Before moving to Chicago in 2010, I lived in New York’s Hudson Valley, about 75 miles north of New York City.

It’s a beautiful part of the world, filled with hundreds of shades of green in the summer.

However, it’s in the Fall that the area shines as the second-largest apple producer in the USA (after Washington State).

There are dozens of hybrid varieties, from Macoun’s crisp tartness to Crispin’s pie-making perfection.

Fall's bounty starts, of course, months before. So in this week’s mini masterclass, I share ideas on how you can avoid a creative drought and prepare an idea collection. If you do, you’ll always be ready for a visual harvest.

Growing your own idea orchard

Just as apple farmers prepare their orchards long before harvest, solopreneurs must cultivate their own “idea orchard” for visual communication. Like my favorite Hudson Valley apple varieties, each visual concept brings its own flavor to your solo business.

But here’s the catch: you can't simply pluck these ideas on demand.

Instead, here are five ways to cultivate your visual thinking skills year-round.

✅ Keep a sketchbook handy. ​
Jot down ideas, doodle concepts, or paste inspiring images. This visual journal becomes your orchard of ideas, ready to harvest when needed.

✅ Practice visual note-taking.
Whether you’re in a meeting or listening to a podcast, challenge yourself to translate concepts into simple sketches, diagrams, or mindmaps. This exercise sharpens your ability to distill complex ideas into clear visuals.

✅ Cross-pollinate with other disciplines.
Just as apple farmers might learn from peach growers, seek inspiration outside your field. Explore art museums, architecture, or nature itself. This cross-pollination can lead to fresh perspectives and innovative visual solutions.

✅ Observation is key.
Just as I marveled at the hundreds of green hues in the Hudson Valley summers, train your eye to notice the visual details in your world. That street art as you run errands or the layout of your favorite magazine? They’re all potential seeds for your idea tree of future visuals.

✅ Don't be afraid to experiment. ​
Those dozens of apple hybrids didn’t appear overnight. They’re the result of careful cultivation and cross-pollination. You might find that the structure of a beehive inspires a new website layout, or that a sunset’s color palette sparks brand identity ideas.

Prepare for taste preferences

Remember, effective visual communication, like a good apple pie, requires understanding your audience. What visual flavors might they prefer? A crisp, minimalist design might appeal to some, while others engage with a rich, detailed infographic.

Cultivating your visual thinking skills takes time, but the investment is worth it. With a well-tended idea orchard, you'll have a ready-to-use collection of visual inspiration when you need it.

✅ My challenge to you: Which of the 5 ways will you experiment with this week to develop your visual thinking?

❤️ My favorite visual delights

Here are this week’s gems from around the Web for all types of visual thinkers:

​Say What You See: Learn the art of image prompting with Google AI​
Google has created a gamified learning module to help you write great AI prompts, so you can output the images you want. It shows you an AI-generated image, then challenges you to write a prompt to create a close match. Fun and informative, but challenging to achieve Level 3!

​History of typography — an animated short
​This stop-motion animated video by Ben Barrett-Forrest captures the history of typography and fonts in a mere 5 minutes. It is a visual delight of paper-letter animation that required 291 paper letters, 2,454 photographs, and 140 hours of work. After 10 seconds, you’ll see why it has nearly 2 million YouTube views.

​10 ways Josh Spector turns what he knows into uniquely valuable content​
Josh Spector helps people get more customers from their content, and he’s a master at it. If you’re stumped about what to write in a social media post or newsletter, check out this inspiration list. You can also get daily gems delivered in his For the Interested newsletter.

Did you miss these?

Catch up on some recent popular issues of SOLO you may have missed.
​

✅ Draw, tell, and sell with this single-line framework​

✅ Credibility: Build it or borrow it?​

✅ 3 ways design pros stop the scroll​

✅ Beware this painful solopreneur trap​​​​​​

Want to check out other past issues? Visit the SOLO Newsletter archive.

​

Thanks again for being a SOLO reader and coming along on this journey of visual exploration.
​
Know someone who wants to create an endless supply of creative ideas? Share this newsletter with another solopreneur!
​
And if you received this issue from a friend, I invite you to subscribe.​

See you next week,