*Typing*

Most creative individuals working today are both the talent and the agent.

Previously, this hasn't been the case. These two roles were once entirely separate; and for good reason. It's very difficult to be both a creative person and a business person at the same time. They call upon separate parts of the brain. I'm not a neuroscientist. But, to make my point, attempt to read and answer email at the same time. It's impossible. While reading isn't necessarily an act of creation, it demands the same level of attention.

David Bowie was notorious for negotiating his own deals. After buying back the rights to his music in 1997 in a clever maneuver that involved issuing "Bowie Bonds", he became increasingly more involved in the business side of his art.

Writers, artists and creatives look down upon agents, entrepreneurs and salesmen, seeing it as a lowly profession. However, if they hope to make a living––and perhaps even a killing––in their vocation, they really should be studying these money-minded individuals. If they can become their own agent, they will earn an additional 20% - 50% on everything they do because they won't be paying out a commission.

Solutions bloom from two trees. We will separate these trees as "Western" and "Eastern". Western thinking says that if we throw ourselves at a problem and expend all of our energy on that problem, a solution will appear. It's essentially overwhelming a problem until it is no longer a problem. Eastern thinking says that if we remain calm and centered about a problem, and create space between ourselves and that problem, a solution will appear. One is a cowboy's approach while the other is a Buddhist monk's. Wisdom is recognizing that both trees bear fruit. There are moments in life that call for tenacity and moments that call for patience.

Good ideas tend to pester you until you do something about them.

We are creatures of habit. We will repeat the actions that worked for us the last time. If we can understand this quality about ourselves, we can make ourselves difficult to read, while making our competition easy to read.

When we are presented with a problem, conventional thinking says to come up with a solution. But, the problem/solution relationship is unique in that it is a game of odds. No solution is 100% foolproof. So, it's not simply a matter of picking the golden ticket. To give ourselves the best chances of success, we should stack solutions. We should treat solutions like a fortress whose problem is an invading army.

Constantinople had not one but four walls. One 20-foot high sea wall that stretched 5 miles along the Golden Horn bay, as well as three land walls. They also had a 60-foot wide mote, 188 watchtowers and flamethrowers. Because of this solution stacking, Constantinople remained in Roman hands for 1,000 years until it was sacked by the Ottomans in 1453.

Problem solving isn't about finding one solution but many.