Creativity Tips: Surround Yourself with Talent

I once worked for a man who said he only hired people who were dumber than he was.

I'll let you mull that over for a moment. La-de-da-de-da. OK, moving on.

One of the great joys of my life is surrounding myself with brilliant, wonderful, talented, creative life forces. Today, I want to applaud three:

Chandler Johnson! Chandler just designed my first new logo in 13 years of business. We talked about my brand and, during that discussion, I mentioned that many of my client relationships turn into friendships. Chandler took all that, and did this. And he did it quickly. Hire him.

You don't think I'm sunny? Back off, bud. Chandler does. ;-)

I love that he presented the creative strategy as a visual. That approach sets a designer up for success -- knowing his thought process, I was ready to fully appreciate the resulting logo.

Thank you, Chandler! You totally rock. 

Tyler Shane! Tyler is my other daughter. And, after years of snarfing down my green bean casserole, this amazing woman is coming through for me BIG TIME. She's now a chocolatier with Christopher Elbow. And she brought me this scrumptious chocolate bar, handmade by her own talented hands. Life just doesn't get much better than a personal chocolatier.

I'm eating this one square at a time. Mmmmmmmmmm.
And, yes. I know the squares are rectangles.
You're messing with my sunny personality again. 

Chandler is Kate's friend. Tyler is Mary's friend. But, just for the record, I do have a couple of talented friends of my own. And I want to sing the praises of one right now:

Leslie Adams! Leslie is part of this amazing new community called ViewFinders. Check it out. The words and photos are gorgeous and inspirational -- two words that also describe Leslie and all her work. She's amazing and I count myself blessed to have her as a colleague and a friend. How can you not love someone who says: "... don't leave home without some way to capture the magic around you."

She photographs, she writes, she bakes.
I should have her take a picture of Tyler's chocolate bar ... 

Go out there! Surround yourself with talent. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are. You might just learn something, as you capture some of the magic that surrounds us.