Theory of Creativity

Unfortunately, many businesses tend to drop the creativity ball early in the game--when scoping for clients. "Instead of [just] sending out letters and cold-calling, you have to use all types of techniques," says Moya.

"We started a business in a tenacious town, and we have to be tenacious to get more work," says Raia. "So the question is `How are we going to distinguish ourselves from the person next door?' "

Moya and Raia e-mail and fax like madmen. "We do illustrations of each other," says Moya. "So if we've met a prospective client, we'll send an illustration of ourselves saying `Hey, where are you? Why don't you call?' "

"Just by faxing illustrations, Joe Designer is constantly going across the desks of big CEOs," says Raia. "And when we sent out our two-year promotion, it was an expandable sponge. It's just a little twist to make people remember us. They'll get the printed calendars [from other companies], and that's very nice, but people are going to remember the sponge."

This article was originally published in the October 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Theory of Creativity.