Disqus - Latest Comments for sparkyfirepants

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:22:05 -0000

Yes! I was trying to think of a good elimination joke, but you make so
much sense I can't.

I take this same approach when I teach vector illustration. When you
eliminate the majority of the bell-and-whistle tools, you're left with
only what you need to create your art.

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:08:15 -0000

That's okay. You look good in hats.

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:07:28 -0000

Thanks, Shannon. If it makes you feel better, it doesn't come easily
to me, either. For every post you read, I've likely deleted several
and sworn off writing forever.

Then I get a bug up my butt to make pretty bullet point lists and I am
called back into the game.

Keep it up. Eventually you'll have a nice collection of posts to marvel at. :)

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:02:13 -0000

If you really want to know, it was listening to Rick Springfield's
Working Class Dog over and over again on my rainbow-stickered 8 track
player.

Seriously (and we have to use the term loosely here, don't we?), it
was the Lift Off retreat in August. I think I wrote a post on it but
since I don't list my archives in my own sidebar I can't find it now.
Somewhere a blogger just fell down dead. Clap your hands if you
believe!

I'll try and dig it up for you. It was probably brilliant.

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:55:19 -0000

I see your point and I raise you a question:

If I blog in the middle of an art buyer forest and no one is around to
read it, do I make any sound?

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:52:03 -0000

Actually, I really meant that I need to blog less. I spent, like, four
hours on those bullet points. Aren't they pretty? Aren't I pretty?
What was I saying? Oh, right. Muddled branding. Yes!!!

You're right, I really need to muddle my brand more. I think I can do
this by blogging smarter, so muddling my blogging posts by branding
them as less posts and more marketed branding platforms will gain me
the muddling brandization I'm trying to be smarter about.

Yes! Muddled clarity! Ford Focus!

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:43:59 -0000

You know what I would love to hear from you? I would love to read about your thought process in creating your awesome patterns. That's something I struggle with and I see you as an expert.

Please, write it!

Re: I’m not a Blogger.

Sparky Firepants — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:41:54 -0000

Ah-ha! See? ;P

Thanks, David. And there's no mystery in that you help people with their online marketing. Nice and obvious. Rock on.

Re: Pole vaulting and sh*t you’re making up

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:24:31 -0000

I love how you mention "muscle memory." It's something that I've been realizing over the past year but you articulated it perfectly.

I have one story that I need to let go. It's the story of wasted time, as in realizing that if I had started licensing my art two years ago when it was staring me in the face I would be so much farther ahead right now.

The only thing there is to do now is start doing it (I have) and do it really, really well. My muscle memory says that I can successfully work with clients and build a profitable business. I can do it again – not to mention better.

Re: The Frozen Bananas of Opportunity

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:38:09 -0000

Sometimes I write posts way in advance. Then they publish by themselves and I end reading the last line and think things like, "Wow. It sounds like I'm comparing myself to a mediocre actor who got lucky with a frozen banana."

Or something like that.

Discuss.

Re: How I Tackled My Greatest Business Fear (and how you can too)

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:14:00 -0000

What scares me?

At the moment I'm poised (rawr) to exhibit at an international art licensing expo this June. It's only Fall but I need to start strategizing NOW.

My big fear is both not having enough art to display and only having crappy art to display. Yep. true story. Every time I sit down to illustrate this new art I should be feeling creative - and mostly I am. But there's a little part of me that's huddled in fear of creating art that nobody wants and losing my investment in the show. No small investment thus no small fear.

I've decided to do two things:

1. Just create the damn art already. If I love doing it and I'm happy with it, that's all I can do.

2. I'm starting a Buyer Review Board. It's an exclusive group that will function as my Art Board of Directors, giving me private feedback and suggestions on what kind of art appeals to them.

So I'm getting the work done, which helps me manage the fear. When I'm absorbed in creating my art, the fear has to get in the back seat.

Re: How I Tackled My Greatest Business Fear (and how you can too)

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:05:54 -0000

Nathan, I'm stoked to have you on the blog. This is such a great topic for creative (is there any other kind?) entrepreneurs.

Re: How I Tackled My Greatest Business Fear (and how you can too)

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:03:14 -0000

It's funny, Karl - I'm much more afraid of speaking at Toastmasters than an audience of thousands. To me, your Toastmasters experience is very brave. ;)

I also share your fear of complacency.

Re: How I Tackled My Greatest Business Fear (and how you can too)

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:00:28 -0000

Right on, Shawn. I know a lot of people hate the answer, "Just do it." The truth is, sometimes that's the only thing that gets me over the initial fear hurdle.

It doesn't mean squashing my fear or ignoring my fear. And it's not saying that my fear is a weakness. It means that if I let the fear stop me, there's still going to be this thing that needs to be done. I might as well do it.

Re: A pirate looks at 40

Sparky Firepants — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:28:52 -0000

Thanks, David. It's on the 21st, so you didn't miss a thing. I'll just come back here then, re-read your comment, and feel warm and fuzzy all over again. ;)

Re: A pirate looks at 40

Sparky Firepants — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:26:40 -0000

Rock on! I'll play Earth, Wind,and Fire's "September" in your honor.

Re: A pirate looks at 40

Sparky Firepants — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:25:22 -0000

Thanks. It's not officially until the 21st, but yeah... I'll take the whole month. :)

Re: A pirate looks at 40

Sparky Firepants — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:23:45 -0000

What's freaky is that a few weeks ago I wrote this title, jotted down some notes and left the post as a draft. The next day I was cleaning up a shelf and found a never-opened copy of Jimmy Buffet's A Pirate Looks at 50.

I didn't intend to go any deeper than the title, but it stuck in my head. So.. weird.

Re: botpreneur #8 – too nichey?

Sparky Firepants — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:46:10 -0000

I'm confident there's a profound wit inside you, LU. Still, I want to hear about situations. Even something like, "I hate it when the bank teller asks my name even when I make a deposit every day."

Hey... I wish I made a deposit every day.

I digress. What was I saying?

Re: botpreneur #8 – too nichey?

Sparky Firepants — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:33:00 -0000

I know! It's such a cliché now. Except that I'm only looking for the ones that read Nabikov in the sauna while listening to Martha Stewart's Rules on a 3GB white iPod touch.

It's a completely different market and it's WIDE OPEN.

Re: botpreneur #7

Sparky Firepants — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:01:36 -0000

Thanks!

I see this as more of a small business insider joke. In a way, the joke's on the (invisible) designer who created a logo without qualifying what the business is or who the potential clients might be. They made a pile of money and didn't actually help botpreneur's business. Tragic and all too common.

Re: Asking for it

Sparky Firepants — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:46:09 -0000

I have a lot of trouble asking for help. Okay, so it's not so much in the asking, but in what might happen after the asking.

As in, if I ask for help and they say "yes," I will suddenly have to actually follow through on the thing I asked for help about.

Suddenly I'll be accountable. Scary.

Re: The Pool and the Leap

Sparky Firepants — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:25:08 -0000

I'm in metaphor heaven. Wetsuits!

You reminded me of two things I need to work on:

1. asking a friend to jump in with me
2. bringing extra wetsuits for my friends

It's too easy to face the pool alone.

Re: The ugly face of obstacles in your business

Sparky Firepants — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:40:48 -0000

Thanks for the support, everyone.

A few of you mentioned that we each have our own uncomfortable spots. So true. I think it's interesting that so many of us see our weaknesses as something bigger than they appear to others. This is true in my case (as witnessed by the lovely Pam Slim, may her last sentence be etched on my tombstone).

It felt weird posting this because my issues seem trivial compared to people who can't get fresh water without danger of being killed. On the other hand, when you run your own business there are times when it *feels* that dire.

I think a key difference between people who succeed and those who give up early is the ability to face those demons and fight through them.

I'm reminded of the speech Lucky Day gives in Three Amigos. "For some, shyness may be their El Guapo. For us, it's the actual El Guapo... who happens to be a big, dangerous guy who wants to kill us."

So I wish everyone an actual El Guapo, who is always smaller than our imaginary El Guapo.

Re: botpreneur #5

Sparky Firepants — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:21:54 -0000

Heh heh, actually it was early evening. But it goes back to the many times I've been just dead tired, head hits the pillow, and SLAM! Eyes open, blog post, fully formed, must write.