I have so much to share, I feel as though this weeks MM needs to be in installments. As you all know, I was in Las Vegas last week attending the Licensing Expo, and boy, did I learn a lot!
I was there with a booth representing my RiverLights Originals artwork. I wanted to know, is it something that the mass markets would buy. I got my answer and as is the way it usually goes, I didn't expect it to be yes and no. Let me explain, first of all, what is licensing? Licensing is the process by which an artist or entity allows another to use their work for a fee, usually a royalty all the while maintaining ownership and all rights to the work. It's a great way to expand a brand, by collaborating with a bigger or more successful business. I'm sure you've all seen my artwork, but if you need a refresher, here's a link to the website I created before the show:
I was given lots of positive feedback by a number of manufacturers, but the big news was that apparently I have been creating the perfect artwork for puzzles! When was the last time you did a jigsaw puzzle? I have to say, that was never on my radar. With that being said, I was approached by the countries (maybe worlds) largest puzzle manufacturer and they want to talk about using RiverLights images for a new line of inspirational puzzles. Who knew?! I was also asked to create a RiverLights gallery on Pixels.com, in addition to a few other websites that specialize in things like water bottles and home decor to name just a few. For a little immediate gratification, I was offered $500 per image for two images that interestingly are not my top images. Let's just say I'm glad I had my square when she pulled out her credit card. That one interaction alone was not only extremely validating, it paid for more than half of my cost to attend the show. Of course, I met so many other people as well. The people who had booths around mine were a wealth of information, I met a number of manufacturers from China and having had that face-to-face time was invaluable. I came home fired up to sell my work, to be able to create something once and sell it over and over. I am still a Realtor and I'm still Mason's momager and I love both of those jobs immensely, but being able to make money with my creativity and inspire others, well, that's just priceless.
Speaking of Mason...ugh! As many of you know, Mason has been auditioning quite a bit lately and a number of those auditions have been a 3rd, 4th, and 5th step in the process to being cast. He's been told that he is in the top few kids being considered and we all were feeling very positive that this was going to happen. Well, as kids do, or should I say, "don't" listen to their parents, Mason outright disobeyed me and rode his skateboard at the El Dorado County Fair (broke their rules, too as the park was closed, but not locked) and severely twisted his ankle. This set in motion a chain of events that has been bad, bad, bad! Not only is a sprained ankle bad, but this was the Friday before we were to leave for Las Vegas and he was then headed on a flight by himself to spend time with family in AZ. All the while, we are waiting on the call from the casting people to find out if he's been selected to compete and now I'm wondering if he will even be able to compete.
We saw the doctor the night he hurt himself and x-rays showed it was not broken. They soft casted his ankle, gave his some crutches and off to Vegas we went. Mason has not been able to walk at all. He's been on crutches and in a wheel chair and we have not shared this on social media as we did not want the casting people to see it and not select him because of his injury. We are seeing an orthopedist this coming Friday and we were going to determine if we needed to let them know or not. The night he injured himself he also put his iPhone in his pants pocket and the one time I did not check them, it went through the washer. So he is experiencing the effects of bad Karma and poor choices over and over again.
Last Thursday night the call came that he was not selected for the show. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but this is a darn near copy-cat disappointment to his being selected as the alternate for Rachel VS Guy Kids Cook Off on Food Network. This show is also a FN show...he was in the top 10, the chose 8. As this has all played out, I am understanding a few things and seeing some bright sides. Mason loves to cook, but more than that, he loves to perform and entertain. The cooking has certainly been a vehicle to opening doors for him, but I'm wondering if the message here is to look for other opportunities for Mason that are not so heavily rooted in cooking. For me it was good that he was not selected, as I am busy with work and my clients don't like not having me physically available for 10-14 days at a time. Additionally, all of the excitement with RiverLights would have fallen by the wayside if we had to leave for LA on July 5th. Yeah, I was disappointed as was Mason, but I can't stay bummed for long and I really do believe that there are signs and guiding forces trying to help lead us to our best lives. I'm sure there is lots more to this story as life goes on, and in the meantime, Mason can heal and hopefully realize that when mom tells him not to take the chance of hurting himself, she is not full of #$%&.
Intentional Winning: Victory by design. Creating the journey and the outcome for every aspect of your life by participating in the process.
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