Be creative, think BIG

One of my honors as a Vice President of Rainmakers - the fastest growing networking group in Indiana - is to give a brief 'wrap-up' presentation at the close of some of the meetings. A unique feature of Rainmakers is that we do an activity each meeting that focuses on marketing, goal-setting, accountability, motivation, etc.

A recent activity allowed me to use a personal experience to show how important it is to think BIG. A Million Dollar Idea asks us to be creative, to be wild about a marketing plan, to believe that the sky is the limit, because we each have $1 Million to spend!

Unfortunately, as we enter adulthood, we wear blinders, brought on from years of being told that we can't, we shouldn't, we aren't good enough or asking us "who do you think you are?". And then we begin to believe it. Creativity diminishes; we are all too conservative with our thoughts. We lose our ability to dream, to think outside the box, to believe in ourselves.


Be a kid for a few minutes and pretend you can do anything you want, that anything is within your reach, that you can make it so just because you believe you can. What if you did have a million dollars? What if you have a billion dollars?

While creating our marketing budget for 2009, Mike and I thought of what we'd do if we had no financial restrictions. Some of the ideas? Advertise on TV during the super bowl, buy a full-page ad in the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) and place our message on billboards all around the state.

Since we didn't enter into the planning session with the attitude that we had limitations, we allowed ourselves the ability to think big. So, what did we decide? Everything I just mentioned, but within our reach.

Instead of a TV ad during the super bowl, we purchased a Tip of the Week radio spot for 2 months on RadioBrownsburg. Shane Ray, the owner of the Radio Station, is the husband of Rainmaker Teresa Ray who owns the Payroll Department. Instead of buying billboards all around the state, we purchased billboard ads that will drive around the city (photo above). Rainmaker member Derrick Niemann, owner of EyeLVL, will be placing our ad in the target market area 3 times a day. And instead of an ad in the IBJ, we have ads in the Coffee News, owned by Rainmaker Neil Richmund. Additionally, I write a column for fellow Rainmaker Dave Stafford who owns and publishes the Morgan County Business Leader. Though not an ad, it is an opportunity for monthly exposure for our company.

We are members of the barter organization, ITEX, owned by Broker Vickie Reynolds, who is also a Rainmaker member. This means that we didn't have to pay cash for the eyeLVL banner that was designed by ITEX and Rainmaker member Jim Brown. Did you notice the ITEX logo on the traveling billboard? EyeLVL is also a member of ITEX, so by including the ITEX logo in our ad, the purchase of this advertising was not paid in cash, but by our barter dollars. And ITEX is reimbursing us 50% of the cost of this advertising because of co-marketing.

Without the far-reaching ideas that an activity like A Million Dollar Idea helps create, we wouldn't have thought of these scaled-down versions. We wouldn't be advertising at all, and we wouldn't be helping fellow Rainmakers achieve success, either.

So give it a try - be a kid. Let go of your restrictions. Pull off your blinders. Escape from your limitations. Think BIG. And make 2009 the greatest year yet!