In America, you’ve been told that if you work hard, you will succeed, and for most people, that means get rich. However, hard work isn’t the only thing you need. You need to have talent, luck, and to find the right occupation for you. Minimum wage workers have some of the hardest jobs in society. (If you’ve never worked at McDonald’s, you don’t know how difficult that job is, especially if you’re working with a crew of less-than-motivated teens or for a disgruntled, entitled customer.)
Continue readingAugust is the Month to Shop on Etsy: Win $5,000
Etsy and Mastercard are teaming up to give Etsy shoppers $5,000! From now until the end of August, one lucky shopper on Etsy will receive $5,000 as a thank you for supporting small business and handmade items. I suppose I could probably write that information in another way, and psychologists would say I need to write it six times in order for you to remember it and 22 times in order for you to take action. However, I think more of you than psychologists.
Continue readingKnocked Down? Three Sayings to Help You Get Back Up
(This article uses affiliate links. If you order from the affiliate link, you pay the same amount, and our blog get s a little support. Thank you.) If you want to live a creative life, you’re going to have to face failure, rejection and hard times. With the Internet, you can have complete strangers review your work and describe it as terrible in the most graphic and demeaning ways known to man. The trolls are going to look to knock you down, especially as you become more successful. Don’t let them.
Continue readingHall-of-Fame Rocker Neil Young and Mickey Mouse: the Surprising Connection
Neil Young’s star was taking off just as Walt Disney’s was setting. Young was touring Canada as a solo artist in 1965. In 1966, he formed the “Mynah Birds” with Rick James, which was signed to Motown. The group had problems when James was arrested for being AWOL from the U.S. Military. Still, Young went to Los Angeles where he formed the highly successful Buffalo Springfield in the same year. It was also the year Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, died.
Neil Young’s Invention
Ben Young, Neil’s son, has cerebral palsy. Growing up, Neil wanted to be able to connect with his son, so he built a 700-foot model train track. He then designed a controller that Ben could use to control the trains. In 1995, Lionel Trains was threatened with bankruptcy. Neil put together an investment group and bought the company, so he could continue his experiments with model trains. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2008.
Mickey Mouse Hand Car
Flashback to May of 1934, and the great depression has taken the life out of the Lionel. It’s facing bankruptcy but goes into receivership. Two months later, Disney’s marketing genius Kay Kamen comes to Lionel with a plan because he believes in the company. Lionel could make and sell a windup Mickey Mouse Hand Car. They do, and by Christmas, Lionel had paid off its debts, and by January, it was out of receivership.
The Connection
While Walt Disney had a love trains in common with Neil Young, the connection Neil shares with Mickey Mouse is they both saved the same model train company from bankruptcy.
Lessons of Creativity
Neil Young is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. His creativity comes out in his music, but that didn’t stop him from dabbling in something new. He wanted to share his love of trains with his son. He saw a need and figured out how to fill it. Neil Young was no dabbler in trains though; he had been playing with them since he was five. It was Kay Kamen’s belief in Lionel that led him to offer the company the opportunity to turn their fortunes around. The company said yes to the offer. “Yes” is often the most powerful word.
For more on creativity, follow this blog and join our Patreon. You can also get my books: “Disneyland Is Creativity,” “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” and “Penguinate! The Disney Company.”
Better Search Engine Rankings for Small Business
Shopping online is the new normal for many Americans, and your business needs to be able to provide its services to where people are. If you’ve neglected your online presence, are looking to expand your business via your website, but don’t have a lot of money to invest in advertising, you need a strategy that will help you garner organic pageviews through higher search engine rankings with search engine optimization.
Continue reading‘The Monster in Blackwood Forest’: A Short Sneak Peek
As an editor, I get to see some pretty amazing writing before it ever hits the shelves. A little while ago, I was able to edit “The Monster in Blackwood Forest” for Drue M. Scott, and I was struck by his ability to create a realistic world that generates excitement about where he’s going to go with the story. Now, that he’s in the process of getting the book ready to publish here is what I can tell you…
Continue readingPanini 2003 Mickey and Donald Figure Collection
On one of the streets parallel to the main street in Valletta, there was a Panini shop. Panini is the name of an Italian sticker company (not to be confused with the sandwich). When I was growing up, they did sticker albums and collectible stickers for the Disney Company. I decided I wanted to see what was in this shop that could sustain an entire business, and it was all the Panini stickers, mostly focused on soccer, you could ever want. Then I saw the Panini 2003 Mickey and Donald figure collection with stickers. I bought a couple to see what they were like and decided I needed the entire collection.
The Packs
Each pack contained one figure and five stickers. There are 24 figures in the collection and 228 stickers. Since the store didn’t have any sticker packs by themselves, I decided that I probably wasn’t going to get the entire collection. The figures were more interesting to me anyway.
Buying the Collection
Every week I set aside a certain amount of money to go get a couple of packs. I don’t remember what that figure was, but I’m sure it was somewhere around four or five. As I got closer to completing the set, I may have purchased more or fewer depending on where I was and what I believed the supply at the store to be. This collection was from 2003, I doubted I would run across it randomly anywhere else in the world. It was an only-in-Malta kind of thing.
Almost Heartbreak
One week I went in and bought the rest of the box. I thought that was it. When I opened the packages inside the box, I didn’t have a complete set. I looked on the Internet for the pieces I was missing, and they wanted more money than I was willing to pay. (Plus, it doesn’t have the excitement of surprise or the bonus stickers.) I went back to the store and didn’t see what I wanted. I decided to ask. The person behind the counter brought out another box. When it came to the end, the last character I needed to complete my Panini 2003 Mickey and Donald figure collection was Mickey Mouse.
Collecting is one way to capture those things that inspire you and drive your imagination. For more ways to improve your imagination and creativity, subscribe to this blog, join our Patreon, and get my books: “Disneyland Is Creativity,” “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” and “Penguinate! Positive Creativity.”
Four Ways to Improve Your Happiness
In Mary Holm’s “Rich Enough?” (affiliate link) Holm connects the reason for investing is to be happier. There’s no point in being rich if you’re unhappy. In the research she looked at, she found that there were ways to use your money to improve your happiness even if your income doesn’t make you a millionaire.
Continue readingCelebrate Failure Like You Celebrate Success
Celebrating success comes easily to Americans. You see professional football players dancing in the end zone, even if their touchdown didn’t mean they won the game. You see confetti pour out of the ceiling at NBA games, even when the team is no longer in the playoff hunt. You get a bonus in your paycheck when the company has a banner year… Well, we can dream that’s what you would get if you were a part of the company’s success, and I’ve heard they do that somewhere. And by all means, celebrate your success! You earned it. However, success isn’t the only thing you should celebrate. You should also celebrate your failure.
Continue readingRemember Your Creativity with “So, You Think You Can’t Draw”
On Monday, July 27, 2020, the last in the “So, You Think You Can’t Draw” series is going live over at Patreon. This episode focuses on putting the shapes together to come up with a simple drawing. It’s designed to take all of the things you’ve practiced over the previous six episodes and help you visualize what a drawing can be in its easiest form. These are the drawings that you did as a child – the ones your parents put on the fridge and the ones that delighted your grandparents. You will remember your creativity and bring it back into your life.
Episode 1
The first episode, which you can see in its entirety on YouTube (or above), focuses on lines because they are the basis for everything else you’re going to do in drawing. Lines are the first thing you need to learn and practice. They seem easy, and they are, that’s the point. However, how you use the line will determine what you get from your drawing. The more you draw, the better you will get at the skill.
Boost Your Confidence
There’s a voice inside your head that tells you that you cannot, or should not, do things. Sometimes, this voice is correct. You can’t fly without a mechanical assist. You shouldn’t walk around the streets naked because it’s against societal norms. Much of the time, however, this voice is wrong and probably doesn’t belong to you. Instead, it belongs to the doubters, some of whom are well meaning, in your life.
If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent van Gogh
In creativity, believing you are creative is the first step to becoming more creative. I Designed “So, You Think You Can’t Draw” to show you, and that doubting voice, that you can draw. If you can draw, maybe, you’ll begin to believe you can be creative.
A New Series
I have other ideas for the series, but I need some help putting them together. These will highlight the things we did as kids without realizing it and remind you that you are more creative than you think. You just need to remember it. If you’d like to see more of this type of content, join our Patreon and let me know. That’s where the rest of this first season is, so you’ll find out the five other shapes you need to know to draw anything.
Other Creativity Help
If you’re ready to take the next step to becoming more creative, follow this blog. Pick up my books: “Disneyland Is Creativity,” “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” and “Penguinate! Positive Creativity.” Join us at Patreon, as well; it’s the best way to get more of what you want and to interact directly with me and help create content you want to see. Let’s get together and help you remember your creativity.
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 