My surrogate sister, Sara, has been over in China studying and teaching for about a year and a half now. Her experience of acclimating into another culture made me curious to see what creative benefits there are to living aboard. In Psychology Time’s article,”Can living abroad make you more creative,” Art Markman asks just that: The idea here is that when you go to a different culture, there are often subtle differences that you have to learn about. For example, in the US, if you go to someone’s house and they offer you a drink or snack, you respond “Yes” or “No” depending on whether you want a snack. In Russia, though, it is impolite to say “Yes” the first time something is offered, and so you refuse the first request. The host asks again, and after a brief negotiation, you may settle on having a snack. A Russian visiting the US for the first time might refuse the offer of a snack, only to be surprised that she is not asked a second time. Eventually, she must learn that the practices are different. To read the entire article, click here. What are your thoughts? Have you ever lived abroad? [...]
In order to succeed in business, you have to be unique and find the niche that works for you and the people you serve. Today at The Momentum Summit (#mosum, if you’re on Twitter), Ben Fischman, CEO of Rue La La remarked at his morning interview, “I believe in unique unfair advantages.” Rue La La has found theirs. What’s yours? Here are three steps to finding your unique, unfair advantage: 1) Ask: Why do people depend on you? What is it about you or your company that is working and happens naturally? How can you improve upon that? Survey your friends, clients, and colleagues for their feedback. 2) What’s Important? To Rue La La, exclusivity became important. The need to protect their customers, led to an unsearchable site. Of course, this resulted in an aire of mystique around the brand. Understand what is important to your customers and to your company and treasure it. 3) Experiment: What you perceive as your unique, unfair advantage may not actually be the case. Do some measurable tests to see what is working and what is not. Your experimentation may lead to an avenue you hadn’t thought of before. What other ways can you [...]
By Ja-Naé Duane
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Posted in Business Tools, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, Uncategorized
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Also tagged creative strategy, how to start a business, imagination, starting a business, the freelancer, wahm
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