Last week I has the pleasure of attending The Assembly’s brilliant Monday Club to hear Leila Johnston and Daniel Pemberton speak on the theme of First Thought, Best Thought.
So what can new business folk learn from a technologist and tv and film composer I hear you ask? Well it’s all about getting stuff done.
Procrastination is enemy of new business. It starts small, but left unchecked destroys productivity and motivation. Keeping going and continuing to make things happen is essential.
This is easier said than done. Creative businesses demand perfection for their own brand and marketing and resource is committed to servicing client business. But if this is at the cost of getting things done then a compromise must be reached. Take a website. Do you want an award winning site in 2014, or a one that reflects your current offer and is visible to prospects looking for your services now?
Here are some of Leila’s tips on making things fast. Or as I call them, procrastination busters.
- Stop caring. About the past, about the future, about it being perfect. If you love it, let it go.
- Be generous with ideas. Never be left with just one.
- The past is over. People only want to know the last thing you did. What can you do for me today?
- Defend your motivation. From yourself, from the world. Know what you already love. Successful people know their passions. Never forget why. It’s not ambition, its already there. Your motivation is everything. It is all you have.
- People inspire. Stop making claims. Show not tell. Make things not claims.
- Something that exists is always better than something that doesn’t. (Except unicorns).
And how on earth do you start writing a film score? Daniel Pemberton, BAFTA award winning composer took the audience though his process for creating the score for The Awakening. It all started with a swanee whistle. A single sound to provide the sonic foundation, the reference point for the everything else that followed. Now that sounds like a plan to me.