THE WEALTH PROFILE SQUARE
Dominant Wealth Frequency Action Dynamic Thinking Dynamic
Dynamo Introvert / Extrovert Intuitive
WEALTH CREATION KEY:
“Creating a better product”
PROFILE
The Creator comes in two forms. The introverted Creator is an inventor: creative, artistic, and able to multitask on many new ideas at the same time. The extroverted Creator is a pioneer: innovative but focused, creating not just products, but the businesses and marketing plans that will drive those products to market. Both are visionaries and motivate others by their drive.
ROLE MODELS
Successful introverted Creators can be found most visibly in the design, media & entertainment industries. You will also usually find them behind every new and innovative product that reaches the market, from the most recent high-tech phone to the latest kitchen blender. Successful extroverted Creators are behind many start-ups and can be found at the head of high-growth companies in high growth industries that require constant innovation to compete. The highest profile Creators out there includes George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Norman Foster on the one hand, and Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison on the other hand.
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES
Creators are naturally intuitive, so tend to get involved in their own creativity, which can cause friction with others. They are big picture thinkers, which can often mean missing the details. Their drive gives them the momentum to spark their creativity, but this drive can also exhaust or disorient others. As a result of this double-edged sword, Creators are often described by others as the best communicators and the worst communicators at the same time.
Creators are excellent at getting things started and generally not so excellent at completing them. Hence the tendency to have many projects going at the same time, which can sometimes lead to distraction and lack of focus.
Those Creators who have turned their back on their creativity have often done so as a result of others criticizing their lack of attention to detail, or their inability to complete the task at hand. Unsuccessful Creators are those who either have seen their creativity as a distraction in the serious business of earning a living, or who have become a victim of their success – living the consequence of some creative idea they had in the past, whether it is a company they set up or a career path they have entrenched themselves in.
The Creator
WEALTH CREATION STRATEGY
1. BUILDING WEALTH FOUNDATION
Creators can be extremely productive when using their creativity but may invest little time in this area. As a Creator, your biggest priority must be to build a team around yourself to support and execute the right ideas and plans.
Great Creators have a ready source of financiers and supporters they can call on to finance and support their new ventures. They also have the right distribution and deal making partners who are ready to take their new products and market them, and they have their own brainstorming teams that will often come up with far better ideas than the Creator can on his own.
2. MOMENT OF WEALTH CREATION
Creators need to maximize their time invested dreaming up and creating new ideas, products and strategies. Yes, that’s right, doing the things that are most fun. Key to this is choosing a market that you are passionate about – and that you can see yourself remaining in, attracting the butterflies, even when it’s no longer about the money.
3. VALUE CREATION
The value creation in innovation is in maximizing the value differential in your business or products’ unique selling points. Commercial value is quite different from uniqueness. Commercial value is what allows others to leverage a Creator’s products profitably. This is the value you give, not the value you get. This alone will multiply returns. Great Creators identify and build product niches that they can dominate, which means narrowing their niche - you can’t boil the ocean. Everything else is secondary: operations, systems – someone else can do it, and will do it better.
4. VALUE OWNERSHIP
Before leveraging, you need to own the product rights of whatever you and your team have created. That means trade marking, copyrighting or patenting. You need to ensure that you have ownership of the originality of what you create, or any cash flow you generate will be very temporary.
5. LEVERAGE
Extrovert Creators are much more likely to start their own business to support their product innovations. Leverage will come from multiplying reach and productivity through distribution networks and mass production, and magnifying the brand and goodwill through marketing and partnerships. Introvert Creators need to leverage even more by securing licensing agreements with distributors: hence the need to link with dealmakers.
6. SECURE CASH FLOW
The world is full of Creators who have not followed this strategy and so have missed their wealth and are spinning in the eddy currents, out of the flow. Many even find a way to leverage, but then miss the final key point: getting paid their worth. Cash flow will come from patent royalties, license fees, or often direct from your business: company profits or equity sales. You need to secure where the money is coming from, and how and when it will be paid, before rushing ahead and conquering the world.
