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Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. – Og Mandino
Sometimes I feel like I am always panting seeds and never harvesting them. I am an entrepreneur and it seems that all my little projects and endeavors always tend to take more time and pay much less than I anticipated.
I started out with my invention of a small pocket flute called the Wowflute. It is based on the Native American Flute (pentatonic scale), but weighs in at only 1/2 ounce. This makes it the perfect portable instrument – it’s smaller than a harmonica and has enough range to play lots of songs. Sounds like a great idea right? Well, it is. I have made and sold over 40,000 of my handmade Wowflutes; but I feel I am the bottleneck. Maybe I sell them too cheaply at only $10, or maybe I just haven’t figured out how to replace myself in the process. It just seems like they take more effort to make than what I am compensated for them.
I started a UFO Fest with my brother Nathan Cowlishaw. This is a huge undertaking. We started a non-profit called Anomaly Conservatory to basically be the organization behind the festival and this was also a huge task. Right now we are working on the second annual Festival to be held June 17, 2017 in Cedar City, UT. The problem with a festival (especially an open to the public festival) is figuring out how to monetize it in such a way to benefit everyone and make it possible to keep doing what we are doing.
Last year I also started a mining company Earthtone Trading with my brother and some friends of mine. This is probably my most lucrative endeavor but we are just in the process of planting seeds. It will bear fruit in the future for us and all involved, especially artists / scultpors that have an amazing talent to work it into masterpieces.
Then there is this Toy Photography hobby of mine. Some folks think I am wasting my time when I take pictures of toys. Some folks think I am wasting all my time taking and posting the pictures, but the truth in the matter is my Toy Photography is only a small part of what I do. I do not usually take very much time in creating and capturing my toy shots. it is within my everyday activities. I just take the time and bring along my equipment and toys so Ican take a shot with a bit of downtime.
I took this shot of the scarecrow last fall near my home. We have a meadow that has an old sheep corral in it which is the site for family photography. There seems to always be someone out there getting family portraits in any kind of weather. It is a beautiful spot, as you can tell from this shot.
All of these different projects and businesses I am working on just do not seem to bring in what I need to provide for my seven body family. I know it will in the future and I know that harvest time is coming soon – but sometimes it is difficult to see the growth occurring before the sprout comes up.