Mark: Alright Michelle, I'm going to say a phrase and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? "Business plan." Michelle: Ugh. A fifty-page document, written in soul-crushing corporate-speak, that I will spend three months perfecting and then never look at again. It’s like a fossil of my good intentions. Mark: Exactly. A beautiful, laminated, binder-bound fossil. And that's why we're talking about a book today that says your business plan should look less like a legal document and more like a piece of art. Michelle: Now that is a business plan I could get behind. Probably with glitter glue and some magazine cutouts. Mark: You're not far off! The book is Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way by Jennifer Lee. And what’s so fascinating is that Lee isn't some lifelong artist who just decided to wing it in business. She’s a former Fortune 500 consultant. She worked with giants like Gap and Accenture, helping executives manage massive organizational change. Michelle: Wait, hold on. A corporate strategist from the world of spreadsheets and PowerPoints wrote a book about using glitter glue for your business plan? That feels like a plot twist. How does someone from that world end up advocating for such an artistic, intuitive approach? Mark: That’s the magic of it. She saw the limitations of the purely analytical, left-brain model firsthand. She realized that for creative people, trying to force themselves into that box doesn't just feel bad, it's actively counterproductive. It kills the very thing that makes their business special. Michelle: Okay, I'm intrigued. You're saying the secret to business success for artsy folks isn't to become more like a traditional businessperson, but to become even more of an artist in how they run their business? Mark: Precisely. It’s about weaponizing your creativity, not suppressing it. And it starts with a simple, almost silly-sounding tool: a pack of colorful markers.

Mark: The foundational idea of the book is captured in a fantastic little story. The author, Jenn Lee, was preparing for her very first video summit to launch her first book. She was, as you can imagine, completely swamped. She was getting lost in every tiny, microscopic detail—the font size on the handouts, the exact hex code for a button on her website... Michelle: Oh, I know that feeling. It's the "procrasti-planning" vortex. You feel incredibly busy, but you're not actually moving forward on the big stuff. Mark: Exactly. She was overwhelmed and confessed this to her mentor, Andrea J. Lee. And her mentor gave her this piece of advice that changed everything. She said, "Jenn, six-figure business owners use Mr. Sketch." Michelle: Mr. Sketch? Like the scented markers from elementary school? The ones that smelled like grape and cherry? Mark: The very same. The point was, stop using a fine-tipped, black-ink pen, obsessing over every perfect, tiny detail. Instead, grab the big, bold, colorful markers and focus on the broad strokes. What are the big, strategic shifts that will actually make the launch a success? The rest is just noise. Michelle: I love that metaphor. It’s so vivid. But let me play devil's advocate here. Doesn't "using Mr. Sketch" just become a convenient excuse for being messy or unprepared? Where's the line between focusing on 'broad strokes' and just plain chaos? Mark: That’s the perfect question, because it’s not about having no plan. It’s about having the right kind of plan. It’s a different kind of discipline. The discipline isn't in perfecting the minutiae; it's in having the courage to ignore the minutiae and focus only on the 20% of activities that will generate 80% of the results. For her, that meant focusing on connecting with her audience and making a great offer, not spending another three hours debating a font. Michelle: So it’s strategic simplification. It’s less about being an undisciplined artist and more about being a clever curator of your own energy. Mark: You've got it. The book argues that a creative business grows organically, like a painting. You start with a rough sketch, you block in some colors, you step back, you see what works, you add another layer. You don't start with a pixel-perfect blueprint and execute it flawlessly. That’s manufacturing, not creation. Michelle: That’s a huge mental reframe. The pressure to have it all figured out from day one is immense. The idea that it’s supposed to be a bit messy and evolve over time is a massive relief. But it also brings up a question. If you're just painting with broad strokes, how do you know what the painting is even supposed to be about? Mark: Ah, and that brings us to the next layer of the masterpiece. You can't paint with broad strokes if you don't know what you're trying to express. You need to understand your own artistic vision first.

Mark: To solve that problem, Lee introduces this beautiful visual exercise. She asks you to assess your "Entrepreneurial Ecosystem" by drawing it as a flower. Michelle: Okay, a flower. I'm listening. This sounds way better than a SWOT analysis. What are the parts of this business flower? Mark: It’s wonderfully intuitive. The center of the flower is your Big Vision. The petals are your offerings—your products and services. The stem is your core message, connecting you to the ground. The roots are your values, your support systems, your resources. The sun is your "moola goal," and the rain and bees are your customers and community. Michelle: I like that. It immediately makes you see your business as a living thing that needs all its parts to be healthy and connected to thrive. It’s not just a machine for making money. Mark: Exactly. And the most powerful part of that flower, the part that connects your inner vision to the outside world, is the stem: your core message. Lee argues that your core message is like a beacon. It's not a marketing slogan; it's the fundamental truth you're taking a stand for. Michelle: A beacon. So it's meant to attract people from far away. Mark: Yes, but it's also meant to repel people. A great core message acts as both a magnet and a filter. It pulls your "right peeps"—her term for your ideal customers—closer, and it gently pushes away the people who aren't a good fit. Michelle: That sounds terrifying for a new business owner who feels like they need every single customer they can get. The idea of actively repelling someone is counterintuitive. Mark: It is, but think about the most powerful brands or creators you love. They have a strong point of view. They stand for something. And the book has this incredible story that illustrates this perfectly. It’s about a coach named Laura Burns. In 2010, she decided to get a tattoo across her chest. Michelle: A tattoo as a business strategy? That's bold. What did it say? Mark: It says, "Married to Amazement." It's a line from a Mary Oliver poem. It was a personal reminder to herself to live life to the fullest, to take chances, to embrace opportunities. But something amazing happened. People started asking her about it constantly. And it became the ultimate conversation starter and a perfect filter. Michelle: How so? Mark: When people asked what it meant, she'd turn it back on them and ask, "What does it mean to you?" The people who lit up, who understood that sense of wonder and possibility, were her "right peeps." They were the ones who were ready to leave their soul-crushing jobs and start a business they loved—which is exactly what she helps people do. The tattoo became her core message, embodied in ink. It did the work of finding her ideal clients for her. Michelle: Wow. So your core message isn't something you invent in a marketing meeting. It's something you uncover about yourself. It's the most authentic, core belief you have, and you just put it out into the world. Mark: And you have to be brave enough to do it. Lee quotes another entrepreneur, Kerri Richardson, who found her voice when she realized she could "swear and be spiritual" in her marketing, and her people would find her. It’s about radical authenticity. Michelle: This whole "right-brain," "left-brain" framing is really powerful as a metaphor. I know some people in academic circles might argue it's a pop-psychology oversimplification of neuroscience... Mark: And the book acknowledges that. It's not meant as a literal map of the brain. It's a metaphor for two different modes of thinking and operating. The analytical versus the intuitive. The linear versus the holistic. The world of business has over-indexed on the analytical for so long that we need a powerful metaphor to give us permission to embrace the intuitive again. Michelle: That makes sense. It’s a corrective. Okay, so you've got your "Mr. Sketch" mindset, you've figured out your core message tattoo... but eventually, you have to ask for money. You have to actually sell something. That’s the part where most creatives I know just freeze up and hide. Mark: And that is the final, and perhaps most transformative, piece of the puzzle. Lee has a way to reframe that, too.

Mark: The book tackles that fear of selling head-on. The big reframe is to stop thinking of it as "selling" and start thinking of it as "serving." Or even better, as "sharing your gifts." Think about giving a perfect, thoughtful gift to a close friend. You're not "selling" it to them. You're excited to give it because you know it will bring them joy or solve a problem for them. Michelle: I can get behind that. The energy is completely different. It’s about generosity, not extraction. But how does that translate into, say, a sales page on a website? Those always feel so... formulaic and aggressive. Mark: Lee has a brilliant name for it. She says, don't write a sales page. Write a "love letter" to your perfect customer. Michelle: A love letter! I love that. What's in this love letter? Mark: It has all the components of a good sales page, but framed with empathy. It starts by acknowledging their struggles, showing you understand their world. It talks about the benefits—the transformation—before it ever mentions the features. It includes testimonials, which are like notes from other friends saying how great the gift is. And the call to action isn't a hard sell; it's a warm invitation. The coach Kerri Richardson is quoted saying, "I never liked the idea of a sales page, but a love letter? Oh, I can write that." It completely unlocked her ability to communicate her offer. Michelle: That is such a powerful shift. It takes the "ick" out of marketing. But even with a great love letter, there's still the terror of the launch itself. The fear that you'll put all this work into creating something, and no one will buy it. Mark: And for that, Lee introduces the most radical, and maybe most brilliant, idea in the whole book: the "launch, then create" method. Michelle: Hold on. Launch... then create? You mean sell it before you've even made it? That sounds like the recipe for a public disaster and a lot of angry customers. How do you pull that off without it blowing up in your face? Mark: It sounds reckless, but it's incredibly strategic. A business coach named Tiffany Han is featured, and she says it's the only way she gets things done because she's a "class-A procrastinator." Announcing a launch date and taking people's money creates a hard deadline. There's no more room for tweaking and perfecting. You have to deliver. Michelle: Okay, I see the accountability angle. But what about the customers? Are you just selling them a vague promise? Mark: Not at all. It's about being transparent. You often sell it as a "beta" program at a lower price. You're co-creating it with your first group of customers. This does two amazing things. First, it validates your idea. If no one buys, you haven't just wasted six months building something nobody wants. You can pivot. Second, you get real-time feedback from the very people you're trying to serve, so the final product is infinitely better and perfectly tailored to their needs. Michelle: So it's market research and product development all rolled into one, with a fire lit under you to get it done. That's actually genius. It flips the risk. The biggest risk isn't launching too early; it's spending a year perfecting something in a vacuum. Mark: Precisely. It’s the ultimate right-brain approach to product development. It’s iterative, collaborative, and action-oriented. It’s about starting the dance before you’ve memorized all the steps.

Michelle: When you put all three of these ideas together, a really clear picture emerges. It’s a journey that starts with your own mindset, giving yourself permission to be creative with the "Mr. Sketch" approach. Then it moves to defining your identity with a core message that acts like a beacon. And finally, it translates into a brave, authentic form of action, with the "love letter" and the "launch-then-create" strategy. Mark: That’s a perfect summary. The book's ultimate argument, I think, is that for creative people, business isn't a separate, sterile activity you have to force yourself to do. It's the ultimate creative project. Your business itself is the work of art. Michelle: That is such a more inspiring and sustainable way to think about it. It’s not about balancing your art with your business. It’s about making your business your art. It completely removes that tension between being a creator and being an entrepreneur. Mark: And it empowers you to use your greatest strengths—your intuition, your empathy, your storytelling—as your primary business tools. It’s not about learning a foreign language of corporate-speak; it’s about becoming more fluent in your own. Michelle: It makes me wonder... if you had to describe the core message of your own work, or even just your personal philosophy, as a tattoo you'd be willing to put on your chest... what would it be? It's a powerful question for anyone listening to ponder. Mark: That is a fantastic question. And we’d love to hear the answers. Find us on our social channels and tell us what your "core message tattoo" would be. It’s a fascinating exercise in clarity. Michelle: It really is. This has been an incredibly refreshing take on a topic that can often feel so intimidating. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.