A Facebook friend posted the other day that he wanted to draw portraits of comedians but he knew there was no market for it. 

Should he do it?  Of course he should!  

If you’re being called to do something your job is to accept the call.  He said he was passionate and really wanted to do the portraits but fear was paralyzing him. 

Not to over simplify it but motto is:  If you feel called to do the thing…DO that THING!

Life and business can be tricky.  When advice sounds great it seems like you can apply it everywhere.  But that’s not always true. 

Warren Buffet is known for his investing (and for being really really rich).  One of his investment philosophies is buying stocks he likes and holding onto them.  He’s quoted as saying his, “favorite holding period is forever”.  Forever is a long my time, my friend. 

I’m no investor pro but most people who are say this is good advice.  But if you applied this to what you do, you may mess up like I did.  

When I started drawing live caricatures I noticed the #1 obstacle people had to being drawn was thinking they’d be drawn ugly.  After all, who wouldn’t love bigger teeth and a giant forehead?  

Some do enjoy that, but still…  Ugly (exaggerated, really) isn’t my style so I changed my business name to Draw Me Sexy.  You can’t get a fugly drawing of yourself with a name like Draw Me Sexy, right?  

I was right.  

When I did retail caricatures (charging people per drawing at public events) I noticed more people got drawn faster and my promotion created a lot more buzz and chatter.  I was crushing it.  

Until I entered the wedding space.

The purposed of being at bridal shows was getting people to pay me a flat rate to draw at their wedding reception.  When I set up at bridal shows, people seemed to enjoy me just as much as everywhere else.  But I heard negative chatter too.  

My (not!) favorite excuse for not getting hired ​was when young brides would come up to me and say, “I’d love to have you at my wedding but my mom doesn’t want to hire you.  It’s the ‘sexy’ thing.”

One comment even came from someone who hired me.  The groom said, “Adam I’m sure I know the answer to this but…  You’re not going to draw my grandma in a thong or anything right?”

The truth is, if she asked to be drawn in a thong, I’d probably draw her in a thong.  But I knew that question wasn’t about requests, it was about judgement.  

Maybe I should change the name of my company?  No, this is my conviction.  

At one bridal show I saw a Mom walking with her kid.  I saw her wordlessly mouth, “Draw Me Sexy” and walk even faster past my booth.  Clutching her little girl like we had Larry Flynt and Jenna Jameson there signing autographs.  Nude. 

Should I change the name of my company.  Nope, like George W. Bush I stayed the course.  

My wife helps me at trade shows so she knew about the negative chatter too.  At least twice a year she would ask (or tell me more like it), why don’t you just change the name?  

I eventually caved.  I changed the name.  At least for the wedding events.  Keep in mind all the art and everything I do is 100% the same!  But I quit holding on to a business name that wasn’t working in that space.  

Forever works for investing but not business names it seems.

If you feel called to do the thing…DO that THING!  But don’t fear change or be attached to some of the details.

Adam

I’m a crappy parent.  

What made think I had the unmitigated audacity to bring kids into this Earth?  

That’s what I thought about briefly one day when I was thinking about my kid’s futures.  All my kiddos have development delays or social issues, health problems, and all sorts of acronyms after their diagnoses.

I was beside myself knowing the discomfort and pain they will likely go thru in their young lives.  

Moments later I pushed that head-trash aside.  Feelings like that are about as useful to me as  tampons.

On the flip side, all my kids are beautiful.  Like unicorns in the Harry Potter series they glow with beauty and personality.  And don’t think for a minute I’m not taking credit for this too…

I understand that life can be challenging for us all…  

But they are my kids!

I continued to tell myself everything would be ok but I couldn’t really tell my lizard brain to go to hell until  I read the book, David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  The sub headline says it all: “Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants.”

The book starts with bible story of David and Goliath.  Gladwell says everything we know about that story (why David won) is wrong.  

David winning would have been shocking only if he fought Goliath in hand to hand combat—Goliath’s way.  That’d be like me trying to get a date with my wife by arm wrestling The Rock.  There’s no way I’d win.

But David used his strengths.  He refused to wear armor so he could focus on speed.  Goliath was big and slow because he was in enough armor to coat a VW bus.  And as you probably know, David slung a rock and hit Goliath in the head and killed him.

David was a “Slinger”.  

And I said slinger not swinger.   Please try to keep your mind out of the gutter…

Gladwell said paintings from medieval times show slingers hitting birds in mid-flight.  Irish sligers were said to be able to hit a coin from as far away as they could see it.  

In Gladwell’s book there was example after example of things people went thru that seemed negative but it gave them the skill or edge to make them well suited to do what they wanted to do.  

Finally I had the ammunition to make my monkey mind surrender.  I KNEW in every fiber of my being that not only will my kids be fine, but they will likely be exceptional in some way.  

For example my teen daughter would barely eat any food that wasn’t processed after she was about 8 years old.  Getting her to eat fruit or vegetables was like asking Putin to get outta the Ukraine.  

But now she eats a variety of food and she loves to cook.  And her growing up fussy and with a picky palette drives her to cook and bake restaurant quality food.  After all it can’t be… 

Too brown.

Too burnt.

Or too Doughy.  

It’s like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, her food has to be, just right.

Napoleon Hill  put it this way, “every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

Abraham Hicks put is this way, “when the contrast gets greater, the desire gets greater too, and that’s what miracles are from.”

How could I even think of coming my between my kid’s and their miracles?  

And by the way, don’t come between yours either.

Adam

What is your purpose for being here?  

Small ask, right?  I may as well ask you what is the meaning to life or your opinion on gun control…

I found myself asking the purpose question more often after I turned 40.  after all, I’m an achiever.  Shouldn’t I be out there curing cancer or ending world hunger or something? 

I should.  If I thought it was my purpose…

I used to view purpose like the Matrix movies.  ‘All apps have a purpose and when that purpose is over, the app is deleted.’   I changed my hard stance on this but I also realized you have PURPOSE, and you have TOOLS.  

For example.

When I first became a comic book artist, I thought, I needed a mission statement.  A purpose.  An intention.  Drawing and painting in publishing couldn’t just be about drawing and painting.  So, I came up with, ‘I want to make a difference in the lives of people with my art.’

I realized the TOOL I used to do that was comic books, but eventually my tool changed to caricatures.  But guess what?  My purpose to make a difference in the lives of people is still the same.

And even with my writing and video blogging that I create for creative entrepreneurs like you.  I do it for the same reason, to make a difference in your life.  

Different tool, but the same purpose.  The same intention.  

Your “tool” will probably change too.  

Oprah’s first big tool was her talk show.  She used it to educate audiences for 25 years.  Now she does the same thing thru her OWN network, magazine, and other media.

Steve Jobs loved taking average products and making them better and more user-friendly.  He did this in college with a telephone long distance device and he did it with personal computers and MP3 players.  Same Steve Jobs but he used different tools.

Think of it this way.  The universe is constantly in expansion.  Nasa said, (from nasa.gov).  “The universe is getting bigger every second. The space between galaxies is stretching, like dough rising in the oven.”

Since the universe and everything in it is constantly in expansion, you are too.  You and your “tools” will always be expanding and evolving.  That’s why it’s so important to consciously keep evolving into a version of yourself that you can be proud of.  

You can just as easily expand into the grumpy asshole that yells at kids to stay of your lawn or a joyous person that loves what you see in the mirror.

Either way, the choice is yours.

Adam

I created a term when I was a teen, I called it Finish Line Behavior.   I still use this term today believe it or not.

Why did I create this term?  Necessity?  Nope, sheer annoyance.

Usually people from California…

Growing up in Phoenix Arizona, we were one of the fastest growing U.S. cities for many years.  Every year I’d meet people from all over the country who weren’t happy moving to Phoenix.  They’d say things like, I’ll be happy when I…

Meet the right person.

Get a good job.

Buy a house.  

I called it Finish Line Behavior because they would not be satisfied until they crossed a finish line or attained something that they wanted first.  

Californians drove me the most crazy because so many of them couldn’t take living in a dessert.  They’d bitch about the heat cause Los Angeles’ weather is SO perfect.  Or why there’s no beach or how public transportation sucked.  

Instead of punching them in the throat I’d low-key roll my eyes and ignore them.  All while thinking, here’s another Finish Line person.  

Morons.

Now imagine my surprise when I realized years later that I was being a Finish line person too.  

After I graduated from the university I was all about sacrificing the now for the big fun later.  I got invites from friends and family for parties, celebrations, and concerts and I rarely accepted.  

Why make time for things like fun?   I’m building a business ova here!  

Beside, once my business blows up, then we’re all gonna party like rockstars.  But first, let me take this call…

I realized, my life wasn’t working.  All that work and no play had me asking some bigger questions.  My wife was asking some bigger questions too.  Like why the hell aren’t doing anything together like we used to?  

“Honey, I get it. I’ll talk to you about it right after I send these e-mails…”

I stopped my Finish Line Behavior.  Instead of my rigid business goals and Klingon-like work ethic I chilled out.  I decided to focus on living, having fun, and creating experiences.  

In The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles writes, “…the only way in which you can assist the world in growing rich is by growing rich yourself…”

I think that is 100% true.  

If that is true, then this is true too.  The only way in which you can assist the world in being happy and making the world a better place is by being happy yourself.  

Now, crossing the finish line doesn’t matter because either way, I’m happy.

Adam

Wanna see a quote that pisses off most artists?

“There is no relationship between being good and getting paid.”     

– Joe Polish

You may have guessed why so many artists think this quote is about as realistic as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.  It’s cause they think how I used to think. 

You’re supposed to work, haaarrrdddd!  You put in all those hours for mastery, and then once you get good, really good, THEN the money comes.  

Oh really?  Does it?

I met a guy in life drawing class that literally could have taught the class.  His mastery of drawing was AT LEAST that of the instructor.  He may have been even more skilled!  

And my instructor was pretty damn amazing so that’s sayin’ something…

But guess what, he worked an average job that was WAY beneath his skill level.  And that would be ok if he enjoyed what he did but he didn’t.   He just never found a way to make a living from his art.

When I first started painting comics at Marvel my goal was to get so good I could get my own exclusive contract.  I worked experimenting with color palettes, styles, and all sorts of stuff.  One trick I found was putting up another painter’s work and emulating it in some way.

Not sure why I never had the confidence to just do my thing.  After all…

I never went to art school.

I wasn’t some art prodigy.  

I just wasn’t confident in my own ideas. 

Until…

I was painting a page and I opened up an image painted by one of my favorite artists, Christina Strain.  I kept going back and fourth looking at how she rendered and did a few things.  Soon I realized, the work I was studying was mine and not hers.  

Christina is amazing but I realized in that moment that I didn’t give myself enough credit.  

And if you lack confidence in your craft, the same may be true for you.  You need to appreciate where you are in the process and what you do.  

If you can do that your confidence can show up in a minute or two.  And that confidence opens the flood gates to connection and creativity.  I think one problem I had (and why that initial quote pissed off so many people) is thinking you need mastery before confidence.  

You know me, I love a good sports analogy.  So…what about the great athletes, Adam?  

Look at Michael Phelps.  

Look at Lebron James.

Look at Roger Federer.

Those guys trained their ass off to get where they got.

Even Leonardo da Vinci  said, “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.”

Yes, yes, and yes!  Mastery is great.  It should be the end game for you!  But none of those people had mastery right out of the gate!  

My point is this, Mastery is NOT connected to how much you can earn.  And it sure as hell isn’t connected to happiness!  And you can see evidence of that everywhere.

And let’s face it, what’s more fun?  Being confident and “feeling” mastery in that moment even though you don’t have it?  Or feeling like you’re not “there yet” and being salty about it?  

The being upset about it kept me in a death spiral that only led to lack and me trying to find myself.    Ok, death spiral was a bit melodramatic but you get my point.  Finding yourself is cute when you’re 20, but when you get older it’s pretty annoying.  

Appreciate yourself and where you are in the process.  When I did, my life changed.

And so can yours…

Adam