Name:  Jacqueline Lloyd Smith
Company Name:  Strategic Play® Group Limited
Website: http://www.strategicplay.ca/
Twitter: @jacquiello

Note from Jenn: Jacqueline Lloyd Smith is a savvy business consultant who speaks my language - one that's visual, colorful and tactile! I got to meet Jacquie and her International teammates in Atlanta a few months ago and absolutely love the work they do with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™, graphic facilitation, and innovation. You can get a peek at the type of work she does from some of the fun photos below.

What is your business and what makes your business unique?

Strategic Play® focuses on visual problem solving, training, and facilitation to improve innovation. We work with individuals, teams, and organizations and use unique hands-on tools like LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ processes, Simplexity™ Applied Creative Problem Solving, and Graphic Coaching.  All our workshops include the creative arts, as we know that when people are having fun they learn and think at a higher level. Building 3D models enables people to have richer and deeper conversations, allowing them to solve problems faster while communicating better.

How has the Right-Brain Business Plan® helped you? What is different for you and your business after approaching planning in a creative, visual way?

Since we are a visual, hands-on company, using a right-brained approach to business planning simply makes good business sense.  We know our hands are connected to our brains and if we want to get the most out of our heads, we need to use a whole brain thinking approach.  This process gives the brain a picture, which it needs in order to think.  This creative approach to business planning is truly a revolution since people are hungry for hands-on creative tools.

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

I attended Jennifer’s workshop with my associates from Europe and Australia. We were able to share our individual business plans with each other and discuss ways we might collaborate into the future.  We are growing our business quickly and this workshop gave us a way to really focus in on what we hope to achieve in the near and distant future. For any business to be successful it needs to have clear goals and a good path forward.

How do you use your creative intuition in your work?

When we build with LEGO® models we are building ideas that have not yet been tried, we create stories that have never been told, we share ideas we discover as we build.  We then test those ideas in the playroom, where we can take risks and troubleshoot solutions before going to market where we will need to take risks. We use art, play, and storytelling to solution find and innovate. We capture ideas on large graphic, visual charts where people can see how they and others are connecting and contributing to the development of the future.

What advice do you have for other creative entrepreneurs?

If you are a creative person take advantage of your core strength and build a business plan using your imagination and intuition.  Using this process will help you to get clear about what you want to achieve and your true passion. When you hold your completed business plan in your hands you will be able to tell the story of how you are going to be the creator of the future that you want and will develop.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. - Marianne Williamson, Return to Love, 1992

Creative Resources

Click here for more information about Jacqueline Lloyd Smith.

Want to create your own Right-Brain Business Plan®? The Right-Brain Business Plan® Kit includes supplies to make your own accordion book style visual business plan.

For more support with developing your RBBP, check out the Right-Brain Business Plan® Home Study program.