At ELEVATE 2025, hosted by the Small Business Development Center for San Diego and Imperial Counties, I asked a room full of entrepreneurs, creatives, and community leaders to do something they hadn’t done in a long time—draw.

Not professionally. Not perfectly. Just… freely. Playfully. Badly.

What happened next was a reminder of why I do this work: people laughed, hesitated, risked, and connected—and many walked away with something more valuable than a doodle: a renewed belief in their creative potential.

What We Explored Together

In my keynote, “Unlocking Your Creative Confidence – One Bad Drawing at a Time,” we unpacked how our creative confidence soars as children—until education systems, peer comparisons, and adult expectations chip away. We stop coloring outside the lines. We stop drawing rocket ships. We stop seeing ourselves as creative.

But creativity doesn’t die. It just gets quiet.

We reignited that voice through fast-paced drawing games, nostalgic reflection, and rapid ideation exercises. We experienced how:

• Visual thinking taps into problem-solving where words fall short

• Play builds connection and trust

• Structured chaos can lead to brilliant business ideas

And then, we went a step further.

Measuring Creative Confidence

As part of the experience, I invited every attendee to complete the Creative Confidence Assessment—a tool I designed to measure how people think about their creativity across 11 key dimensions, like risk-taking, curiosity, resilience, and innovation. We invited them at the end of my keynote, via email and social media.

Unlike the test results we feared as kids, these scores were empowering.

Here’s how the attendees of ELEVATE 2025 scored:

Creative Personas

• 5% as Creativity Catalysts

• 15% as Confident Creators

• 55% identified as Emerging Innovators

• 25% as Budding Creators

• 0% as Dormant Dreamers

A Closer Look at Confidence by Gender

While women made up 80% of the assessment respondents, their average creative confidence scores were slightly lower than those of men. The data revealed:

• Women averaged a Creative Confidence Score of 31.7

• Men averaged slightly higher at 34.0

It’s not a huge gap—but it is meaningful.

This subtle difference may reflect broader cultural patterns: women are often more self-critical in self-assessments, especially in areas tied to innovation or risk. Yet they were the first to raise their hands, play the games, and do the work. In that way, their creative courage spoke louder than the numbers.

What This Tells Us

This is huge: 100% of respondents scored as creatively engaged individuals.

Most people weren’t starting from scratch—they just needed a little nudge, a new lens, or a permission slip to create again.

And many of those who leaned in were women, making up 80% of respondents. That’s more than a statistic—it’s a signal. It tells us who’s willing to show up, be vulnerable, and explore creativity as a strength in life and business.

Why Did Mostly Women Participate?

Everyone was invited to take the assessment, but it was predominantly women who followed through. What does that suggest?

• Openness to growth: Women may be more willing to reflect, assess, and lean into areas like creativity, vulnerability, and personal development.

• Desire to lead differently: Many female professionals are reshaping leadership around empathy, innovation, and collaboration—skills tied directly to creative confidence.

• Curiosity outweighs fear: It takes courage to assess yourself creatively. The women in this room embraced that challenge.

That’s not just interesting—it’s important. Especially in a region where small businesses are the backbone of the economy and women are leading more of them every year.

What This Means for San Diego & Imperial Counties

The region is brimming with innovators—not just tech founders or artists, but small business owners, students, executives, and consultants who are ready to reframe problems, communicate visually, and generate bold new ideas.

The people who attended ELEVATE are already thinking like creators.
They’re ready to draw. To build. To elevate.

Core Messages

• Creativity is a skill—not just for artists, but for problem solvers.

• Bad drawings are good business. They short-circuit the inner critic and spark innovation.

• Everyone is creative. Yes, even you. Especially you.

• Vulnerability builds connection. Sharing your childhood drawing isn’t just fun—it’s meaningful.

• Creative confidence can be measured—and developed. My Creative Confidence Assessment shows how.

Gratitude & Congratulations

To the SBDC team: thank you for producing an incredible event that truly lived up to its theme—ELEVATE. You created space for small business leaders to grow, connect, and evolve.

To the attendees who picked up a pencil, partnered with a stranger, and shared their sketches—you did the hard part. You pushed past fear and perfectionism. You played my games. You opened the door to unlocking your creative confidence. And that’s no small thing.

What Comes Next?

If you drew at ELEVATE, thank you. If you assessed your creative confidence, bravo. And if you’re just reading this now—it’s not too late to start.

Creativity is a skill. A habit. A mindset. And it’s yours for the taking.

This keynote is more than an experience—it’s an invitation. If you want to bring this energy to your organization, your conference, or your team, let’s talk.

• Email me: KP@TheIdeaGuy.us
• Take the Creative Confidence Assessment
• Speaking + Workshop Bookings: theideaguy.us/speaking

Thank you again to the amazing organizers and the brave participants of ELEVATE 2025. You reminded me why I do what I do. Let’s keep drawing—badly, boldly, and with confidence.