You’re creating a brand for your business, but there’s one thing holding you back.

By the end of this post, it won’t hold you back anymore. The specific techniques I’ll show you today will quiet that little voice that’s been lying to you since you were in grade school.

You know which voice I’m talking about, right?

It’s the one that says “I’m not creative.”

Maybe you thought you were creative when you were younger. But the older you got, the more it seemed like there were a ‘chosen few’ creative people in your midst, and you weren’t one of them.

Certain classmates had a knack for drawing, painting and writing creatively. They pulled ahead of the pack. You hadn’t been given that creativity ‘gift,’ and you gave up trying.

Not Creative? Baloney!

I’m here to tell you in no uncertain terms that it’s a bunch of baloney.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” –Pablo Picasso

Creativity is within reach for all of us. It’s a skill that can be developed, and a mindset you can cultivate. Here’s how you can tell that little voice to shut up and to stop bothering you. You have creative work to do!

Monochromatic reading: The John Jantsch technique

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing wrote a post a while back that outlines a simple technique he uses when searching for a creative solution or a unique take on a specific topic.

John calls it “monochromatic reading.” Here’s how it works:

1. Choose a topic you’d like to develop a different approach for, or shake loose from your current thinking about.
2. Pick up books, magazines or read blog posts about unrelated topics. This is important! Find topics that are completely outside the scope of the idea you’re trying to develop.
3. Skim these sources quickly with one goal: look for ideas that relate back to your topic in some way. Find parallels to your topic in these unrelated sources.

John says this technique of reading unrelated material while focused on the idea he wants to develop has helped him discover powerful associations and creative takes on his topics.

Maybe this explains why some of my best ideas come when I’m on vacation and away from my desk …

Cross pollination: A little bit of this and a little bit of that

John’s idea is an example of cross pollination. When bees fly from plant to plant, they pick up bits of one plant and carry it to another.

The plant on the receiving end of this is hardier as a result. It meets environmental challenges more successfully because it’s diverse.

This cross pollination concept applies to business ideas, too. In fact, it’s so powerful, I wrote a post for Copyblogger about the topic.

Here’s how cross pollination works:

1. In addition to reading materials outside of your field, make it a habit to speak to people in unrelated industries on a regular basis. A mastermind group is ideal for this. Listen to the challenges and solutions implemented, and apply what you hear to your own business.
2. Stay in touch with your customers’ needs. Read my post on design thinking for ideas. It details specific techniques for developing products and services that revolve around customer needs.
3. Work with a coach. An outside perspective will cross pollinate your thinking so you can discover unique solutions to your challenges.

If you’ve decided to dust off your unused creative tendencies, you’ll want a system to capture the ideas you come up with. You can store your ideas in a notebook, keep a text file on your computer, or try Evernote, my favorite system. Evernote lets you organize your ideas into notebooks by topic, and it syncs them between your computer and smart phone.

Tell that “I’m not creative” voice to take a hike!

Thanks to mollypop on Flickr for the baloney image!