You would have heard the following statements many times.

• Tools are not everything. What you do with tools is more important.
• Tools are a means to an end. They are not the end.

A writer has to write and it does not matter what tools he uses to write. Well, most of the time. If you are writing a novel, then using a tool like Scrivener would make a world of difference. Last November, I participated in the NaNoWriMo event and wrote the first draft of my novel in 19 days. Of course, it took months to refine it after that. But the point is – Scrivener was a God-send at that point in time. It made me focus on my few hours of writing at night and removed all the distractions by fading them away.

In summary, it is the combination of the “right” talent capitalizing on the “right” talent that will make a big difference.

That brings me to the point of this blog post after a brief background:

It was more than 13 months ago, that I first met Ram Dutt and Jason Dirks, co-founders of Meylah. They had a vision that was about providing tools and resources to a community that BADLY needs them (the community of creative professionals).

The idea instantly appealed to me – mostly because I have so many creative people in my network who are not web-savvy. They LOVE their craft and they mostly “hate” working outside of it – like talking about it, promoting it, marketing and selling it.

Scott Belsky says it brilliantly in his just released book “Making Ideas Happen” (a must-read even for people outside the creative world) – most creative people struggle because they stop at the idea stage or limit their work to their craft. They do what they LOVE and not what is REQUIRED to make what they LOVE flourish.

I didn’t have to go far for a use-case. My brother Prasad in India is an artist and he loves his craft. But he had never been able to get share, sell and teach his craft easily before.

Meylah’s vision of providing the “right tools” for an audience that was hungry was hence compelling. The tools include – providing an ability to share (a simple blog), an ability to sell (a store), an ability to teach (a lightweight learning management system) and an ability to connect (social media integration).

Long story short, Meylah has now released their Alpha and are accepting invites. There are several early alpha invitees who have already created their Meylah sites. A few examples are below:

1. http://www.meylah.com/chirag – A 9-year old artist showcasing his artwork

2. http://www.meylah.com/courtneyrian – A jewelry designer selling her work

3. http://www.meylah.com/prasad – My brother Prasad featuring his paintings

All of the above people created their websites without much help or having to be competent on the use of the web.

Like I said before, tools are not everything – but for “the right talent,” “the right tools” can simply give the edge that you need.

Quick request: If you are a creative professional, please check out http://www.meylah.com. If you are not one, but you know of a creative professional, please forward this blog post to them.

Thanks and have a great weekend.