Welcome back to The Morning Walk, a free newsletter about writing, technology, and personal entrepreneurship.

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How to Be More Creative

Creativity is consistently cited by CEOs as the most important skill in leadership. Even more than integrity. Why is that?

Well, a fresh new idea has the potential to make everything easier. Creativity is what leads you to new markets, new processes, and new ways of being.

A creative idea also doesn't necessarily require more work. What it requires is more awareness. My teacher back in music school often used a rainforest analogy that I liked: “You can keep machete-ing your way through the woods, or you could take five steps to the left and be on a clear dirt path instead -- it's your life.”

To unlock these easier and more self-expressed paths, though, we need structures for improvement. We need fluency. Can't make beautiful music until you know the notes and how to play them -- that's just the way it is. If you want to write great stuff, or whatever your craft might be, don't just start writing a lot; learn the mechanics behind what you want to do. Mechanics are what make you stronger, faster, and better.

To help you get into a more creative mindset, check out this new blog post: “How to Be More Creative: 10 Strategies to Consider, From a Former Professional Musician.” (Spolier, the musician is/was me.) I peppered in a few old college pics as well.

🔗 Blog: How to Be More Creative

Loom Acquired for $975 Million

How much is “show, don't tell” really worth? Just under a billion dollars, apparently.

Loom is a screen recording software. It's not to be confused with Zoom, the videoconferencing software, or Noom, the health tracking app, or Room, the movie that won Brie Larson her Oscar®, or “BOOM, bitches!”, which is what I yell whenever I get a strike in bowling, even if my previous seven frames were all gutterballs. 🎳

Loom lets you record your screen with optional audio and/or video voiceover in just a few clicks. The app is free, with an optional paid tier for additional features, and a Google Chrome browser extension.

I use Loom extensively, from course lessons to setting up my VA to client feedback. As someone who has to lean into processes to get things done, I've been a fangirl of Loom for years now.

Last week software giant Atlassian announced it was acquiring Loom for $975 million, per reporting from TechCrunch. Atlassian also owns tools like Jira and Confluence; their bet is that asynchronous remote work will continue to flourish in some industries, and I'm inclined to agree. Loom is probably one of my top five most-used apps, so I'm hoping it stays largely the same post-acquisition.

Some see the acquisition as a failure, considering Loom was valued at over $1.5 billion in 2021 when it completed a successful Series C. But most analysts agree that, given the mainstream fizzle regarding remote work, this is a successful outcome for Loom.

🔗 Read on TechCrunch

Upcoming Airtable webinar this Thursday

The webinar that transformed my whole business in 2023 is back THIS Thursday, October 19th -- register here.

“The 3 Simple Airtable Systems You Need To 3X Your Group Offer Sales & Triple Your Testimonials” will be hosted by Airtable expert Ashley Pendergraft, a mentor of mine.

As I've mentioned before, I had wanted to get into Airtable for years, but couldn't quite crack it. Ashley's program Systems Over Stress provided the small-group learning environment I needed to master Airtable, a proficiency that has led to my biggest and best year of output ever.

Ashley's specialty is operations. This free webinar is a good fit for you if

• You struggle to keep track of sales records
• You don't launch because it takes too much work
• Your group program is disorganized

Stop trying to figure all this stuff out yourself -- take advantage of free webinars from experts like the one coming up this Thursday, which I promise will get you jazzed about Airtable.

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Cheering you on,

—Nick