March Hoops and Creative Madness
By Carrie Cousins
Thank you to Valley Business FRONT for featuring our Vice President, Carrie Cousins, in their March 2026 issue.
You can picture the moment: Lorenzo Charles goes for the dunk as time runs out to lift N.C. State to a national title in men’s college basketball. Head coach Jim Valvano runs across the court, hair and tie flying, searching for someone to embrace.
That Wolfpack team wasn’t supposed to be there. Through a mentality of survive and advance, they overcame obstacles to win it all.
That’s the spirit of victory.
We replay the dunk. We remember the celebration. But the final frame hides the full story.
Before the breakthrough came doubt. Before the highlight came near-elimination. Before the magic came adjustments, missed shots, hard conversations, and relentless belief.
Creative work is no different.
We love the finished campaign. The viral post. The brand refresh that feels obvious in hindsight. We talk about the “big idea” as if it appeared fully formed.
It didn’t.
Creative success is also survive and advance.
It’s the rough draft that falls flat. The headline that misses. The strategy that raises more questions than answers.
And the choice to keep going. Your team must iterate and adjust, iterate and adjust, ITERATE and ADJUST until it feels almost impossible.
Great work isn’t born — it’s built.
You iterate. You refine the message. You adjust the audience. You rework the visual. You test, learn, and tweak again.
It can be messy, uncertain … and feel like madness.
But it doesn’t have to feel that way. Think of the creative process like filling out a bracket. Try an idea, then try something else. Which one wins? Advance and iterate. Take the small victories along the way with a few mindset changes.
- You can’t iterate if you don’t try. Just the momentum that comes with creative thinking can help spur more creative thought.
- Think of every iteration as an A/B test. From copy changes to new graphics, look at both versions, pick the one that’s better and continue working to improve it.
- Consistency compounds. Think about the big picture in a series of steps and stay focused.
From basketball games to creative processes, few stories end in a buzzer-beater.
For those with true grit, it’s survive and advance.
Carrie Cousins is the Vice President at LeadPoint Digital in Roanoke. For 15+ years, she has helped businesses tell their stories and get better results online with practical digital marketing strategies. She is also an active leader in AAF, serving on the local and district boards, and is an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech.
