An Assignment Q&A.
- Yes, I would love to be more creative! It’s very fun to be creative.
- I would like to be more creative in how I market the booth at Down Home Creations. I’m going to do a flyer with a coupon and pass it to everyone I know. I think it will help me rehome my mom’s things and get more traffic for the great crew at DHC.
- I’d love to find new ways to improve my home business (Boarding House for Students). I used to try one new recipe a week so that I could be more skilled and make flavorful, filling meals for my house family. I have streamlined many things but would like to streamline more so I don’t get overwhelmed with day to day chores when I finally move home.
- I’d like to get a side business going making logos and marketing materials to have fun and help others.
- Historically, people had casual think tank places like Coffee Houses. Now, we have SO many ways to connect; to reach out and find other people. There is more of a chance (favors) to borrow other people’s hunches and combine them with our own through internet connections. We can work with others (brainstorm) to create something new or find the missing piece we need to complete our own ideas. We might just stumble on a new piece of information when we take a chance on a connection. That chance piece of information may help us build or improve our own ideas. I think of it as “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Or in other words, “It never hurts to ask.”
- I connect, creatively speaking, in the following ways. a Pinterest. I use this forum to collaborate ideas with my friends and family if we are working on a joint project or planning an event together. For example, my friend Lyndsey and I planned a baby shower using pictures, recipes, etc. in a shared board there. My sister in law and I planned our families Game Weekend with brownies that looked like dice, etc. b. Research. I have traveled a lot and always go to different flea markets to see what others are selling or how they are packaging things. I ask a lot of questions. Since I’m not really competition here in Harrison (live far away from them), they are usually very helpful. c. Networking and Sharing. I take photos of room designs and share them with my niece who is an interior designer. We learn from each other. She is more in tune with the current housing market. I am part of an Essential Oils Group and we share diffuser recipes and sales ideas.
- An example of a time that I collaborated on an idea was when I made a goal while working for the South County YMCA in Laguna Niguel, CA. I wanted to get my day camp ACA accredited. (ACA = American Camping Association) ACA Accreditation reviews program quality and the health and safety of staff and campers. You need to have policies, procedures, and practices in place. Gaining the accreditation is a marking of 50 years of parent trust in accredited camps. I always wanted my programs to be the best they could be and my people to grow to their fullest potential. I set up a timeline and asked my fellow directors to visit and review our day camp in the various categories. They gave me feedback and helped with any needed additional items. (We had 30 professional staff at South Coast.) This helped me thoroughly prepare for the actual visit from the ACA team. It was a peer review process with folks from camps all over California. The outcome was that we were accredited, and my team all felt a part of the prestige and a part of the process. It encouraged everyone to seek the highest standards for our many programs.
