Successful Business Owners Know How To Be Creative, Here’s How To Be One

This is a fact: people who know how to get around solving problems by knowing how to be creative are the ones who most likely endure the competition.

The world is thriving greatly with thousands of businesses launching almost every day with most of them aiming to appeal to consumers’ creative preferences. 

Being creative in the modern-age is a necessary skill.

More than knowing the basic concepts of design, becoming a creative thinker is all about concept mapping the product: how it will look like, what problems will it solve, is it sustainable and long-term solution — design is more than just presenting a visible solution.

It’s about creating something functional that comes with insightful impact. 

Although there are modern-day entrepreneurs who function well on both business and creative aspects, there still exists a definite fine line between how designers and business owners think and this can have slight alterations on how the business and its brand will function long-term. 

For instance, designers are perfectly efficient working their way around the creative branding and advertising initiatives of a business but only know little of how the business model will run.

Business owners, on the other hand, know the business aspect all the way to the core but lack sufficient creative skills to determine the most appropriate creative strategy for their brand campaigns. 

This fine line, although it may seem harmless, can actually cause damage to your business in the long run. That’s why many business owners are now extensively adapting towards a creative mindset in order to cultivate a creative work environment. 

There are several studies and articles online on how you can start thinking creatively, but there’s one proven way to consistently practice a creative mindset: paradox. 

It might not be the first time you’ve heard of this word, but not everyone knows the idea behind paradox. Why is it one of the most highly coveted traits that exhibited some of the world’s most famous artists and scientists?

What makes it the secret ingredient for becoming a creative-minded entrepreneur? 

Simple: it never allows you to have the same identity. It lets you take both opposites; it’s a two-faced approach in every kind of situation.

The art of paradox is easy but complicated. Let’s explain.

The art of thinking in paradox or formally known as “creative paradoxical thinking” or “Janusian thinking” (derived from the a Roman god named Janus who has two faces) is a common concept among creatives and scientists, primarily because it’s the rightful process that helps them lead to in-depth understanding of how balance exists between contradictory ideas. 

You’d easily recognize these people: Pablo Picasso (popularised the Cubism art movement), Louis Pasteur (French biologist who discovered vaccination and pasteurisation), Wolfgang Mozart (acclaimed pianist, a music prodigy), and the famous Albert Einstein (famous theoretical physicist). 

These notable figures all shared the same thought process when cultivating their own expertise to produce remarkable masterpieces and life-changing discoveries: figuring out all the possible ideas in a situation and listing all the possible opposites of their ideas.

They are able to brainstorm in a multifaceted dimension — embracing the concept of “both/and” relationship has led them to explore possible conflicts and utilising them to establish feasible yet groundbreaking, creative solutions to existing problems. 

Now, where does creative paradox thinking usually come from? Is it a natural or acquired skill? The answer is, it’s both. 

Studies show that highly creative people may have an innate creative talent and high intelligence since their childhood, prior to being exposed to routinary creative practices and productive environments throughout most of their lives which makes them exemplary in their respective fields.

However, having high IQ intelligence doesn’t automatically mean that you also have the capability of thinking like a creative person, but you can acquire creative paradoxical thinking over time.

Learning the creative’s jargon is also deemed necessary, especially in a world where you can easily gather extensive knowledge in a few seconds, but the key vital practices you need to include in your daily life are:

• strengthening your observational skills
• adapting to different kinds of environments
• practicing the art of empathy

Here’s why.

Time and time again, having a good sense of observing what’s happening around you does wonder for your brain. It’s an extremely essential soft skill that most, if not all, creatives practice during their brainstorming process. 

Have you ever wondered why creatives like to work in coffee shops and co-working spaces? That’s because it allows them to channel their inner creativity by indulging their senses in an environment that’s conducive for observing people, gathering ideas, and doing productive work without too much unnecessary noise and other distractions. 

Meanwhile, adapting in different kinds of environments actually helps you unlock your way through cultivating empathy or the ability to understand consumers’ perspective, whether in the entrepreneurial or personal sense.

Here’s one of our team’s go-to strategies when creating insightful campaigns for brands: immersing in the lifestyles and mindsets of the target market in order to get a fuller grasp on how the consumer mind works which then transcends to our advertising campaigns. 

What do creatives love about doing that process? It helps build relationships with people and helps retain existing clients. It’s a win-win situation. Once you’ve learnt these three traits, creativity will thrive in every future challenge you’ll take on for your business.