Amor

Last night I finished the design of the "Amor" word tangle at the request of someone who had been browsing my Etsy storefront. His request was actually for the word "Amore" (notice the "e" at the end), which is Italian. So, I decided to create two versions of this tangle reasoning that the Spanish version (with no "e") would probably also be valuable as a finished tangle. So, I've got two new word tangles... sort of.

My first official S.O.P. project

So, after weighing my options over the weekend, I carefully narrowed down my list of ideas, and have decided that my first S.O.P. (Succeed On Purpose) project ought to be children’s books. Of all my ideas, this seems to be the one that I have the most control over. Control, in this case, translates into a higher probability of success simply because there are fewer outside factors to inhibit me. I’m only dealing with my time, my talent, my motivation. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and illustrating comes naturally to me. I’ve already written several things that will all go into this project.

Happy with my new focus, I told my wife on Friday night about my S.O.P. strategy. She thought it was good too, until she heard which of my ideas I had settled on to start with. She’s never shared my vision for this one, and that’s okay. Don’t get me wrong, she thinks I’m a good writer and artist, but she thinks the particular project I’ve decided on isn’t the most promising. Let me explain.

As a big ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ fan, I realized some years ago that there is a virtually un-tapped market out there waiting for someone to dive into. It’s the rich (or soon-to-be rich) kids, the smart kids, and kids with proactive parents and anyone else who just wants to start educating…well, sooner. I believe kids are much smarter and capable than we give them credit for. I think kids now days are brighter, and that their general learning curves are shorter than ever before. I think they’re capable of learning things earlier than we actively teach them. Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” started teaching him as a young boy to be financially literate. He started early and on purpose, and he kept things simple at first. The resulting foundation that was built was sturdy and has far exceeded mere endurance.

Accordingly, my idea is to create a series of books based on the principles and concepts that we, sponges of information, don’t typically learn until a little later on. I think many things are not learned earlier simply because they’re not taught any earlier. But kids pick up on much more of what they’re exposed to than just what they’re actually taught. For instance, how many kids sense marital tensions between their parents and figure out there’s a problem? How many parents discover that the “code” they’ve been using (be it Pig-Latin, sign or just spelling things out) to keep their kids in the dark hasn’t worked for months, and all of a sudden, Junior knows there’s no Easter Bunny? My own six-year-old, who hasn’t even started 1st grade yet, is already sending me text messages on my wife’s phone and building a miniature empire in the online world of Webkins for heaven’s sake!

I told "K" that my idea is to create these books to introduce young kids to principles (which they will eventually learn anyway) through rhymes and fables. Will they understand the principles immediately when reading the rhymes and fables? Not likely. Does that even matter? Not at all. How many kids understand the lesson behind “Oh, The places you’ll go” by Dr. Seuss? The POINT is to entertain them, like any other book. If the underlying message is perceived at all, it’ll be merely to introduce them to the principles…perhaps only via osmosis. I’ve always believed that when it comes to children’s books, you sell the words to the parents and you sell the illustrations to the kids. Eventually, though, the words will sink in. Entertain them now with illustrations and clever rhymes and perhaps someday, while in an elementary or middle school class learning about some fundamental principle, they just might look BACK at these childhood stories and say something like, “Oh, hey, this is just like the story of the….” The trick here is to keep things simple, and not to give in to the temptation to over explain or complicate. Teach just the principles.

The types of books "K" would like to see me writing and illustrating are the kind of books that have withstood the test of time and sales. They’re the type that focus more on morals, values, attributes, and personal character. While I can appreciate her perspective as a mother and consumer, and certainly her sense of “what already works and sells”, I also feel like that defeats my whole novel idea; the idea that kids are capable of handling more complex principles. Both of these perspectives are useful, but only one is novel. Anyone can write about the ABC’s or the 123’s. Anyone can write about opposites or colors. Anyone can create characters and wrap them in a cute story that teaches bravery, honesty or helpfulness. But that’s been done…over and over and over again. I want to tackle the challenge of simplifying general priciples for KIDS! Not everyone can do that.

In the end, I think there’s a very good chance that "K" will be right. I think my idea will be a tough sell. But, it’ll either sell or it won’t. Those are the only two outcomes. I’ll never know if I don’t try, and I’ll always regret it if I opt to conform. I like the idea, so I’m going to go for it. This project will be much more interesting to me than writing something that will ultimately become camouflaged in the sea of conventional children’s books.

Succeed on Purpose

For the last few days, I’ve been doing a lot of research on JK Rowling. Internet searches have led me through pod casts (or “Potter Casts” as they’re called in the Harry Potter world), videos, interviews, documentaries, statistics, and images. I’m VERY interested in her, first as a writer of my favorite science fiction book series, and second as a person who has achieved phenomenal success just by doing what she loves. She’s very realistic and humble about her success. Like that.

My existing deep interest in JKR has been super-heightened over the past few days after a conversation I had with my mom and wife while the former was in town visiting this last weekend. I was discussing with them both how much I enjoyed the HP books (I’ve been listening to Jim Dale’s audio reading of ‘The Deathly Hallows” at work), and how much talent she has when, all of a sudden, my wife blurted out how creative I am. I was a bit taken back. She mentioned to my mom about a book idea I had described to her years ago. This particular idea has always been severely underdeveloped, but she (evidently) thought the idea had real potential even back when I had first mentioned it to her. Until this conversation, though, I’d never known her enthusiasm for the concept. I was flattered, to say the least. She's always been supportive of my aspirations, but never this openly interested about any of them, besides maybe LittleLDS.

Anyway, after discarding my humility about the idea, I finally consented to explain the little detail I did have formulated for the book idea. My mom seemed to think it was an interesting idea too. Both of them suggested that day that I ought to explore, even if only for fun, the option of actually fully developing and writing a book. I laughed but admittedly began working it out in my head.

I’ve been toying with the logistics writing a book for the last week or so. This is why my interest in JKR has intensified so much. I’ve been hypothesizing, fantasizing, and even daydreaming of the idea ever since. I’ve fleshed out a few solid ideas, but haven’t committed myself to the idea fully. Like always.

Like always… Hhhh…

This morning, this really started eating at me. The fact that, “like always” I’ve not fully committed myself to the idea. If I’m truthful with myself, I’ve never really fully committed myself to ANY idea. I’ve played with ideas before, and even made seemingly good strides in the development of some of my ideas. But, where my ideas are concerned, LittleLDS, I think, has been my single greatest achievement. Writing it out even now, though, seems almost pathetic. Nothing substantial has ever come of that idea. Granted, as ideas go, it’s gotten much farther than any other. It’s gone from concept to actual sellable product. That’s something, right? I mean, it’s given me a small taste of what it’s like to actually DO it. But even with all the tradeshows, marketing ploys, and commercial networking attempts, it’s still gone nowhere. Very few people even know it exists. It’s generated a negative net value overall and hasn’t got any foreseeable future without serious effort. I’m not above effort…Even I know that’s just due process, but I am a realist. It’s probably not ever going to go much further than this.

After watching dozens of videos on my favorite entrepreneurs and role models, I’ve been given a renewed perspective that I can appreciate. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from any successful person I’ve ever really admired, it is that they didn’t give up. They had an idea and WENT for it. They saw it through to completion. The scale of their success may have been unforeseen, but their disire to accomplish their goals were pre-determined and absolute.

Now, because I don’t know any of these successful giants personally, I don’t know how really focused there were during their respective journeys toward success. For all I know, they were all as scattered as I feel with my many ambitious ideas. I doubt it, but it’s possible. As I’ve reflected on this point today, however, I’ve realized that I really need to add purpose and focus to my effort. I need to CHOOSE just ONE thing I believe in and go for it. I’ve done that once – with LittleLDS – and though it wasn’t the raving success I envisioned, I am VERY proud of having done it. It feels good to have one under my belt. I still feel very satisfied whenever the planets align just right and I actually do get that one single sale each year. What really matters is that my idea…this ONE concept, was nothing more than a thought before I did something with it. LittleLDS exists because I pulled it out of my head and did something.

So here’s my NEW resolution: to succeed on purpose. This means to DECIDE in advance what I want to achieve, PLAN how I want to work it out, and then DOING what I’ve set out to do. To this end, I’ll do three things each day. First, I’ll review my goal and recharge my motivational drive, then I’ll take action toward achieving that goal with a reachable milestone for that day, and finally, I’ll document my progress and then begin again. If I step forward every day, even if each of my steps are miniscule, tomorrow will always find me closer to my successes than yesterday did.

Because I have so many ideas, the most important thing for ME will probably be to prioritize first. I need to look at all my ideas, and decide which ones are realistically achievable, and which ones are more likely just pipe dreams.

Then I need to decide which of my achievable goals I can do without the assistance of others. I know this probably doesn’t sound smart, but it seems like every time I try to achieve a goal that depends on the time, talents or motivation of someone else I fail. So, for me, I need to narrow down my ideas to just ones that can be worked out alone. I alone can control my time. I alone will motivate my actions, and I alone have full access to my talents. Therefore, I need to focus on an idea that involves only me.

Next, I need to decide which of these few ideas, have the greatest potential when finished. Which have the greatest chance to catch someone’s eye, open someone’s wallet, or ultimately close the deal? Which one has the greatest leverage with respect to my invested time & talent vs. a profit margin?

Finally, I need to decide HOW I want to bring the idea to completion. I need to create a completion schedule with waypoints, dates, and contingencies plans.

I begin today.

Shifts

Let’s face it, mankind is selfish by nature. “What’s in it for me” has been the underlying theme of humanity since its conception. However, through the ages, the evolution of technology has required us to modify the way we answer this self-indulging question. Up until the Iron Age, mankind spend most of it’s time hunting and gathering. Little thought was given to preservation or material accumulation because most of their effort was spent on basic survival. Civilizations, tribes and individuals struggled with the elements of nature, diseases & illnesses, hunger, and the trials migration. Power was exhibited mostly through physical force, and leadership was mostly determined by strength and cunning.

Through the Iron Age, men began thinking differently. There was a shift. We settled, built and traded. Trade necessitated currency, and agriculture obliged the accumulation of land. The power rested with those who had amassed most of it. Although land became the new measure of wealth, it still needed to be worked manually. Crops needed to be planted, harvested and sold. Work ethics were strong, but life expectancy was low.

There was another shift in our way of thinking, and the Industrial Age brought with it some alternatives to hard labor. Invention, manufacturing and interchangeable parts became the solution for many agricultural problems. However, the ability to facilitate hard work with less physical effort began to build an entire economy of its own. Soon, the production, maintenance and replacement of machines and their parts became its own independent industry. Big businesses wielded most of the power. Men slowly started replacing themselves in the work place with smarter computers, faster machines, smaller gadgets, and more efficient systems.

In an effort to stay competitive, another shift was inevitable. We now find ourselves in the rush of the Information Age, where the world is shrinking. Whole nations are being swallowed up overnight by other nations through business deals instead of warfare. Local and national economies are weakening under the weight of a looming global economy. With virtually everything at our finger tips, and with the advent of the internet, information and ideas are the new currencies of mankind. The power lies with the clever and the creative. Anyone with a good idea can compete. Coins and paper money rarely exchanging hands anymore. These days, transactions are made with electronic credit exchanges. The digits in one account decrease while another’s digits increase. In today’s world, mankind still hunts and gathers. The difference is that, now, we hunt for profits, thrills, and shortcuts while we gather weight, debt, and storage.

I’ve made a few key observations and followed them through a bit as they relate to me. It seems that everyone and their dog has their own business. I think this is due to two things. First people are more gutsy and creative than ever before. Second, prices of everything are sky rocketing because the US dollar is collapsing, and income isn’t keeping pace. Most families have been almost forced into either 2 income situations or starting their own “side businesses.” I’m no exception, though my motives are mostly creative. I can see where the future is headed too. Social security won’t exist when I retire, and no one works for a pension anymore. No one in my generation even works for one company for more than 5 years anymore for that matter. Investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds is a gamble if you’re not an economics major. I’ve experienced by own shift in thought. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em."

I’ve examined my own business methods, services and products and have concluded that I don’t need to produce more, or work any harder. What I need to do is to work smarter. Over the past few weeks, my Word Designs have begun evolving a bit themselves. The more of them I do, the more elegant and symmetrical they get. For nearly a decade now, I’ve been designing these custom designs for friends, family and the occasional friend of a friend, or visitor to my website. Until recently, my designs have always been custom orders. Folks contact me, give me the names or words they would like to see in the design and I fill the order. Although I’ll always do the custom designs (because I love doing them), I’ve started to think a bit more…well, intelligently.

I’ve noticed that many people love Chinese and Japanese characters. They love them for their artistic appeal as well as for the words or mantras they represent. I see my designs as the English equivalent to these characters. Artistic and symbolic. So, what I’ve stared doing is utilizing my unique style to create pre-made designs that can be sold over and over again. I’ve stared designing around words such as Love, Honor, Family, Peace, and Friendship. These are all words that most everyone can identify with in some way. Combine these with my custom (but reproducible) mat and frames, and I just might have something. Design once, and sell over and over. Work less…make more.

Slugs, Crabs and Ants

Anyone who knows me really well knows that I’ve got more ideas than I know what to do with. Sometimes I share them, but hardly ever make a very big deal about them. Although I have a few successes under my belt, the vast majority of my ideas are back-burner projects. Still, I always write them down in my "Brain Vomit" book for safe keeping. That book, however, as its name might imply, really isn’t meant to be shown off. It is just a collection of randomly archived ideas that I don’t want to forget altogether. Sleeping seems easier when I don’t have a ton of ideas hovering over me at night.

Besides the obvious archival purpose, one of the reasons I keep this book is to put my ideas through the test of time. It’s been said that one way to know whether an idea is good or bad is to sit on it for a little while. Let it roll around in your mind and simmer a bit. If the idea you have still seems good after a few days or weeks after its initial conception, it just might have some merit. Recently, as I was reading through Brain Vomit, it occurred to me that I’ve got quite a few ideas accumulated that still seem very good to me…some, even after YEARS of sitting.

I’m not the only one sitting on potential success. Many of us have hidden and undeveloped talents, lofty aspirations, or just simply great ideas that we do nothing about. While there are a myriad of reasons, one reason in particular is very interesting to me. It has a lot to do with the company we keep. Now don’t get me wrong, you might be surrounded by great people, but consider this. We’ve all heard the sayings "You are what you eat," or "Birds of a feather flock together," or "It takes one to know one." Are these just sayings, or is there some truth to them? Personally, I couldn’t agree more with all of them. Figuratively speaking, I think you ARE what you eat. Or, put another way, I think you will become what you study, fantasize about, or immerse yourself in. I believe that if you want to become a great musician, your chances are GREATLY improved by seeking out the best instructors of music and listening to the types of music that inspire you. I think the opposite is also true; that if you want to become, say, a neurologist, hanging out with a bunch of deadbeat high school drop-outs will surely decrease your odds for success in THAT goal.

Birds of a feather do, in fact, flock together. The well-known maxim is really just a clever way of stating the obvious. For example, motivated achievers tend to seek out others who will push them towards their goals. They do this, naturally, to improve their chances of success. One might call it natural social selection. It may not even be a conscious effort. They often just click better with those with whom they share common personality traits and interests. In my opinion, there are 3 kinds of people when it comes to ambition.

First, there are slugs. Slugs are slothful and generally indifferent to they’re surroundings. They are apathetic. Theirs is the "don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you…," mentality. They don’t do much more than litter their path with a slimy residue of mess, and they’re very sensitive. For many people, just the word slug conjures a mental picture of "eeeww." As the very epitome of laziness, they even have their very own adjective…”sluggish.” The people who I put into this category are the ones who either ride on the coat tails of others, or go through life offering nothing of substance for one reason or another. They prefer not to act, but to be acted upon. Some are shy, some are incapable, but most are just lethargic and irresponsible. Ironically, many are easily offended when accused of being lazy or free-loading, and retaliate by "working hard" on winning frivolous lawsuits and seeking welfare checks.

Second, and most common, are the crabs. Almost everyone knows that once you’ve successfully captured a few of them, you don’t really need a lid on the bucket or hole you’ve dropped them into. Crabs won’t let each other escape. Once one of them begins climbing towards freedom, the others will pull it right back down. Is it an act jealousy? Fear of abandonment? Is it selfishness? Or perhaps it’s just stupidity. Who knows? But it does teach a good lesson. Most of us are not only stuck in a bucket of mediocrity, but we’re also surrounded by “crabs” that won’t let us leave. Unlike slugs, crabs are not lazy. Oh, they’re busy alright. They’re so busy criticizing your efforts that they totally discontinue any of their own. Sure, they say they want you to succeed, but their actions indicate otherwise. Although their discouragement is usually not even intentional, wishing you success is really just lip service when commiseration is the underlying intention. Misery really does love company…and just to be clear, so does laziness, despair, selfishness, insecurity, and jealousy. When we begin to succeed, the crabs around us naturally come out in droves and act on instinct. "How dare you achieve your goals when I have not achieved my own?" Of course they don’t say that…but they do feel it, and they will try to pull you back into the bucket of inaction. "Let’s watch TV." "How about we grab a bite and then catch a movie?" "Let’s just hang out and play some games." Watch out!!

Finally, there are ants. Now ants know how to make things happen. They’re among the most ambitious and resourceful creatures in nature. They’re virtually impervious to distraction or fatigue. If you’ve ever dropped an object in the path of an ant trail you know what I’m talking about. They acknowledge the obstacle, and then immediately begin searching feverishly for ways to overcome the obstruction by reconstructing a new path of progress. Ants are notorious for taking on projects that are many times bigger than they are. They’re amazing enough individually, and still, they opt to synergize their strengths through a network of their equals. There are very few people that fit into the "ant" classification. These people are usually the millionaires and billionaires. They’re they ones who can make a come back after losing everything because they’ve got that ant-like trait of unyielding ambition.

There comes a time when you need to evaluate your own performance. Actually, to maintain a balanced life, this evaluation should happen regularly. The result of these evaluations can either cause discouragement and cessation of effort, or inspiration enough to ignite the spark of change for something better. Success and failure can both be objects placed in our path of progress. Both have the potential to encourage and discourage. We all have the ability to take on projects that are many times bigger than we are. The trick is to mimic the ant while avoiding the crabs and slugs.

Quote for the day:

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Liked, Right, Comfortable, or Triumphant?

The other day I was listening to a conference put on by one of my roll models, Robert Kiyosaki, and heard him say something very interesting. He said that he felt the world was made up of four kinds of needs. The needs are the need to be right, the need to be liked, the need to win, and the need to be comfortable. His opinion was that we all have these needs in varying degrees, but that some of us have a heightened or extra measure of one or two of these needs.

I have to agree with him to a certain extent, and would add that, in my opinion, many career paths tend to attract individuals with these same magnified needs in a very categorical way. For instance, I think it would be pretty safe to say that individuals with a strong or abundant need to be right end up pursuing careers in law such as attorneys, judges, politicians, and police officers. People with a pronounced need to win might include entrepreneurs, salesmen, professional athletes, professional military, doctors, and high executive positions. Those with a need to be comfortable might include engineers, designers, authors, and decorators. And those with an acute need to be liked might include those in the arts - such as actors and painters, cooks, and those in service industries.

Most of us have all of these needs in varying amounts and most of them, I would hypothesize; become more emphasized at different stages of our lives. I think that early in our lives, we tend to need to be liked more than at any other time of life. We strive for attention from family and then friends. As we enter school, sports and careers, we might shift our focus more towards our need to win, striving for grades, accomplishments and positions. As we develop and improve through our careers, we specialize and become experts in our crafts which might increase the need to be right. Perhaps, more often to validate or justify our career choices, than anything else. Then as we begin to age and retire, we might feel an increase in our need to be more comfortable. We reduce our subjection to risk, we increase our pursuit of fulfillment though hobbies, family engagement, and we certainly seek the relief of age-inducing ailments.

So, why am I writing about this? The world takes all types, as they say, and well, after thinking about it I'm trying to find where I fit within these categories. As an aspiring entrepreneur, am I a seeker of victory? As a husband and father, do I pursue the luxuries of comfort? As the clown of my family, am I driven by a proclivity for admiration? Or as a lover of information, am I motivated by a hunger to be the one with all the answers?

What needs are most prevalent in you?

Quote for the day

True freedom, when given the choice between "Option A" and "Option B", is choosing to create "Option C."

- Robert Gruden

Lesson of the Day

I’ve been reading (well, listening to the book on CD of) “The Millionaire Mind” by Thomas J. Stanley. While it’s no “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” it is still quite informative. Today I heard a section that is really worded very well. It says;

“The really smart people in professional athletics are the team owners and the agents. These agents are an especially crafty group. They don’t have much specific talent themselves. They don’t run, kick, block, or score goals. They don’t sing or dance, yet they last and last. So what if you are one in a million on the football-talent scale? You were a high school All American, a First Team Collage All American, and the first running back drafted in the Pros this year. But you blew out a knee. Your agent, on the other hand, has a growing stable of your kind. He grows his business like people grow apple trees. Once you are in his orchard, you keep producing for him. When you can no loner produce apples, they remove your dead or dying trunk from the field. A replacement apple tree is inserted like the interchangeable parts of a machine.”

Brilliantly put, and applicable to so much more than just the world of professional athletics!

Breaking the Cycle

In my opinion, one of the most interesting principles that Robert Kiyosaki (the author of the best-selling book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”) teaches is about the lack of financial education in our youth's curriculum. As a father of young children, one of my main goals and greatest ambitions is to provide my own children with the foundation that Kiyosaki says is lacking in today’s educational system. If you think about it, it really is true that schools only teach basic skills such as math, science, history, language, art, and health. While obviously necessary building blocks for a strong foundation in life, these skills are really only that...“building blocks.” What about the mortar? What's keeping it all together? What's lacking here?

The answer, in Kiyosaki's words, is simply "financial intelligence."

It’s true that the skills currently taught in schools is paramount in helping someone to get a good job and start earning money. But what about once that money is accumulated? What then? There really is no formal curriculum that teaches how that money can (and ought to be) intelligently spent. There’s no education about how to most effectively invest, how to truly save, or how to powerfully leverage money. These skills are the mortar that keep the building blocks together. This is what’s missing. These are skills NOT taught in the current education system. It’s really like teaching someone how to hunt for game, and neglecting to teach them how to properly prepare and cook their catch. Dangerous and stupid.

Think of it this way; by learning skills of language and history, for example, one might develop an aptitude for, and interest in, say, practicing law. Becoming an attorney is potentially a very lucrative profession. However, there are many VERY well-paid attorneys out there who, despite their high salaries, still have mountains of debt and financial stress. This is a good example of what is meant by one lacking financial intelligence. Individuals like this lack a foundation in the education (or at least the practical application) of how to SPEND money wisely. This point can be accentuated by the fact that there are also a lot of moderately-paid individuals out there who, regardless of their relatively conservative incomes, go on to live quite comfortably, having little or even NO debt. Smart.

Having said all that, one of my goals as a father is to teach my own children what they will probably never learn in a public school - financial literacy. I want them to have more than I have. I want them to know more than I did when I started out with my first job. I want them to have a heads up on the pitfalls involved with financial life.

There is, of course, one major problem with my ambition. See, I grew up in, what I believe to be, the lower middle class. As a member of the middle class, I had middle class parents, friends, and teachers. This middle class environment (although rich in good morals, values and experiences) just taught me (via osmosis) how to continue being middle class. And unless some kind of intervention took place, I would be destined to perpetuate all my middle class opinions, tendencies, fears, habits, and mindsets. As a product of the middle class, what qualifications do I have to teach my own kids anything OTHER than middle class principles and dogma? As Kiyosaki puts it, "What can a poor person teach his kids about being rich?" I wrote the following poem to illustrate this point in a more elementary way for my kids:


What can a Duck teach a Duck?


Near a forest thick with trees,
A duck lived by a pond.
Though many sounds came through the trees,
Of one he grew most fond.

The Lion is the jungle king
As everybody knows,
And the roar he makes commands the beasts
And keeps them on their toes!

To Duck, this sound was bold and strong,
And demanded his respect.
He marveled as he said aloud,
“That’s such a cool effect!”

Now, Father Duck had overheard
The musings of his son,
So he waddled over to the lad
And knew what must be done.

“Son”, he said, “I heard your quack,
And as your father duck,
I feel that I should show you how
That mighty pitch is struck.”

Excitedly the lad sat poised
For the lessons to be begin.
As Father Duck perched on a rock
The boy began to grin.

“Lesson one,” said Father Duck,
“To roar you need webbed-feet.
Not so much to make the sound,
But more to keep the beat.”

“Second then, to make a roar,
You’ve got to have a bill.
With that a duck can roar with ease,
Without, he never will.”

“Finally, son, to roar with skill
Your feathers are a must!
For each keeps water off your back.
You have them all, I trust?”

With a nod, he left his perch
And patted Little Duck.
“That roar is yours with tips like these,
And, of course, a little luck.”

The little duck, with hopes set high,
But now a bit confused,
Stood up and climbed the little rock
That Father Duck has used.

With flapping wings, he stomped his feet,
And felt a sudden chill.
Then, imagining the roar inside,
He opened up his bill.

“QUACK! QUACK!” Burst from the duck,
And sorrow lined his bill.
“You’ll get it, son”, said Father Duck,
“With practice and some will.”

He hadn’t learned to roar, but yet
The duckling understood.
He’d never heard his father roar,
And probably never would.

A duck can teach you how to quack,
But what about to roar?
Does he qualify to teach you that,
Having never tried before?

When taught to roar by other ducks
Experience might lack.
So however bold their sound comes out
They still sound like a “QUACK!”

Father Duck would be much better off doing one of two things; admit that he didn’t know the first thing about the “art of the roar”, or learn (from a Lion) how to actually roar before teaching that skill to someone else. THIS is my quest. This is the reason I have adopted the "Rich Dad" lessons with such enthusiasm and passion. I agree with it. And by USING it I can, in effect, break the middle class mindset cycle in MY OWN home. I might not be a creator of financial intelligence, but I certainly can be a student and perpetuator of it.

The Green Age

Now days, the “IN” thing for many businesses is to be GREEN. Everything is green now. Green used to be just a color, but now, it’s a whole way of life. The new definition of “green” is “environmentally responsible,” and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. While some are doing it to be responsible, many are doing it to be seen. It’s not just a movement towards a better way of life. It’s also very much about marketing strategy. Think about it… If you can provide a product or service in this new millennium, you can compete. But if you can provide that same product or service while adhering to the new GREEN trends, you can win!

What started out being widely recognized only once per year as just “Earth Day” beginning in 1962, has since evolved into something much more ubiquitous, and dare I say…trendy. Business has aggressively taken a sharp turn in a new direction over the past few years.

Auto manufacturers are going green with hybrid vehicles, and the race is on to find alternative sources of fuel that emit fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. Water is being conserved with “Xeriscape” landscaping in desert communities across the western states. Businesses and individuals are participating in recycling programs. Heck, light bulbs are more energy efficient! Politicians have all turned green with envy at all the attention this hot topic is generating, and have thus aimed many of their own priorities at affiliating themselves with some sort of green agenda. Just look at Al Gore! Enough said.

Not be left in the “limelight” even the search engine giant, Google, has jumped on board. They’re so green that they’ve gone black. Literally! They now have a new website called “BLACKLE” which “…saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." As 20/20’s John Stossel would say, “Give me a break!”

Even my “day job” is going green. In a few weeks we’re moving out of the building we’re currently in, and into a building that is designed to be more “environmentally responsible.”

According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) website (www.usgbc.org), this means employing programs like “LEED.” “The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.”

Unfortunately, for me this just means lower moral in the work place. With smaller cubicles and lower partition walls this move is already feeling like a demotion. The cubical dividers will now be glass windows instead of opaque dividers, “so as to allow in as much natural sunlight as possible.” While saving on energy consumption, it will also manage to eliminate any privacy we now have at work. C’mon, no one wants to have people looking over their shoulder at work! Although, all the “kiss-ups” at the office say things like, “well, if you’re worried about people seeing your monitor, you must not be on task.” Oh, brother. That’s a bunch of crap. Everyone needs some type of sanctuary, even at work. I don’t need everyone to see when I blow my nose, check my email or eat a snack. I don’t want to see my fellow employees picking their noses, adjusting themselves or doing anything else they would normally do behind a wall! I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking, but is too chicken to say for themselves. This GREEN building is my newest reason NOT to work for someone else! I can’t wait to go out on my own!

Well, at least according to Google, I guess Tyed Art, Inc is already adhering to a higher and greener standard of business. Tyedart.com has been “predominantly black” from its conception, and I’m a mostly “paperless” company because almost everything I do is digitally created and stored. Take that Al Gore!

Now THAT is a chair!!

Bud Light presents...

Real Men of Genius

...Real Men of Genius...

Today, we salute you, Mr. Deluxe-Comfort Design Chair-Inventor.

...Mr. Deluxe-Comfort Design Chair-Inventor!

Whoever said sitting at a computer all day is a pain in the butt obviously didn't have your vision for ergonomic cyber comfort. Why take a break, when you haven't exerted any physical effort all day. Carpel tonal, please! You can design entire cities without flexing a single muscle!

...I'm sinking into a coma...

Forget standing up to stretch your legs during the work day... In fact, forget exerting your self at work ever again. Thanks to your "Ergo-Throne", now you have a way to stay immobile for whole pay periods at a time. Reclining seats…Adjustable monitors… Back massager… Intravenous hydration drip...A catheter and colostomy bag... Now all you need some hospice care and a spounge bath.

...Is it atrophy or rigamortis?

So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Oh King of Comfortable Computing! Because, while your mind can handle complex design computations, it should never have to handle another simple muscle maneuver again.

...Mr. Deluxe-Comfort Design Chair-Inventor!

Anheuser Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.

There's no time like the present

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

“The definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting varied results.”

“The most common impetus for progress is change.”

“The best way to achieve life’s greatest comforts starts by leaving your own comfort zone.”

“Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant.”

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

“When you change the way you look at things, things change.”

“You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.”

“There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”

“It is never too late to become what you might have been”

“There are 3 types of people in the world; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

Question: What do all of these sayings have in common?
Answer: Your future. You better get started.

Tyed Art Tips: Edition 1

The other day, I was asked by a friend of mine, how I was able to stay motivated and organized with all the different ideas I have on a regular basis. The mere fact that I actually came across to someone as being motivated and organized in the first place made me feel pretty successful in an of itself. I don’t always feel that way. What I do always feel, however, is busy.

The truth is, I really do have quite a lot of ideas, and they come at me all the time. Sometimes they come when I’m looking for them, but more often when I’m concentrating on something else entirely. In order to keep all these ideas from slipping away and lying idol along the dusty walls of the back of my mind, I’ve learned how to bottle, catalog, and shelf them for later use. You might think of them as “pickled epiphanies.”

My first Tyed Art Tip is to keep a RUNNING LOG OF IDEAS. You can call this log anything you want, but the concept is universal. I call my running log of ideas, my BrainVomit book. I call it that for semi-obvious reasons. More often then not, my ideas come in a very random order and often at very inopportune times – kind of like when you get sick and launch your lunch – it’s not exactly planned or convenient. The difference between the regurgitation of food and that of the mind, however, is that I love it when my brain vomits ideas. It happens often enough these days, that I’ve learned how to always be ready for it. I learned a long time ago to trust my unconscious mind. I've also learned that my mind never shuts down. Whether my conscious mind is occupied with something challenging & intense, or peacefully sleeping, my unconscious mind is constantly brewing up something valuable. This is why catching these ideas when they chose to manifest themselves is so important. I never know when they’ll come, but I always know they’ll fascinate me, and I never want to forget them.

When I’m near a computer, I have a digital version of my BrainVomit book that consists of nothing more than a single Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is 100% dedicated to these random thoughts, ideas, and epiphanies. The file is made up of many different tabs. Each tab represents a new idea, and within each tab, the idea is expressed and explored. When I write in here, I rarely concern myself with things like plausibility, grammar, or spelling. This is free-flowing environment where anything goes. Many ideas go undeveloped and even half-written. The point is to record something and bookmark the concept for later visitation. That's it. I keep all my ideas in one file so that I can keep track of them all. When I’m not close to a computer, I have a notebook version of BrainVomit that I carry with me wherever I go. Things written here eventually get transcribed to the computer version for simplicity.

My second tip is to create a LUNCHTIME POWER-HOUR for yourself. My “day job” (Booooooo)required its employees to take a mandatory hour-long lunch break from 12:00pm to 1:00pm every day. I’ve never like mandatory breaks. I’m the kind of person that would actually prefer to just work through lunch. Yes, I eat, but because of the type of work that I do in my “day job,” I can do that while I’m working at my desk.

Interestingly, over the years I’ve observed that most people spend this mandatory hour of “non-working” time actually NOT working. Meaning, that in this lunch hour, many of my colleagues play games on the internet, read magazines, socialize, and “go out” for lunch. I find this very interesting because of its contrast to my way of thinking. Let me explain. Just because I’m required to NOT work on “day job” tasks, does not mean that this hour should be spent lazily.

I decided years ago that, for me, this lunch hour could be much better spent eagerly investing in myself. This investment of time could be better spent developing my ideas, furthering my education, pursuing my interests and exploring my hobbies. Here’s the way I think about it;

With every work week, this single hour represents a total of 5 hours, right? I can easily spend 5 hours creating a Tyed Art Word Design that sells for about $300. Each pay period, this hour adds up to 10 hours, or the equivalent of 2 word designs. That’s roughly $600 of value. Every month, this time can accumulate to 20 hours, or about $1,200 worth of product work. In a nutshell, by the end of just one working year this otherwise wasted lunch hour has amassed to about 250 potentially productive hours (give or take holidays and days off)!! That’s the equivalent of nearly 10 full days of project productivity, or about $15,000 of potential Tyed Art income!! Power Hour indeed!

Now, of course I’m not always going to have a Word Design order to work on, but because I’ve got my BrainVomit Excel file, I’ve ALWAYS got something productive that I can work on. It could be a new book idea, developing an idea for an invention, a software product like LittleLDS, website improvements or marketing, or perhaps just simple business system ideas and organization. The best part of the lunchtime Power-Hour is that it is totally MINE! Just think….I’m “trapped” at work, with a computer and the internet at my uninterrupted disposal. I may as well use it to work on strategies to get me out of the proverbial “rat race.”

Simply put, when planned and spent properly, this one hour of each day could be the most important hour of my day. Call it overstatement, but it could even end up being worth more to me in the long run than the other 8 hours surrounding it, for which I actually get an hourly pay!

Try it…see if you don’t even “eventually” accomplish one of those long-term tasks!! Read book for that hour. Write in a journal. Do SOMETHING beside playing internet games and chatting! You’ll be glad you did.

The art of “Free Seminar Crashing”

Ever seen Wedding Crashers? Me neither....it's rated R. But you know the premise, right? It’s based on these two guys who, as a hobby, go to the wedding receptions of people they don't know to hook up with girls, eat free food, and make new contacts. Well, between my 18th and 19th birthdays, my friends and I were the Rated-PG equivalent to the wedding crashers. Only we didn't crash wedding receptions, we crashed missionary farewells. I know, I know....shameless. But MAN was it fun!! We use to go in there to meet cute girls, eat free food and then bail before the prospective missionary-of-honor "DIDN'T" recognize us and kick us out! Well, now days, I'm doing something similar, but a little less unethical. Now, I'm a "free seminar crasher." My friend told me the other day that people like me - people who go to seminars, tradeshows, and conventions for the free goodies, give aways, and information are called "Plate-lickers." Hmmm.... I'm not sure how I feel about that...but I digress.

Anyway, you know what free seminars I'm talking about, right? The ones that you get invited to all the time through the mail? You know, the ones that promise to give you a free gift and a complimentary lunch or dinner just for attending? They’re usually about some sort of packaged real estate, marketing, or motivational deal that they’re trying to sell you. The way they promote them is really pretty annoying, I have to admit. They seem to try to make you feel like you’ve been specially hand-selected from an elite handful of A-listed professionals and executives to attend some secret meeting that no one else in your industry has the right to attend. Psssshhhhh…please. We all know better. Because we know better, most people HATE those things. Well, I’ve got a little secret. I LOVE those things!! I’m not kidding either. I go to almost all of them that I get invited to.

Last Friday I attended a one that was put on by StoresOnline Incorporated. It was considered a “preview” (I later found out) to what would soon be a “great opportunity”. After work at 6:00pm I attended the seminar with my buddy "Think-tank". This is the guy I go to when I need to bounce an idea off of someone. He’s the kind of guy who won’t just say, “mm-hhmmm” like most other people do. He’ll jump right in there and conceptualize with me. He’s probably just humoring me, actually, but that’s valuable to me. If I ever really do achieve my big break through, this is the guy that’s going to claim the assist. Like me, he’s always got a new idea or two floating around, and needs a good sounding board and/or devil’s advocate perspective.

So anyway, “Think-tank” and I went to this thing and enjoyed the presentation. Now, just for the record, I very rarely go to these things to buy into what is being sold. Yes, I know that there will ALWAYS be something for sell. However, I typically go for the free information that is being packaged around the products that are for sell. The free give-aways are nice too, but even they are really just a novelty fringe benefit that ends up getting discarded. For instance, a few months ago, I attended a seminar by a guy named Randy Crane. What a fascinating dude. He’s a very successful and very good presenter of information, and quite approachable. His deal was real estate. Yes, he was selling products and services, but that isn’t what I went in for, nor is it what I left with. I left with a free give-away (CD by Robert Kiyosaki - one of my long-time motivational mentors), some mints (you can never have too many mints), and some information about the mortgage industry that I had never heard before. This was my first introduction to MMA’s (Merge Market Accounts), and about how negative amortization loans work. I learned how to buy homes that are in foreclosure, how to keep from going into foreclosure and I learned about bit more about what other types of investments there are out there. That was a VERY valuable education to me. Being a people-person, I also walked away with a better understanding about how to make a good presentation, how to keep the interest of the audience, and how useful a good PowerPoint presentation is. It was a well-spent 90 minutes.

Well, at the end of Friday’s seminar, “Think-tank” and I discussed what we liked and disliked about the presentation. Did the guy maintain a good level of attention from the audience? Did he use good slides and other visual aids? Was he compelling enough to close the deal with his audience? And so on… The free dinner was okay (but FREE), the give-away (a planner/calculator/address book) was crap, and the internet marketing information was actually pretty good. The best part was that I actually wanted to know MORE about this company’s internet marketing strategies by the time the presentation was over. At $20 for two people, it was a no-brainer. So, for just $20, we signed up to participate in their ALL-DAY internet marketing workshop. My logic; in the worst case scenario, I’d just get up and walk out of the workshop at a cost of $20, and go back to work. “Think-tank” was in too, so at least I would have someone there to commiserate with and cut the cost in half since we could BOTH attend for that price.

Monday morning I came in and put in for a day off on Wednesday the 29th. So, yesterday, I got to sleep in until 7:30 (and hour an a half extra) and got into my usual business casual attire, and headed out for the Red Rock Hotel & Casino, prepared to learn a new thing or two about the great world of internet marketing. As an owner and administrator of 2 websites, I was definitely NOT disappointed! This ended up being one of the best spent $20 I’ve had in very long time! They’re not kidding when they say that investing in your education is the best way to go!

The workshop started out slowly and typically enough. First things first, they wasted the first hour or so reviewing stuff we had been told about StoresOnline last Friday at the “preview”. More about the “deal” they were offering. Then, finally, their equivalent to a keynote speaker was introduced. The guys name was Victor Gonzales. This guy was GREAT. He was funny, insightful, educational, engaging and NOT pompous (a relief after listening to some of the StoresOnline staff). He wasn’t an employee of StoresOnline, but was invited by them to speak as a successful StoresOnline software end-user client. I have to admit that as the day went on, I found myself REALLY wanting the StoresOnline software. It seems all-inclusive, extremely intuitive, and very useful. Unfortunately it would cost me more than I was willing to part with (for now). I already HAVE two websites, e-commerce capability, and enough curiosity and drive to learn on my own how to find other needed resources. Nevertheless, the software looks AWESOME. Not $2,700 per year and $30 per month awesome, but awesome nonetheless.

The non-biased and generic internet marketing information Victor taught throughout the day was invaluable to me! I learned a TON of new marketing strategies that I’m VERY excited to try out on my own websites. Lunch was provided as a part of the $20 is cost me to attend (yes, it cost me $20 and not just $10 because “Think-tank” was unable to attend). Lunch was definitely a secondary thought when this whole thing was planned. Ugh… I wasn’t even sure chicken (if, in fact, that’s what it was) could come in that shape. Oh well... it wasn’t extra and I didn’t starve. It may, however, have contributed to the major migraine I ended up going to bed with last night.

In hind sight, I would gladly have paid $100 to attend that workshop for all the valuable information I came away with. Here are just a select few of the strategies that were covered in great deal over the 8 hours I attended;

• Drop Shipping (a way to earn money with relatively no overhead in a win/win relationship
• What a Conversion Rate (CR) is and how it can affect my business
• What Value Per Visitor (VIV) is and how I can use it
• The 8 critical website features (LOL…I’m currently only employing 3 of them…Oops!!)
• The 3 most commonly made internet marketing mistakes (I’m making 2 of them…Ugh!!)
• Definition of a “Shadow Site”
• The value of a Reverse Search Engine
• How to effectively target specific demographics
• The 2-Step Distribution method
• The correct process to new website creation and research
• How search engines function
• How to optimize a website to be highly ranked by search engines
• The definition and use of Geo-targeting
• The differences between vertical and horizontal portals and how to use them effectively
• The definition and uses of Affiliate programs and Link Trading
  

Overall, the workshop was WELL worth my time and $20. Was it worth taking a day off from work? ABSOLUTELY!

I've learned: that not being on the first page of a search engine is like putting a billboard up in the middle of a forest.

I'm glad: That I now have some tools that have been proven to improve internet marketing success

I wish: that I would have had this information before I built my websites initially!

I will: spend some much needed time refining my websites and building more based on this new information.

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.

Your "Inner Truck Drivers"

Ever feel like you’re actually living two different lives? Or, said differently, have you ever felt like you’re NOT living a life that, perhaps, you should be living? I’m not talking about having different personalities or moral positions, rather, multiple purposes and aspirations. I get this sensation all the time. I often feel like I’m competing with myself for how I spent my own time. Sometimes I think my mind is a truck’s cab with two drivers, both taking turns steering the cargo of my thoughts in their own desired directions. While they don’t argue, each driver takes a different course when it’s his turn. They don’t seem to agree about how to get to where I’m going.

Each moment can trigger a change of the drivers. When I’m about to do or say something, interact with someone, or make a decision, the drivers contemplate switching seats and a course correction. One of these drivers seems to have much more time at the wheel than the other and the result is predictable. One driver gets frustrated with inactivity while the other becomes tired and burnt out.

I’ve given names to my drivers. For simplicity sake, “Ty”, is the husband, father, son and friend. When Ty is driving I get up, go to my regular 8 to 10-hour job, answer to a boss, request time off, get a paycheck, and come home. This is the guy with the gorgeous wife and 2.9 kids, a hefty mortgage to pay, yard work to do, a list of honey-do’s awaitin’, and hang out buddies to spend time with. This part of me worries about how much is spent, how well I’m providing, and how to out-do my last romantic gesture for my bride. When I’m living the life of Ty, I go to church, rough-house with my kids, watch TV shows & movies, and eat too much of my wife’s fantastic cooking. I’m a family guy…no different than any other.

When Ty, isn’t driving, “Tyed Art” is. This trucker is the very embodiment of the phrase, “Me, Incorporated.” Depending on the day, I’ve could also refer to this driver as the entrepreneur, LittleLDS, business, or ambitious driver. This driver is tenacious. Tyed Art only drives when it’s convenient to do so. He only drives during Ty’s down-time, or when special scheduling arrangements have been made. It’s during the hours of this driver’s navigation that I find my time slipping away effortlessly. It’s during this time that I feel empowered by doing something I know I’m good at. While Tyed Art drives, I only spend Tyed Art money. I act like the person I wish I was. I’m bolder, riskier, and certainly more sophisticated. When Tyed Art drives, my moods don’t fluctuate as much either. If given the chance, this driver would ALWAYS have me in my home office working on my projects. I get consumed by it.

This perspective is a little weird, I know.

But don’t we all have a life that we’re NOT living? A life that we always either talk about living, or just dream about living? Although I’d felt this way many times, I’d never really analyzed it until I heard someone else express it in words. Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, puts it this way in another book entitled The War of Art:

“Most of us have two lives; the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance. …Late at night, have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write? A painter who doesn’t paint? An entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what resistance is.”

Unless you have a strong tolerance for harsh language, I don’t recommend you actually read that book though. It’s unfortunate because the net result from the book is VERY positive. Anyway…
Although I inherently know where each time-consuming activity belongs on the totem pole of priorities, I’m still hounded by the desire to fulfill my cravings for success, recognition, and accomplishment. Reconciling the two routes is an ongoing challenge. I think the key is to develop a gradual and harmonious merge of the two. Just like two different drivers, I think they can co-exist, but they can never simultaneously drive. I think those who are doing what they LOVE (for a living) are blessed to have inner truck-drivers who are in agreement about where their cargo is headed and how to get there. No matter who’s driving, they’re still heading in the same direction. That balance is my goal.

Moving right along...

As usual, inspiration has been hitting and missing me the last few days. I’ve been working recently on a project with Building the Kingdom that has offered me a lot of creative license. After seeing my LittleLDS website and artistic style, they have invited me to work with them on creating a Farside-like comic, based on LDS humor and culture, which will be positioned on their website’s home page starting next month. The project has a lot to offer us both. There’s a bit of a vacuum in the LDS comic market, so it’s hoped that the comedic images will generate talk and traffic for their site, which will automatically produce the same for mine. My comics will be ever-present on their home page, which will mean free and constant advertising for LittleLDS products. Because they want a new comic once per month, I’ll have little pressure to produce them quickly…that’s good. It really is a win/win idea. At the end of one year, they’re proposing to produce and sell a 2008 calendar using the comics that will be titled, “The Latter-Day Side.” The title was my idea. I’m very excited about the project and have already started working on the first image.

I’ve also been working a lot on my LittleLDS Product Party idea. No, I haven’t forgotten about it. Not by a long shot. It’s actually coming along nicely. I’ve finished most of the written concept, and am now starting to revise, refine and tweak the overall model. There are still a few gaps to fill in there and there yet. When it’s available, the Party Kit will include an introduction to the product and party model, hosting instructions, activity ideas, dessert recipe suggestions, party invitation templates, and other useful party tips. I’ve already got a few volunteer hostesses lined up to launch the first parties when I’m ready.

LittleLDS CD#4 is relatively slow-going, though certainly not standing still. I’m moving at a crawl, but each new day brings progress. “Be the torus, not the hare”, I keep reminding myself. My programmer is nearing this semester’s end, and is looking forward to working with me at an accelerated rate to get it done. We’ve also planned to begin production of a new program that will enable me to generate my own LittleLDS titles independently of any programming individual. This will not only allow me to move at a quicker pace, but it will also provide me with some autonomy as a designer, as well as an ability to expand my scope to a more generalized children’s’ market. LittleLDS is a great launching pad for this new digital coloring book medium, but I’m finding that it’s a bit too limited as an overall market. Although I will continue to develop it, LittleLDS will eventually be a smaller parallel vector in the same direction as my next big project. After I have this new program fully functional, I’ll be able to begin working on my “Never-ending Coloring Books” brand. The same illustration style and great teaching focus, but no more exclusively LDS-specific titles. Never-ending Coloring Books (whose name is still subject to change) will be generalized for all kids. A much broader market will hopefully translate into a much faster-growing company and product.

I've learned:
That we almost always get out what we put in

I'm glad:
That I usually feel empowered by my challenges

I wish:
I my programmer was finished with school already

I will:
Never feel comfortable sitting around while there are things to be done…I am my father’s son.