Marketing Your Creativity

In the commencement address given at Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs spoke about his life and all that he had learned.  This was shortly after surgery to remove a pancreatic cancer tumor.

You can see the speech here, but I wanted to talk to you about one point that really resonated for me.  He spoke of connecting the dots and how all of his experiences (good and bad) led him to where/who he was today.

Without dropping out of college; taking a calligraphy class; building the first Macintosh computer in his parent’s garage; getting fired from Apple – the company he had created; forming a new entity, which was eventually acquired by Apple; meeting his wife; and living every day as if it were his last – he would not have given us technologies that truly changed our lives.

My first computer in college was a Mac.  I even moved to LA with it and got my first TV production job because I “knew” so much about Macs when everyone else was still using DOS.  Ironically, the production company ended up getting PCs, so I learned DOS.

My first job in legal was because I “knew” Word 6, which was very similar to applications I’d been using on my Mac.  These are dots that connect my life back to a young man who had a vision and the drive to push forward, even in his darkest hour.

Like Steve Jobs, I often reflect on my dots and how if one of them had been different, I would not be where/who I am today.

I am going to start with a big dot; however, there were others before this and certainly many smaller ones – in between the big dots.  My BIG dot was the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.  It was actually a big dot for a lot of people in the Los Angeles area.  This event caused the dog friendly apartment in Burbank to be available 9 months later, when I needed it.  At this apartment building, I met my future husband.

While living in that apartment building, I was offered a full-time job as a technical trainer for a law firm.  I turned it down; however, a year later when I was living in my first house, the job was offered to me again.  Knowing that opportunity rarely knocks, let alone twice, I took the job which would give me the financial security for what happened next.

My husband of a year was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and passed away a year and 1 month later.  Towards the end of this courageous battle, we took a class called “Painting Your Way to Wellness” offered by a local cancer support center.  After he was gone, I found true solace in going to a painting workshop each Saturday.

The exploration of painting led me to taking a risk on a pottery class, which a few years later led me to form PotteryDaily.com.  It is only looking back at the dots and how they are connected, that I can see how the experiences have truly shaped who I am.

Thank you, Steve Jobs.  You will be remembered for many years to come for your innovation and understanding of how the dots of today shape our tomorrows.

So, what are your dots and how are they connected?

© 2011 Heather C. Morrow.  All rights reserved

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Heather C. Morrow, owner of Pottery Daily, helps emerging artists express their true value and get paid what they are worth.  Her products and services show you how to make more money, save more time while enjoying the freedom in your art.  For your FREE audio go to www.marketandsellyourart.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 4:03 am and is filed under Balance, Values. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.