Get Creative, Stay Curious
Turn uncertainty into a customer-centered business opportunity.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 96%
Get Creative, Stay Curious replaces the search for a perfect business answer with a structured search for insight. Begin by defining the person you want to help and understanding the outcome or relief that person values. Next, inventory the experience and expertise that others can credibly recognize in you, including lessons that place you only a few steps ahead of the customer. Then identify which combinations of that audience and expertise are genuinely enjoyable to pursue. The intersection of customer need, credible capability, and personal energy reveals promising opportunities. Once an opportunity emerges, convert your knowledge into a repeatable framework that moves the customer from the current state to the desired future state, then position the offer around that transformation rather than around what you merely want to create.
Origin
Jasmine Star learned this method from her Stanford Latino Business Action Network mentor, David, while discussing her desire to pursue an undefined new direction. Extracted from The Jasmine Star Show.
Core principles
- 01Seek insights rather than predetermined answers.
- 02Start with the person you want to help.
- 03Build from expertise others already recognize.
- 04Choose work that gives you energy.
- 05Define value from the customer's perspective.
How to run it
- 1
Ask for insights
Replace questions designed to confirm a preferred answer with open questions that reveal customer needs, possibilities, and constraints. Remain curious before committing to a solution.
Pro tip Record recurring language, pressures, and desired outcomes rather than rushing to name a product.
Watch out A leading question can produce validation without producing genuine understanding.
- 2
Choose whom to help
Define the specific person whose situation you want to improve. Learn what that person wants and which pressure point your work could relieve.
Pro tip Describe the customer by current circumstances and desired transformation, not demographics alone.
Watch out Trying to help everyone makes it difficult to identify meaningful value.
- 3
Inventory credible expertise
List the experience, skills, and results that other people already perceive as your expertise. Include knowledge gained by being a few steps ahead, even if you are not a world-renowned authority.
Pro tip Look for a common thread across projects, roles, and problems you have solved.
Watch out Do not inflate expertise or dismiss useful experience merely because it feels ordinary to you.
- 4
Locate energizing work
Identify when you have the most fun serving the chosen person and applying your expertise. Use that energy as a filter for opportunities you can pursue positively and sustainably.
Pro tip Look for activities that leave both you and the customer more energized.
Watch out Enjoyment alone is insufficient if the customer does not value the outcome.
- 5
Define the transformation
Describe the customer's current state, desired future state, and the measurable change connecting them. Confirm that your expertise can credibly support that journey.
Pro tip Use a concrete before-and-after scenario with a timeframe whenever possible.
Watch out Do not promise a transformation you cannot reliably help produce.
- 6
Build and position the framework
Organize your knowledge into a repeatable process for achieving the transformation. Position yourself and the offer around delivering that valued outcome.
Pro tip Give each stage a clear purpose so customers can understand how progress happens.
Watch out Avoid building the full offer before testing whether the proposed transformation matters to customers.
In the wild
A coach chooses to serve owners of three-person companies earning about $200,000 annually. The coach inventories experience in leadership, hiring, and organizational growth, then maps a framework intended to help such an owner pursue a future with $2.5 million in revenue and 12 employees over two years. The offer is positioned around that explicit transformation rather than generic CEO coaching.
→ The coach gains a specific audience, valuable destination, and framework around which to establish authority.
A founder who recently built a reliable client-onboarding process chooses to help freelancers still managing onboarding manually. Although not a famous expert, the founder is several steps ahead of the intended customer. By combining that credible experience with enjoyable teaching work, the founder develops a short consulting engagement that guides clients through documenting, automating, and testing their own onboarding flow.
→ A modest but credible area of expertise becomes a focused, customer-centered offer.
Common mistakes
Creating in a silo
Building only what interests the creator can produce an offer that customers do not consider meaningful or valuable.
Demanding an answer too early
Questions aimed at obtaining a definitive answer can prematurely narrow exploration and conceal more useful insights.
Discounting beginner expertise
Assuming only elite authorities can help others ignores the value of being a few credible steps ahead of a specific customer.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for entrepreneurs exploring a new offer, business, pivot, or source of growth without a predetermined solution.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when a validated direction already exists and the immediate problem is purely operational execution.
From the transcript
“get creative, stay curious.”
“stop asking questions for answers and start asking questions for insights.”
“who do you want to help?”
From the episode
The Episode You Need to Get Unstuck: The Only 4 Words You Need