How Does the Online Idea Party Work?
You have a dream or a wish, and an obstacle to getting there. (If you don’t think you know your wish, work through my kick-starter and read this post. To learn why you must put logic aside to find your dream, read the following.)
The online Idea Party is here to help you – and the other fellow party goers – with your wishes and obstacles.
Voices from Success Teams and Idea Parties:
Having a team to report to and hearing what everybody did each week is very exciting. It’s kept me moving all year. In the past I made some good starts on my own, but found, every time, when the energy ran out, I ran out. Now it doesn’t run out.
Jade G.
Children’s Playroom Therapist, New York Hospital
I would do a painting a year, a sketch a year. If it was only me I know I would never do it. Having to tell you makes all the difference. It’s crazy why I didn’t do this years ago, it’s so easy all of a sudden.
Caroline R. Personnel Executive, Macy’s Dept Store
Post Your Wish and Your Obstacle Here!
And help your team mates out when you can. Use the Reply link to help, the form below the comments to add your own Wish and Obstacle.
(Your first comment below has to be approved, so it may not display instantly depending on the time of the day. Once your email address is approved you can post instantly. If you want your own profile photo to show up beside your comments, instead of the cute little design, upload your photo on Gravatar.com and give them an hour or so to make it happen.)
I have lots of dreams. But I am not very good at joining. Today I am going to just get over myself and join. Thank you to all the brave people who have written about their dreams. You have helped me get brave this morning.
W: To be paid for my photography O: How to stop offering free or barter services and start getting paid, when there are tens of thousands of people with cameras who call themselves photographers and are also willing to work for cheap or free.
Dear Margaux,
One way in is to forget, first of all, about any or all competition. Just do your excellent best. I have similar ambitions, and have found that travel magazines are interested in work and will take work from relatively unknown photographers. I live in New Mexico, and New Mexico Magazine is our state-funded travel/tourist magazine. They have submission guidelines, including prices, for photography. Once you have built up some submissions to places like that, you can approach greater targets, like Smithsonian or National Geographic. These places are going to want to know that you have established a reputation elsewhere first. I like nature photography and close-ups. You haven’t said what kind of photography. Wedding photography?
Industrial photography? Aerial photography? Try some information interviewing with people who are doing the kinds of photography that you want to be doing. You set up an appointment to talk to them, and when you go to see them, ask them how they began, and what advice they would be able and willing to give you about how to begin to be a professional. Digital, of course. These are some ways in that I know about. I hope this is helpful.
Mary Ann
Hi Mary Ann,
Thanks for your ideas! Well, like a typical scanner, I really don’t know what I prefer to shoot—mostly people right now. I like nature photography but don’t have the patience for it. Thought about wedding photography, but I think that would be too stressful for me, plus I don’t think I can sustain that level of “on” for 8-12 hours. I shoot mainly portraits, documentary, and editorial, plus babies and children. My personal projects are documentary and that’s what I’d prefer to shoot, but it doesn’t pay anything. I’m hoping to get more assignments with non-profits, first by starting with local ones.
Shooting for National Geographic: that would be the blue sky dream. That, or being asked to join Magnum.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Now that I’ve been researching a bit more I realized that I’m a scanner. What a relief, though I have an artostoc tendency I feel stuck and don’t know where to start, not to mention the criticism I face of not have finished tons of careers that I began, and because I am a fulltime mom people tend to think I am lazy.
Dear Barbara, I wish to know my true passion.
Listen to last night’s telephone call on the launch party, Laura. I talk about how to find your passion there: Here’s the link to the recording.
http://www.livestream.com/barbarasclublaunchparty/video?clipId=flv_d8ccbf67-b5b7-49b6-8585-5a8e72d92f7e
I’m in the same boat Laura. I’m not really passionate about anything. So, where to begin?
Ever since I was a very small child all I’ve ever wanted was to live on a farm. Nothing big; just a cottage, a pond, some woods and room for animals.
I’m a struggling writer and barely make enough to live on so it seems ludicrous that I can dream of owning a farm.
I met Barbara about 15 years ago in her office in Manhattan. We spoke for hours and I’m still adrift. Maybe its ADHD or aspergers. Got tons of friends just can’t hold a job.
So that’s my dream: a farm with animals. And a boyfriend. And lots of friends nearby.
You don’t have to own a farm to live on it. Lots of people want house sitters for their country places. I had a hard time finding someone responsible to live on my land (a small house and a pond, woods and fields and plenty of room for animals) she’s been there over four years and I am very grateful that she watches out for the place.
However when you say a farm (not too hard to find), and a boyfriend (well, that could be very hard or not, who can say) and then you add lots of friends nearby — then you make it tougher. Unless you bring your friends to live with you, or you make new friends in the area where you find your farm to live at, you’ve raised the bar pretty high.
hi paul, there are several offers in the web. one of it you find here: http://farmsittersusa.com/
I just used the keywords “farmsitter wanted” on google. maybe you can try out your dream this way first, before you commit yourself?
greetings, claudia
Take heart! It is possible!
You dont need tons of money to own your small farm!
Pleanty of others have done it!
First of all you can get cheap land on ebay. Just go to the category section for real estate and go to land with no reserve. If you go there you will find cheap land all over the place. Check out the listings and decide which one you like. Dont like any? Fine… wait a week or so and do it again. There is property there from a few hundred dollars all the way up in price.
Oh…you say,, what about a place tolive? A house? No problem there either. Check out http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com
or http://www.simplesolarhomesteading.com
These sites will tell you how to build your house for very little ( under $5,000 and the solar homestead guy built his for $2,000) Also you can always find cheap trailers on craigs list . ( I recently found a nice one for $500.) True you might have to clean it up, but so what. You can live in it until you can build a bigger place.
There is a big problem though… you will actually have to DO it!!
You will have to do the research, make the steps and DO the work.
Maybe you would rather DREAM about It? Talk about it and talk about WHY you CANT do it?? Maybe you would rather see the problems rather than the SOLUTIONS? Think about it. Push yourself….
If this is what you REALLY want, then DO something about it.
My wish is this: Not to be paralyzed with fear about writing a book and articles about the discovering that one of the world’s most famous artists, Albrecht Durer, was encoding his artwork, making a diary, and taking revenge on his enemies in his art. Having this story made into a Hollywood movie. I feel like this is my life’s mission to get this story out. Actually having a life that makes me happy from telling this story.
Background: Six years ago I fell through a wormhole while an art student (I’m 58) and began collecting Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) prints because I suspected he was encoding his art. I have been working on this relentlessly since then collecting and decoding the messages. What was revealed was incredible, that Germany’s most famous artist was Jewish, that more than likely there is a co-artist, and that many of his messages take revenge on his enemies. I have managed to have my prints exhibited last year, and there are three more exhibitions scheduled through 2013.
The problem: I have been trying to write a book on this for three years for publication. I have joined writing groups, I have probably 14 different versions of this book-none finished, I have contacted Durer experts in academia, I have asked for help from Jewish organizations, rabbis, Hungarian organizations (Durer was at least half Hungarian through his father), introduced to a Hollywood scriptwriter who I asked for help, sent information to all the world museums, I have asked for help from anyone I could think of (art students, art professors, sent out query letters, etc.) and I have been rejected at every turn when I ask for help. EVERYWHERE. I’ve even been threatened by a German professor who found a story about this in the Jewish Ledger
The obstacle: I am now absolutely paralyzed with fear about how to move forward with monumental writer’s block. I need support from somewhere and some sort of idea that someone in the world would actually be interested in this story, for I am totally isolated with this information. I’m terrified of having to do marketing myself for I just don’t know how to do that
I have no social media presence, no Facebooking, and I can’t seem to imagine a fabulous life from writing this book. The idea of having to do book signings or radio shows or youtubeing terrifies me and yet when I talk about Durer to anyone, my face lights up and I am extremely happy.
Help!
Thank you.
Don’t worry too much about book signings or radio shows. These days publishers don’t send authors out much. They might be strapped to even publish a book by an unknown author on this subject (though I find it fascinating). I think self-publishing is the way to go. You might even consider some kind of chapter by chapter eBook, like Kindle, which would put your book up on amazon right next to all the hard copy best selling books.
The real question is this: Are you writing? Could you break your ideas into lectures, give them, and record them – thereby making either an audio book or getting transcripts and a co-writer to help you create the book. In fact, if you were to teach a class (at home or at the library or a community center or a senior center) you’d have to structure it to fit into, say 10 or 12 segments, and you’d have to decide what to put in each segment. If you taught the class more than once, you’d really know your subject, it would have a shape and perhaps a dramatic narrative. Recording everything you say, inviting questions and recording all your answers, would give you wonderful material to work with.
You say you showed your prints. What do you mean? Prints you made, or Durer prints that illustrate your ideas?
In any event, it’s a fascinating subject, no one can stop you from having a group get together in someone’s home or the library where you informally lecture (and record yourself) and illustrate your theories. Once you have some experience under your belt, you become an amateur ‘expert’ and can start getting quoted and known. For starters, search Tweetgrid for all the key words: Durer secrets, etc. and see who else is talking about this. The only way to stop being afraid is to get to work. The more adept and experienced you become the more confident you’ll become. Don’t let anyone stop you from this if it matters to you. I think lots of people would love to know more about this.
Elizabeth – I think your desire to get this informaiton out is terrific. And as Barbara mentioned – speaking at the Library, Civic Organizations, Women’s Groups are all possibilities.
I am writing because I noticed you wrote that you are 58 – I am too, and I often put up the big obstacle of being too old. What keeps you going? I would love to do walk on parts (become an extra) in commericals or television shows. I don’t even know how to go about doing something like that. Please know that I am waiting to read that book you have created in your dreams…it will happen.
Your book sounds fascinating! My mother had a book about Durer on our coffee table when I was a child and later it was given to me so I’ve always been interested in him. I’m so curious to know more about how he was encoding his art. Please write your book!!!!
I have read some of your books years ago (I am a Scanner) and although I felt that, for the first time, someone understood me, I have had no success in figuring out what I should do with my life. I have gone to the career center at my university numerous times, found out what color my parachute was, read countless books…. This has weighed on me (or more like driven me crazy) for more than 14 years and I am at my wits end. I am so frustrated that I shift between being miserable and tears beacuse I am in a job that is truly excructiating and I feel trapped my own self because I just can’t come up with a simple idea. I have tried different creative endeavors over the years and have found that the ideas did not work because China can produce them far cheaper, or a million other people were already doing the same thing, etc. etc. My bachelor is in Textile Design and I have a Master in Business Administration (which helped me to learn that a conventional desk job was the very last thing I wanted). I would like to have my own business doing something creative but I just need help figuring out what. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I would be willing to go anywhere, do anything, take whatever class, do whatever is necessary. Please just direct me. No one else has been able to help. Thank you.
Courtney,
It sounds like you are afraid of success. Can you image what success would look, feel like? What’s the worst thing that would happen if you were successful? And once you can find those answers, could you get a Support team in place?
Hi Courtney, those creative projects you tried to do in the past and that everyone else can produce much better and cheaper, was it fun doing them? Did you enjoyed doing them? What did you enjoy about them? Oh, and you should get out of such a job that is excruciating for you! Really!
Do you like live theater? Any production company would love your skills for set designs, costume designs, and props. Start with your local theater. Get experience, then offer yourself for bigger (paid) projects. Goodluck.
Well, the first thing to do is get a Good Enough Job. That means, not an excruciating one. A toxic job will make you too sick to do anything else so it’s very dangerous to hang on to it. Find anything that pays the same and doesn’t require more hours even if you have to work in a pizza parlor.
And then, when you aren’t feeling tortured every day, you start working on your dream. I think textile design sounds heavenly. Many years ago I was taken to a textile ‘library’ in New York city by a friend who was a loungeware designer. She pulled out one wooden rack after another full of samples of antique prints, modern prints, all kinds of prints, all to help her design something new but to learn from the past.
Maybe there’s a library like that online by now, but if there isn’t, you should start one. Or maybe find one of those old-fashioned ones and offer to help the owner get everything on line for some kind of exchange.
If you find this idea appealing, you should create a site and build it with love, with passion if you feel it. Don’t worry about turning it into a business for awhile, just become the person everyone goes to when they find a new fabric in their great grandmother’s long unopened trunk.
This will not only make you happy, it leads somewhere – to a special kind of consultancy or business, perhaps with clients in China or elsewhere.
And if this idea doesn’t appeal to you, find one that does. You went into textile design for a reason. Try to find that reason and get close to it again. If you love what you do — even before it pays you a penny — your whole life will become sunnier.
It has been my dream, for going on ten years, to open a Baby Boomer Klub. I would lease a space that would incorporate 8 10X10 ft cubicles and several small kiosk carts. All areas would incorporate businesses of interest to the “baby boomer” crowd. I have a friend who would like to open a consignment shop, another who deals in antiques,one who males jewelry, a hair dresser,a nail technician,find someone to run a book nook (used book store) a local shop s has recently opened that sells gourmet cupcake (perhaps would be interested in an additional small outlet ” find a bread company such as “Great Harvest”. I thought the small kiosk’s could be used for those that sell Pampered Chef, Tastfully Simple, Avon, and the like. The location is adjacent to a breakfast/lunch restaurant that perhaps might be interested in openning an entrance into my space. I could then have him sublet to a friend that is interested in making dinner selections. I would furnish the center aisle with comfy sofas and small tables & chairs for theme nights with singer/keyboardist or accoustic guitar singers for entertainment. Also old console TV’s that would show old TV sitcoms (Donna Reed. Leave it to Beaver ect…) The space could be used for Book Clubs, Idea Parties, networking groups, meetup groups to plan events while enjoying a meal & entertainment, small dance floor for dancing. Card & board games ect. ect. I would manage the co-op, rent the space, I am a bookkeeper and could do thier necessary accounting. Utilize just one credit card machine for all the purchases. In the space I’m looking at, I could accomodate 8 10×10 booths and about 5 kiosks, still leaving room for all the furnishings I mentioned. This location is in Myrtle Beach, with a high population of seniors and many snowbirds. This would be a great place for them to hangout and meet new people while enjoying things age appropriate. Where do I begin researching and developing this plan.
What a jolly idea! That’s your wish. Tell us your obstacles.
hi! i’ll post something now, too. at the time being i have no job, but a young boy-child. i tried some stuff though after reading one of Barbara’s books. I wanted to become someone who watches over toddlers. I passed a test for a school where they train people to do so, but then quit after a few months, because i felt it wasn’t the right thing for me. now i got myself a job in a kitchen, where i go to twice a month since i started (not very long ago). it’s so lala. i’m not a very passionate cook i must say. i studied german literature and love books. i am thinking if i should go back to university and become a teacher, but i’m not sure about this one either. i never wanted to be a teacher. i wanted to be a writer, but i can’t think of a story to write about, so i have to do something else to make a living i guess. i am hoping i’ll get a new opportunity to work at a filmfestival in june. i’d love to do something more creative though. learn how to photograph for example. write short notes about how i feel the one or the other day. but with writing one get’s lonely. i really want to do more stuff together with other people. and go jogging 😉
Take your son to the park. Bring a notebook. Write about everything he does, desciptions of who he interacts with, talk to other parents about their children. You are meant to be a writer. WRITE.
hi! way to go! i went to my kitchen-job again and although i had to clean dishes for about 6 hours i am happy. what i need is to stick to things more. even though they are not perfect. and i got the job at working at the filmfestival that opens once a year and is called “tricky women”. it’s an animation filmfestival for women’s movies. that also makes me happy. it’s a little money in my pocket and helps me get out of my shitty housewife-life that i am living since a few years and which i hate. and the writing..well, it helps to sum up some ideas that are important to me and are in my head every day. but i tend to forget them and they become more clear if i just write them down for myself and not for professional reasons. i didn’t go jogging so far and the photography..well, i am a lazy person really..
My kind of human. I live on a hill, so whenever I walk out it’s uphill one way or the other. That’s as much as I’m willing to grant the exercise thing. But I do huff and puff for more than 20 minutes at least 4 times a week. Wouldn’t do that if I were jogging or at a gym. How about a wish and an obstacle, Eva? Maybe we’ll come up with something that makes a difference.
I’ve been at home with my kids for 8 years. In that time, my social network has disappeared and any perspective or confidence in my abilities has gone with it. I love my kids, love learning everyday, love meeting other families and spending time together. However, I am not a domesticated being. My love is learning, research, sharing ideas and networking. Sharing with my children is a joy and bonus, but I would still be a library mole, YouTube addict and Wikipedia hound without them.
I have hobbies. I love cooking, and have been paid to cater. I like photography and design, although my portfolio is so pre-millenial! I am also a spiritual being with lovely experiences of leading courses and activities. My problem is that I am a middle-aged mistress of none when it comes to moving forward with my interests.
I have read Barbara’s book on Scanners, and her others. They are wonderful, inspiring and reassuring. However, they seem to describe other folks, who knows how to balance work and household responsibilities. That’s not my strong suit. It seems by not completely embracing my domestic role, I haven’t been able to create the structure and organization to pursue my outside interests. And no one interest has been compelling or fruitful enough to warrant the disruption or cost to my family. So I feel hooped. Without proving my abilities first, my family commitment holds sway. But without a trial period where I can experiment and build confidence, I can’t seem to find my wings.
Colour me hooped,
Sharon
Dear Sharon,
It seems to me that you are about where I was years ago. I felt that everything at home–all my household chores and responsibilities–were utterly blocking me from doing anything that I really wanted to do with my life, and it also felt that they stretched on into infinity! I finally took a class in organization, which helped considerably.
Since then, I have been able to organize and run three businesses, go to graduate school, and get a master’s degree.
What I learned is that I was trying to do too much every day, and that also I was being a workaholic. The keys to my freedom (and greater chance for a creative life) are to do only 4 things around the house on a daily basis: Shut doors and drawers–you’ll be amazed at how this improves the appearance of a room. Remove debris. Definition of debris–Items that are out of place. Go around the perimeter of each room, putting them back in place. Never let an item pass through your hands more than once. This gets done once a day, not 40 times a day. Others need to learn to pick up after themselves, and this begins as soon as children are verbal. Pile dishes in the sink as if you were going to wash them. Dishes done, at least once a day, or not more than three times a day. And make the beds. After this, there is one chore a week from the weekly list. My ancestors were Amish, and they had a definite weekly outline for keeping a household orderly. It went like this: Monday, wash. Tuesday, iron. Wednesday, mend. Thursday, market (Thursday is my paperwork and errands day.) Friday, clean house. Saturday, they said, bake. This is when women baked all the bread, cookies, cakes, and everything else that the family would consume in a week, but I don’t do that. So therefore, I have turned Saturday into car and yard day. Sunday is my day off from chores, except doing dishes and making my bed.
Another piece of freedom-making that I have learned seems very unfree, and it has to do with running on a schedule, which I have never been good at, but, as I implement this, I find it invaluable. By 8:00 a.m., I have had breakfast and am working at completing my daily and one weekly task. By noon, as if there were a factory whistle blowing, I stop. Lunch is 12-1, and the entire afternoon is devoted to creative projects, from 1-5. I can usually be found in the library, on the computer. I just took 10 days off to travel throughout the fascinating State of New Mexico where I live, and am now getting ready to spend my afternoons developing some travel articles for New Mexico Magazine. I am also using this time for job hunting in my profession, networking with others, publishing a research paper, and working on getting a manuscript that I’ve written out to agents. By 5:00, I quit again, and go home. Then it’s time to have supper. Evenings, I write to friends, listen to stories on tape ( I am also an amateur storyteller), while I work on a major sewing project, read books related to my profession, and/or keep up with public affairs. Later in the evenings, from about 8:00 or 9:00 on are taken up with spiritual affairs, including ceremony, which, in my life, happens every 4 days or so. It is a rewarding life, and chores no longer take up 18 hours a day, as they used to. I have had to learn how to turn them off by noon each day. I find that four hours a day is enough. My yard, which has been an overgrown weedpatch in which others felt free to dump construction debris, is now turning into Mary Ann’s little park. Chores get easier, because each one becomes less involved, as I do them, according to this discipline. I have always hated the word discipline, but truly, I find it to be the pathway to creativity and freedom. The very crucial piece is that I do something creative every day. Sundays, on my day off, I go hiking in the desert or the forests near my home, and Sunday mornings I devote 2 hours to music making. I am a violist and a violinist. So that’s it, for right now. If I were working full time, Saturday would be my chore day until noon, and that would be all. And Sunday would still be off. I used to try to do laundry, ironing, mending, gardening, all in one day, and it drove me nuts! Or weeding all day long until I came in at night feeling enslaved and exhaused. NO MORE! I have learned that the soul needs to be nourished on a daily basis.
I hope this helps.
Mary Ann