by Stu McLaren
It doesn’t matter who you are, every entrepreneur has the same obstacle to overcome in the beginning.
To get past the obstacle of having a tight budget to begin with you really have to learn how to market yourself creatively by asking yourself some simple creative questions.
Ask yourself:
1) How could I…
A different question to get started with:
2) If I needed help with (blank) this person could help me. This is a fantastic question to remember.
Here’s another one:
3) Who might exchange for ?
Here’s another one:
4) How can I do this faster, with less effort, cheaper? Could I do this for free?
Here’s another one:
5) Could I substitute ‘X’ for ‘Y’? What could I substitute to get ‘ABC’ instead of ‘XYZ’? Just think of whatever you wanted to do, how could you substitute for ‘XYZ’?
Here’s another one that I love. This really puts you in the shoes of unique and different people.
6) If I was so-and-so, how would I solve this problem?
Here are some examples: How would my mother solve this problem? How would my competitor solve this problem? The great thing about this question is it forces you to think from different perspectives.
I can confidently say that these questions, as well as others, have allowed my creativity to grow and have opened all kinds of opportunities up to me. The success of my career can be credited to my creative thinking.
Here is an example of how I used this creative questioning to overcome an obstacle early on in my career.
I decided to become a professional speaker as soon as I was done University. My focus was speaking to college and high school students about the topic of creativity. I focused on creativity because with it I was able to move from a first year failure in University to graduating being named Most Outstanding Male with straight A’s. I changed a lot between how I did things in first year to my last year, and I credit a lot of it to learning something I had become very passionate about, creative thinking.
Even though I had decided that this is what I wanted to do, I had no idea about becoming a professional speaker, or if I could turn it into a profitable business.
I went to and joined an organization called CAPS, which is The Canadian Association for Professional Speakers.
I remember going to one of the local chapter meetings and there was one guy there that was doing very well in his speaking career and I asked him, “What do I need to do to get to your level?” And he said, “Well Stu, it’s very simple. I’m going to give you three things to do. When you’ve done all three, then come back to me and I’ll give you some more.” I said, “Okay.”
“The first thing you need to do is surround yourself with people who are in the same industry as yourself. Join CAPS, it will help your business grow.” I said, “Okay.”
In order to join CAPS it cost $200, which at that time was a squeeze. Thinking back on it I remember paying for it on payments in order to be able to do it. I did number though, I joined CAPS.
The second thing he said I had to do was, “Get out to the CAPS National Conference.” As much as I wanted to go, it was on the other side of Canada, which meant more costs on top of the relatively expensive conference fee. At this point everything was expensive for me as I had no money. To get there I would have to pay for my flight, accommodations and everything else.
I needed to find a creative solution. Here’s what I did. I asked myself some creative questions. What I started to do was look at what I had that, perhaps, somebody might need and want.
What I had at the time was time itself. I wasn’t speaking very often because I had just started my speaking business, so I had some time on my hands.
Then I started to say, “Okay, how could I use my time to benefit somebody else?” From that question I came up with a campaign, and I called it Help Stu Be Like You.
But here was the concept and here’s what happened. I approached the biggest chapter of the CAPS organization in my province and I asked for 30 seconds in front of the whole group. There were about 75 of them.
This was something that nobody had ever asked for. While up there I said, “How many of you, at one point, started off as a speaker with no experience?” Of course everybody’s hands went up in the air.
The next question I asked was, “Out of all of you who have your hand up, how many of you have been to the CAPS national conference?” About 75% of the room kept their hands up.
I continued, “Of those who have been able to attend the conference, how many of you believe it would be beneficial for a new speaker, with no experience to be able to go?” Everyone kept their hands up.
“Great, I am someone who needs to get out to the CAPS national conference because I have zero speaking experience!”
But then I gave them my situation. I said, “I have a problem though. I don’t have any money. The one thing I do have though is time. That is why I have created a campaign called, ‘Help Stu Be Like You.’ Basically I am willing to make an exchange and I’m hoping you will too.” I passed out 8×6 black and white flyers I had printed off at home on 8-1/2×11 sheets to save costs. I made sure everyone in the audience got one.
I began to explain my campaign. “This is what I am willing to do. Anything that you as speakers don’t like doing, don’t have time to do, or just need an extra pair of hands to do, I will do it. Sales calls, creating sales letters, licking stamps, anything. I will even come to your house and cut your lawn or wipe your baby’s bottom if that’s what you want me to do. All I’m asking in return is a financial contribution of your choice.”
Looking out at everyone I could see some people’s wheels were just turning thinking, “Oh wow. This is amazing. I can get all those little jobs I hate doing for cheap!”
I said, “I am willing to do whatever you don’t like doing in exchange for a financial contribution of your choice, all of which will go towards getting me out to the CAPS national conference.”
I finished explaining my campaign and immediately a gentleman at the back of the room stood up. He said, “Stu, I will pay for your entrance fee to the seminar.” Just like that, half of my costs were taken care of!
Once that gentleman was finished telling me about what he was willing to contribute another gentleman stood up. He said, “Stu, I will take care of getting you out to the seminar.” Bang, Bang. In a matter of minutes 85% of my expenses were taken care of.
My friends, it’s all about being creative.
By asking myself that creative question, I was able to come up with a solution that got me out to the conference and my entrance fee paid for. By the time I got there it had turned into a big story, the national CAPS publication had written a story about me and I had all kinds of people coming up to me asking me questions.
Ideas will come to you when you explore the possibilities of creativity!
Until next time!
No Comments »
Filed under: Marketing