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January 2010 Guest Guide Event

Mapping Your Business
with visual thinker Julie Stuart

Creatively brainstorm and organize your ideas into a colorful visual plan that embodies your excitement for your business (including kangaroos and confetti, if that’s your thing).

Please allow me to introduce genius visual thinker Julie Stuart.

As I’ve gotten to know her over the last year, I’m not sure exactly when I realized what her considerable talents are. But when she shared this amazing illustration of her business plan for the final quarter of 2009, I knew I wanted her to be a part of the Guest Guide series.

Because I love mind-mapping. I encourage my students to use mind-mapping. I think it’s a really useful tool to have in one’s tool box. It’s a technique that is organic and visual and intuitive and relational – and can help you discover and organize ideas in ways that list-making just can’t.

But I’m not very good at it. Inspired by Julie’s example, I mapped my own business ideas for 2010. And while that gave me some clarity, I wasn’t nearly as excited about my results as Julie was about hers. I mean -fercryinoutloud- I folded it up and filed it away when I was done! How does that help my business?

“Yesterday I created my three-month business plan and just looking at it makes me hysterically happy. My plan has pictures! Hearts! Hot pink dots! Kangaroos! And confetti! How could I not love it? How could I not be wildly inspired by it? How could I not use it every day?”

I wanted me some of that delight. (And having read that, I’m guessing now lots of you do too.) Because being hysterically happy about a business plan just sounds nice. But it also sounds very practical. Being happy with it – as Julie notes – means you’ll use it.

I found myself wondering hopefully if Julie could teach us some skills and techniques that would take our mind-mapping to a much more exciting place…

Lucky for us, Julie accepted my invitation to share some of her mind-mapping smarts.

And what better time than January when we are all in a planning mood and are already thinking about where we want to take our businesses in the coming year?

a customized-for-you business road map

In this tele-workshop, Julie will help us tap into our intuition and take a visual journey through the landscape of our business terrain and imagine the possibilities of what we can do in the coming year (or, if you prefer, in the more immediate next three months).

Then she’ll guide us through brainstorming ideas about our direction and organizing them into a visual framework with clear action steps.

You’ll come away with a customized-for-you business road map – one that inspires and delights you, and you’ll want to use every day.

Don’t have the art gene? (Or feeling rusty about your drawing skills as I am?) Not to worry. We’ll be using colored post-it notes and basic shapes to compose our ideas. Plus you will receive a file beforehand with some simple icon drawings by Julie herself that you can easily copy.

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Please join me and Julie for what I know is going to be a super-fun workshop with very practical benefits for your business.

This workshop took place January 14, 2010, but you can still learn Julie’s mapping techniques from the recording of the call and accompanying notes.

All it takes is $30 and less than two hours of your time to improve your skills with this oh-so-useful planning technique.

All those ideas that are bouncing around in your head?
Learn how to put them on paper where you can see how they fit together and exactly what you should be doing with them. Your brain – and your business – will thank you.