Creative Pulse Talk – How to be more creative (and less busy)
Date: March 30, 2017
Name: Creative Pulse Talk – How to be more creative (and less busy)
Presenter: Zoe Garred
Many young entrepreneurs are holding their creativity hostage due to repetitive tasks; moreover, they need to make time for creative work. Creative Pulse invites Zoe Garred, the owner of Fleet Objects, to discuss her valuable lessons on searching ways to create more time for her creativity. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn how to take advantage on automation. In addition, they will discover the importance of delegation and schedule.
Zoe Garred is the owner of Fleet Objects. She considers herself as product designer, artist and ceramicist. Her creativity involves with passion and simplicity. Her studio fills with beautiful artworks with the balance of artistry and functionality. Many young artists and designers fascinate with her work and inspire her creative ideas. Moreover, she was the Creative Director for 18KARAT for over 4 years; currently, she is the Accessory Designer for Article.
Zoe Garred believes the number one issue for most product designers is not enough creative time. Sometimes the feeling of creativity is lost even when there is time. The feeling of being too busy kills the moment of creative time. Eventually, young entrepreneurs tend to push creative time to the bottom of the list.
Creative space is essential, and it is up to young entrepreneurs to make it happen. Garred believes young entrepreneurs should find discover the right kind of space for their creativity. This includes the preference of a desk or pillows on the floor. The choice of home, studio or public space can make a difference, including the choice of working alone or with collaborators. Young entrepreneurs need to limit the creative space for only creative work. Garred wants young entrepreneurs to train their brain to eliminate distractions, such as phone and computer.
The idea of creative space can be simple and basic; however, often many young entrepreneurs do not follow through.
After young entrepreneurs pick the right place for their creative work, they need to design their space. Garred asks young entrepreneurs to ensure they have the right tools in the space. This includes if the tools are easy to find or close at hand. How many duplicates they need to buy? Does it come with a kit? Is pen and paper works better than computer? The key is to ensure it is comfortable.
Next, young entrepreneurs need to choose the right time. Is it in the day or night time? Young entrepreneurs should block off time as if it were meeting. Garred suggests young entrepreneurs to put the time in their schedule. This will train their brain to be creative.
The next step is to create automation. Young entrepreneurs need to automate repetitive tasks. They need to ask themselves if they should outsource a part of their production. This could mean they need to invest in machine to speed up their work. Learning new automation system can benefit in the long term.
Streamlining repetitive tasks is time saving for many young entrepreneurs. Garred suggests young entrepreneurs to redesign their workflow to be more effective. This means they need to group similar tasks together. Furthermore, they need to limit meetings with no more than 30 minutes. If meetings require more than 30 minutes, young entrepreneurs will require to book two meetings. Software can help them streamlining. Garred recommends a Project Management Software called “Trello” to help working with multiple projects.
Sometimes, young entrepreneurs need to delegate in order to make time. Letting go of tasks can be difficult for them. They need to recognize they are not always the best person to perform the work. If the tasks are simple, they can delegate these tasks to other expertise who can do it faster. This includes paying someone else to do some of their tasks to save time and money.
Garred asks the audience to layout their job description on a piece of paper. By writing it down, young entrepreneurs are able to look for ways to delegate.
Questions and Answers
Garred shares her first experience of delegation. She hired her first intern from Emily Carr, but she had the fear of letting someone fail. When she taught the intern the procedure and instruction; surprisingly, the intern got better and managed to teach Garred new ways of doing things. Moreover, the procedure gave the intern great work experience on her studies.
“Pain in short run; pleasure in long run”
“I made more money from the time I delegate”
Garred believes external factors can create motivation. She signed up for many things outside of work to force her to do something she wanted to do. She provides 2 tips for young entrepreneurs to start business or brand. The first tip is to ensure they are really want to do it. The second tip is to be aware of others and model them. This will help young entrepreneurs to discover what they like and dislike. They need to understand where they want to take their business or brand to.
Garred joined a local program called “Futurepreneur”, where the program assigns a mentor to monitor their business progress. Garred met her mentor, who had banking background. She learned how to invest and how to get others to invest. The knowledge she gained was amazing.