Got Talent?

I’ve just finished browsing my kid-brother’s art blog. Call me biased, but I think he is one of the most talented artists I’ve ever met. Beyond talented, however, Glenn has proven himself to be a good steward of a gift he’s been given. All of us have gifts, but he’s doing something wonderful with his. It’s one thing to be given a gift, and another to take that gift and make something of it the way he is. If he continues with the path he’s on, he’s destined to make something even greater of his gift.

TALENT: a special natural ability or aptitude; a capacity for achievement or success

I find it very interesting the different ways in which people treat their talents. There are many different talents out there and there are also different TYPES of talents. Some talents are what I like to classify as “billboard” talents. These are the ones that are obvious enough to be recognized immediately. Artists, musicians, writers, athletes, actors, comedians, and the like. They’re often the ones of whom people are speaking when they say, “Whoa, I wish I could do that!” However, these “billboard” talent are only one class, and they can comes with a lot of pressure. Just because everyone else can recognize a person’s talent, doesn’t necessarily mean that the talented person can recognize it, let alone know what to do with it. Problems can ensue when those with extraordinary talent fail to meet the expectations of those around them, or even themselves.

Another classification is the “transparent” talent. These talents typically get overlooked, and yet tend to be the most common. They’re the talents that we use to do our jobs. Just think about all the professionals out there. Teachers, Attorneys, Doctors, Mechanics, Pilots, Psychologists, Engineers, and Truck Drivers, just to name a few, all have talents in their respective fields of expertise. They wouldn’t likely last very long in those fields if they didn’t. Ever wonder if you would be good at defending an innocent man who had been wrongly accused of murder? Have you ever wondered if you would be able to execute an arc weld on two separate pieces of steel while battling gusts of wind on the 86th floor of a New York skyscraper? What about performing an in-the-womb fetal surgery? Let’s face it; there are a lot of different talents out there. I’m an artist and I enjoy writing. However, put me in front of a broken down vehicle and tell me to “fix it” and I’m useless. From the dexterity of a stenographer who can type over 100 words per minute to the patience of someone meticulously measuring, cutting and laying perfectly leveled ceramic tile, talent is required.

Many people can sing, but how many people sing their way into Broadway, professional opera, or into multi-platinum album-selling stardom? Sure, many people can write, but not many are confident or bold enough to turn that skill into a regularly featured newspaper column, a movie script or a best-selling novel. I have a brother-in-law similar to Glenn, but in a different area of expertise. Aaron has a brilliant mind. Using wit, creativity, and literary skill, he’s worked his way up to being the head writer for an advertising agency in California. In the past he has written episodes for TV shows like CSI, and worked for Nickelodeon. None of this has come without some struggle for him. Although gifted, he’s had to be persistent. He’s also worked hard to overcome his challenges with own vision impairment. Aaron, like many others, has learned that just because he is talented, doesn’t mean he will be handed the great opportunity. He had to work for it.

In his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad (one of the greatest motivational books I’ve read), Robert Kiyosaki states that, “the world is full of talented poor people.” His suggestion here is, of course, that achieving greatness requires something MORE than just being talented. He goes on to say that most people are “only one talent away from being rich”. By this, he’s implying that by only recognizing our most obvious talents, we sell ourselves just short. It takes more than just slight of hand to be David Copperfield. You’ve got to be a showman too.

Most of us don’t have any physical or mental disabilities impeding us from achieving our greatness. Instead, our extraordinary potential is most often stymied by our own apathy, procrastination and/or laziness. Some of us, after recognizing our gifts, just ignore them for so long that they dim over time and ultimately extinguish. Others of us confuse humility with denial of our talents. When complimented on something we do well, many of us argue with such observations and simply deflect the recognition. This usually also leads to loss of that skill or talent. If you claim enough times that you’re not really talented, eventually you’ll actually believe it and show it.

Those who have excelled in life have done so by choice. They’re the kind of people who don’t wait for recognition to come to them. They perform their talents and recognition follows naturally. They’re tenacious. They’re deliberate. They’re determined. How do we take talents and turn them into magnificent achievements? Like most things in life, there are dos and there are don’ts. Here are a few suggestions;

First, DO acknowledge that you do it well, whatever it is. Yes, be humble, but only AFTER you’ve admitted to yourself that you do, in deed, have talent. If you can’t recognize your talents, then just listen to what others say about what you do. Many times people will say things like, “Man, you’re really good with [blank]” or “I wish I could [blank] like you do.” More often than not, however, we already know what we’re good at simply because we enjoy doing it or because it comes naturally to us. In the world of business, it’s important to not only recognize your talent, but to run with it. If you don’t promote your own skills and talents, no one else is going to do it for you. Don’t brag…Do acknowledge.

DON’T compare yourself to others with similar talent. We can learn from, and even admire others who excel at things we do well without classifying them or ourselves as better or worse. After all, if all artists were equally talented, we ALL would have painted the Mona Lisa. How boring would that be?

DO use it. As the saying goes, “use it or lose it.” I don’t mean to use your talent ONLY when circumstances happen to offer you an opportunity. I’m mean MAKE opportunities to employ your talent. Stop making excuses for NOT doing what you’re good at. Stop pretending that everything else takes precedence. Stop placing obstacles in your own path and take Nike’s advice….JUST DO IT. You’ve been thinking about starting a business….then START it. Stop talking about it. You’ve always wanted to write a children’s book. Well then, sit down and WRITE it. Stop thinking about. You’ve thought about running a marathon… Well, you’re body isn’t going to get in shape by thinking about it. Get out there and train for it! The hardest step to take of any journey is always the first.

DO teach it to others who are so inclined. If you wan to become an expert, teach. In order to teach anything you have to be familiar with it yourself first. The more you teach, the more you’ll learn. The more you learn, the more you’ll enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you’ll do it. The more you do it, the better you’ll get. My own daughter has started showing interest in art. It may be that she is only doing it because she sees how much I love it. Regardless, her interest in art is the first step towards discovering a talent she might have or even develop. Her interest is the first step.

Even though you’ve got talent, DON’T assume that you know it all. Tiger Woods, possibly the most talented pro golfer in the world, had an instructor. That’s right…he took lessons from Butch Harmon (No relation) even AFTER he was deemed “the best”. He didn’t presume to know all there was to know about golfing technique, just because he happened to be better than the majority of his competition the majority of the time. Talent, even natural talent, can always be improved upon.

DO explore yourself to find NEW talents. Just because you’re GREAT at one thing doesn’t mean you can’t be GREAT at other things too! Have you even known anyone who seemed to just excel at everything? I sure have. I used to hate people like that. Many of us assume that just because we don’t have natural inclination that we don’t have any talent. This is far from the truth. There are many very talented people who started with nothing but a desire to be talented.

Got Talent? Go ahead….name three of your own. I dare you.

BOOM...Virus Spreads

Lately I’ve been reading from a marketing strategy book called “Unleashing the Idea Virus” by Seth Godin. I had a lot of time to read it while I was in the hospital with Kim before and after the birth of our son just over a week ago. This is by far, one of the most helpful books I’ve ever read. It’s not the type of book that everyone would find helpful or even interesting. I think that I find it interesting in the same way that my programmer, Rob, finds his text books on Java script interesting. I’m really into marketing right now and so this book as come at a very fortuitous time for me. Just about every concept and principle I learn is directly applicable to what I’m doing and it's all written in lay man's terms.

One of the concepts that this book discusses is the strategy of making a new idea easy to spread. To illustrate this point, they use the examples of Hotmail, and Blue Mountain E-cards. Both of these “idea viruses,” as they call them, ignited fast. REALLY fast. They did so because of how easy they were for the user to spread them. Think about it. In order for Hotmail to even work, one has to email someone else while USING it. In other words, using it means promoting it. The same thing is true with Blue Mountain E-cards. Once a person receives one, and they think it’s cool, they want to send one to someone else. Just by using the idea, the idea is being spread around. And it is simple to do so. No multi-step processes, just a typed message and a click to send. Amazing! It’s not rocket science, and yet it's incredibly smart. Then again, some of the most simplistic things can be amazing to me. Until I started reading this book, I had never thought about the genius behind the marketing and strategies of these ideas. I took them completely for granted until they were pointed out and broken down for me. That’s how good they really were! Another “idea virus” that I had never even heard of is explained this way in the book;

“In Japan, teenage schoolgirls started and built a craze to billion-dollar proportions. They continue to line up to use a special kind of photo booth. Here’s how it works: You enter the photo booth (similar to the old Polaroid ones of your youth), insert some coins and it takes your picture. But instead of giving you four shots on a strip, it prints out 16 little tiny on-square-inch on stickers. Now, what are you going to do with 16 pictures of yourself on stickers? Share them with your friends! As a result, every popular Japanese schoolgirl has an autograph book loaded with dozens or hundreds of these stickers. Sort of like your high school yearbook signing ceremony, but on steroids.”

“A friend of mine, Sam Attenberg, developed and patented this technology in the States. And while it never became a full-fledged virus in the U.S., it developed pockets of intense activity in certain hives. Some machines were turning $70 an hour in sticker business, every hour on the hour for weeks at a time. In Japan, two companies dominated a multi-billion dollar-industry in Sticker Stations.”

“So what’s the medium? It’s the person-to-person exchange of stickers. The medium is the key to the entire [idea] virus. Once the first person got the sheet of stickers, the only way she could use them was by sharing them with 15 friends. But in sharing them, in using the medium provided, she had to explain where she got them. Boom. Virus spreads.”

“Boom”, indeed. To me, this is high impact stuff. So why am I so interested in this particular marketing strategy? Simply stated…LittleLDS needs the lift-off thrust described here. After reading this excerpt I immediately had a really great idea. Surprise, surprise….I know. The idea is to create some sort of sharable medium. I can employ the LittleLDS brand to create a new type of coloring page that can only be “really fun” when it’s being shared with another child. After all, two coloring children are better than one. So, you get one child excited enough about the idea that they bring the pages to another child to share. The two friends share an experience that begs to be repeated. The second friend takes the pages to another friend to reproduce the experience, and... Boom. Virus spreads.

The pangs of tax season

Aside from being an average W-2 tax payer in April, I’m also required to pay my corporate taxes by March 15th. This rule is taking some time to get used to. Seems like my panic hits just after the official deadline, and lasts until after the regular tax season is over. By then I’m finished filing not only my regular taxes, but also my now “extended” corporation taxes. You know, for as much as this country depends on small businesses, they sure don’t make any of it easy to run.

It seems like everyone is a little stressed this time of year over taxes. You can even sense it in the commercials on TV. Come to think of it, it’s almost like the whole month of December. You know, those last stressful 2 week-shopping, hustling & bustling days? Fortunately, the Christmas season ends in opening of gifts and lots of smiles….The tax season, on the other hand, promises nothing but will occasionally offer you a small portion of what they “rightfully” stole from you during the previous year with a meager tax return. Ahem…yippee (sigh). A tax return is supposed to make me excited, right? Excited about what exactly, that the IRS took TOO much away from me during the year?? Excited that I’m getting back only a percentage of the excess amount they took?? Give me a break.

I've learned:
- That in order to owe LESS in corporate taxes, I’m forced to spend MORE. This spending is “controlled” or “strategic” spending, however, on things that my business needs anyway. These are things like printer toner, paper, computer equipment, and software.

- That the silly game that the IRS plays with corporations requires that I actually TRY to end up with a net loss at the end of the year. Something’s wrong here. This is backwards.

- That a corporation starts out as with a default status of “C-Corp” which, among other things, subjects me to having my taxes due in March. Last year I filed for an “S-Corp” status so this year I’ll be filing in April again.

- That as a corporation, one of the best ways to keep the IRS from TAKING Tyed Art’s money is to give it away! That’s right, charity. It’s similar to paying a personal tithe as an individual. Any charitable donations and gifts can be written off and tax deducted. This is why the big boys do be sweepstakes and giveaways! It’s not because they can afford to, but rather, because they can’t afford NOT to. If they didn’t give away their money, they’d end up paying MORE in taxes. Again, something isn’t right here.

I'm glad:
That there are capable and competent accountants out there to help me figure all this out.

I wish:
I had a better aptitude towards bookkeeping. It’s a chore for me. I actually don’t mind sitting down and getting things recorded. I’m a very organized person. My problem is remembering to DO it in the first place.

I will:
Have to learn a lot more about what types of tax breaks and legal loopholes there are out there. One doesn’t profit much from being a corporation when one doesn’t know much about being incorporated or about taxes. I need to become more corporation, tax and financially literate.