In past posts I’ve talked about the importance of not going it alone and about hiring help for your creative business. Yes, it’s valuable to have the right people supporting you in your entrepreneurial endeavors, but what if you’re not able to to identify the right folks? That’s okay. It just means you get to meet some new people.

Cultivating new connections expands your horizons, creates unexpected opportunities, and can surprise you with newfound colleagues, allies, and friends (plus, you never know who they might know). You’ll also be surprised to know that many people love hearing inspiring stories about the creative process and about go-getters like yourself who are living their dreams, so don’t shy away from sharing your entrepreneurial journey.

Here are some really simple ways to connect:

• Say hello to someone in the elevator or on the bus.
• Strike up a conversation with the cashier at the grocery store or with someone waiting in line with you.
• Comment on a blog that inspires you.
• Go to a networking event or class and get to know at least one new person (maybe she’s that cool gal next to you at yoga tonight).
• Introduce one of your friends to someone you think she should know, and spread the good connection karma.
• Set up a coffee date with someone at work you’ve wanted to get to know better.
• Make it a goal to talk to five new people each day for the next week.

Several years ago, I posted one of my paintings on the website of an online community for creative artists. A fellow coach and creative spirit named Jamie Ridler saw the image and felt compelled to send me a message letting me know how it touched her. From there we started to exchange emails, each time finding more things we have in common and are passionate about. We became fast friends and since then we’ve been supporting each other personally and professionally through Skype chats and our online connection. We’ve even had the chance to hang out in person when I visited the Toronto area and when she was out here in the Bay Area. This great example demonstrates the power of simply reaching out. The biggest key to cultivating connections is simply being open to those around you.

How can you stretch yourself to meet five new people today? What might that open up for you?

Play dress-up.

When you’re networking, speaking, or just cruising around town, wear a funky accessory or your signature color to boost your confidence and make yourself stand out. Think of yourself as a walking billboard for your business.

Take one dose of Right-Brain Booster as needed to enhance your creative intuition.

Name: Chris Arcucci
Company Name: Mindful Living Arts
Website and Blog: www.MindfulLivingArts.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MindfulLivingArts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisarcucci
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisarcucci
Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mindful-living-arts-walnut-creek

Note from Jenn: Chris Arcucci of Mindful Living Arts is a generous and creative soul who embodies the wisdom of yoga. She combines massage, private yoga, and lifestyle coaching to help people nourish their mind, body, and spirit. I’m super inspired by her beautiful yoga poses and her vibrant Right-Brain Business Plan. I know Chris is up to big things in this world and she is making a powerful, positive difference in the lives of many. Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu – May all living beings be happy and free. Namaste. (All images courtesy of Chris Arcucci.)

What is your business and what makes your business unique?

I am the founder of Mindful Living Arts, a Health and Wellness Studio in Walnut Creek, California. My business is unique because it is a private yoga, massage and lifestyle coaching studio for clients who believe their health is an asset that needs nourishment and regular care. I offer intensive massage packages, which reduce pain, manage stress and incorporate home care exercises in between sessions. The semi-private yoga classes are limited to four students, which offers the opportunity for personal attention, hands on adjustments and guidance to recover from injury. Students get to know each other and this creates an incredible support for making sustainable lifestyle changes. I integrate over 30 years of personal and professional studies, which facilitates deep transformation of long held patterns. One of my clients said, “The bodywork I have done with Chris has returned the full range of movement in my neck, something I had not had for over 20 years previously.” My intention is to create a sanctuary where self care is sexy and it is working!!!

How has the Right-Brain Business Plan™ helped you?

The Right-Brain Business Plan™ empowered me to see what I REALLY want to create with my business and to notice I was playing it “safe” with my goals and planning. The course gave me the courage to recognize my desire to support the health of my local community and the greater global community in more powerful ways. I feel infinitely more confident as I create training programs, healing products,  and conscious community to enhance life on this amazing planet. I support women owned small businesses through micro-lending and have ideas to make an even greater difference. I am blessed to have studied healthy living and mindfulness for 30 years and I want to partner with organizations that bring health education to communities in need. It is exciting and scary to be clearing the pathway to my big dream!

What is different for you and your business after approaching planning in a creative, visual way?

I have been making vision boards since my teens and working with Jenn has helped me to clarify my business goals with a creative format that I enjoy. The process helped me to integrate my creative side with my business mind in order to manifest my vision. It is a powerful and potent program and I am so excited to see what will unfold for my business and me in 2011!

What goals (big or small) on your business plan have you already accomplished or have made progress on?

One of my goals is to lead creative and inspirational personal development workshops and this weekend I am co-leading my first Vision Board workshop!

I have launched a blog where I share insights, inspiration and wisdom for cultivating heath and wellness through everyday activities.

I started offering one-on-one Reiki Practitioner Trainings.

I have added 3 semi-private Yoga classes per week, which are nearly full in the first week of 2011!

I am finalizing plans for a semi-private Yoga Teacher Training in 2011, this will be a powerful opportunity for students who enjoy and delight in the intensity and intimacy of a small group program, this is a dream come true!

How do you use your creative intuition in your work?

Creative intuition is an essential aspect of my life and work! I maximize all the technical training I have with bodywork and movement and actively open to my intuition for what can best serve in the moment. Often surprising things happen during sessions, for example last night as I was internally asking for guidance from my client’s Spiritual teacher, I allowed by hands to be guided to facilitate the unraveling of muscle tension that decreased her chronic knee pain. I see creative intuition as vital to my success, from massage therapy, to lifestyle coaching, to yoga classes, to training yoga teachers and Reiki practitioners. It is essential that I cultivate the ability to be aligned and in tune. I feel blessed that creative intuition feeds my passion and purpose and are so deeply infused in my life and business.

Is there anything you’d like to share about your Right-Brain Business Plan™ in terms of what it’s made out of or how you made it?

My Right-Brain Business Plan™ is a in a large scrap book with images, writings, words, goals, dreams, aspirations and secrets 😉 I have crafted a box that is holding the ideas that are “still brewing”….the truth is the RBBP style has taken over my home and studio because I keep creating visual reminders to clarify my visions and to keep me on track. I love it!

What’s your vision for your business?

Mindful Living Arts inspires people to recognize everyday activities are opportunities to enhance health and radiance while reducing pain and stress. Our vision is to make empowered and life-enhancing choices, to educate and inspire people to touch, trust, move, breathe and eat for vibrancy and vitality. We offer healthy living programs and conscious products to support health & mindfulness. We are passionate about building community connection as an essential component for making sustainable lifestyle changes.

What advice do you have for other creative entrepreneurs?

Believe in your dream and love yourself with wild abandon!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I am so grateful for the chance to work with Jenn at Artizen Coaching, I would highly recommend the Right-Brain Business Plan™ as a powerful process to clarify and create your dream business. I am honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to share my story with you….. May I manifest my heart’s deepest longing to make a positive and powerful difference in the world through my creative expression & work, thank you!

Creative Resources

Click here for more information about Chris Arcucci

Click here for Right-Brain Business Plan™ e-Course and here to pre-order the book The Right-Brain Business Plan: A Creative, Visual Map for Success.

Danielle LaPorte’s money perspectives and practices posts offer valuable insights and tips on how to be around the moola. Part 1 covers personal money practices and Part 2 covers business money practices.

This week, talented artist and creative entrepreneur Laura Hollick launched Soul Art TV. This show features leading edge interviews with Revolutionary Leaders (including yours truly and some of my favorite creative cohorts) with inspirational insights to ignite your own Creative Spiritual Revolution. Check out Laura’s exquisite and inspiring video below. And join the Creative Spiritual Revolution here.

It’s normal to feel excited but also scared, overwhelmed, or confused by your big vision.

If you find yourself worrying about how you’re going to accomplish your big vision or when you’ll ever have a crystal-clear picture, just notice that your left brain may be on overdrive, wanting everything to be ironed out pronto. Take a deep breath and trust that, as you take small steps forward, your vision will unfold.

Take one dose of Left-Brain Chill Pill as needed to quiet your judging mind.

NOTE: This post originally appeared in my Musepreneur column on the Wishstudio.

What brings you alive? Maybe your spirit soars when you see a stunning sunset. Perhaps you feel most at home when you’re experiencing the thrill of foreign cities or cultures. Or you beam with excitement when you’re creating and connecting with your best friends. These moments of aliveness speak to your core values.

Your core values are what you hold as most important to you. Values are your lifeblood. They give your life meaning and richness.

Values also help you authentically run a business. Many right-brain entrepreneurs honor their personal values through their creative work, so your business values most likely will be based on your personal ones. I know mine are!

Identifying Your Core Values

To identify your core values, reflect back on times in your life when you felt fully alive. When have you been happy and totally fulfilled? Your special moments could be significant events or simple pleasures from your day-to-day life. They could be from when you were a little kid or from just this morning.

In these peak moments, who were you being? What was going on around you? What were you doing? What were you feeling? Write down as much detail as you can. Once you’re done reflecting, go back and circle words that stand out to you. Those circled words are a good start to creating your list of values. Begin to group the values into strings that make sense to you. For example, beauty/creativity/expression might be a string and adventure/freedom/exploration might be another.

You can download my free values form for more ideas and guidance through the process of identifying your core values. Ultimately, you’ll want to end up with a list of your top 5-10 core values.

Getting Down to Business

Look at your values list again and see which ones apply to your creative business. It may be all of them, or just a few. What do you and your business stand for?

In your creative work, expressing your values gives people a sense of who you are and what’s important to you. How do your values show up in your blog, offerings, artwork, or interactions?

Create Your Business “Values Chain”

Stay connected with your values by crafting your own business “values chain.” No, I’m not referring to that dry MBA concept of “value chain analysis” and competitive advantage that you might’ve heard suits drone on about. Instead, remember those colorful paper chains you made in grade school? Now that’s way more delightful!

Cut sheets of construction paper lengthwise into approximately 8.5″ x 1.5″ strips. Write or rubber stamp each of your values on individual strips. Feel free to decorate with creative embellishments like images, stickers, or glitter glue to fancy it up. Take one strip – decorated side-up – and curl it into a circle. Then glue or staple the edges together. Take the next strip and loop it through the first circle before attaching the edges together to create your chain. Keep repeating until you’ve linked all of your values together into a gorgeous garland that you can hang in your office or studio.

If you’d rather work with collage instead of making a values chain, consider creating a deck of collaged values cards. They’re another great way to stay connected to your core values.

Refection Questions

How well are you honoring your values in your life and your creative business right now? What do you notice when you don’t honor them? How can you honor your values even more? What new choices are you willing to make in order to live and work in alignment with your values?