting the dynamic nature of the marketplace and also the changing nature of our own goals and plans. Don’t be discouraged if “getting” all four pathways seems daunting at first. The mandala is a tool for reflection and critical thinking, which requires time and space to evolve. It is something to work with at regular strategic planning meetings, monthly, quarterly, and annually.”
― Lisa Sonora, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real