I found this BBC interview of Steven Johnson about his new book, “Where Good Ideas Come From.” to be quite interesting. He touches on how we as humans innovate, ways for businesses today to be thought leaders and tells us what is key to being more creative…
So, as a self-employed human being striving to develop your talents further, how can you be more creative? Be eclectic.
One way Princeton WordNet definess eclectic is “selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas.”
When it comes to music, art, movies, language, hobbies, reading and so on you should never be so predictable in your choices. When some people do this they say they’re in a rut. They keep doing the same things over and over again.
This is even more true when it comes to our relationships. Never limit yourself to just one race, language or nationality. Of the hundreds of possible cultural combinations (nations, languages, traditions, religion) only one could logically be the original. That means all the rest have developed and progressed by mixing with other types of peoples. Those that have flourished were open societies. So be an open mind and be ready to grow!
All that said, absorb as much as you can from your surroundings, take the best of everything and then do something great!
GnuCash is a a free and open source accounting tool for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s local, can export data to Quicken, Quickbooks, etc (via XML and 3rd party tools) and it can easily import your transactions directly from many online business bank accounts (like Bank of America).
I started with a simple spread sheet years ago. That worked for a while, but then my transactions started growing. So, I started using www.outright.com, but that isn’t very comprehensive. It worked for a while, but I want a better view of my business’s financial health.
The advent of open source software has sparked a big debate in the global economy, an economy that is so used to secrecy for the sake of control. Open is a trend that is not going away. Open source software is created by volunteers from all over the world at no cost to the end users. These volunteers work for free because they need something, not because they see money in it(ie: http://zenfoc.us). They help themselves while helping others in the process.
But what does open mean for business today. Does open reduce the potential for profit(aka making a living)?
This powerful quote has proved very true in my personal endeavors to financially support my wife and I.
For a long while, I’ve been researching how to operate a business correctly. I’ve read books from the local library(one of my most valuable resources) as well as online. I’ve tried to learn from my freelance experiences as well as from working with a group of professionals in the last firm where I was employed. I’ve tried to watch others make choices and see how they react.
Of all the things I’ve done to learn, to ask others is the most effective method.