Floyd Norman: Walt Disney’s First African American Animator
Aptitudes, Skill And Knowledge Floyd Norman admits he was very fortunate to have grown up in the community of Santa Barbara, California in the era before the second World War where he had access to all the cultural amenities that allowed him to learn and hone his craft as an artist. If you saw Mr. […]
Choosing an Unlikely Niche
Talk Show Insights Lawrence Brownlee Despite naysayers, the 5’6” African-American tenor discusses his choice of music and his classical niche instead of a career in law despite not being the typical opera singer. Brownlee Tavis Smiley November 2013 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/lawrence-brownlee/ NPR April 2007 Lawrence Brownlee: A Rising Star Arrives at the Met http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9722214 Martha Plimton Award-winning […]
Niche Advice From Cartoonist Scott Adams
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big Dilbert Creator Scott Adams’ new book details how he failed at many occupations and ventures and offers his point of view on how to find your niche. PBS Tavis Smiley Interview http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/scott-adams/ Book Summary Penguin Group.com http://tinyurl.com/lmn3neq
Aptitude Lesson
Bob Newhart & Comedic Talent One of the takeaway lessons from the recent PBS Tavis Smiley interview is that even the field of comedy has different aptitude requirements During the Tavis Smiley appearance, you will discover Bob Newhart, veteran comedian and author of an iconic a record-breaking comedy album has a talent well-known joke tellers […]
Assessing Risk of Self-Employment Versus Traditional Employment
Nassim Nicholas Taleb Former financial trader, best-selling author and professor of risk engineering at NYU’s Polytechnic Institute, Nassim Taleb uses the story of two brothers, one a self-employed taxi cab driver and the other a corporate employee to illustrate how a seemingly secure lifestyle can be deceptive and how to reduce the risk. PBS, (December 3, […]
The Restaurant Industry
Famous Chef’s Memoir & Receipe for Success Taking an entrepreneurial career path in some industries may mean having to face elements of serious social and cultural issues as the two articles below illustrate. NHPublicTV: Tavis Smiley | Chef Marcus Samuelsson The award-winning chef serves up a tell-all of his life: struggling with cultural identity, paving the […]
Music Industry
Artistic & Entrepreneurial Pursuits Television chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse, an accomplished musician, turned down a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in order to pursue his first love: cooking. However, he kept his love of melody alive, integrating it into his TV cooking shows by adding musicians on each program. John McVeigh […]
3 Unique Niche Books: High-Wire Artist, Musician, Graphic Novelist
Why Knot: High-Wire Artist Writes Book… Not about balancing at great heights, high-wire artist Philippe Petit demonstrates examples of creative knot tying featured in his nifty book entitled Why Knot?: How to Tie More than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots! during Charlie Rose interview PBS 5/2013 http://www.charlierose.com/watch/60216377 2. Ringo Starr’s innovative method of authorship is […]
Dee Adams’ Online Class: Biz and Aptitude Quiz
Common Inspiration The three inventions listed have one major thing in common. Can you figure out what it is? Chicken & Waffles Levi Strauss Blue Jeans The Point Reyes Blue Cheese Company Dyslexia & Ability True or false? People with the disability dyslexia gravitate to the performing arts industry and tend to avoid business start-ups. […]
How a New Orleans Baker Became a Film Star
Making Beasts of the Southern Wild There are several cases in which indie films achieved success using bootstrap methods, but Beasts of the Southern Wild has an interesting entrepreneurial slant in that one of the actors in the film was running a cafe in New Orleans before his acting debut. 2012 Benh Zeitlin: “Beasts of the Southern […]