Let's prepare to get creative by starting with a story!

In the Spring of 2019 I spent two days in Dublin as a side vacation on a longer trip to Great Britain, where I was invited to speak at a massage therapy conference about one of my books. 

I have always been fascinated by storytelling, so I jumped at the chance to duck out of the cool morning drizzle on the streets of Dublin, shake the raindrops from my trench coat and take the 45 minute tour of the National Leprechaun Museum of Ireland. 

The museum itself is an art installation, and visitors are led from room to room by a professional storyteller. The two children on the tour were clamoring to learn about fairies, but it was the bit about leprechauns that caught my interest as a business owner. 

Leprechauns, we learned from the storyteller, are astute business people. They are cobblers by trade, making and mending shoes for other fairies, but are also known to be expert musicians. 

What do those two things have in common? 

The storyteller saw my eyes light up when I realized why, and they turned to me and smiled, saying “I think you’ve got it! ” 

Can you guess?

Because fairies love to dance, and they more they dance, the more their shoes will need mending. 

How can we bring that bit of canny wisdom to our business? 

How can we evolve to provide a service, like music, that will delight our customers and increase their need for our core products? 

• I have a colleague from massage school that provides personal training for endurance athletes as well as post-workout sports massage.

• I have a friend who owns a gym in Ocean Beach that teaches martial arts and also sells CBD products to reduce pain. 

What would a cobbler / musician combination look like in your business?