Where do good ideas come from?

Where do you get your ideas for your newsletter?

I get asked this question a lot. One of the reasons I hesitated starting a newsletter is because I didn't want it to just be another marketing newsletter. I didn't want it to be prescriptive or trite. I'll likely never do a '10 ways' or '5 things' type of newsletter. It's just not me. But what would I write about? What would people care about and what would I feel compelled to share? For me it came down to what do I want to write about. What would make me not only be able to create a regular cadence of emails but compel me to want to write them in the first place?

The art of attention

So I just started listening and looking. Anytime I saw or heard something interesting, I wrote it in my notes app.

Could this be something?

Was there an idea here?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes I didn't write enough of the idea to even recall what the idea actually was. But, because I knew I wasn't going to plan out my newsletters in advance and create an editorial calendar of content, the ideas needed to be fresh. And they needed to keep coming!

So now I'm always listening for the next idea. This can be from a podcast, a commercial, something someone says to me, a quote, a line from a book, a song, anything.

Anything can be content.

Anything can be an idea.

You just have to pay attention. And sometimes you just have to make it up. (they'll never know)

What does it mean to be an artrepreneur?

I had a vibrant and engaging conversation with In Creative Company about being what they call an Artrepeneur. Jump to 17:17 to hear me talk about the value of a brand in developing a distinct personality (hint: it's priceless). And never underestimate the value of a great lip color!