Well, here we are at the end of the year. This is my last newsletter of 2009 and I wanted to spend it saying; “thanks”. 2009 took me across the globe to share, teach and apply my ideas to a client base encompassing about every type of industry you can imagine.

It’s true, I am of the blessed. I get to make a living doing something I am positive I was meant to do. Not so surprisingly I fell into it, like many of you. Unless you are an attorney or a doctor, most of us are making a living doing something we could not have imagined in our younger years. I am an ex-surfer, tennis bum, and marine biologist who followed a very winding path, took a huge risk and arrived here.
I am so honored that you are taking the time to read this and continue to find my efforts of value to you, your teams and your companies.

In 2009 I launched full force attacks on our strategic platforms such as Repeatable Successful Acts and our Elegant Simplicity planning process. Our educational programs based on thinking and communication skills are now part of over a dozen organizational curriculums. My latest program, Upside Down Thinking had a great introduction this year and strong bookings for next. My 2010 calendar is already a challenge to manage.

So from myself and the Creative Ventures team, thanks so much for everything!

Singer/songwriter Ellis Paul sums up my feelings in the chorus to his song: The World Ain’t Slowin Down and I feel good about leaving you with its clever mission statement. I’ll see you on the other side of that last calendar page.

You gotta get gone. You gotta get goin.
Hey the world ain’t slowin down for no one.
It’s a carnival calling out to you.
It sounds like a psalm. It hits you like scripture.
You paint the picture with colors squeezed from your hand.
Hey weren’t you the kid on the merry go round
Hey the world ain’t slowin down.


We humans view a new year as an opportunity to refresh our beliefs, create new challenges or just fix stuff that went wrong the previous year. We set new goals, create new expectations and make resolute resolutions! Then reality sets in and by the end of January this new found optimism simply wears off. Don’t believe me, just check out the swollen ranks at the local health clubs in January and watch them dwindle by Valentines Day.

Now, I don’t want to add to the angst of dreamed about potential, but, I do want to offer a list of ideas and behaviors that will really help you create a 2010 full of opportunity, so here you go, a Creative Ventures checklist of stuff to DO, not to think about, but TO DO! As you might have guessed, there are 3:

There you go, three simple, powerful and elegant ways to start a new year. You can’t ask for much more than that! Remember, thinking is not doing, only doing is doing, and so DO SOMETHING!

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THE AUTO INDUSTRY DILEMMA: We continue to hear about how the foreign car makers are pushing our US autos further into the rear of the new car line. But what’s really a foreign car? In my program Upside Down Thinking, I teach to look a little deeper. The Toyota Camry is assembled in US plants using 80% parts made in the US. The Ford Fusion is made in Mexico and uses only 50% parts made in the US. The Dodge Caravan is made of 70% US parts but built in Canada, while the Toyota Sienna minivan is made of 80% US parts and built in the good old US of A. So, just what the hell is going on? Ford and Dodge are the FOREIGN cars while Toyota appears to be the US made car. We should get credit for Toyota sales as US car sales!

THE BLUE SCHOOL: One of my favorite creative forces on the planet, The Blue Man Group, has opened a school in New York – The Blue School and just like themselves; the school pushes normal learning experience right out the door. Currently working with kindergarten and pre-k kids the school has 62 students with a burgeoning waiting list. Here are some of their unique ideas:

School is not cheap - $27,300 for elementary kids and $14,700 for pre- schoolers. Learning should be experiential, connecting to fun and education. This could be the ticket for a creative learning revolution.

THE MASTER OF THE HOLIDAY WINDOW: Ignaz Gorischeck has a large and important seasonal challenge; create a magical Christmas window wonderland at the Neiman Marcus flagship store in downtown Dallas. Ignaz is world famous for his imaginative flight of fancy that year in and year out amaze the Dallas crowds that flock to see his ideas manifested behind a pane of glass. But there in lies the problem, the barrier between his creative idea and the viewer. There is always a separation. This year Ignaz wanted to end the division between viewer and dreamland so he created an access portal directly in the window allowing children to enter the store and his window display from the street! Now the viewers are no longer observers but instead participants!


CONTACT: Interested in these ideas?

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You can contact Steve at steve@creativeventures.com or give him a call at 972-490-7717.
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