Coming out of retirement!

This rollercoaster ride called g3 Studios is now on the way up again! Sort of. On one hand my phone has been ringing which has allowed me to quit an insanely crappy job I was forced to take to make ends meet during a particularly slow time. On the other hand I line up a few jobs which seem great, and one of them turns out to be a complete nutjob that I have to contest the second half of my payment with. Just in time for Christmas! What a complete loser!

Anyway, enough negativity about someone who doesn't deserve the energy! My other clients are dream clients and the job is worth over 5 times what the hassle job was. Good thing it wasn't the other way around! They were actually previous clients whose house had sadly burned down and they are now rebuilding and asked me to participate. They have a lot of imagination and their stuff always turns out amazing so I will post pics as I go!

I'm trying to find the joy in the day to day activities because I know that a phone can stop ringing at any moment, but I am frustrated that the whole world seems to think they should be able to take advantage of people because the economy is bad. I'm having a hard time believing that's what the Holiday Season is all about!

Anyway, I'm also using this time to meet with new distributors and get reaquinted with new products because many companies went out of business in the last few months. I'm going to start posting some thoughts and results from my R&D sessions just to add a different dimension to the blog! First up, Proceed's line of Full Bodied Glaze. I just recieved a few gallons and can't wait to try it out!

Thank you for the support!

Thinking some more about the plight of my unfortunate clients, the economy, the industry itself, and many other factors it dawned on me that I too often worry about the negative and injustices of the world.

I truly do know how lucky I am most days and that all things considered I lead a pretty charmed life. So, in that way I am grateful, but I don't acknowledge the people around me that contribute to that. In other words I don't say thank you enough to the people that matter and that support me, even when I'm down and don't know they are.

This often comes from unexpected places. Sometimes it's from acquaintances I hardly know, sometimes from past clients I run into, the forums I view and the people out in the world who offer kind words and encouragement even though we haven't even met. The most obvious are the people who have commented on this blog.

Thank you sincerely, I don't think you realize how big something so seemingly small can be to someone when spoken at key moments in their lives. I have to try and be more positive to others around me, because you never know when they really need it the most!

Putting things into Perspective!

What started out as needing a break turned into needing some perspective. My entire life had become overwhelmed, inundated and overtaken by my business. The problem was that on many levels it was actually getting too big and I felt the pressure to let it keep growing which was turning into ridiculous time lines, bid wars, over bloated projects, and ego driven decision making.

I took a deep breath and a short hiatus and really examined what it was I enjoyed about this business and which aspects were important to me. Once I answered these questions truthfully things started to sort themselves out.

On top of all of this, I recently saw a news story in which a very good client of mine suddenly lost their home to a fire! The house was valued at 1.6 Million dollars and declared a total loss! The fire was beyond control within 15 minutes! 15 minutes. A blink of the eye. It takes me longer to update this blog.

Despite the value of the house and all of the belongings, I know that the most important thing in the world to them besides the safety of the family is their two dogs, which got out safely. So in their mind they didn't really lose much in the grand scheme.

How many people really hold those kind of true values and would so easily see how lucky they really were in the face of such tragedy and heartbreak?

It's clients like that, people like that who really inspire me to see how lucky I am everyday.