I love being around young entrepreneurs. The energy, the passion, it’s contagious! Sometimes with experience comes the tendency to be jaded towards ideas but when you’re young you’ll try anything.
I had the privilege of working with two awesome young guys, Mark and Alex, on a recent project related to my involvement with MANA Nutrition. I’ll let them tell their story in this great video…
I always laugh at how early the buzz starts for HOW Design Conference, seems like only yesterday we were in Boston. Before we know it June will be here and another HOW conference upon us. I’m honored to have been asked to open and close the HOW Creative Freelance Conference in 2013. My talk titles are set and I’ve started the preparation already (it always feels weird to start this early).
The conference title “Rediscover Inspiration” is very pertinent for me this time of year. December has always been a big reflection month, as I’m sure it is for many. It’s a time to look at what got done (and didn’t) this year and what the hopes are for 2013.
If I had to be honest, the last couple years have been about deep rediscovery for me. I don’t think I’ve ever been as motivated and clear about my path as I am now, but it took a lot of pain and hard truth to flush that out. In the end if we want to “Rediscover Inspiration” we have to do the work. It can be hard, but we have to do the work.
A friend of mine said something a couple months ago that still stings a bit, he wasn’t referring to me but I certainly felt it. He said “That’s the problem, most talented people don’t want to work”. Ouch! But I think that statement holds true for a lot of creative people. To stay inspired it takes hard work, lots of work. To rediscover inspiration it takes some soul searching, sometimes going into places we don’t want to go. But most talented people don’t want to do the work, it’s easier instead to rely on ability.
If we want to rediscover inspiration we have to do the work. Darn.
I’m reading a very interesting book right now called DRIVE by Daniel H. Pink. First of all, Daniel is a very smart guy, I like smart people, they make my head hurt.
The book starts by talking about our current motivational system “motivation 2.0″ that is based on a action equals reward type transaction. The issue of course is that it’s never enough, you must always up the reward. This method of motivating people simply isn’t sustainable.
It’s also interesting to think about ‘motivation’ as a whole. What motivates us, what motivations people to buy things, to make decisions? I’m reading this both for my own benefit (understanding what drives me) and my clients benefit (understanding what drives marketing decisions). Great read thus far.
I had an amazing encounter yesterday with a guy named Elvis while riding bike on PCH.
The story starts back in November of 2011 when I read a post on the Brooks Saddle blog (Elvis Munis Takes the Long Road to Promote African Development). Inspired by what I read I connected with his page on Facebook and have been loosely following along.
Now I have to admit, I didn’t see anything in my stream for a long time so I sort of forgot about the trip. On Saturday morning however I noticed a picture on Facebook of Elvis standing near the Pacific. After further examination I realized that I had been in that exact spot near Carlsbad. I realized their was a good chance he would be passing through OC on Sunday on his way north so I quickly left a comment. After some back and forth I made plans to ride out and meet him the next day somewhere on PCH.
That night I was sharing the story with my friend Ron who happened to be riding south from Dana Point the next morning. While waiting on PCH Sunday morning I got a call from Ron letting me know that he had found Elvis riding with a guy named James, they were making their way through Camp Pendelton together. I agreed to ride down to Dana Point to meetup with the pack (on Single Speed MASI 
We met up and enjoyed a meal together in Dana Point. It was amazing listening to his stories about riding up through South America, about meeting cartel in Columbia and being warned about some of the dangers in Mexico. Also hearing about mechanical issues suffered in the middle of nowhere with no proper bike shop nearby.
I also enjoyed hearing more about his cause. His goal is to raise enough money to send 10 Tanzanians to college to learn about conservation. He went on to talk about the importance of conservation in Tanzania, how the country relies so heavily on safari tourism which I had never really thought much about. I believe in conservation sure but I never really put it together with prosperity the of a nation. Makes complete sense that if one of their biggest industries is tourism that they need to educate future generations on the importance of conservation.
After our brunch I got to lay down some miles with Elvis riding with he and James up to Seal Beach. It was great to see so many other cyclist ride up and chat with him about his trip. He was always ready to hand out a small card with the URL and very gracious.
At a gas station near Seal Beach we said our goodbyes. I ended up putting in 75 miles on the single speed in the heat but as Elvis said “this heat feels like vacation compared to riding from Yuma” which he had done just a few days prior.
His 2 year journey will cover 28,000 miles and 47 countries. WOW
You can read more about Elvis or contribute: Chiletokili.com.
The best part of the Olympics for me are the stories of diversity and hearing what people overcome to get to, in this case, the London games. Adrien Niyonshuti of Rwanda is a great example of an amazing but tragic story. He was just 7 years old when the Rwanda Genocide happened, he lost many of his family including six brothers.
I had the privilege of attending a private screening of “Rising From Ashes” in Ladera Ranch a few months back. This movie tells the story of how Adrien went from surviving the genocide to participating as a mountain bike rider in the 2012 London games.
Their is a great mountain bike event each year here in Orange County called 50 Mile Ride which raises money for Project Rwanda (some of which benefits the Rwanda Cycling team).
Below are some links if you want to read his full story. Amazing.
A Long, Amazing Ride to the Olympics – WSJ
FROM RWANDA TO LONDON, WITH A BICYCLE – The New Yorker
(Photo from Getty Images) I also posted this over at RoadBikeOC
Back from a wonderful trip to Boston for the Creative Freelancer Conference and HOW Design Live. As always the HOW conference is full of inspiration and great times with friends. I’ve got some follow up posts in the works but for now I wanted to publish my slide deck since a few people have been asking. Thanks for a great time Boston, I’m sure I’ll visit you again.
Inspirational work by David A Smith. His attention to detail and pride in personal work is amazing and so lost in our modern use of design technology. A client may never appreciate the thought we put into things as designers but that shouldn’t matter, do it for yourself and for the craft we share…even if nobody notices. Amazing clip, well worth the 15 minutes.
I recently helped a local bike shop launch a new blog and brand called RBOC or ROADBikeOC.
“Meeting at the intersection of cycling culture and Orange County, ROADBikeOC celebrates a special lifestyle, and supports the roadies who live it all year long.”
In addition to coming up with the brand name and designing the site I will also be writing some posts. Fun project, hopefully it will go far. 
Had the privilege of being interviewed by Bryn Mooth yesterday for this HOW Blog writeup. She did a great job of organizing my jumbled thoughts into a great read… (read more)
I’m looking forward to speaking at HOW Creative Freelance Conference again (third year in a row). My subject this year will be “Options for Growth”. I’ll talk candidly about my own struggles to grow and the different paths I’ve taken. I hope to present some examples of the different business models available to the solo-prenuer.
I’d like to invite you to join HOW magazine in Boston from June 21-22 for a creative uprising that’s not to be missed!
I’m pleased to have the opportunity to offer you a special “tell-a-friend” $50 discount on the CFC full-conference rate*. Just input CSPKR in the discount code box during the registration process, and HOW will deduct $50 from your total
registration. Combine that with the special March 30th Early Bird rate, and you’ll save $100!
For complete session descriptions, speaker info and everything else you need to know
about the Creative Freelancer Conference, including a quick and easy registration form,
visit CreativeFreelancerConference.com
* Discount cannot be combined with any other discount offers, including student and group rates. Cannot be used in conjunction with The BIG Ticket registration option.
