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 want to build my team with my shopping club but some people don’t want to commit and some don’t want to take a look at the opportunity.
Wish 1: Find more worthwhile software projects to create relevant showcases of my software skills (C/C++, Java, Node/React/Angular, WordPress/Joomla/Drupal, etc). I’m starting a new company, and the first thing I wanna do is to map out our team’s software expertise, find gaps in there, fill gaps found. I also wish I can help Barbara Sher improve this “*Idea Party*” page. (It doesn’t allow markup, eg with Markdown; it loads slowly, typical of bloated WordPress databases; and more.)
Obstacles: Don’t know how to contact Barbara Sher! Would like to avoid projects that are simply infeasible, eg. intensely myopic or cost-averse companies wanting short-term fixes while brainwashing themselves to avoid seeing the immense mid-term costs (formal term: technical debt). For eg, WordPress deployments need on-demand scaling (a paid service) because it is crawling slow (Apache webserver to blame for teaching low-throughput techniques), whereas writing a Node-based WordPress increases throughput at least 2.5 times (realistically, 10K times compared to data-bloated WordPress installations).
Wish 2: Find time and opportunity to teach Chinese to westerners. I’ve met so many western linguists (professionals!) who lament that “*Chinese is just something else, something the western brain won’t input*”. I myself am a linguist (I teach logical English grammar, not old-school disorganized grammar), and I believe that westerners’ main obstacles is they could not read any of the linguistic research of the Chinese language, all written in Chinese! Chinese language, given its pictograph-heavy focus, is best learned with intensive study of “*word formation*” (formally aka: lexical morphology; Chinese has zero inflectional morphology). To tantalize you with an eg: the word “*introspect/reflect*” comprises “*person*”, “*eye*”, and “*metal*”; humans used polished metallic surfaces as mirrors in the past. (That “*metal*”, in older form, can also be a “*plate filled with water*”, which again is a reflective surface.) It baffles me to no end whenever a western linguist claims that their brain simply cannot input Chinese pictographs!
Obstacle: Well, my work schedule is the main obstacle here. If I could be paid reasonably (perhaps in a large-class setting to share out the costs) to teach, that would help some. Another obstacle is that I haven’t written a book on this topic yet. I strongly believe that any course needs a very organized curriculum, usually in the form of a book that can receive lots of corrective feedback.
Wish 1: You want to talk to Patty – she’s the brains behind this solution. You can talk with Barbara by going to her bulletin boards on her website. But Barbara will just get you to talk to Patty…
Wish 2: I learned Chinese from an amazing teacher who did a really quirky thing to teach me that you might use to organize your courses…because it was brilliant and easy to remember. My prof figured out I could learn the words to songs easily. For instance, he taught me the building blocks of the character individually by making a song-story (that I wrote with a brush) using the crucial elements – ie: “person” who gained “insight” by magically scrying “reflective water” in a “metal” bowl. So not only did I learn the final character which was made up of many strokes – but I also learned the whole “character family” of the building blocks of the complex character individually by stringing them together as they were mentioned in the song-story. Plus, it was fun. AND FAST – and memorable. I could learn perhaps ten of these in a week (3 at a time) and remember them easily.
@An8el
Where do I contact Patty?
Great job with learning Chinese! Yes, that is exactly how you will construct (word formation) that word “introspect”.
There are some fixed and consistent rules for radicalization (abbreviating pictographs so they are small enough to be used inside another word). Once you learn these rules, you’ll start reading the abbreved components as if they are full words themselves. You’ll start being able to literally read an entire story from a single Chinese word via its components.
Are u interested in writing a book on this together with me? I’ve been trying to find the time.
Hi, Patty here, and at webmaster@barbarasclub.com
Hi Inclusive,
I’d like to learn Chinese with your method. Could you help me? I can give German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian lessons instead, for I’m a linguist and multilingual too.
Some years ago I did a classical course in Chinese, very boring and no writing (only talk and reading with transcriptions).
Looking forward to reading from you,
Christina, Austria
My dream is to start a six figure accounting business that I can work on remotely from anywhere. My obstacle is that I’m in 23 and in almost done with college for something other than accounting, I don’t have enough money for training courses, and I don’t have any experience or know where my first clients would come from.
@James Ireland
**Learning Well**. To learn well, you’ll need to read well (read critically). Being able to read well means you can more easily pick out well-written books (yes, badly organized textbooks do exist, and are even often the norm).
**Accounting**. Accounting in USA is prescriptive, so you’ll have to memorize quite a lot of rules and procedures (one for each industry type!). I don’t personally have much experience with GAAP, but you just might be able to “*memorize less by grasping principles better*”; I believe the GAAP should be based on well-formed principles, even though it looks like a set of prescriptive procedures. If you’re trying to learn international accounting practices (IFRS), that will certainly be “*principle-based*”, so you’ll need to ensure your learning mindset is tuned towards “*wanting to know the why, alongside the how*”. Don’t beat up the GAAP too much, though; even IFRS can have customized “*principles*” for different countries. It is now quite the norm for countries to have their own customized IFRS.
**Clients**. Focus on your skills first. Given skills, you can then solve the next “*obstacle*” (client base) with marketing and sales services (outsourced). Bear in mind that skills grow exponentially, not linearly. You could learn 10 times more in your 4th year than in your first 3 years combined, for eg.
**Human Cognitive Model: Top-down vs Bottom-up**. In a word: read. Yes, it’s faster to watch videos, but your mind will then mostly switch off. If you read, the imperfect signals (no sounds, no videos) will force your brain to work. A brain that works will grow stronger.
HI THERE! If you think you can’t then you can’t; if you think you can then you can. I, of course, didn’t think that up, but I believe it is true. ALSO read about how Anthony Robbins (Tony) went from living in his Volkswagen to being where he is today. I met him at his very first Mind Revolution Seminar. I think he was about 26 years old. Change your thinking and see your life change.
He is one of my heroes!
Greetings from Denver. My lifelong wish is to support myself as a writer. I have a Persian cookbook/memoir I am writing but I don’t have the discipline to finish it. I want to take extended trips to various countries and write more books. I also have a good idea for a children’s book. I’m thinking my dreams need tweaking.
The problems are: no agent, fear of rejection (I know that’s to be expected in publishing), not enough money to self-publish, and my self-confidence is not always high but I do know I am a good writer. I always thought that after I get published I could help other women like me to find their voices and fulfill their literary ambitions.
I’ll be 59 this year. I need to act soon, since this project has been in the idea phase far too long.
Many thanks for this forum, and for the wonderful people reading who remind me I’m not alone.
Hi Rebecca, I just responded but it looks like my reply was published as a separate comment in this thread of wishes instead as a direct reply to you. Can you find my entry in the list of comments? Happy writing! Marianne
what about print-on-demand as self publisher?
I think, there is no money neccessary in advance.
Or starting as kindle-ebook? (ok, this does not work for a childrens book)
to finish your books, look for a buddy / coach, who helps you, keep on track, or a fix date (oops, reminds me that I have to deliver my part for a book by end of october … 🙂 )
Or maybe you find a self-learn-tutorial for book-writers.
(so these are the ways, I would use her e in GErmany , don’t know, how it is in other countries)
My Wish: to spend most of my waking hours in creative collaboration. The few times in my life when I’ve worked with other, enthusiastic, talented people toward a common goal, I felt most alive. My goal has always been to make work so fun and fulfilling that it’s not something to escape; it’s the same as play. When there’s nothing you’d rather be doing, it’s natural for “office” and home to comfortably be the same thing. And, ideally, sharing life with a romantic partner who is also my primary creative collaborator would be heaven…but for now, just working with anyone on virtually any meaningful creative project (mine or theirs) in a truly collaborative, “egoless” spirit would be wonderful.
Obstacles: literally no one I know face-to-face (living in a suburb of Chicago) is doing anything creative. And, the few creative people I know through social media, are already “set” with whatever creative venture they’re already doing. Moreover, I find myself immersed in a culture that seems far more competitive, possessive, and even sadistic, than cooperative, sharing, and empathetic. These obstacles have kept blissful collaboration out of reach. It feels like there’s no one to play with.
My Efforts at Present: I am creating online courses containing original, and truly innovative content regarding entirely new approaches to fitness and weight loss, and a new concept: measurable justice. I have many other courses in mind, but these are in-progress. I have taught fitness and weight loss professionally, one-on-one, but I’m having difficulty writing for a general (“nebulous”) audience. Without feedback, I find myself trying to “ride every direction at once.” I have unique and highly effective content, but proper “packaging” and ordering of concepts elude me at present.
What I Have to Offer Others: feel free to contact me about any skillset implied in this random montage – my degree is in electrical engineering. I worked in technical research and development for 12 years and was awarded 2 patents. I grew up as the son of a physician, and have been a personal nutritionist and health coach for 8 years. I was a professional nature photographer (Nikon) for 10 years. I owned an electronics manufacturing company. I published a magazine. I was hired to extensively edit a Loyola professor’s grant proposal, which, I was told, was approved in record time. I have a musical background in voice, violin, and sitar. I’ve done documentary video production for cable. I was a competitive swimmer, and now do strength training daily. I took a year of quantum mechanics in college as an elective (instead of “basket weaving”).
In short, I am insatiably curious, and love to learn, to create, and to help others if I can.
Hi, um I think I might be able to help and or collaborate with you in a creative way on a few different things.
Is interested email me.
aether22 gmail
Email, sent. Thanks so much for your kind reply.
Are you saying thanks for a reply I’m going to send, or one you hope I will send?
Because, currently I can’t find your email to reply to…
I will give you the email address again a bit more clearly…
aether22@gmail.com
I left the @ and .com off to avoid spambots
I used your correct email address before. I suspect that my email reply awaits in your spam folder. But, to move forward for now, this is what I sent you:
Hi, Jonathan!
You mentioned possibly helping me fulfill my wish for living in creative collaboration? My skills span a wide range of subjects, to useful levels of expertise, in both art and science. It really doesn’t matter to me whether I contribute to my project or to someone else’s. I just love enthusiastic, cooperative creation. Although, for me to be most inspired, the end product probably needs to be unique (never been done before – new music, new technology, etc.), meaningful (enhancing viewers’/clients’/customers’ quality of life in some significant way), and reasonably profitable, ultimately (since it’s definitely more fun to creatively work/play when one’s basic needs at least are met).
So, from microcontroller design and gadget invention, to music writing and graphic design, to my health & fitness video course production, to just about anything else, if you know how I can share the journey with enthusiastic, talented others, rather than walk it alone, I am “all ears!”
Do have an awesome evening, and thanks for your kind reply.
Leif
•••
Feel free to use
Leif at leifsystems
Thanks again!
Leif, You have a most interesting skill set! The part of your post that most caught my eye was the very last: “In short, I am insatiably curious, and love to learn, to create, and to help others if I can.” That could be me describing me!!!
I have been severely criticized, mostly by my five children, and by some others. No doubt there are others who are probably just not comfortable to criticize me openly and outloud. But at age 83 years young, I still find that your sentence above describes me to a “T”. (whatever the heck a “T” is????)
HORSES and long distance travel on horseback is where my focus has been for years. However, I got stopped in my plans by a rare autoimmune disease that put me out of commission big time. Now through the best of Western medicine and adding best of natural medicines and healing methods from all over the world, I am whole again and about to buy a horse and embark for other parts.
Don’t know that I could help you except letting you know “I HEAR YOU!”
Krystalargo/Linda
Leif,
I also live in the Chicago Suburbs and am creative-minded. I am not sure how I can help you, but am willing. I am a residential builder and am the owner and founder. I love the interior design aspect and the beauty building a home brings me. To me, it is the ultimate rush to create a beautiful home where people can live their lives together through life’s ups and downs. I have also dabbled in other creative mediums; watercolor, sewing and graphic design.
I will leave my email here if you want to connect, if not l wish you the absolute best finding your dream!! sue@augustlimited.
Sue,
I so need help creating our website, design wise! You don’t want me drawing an egg!
By the way, your “*services*” (projects) page has an “*image carousel*” that is navigated with “*small dots below the carousel*”. Small widgets for user-interface isn’t good. I would use an interactive thin slider that mainly “*indicates progress*” (how many more photos the user should expect to see), and allow for swiping on phones as the actual user-interface to scroll through the photos.
I don’t believe that’s your design decision. Perhaps your software folks tell you “*anything else is difficult/expensive*”?
Leif,
I wanted to respond to this:
> I find myself immersed in a culture that seems far more competitive, possessive, and even sadistic, than cooperative, sharing, and empathetic.
In software, we have open-source. It’s collaborative fun, where lots of software engineers around the world collectively add to a (open-sourced) software.
Do you think it’ll be possible to create an open-source platform for art? Perhaps have artists post up small parts of digital art (eg a “*path*” or shape created in GIMP/Photoshop)?
That said, an open-source effort requires “content version control”, which would mean SVG is possibly the only format suitable. In SVG, you create a path using clear and discrete numbers. Another artist tweaking or improving your path will change those numbers, and the “content version control” system will easily show you exactly what changed. Then the 2 artists communicate and discuss that improvement (or discuss further improvements on top of that).
In the software world, participating in such open-source efforts is the fastest way to learn (from others).
HI Leif,
you seem to be a kind of co-fighter for creativity … I’m a very similar scanner’s personality.
Feel free to write to me:
christina.grabner@kabeltvgmunden.at
Read you,
Christina
I make comics and small animation-story videos on youtube. I also make original music on spotify/bandcamp/apple music (both under the name Puddle). I’m always working on this stuff, 40+ hours a week.
Even my fictional projects are heavily saturated in my own experiences. All of it is very personal, very vulnerable. The stories I tell and the things I create are, admittedly, out of a need to be seen; but also the need to make someone else feel less alone. I’ve never considered any other career path in my life. I want to create and bring people joy or comfort- this is how I know how.
I look at the numbers I’ve accrued on social media over the last 10 years and I’ve stagnated, most of my followers are old, inactive accounts. My work isn’t considered worth showing to people according to social media algorithms, especially when the system wants you to make content faster than any one artist can.
What makes me feel whole is completing a personal project and sharing it, but when it falls flat and never reaches anyone it makes me question the hundreds of hours I pour into it.
I want to collaborate with people and meet more creators in similar fields, I want to be more social and less isolated, both online and off.. I want to join some creative groups, but I’m terrified to reach out. When I do, I’m often ignored.
I guess my dream is to reach more people, to be involved in these communities. But, obstacle: I feel as if I’m unable to find any, or of the few I do, I’m unable to get past the front door.
Hi, Koda. I think that is amazing, what you do. I wanted to hop on here and tell you I feel the same way in that I want to reach more people, but I’m an introvert so I feel like I just can’t find “my people” or “my tribe” yet–online or in the outside world. My creative form is writing. I pour my heart out in my articles on Medium (@seramaddingly) and know the feeling all too well that you put a lot into what you do and then you get like… maybe a couple of views at most.
I love your artwork by the way. When I have more time I’ll check out more, but I’m loving the adorable characters you’ve put on YouTube!
Please put up links to your content, so some of us can see & share.
😀
Hi Koda,
I would be willing to collaborate with you.
My niche is wellness Mindset and chronic pain.
Necie
Koda,
I want to share with you my own experiences dealing with lack of audience for my work.
You need to find out what people want, and start producing what people want. In some big way, this is part of “*you reaching out to people, taking effort to understand people*”. (And perhaps, even copying and learning from better artists?) An artist who produces works that people don’t want to look at will struggle to find an audience. Conversely, an artist who bothers to learn what (and why) people want will find an interested community to work with.
Using myself as eg: I wish I could write math and algorithms, or deep-diving technical manuals. I did write those, but they don’t sell well. I ended up writing a lot of beginner-level books; those do find huge audiences.
“**Social media algorithms… make content faster**”. Well, this is a fact of any industry. If you want a publisher, you need to be able to write fast and write lots (unless you’re willing to self-publish for a while and build a business around the book rather than build the book’s popularity alone). A true professional is expected to be efficient at producing works. That said, fear not, because you can always (and should) reuse your works: tweak, improve, iterate rapidly. My own publishers force me to write “*multiple books on the same topic, from different perspectives*”. (I used to feel that was “*cheating*”, but I’ve come to realize readers need different “*info packing formats*” for different scenarios; eg. “*cookbook*” vs “*manual*”.)
Hi Koda
I’m impressed by the number of views and comments on your youtube work. Never think or say that you haven’t reached anyone! Simply not true!
If you want to be more involved with people who are in your field, have you tried the following:
– find an association, meetup group or trade organisation that offers membership, workshops, events in your region eg Women In Animation
– reach out to an animator you admire and ask them your questions or advice
– attend an expo for animators to find like minded spirits to share experiences with, share your work eg https://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/
– become active on animation related social media pages, leave comments, ask questions to build your involvement and circle of peers
– try to imagine that reaching out to your peers who’ll know your field and challenges is less terrifying than posting a personal youtube video
– leave a request for collaboration / contact on a local notice board in creative hubs, libraries etc.
– reality check: it is often said that you need to market your work 80% of the time so with 40 hrs p/w on creating animations you may consider changing the focus as you have a great body of work already
– find other platforms beyond social media, maybe you can ask the community centres and events, libraries etc to show your work, when there is a relevant theme; teach animation online; find a ‘niche; eg maybe you want to focus on women’s issues, health; create animations for others etc.
– contact / brainstorm organisations related to your themes that may like the idea of reaching out to their members, community and offer them your services.
Hope this helps!
Keep bringing joy through your creations!
Marianne
Koda, where are you based?
My dream is to earn a living composing music that fuses my Latin american background (Bolivia) with classical music and jazz. I would like to be commissioned to write music or write music in my style and get paid.
Obstacle : I don’t know anyone who would commission me to write music. I have employment but I am the only provider to a family of 4.
Do you have any music uploaded where people can hear it?
Not yet. Partly because I have been too concerned about having the best version of a piece (the writing aspect) rather than just putting the recordings that I have out there. I will upload 2 pieces with a recording and the sheet music online. Thank you.
Sounds like you might have some frustrated feelings around getting your music out there??? Perhaps if you did do some public displays of your music, you would gain so much satisfaction and energy that you could still continue to support your family and have energy left over to do your music. It sounds quite wonderful.
Yes I think I have had felt those feelings more strongly in the past . Now I feel that I can just upload whatever I have even stuff I did for some online classes just to get stuff going. As I progress and get more things on a web page I can take other hings down.
In the past I was trapped into thinking that if it wasn’t my best stuff than I shouldn’t put it up.I don’t feel that way anymore. Thanks.
Thanks, Jorge! Yes, perfectionism is a certainly part of my problem. And, like you, I use some of the strategies of overcoming its paralysis: I can always improve it later; if the content is good, production values can be virtually irrelevant; my 80% is most people’s 150%; etc.. And yet, reviews are critical to success, and more importantly, fewer people will benefit if my message lacks flow or clarity. So, somehow, I need to strike a balance between getting it right and getting it done.
But, my “wish” is less about this particular project, and more about reveling in creative collaboration – the joy of sharing the journey, of admiring each other’s talents, of discovering more together than either apart. Coincidentally, working with someone would be a big help in my current project – to give me reality checks, a broader perspective, to get me out of my head and into my heart, as well as brainstorming and having fun creating something new and meaningful.
So, I agree with you, and I have learned to be less formal and detail-oriented when they become obstacles. It’s just that, doing these things by myself is nothing like the energy and simple fun of merging talents with a creative partner or group.
Thanks so much for your kind reply!
Oops – sorry! I’m new here, and assumed that the only email notifications I’d receive would be about replies to my original post. So, I clicked the link, and read your comment as if it pertained to my post. (Argh!) So sorry – please disregard my reply above.
There is a saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s Treasure”
In this case meaning, some people may respond very positively to a piece you think is not your best. Give us a try!
You’re right. Thank you
Where are you located now?
I’m not sure if this message is for me but I’m located in Seattle Washington.
People who commission music need it for certain purposes.
The most common purpose is now music that accompanies YouTube broadcasts. People cannot use just any recorded music on their YouTube broadcasting any longer, it must be original music. So now the trick would be to find or convince a YouTube broadcaster who could afford to use your music for their broadcasts to pay you. So, look for YouTube broadcasters who have lots of followers who could perhaps use your music for their broadcasts appropriately and ask them…?
The other possibility is to find other people who will record a commercial for a certain product that also includes your music. For this, I’d take a class on how to get corporate sponsorships. The only person I know who teaches this skill is a woman called “The Wealthy Bag Lady” online. Once you are the one holding the sponsorship, you can hire the other people to produce the “Community Service Information” Media must, by law, play a certain amount of the Comm. Serv. Announcements so they will be motivated to use your videos. You’ll have no trouble finding people to help you with these things because this is how fledgling directors get started in the movie business, which is very competitive and in high demand. People will beg you to be allowed to show the quality of their work…
Yes, Linda Hollander is the Wealthy Bag Lady.
I purchased her course and there are others similar to hers and one that I know is more affordable.
Are you willing to share specific info on the more affordable course?
This is goo to know. Thank you.
Hi Jorge
I just met a guy last week who is dealing with music licences for film and commercials and youtube – he does all the legal stuff between the artist and those, who use the music.
(it took me quite a long time to understand, what he does)
I think this kind of agencies is, what you could contact.
here is his platform and contact
he helps you to share and monetize your best work.
https://instantlicensing.com/
Thanks to An8el – due to her comment in my mailbox, I came back again to this idea party and this post.
Wow! That is great. Thank you and An8el.
Astrid – we all need each other to check in with Barbara’s crowd from time to time – Our “hui’ (as we call it in Hawaii) needs you! Your experience and the way you remember and offer it is obviously a valuable resource to the unique possibilities of Idea Party ideals. Because most of us are located far apart, we usually cannot physically help someone as would happen in a physically present Idea Party party, so sharing ideas and information is all most of us have to offer. It’s a puzzle for the questioner – and each of us are a piece of it.
An8el – thanks –
if we were on Facebook I would press the like button in shape of a heart 🙂
your feedback reminds me to this talent and gift (collecting and sharing information), which is so normal for me, but at the same time so valuable for others
So we should also more often tell people, what we appreciate and love about them.
This ist always a wonderful part of Barbaras Workshops and the life success teams: the Good gossip game
greetings from central Europ to Hawai or wherevere you are – fare away but thanks to internet directly on my desktop
Jorge, I just had more ideas. There’s a site called “Fiver.” It’s a site that started as a scene where, for five dollars, someone offers to do something little for five dollars. Essentially what Fiver has evolved into is a “portfolio” sort of a thing. Content providers offer the tiny five dollar version and the more expensive version in stages. You could offer to write a unique ring tone for instance, for five bucks. (this would include instructions how to install a ring tone possibly too.) Next stage up might be a fifteen second intro to a YouTube series for $15…, then a 30-second version while credits roll at the end for more $…and so on.
Perhaps other sites could be appropriated for a purpose like this that I do not yet know about…?
There’s also a site called “Patreon.” This is a place where a musician essentially puts out a tip jar and records themselves – via youtube (which takes a certain # of subscribers to qualify for doing) or another live streaming platform to gain the subscribers on YouTube. (I know these live streams can be done at the beginning with only a smart phone on a platform such as Periscope.tv. But I’m not sure I’d invest in Periscope at this point. YouTube awards its content providers more constructively.)
The content can be what you “normally” already do. Maybe reserve your “finished pieces” and “concerts” for your paying sponsors? For instance, you can record yourself rehearing and/or music teaching to your students. The goal is to involve people in the lifestyle of being the musician that you are so they feel they “know” you. The idea of Patreon is this is a way for people to be a patron of the arts of specific people they want to sponsor. Sponsors get various levels of rewards from content creators.
Thank you! for your suggestion
The combination of Latin American with classical and jazz creates some very positive imagination for me, and interest in the possibilities.
I do not understand the inside view of the music industry, so please forgive the ignorance and lack of concrete solutions.
But when you mention desire to create and get paid, I think of:
– Producing and digitally selling your own collections (with all the required marketing effort)
– Publishing “free” works and then working to monetize or working to build an audience by publishing work in this way (YouTube) (also with required marketing effort)
– I wonder if a Freelance worker’s web site would help you find commissioned engagements? Something like UpWork (Freelancer, Fiverr) or maybe there is another one that is very good for creatives? I know the pay can be low but I wonder if this would be helpful to achieve some progress in the beginning.
I’m looking into joining UpWork. I will look into Fiver as Angel also suggested.Thank you.
OK. When asked to visualise what I loved as a child, the thing that comes to mind is wandering around telling stories to myself.
So the first dream is writing. And I am a talented writer, just find writing stressful and miserable (my obstacle, one I haven’t managed to fix yet). But when I thought about the themes of the stories I told myself, a lot of them were about reconciling between different groups of people with different priorities (feuding groups of witches, for examples). And when I think about the problems that keep me awake at night thinking about them, how to help wildly different people understand each other is a huge one. And it’s part of what draws me to writing, being able to create empathy and change minds and share experiences.
I just wonder if there’s a realm other than writing I could do that in? I remember reading about mediation once and thinking it sounded so appealing, helping two parties to a non-conflict resolution. But you have to be a lawyer to be a mediator and I do not want to study law, go to law school, etc. Is there something else out there?
I don’t believe you have to be a lawyer. Maybe this will help.
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/tag/mediation-training/
The E-mediation really sounds interesting. Good Luck!
I don’t believe you have to be a lawyer either!
Do you know what it is about the writing that makes you stressed and miserable??? Have you heard of EFT or Tapping? You could clear your blocks with that technique probably quite easily. Check out either Gary Craig or Nick Ortner or just research on YouTube.
I KNOW that you don’t have to be a lawyer to be a mediator and to get trained and certified in mediation abilities.
I suggest a YouTube channel. You might still have to do some outlining, but it’s not “writing” with perfect grammar & spelling, etc.
You might also enjoy the World Cafe` people. They hold events that offer dialog skills helping people learn tolerance and communication skills on the front end, before things go wrong. I think you can attend these events online for free, but the course to hold these events yourself is a paid thing. But there’s an instructive book called: World Cafe` by Juanita Brown and David Issacs. (Not sure if I spelled David’s last name correctly.)
Is your focus – being able to create empathy and change minds and share experiences. – ?
have you ever heard about NVC nonviolent communicaiton based on Marshall Rosenberg? He created a way to learn empathy, to help people understand each other and find wonderful solutions for their conflicts. there a varios trainers and videos and learning material online-
so as a nvc-trainer, you might meet your needs?
I am in NVC for more than 10 years now, it is so meaningful
– and I think, these skills are also basic for mediators.
https://www.cnvc.org/
another method for mutual understanding is – restorative circles –
Thanks for bringing NVC to the ideas we are sharing online. It is quite wonderful. I have chosen NVC as one of the main modalities that I will share as a means of people manifesting their own personal peace and then teaching it to others in their Circles of Life.
In 1999 I received and said “YES” to a vision to help bring Peace to all nations and all peoples of the World. I am to accomplish this by riding horseback (only mares for me) in a huge clockwise circle around North America.
My Vision is called: The Sacred Hoop Journey: A Peace Mission On Horseback. You can find it on Facebook by that name and on my website called sacredhoopjourney.com.
I need to find riders, especially women but men are welcome too, who would like to ride some or all of the Sacred Hoop with me. It will probably take several years. Target year is 2020, but there may be a much smaller California SHJ ride before that. It would be great to find someone to ride along who could help teach NVC!!! SENDING OUT THIS INVITATION! These other riders could ride mares or geldings. CALLING ALL HORSE LOVERS!
In addition to NVC, we would also be teaching Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Developed by Gary Craig and Tapping Solutions further developing and spreading the learning of this grand healing modality are siblings Nick and Jessica Ortner. I would focus on using “The Personal Peace Procedure” created by Gary Craig with EFT.
Other plans for helping bring more Peace are: Native American Sacred Pipe Prayer Circles and Women’s Earth To Sky Circles.
Over the years of pursuing my Vision, I have found much good help and many wonderful and helpful ideas here on these pages. THANKS
I want to comment your circles – its just really beautiful. Part of the wish I put up on Sept 2nd p.m will give me the freedom to pursue things like your visions. Best, Tammie
I want to be an inventor and an artist, which would put me into the category of an entrepreneur. I love to do so many things and even though I have been lucky in my employment I now want to be independent without anyone else having control over my paycheck. I have so many ideas but don’t have the money to implement any of them. I just don’t know what to do.
choose a First Step and just take it, then take the next one. Then you might see something that pulls you in another direction, but at least you would be moving and experiencing new things and wouldn’t feel so stuck. I used to have a big poster of a little girl putting on her ballet shoes. The caption said, “The First Is Simply To Begin” I moved that poster around with me so much that I finally chose to have it laminated because it was falling apart. Good Stuff!
I meant to write: The First STEP Is Simply To Begin Sorry
Monica,
Being and entrepreneur is amazing! I am a residential builder and owned my own company for 20 years. It has its’ ups and downs like everything good in life. And it does follow a process, which is usually pretty similar in every field. Step one; provide a service or good which meets the needs of the consumer. Which, said differently; who will want your service/good and why? It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just a sentence or two. For example mine is; “provide quality built homes to families to enjoy for years to come”.
The single most required skill for any entrepreneurial career is – determination. You don’t have to be brilliant, beautiful, highly educated, rich or any other nonsense. It just, pure and simply, requires you to not quit learning and growing.
Sometimes we get in the way of ourselves and become overwhelmed at everything that needs to be done while completely ignoring the fact you can not go to the next step until you finish the first step. So, just start out one step at a time, you are not required to do it all in one week…LOL!! The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time (not that I am advocating eating an elephant, I rather love them:)
Let me know if I can further help you,
Sue Hough
Thank you so much Sue for your advice! I will try to follow it.
Best Regards,
Monica
Pick one of the projects that is easy to make happen…and do that one first. Get your feet wet with a short-term project that you can bring to completion in a short time-frame. When you do it, ask yourself which parts of the project did you enjoy and found easy and successful to do…and which parts were not so much fun but needed to be done.
Then see if you can design the next project to include MORE of what you enjoy doing and LESS of what you didn’t enjoy so much.
Example: I liked to make art really big, so I sold myself as a muralist. After a number of these jobs, I decided the thing I liked the most was the sketching of the images – the filling in parts were tedious, as was the scaffolding, hauling the paint around, etc.
So when I thought of what sort of work had the benefits and not so much the drawbacks, it was doing seasonal cartoons and images on glass with very large markers. Especially at Christmastime, work was REALLY easy to arrange. This way, I didn’t have to mix paints anymore or clean brushes…and could still use many colors. I could turn down the jobs that involved scaffolding and just cherry-pick the jobs that were easy to access the windows from ground level or just a step-stool.
Poof! I had a niche job that I could do once a year for about six weeks that was really fun and made me an extra $4000. per season. The only complication was I had to shove everything else aside to do this job if I wanted to make $100. an hour – which wasn’t hard to do because this encouraged me to make ALL my jobs seasonal ones.
What a wonderful and inspiring story! Thank you for sharing it!
Since you say you’re already an artist…I teach people to do what I did painting seasonal windows now that I’m mostly retired. This old site I’ve lost my password to, so cannot update…(I’m working on figuring that out. I might turn it into a Foundation that teaches graffiti taggers to be sign makers) It’s at: franis.org/holiday if you want to check it out further.
Since you say you want to be more of an inventor – Did you know about patent offices? Not sure what country you’re in, but in the USA there are a few patent offices that allow people to show up and search in person to see if their own invention is unique. Perhaps at least learning about the process of patenting an invention would be a first step…? Then if you do not have $ to make a prototype for some of your ideas – you could at least reveal your invention to investor(s) who might be able to support your mission. (In this situation, you’d also have them sign a “non-disclosure” promise – so you could research those agreements at a site called nolo.com – which is a legal form information place.) The idea is you need a way that you can present your ideas to others who could team up with you, without losing the idea to them making another version for themselves to profit from the work you’ve invested in your ideas so far.
Generally, ideas by themselves are a “dime a dozen.” It’s when you act on these ideas that they gain value as they get closer and closer to becoming a reality that has the potential to offer a real benefit. So – do you need a way to decide which ideas deserve to become real? Perhaps you could use Thinking Skills…
For instance, wear a “yellow hat” and describe the benefits that would happen if your idea were realized. .. Or for a particular idea, make a three-column list of “Positive, Negative and “interesting.” Or list seven types of people or situations where your invention could be useful to them. List what makes this particular idea unique from other products that already exist that are similar – of course, this would mean some research into if other things already exist that ARE similar!
A cool blog about the use of more thinking skills related to invention is: thinkibility.com
Goal: My film team and I want to become full time filmmakers. We want to create family friendly content with strong role models for the youth. We create short films already but it is all side work and comes from our own pockets.
Obstacle 1: I have student debt and car debt that make it hard to take that risk and go full time as a filmmaker.
Obstacle 2: finding like minded people in the film business.
Idea – make films for businesses to present their work and create “business stories” for them that function like portfolios or testimonials.
Idea – make “Public Service Announcements” that channels are obligated to show to get attention from major broadcast channels.