Blog

A blog can be a powerful marketing asset.  However, building a blog, the right way, takes a big commitment.  A commitment to produce well-written, engaging, and compelling content on a somewhat regular basis, and a commitment to engage with your audience.   In short, it's a commitment to hard work.  And, that kind of hard work is what it takes to build an audience, a readership and a cadre of fans for your blog.  As technologist Benedict Evans wrote, "Blogging has never been easier but getting read has never been harder."  Sure, you can throw a non-compelling post out into the ether every [...]

  I find the best way to be productive is to simply ignore all the stuff I "should" do and just do the thing I want to do. [1] Unfortunately, that often results in a file cabinet full of months of accounting and other paperwork that is backlogged.   Nevertheless, I feel more productive when I create "art" (code).  And, in the end, it's not that hard to catch up on bank reconciliations - it's near impossible to get an ignored creative spark back.    Let's explore that idea further.  I'm often accused of being a procrastinator.  Yesterday, my wife accused me of being "artistic" in my [...]

In creative endeavors, continuous practice and improvement is essential to growth, particularly if you’re looking for rapid growth.   The late Robert Genn of The Painter's Keys once wrote, "We're all familiar with the problems associated with Sunday Painters. Cranking up the old machine once a week may be okay in the vintage car hobby--but it's bad news in the creativity game. The steady worker who applies his craft daily is more likely to make creative gains than an intermittent one." If this “law” of creativity weren’t true we could all just recline by the pool for four days a week and go to [...]

Your dreams live outside of your comfort zone.   If you want to grow and have a more exciting future, you must do something different from what you've done so far.   One painter whom I admire tremendously is Kevin Macpherson. He's a great example of someone whose art, career and life have benefited from operating "Outside the Comfort Zone." When I first met Kevin, he was already known as a very successful "Plein Air" painter from New Mexico.  He related to me the story of how he had become a fine artist.  He had been a very successful freelance illustrator working in Phoenix, Arizona [...]

One of BoldBrush's core values is to treat everyone with respect and dignity.     A company's values generally flow from the personal values of the founder and early employees.  Treating people with respect is one of my own personal core values and I am proud that it has become part of our company's DNA.       In my mind, treating people with respect should simply be part of the fabric of society.  We shouldn't have to write it down.  It's just the right thing to do.  We're all humans, we're all in this together and, for the most part, people are good and [...]