You know you’re a right-brain entrepreneur if you respond with a resounding “YES!” to any the following questions:

1. Do you hate the idea of writing a business plan, but know you need one?
2. Do numbers numb you out?
3. Do words like business plan, cash flow and balance sheet make your skin crawl?
4. Would you rather have an MFA than an MBA?
5. Do you have a big vision for your business but struggle with implementation?
6. Do you prefer colors, images and feelings to spreadsheets, tables and templates?
7. Do you want to make a positive impact with your business, but avoid the business side of your job?
8. Do you feel like planning is boring, daunting or in the way of the “real work”?
9. Are you turned off by the formality and nitty-gritty detail of traditional business plans?
10. Do you believe there’s got to be a better way to run your business?

You are not alone. Believe me, I’m right there with ya! And I hear clients, workshop participants, and blog readers answer yes to questions like these all of the time. Sure, maybe your feathers may get ruffled when you hear the letters ROI, but that doesn’t mean you can’t artfully run a business.

Every so often I’ll be sharing some of the cool, right-brain resources I’ve come across.  May these creative gems inspire and support you in your business (and your life!).

• I just got my hard copy of the Business Model Generation book today and can’t wait to dig into this well designed, visual, and innovative book. You can download a free excerpt at businessmodelgeneration.com.
• I mentioned Michael Margolis’ book Believe Me: A Storytelling Manifesto for Change-Makers and Innovators in a previous resource roundup. Michael recently made his entire book free! You can download it from his website.
• A great post on how routines, systems, and spontaneity feed into the creative process.
• For those of you who love mind maps, you’ll probably get a laugh out of this tongue-in-cheek version called “brainkrumping.“

Name: Sara Ortiz
Business: Sara Ortiz Workshops
Website: www.saraortizworkshops.com
Blog: creativityonamission.blogspot.com
Twitter: twitter.com/Cre8onaMission

A note from Jenn: You’re going to love this interview with Sara Ortiz of Sara Ortiz Workshops.  I bet you’ll relate to some of her challenges and that you’ll be inspired by her creative process. Just look at her fabulous three-dimensional and interactive take on the Right-Brain Business Plan.  It makes me think of pieces of a puzzle or colorful gems tumbling out of a treasure chest. Her fun-loving energy can’t help but burst through!

What makes your business unique?

I give creativity workshops and design creative products to not only help people find their creativity but use their creative ability to better themselves and their world. My approach is unique because I am going through some of the same issues that most people go through when trying to work with their creativity. Every time I come across a roadblock and am able to find a solution, I work that solution into my workshops and products. Many people feel that creativity is just playing around and isn’t practical. I teach people how creativity can be a practical, fun, and often times, a silly part of their lives.

How has the Right-Brain Business Plan helped you?

I am a very organized person but by no means am I a business oriented person. Starting a business traditionally needs left brain functions like accounting, managing and sales. So when I first started out I was overwhelmed and scared to the point where I was doing nothing. I realized I was only working on the “safe” things and not doing the down and dirty things that I needed to do to get my business going. The Right-Brain Business Plan helped me realize that the right brain has the ability to work through left-brain type functions, it just works on them in its own way. And because of this I was able to move forward and improve my business.

What are you most proud of accomplishing in your business?

Setting the foundation and finally feeling like I’m on to the next step. For a while I was caught in a loop of researching, reading and planning. I felt for a while that I was in a perpetual state of start-up and I never made it to the actual launch of my business. Some planning for starting a business is needed but many times we get caught up in getting everything perfect (left-brain) that we don’t move on and listen to our gut (right-brain). I am happy to say I just recently had a Mini-Launch of my new and improved website and am working on a free creativity workbook/teleseminar and my first creative product, The Creative Soul Kit!

How do you use your creative intuition in your work?

Now that I’ve gotten pass the left-brain hell I was in I can’t stop relying on my creative intuition every day. Sometimes the doubts and frustrations rear their nay-saying heads and my left-brain butts in to try to make things “right” but instead of bending to its whim and listening to the negatives I stop what I’m doing and crochet or draw or color in my Anti-Coloring Book. It takes a while for the negative feelings to go away but after they do I feel much better and can get back to my business.

What’s your vision for your business?

I believe that creativity can help find a solution to any problem and can also help people or groups who are in opposition work together to find a solution that benefits them both. So my vision is to infiltrate the government and infect our leaders with creativity in order to stop all this bickering and nonsense so we can find real, effective and most importantly, efficient solutions. Mwah Ha Ha Ha!

On Sunday a fabulous group of creative women entrepreneurs gathered for my Right-Brain Business Plan workshop in Oakland.  We had a fun day full of visioning, play, movement, collaging, sharing, planning and learning.

I was so inspired by all of the participant’s creative visions for their business.  Most were expanding an existing business and finding ways to integrate their many passions and interests.  And some were looking for ways to transition into their idea full time.

The Right-Brain Business Plan puts just as much importance on the “how” as the “what.”  So when we started to dive into some of the left-brain details, we took a right-brain approach with visual Post-it Notes.  It made the planning much more accessible!

Unfortunately, one of the participants ended up getting sick and couldn’t attend at the last minute.  Not wanting to miss out on the fun, though, she e-mailed to let me know that she had her Right-Brain Business Plan, stickers, magazines and glue nearby for some bedside-business planning :).

I love knowing that the this creative approach makes the planning process more fun.  And it’s such a treat to see when people are so passionately connected with their work.  I look forward to seeing how each of these creative women’s business vision unfolds.

Oh and, check out Muse Cube creator Gretchen Wegner’s post about the workshop.  Thanks, Gretchen for leading us in some energizing movement exercises and for the much needed Muse Cube breaks.

Every so often I’ll be sharing some of the cool, right-brain resources I’ve come across. May these creative gems inspire and support you in your business (and your life!).

7th grade leadership curriculum from Flickr

1. I wish I had the above leadership curriculum in the seventh grade (heck even now, for that matter!). I love that this teacher’s brainstorm starts with “Creativity as Practice” followed by “Visual Thinking.”
2. In the article Reinventing the MBA: 4 Reasons to Mix Business With Design Thinking, discusses head of The Rotman School of Management Roger Martin’s concept of “design thinking,” the intersection of analytical thinking and intuitive thinking, and how it can create better business leaders. Includes a video of him being interviewed and a cool graphic recording of his talk.
3. Your left brain is vital to your business planning process. The trouble happens, however, when the overly logical and judging mind in comes in too early and rains on your creative brainstorming parade. Ever catch yourself being hijacked by your left brain and saying any of these all-too-familiar 50 phrases that kill creativity? That’s a cue to invite your right brain back to the party!
4. Could simple eye exercises boost your creativity? A new study in the scientific journal Brain & Cognition says so.

Name: Danielle Grinnen
Business: Deliante Designs LLC
Website: http://www.deliantedesigns.com
Twitter:@deliantedesigns

A note from Jenn: I had the pleasure of meeting Danielle Grinnen in person the other week while I was in D.C.  Danielle participated in my Right-Brain Business Plan telecourse earlier this year and created the beautiful Right-Brain Business Plan featured in the photos below.  Read on to learn more about Danielle and her inspiring business.

What makes your business unique?

Direct communication with the artist, me, who is custom designing each rug. Each rug is made to order to the specifications of the customer — color, size, material; along with the opportunity of a completely custom rug designed like a commissioned piece of art. The carpets are hand knotted by expert adult weavers of luxurious materials such as Tibetan wool, hemp, linen, nettle, silk…etc. The carpets are certified with the GoodWeave label which allows me to partner with the rug mill in Nepal to end child labor in the carpet industry while a part of the proceeds of each rug goes to starting schools in Nepal.

• Artist designed
• Custom carpets
• Expertly hand knotted by adult artisans
• Luxurious sustainable materials

How has the Right-Brain Business Plan helped you?

Deliante Designs LLC started about 4 years ago, I had taken classes and completed a successful left-brain business plan that I presented to the bank and others who needed to see my intentions. Over the last few years, my life and business has continued on a fun journey that rendered my first business plan presentable but totally uninteresting and unworkable for me. I needed a fresh breath of air for my business. I desired to look at all aspects of Deliante Designs from my strengths — intuition and creativity. The Right-Brain Business Plan was exactly the direction and medium that I needed to allow myself the freedom to dream. The process of creating my book directed me to my true vision for the business and the steps and goals to help me carry it forward.

What are you most proud of accomplishing in your business?

Each time a new carpet comes in that I have designed; I feel so proud and excited. I look forward to seeing the rug in the space that it was designed for. It really is a high.

How do you use your creative intuition in your work?

Creative intuition is essential to each aspect of my work- speaking with customers, designing each rug, choosing colors, choosing fibers, communicating with the wonderful weavers in Nepal, etc. When I find myself not working from that place of creative intuition then its time to take a few moments to get centered.

What’s your vision for your business?

I want everything to come from these three intentions; which are each followed by something tangible then more of a feeling word that represents each intention for me.

• Be Present- Sun- Warmth
• Live Intentionally- Waves- Rhythm
• Be in Community- Food- Relationship

Here I am with the lovely Danielle at the Dream Box workshop in D.C. the other week.