Let me introduce you to Entrepreneurs-Journey’s latest expert columnist, Neroli Makim, who specializes in creativity. Neroli is a friend from Brisbane, who recently published a book called “ href="http://yourcreativesuccess.com/book/">Your Inner Knowing” which as the subtitle explains, is about Unlocking The Secrets To Creative Success. I can tell you from experience talking to Neroli, the subject of creativity is definitely her passion and she is eager to help people tap into theirs.

Creativity is so crucial to the success of every entrepreneur, which is why I invited her to contribute her knowledge from studying this vital aspect of all human beings. This is her introductory article, explaining who she is and why you need to become aware of important your own creativity is…

What’s the most elusive yet sought after commodity in business today, and who has it?

The answer to the above question is creativity. Who can access this? Everybody.

src="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/images/neroli-makim.jpg" alt="Neroli Makim" class="alignright" align="right" />Hi, it’s Neroli, I’m an author, artist and speaker on creativity. My work focuses on the relationship between creativity and personal fulfillment and professional success in life. I educate people about creativity; what it is, why it’s important and how to access this precious commodity within our selves.

My goal is to help people understand how and where they’re already abundantly creative, and show them how to tap into this resource.

How I Became A Creativity Expert

How did I get involved in the business of writing and speaking about creativity?

Creativity is something that has infiltrated and influenced every aspect of my life. During my early childhood, spent on an isolated, outback cattle station, I had no choice but to use my creativity to deal with the challenges of growing up without the things most people take for granted. We had no television, telephones and electricity, or even a community of people around to play and communicate with (our nearest neighbors were a 20 minute drive away). And of course, the Internet wasn’t even invented then.

The only way my brothers and sisters could pass the time and relieve boredom was to use our imagination and creativity. As an adult, I learned from studying the work of some of the leaders in the field of creativity, it was precisely this environment which forced me be imaginative and innovative from an early age that facilitated my prolific creativity as an adult.

I’ve been involved in the Creative Arts industry for over 15 years. I completed a degree in Visual Arts at University, and have exhibited and sold work nationally and internationally during this time. My interest in creativity and its relationship to personal fulfillment and professional success led me to train extensively in the art of self- awareness and spiritual disciplines. This involved moving meditation, Buddhist disciplines and Body Psychotherapy, as well as studying under select leaders in field of personal development for over a decade. I released my first book on Creativity in 2010, which is the culmination of the life experience, training and study of all of the above.

Why Creativity Is Important To Business

id="more-4046">

Why is creativity one of the most sought after commodities in Business today? In May 2010, IBM released a survey “of more than 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, chief executives believe that — more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision — successfully navigating an increasing complex world will require creativity.” (IBM press release, href="http://www.ibm.com">www.ibm.com)

It’s quite simple really. In essence, creativity is the ability to be resourceful and innovative, to tap into insights, and access skills we need to navigate our constantly evolving world. Creativity also plays a crucial role in helping us interact with others and feel part of an integrated social structure. In other words, it helps us find our tribe, connect with it, and flourish.

Think about how rapidly our business environment is changing. Once stable and secure ways to earn a living are completely obsolete in today’s global marketplace. Outsourcing to far cheaper, offshore alternatives is a readily available, easily accessible option. “With competition now global, companies must cut overheads to the bone, with a clear trend from labor-intensive investment to capital-intensive.” (The Australian Institute of Management)

A steady job and long service leave is an almost unheard of phenomenon in today’s workforce. “Part-time, seasonal, project, contract and temporary work is rapidly becoming the preferred mode for employers wanting to cut costs.” (The Australian Institute of Management)

In today’s business environment, to ensure a continued income, both employers and employees are required to be flexible, resourceful, self-managing, great at communicating and networking, and capable of creating your own niche in which you can compete as a dominant player. All of the above requirements can be fulfilled through your creativity.

Applying Creativity

How does creativity fulfill these requirements? Let’s start with flexibility and resourcefulness.

As most of you reading this blog are entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs, remember the times when you have had to be exceptionally resourceful and flexible in order to make things work in your own business. Coming up with unique and competent ways to meet the needs of your clients, within the scope of your human, financial and time resources, pushes you to the limits of your creative capacity. In order to draw on the insight, intelligence and skills needed to be an entrepreneur, you are literally forced to tap into your creativity to be competitive with the bigger players who have more time, money and human resources to draw from.

Self-managing through creativity; this one’s easy. If you’ve read Yaro’s articles on the href="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/397/80-20-rule-pareto-principle/">80/20 rule, you’ll know how crucial it is to self manage effectively to be successful in your business.

How does creativity assist you in self-managing? Your creativity shows you exactly what it is you need to focus on and what it is you need to outsource. When you are in the zone is when you are in sync with your creative genius. Your creativity shows you the tasks you find most rewarding and gives you the best return for your investment of time, energy and money. Creativity is literally the guiding light to what and how you need to self manage to be effective and successful in your business.

Creativity = great at communicating and networking. This is one of my favorite aspects of creativity. Remember how I said creativity helps you find your tribe, connect with it and flourish? Communicating and networking is not something that everyone loves to do or is naturally good at. When we find the people and places we really connect with, communication and networking happens effortlessly.

Think about a group of fanatic collectors. They’re not struggling in any way, shape, or form to communicate and network with each other about whatever they are collectively inspired by. Again, it’s your creativity that directs you to where you are highly competent and already engaged in communicating and networking. These same skills can easily be transferred to your business life.

Creativity is one of the most sought after commodities in business today because that’s what’s gives you the edge over the competition. Creativity gives you the insights, innovation, communication & practical problem solving skills needed to make money, and to keep making money in business.

Who Is Creative?

So, who is creative? And how can we tap into this resource? The good news is, everybody is creative. The bad news is, very few people recognize how and where in their lives they are already abundantly creative.

Creativity is an innate part of being human; it’s like breathing. In fact, if you are breathing, you are creative. You may not be accessing and expressing your creativity in this very moment, but it’s there all the same. It’s something we’re born with, and it goes with us to the grave.

The big disconnect usually happens during our education. Up until school age, kids have very few qualms about launching headlong into any creative endeavor. During school, not only are we largely misinformed about how creative we are, we are largely misinformed about what creativity is, and how relevant it is to success in life. If you think back to the beginning of this article, you may not have been aware of how much you are engaging your creative gifts. By now, I’m sure you will have more of an idea of how your entrepreneurship and business thrive on creativity.

How do we tap into this resource? This is the real kicker in this whole creativity game… we access our creativity through play.

Now, before anyone starts screaming that work and play are mutually exclusive and playing has nothing to do with making money, allow me to explain further. Play does not necessarily mean sitting in front of the x-box, going shopping or driving balls around a golf course. Play can present itself in any form at all, but there are certain key elements in all forms of play.

Dr. Stuart Brown, medical doctor, psychiatrist, clinical researcher and author has spent his entire career studying play behavior in humans. He says “Play lies at the core of creativity & innovation.” Over his lifetime’s work, he has discovered there are 8 dominant styles of playing. He calls these play personalities, and people generally favor 2 or 3 styles of playing. In order to find out where and how you are already abundantly creative, you simply need to know which play personalities you most naturally connect with. Then you can see precisely where and how you are already accessing and expressing your innate creative gifts.

What Is Your Creative Character?

I have put together a Creative Character survey in which you find out your dominant play personalities. By clicking on the link at the end of this article you can fill in the survey for free for a limited time only. (This is not usually a freebie, but I think it’s rude to ask you to pay for something when we’ve only just met, so for a short while, this is gratis.)

Play not only happens in the workplace, it is the thing that makes our work enjoyable, and makes us become very skilled at the type of work that is most closely linked to our Creative Character.

(Repeat after me; Play = creativity = niche = dominant player)

Notice how I say you’re a dominant player? You’re not dominating in your field because you’re a dominant worker, that not only sounds absurd and incongruous, it simply doesn’t happen. If you want to be creative, innovative, resourceful and ahead of the crowd, you need to be a dominant player in your business. It is through your style of play that you will access the creativity, innovation and problem solving skills needed to dominate in your niche.

If you fill in the survey to find out which play personalities make up your Creative Character, you will see clearly how and where you are already accessing and expressing creativity in your life. Once you see where these gifts are, you know exactly what to continue to use as leverage to succeed in your business, as well as what needs outsourcing.

The really cool thing about creativity is that once you’ve found it in one area of your life, it’s much easier to translate it into other areas. Because once you know you are creative, it literally begins to feel like an inherent part of your being, you just know you can do it.

I’d like to thank you very much for reading this article. How creativity relates to personal success and professional fulfillment is literally a bottomless pit of amazing and fascinating information, I have struggled to cram the essence of it into this one tiny post.

In future articles, I will explain in far greater depth how various aspects of creativity relate to success in distinct areas of business and life. I’d love you to join me in this grand adventure of discovery and awakening the creative genius within. Here’s to your creative success!

Neroli Makim