How to Build a Better Business

From the HOW Design Conference panel discussion with Peleg Top, Rochelle Selzer, Kevin McConkey, and Shannon Carter

Be prepared for opportunities by constantly upgrading your skills.

Money = Respect. Ask for money, be prepared to walk away if it is not enough. Charge more money to get more respect. Be an investment, not an expense. Be able to show that your work makes money for your clients.

Narrow your market focus. Know what types of people and businesses you want to work with. Look for potential. Build relationships. Make a human connection.

Get the client excited by showing what is possible. Use your own voice and passion. Be real.

Keep in mind that you get paid for thinking, not for producing. You can be a designer without doing the production.

Hire well and wisely. Be a leader, not a manager.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

For a mental break and a return to clarity, create your own ritual based on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. It requires little equipment or time. You can modify the procedure to suit your style. The important thing is to have a way to return to a calm center when you are feeling stressed and out of control.

"The Japanese tea ceremony, or Cha-no-yu, meaning 'hot water for tea,' is more than an elaborate ritual. It is an interlude in which one leads oneself for the moment to the spirit of beauty, quietude, and politeness toward others. The ceremony may be practiced anywhere, at home or in a teahouse.

"There are 4 principles: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility (wa, kae, sae, jubuo)

• Harmony: with other people and with nature. The tea ceremony is the way of bringing one’s self into harmony with nature.
• Respect: a harmonious relationship with others.
• Purity: clean yourselves through the five senses—sense of hearing when hearing the sound of water(which remind one of the silence outside), sense of sight when see the flowers, sense of touch when touch the utensils, sense of smell when smell the scent of the flowers, sense of taste when drinking tea.
• Tranquility"

From Asia-Art.net
Copyright © 2008 Runckel & Associates, Inc.

Find out more at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony