Jump Start Your Business Brain details data-proven methods that can make your sales, marketing and business development measurably more effective. What makes this book unique is that the methods detailed are backed up with hard data. They're grounded in statistical analysis of the success and failures of more than 4,000 new products and services, and more than 6,000 innovation teams. The research quantifies the impact of a back-to-basic, customer-focused approach to sales, marketing and business development. The research also uncovers news regarding how you can measurably increase effectiveness in today's super-competitive, time-compressed and overstressed marketplace. It's the perfect book for today's up-and-coming executive.

Ideal for inspiring marketers, artists, teachers, and anyone who needs fresh ideas for work and home, Jump Start Your Brain helps readers crank up both their cranium and career. Featuring smart and creative methods for providing better leadership, igniting sales and marketing, and realizing dreams with breakthrough innovations, this book teaches time-tested practices that generate creativity and innovation. Relying on the latest research, the author pinpoints which methods and techniques work best in today's high-stress world so readers can get a leg-up on the competition.

"Overall this text is a very interesting read with significant applicability to both advisors and faculty. The creative advisor will have no problem synthesizing Materna's ideas and theories of brain-compatible learning strategies into daily interactions with students and faculty." —Jennifer Varney, Hesser College Use these interactive strategies to help adults become more self-directed in their learning, improve their ability to comprehend and apply complex information, and unleash their creative potential.

"Advice, exercises, and real-world examples for small-business owners and self-employed artists for establishing solid business practices, growing and expanding, and troubleshooting problems. Addresses finding, marketing to, and keeping customers; working with staff and vendors; strategic planning, goal setting, and brand building; and taking time to celebrate"--Provided by publisher.

Turn Passionate Ideas into Profitable Enterprises Do you dream of making a living doing what you love but find the process of creating a viable business plan like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Jennifer Lee knows what it's like to make the entrepreneurial leap -- and how to do it successfully. The key is using, rather than stifling, imagination and intuition. Lee's illustrated, colorful worksheets and step-by-step instructions are playful yet practical, transforming drudgery into joy. They'll enable you to define your vision and nail down plans for funding, marketing, networking, and long-term strategy. Discover how to: * Develop a financial plan with fun and flair * Select your circle of support to get the work done * Clarify your business values and goals * Paint a picture of your business landscape * Understand your competition and what makes you stand out from the crowd * Identify your perfect customers and create a marketing plan to reach them * Map out concrete action steps to bring your Right-Brain Business Plan to life

Don't limit your fiction - LIBERATE IT All too often, following the "rules" of writing can constrict rather than inspire you. With Story Trumps Structure, you can shed those rules - about three-act structure, rising action, outlining, and more - to craft your most powerful, emotional, and gripping stories. Award-winning novelist Steven James explains how to trust the narrative process to make your story believable, compelling, and engaging, and debunks the common myths that hold writers back from creating their best work. • Ditch your outline and learn to write organically. • Set up promises for readers - and deliver on them. • Discover how to craft a satisfying climax. • Master the subtleties of characterization. • Add mind-blowing twists to your fiction. When you focus on what lies at the heart of story - tension, desire, crisis, escalation, struggle, discovery - rather than plot templates and formulas, you'll begin to break out of the box and write fiction that resonates with your readers. Story Trumps Structure will transform the way you think about stories and the way you write them, forever.

Transform the art of innovation into a reliable system! System Driven Innovation enables you and everyone on your team to use innovation to work smarter, faster, and more creatively. It transforms innovation from a random act to a reliable science. This new mindset ignites confidence in the future. It enables the creation of bigger and bolder ideas—and turns them into reality faster, smarter, and more successfully. With this new mindset, innovation by everyone, everywhere, every day becomes the norm. The rapidly changing world becomes a tremendous opportunity to achieve greatness. Innovation Engineering defines innovation in two words: Meaningfully Unique. When a product, service, or job candidate is Meaningfully Unique customers are willing to pay more money for it. This links to the two simple truths in today’s marketplace: If you’re Meaningfully Unique life is great! If you’re NOT Meaningfully Unique you’d better be cheap. Innovation Engineering is a new field of academic study and leadership science. It teaches how to apply the science of system thinking to strategy, innovation, and cooperation. Research finds that it helps to increase innovation speed (up to 6x) and decrease risk (by 30 to 80%). Innovation Engineering accelerates the creation and development of more profitable products and services. However, the bigger benefit may well lie in its ability to transform organizational cultures by enabling everyone to work smarter every day. What makes Innovation Engineering unique is that it’s grounded in data, backed by academic theory, and validated in real-world practice. Collectively, it’s the number one documented innovation system on earth. Over 35,000 people have been educated in Innovation Engineering classes, and more than $15 billion in innovations are in active development. In his book Driving Eureka!, best-selling business author Doug Hall presents the System Driven Innovation scientific method for enabling innovation by everyone, everywhere, every day. It’s the essential resource you need to enable yourself—and your team—to innovate, succeed, and do amazing things that matter, on a daily basis.