Business owners are always getting new ideas! We either get carried away when we feel that pull to follow our creativity or find ourselves questioning if it makes sense in our current business. We could easily go back and forth deciding which move to make and which to ignore. Unfortunately, rather than making that decision on which feeling to lean into, we can end up leaving ourselves feeling stuck in the mud altogether.

How do you navigate that push and pull of creativity then? Simple. You give it a compass.

#1 Establish Your Brand’s True North

When creativity strikes, let your brand’s compass determine whether it’s pointing you in the right direction. Figuring out what your true north is as a business will allow you to navigate what’s worth pursuing and what needs to take a back seat. You can establish this guideline by thinking about what you truly want your brand to be known for at the end of the day. Who do you create for and what impact does it make on them? Everything you put out into the world as a brand should come back to this! Your true north. Remember to give your business time to curate its own “true north” concept and if you’ve been in business awhile, it may be time to take inventory and refresh what it really means.  

#2 Listen to Your Creativity

Knowing that there could never be enough resources like time, money, or manpower to tackle every creative thought you have can be empowering, depending on how you look at it. Learn to listen to your own creativity and figure out what’s exciting you the most right now. What are you feeling bored with right now? Don’t discredit your creative appetite but hone in on what it’s really saying about what direction you need to go.

Ask yourself the following questions to determine which way your compass is pointing:

1. Could this current idea be sparked by trends, competitors, or even boredom?
2. Is this idea best for me personally or for my business? 
3. IF for my business, is this something that deserves my time right now or later? 

#3 Lean Into What Feels Right

Once you ask yourself the right questions, you will start to see the right direction come into view more clearly, with the bottom line being what feels right to you as a brand. The ideas that you can’t stop thinking about tend to mean you are onto something of value. Trust that true north you’ve established and lean in! The creativity you have as a business owner then gets channeled into the right aspects of your brand at the right time! This is what helps avoid creating confusion among customers about who you are and what you mean to them as consumers. The magical moves that build momentum in a business happen when you learn to not only navigate which creative direction makes sense in the moment, but genuinely feels right.

Hustle & Heart Challenge

This month help identify which of your creative ideas are pointing your brand’s compass toward its true north. Make a list of recent creative ideas that you’ve considered moving forward with. Review each idea one by one, asking yourself the three questions above to see if they align with the mission and vision of your brand as a whole. Allow the “keeper” ideas to permeate and see what truly feels like the right move forward.