Here’s a great post by Theresa over at TMDzyne, another great InSights Enthusiast!

Change Your Environment

• Decorate a wall with old or new designs ripped out from magazines, put up king size posters of your favorite designers or artist, find music that inspires you. Decorate your work environment with flowers.

Other Creative Methods

Have you ever tried practicing any of the methods below? Give it a try, you’ll be surprised.

• Get Relaxed – Take a moment to do something that makes you happy; that brings you joy; that you love; that centers you. Meditate, take a walk, go for a swim, read something that puts you in a good mood, write a diary – writing down your thoughts.
• Give Gratitude - Thinking about all things you are grateful for produces a positive energy flow and vibration. As you feel the love in your heart for all the wonderful blessings and gifts in your life, you will instantly relax and feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. In that moment of warmth and love, you are open to creative energy.
• Tickle Your Imagination – Imagination is highly visual. Try closing your eyes, and imagine that you are in a scene, any scene. Okay – pick your ideal scene, practice seeing the details of your environment in this scene. See the colours, the textures, touch something. What does it feel like? What do you hear? What do you smell? What is the temperature like? Etc. This makes you more relaxed and gives you gratitude also.
• Be In the Moment - Every outstanding musician or artist will tell you that when they are creating great music or art, there are no thoughts, they are completely in the moment, and experiencing flow. Athletes call this ‘being in the zone‘. You can practice present moment awareness by giving full attention to whatever you are doing: eating, washing dishes, making your bed, etc. Meditation helps tremendously.
• Be Inspired - Practice seeing beautiful things that moves you emotionally. Flip through a book containing thought provoking images, go to an art gallery, read something inspirational, talk to someone who calms you.
• Draw - This may sounds funny, but one of the effective ways to practice getting in touch with your creative side is to start drawing. Drawing forces you to see things differently.
• Be Open - Never shut down any idea that comes your way, do not make judgments about it. Appreciate any idea that comes to you, even ones that seem “stupid” or “obvious”. This way, you encourage more creative ideas to surface from your being.
• Think on Paper - With a bunch of loose paper, start jotting ideas down. Write everything down that comes to your head: random words, phrases, ideas, thoughts: sometimes you might want to circle things and draw lines to connect ideas. When an inspiration hits, follow it. If you suddenly have a different idea, jot it down somewhere on the page or in a new page.

What other methods do you use to get ideas fast?

Hugs to all, T

We at the InSights Group are so lucky to be surrounded by such an amazing group of people. Here’s another favorite from Sandy who is blogging over at Terry Goss & Associates. We just had to share this with you!

Fun is productive. Imagine a world where people love their work environment, you are calm, stress free, and happy. You are relaxed, and more accepting of others. You are thinking more clearly and creatively. It’s time to think about creating an atmosphere that is challenging and fun.  (you may want to check—is your staff suffering from terminal seriousness?)

Laughter creates a bond that brings others together, people like being with people that are having fun. Let’s face it some of us are darn entertaining! Studies show that  children laugh an average of 400 times a day and that number drops to 15 times a day by the time people reach the age of 35. Preschoolers must know something we don’t. Humor can level the playing field to create an atmosphere that encourages honest dialog, open communication, and increased risk taking. How much easier is it to have that difficult conversation you have been putting off, if you can break the ice with a little humor? We’ve all heard the health benefits of laughter before, hopefully you are convinced it’s time for a fun injection.

Do you often catch people smiling or laughing at work? When something funny happens do you stop to appreciate it? Does your team do something fun together monthly? What will you do to bring some humor to work today? –Sandy Acosta, Terry Goss & Associates

This is a fantastic post by a wonderful speaker friend of ours, Tom Harris.  Have you picked up a copy of his CD yet? It is amazing!

All effective marketing pieces need to follow a common formula, whether the piece is an email, postcard, web page, coupon, radio or TV ad, brochure, flyer, verbal presentation or anything else that is used to promote your business and gain customers.

There a four functions to a marketing piece: Grab, Engage, Inform and Offer (GEIO)

These functions are performed by the four parts of a marketing piece: Headline, Subheadline, Body, and Call to Action.

• GRAB – this is what a Headline does, and you’ve got microseconds to accomplish this. Headlines are critical because if you don’t grab them, then the rest of your marketing piece might as well never have been created. And once you’ve grabbed someone’s attention, you’ve got a few more microseconds to get them to the next step, which is:

• ENGAGE – this is the function of the Subheadline, to move the prospect on a bit further, to pique their curiosity a bit more, and to tell them that you’re about to give them some valuable information that they’ll be vitally interested in.

• INFORM – this is the message itself, the Body of the marketing piece. It must be concise, interesting and contain useful information that will prepare the prospect for the:

• OFFER – this function is performed by the Call to Action, where you’re asking the prospect to actually DO something – download a free report, email you, call you, visit your website, make a purchase, etc. A marketing piece that is just informative and doesn’t ask for an action at the end is a wasted effort.

So here’s the formula again:
Grab = Headline
Engage = Subheadline
Inform = Body
Offer = Call to Action

It’s a simple formula, and you can easily apply it to any new marketing efforts you undertake, or use it to evaluate your current efforts.

We’d like to introduce you to an amazing and talented InSights Enthusiast: Susan Dorbeck. Susan’s work takes her into peoples homes on a regular basis where she can help them bring the best out of their home environment. Her talent for converting unfinished walls into a showcase for drapery designs is something special. Susan is an active member of the InSights Group, volunteering at every opportunity and welcoming new business owners into a renewed sense of positive optimism and entrepreneurship.

Drop by Susan’s Blog to learn more about  nesting creatively

Click here for Details: MME Flier

Secrets of Successful High Earners with Sherri Richards

WhenTue, April 20, 9am – 12pm

WhereInSights Group (map)

In my family money caused….? Why do some people have such an easy time making and keeping money and others doing the same things struggle to make ends meet? The answer often lies around their different money beliefs. When we were young we might have been told, “Nice people don’t talk about money”, or “there isn’t enough”. Then we grow up and are working hard to build a business or sell a product and we find we struggle, but don’t understand why. Many times it’s our unconscious beliefs that are affecting the way we approach our customers.

What did your mother think about money? In the Secrets of Successful High Earners we learn to understand our underlying and often limiting beliefs around money. This is a very powerful workshop as it asks questions and then provides answers along with a road map that will take you to the next level of earnings without the struggle . Thousands of women who have gone through it have benefited from the ah-ha inspired exercises and mind changing strategies you will experience. If you want to achieve mastery over your money, this workshop is where you begin the process.

Cost $35 Please RSVP to: RISE Consulting, LLC Organic Business Design (TM)

Sherri Richards 440 289 8321 Cell

Richards.sherri@yahoo.com

Marcy Hornsby-Mohr Today is the day … the interview day that is. The radio interview that Lisa Follmer-Gagnon and Marcy Hornsby-Mohr did for Hope for Autism Foundation will be aired on WHMI 93.5 Radio today during the news cast and then tomorrow morning. If you can, please tune in and hopefully you will catch the interview. We are so excited about it!

Thank you for celebrating with us! 2 Years already!!