Category: Business in Rhyme

How acquiring entrepreneurial mindset can make you more creative at work

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!

dylan sherlock

Being entrepreneur is not easy. It might sound attractive, provocative – especially in the rising startup culture, but the risks, sacrifices, stress and uncertainties that entrepreneurs deal with every day leaves you with a kinda bitter-sweet taste in your mouth. Yet entrepreneurship and the experiences that entrepreneurs can offer is a learning path that we can encounter in many facets of our life. Even at your work place, where you have a boss, a coworkers, where you are dependable, have limited resources, deadlines and procedures you must follow – even then you can apply some of the  entrepreneurial principles, enrich your creativity  and become better employee: you can become an intrapreneur.

I’ve met many people who think they can work for themselves and finally be in control of their career. But sometimes they discover that entrepreneurship is the furthest thing from control in their life, because the realities of being an entrepreneur—the time investment, stress, and unexpected sacrifices—suddenly feels like an insurmountable task and not that much desired lifestyle. Then they become dissatisfied all over again, tired and experiencing crisis that is hard to overcome: instead of solving problems, new just start to generate.

Intrapreneurship borrows principles from entrepreneurship. In intrepreneurship you are developing whole new business and  products, while as an intrapreneur you are, within your organization, working on new programs, products, services mostly in a new, creative and innovative form. Working within limitations can actually boost your creativity while developing greater job satisfaction – having your own meaningful impact within your working environment.

An intrapreneurial approach to work can be for someone who wants to make a difference, use his talents, but within rather safe and predictable conditions without making too much risks and career changes.

So what can you actually do?

Be the one who delivers new ideas and solutions.

Get more educated and acquainted with the topic of the project you are working on; offer new ideas and guidance while discussing with your colleagues and co-workers; work on you presentation skills and search for new ways to employ your talents at work; become a source of knowledge and creativity; always have in mind that ‘bigger picture’ that goes beyond organizational policy and bureaucracy.

But be aware of one thing: find a right timing for showing your talents and learn to make suggestions diplomatically. You don’t want your co-workers to see you as a ‘threat’, someone who imposes himself all the time and who knows ‘everything’. If you do go overboard, you might end-up with too much work and with no support.

It does take courage and intuitive knowledge when is the right time to share your passion, talent and inventiveness, yet it’s a learning path, just like entrepreneurship is. It can help you overcome a stagnant feeling you might be holding towards your job and the growing you will experience is going to lead you to even better work and project opportunities.

I saw a Ruler take his stand
And trample on a mighty land;
The People crouched before his beck,
His iron heel was on their neck,
His name shone bright through blood and pain,
His sword flashed back their praise again.

I saw another Ruler rise–
His words were noble, good, and wise;
With the calm sceptre of his pen
He ruled the minds and thoughts of men;
Some scoffed, some praised–while many heard,
Only a few obeyed his word.

Another Ruler then I saw–
Love and sweet Pity were his law:
The greatest and the least had part
(Yet most the unhappy) in his heart–
The People, in a mighty band,
Rose up, and drove him from the land!

This is the poem by Adelaide Anne Procter: “The three rulers”. What I like about this poem is that in its own, intriguing way is telling the importance of innovative thinking, having our own voice that needs to be heard and understood. While reading the poem, we might think that only the sword matters, yet for collective success-it takes another two: noble, wise, love and sweet pity. Besides strength we need wisdom and empathy to make a our ‘business whole’: where we take into account our leaders, workers and customers.

While working on emphasizing and balancing these three qualities in our work we are bringing that needed change: a step towards betterment of our working lives that positively impacts others as well.

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Why people don’t like poetry?

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

shelley

This essay is inspired by some of the recent comments in this post. And it made me think: why  people really don’t like poetry? What is it that keeps them away from maybe not writing, but from reading some really exquisite pieces by poets from all around the world?

The usual answer is something like “Poetry is boring”, “I don’t understand it”, “It’s a waste of time”. So I wanted to explore this topic a bit further.

If we look more deeply around us, we can notice that people have very little time to appreciate art in general. This fast paced, consumer oriented society has trained us to want everything now and here. An instant satisfaction, an instant thrill, an instant experience: not allowing our biological system to perceive with all its senses; truly absorb our emotions and simply feel.

Life usually demands of us high level of practicality, logical and factual thinking in order for us to be functional and productive on a day to day basis. It’s very noticeable in how we are doing business and science. But where are the boundaries? Have we lost our human touch? In our lives when everything is so exact and explicit we have erased some of the basic human traits: ability to feel and empathize. We cannot treat our most intimate relationships, families and ourselves like we are on a business meeting and signing a business contract.

And there is this soft spot where poetry likes to ‘poke’ you. It demands something different from you. It demands your whole being to respond: if you try logically to analyze a poem, it will take you nowhere; if you search for shortcuts, you will be lost; if you need answers, probably you will be disappointed.

A poem is a journey that allows you to escape from typical factual thinking and forces you to question everything: instead of searching for answers on the outside, you need to look deep inside of you.

There lies the true value of poetry – especially for business leaders, as it can be seen as an antidote to typical business interpretations:

  • poem is associative rather than factual thinking;
  • poem enforces abstract thinking in comparison to deductive thinking.

Like Clare Morgan implies in “What poetry brings to business”:

reading poetry generates conceptual spaces that maybe different from the spaces usually approached in business and life in general.

As poetry is letting yourself to get familiar with the unknown – it shouldn’t instill fear of ambiguity and uncertainty, but rather to be seen as a vehicle, attractive mystical longing that can transcend us across those conceptual spaces and offer different modes of interpretation: a sure way to enrich our creativity in all aspects of our lives.

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Billy Collins

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Poetry as an act of prayer, ritual and belief: the case of Slavic Mythology

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, My personal rhyme - from time to time, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

Nordic, Greek and Roman mythologies are very well known and explored in literature – through science fiction and poetry writing, from anthropological, religious and ethnological point of view. Old Slavic mythology is lesser known and popular, yet very rich in folktales, rituals, mythological creatures. It was a part of the belief system that Old Slavs treasured and celebrated: a multi-theist system of Gods, spirits and “lower beings” that influenced each part of their lives. To old Slavs their Gods are the founts of life, power and happiness. Gods, worshiped for millennia gave the meaning to existence, and protective notion to old Slavs. They were celebrated through rituals and songs – similar to many indigenous traditions.

In some remote Balkan regions, these rituals and songs are still present. Probably due to the reason that when old Slavs adopted Christianity, many of the old, Pagan customs found their place in the new belief system, just disguised under another name and purpose. My father, for example used to tell me about the songs and customs that were performed in his village during spring and summer – because peasants believed that it will influence the yield of the harvest and that it will help them to ‘cheer up’ the will of the Gods (like God Perun, that governed thunders and fire). In order to invoke the rain villagers would perform ritual: a girl, called do-do-la wearing a skirt made of fresh green knitted vines and small branches, sings and dances through the streets of the village, stopping at every house, where the hosts sprinkle water on her.

Following and celebrating religious holidays actually still impacts agricultural activities in many Balkan regions.

This poem I wrote below “Raingirl” was inspired by the ‘dodola’ ritual:

The face of the Earth is crunched,

wrinkled in furrows

burrows, like mouths are widely open

towards the sky with prayer for dull clouds.

Bodies of trees are broken and bowed.

Meadows bald,

leafs curled in sears, in the color of hell.

Some of animals can be seen

soulless, crouching on their celebrity red carpets

dreaming of rain.

It’s time for a Raingirl.

You will recognize her as a young maid,

dressed in rugs, with wreath around her head

adorned with wheat, flowers and grass.

Barefoot she would walk across the village,

her long hair trotting after her. She dances

and sings dow-down-la, dow-down-la while

milking her heavenly cows.

An orphan, as such adored among hearths.

Sometimes she would fly over woods and fields,

to awaken blossoms and green parchments,

as messaged by the God of Thunder.

As first drops appear, tree hands, grass blades, uprooted sinews

unroll their palms, tongues,

tired of summer soberness

in hope to imbibe a little bit of milk.

Raingirl smiles and as she suddenly appeared

in same fashion she evanesces in the mist

with her downy flock.

When we will see a raingirl again?

Once the Sun becomes this angry, heavy. In pain.

Our ancestors, not only in Slavic traditions believed that songs and poems do have a tremendous power to help us sustain even the most difficult times – that type of strength we still can nourish inside ourselves.

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Few quick updates

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

As Business in Rhyme, just few days ago has celebrated six months of its existence and is becoming an amazing community, I’ve been contemplating best forms to share even more content concerning poetry, creativity and writing. Now, since I don’t want to spoil already established essayist atmosphere of the blog, I’ve decided to launch a bimonthly newsletter where I could share even more articles, ideas, advice on how creativity and writing can be improved. So if you are interested in something like this you can sign up here. I also invite you to follow me on twitter where I frequently share interesting and fun links related to creativity, poetry, entrepreneurship and ext.

Let’s create and have fun together!

Being multi-creative: a curse or a blessing in disguise?

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

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This story you are reading  turned out to be longer than I wanted/expected, but it was never intended for bragging about my achievements: on the contrary…

When I was 5 years old I wanted to be a rock star.

That apparently didn’t happen. Then, at age of six I had to be satisfied with short ballet lessons. Soon, already at a school a fling towards poetry was quickly forgotten and “heavy” stuff like math, physics and chemistry took place. I grew up in an environment and belief system that only by being a good pupil/student, hard working in some technical field would only pay off. In high school somehow I got fascinated with magnetic fields,  earthquakes and volcanoes (although in my home country there isn’t almost any). Yet it was interesting scientific field, unexplored enough to satisfy my hunger for knowledge…Strangely enough, due to some circumstances I got a chance to work in the medical field and apply my engineering knowledge in a completely different way! A gratifying experience that introduced me to a whole new world. Nevertheless, I worked in research for several years, when I fell in love with sustainability. Again, my curiosity was awaken and I branched into a PhD research, connecting geophysics, management and sustainability.  And that’s how I led my life until my early thirties. In the meantime I took language courses (English, Italian, Dutch..), dance lessons, ext. I traveled across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Africa..Taught at the University and worked as a consultant for big corporations…As a great fan of mythology I drifted into learning astrology as well, which is still my active hobby…

Then first health issues began to appear (with some I’m still dealing with) and obviously something was wrong. We sometimes pay high prices for our high ambitions, yet something inside  is driving us to move forward. Being multi-creative, curios about the world and having many interests turned out to be both curse and a blessing in disguise, for me. You simply don’t know how to stop, but insights and revelations thrill you all the time; you always feel like you are playing; that you have insatiable need for new and that you have inexhaustible source of energy.

In very interesting post How to Deal with Multipotentialite Burnout,” Wapnick articulates how we may go “too far” in pushing the boundaries of our capacities to keep achieving.

It’s a collapse. Complete mental exhaustion. While most people experience burnout from time to time, creative people who have multiple interests are prone to hitting this point more frequently and more intensely. It makes sense, considering how passionately curious we are, and how easy it is for us to lose ourselves in our projects.”

As much as I am the proponent of creativity, it really can have a dark side – which I have also experienced. And today I would say that the key is balance – as much is for every multi-creative person of great importance to honor each part of their creative soul.

It’s what keeps them alive and empowers them. But not at the expense of health or that something else you need to sacrifice. The timing is also crucial. In my case, if I could do something differently, I would do things at much easier pace.

Often people ask me: “But, don’t you want to specialize in just one field, to become a great expert”? And I say “No. I strive for experience, for taste of something new; there is always a drive to learn something new.”

A common denominator for most of my creative outlets is research and writing. And that’s what I mostly do now, but at much slower pace..and I read a lot of poetry! 🙂

About year and a half ago, poetry silently again entered my life and many things changed for better – even my health since poetry has a healing properties for me. After some time thinking I decided to share my positive experience about poetry in this blog and explore further how it can be beneficial in our stressing work life.

So, if you recognize yourself as a multi-creative person, never neglect your needs. But, instead of ‘everything now and here’, enjoy in your creativity with ease and be compassionate towards yourself; strive for contribution, adding value in what you do, and never shy from learning. It’s a prerequisite for any type of growth.

When  you do things from your soul, you feel a river

moving in you, a joy.

When actions come from another section, the feeling

disappears.  Don’t let

others lead you.  They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

Reach for the rope

of God.  And what is that?  Putting aside self-will.

Because of willfulness

people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied,

fish sizzle in the skillet.

The anger of police is willfulness.  You’ve seen a magistrate

inflict visible punishment.  Now 

see the invisible.  If you could leave your selfishness, you

would see how you’ve

been torturing your soul.  We are born and live inside black water in a well.

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is? Don’t

insist on going where

you think you want to go.  Ask the way to the spring.  Your

living pieces will form

a harmony.  There is a moving palace that floats in the air

with balconies and clear

water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained

under a single tent.

Rumi

From a struggling creative to a thriving entrepreneur: 3 surprising aspects you need to consider

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!

henrymoore

The truth is: you can be very good at arts or writing – creative, interesting, refreshing, innovative, but if you lack certain business skills, hardly will your art ever get real market attention it deserves. There is a snobbery feeling that surrounds the idea of commercializing arts, hence – if you want to make a living from something that you are passionate about; something that comes from creative action – you have to start from somewhere.

When you think more clearly there are certain traits that accompany both artists and entrepreneurs. Like entrepreneurs, artists usually have a vision and a necessary drive to make that vision reality. On the other hand, having your own business requires certain degree of creativity: how to make your business unique or how to attract and impress customers?

But there are three important areas that I would like to emphasize, which every creative should explore and develop in order to become a successful business owner.

1.Know your limitations

Are you a good strategist? Are you firm in your decisions? How much are you prepared of your valuable time to spend on administrating tedious bureaucratic work and how eager are you to invest in the promotion of your work? Do you like to network or you rather spend hours and hours in your secluded creative space, contemplating your next piece and not having interest in anything else? Because, how at the beginning of your entrepreneurship you answer these questions can determine the course of your business. Many talented artists that succeeded, didn’t succeed by chance – they implemented strategically developed plan and had very clear idea what they needed to do. As an aspiring creative at the beginning you are mostly on your own – how much you invest, determines how much it will pay off later.

2.Be curious and do your research

To turn their work into sellable products, creatives first must know market demands. Do you know your audience? You have to be clear if there is an interest in what you have to offer. Then, do you know the monetary value of your work? Many artists struggle with estimating price range of their products because overvaluing is as much bad as underpricing your work.

3.Build your web of collaborators.

Now, the third aspect allows you to work on the first two simultaneously. You are not the only creative/entrepreneur starting his own business. Mingle, meet & greet similar people who have skills or services that you might lack! You can exchange services and help each other move forward with building the business. You will certainly broaden your network and is also an opportunity for you to promote your products/services.

The key is to find a balance and be persistent. There will be good days, but also bad days. Ideally, as proposed by  The Design Trust creative entrepreneurs should spend around 40% of their time creating, 40% on marketing, 10% on administration and 10% on professional development. Some of these things can be quite overwhelming, but being determined in setting your goals and working on them will help you derive your priorities, day by day, project by project.

3 tips to nail your book presentation

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

Nicholas-Boothman

When you write a book actually it’s not even the half work done. The most difficult part is yet to come and that is marketing ans selling your book. In this chain of activities, beside writing an amazing book and author bio – there are still significant things you can do to increase the selling prospects of your book: writing a captivating book presentation (synopsis) and giving a splendid pitch!

It can be a very difficult and daunting task since there’s so many things you want to include and you think that everything is equally important.

Now, there are probably some technical rules that you would need to follow, like number of words and paragraphs, (editors and agents will probably have their own requirements when it comes to how long they expect synopses to be) but my writing books so far, taught me that the essence of  book presentation should incorporate three approaches that I’m going to share with you now. It can be applied both to oral presentation and the written synopsis of the book.

It doesn’t matter if you are a fiction or non-fiction writer: many inexperienced authors make a beginners mistake and that is:

  1. Not everything is about them as writers – on the contrary!

Instead of forcing an attitude “me, me, me” and how good your book is, your focus should be on your audience – your potential readers, publisher, book sellers. In your presentation you need people who are listening and reading your stuff to put in the center of the action and make them feel that the presentation and the book in question is addressing them personally.

2. Become a mentor

Put yourself in your reader’s chair: what kind of experience does your book transcends? What your readers can learn? If your goal is to entertain them, what are the attractive points of the book you can emphasize?

Your book presentation shouldn’t be just a short version of already written story/text: make your audience a hero, take them on journey, give them new insights – make them WANT that book. And here, you are only their guide and mentor that navigates them through these new exciting adventures. As a writer, and mentor you’ve already traveled this journey and think of your presentation as a way to pass on the skills and knowledge you acquired.

3. Chose humility as your biggest asset

When you don’t try to steal all the spotlight, your point of view change. You’ll become more humble in understanding and communicating with your audience. While carefully crafting your book presentation, think of the benefits that your audience will get by reading your book; share your knowledge and wisdom in such way that is inviting, attractive and hard to say no to: your story needs to instill confidence, empathy, training, advice, tools or just fun – what ever is the value your book is providing.

I know this is a quite different approach to writing a book presentation/synopsis, yet in my experience it turned out to be very beneficial.

Once you try to think as your potential reader and in your presentation you accentuate what your reader should ‘take from a book’ – everything becomes much easier and clearer.

What can you expect on “Business in Rhyme” in 2016

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

Probably most you remember that a couple of weeks ago I ran a poll about future topics you would like to see more featured on this blog.

Creativity, writing and entrepreneurship were the leading topics with the most votes, which is also in alignment with most read/liked posts in the past year. So here is what I intend to do:

  • once a week (at least) there will be a creativity exercise, mostly based on writing and poetry techniques – but not as a typical prompts but rather in more engaging ways;
  • there will be more posts exploring the possibility of how you can turn your writing and creativity into a viable business;
  • also I would like to go beyond the value of poetry for business, but how it can help us in different areas of life  – something like this post.

My general intention with this blog is to really make a space and a community where we can all share our experiences and also learn in an engaging and fun process – so there will be some other novelties as well (I don’t want to reveal everything at once 😉 )

I also want to thank you all for an amazing ongoing support for this blog and my recently published poetry – it simply makes this worth while and it’s an encouragement to make it even better and more resourceful.

Looking forward to get “busy in rhyme” with all of you here!

Maja

The Poet’s Manifesto

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, My personal rhyme - from time to time, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

To set the tone for a year ahead, as an experiment, I’ve decided to post a poem I wrote recently, inspired by some of the poems I’ve read here on WordPress. My poetry is heavy and melancholic, in the form of prose poems and this is quite different and out of my comfort zone 🙂 –  I hope it will motivate you and inspire you in your writing poetry.

The Poet’s Manifesto by Maja S. Todorovic

I am the poet.

You are the poet.

Poetry is everywhere:

in your squinting eyes due to  the bright Sun beams;

in the smell of your first morning coffee;

in the smile of your friend when he sees you;

in the angry voice of your boss, when he teases you;

in the playful butterfly resting on your fingertips;

in the warm, passionate breath on your lover’s lips;

in the barking of your neighbor’s dog;

in the dense fog, heavy autumn rain;

in your unbearable pain.

That’s why you write:

you don’t need to explain,

to confess,

to impress,

anyone, just in vain.

You write because you feel,

you experience,

unsaid, unknown, unseen,

unheard, words unthrown.

You don’t write for adoration

or appreciation.

You don’t write for praise,

someone else to be amazed.

Your poem is your breathing.

Your poem is your existence.

Your poem is your persistence

to continue dreaming.

Words and letters, surprised

gathered here to take off their masks

to let you know:

whenever in doubt –just write!

Your creativity is well disguised.

Sometimes is shy,

encourage it to shine:

– just write!

 

Happy New Year!

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

I can’t  imagine a better way, to wish you for the year ahead to be fulfilled with inspiration, creativity and all that you desire simply to come true, than by sharing this wonderful poem with you. Happy 2016!

Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes
To pace the ground, if path be there or none,
While a fair region round the traveller lies
Which he forbears again to look upon;
Pleased rather with some soft ideal scene,
The work of Fancy, or some happy tone
Of meditation, slipping in between
The beauty coming and the beauty gone.
If Thought and Love desert us, from that day
Let us break off all commerce with the Muse:
With Thought and Love companions of our way,
Whate’er the senses take or may refuse,
The Mind’s internal heaven shall shed her dews
Of inspiration on the humblest lay.
Willam Wordsworth