Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way: Sustainable Success for the Creative Entrepreneur
Jennifer Lee
New World Library (2014)

This is a WORK book for those who are willing and able to nourish and make effective use of their right brain.

Although Jennifer Lee says she wrote this book for “right-brain entrepreneurs around the world who courageously take inspired actions and make their big visions real, step by small step,” the fact remains that the information, insights, and counsel she provides can be of substantial value to almost anyone, include school students, who may lack confidence in how “creative” they are but, nonetheless, are determined to accelerate their personal growth and, once embarked on a career after formal education, their professional development. The entrepreneurial mindset is not limited to those involved with start-ups or companies with less than a dozen employees. This mindset can be developed by almost anyone, whatever the given business may be. Lee wrote this book for a wider audience than her dedication suggests.

I urge everyone to complete the “Sustain Success Survey” (Pages 7-11), then after reading the first two Parts of the book, review responses to that survey and make whatever revisions may be necessary, given what has been learned thus far. Then repeat the process after reading Parts III and IV. Keep in mind that Lee concludes with additional resources (Pages 213-217). As is also true of sources that offer a wealth of learning and — yes – unlearning/re-learning opportunities, the ROI of this book will depend almost entirely on how much time, energy, attention, and reflection are invested while reading it.

I commend Lee on her brilliant use of various reader-friendly devices. They include:

“Right-Brain Reflections”
Illustrated Play Sheets
Dozens of Exercises
Right-Brain Entrepreneurial Spotlights”
“Left Brain Chill Pills” and “Right-brain Boosters”
“Tips” and “Head’s Ups”
“Action Accelerators”
“Left-Brain Checklists”

These devices will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key material later. I strongly recommend that a lined notebook is kept near-at-hand when completing various exercises and to record notes. The Mead Wide-Ruled (“Black Marble”) Composition Book is my personal preference but any notebook will do. I highlight key passages with the Sharpie optic yellow (wide). Also, I extend heartiest congratulations to Kate Prentiss on the superior quality of the hundreds of illustrations she produced to complement, indeed enrich and enliven the narrative. She and Lee provide a scenic as well as an enlightening journey of discovery. Bravo!

These are among the dozens of business subjects and issues of special interest and value to me, also listed to indicate the scope of Lee’s coverage.

o Business as Art: Trust Your Creative Process (Pages 4-7)
o Guiding Principles to Maximizing Value of This Book (15-17)
o Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (21-32)
o Uncover and Articulate Your Core Message (38-44)
o Content Ideas for Your Newsletter (57-60)
o Some Ways to Build Your Opt-In List (60-63)
o What Goes Into Your Offer (75-80)
o How to Create Content if You Have an Informational Product (98-100)
o Things to Consider for Your Launch of Offering (106-110)
o Launch, Then Create (122-125)
o Three Basic Paths for Making More Moola (128-133)
o The Evolution of the Multiple-Moola Making Methods Map (136-137)(
o Growing Your Team and Getting Support (155-164)
o Types of Processes to Document (183-189)
o The Temptation of Technology and Tools (189-190)
o The Importance of the Pause (193-194)
o The Five Embracing-Ease Strategies for Sustained Success (195-207)

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out others: Any of Dan Roam’s books, notably his most recent, Show and Tell; David and Tom Kelley’s Courage of Creativity; and Sunni Brown’s The Doodle Revolution. To those who read Jennifer Lee’s book and will soon embark on their own journey of discovery, I wish them Bon Voyage! To other readers who now struggle to contend with what James O’Toole characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom,” I urge them to keep in mind the LEGO Strategy that enabled a once great company to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers and become even greater. How? One brick at a time.