ArtBizVoice: Accessibility

Dear Mr. Trump,

This morning I found a site for artists in business. It suggested that I enlarge my business by becoming involved with an interior designer or a corporate art consultant.  I would love to do that. I’m just wondering how that might be possible.  I really am not going to be able to pack up my massive portfolio and hop on public transportation and travel to where they are. First while I am independent, I am limited in my independence due to mobility.

Seriously, if the store is too big or the parking is too far away I have to do without. Walking is a problem for me.  I have to juggle a cane and carry things. Accessibility is not just a level doorway. It is also the distance the disabled must walk from where their ride is parked.

I have heard business owners say. “ Oh we are so lucky we don’t have to have handicapped accessible entrances to our building because its grandfathered.”  They lost my business because I couldn’t navigate the stairs.

 I was thinking about this the other day. If more building designers and business managers knew the practical limitations of their elderly and disabled clients perhaps they could adapt their buildings to be more accessible. And they might not lose that business. 

I know that some businesses are trying to cut startup costs and renovations the best they can. I wonder what the figures are, the numbers of people that cant access the building and the amount of money that the business looses, because of it.  I am guessing its somewhere between 10% and 15%.  That percent could make or break a small business. And for a larger business it could means millions in business that they are not realizing. Its not about what the law allows, its about what allows those who are potential clients to participate in your business.

With an aging population and even more people becoming disabled at an earlier age due to injuries on the job and just wear and tear on their bodies,  I can see how this is a big drain on the economy if they cannot contribute to the economy.

When a business does not address accessibility, it disengages a portion of its potential client base.
New and creative solutions need to be found to not only allow the disabled to participate as clients but also to participate as employees.

I’ve lots of new projects coming up this month. It’s becoming very exciting.
Blessings of the Day to you.
~L

ArtBizVoice: Seriously? How are you allowing your business self to appear to others..

Dear Mr. Trump,

Yesterday, I found a blog that was new to me. It was by Shannan Trenholm. Her post was on people who hear what you are up to and tell you to "Be  Realistic" every time you share an idea or dream with them.

Most of my "seemingly successful" friends  who have this "Be Realistic" Attitude are successful because they had chosen to work for companies instead of starting companies of their own.

These friends judge the worth of a company or a business idea by these two things:
 *Are they top among their competitors in profits
*Does the company have  a good reputation among the community.
In other words those businesses have to be paying big salaries and on the social fast track.

One of these friends once told me "I will never put my name with anything that is not successful."

Not to fault my friend, because she is amazing in every way and worth every penny of her hire, but her perspective is that she doesn’t see potential in people or small businesses.  This means she inadvertently says and does things that show me that she doesn’t believe in what I’m doing. Or so I thought.

This past week I was talking with another friend of mine. I told her how exciting everything was becoming how many new possibilities were opening up in my business. Her response was "What do you mean, you just do some of your art on line on t-shirts, right?"

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

My successful friends had been demeaning my work all this time. I never noticed. Maybe I let  them do this because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my work. It has taken me a while to have a clear plan and really run the numbers. Then I mistakenly thought that my friends would support what I was doing simply because they were my friends. In effect they were not taking my business or me seriously.   I had let them demean my business. I wasn’t accepting what they said, I simply didn’t correct their negative attitude and words about what they thought I was doing . I, of course didnt let her demeaning of my business stand this time. I admit it was a little painful standing up to a friend I assumed was being supportive. Amazingly, we are still friends.

I have to say that my world view of being a self starter and taking the risks, while noble to me, it was not something my successful friends could relate to. In fact, those friends would never be able to run a business ever. They had no desire or talent for it. They are highly paid skilled worker bees that provide, sometimes white collar, services to large established firms. That sort of explained to me why people making 6 figures feel like they are middle class. They are workers but they just get paid more and have more social exposure.

Here is the thing, every business out there started with an idea or a dream. All of them had small beginnings. The success of a business is simply the pay off in the gamble in my opinion. All those successful friends of mine would not even have a job if someone like me and you had not taken the risk. It takes creative people with big ideas that they are passionate enough  to make it happen. As you know it can take a life time.

I am not against  being "realistic"; however,  I must say that realistically without people who have the dream and the passion to take the risk there would be no place for any one to be successful.

~L

If  you would like to see Shannon Trenholm's blog you can read it here: http://shannatrenholm.com/2011/work/be-realistic/

ArtBizNews: Epiphany of Qualified Hires

Dear Mr. Trump,

Last week I heard about the casinos that were opening in Maryland. They were holding classes for people to become dealers. It was a two week class to train potential hires. I found it fascinating. A prerequisite for even having an interview was to take the class.

I filed the information away in the back of my mind and Friday it hit me. Every time I advertise for some one to partner with me to market my work on line they usually cant seem to figure out the process.The problem I was having trying to get people to work for me was that it was so foreign and complicated to them that they couldn’t do the job. They were over whelmed.

My mistake was to expect that because someone was on line that I should expect them to know how to do the marketing I wanted them too only having to give them simple instructions. Just like a person might be able to gamble doesn’t mean they know the nuances of being a dealer or the legal ins and outs, just because a person shops on www.zazzle.com does not mean they know how to help share and market  products you have available.
Something I thought should be so simple is actually quite daunting to the average shopper. Its especially daunting to the middle age woman who has to have her children show her how to do even the simplest email.

So now I have figured out that I need to but together some sort of training video or videos to show potential partners how to do what I need done.

Its a big part of the solution to marketing on the Internet. Teach before you hire. That way you not only give people the opportunity to partner with you but you also give them knowledge and skills that they can use other places. It builds good will.

I think that is already a philosophy Learn one, do one teach one.
Here is the upside, If I am not mistaken, once they know how to do it then I can partner with the best of the best to make our business even better.

I can barely believe that its almost the end of January and my grass is still green. We woke up to ice this morning. I hope your weather is better today.

~L

ArtBizNews: The Crab Pot Theory of Community Dynamics

Dear Mr. Trump,

There is something really important that hinders the poor and disabled for being successful sometimes. Its something that they can overcome with a bit of help. My dad called it the "Crab Pot Theory" of Community Dynamics.

 The Crab Pot Theory is based on several false statements:

 1. Rich people never have to work a day in their lives.

2. Rich people got that way because they used poor people.

3. You cant leave us because we need you.

4. When we get money we have to spend it on what we want to because thats the American Dream.
5. We don't have to pay our own way because someone else will take care of us
6. Any money you make belongs to us
7. No one in our family ever made anything of themselves so you cant either.


I would call these false statements curses. There is a verse in the Bible that says: "faith comes by hearing"When people hear these statements over and over again they begin to believe them and it becomes a physiological disability. Like calling a child stupid and dumb and telling them they will never amount to anything. Soon they believe it and act accordingly.

My dad illustrated the "Crab Pot Theory" this way. We visited Tidewater where he grew up and one day all the adults decided to have crabs for dinner. So they went out and caught the crabs and brought them home. Dad invited me into the kitchen to show me. The way you cook crabs is to put them alive into cold water then slowly heat the pot. The gradual heating slows the crabs and they don't realize they are being cooked. Well most dont. Some sense something is not right and want to get out of the heat. So they start climbing out of the pot. But just as they get to the top the crabs below them use their pincers and grab their legs. The lower crabs then pull the ones trying to climb out back into the pot. Thus none are able to escape.

The Crab Pot Theory of  Community Dynamics is not insurmountable. People do over come it. Usually its when they wake up one morning and figure out that everyone around them is happy except them. When they take stock of their lives they discover its because all the enabling they have done has pretty much sucked them dry. No one is looking out for them. No one is helping them. No one is even listening to them.

What happens when someone stands up against this sort of  community dynamic:Guilt trips and derogatory statements to hold them down make them fail. The real reason the community does this is because the community has become so dependent that they are fearful to loose the bread winner. Some of these bread winners are 13 and 14 years old. By the time they are 25 they have nothing but three jobs a day that keep them poor, keep them from spending time doing what they love and keep them from being with their own children.  Their poverty has nothing to do with who is rich and how they got there. It has to do with the unhealthy dependency of their family and sometimes their community that holds them back.

Why I think this is important to understand is because those people are a growing number of our population. Those are potential work force. And that is a whole sub-strata of creative ability that is being squandered by a culture of forced economic failure. I realize we cant help everyone of them out of the pot; however, maybe we can lift the ones at the top out of the pot and release them back into the sea of possibilities.

Have a wonderful weekend,
~L

ArtBizVoice: Criticism, A Failure's Best Friend

Dear Mr Trump,

Wow what a beautiful sunny day today after all the dreary week. I bet those who had snow last evening even have it brighter and even more beautiful.

All of those dark days made me think of something. I think one of the most difficult things I have had to over come in all these years has been my own attitude. You see its very easy for someone who is isolated by poverty and disability to fall into a very disgruntle critical view of life. It really isn't helped much by people who surround you that are also disgruntle and critical.  This is a trap that a lot of  very talented people fall into when they think they can not move forward. Then they make the fatal error. Blaming those who are successful.  Its the kiss of death, I think.

I caught myself one time falling into the trap. I criticized a group of people. The very group that was most likely to be  my clientèle. I haven’t a clue why I did it except it was a really bad habit.  Well a competitor used it against me right while I was standing there. Yes, the result was it killed my business. There is nothing worse than being better than your competitor in every way and having them steal your business right out from under you because you had the bad habit of only seeing the wrong and never pointing out the good. What a hard lesson. Yet,  I am thankful I learned it.

Most disabled people already have isolation and poverty against them. Those are pretty insurmountable without the favor of people who believe in what they are doing. Maybe people in poverty criticize those who have wealth and success, because they have not figured out that is the successful that can help lift them up.

 An artist, or business man for that matter, just does not know where that help is going to come from.  So a really smart person is not going to criticize or be little anyone on any economic level.  Smart people know that the favor they need can come at any time from the most unsuspecting directions.  I think criticism is in fact a form of offensive insulting behavior that destroys any hope the budding business person has of getting the help they need to be successful. 

I think that most people, including successful people, already know their weaknesses. They don’t need them pointed out and to be constantly reminded of them.  I think we want to favor those who favor us.  And we favor those who are kind and helpful to us. It works both ways.

What a great thing it would be to help people who want to be successful to be positive instead of critical.

Wishing you a very wonderful and safe weekend,
~L

ArtBizVoice: A Different Sort of Life Part 2

Dear Mr Trump,

With all the help I received from Social Security and  The Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services there is one thing that was never addressed: How to overcome the limits of Isolation caused by on going poverty.

Counseling happens and that helps those who are disabled to overcome the self image issues.  It is also true that some spending does happen and field trips but those are mostly to show what is possible and be encouraging. It is all helpful however it doesn't address my problem.

You see most people who have seen the possibilities and  have over come the self image issues would have already developed social graces and would already have put aside money to join organizations that would give networking possibilities. Disabled and impoverished people don't actually have that opportunity.

Here is why: It costs money and effort. And it needs someone savvy and experienced to generate the income in doing it. There are 7 or 8 Local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Business Women Associations, Artists groups and guilds, Rotary, etc etc  and all of them take cash.  And even if you had the cash  most of the time if you haven't had a good meal or you are disabled, fatigue and clarity of mind are not going to be an asset you can draw on. Then of course there is the problem of accessibility.

All of the rehab programs in the world are not going to get the disabled where they need to be if there is no one to partner with who can do the networking and the sales and marketing leg work.

I don't have money so I tried to get somewhere with this through the only two options left to me. The SCORE organization of retired business men who help small businesses to get started And my local church.

Here is what happened. The available gentlemen from SCORE wouldn't even touch what I am doing because I currently use Internet Marketing venues. I didn't need more information on Internet Marketing I needed a way to connect to real people and real businesses face to face and I needed some alternate ideas on how to do that since I  am unable to do it myself. SCORE wouldn't touch me.

I  also joined the only church in my community that  had access to the building for disabled people. Well they refused to help even connect me with any business people and got mad at me because I would not commit money I didn't have to participating in galleries or art shows. And they got even madder when they saw that I had no money to give to the church.  My dad was a pastor, I never heard him not help anyone who need it, even helping people get jobs. So that was a real shock.

Really, I need some help here. Do you have any ideas on how I can network or who can be my networking face?

~L

ArtBizVoice: A Different Sort of Life Part 1

Dear Mr Trump,

Wow, I just saw your endorsement of  Mr. Netanyahu. Surprising, but nicely done.

It reminded me today,  I was thinking that Israel has had a lot to over come in its long and varied history. The first being that many out side of a few countries, think it only came to be a nation as a result of World War II.  History is so important. The nation of Israel has historically been the only nation to make the desert bloom.  When I was a child I remember seeing photos of Israel from people who had lived and visited there and I thought wow how dry and barren, rocks upon bare earth, upon rocks all where the houses built the same color as the earth. It made me feel thirsty just to look at the photos.

Yet, just before Christmas this year I saw a wonderful photo of Israel now. It is blooming and green and thriving and feeds a good portion of Europe. Why would people want to destroy that which makes the desert bloom?  Seems to me instead of trying to destroy it that all of its neighbors would want to make friends so they too could  learn the secret to making life happen and letting people thrive. Then if they focused on those things instead of the quarrels of generations past everyone could thrive and have peace.

I realize I've just over simplified about 70 years of recent world history from my naive perspective.

I suppose different people are disabled by different things and that makes them impoverished. The "I can't " mentality is very prevalent in the disabled. Isolation is one of the greatest causes of it. And the fact that people other than themselves make decisions about their lives so that they think they can not.  Then there are physical limitations as well as limitations by society. Its hard to climb out of the box when you start seeing yourself as others stereotype you.

One of the things I read about Israel today is that many in the opposition think by following Mr. Netanyahu's plans that it will bring isolation to Israel and that will impoverish it. Um. I think that is incorrect. A country, just like a disabled person, can become an oasis in the midst of a dark world simply by remembering how far they have come and what they hope to do and reminding people of it so no one forgets.

I firmly believe that rising above one's circumstances is not dependent upon what others say or think about you, but about what you know and remember about your self.  It doesn't hurt to have advocates that agree.
You are an "Agreeable Advocate" in this Mr. Trump.
~L

ArtBizVoice: Limitations (The Joy Is In the Striving!)

Dear Mr. Trump,

My Limitations:

  I have never used my disability as an excuse for failure.  I wanted my art to stand on its own merit. Thus I never  advertised myself as a disabled artist. Pity does open doors; however, it won’t necessarily make your work timeless or masterful..  

One of my friends years ago told me it is not  about beating the competition, its about beating your own last best effort. He was an endurance rider who  competed in 100 mile rides. He told me you have to be able to run a marathon in order to do it because you don’t want your horse so tired at the end that he cannot go on for another  20 miles, if needed. That means knowing when to rest, knowing when to let your horse carry you and knowing when to get off and run along side him.

I asked him once why he did it. He had this far away look in his eye and said “ The joy is in the striving”.  He was passionate about it. He loved it and the challenge to accomplish it was what drove him.
He died of cancer in 1988. The only race I ever remembering him not finishing was the one before he was diagnosed. People knew him by his dedication and passion. Many people joined the sport because of him.

When I look at my limitations, I think it is not the fatigue, the weakness I have sometimes, the pain in my legs, and how hard it is to move around . Sometimes I think that my biggest limitation has really been the stereotypes.  I am stereotyped as a artist. It hinders me with people who could help because they think I should be showing at shows, exhibiting in galleries. At my income level, as a disabled person that just doesn’t work, and is a complete waste of money.  Those who I have approached ( and no they don’t know about my limits physically beyond what they see) do not talk to me about what I am trying to accomplish and they don’t want to hear my vision. The word artist puts me in the artist box.  Just like the word disabled puts me in the disabled box. 

For me, the Internet has been a lifesaver and away to get the word out about myself and my art. I have a cult following of appreciative followers. However, for me to thrive and really be successful, I really need more. I need a way to get the word out to the majority of the people who don’t have time to be on-line. It takes preparation. It takes mentorship and it takes a person to partner with me just like my friend was partnered with his horses. In the mean time I am following my passion. Because, the joy really is in the striving.

Blessings of the Day to you.
~L