I’m a total stalker—and you should be too. That’s right, I’m encouraging you to go out and stalk people. No need to go through their trash like I did in imagi-NATION: disruptive innovator’s road tour, but you should browse their website, read their blogs, like their Facebook pages, and so on.
Stalking
I stalk people who I think are doing innovative things. I stalk them because I want to see and learn from what they are doing in real-time. Books are great, but if you wait to read their book you’ve already missed the boat on all the great things you could have learned and implemented in your own business. I loved Tony Hseih’s book, but by the time it came out I had already learned a ton from him and from Zappos. Don’t wait for that innovative person you admire to put pen to paper, because it could take years. The world is moving too quickly for you to wait, because chances are at that point it’s too late.
I’m not saying don’t buy books (I have piles of them), but I am saying that you can also have a browser filled with people you stalk and learn from in real-time. I talk a lot about stalking in my keynotes and in my playbook, Think Sideways: game-changing playbook for disruptive thinking. Stalking is one of the tools I use to up my innovative thinking daily. When you stalk people who are doing innovative and inspiring things you have no choice but to become more innovative. They will challenge, inspire, and drive you to be more innovative in your world.
Here are my favorite people and businesses to stalk right now. BTW—if you are on this list and we haven’t met, yes, that’s us upping your page views and commenting on your Facebook and blogs.
- Johnny Cupcakes – A total fav of mine: a lifestyle company that sells apparel. His signature logo is the skull and crossbones but the skull is a cupcake. A very non-traditional company in a traditional industry. I get hungry just thinking about it.
- ThinkFun – Toys and games to spark creativity. I had the honor of meeting the founder and his great team at a conference. Without a doubt one of the most innovative groups out there. All I can say is that they are doing some BIG, MIND-BLOWING things and I don’t want to miss any of it.
- Springwise.com – This is a wonderful resource for finding innovative people. Every week I get an email in my inbox highlighting cool and creative people, ideas, products, and businesses from across the globe. This is one email you won’t want to delete.
- Steve Spangler – This guy makes science look super cool. I came across him because of my speaking work but wow, his business is at a whole different level with products, web videos, and more. He has an incredibly innovative approach to teaching science and I want a bite of that!
- Aquanotes – No joke, a notepad for your shower so you can capture all your brilliant shower aHa moments. I love these guys so much we are now selling them on the Shoppe. I am paying attention to what they do because anyone with an idea like that has gotta be good.
Watch their Youtube videos, subscribe to their blogs, set a Google alert for news about them, spend time on their Facebook pages, buy their products to see how they do it, go see them speak … whatever it takes to soak in the awesomeness. Power of osmosis will take it from there.
PS – If you are someone we should be stalking, let us know by emailing team@imaginibbles.com. Kevin Richardson, the winner of the Fun Theory award did, and boy is he awesome. He is hands down number 6 on this list.
Tags: AquaNotes, business stalking, creativity tips, entrepreneur tips, entrepreneurs, fun theory, how to be more creative, how to be more innovative, imagi-nation, imaginibbles, imaginibbles Shoppe, innovation tips, johnny cupcakes, Kevin Richardson, springwise, springwise.com, Steve Spangler, tamara kleinberg, think fun, Think Sideaways: a game-changing playbook for disruptive thinking, think sideways book, Think Sideways Playbook, thinkfun, zappos
