Building your castle on someone else’s land is deceptively simple and attractive … until the landlord changes the terms on you. Etsy sellers are facing a 30% hike in their transaction fees. The plugins exist to go out on your own. Sure, it will take time, but what you get back in pride and ownership […]
In the Spotlight: KBarlow Design
Originally published in December 2019 in Blog, Toronto Illustrators
Studio Tour of Pen Jar Productions
Originally published in November 2018 in Blog, Gift Ideas, Graphic Recorder, Graphic Visualizer, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators
Click on image to play my video greeting, or click here. An email I sent my contact list on November 1st: Top of the morning to my friends, family and work colleagues: For those of you who haven’t heard from me since high school, here’s what’s new: I cut my hair, became an art historian, unbecame […]
The rebirth in failure
Originally published in August 2018 in Blog
This is post was first published eight years ago. Egads, I’ve been blogging a long time! Some people said it made them feel hopeful — even brave. Your morning dose of hope. The ability to focus and commit to something through thick and thin is a quality I admire. Writer and comedian Craig Ferguson describes […]
Creative Entrepreneurs: a mutual support society
Originally published in June 2018 in Blog
The nice thing about being a creative entrepreneur, other than the creative freedom, the distance from office politics, and the casual wardrobe (I also like to randomly drop and do sit-ups, which I wouldn’t do in an office setting) is the sense of camaraderie with fellow freelancers. We hire each other, and pay with cash […]
Insights with Nargis
Originally published in May 2017 in Blog
While Yann Yap and I finish editing our first batch of Willful videos and gear up for the next spate of interviews, it was so gratifying to participate in Nargiz Mammadova’s thoughtful interview series, Insights with Nargiz. We talked about creativity, work, life, and constant adaptation. Thank you, Nargiz! Photo: Gary Chen, White Clover.
Willful web series
Originally published in January 2017 in Blog
This is me talking with my pal, Andrew Dobson, creator of the food and travel media empire, DobberNationLoves. Andrew is one of dozens of creative entrepreneurs and artists I’ll be interviewing in Willful, a new web series I co-created with my friend, Yann Yap, a producer, photographer and videographer currently working at TFO. A selfie of the […]
Godin is great
Originally published in March 2016 in Blog
A Seth Godin blog post called “Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself,” published in March 2011, made the rounds on the internet again this week. And with good reason. (h/t to Gapingvoid cartoonist Hugh MacLeod for reviving Godin’s greatest hits in his crunchy daily email). To recap, in March 2011: Twitter was at […]
Skills pivot
Originally published in February 2016 in Blog
There are a lot of folks out there doing a skills pivot on their own time and dime. They’re saying yes to mastering data science and website design, and no to obscurity and unemployment. They’re plowing through long lists of recommended readings, and using Darwin’s Origin of the Species as the manual to justify preparing […]
