The Secret Superpower of Not So Brilliant Little Asian Girls

photo by polis poliviou

Being cheap is not the same as being poor.

Today someone told me he had extremely wealthy friends who, whenever they would go out to dinner and split the bill, would order the most expensive items on a menu so they could feel like they really got a great meal on another person’s dime.  Well, how do you think they became rich in the first place?   A bank account can tell you if a person is poor.  A dinner can tell you if they are cheap.

Being a wine snob is not the same as knowing the wine steward.

Years ago a friend of mine memorized the rainfall history of several red wineries in France in an ambitious attempt to become accepted as a wine connoisseur, something only people with too much time on their hands often do.  He was quickly exposed as a poseur by the wine snob community and now spends his efforts befriending the wine steward.

A much easier way to get a good bottle of wine.

Being literate is not the same as being smart.

“It’s the craziest thing, but I just realized I can actually memorize hundreds of facts before tests.  And as soon as the test is over – Poof!  Gone!  My head is completely empty again!”

Mikki was so excited to discover this amazing skill as she was studying for her GRE and LSAT exams.

“You have inherited my superpower.”  I said solemnly.  ”Not being the brilliant little Asian girl that I was supposed to be,  I developed extraordinary skills in other areas.  The ability to stuff enormous amounts of data in my head for short periods of time is one of them.  Use it well.”

Mikki gasped.  ”Do you have other amazing skills?”

I smiled.  ”All will be revealed in good time.  You already possess the ruthless ability to hunt down extra credit opportunities.  That served you well in ratcheting up your GPA into the lofty realm of Dean’s List, didn’t it?”

Her eyes shone.  Her voice trembled as she spoke.  ”I am so proud to be half Asian.”

“Remember, the power of the Number Two pencil is in your hands.  And most of all, ”  I said, holding my head up high,  ” literacy is just knowing stuff.  But being smart is knowing what you need, to do what you need to do.”

Am I saying that education can be replaced by memory tricks?  No.

I am saying that there are many ways to be intelligent in life.  Yes, I was not a good student in the traditional sense. I had to reconstruct a set of skills that would get me through the world of academia.  I had to figure out what I needed to know to do what I needed to do. Creative gate jumping, or developing ways to be a Number Two pencil Ninja on these big tests are means to an end and are potentially more valuable in navigating life challenges.

Do I still use my superpower?

Absolutely.  Put me in a roomful of people and I will remember at least twenty people’s names, make a mental note of a chatty little fact about them, and know where I parked my car.

What is your superpower?

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Hoong Yee

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The Art Of Attracting The Customer Investor

I have been thinking about how to build business markets around art.  Around artful products.

Many artists work on pieces and struggle to find an audience or customers.  Their art embodies talent, skill, passion, and time devoted to creating the work.

This is what artists do.  This is why artists starve.

Why?

If finding a market for your work is part of your plan, it should not be the afterthought at the end of the creative process.  Rather, seeking out your market should be part of the early stages of making art.  Art is, after all, an expression of life or vice versa depending on your point of view.  And being creative in the marketing of your art is another outlet for expression.

I think the most successful people in any industry are the risk taking creatives, the ones who break away from the average perception and make their own.  My father was a civil engineer.  Glasses, faraway look in his eyes, lots of mechanical pencils in his shirt pocket.  He dreamed in code, spoke in equations and often left the house wearing two different shoes.  He was not comfortable with the nonengineering world and when he succeeded in patenting one of his inventions, a calculating triangle with multiple functions, he could not sell it.

If I were bold enough back then, and being a good little Asian girl who happened to be bad at math, I might have suggested something like, “Maybe you could show people how it can solve some of their math problems.”  I know I would have jumped at the chance to buy a boxful of them if it could help me pass high school math.  He didn’t understand the need to involve other people at any stage of this – design, ease of use, practical applications, need, etc.

This is why I love this Kickstarter project for the Capture Camera Clip System that I read about on Fred Wilson’s blog.  It neatly illustrates my theory of the customer investor.  Peter Dering, in his engaging three minute video, does the following:

1. engages your interest
2. describes the problem with carrying around a camera
3. tells you what he is doing about it
4. shows you the process
5. gives you a peek into future products
6. appeals to you to help him bring his dream product to reality for $50 and a chance to pre order one

Peter has given the world a chance to look over his shoulder and watch this product become a reality as an investor and to own one as a customer.  I feel like I am more than a credit card transaction.  I am part of a greater success unfolding before my eyes.

And I will never drop my camera again.

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

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Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Bridges And Castles: A Gift From My Brilliant Father

photo by rqerita

I spent this morning talking to my mom about my dad.

“Remember that car he drove when he was in Texas?  It used to get so hot that he tried to fry an egg on it,”  both of us laughing because that was so like him.   He would open cans of ravioli and vegetables and heat them on the stove for my sister and me when we were little.  Then we would stand by the stove and eat out of the cans.  No pots, no dishes to wash.

Very efficient.

Yes, he was an engineer.  Capable of figuring out amazingly complex things and yet, clueless in the everyday world we lived in.

Now, on Father’s Day, Seth and I were on a trolley crossing a bridge from San Diego to Coronado and the guide said,  “You’ll notice that the bridge has a few odd twists  to it.  That is because it had to be high enough for navy ships to pass under it but that made it too steep for trucks and buses so the bridge so they added a few extra turns and loops.”  I was fascinated.  Then I realized this was exactly how my father felt every time we crossed a bridge that had a unique structure or detail to it.  I remember him pulling the car off the road, not to admire the view, what a silly thought, but to examine the beams of a bridge.  He said there was great beauty in the solution the engineers came to in answering the simple yet difficult problem of how to cross from one side to another.  Form and function fused in a steely poem.  Of course, I thought he was nuts and what on earth could be so interesting about a bridge?

When I think sit down to play through my well worn book of piano sonatas, I feel the same thrill he did.  I often stop and scrutinize the beginning theme, the key changes, the codas and the variations  and come away in awe of how brilliantly Beethoven created his musical answer to the classical sonata form.

And this is something I do whenever I see a structure in life that is beautiful in form and function.  The bridge in San Diego, the well thought out presentation by Jean Bonilla about the potential of entrepreneurship in global economies at the Americans for the Arts Convention this past weekend in San Diego, an etude by Chopin.  I look for the structural thinking and the details that make it soar.   I think like my father, the engineer.

He would smile knowing that I love bridges and how that has helped me see the inner logic of an engineer’s mind as well as the inner castles of a composer’s inspiration.

What a gift.

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

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Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

The Art Of Converting A Cold Call Into A Sponsorship

photo by DALIAWMN

There is definitely something disturbingly herd like in this photo.

People, mostly women, on the phones all day.  Mostly connecting callers to the callees.  In a way, I think I do that too.  The difference is that once the connection is made, the job of these operators is done.  For me, the job has just begun.

My friend Andrea and I were running this morning on the beach and she told me that somehow, a cold call from a large financial investment company came through to her direct line.  Usually, her staff chews up and spits out these calls as they come in so the fact that this one made it through was quite remarkable.  The person calling was a young person, probably a summer intern, inviting Andrea to a networking cocktail party in the hopes of getting some business and referrals from her.

“OK, you are inviting me and how many other people to this party?”  I could see Andrea pinching the phone with her shoulder tapping at her calculator impatiently.  She has a meeting tonight with her committee that is setting up a series of breakfasts, workshops and other events for CPAs and was putting her stuff together.

“What?  Six people?  Let me ask you something.  This cocktail party is going to cost you, maybe, $100.  You are going to spend $100 to shmooze 6 people.  That’s about $15 bucks a person.  Now, do you think that is a cost effective way to build new business?”

“Uh, no.  Could you bring a friend or – “

“No.  This is what I am going to do.  I am going to speak to your supervisor and offer her the opportunity to sponsor my twelve breakfast seminars and get in front of 700 accountants who will agree to have you come to their office to make a presentation.  If she agrees to do this, I will make sure to introduce her from the podium and give you props.  You have five minutes to get her on the phone.”

Andrea is my running buddy and my CPA.  She is usually right about everything that has to do with those two things.  Especially when it comes down to making it a habit to run at 5:30 am and to making money.  This kid on the phone did what I did.  I listened to Andrea.

The company jumped at the chance to sponsor the twelve breakfast seminars.  ”It was simple.  What was I going to bring to contribute to tonight’s meeting?  I needed something worthwhile.  This company needed business.  Instead of spending a few dollars and getting me and five other people at a cocktail party, I am letting them spend a few more dollars and getting me and a ballroom filled with accountants and CPA’s.

Everybody wins.  And you know why?  Because I resisted the temptation to slam the phone down.  I took a deep breath and thought about it.”

I think Andrea is well on her way from being a hyper caffeinated A personality person to being more Buddhist like.

A Belle Harbor Buddha.  Which brings me to the following points about how you, too, can approach Neponsit Nirvana and still run with sand in your shoes:

Buddhist in Training

Do the opposite of what you want to do right now

Sometimes the best thing to do is the thing you can’t imagine doing.  For example, actually listening to a sales pitch from a total stranger.  Andrea’s sharp ears picked up the sound of opportunity and the rest is history.

Open your ears, your mind and shut your mouth

I always like to remind you that you can learn a lot about a person in a conversation where you do more listening than talking.  Information is power.

Act like a speck, not a spectacle

Be humble.  Everything you achieve is relative to the bigger universe.  I am sure Andrea’s committee will be thrilled when she talks about this.  But she will be on the beach with me again at 5:30 am tomorrow morning and running towards a new day.

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

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Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Does Conference Blogging Make Me Look Fat?

photo by Mike Licht

I am flying to San Diego on Thursday to attend the Americans for the Arts Convention.  I am going to be one of the convention bloggers and a panelist for a session about building community, the arts and social justice.

What I hope to do is produce a few posts that capture the personality of the speakers, some key points, insights and take aways from the audience and – sketches of people I like.

People love when I draw them.  I do my best to capture their personality in a few quick strokes and their clothing in colors, thanks to Sktechbook Pro, the drawing app I use on my iPad.  Here are a few from the last NTen Conference this past March.

I try not to make anyone look horrible.  I know how upset I would be if someone drew me funny looking so I make every effort to bring out a person’s best side.  For someone who took art lessons as a kid using paint, charcoal, pen and ink on paper, I feel somewhat like a traitor using a stylus and a screen.

Here’s what I carry in my artist case:

1. my iPad
2. my stylus
3. my Canon G10 digital camera
4. my Android Charge phone
5. chargers for all of the above

It doesn’t sound terribly romantic or artsy.  And I have to confess, I really don’t like shlepping all of that stuff around.  It’s heavy and feels kind of impersonal in my hands.  But I love love love how the sketches come out and how immediately I can share them with the world.

And isn’t that what you want to do when you create a piece of art?

Stay tuned.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?