by Marty Coleman | Jan 23, 2014 | Launching a Business - 2014 |
Launch
Tonight I am being interviewed for a spot in the Tulsa Community College Launch program. It’s a 16 week entrepreneurial boot camp of sorts. With the help of over 32 community mentors and once a week hands on sessions the participants are led through the steps in making a sustainable small business.
Everything
I have produced The Napkin Dad Daily for several years now, and started calling my company ‘Napkin Dad Publishing’ in 2013. I have a catalog of thousands of napkins on hundreds of topics. The blog is seen around the world, by hundreds, sometimes thousands, every day. How many see it via links and forwards, I don’t know, but it seems substantial. That number increases dramatically with my presence on a wide array of social media sites, including Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, About.me, Meetup, Skype, and more. I have merchandise on Zazzle.com that sells with some regularity. I do sponsored blog posts on a variety of topics, from travel to fashion. I do speaking engagements about a variety of topics that sometimes pay, sometimes don’t. I get better than average publicity about my napkins in the local media. I sell the actual napkins once in a while. I even had a 2 page spread about me in a coffee table book about napkins, in Norway. I have a lot going for me it seems, and I am grateful and glad about all of it.
Everything But
What I haven’t done with all that YET is take the next step to it being a sustainable, money-making business. But I intend to and this is a possible step in that direction, if I get accepted. Wish me luck. If I do get in I will document the journey here, sharing what I am going through, learning, etc. Either way, you will start to see some some changes here at The Napkin Dad Daily. The content might change a bit, but not too much. It might be formatted and presented in a better, easier to navigate and read style. But the site itself, how it is designed and the technology behind it, that I think will change to a greater degree. The merchandise will change dramatically, that I know for sure. I am excited about that!
Rockets Away!
I look forward to the process of building a business and I look forward to the help you, the Napkin Kin, will hopefully give me. Thanks for your support so far, and here’s to the future!
Enthusiastically,
Marty
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Dreaming It – Launching a Business #1
Trouble Maker – Launching a Business #2
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 22, 2014 | Marty Coleman, The Napkin's Guide to Happy Living |
I judge today to be a great day for you to enjoy Happy Living #6!
The Ballerina in Your Living Room
Back in the 1990’s I taught Art Appreciation at a Community College in California. I once took my students on a field trip to San Francisco to do some gallery hopping. While in one gallery I noticed a student contemplating a certain Abstract Expressionist painting. I asked her what she was thinking and she said, “I wouldn’t put it in my house.” That statement got me thinking so I gathered up the class and asked how many others had thought that same thing. More than half raised their hands. I then said, “Well guess what? It is unlikely that that painting, or any of the other paintings here, will ever BE in your house. They all have price tags of $100,000.00 to $500,000.00.”
I continued, “Would you go to a Ballet and say, ‘Well, I wouldn’t have that Ballerina in my living room.’? Of course not. You KNOW she is not going to be in your living room. You don’t need to judge her as if she is. Actually, you don’t need to judge her at all. And you don’t need to judge the art in this room. You might enjoy the work more if you judge it less. Now let’s evaluate these paintings again, without the idea of possession and judgment in the way of our enjoyment”. We then walked around talking about the work without judging it good or bad or worthy of being over our couch. We were all much happier without the judgment.
Obsessed with Judging
I believe America is obsessed with judging and I think it’s debilitating to creativity, compassion and happiness. I don’t mean there is not a time to judge. I like talent shows and I don’t mind the judging that has to go on there. We also need to judge behaviors to keep ourselves safe. The law is all about judging, and I am a fan of the law in general. But think about how almost every aspect of American (and probably many other countries’ social life) is filled with non-stop judging.
The Non-Judgmental Tattoo
Let’s take one example, tattoos. I happen to like tattoos, yet I have none of my own. Neither does my wife. I am pretty sure none of my 4 daughters do either, but if they do, they aren’t apparent. But I like tattoos nonetheless. Why? Because they are interesting. And they aren’t mine. They are simply something I witness go by. Part of what I call the passing parade. I can witness, admire, observe, evaluate, investigate, explore, question, wonder, imagine, and otherwise enjoy a tattoo that passes in front of me. But I will unlikely do any of those things if I judge it first. Judging cuts off those things, cuts off happiness. Judgment says good or bad and done. Case is closed.
But why does the case have to be closed? What is so important that I have to render a judgment of a woman’s snake tattoo as she walks by. Why can’t I just enjoy it, experience it? What will happen if I just look at it, explore it, contemplate it’s color, texture, shape, and meaning. Why not ask her about her tattoo? Why not just let it pass without judging it? We will be happier, I know that much.
What other examples can you think of where we tend to judge quickly when there isn’t any real need to judge at all?
Don’t Judge
Here are some tattoos I have found and photographed over the years. It always makes me happy when I find one. See if you can simply explore them without judgment.
It’s not that easy, is it? But it is worth it to escape the debilitating, uncreative, unhappy prison of judgment.
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Love – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #1
Courage – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #2
Home – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #3
Education – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #4
Transformation – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #5
Judging – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #6
Expression – The Napkin’s Guide to Happy Living #7
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Drawing, photographs and commentary by Marty Coleman, who might get one someday, who knows.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 21, 2014 | Charles de Montesquieu |
God is Us
Have you ever noticed that those who believe in God tend to believe in a God much like themselves? Those who are judgmental, tend to believe in a God that is about judgment. Those who are meek tend to discover that God is meek as well. Those who are powerful, their god is also powerful. Those who are artists tend to believe in a creative God. Of course we mix and match attributes, I might be creative and judgmental, another might be meek and creative, and the God we discover is a mashup of attributes.
God is the Missing Us
And then again, some believe God is what they are not. A friend of mine from years ago felt unworthy of love and acceptance. Her God was forgiving, loving, and accepting. Another friend was severely disorganized in life. His God was all about order amidst the chaos. Their God was what they were not but what they needed.
What if God Was One of Us?
In the end, I believe this is what we will find. And that is good with me.
Joan Osborne – One of Us – 1995
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote is anonymous. The quote was mentioned in a 1721 letter by French diplomat Charles de Montesquieu as a saying he had recently heard that he greatly admired.
It was most likely an adaption of a 1674 observation by Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza, “If a triangle could speak, it would say that God is eminently triangular, while a circle would say that the divine nature is eminently circular.”
The idea didn’t start there though. The 6th century B.C. Greek Philosopher Xenophanes said this, “If oxen and horses had hands, and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men, horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses and oxen would draw them to look like oxen.”
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 20, 2014 | Martin Luther King Day, Marty Coleman |
He had a dream that we would someday allow everyone to have their own dream. Silly or profound, understood or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is being free to dream it.
The Dream of a Different Martin
A dream of a brightly colored self and a matching kite smiling in the wind, yes.
A dream of floating above a canyon, far above the dangerous water, yes.
A dream of radio and rock and roll, yes.
A dream of green across the sky, yes.
A dream of a serenading snake, yes.
A dream of a cat as important as the sun, yes.
A dream of a sailboat waiting for you to make it move, yes.
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Drawing and poem by Martin Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 16, 2014 | Travel Napkins |
Emergency Trip
I’ve been out of touch the past week due to a family emergency in California. I took photos, mostly family oriented pics, but only was able to find time to do one drawing while I was there and that was in the airline terminal as I was leaving. I drew it on a Starbucks napkin.
Mrs. Bowen
She sat across from me in the waiting area. We were both almost 2 hours early. We had seen each other in the check in line and said hello again as I sat down. She was headed back to Salt Lake City after visiting her husband who was in the Bay Area on work. She was an oil painter and showed me her paintings on her iPhone. I showed her my sketchbook and photos/drawings in my iPhone as well. I asked if I could draw her and she was kind enough to allow it. She had expressive eyes and lines.
I finished the line drawing portion and as I was starting to use my colored markers a large contingent of Mormon missionaries going home to Utah after 2 years of mission work sat down near us. She went over to talk to some of them. I showed the drawing to her when she got back, took her picture with it and she took pictures as well and we all got on the plane.
Mrs. Bowen
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Small Hands
I ended up sitting next to one of the missionaries. He had the smallest hands of any adult man I have ever met. We talked Jesus and religion. It was interesting. He gave me a Book of Mormon. I didn’t draw him but I wanted to, just didn’t find the right opportunity.
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Drawing and photo by Marty Coleman
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