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Creating Healthy and Joyous Entrepreneurs

Final Creative Plan I submitted for my Atlantic University TP5110 Course – September 23

Mission Statement & Overview

We are at an exciting and seemingly contradictory time with today’s economy. On the one hand, corporate roll-ups are gobbling up small businesses at an alarming rate. On the other hand, the tools and technologies available today allow entrepreneurs an opportunity to offer services and products that was impossible before the internet revolution. Opportunities still exist in the American economy for bright and dynamic individuals if they’re creative and resourceful.

And that’s the focus of a three-day conference aimed at a group of twenty innovative and motivated business leaders who are seeking a little help.  This holistic program, offered in Sedona, Arizona, will do much more than provide shrewd business tips to compete in today’s competitive economy. Participants know more about their industry and their own businesses than we do.

Instead, we will provide a holistic path that will transform a participant’s entire life by providing tips for healthy living and creative tools and strategies to transform their businesses.  Attendees of the conference will leave in a position to fully take advantage of the opportunities offered in today’s economy, and more importantly, armed with tips and strategies that will transform their lives.

In addition to creative strategies, we are proud that four professional artists will headline our program.  They include a well-known author, country-western musician, Broadway dance choreographer, and Hollywood film director.  These individuals will not only provide real-life examples of how to live a creative, productive, successful, and happy life, each will lead a team of five participants.  The purpose of the small group exercises throughout the weekend will be for the group to produce a product in the field of their leader’s art.  For example, the group led by a Hollywood director will work on producing a short-video and the author’s five participants will create a short-story.  Each group will present their finished work of art on the last evening, followed by a celebratory reception and dinner, followed by music and dancing.

A third major pillar of the weekend’s conference is tips on living a healthy and happy life.  On the first day, we will hear from experts on ways to live healthier, including dietary tips, sleep habits, and meditation techniques.  The meals themselves are all carefully chosen for their nutritional value, and we will begin Saturday and Sunday mornings with a guided meditation and chakra clearing sessions.

If you’re ready to change your life and to transform your business, this is the conference for you!

Agenda

All times Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Day 1: Friday, February 19, 2021, Sedona Resort at Bell Rock

12:00-1:30p: Arrival, Registration & Check-in

1:30-2:45p: Massage & Sauna

2:45-3:00: Break

3:00-5:00p: Introductory Session, Program Overview & Healthy Living

  • Rules of the weekend
  • Conference goals
  • Announcement of small groups
  • Healthy and holistic living habits to change your life

5:00-6:00p: Small Group Introduction and Planning Session.

6:00-6:30p: Break

6:30-8:00p: Dinner and Featured Speaker

Day 2: Saturday, February 20, 2021

6:00a: Wake-up call

6:15-7:15a: Meditation & Chakra Clearing Outside

7:15-7:45a: Breakfast

7:45-8:00a: Break

8:00-10:00a: Morning Session-Full Group: Film

  • Living a creative life presented by our professional Hollywood director
  • Key personality traits of a “creative” leader
  • Discussion of Bunny Paine-Clemes Ten-Step Process in maximizing creative potential

10:00-10:15a: Break

10:15-11:45a: Small Group Session #2

11:45-Noon: Break

Noon-1:30p: Lunch and Featured Speaker

1:30-2:00p: Break

2:00-4:00: Afternoon Session-Full Group: Choreographer

  • Living a creative life presented by our professional Broadway choreographer
  • 1-6 of Eric Maisel’s elements of a creative business and life
  • Selected strategies from Bunny Paine-Clemes twenty tips for creativity

4:00-4:15p: Break

4:15-6:00p: Small Group Session #3

6:00-6:30p: Break

6:30-8:00p: Dinner & Featured Speaker

8:00-9:30p: Small group project time

Day 3: Sunday, February 21, 2021

6:00a: Wake-up call

6:15-7:15a: Meditation & Chakra Clearing Outside

7:15-7:45a: Breakfast

7:45-8:00a: Break

8:00-10:00a: Morning Session-Full Group: Author

  • Living a creative life presented by our professional author
  • 7-12 of Eric Maisel’s elements of a creative business and life
  • Selected strategies from Bunny Paine-Clemes twenty tips for creativity

10:00-10:15a: Break

10:15-11:45a: Small Group Session #4

11:45-Noon: Break

Noon-1:00p: Lunch with small groups

1:00-1:15p: Break

1:15-3:15p: Afternoon Session-Full Group: Musician

  • Living a creative life presented by our Nashville Country-Western star
  • Strategies for using the unconscious to enhance creativity, to include:
    • Meditation
    • Dreamwork & analysis
    • Incubation periods
    • Aha! Moments
    • Collective Consciousness

3:15-4:30p: Final Small Group Session

4:30-5:00p: Break

5:00-7:00p: Small Group Presentations

7:00-10:00p: Reception & Dinner with Live Music and Dancing

Day 4: Monday, February 22, 2021

8:00-9:30a: Breakfast

9:30a-11:00a: Wrap-up Session

11:00a: Checkout and departure

Program Description

The tools and technologies of our time provide those with the right drive and ingenuity an ability to create the perfect job and life they desire. Bunny Paine-Clemes, relying partially on the work of Walter Csikszentmihalyi, notes that individuals or “gatekeepers” who used to “guard the field by evaluating creative products before they get to an audience” are now gone. Quoting Thomas L Friedman, she adds that “in our fast-changing global economy, ‘Average Joe has to become special, specialized, synthesizing, or adaptable Joe’” (2015, p. xxv). Noting the evolution of the Internet revolution, she says that we’re now in Web 3.0, where the absence of the gatekeepers has created “a level playing field on which anyone can compete” (2015, p. 347).

At the core of our weekend program is the art of living a more creative life. Robert Weisberg notes that “Creative thinking occurs when a person intentionally produces a novel product while working on some task” (2006, p. 70). Weisberg’s definition encapsulates our vision of successful entrepreneurs whose creative input has created a novel product or service that’s attractive to their markets. He continues, “A novel product intentionally produce by a person is a creative product, and the person who produces such a product is a creative person” (2006, p. 70). Nancy Andreasen adds that “Personality traits that define the creative individual include openness to experience, adventuresomeness, rebelliousness, individualism, playfulness, persistence, curious, and simplicity” (2006, p. 30).

Upon arrival and after checking-in, participants will receive a massage and spend time in a sauna before we kick-off the program with a two-hour opening session. We will lay down the weekend rules, which will include no alcohol until Sunday evening’s event, a bedtime of 10:00p for Friday and Saturday nights, and wake up calls on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 6:00a. Also, cell phones, pagers, iPads, and any other electronic devices will be collected at this initial session and returned on Monday morning before departure. Families can call the hotel and leave a message in the event of an emergencies. We will provide tablets during the sessions for notetaking, which you can then e-mail.

The first session will also feature “healthy living” tips such as the proper amount of sleep, what foods to eat and which ones to avoid, developing a regular meditation practice, and the importance of a healthy spiritual practice. We have also carefully selected each meal with locally grown food to provide the maximum amount of nutrients as possible.

In addition to developing healthy habits, the conference’s primary focus will be on teaching and integrating practices from the creative world that are easily applicable to the business. We are honored that a professional musician, film director, author, and dance-choreographer will join us for the seminar. Each will headline one of the four group sessions, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.  

We will also divide the twenty participants into four equal groups of five, and one of these professionals will be a group “team leader.” So, you will either be on Team Music, Team Video, Team Writing, or Team Dance. Our professionals will work with their groups during several breakout sessions to teach tips of their craft. They will also work with their groups to produce a creative product over the weekend in whatever field the group represents. Team Music will create a song, Team Video will produce a short film, Team Writing will compose a short story, and Team Dance will choreograph a dance piece. We will provide all necessary equipment and tools.

The purpose of the small groups is to create what Paine-Clemes, quoting Ken Wilber, describes as “‘The Miracle of We,’ the magical conjunction of selves and wills focused on a common task…Members of the ‘we’ resonate with the basic communications that the group is using. They speak the same language” (2015, p. 155 and 156). The small groups will present two challenges. Firstly, as entrepreneurs, it’s likely they have a healthy sense of individualism and are used to going it alone. Secondly, they will have a few days to bond in a way that produces a beautiful piece of art. The exercise’s goal is to demonstrate the power of collaboration and the incredible joy that comes from working with other like-minded individuals.

The Saturday morning group session will feature the Film Team leader, who will provide some tips and strategies on what makes her such a successful Hollywood producer. We will then present core concepts of creativity and the creative person from multiple sources and focus specifically on Paine-Clemes Ten-Step Process to maximize creative potential. Included in her steps are:

  • Immerse yourself in the formulas of your craft;
  • Before beginning a session, cultivate the Flow State;
  • Center your Awareness;
  • Relate to the center of what is trying to happen to you;
  • Get out of the way and let the inspiration flow;
  • Watch for synchronicity to help you;
  • Try it out in the material world; and
  • Make adjustment. (2015, pp. 53-68)

We will hear what makes our highly acclaimed dance choreographer so successful during the Saturday afternoon group session. Choreography is very similar to the tasks required of a business executive who must bring together disparate skill sets and, most relevantly, disparate personalities, who can all work together in uniform towards a common mission.  

The session will also focus on six of the twelve elements that comprise a successful practice as offered by Eric Maisel in his book, Creativity for Life. He uses the practice routines of those involved in martial arts, problem solvers, political activists, and a successful author, among others, to glean what makes them successful (2007, pp. 295-297). We will cover the first six of these elements for the morning session, which include SimplicityRegularity, Solemnity, Honesty, Self-Direction, and Intensity (2007, pp. 297-301). We will also cover several of Paine-Clemes twenty tips for creativity in the next two sessions, including Court the wind, but put in the sweatPractice the formulas of your domainKeep a notebookCultivate the ‘flow’ state; Be aware of your ego and its influence; Collaborate; and Try it out (2015, pp. 342-345).

Sunday morning’s group session, led by our professional author, will cover the final six Maisel practice elements, which include Presence, Ceremony, Joy, DisciplineSelf-Trust, and Primacy (2007, pp. 301-304), along with Paine-Clemes strategies mentioned earlier.

Our professional musician will kick-off the weekend’s final group session, which will occur on Sunday afternoon. It will involve more right-brain practices to develop and enhance creativity. Like the other arts represented, music also requires a diverse set of skills, dedication, and a commitment to practicing daily. Hearing from a professional will provide a real-life example of the pathway to success.

While the how of meditation will be experienced in the morning outdoor practices, the why will be covered in this gathering. Nancy Andreasen says that a creative personality is “characterized by openness to experiences,” and that a healthy and regular mediation discipline is an excellent way to “practice opening your mind.” She also notes that “practicing mediation has measurable effects on brain function” (2006, p. 163).

The session will also cover the power of dreams and the use of other unconscious processing, incubation, and illumination, as Robert Weisberg describes it. He notes “that the unconscious plays a critical role in creativity” (2006, p. 386). He adds that a “person can be thinking about one thing when suddenly there flashes into consciousness a novel idea, an ‘Aha! Experience,’ which is relevant to a completely different topic” (2006, p. 389). Many famous individuals have relied on their dreams, including Mark Twain, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, Winston Churchill, and even Joan of Arc.

Meditation is also another time to “ruminate” over problems. Other times like driving and showering, offer a pathway to the unconscious too. Two of Paine-Clemes twenty tips in becoming more creative include Allow time for incubation and to Use your dreams. She notes that blocks “often dissolve suddenly in the bathroom, [or] during a physical activity,” and adds that before “you go to sleep, hold a creative problem or project in your mind, and ask for a dream to help you” (2015, p. 343). Weisberg notes that the famous mathematician and scientist Henri Poincare “concluded that though processes that occurred outside his consciousness had played a critical role in his own creative thinking” (2006, p. 93). We will explore these incubation periods in more depth and techniques for enhancing recall and methods for keeping a dream journal.

Friday and Saturday nights will feature a dinner and two different featured speakers. They will be leaders in their fields, and they will discuss innovative, creative, and non-business-oriented strategies that led to their success. Saturday’s lunch will be an intimate affair attended by each group and its leader. The weekend’s highlight will be Sunday night when each of the groups will present the work of art they created to the larger group. A reception that includes alcohol will follow, and then dinner, live music, and dancing will cap off the festive evening.

The wake-up time for Saturday and Sunday is bright and early at 6:00a. We will allow people fifteen minutes before heading outside for a meditation and chakra clearing session hosted by two professionals who live here in Sedona. We encourage you not to drink coffee before the session since it’s much easier to maintain a meditative state without any stimulants. The meditation leaders will provide tips for creating an effective meditative practice once you leave Sedona, and then will take us through a guided meditation.

Monday morning is wrap-up time.  We will allow people to sleep in a bit, and breakfast will be served from 8:00-9:00a.  We will have an open wrap-up session following where we will hear from our professionals for one last time.  Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and to provide testimonies of their weekend experience.  We also want to hear what they intend to do to change their lives when they return.  The program will conclude at 11:00a.

Promotional Strategies

The conference’s target market are highly motivated business leaders and executives who own or want to launch their own business. The participants must also be open to such concepts as meditation, holistic medical treatments, and a healthy spirituality. In other words, this is not strictly a seminar offering the latest business strategy but a holistic life-changing experience. The individuals must also have sufficient resources to cover the expensive conference fees plus travel and hotel costs.

With this demographic in mind, promotional strategies will center on Facebook ads and pre-roll ads on YouTube. The crosstabs for the buys will be business and entrepreneur leaders who are bent towards meditation, and metaphysical interests. The primary focus will be on residents of the United States. However, we will do some limited ad buys in the U.K., given the fertile nature of spirituality in certain areas “across the pond.”  

The exclusivity of the event, driven in part by the well-known professionals heading up the four creative areas, and the limited number of seats, will help create a sense of urgency to grab a remaining spot. Finally, as Weisberg notes, “If creative products could be brought about through ordinary thinking, then, so the argument might go, we all should be creative geniuses” (2006, p. 574). We are not seeking ordinary thinkers, we want to work with creative geniuses, and so the message will include a sense of exclusivity similar to how the Navy promotes its SEAL program.

 The four professionals will also assist with marketing by promoting the event through their social media platforms and marketing channels. We are considering co-sponsoring the event with an organization like Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), the Monroe Institute, and publishers like Hay House, who are known for their spiritual books. We are also entertaining the idea of allowing 2-3 independent journalists and bloggers who cover this subject area to attend in exchange for articles and postings before and after the conference.  They will be granted access to all event, although they will not directly participate in the small groups.

 The messaging in the promotional efforts includes a conference that will help motivated entrepreneurs to become successful in their business, and more importantly, to learn life-changing tips and strategies that will bring them success and joy. Creativity is at the heart of a healthy and joyous life. Learning healthy and holistic strategies to enhance and empower their creativity is the primary focus of the seminar.

We will ask participants to purchase the following books before the event: Eric Maisel’s Creativity for Life, Jack Kornfield’s Meditation for Beginners, and Bunny Paine-Clemes’s Creative Synergy. We will request they read Kornfield’s and Paine-Clemes’s books in their entirety. 

We will assign Chapters 3 and 14 from Maisel, all to be completed by the conference time. As part of the “Welcome Bag” of information and material, we will give each participant a copy of The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health Through Drugless Therapy, written by Harold Reilly and Ruth Hagy Brod. The book will be used as reference material during the healthy living presentation as part of the opening group session.

In order to defray conference costs, we will also invite a small group of sponsors to have a table in an area of the hotel where participants will be during breaks and for meals.  Target sponsors include organic and healthy food producers, spiritual and metaphysical businesses, publishers like Hay House, and organizations like A.R.E. who might want to promote their conferences, publications and products.

References

Andreasen, N. (2006), The creative brain: the science of genius, New York, NY: First Plume Publishing

Kornfield, J. (2008), Meditation for beginners, Boulder, CO: Sounds True

Maisel, E. (2007), Creativity for life: practical advice on the artist’s personality and career from America’s foremost creativity coach, Novato, CA: New World Library

Paine-Clemes, B. (2015), Creative synergy: using art, science, and philosophy to self-actualize your life, Virginia Beach, VA: 4th Dimension Press

Reilly, H. & Brod, R.H. (2018), The Edgar Cayce handbook for health through drugless therapy (3rd ed.), Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press

Weisberg, R. (2006), Creativity: understanding innovation in problem solving, science, invention, and the arts, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.