Guest Post: Betsy Crouch Part 2

by Nick Exposed · March 16, 2012 · 4 comments

Creativity + Money = ??

I was walking down the street the other night pondering the relationship between creativity and money. I walked past an art gallery and looking at the art displayed in the windows, and “poof!” there it was, a large green painting with big white dollar sign in the middle. Huh, there it is, creativity and money.

What do we all want? Inner contentedness, a sense of well-being, connection, and love. Ultimately, we all want to thrive.

When you think of creativity and money, what comes to mind?

I think of disconnection.

I think of “starving artists.”

I think of the power we have to create abundance. Continue reading →

Guest Post : Kris Mathis Part 2

by Nick Exposed · March 12, 2012 · 7 comments

Im excited to say our two previous Guest Bloggers have offered up some follow up posts this week for our audience here at Nick Exposed.

Today’s article was released in Kris Mathis’ newsletter earlier this morning. He was kind enough to offer it up as a guest post, in hopes of adding some extra value to start your week off. If you’ve been following the blog, you probably remember Kris’s first appearance with his article Young Boy Baffles Reporters, on the topic of overcoming limiting beliefs. If you enjoyed that article then your going to love this post about one of our most valuable resources.

The Present

Imagine if you had a bank that credited your account each morning with a large sum of money. But, it carried over no balance from day to day. Every evening it deleted whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out all of it, of course!

Each of us has such a bank. Its name is – Time. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Continue reading →

Creative Innocence

by Nick Exposed · March 9, 2012 · 32 comments

A couple of weeks ago I was having a conversation with a close friend when the topic of personal creative expression came up. My friend, like many others, had found them self in a bit of a creative rut. A paralyzed state that most creatives, if not all, come across time and time again. I myself have found this to be a repeated pattern throughout my life. I would consider my self to have been a creative from birth in a wide variety of expressive forms. The moment I was allowed to have crayons in hand I was creating personal masterpieces on any “canvas” I could find, many surfaces of which were not to my parents liking. This continued in various forms until around the age of 12 or 13, when I made a mental shift.

It was at this age I started sharing my artwork with class mates and friends. I suddenly had a new status of popularity, with requests coming in for a drawing of this or a sketch that. At first I loved the attention my art was getting, as I had only ever received praise from my parents for my creative endeavors. My amusement quickly perished as requests continued to come in, feeling as if I now had a duty to impress and please my new fan base. It was at this point I became paralyzed within my own craft… I lost my passion and wasn’t finding it anytime soon. In fact it wasn’t for another 3+ years that I picked up sketching and designing again, in which the process seemed to start all over again. Continue reading →

Im back!!

by Nick Exposed · March 5, 2012 · 27 comments

I apologize for my absence over the last few days. I had been battling a monster of a flu and spent a majority of the weekend in bed. Thanks to all those who sent emails wishing me a speedy recovery!!! I am excited to say I am back to health and have never been more excited about the upcoming adventures I have in store for the blog. To give you a brief update of what I will be working on already this week for you guys Ill let you in on a few emails I sent out today and have many more like them going out later this week as well.

In an attempt to reignite the Guest post section of the blog I’ve been reaching out to some big names of behind the scenes individuals in the photography/creative communities! Im reaching out to managers, coordinators and friends of some extremely inspiring creatives in hopes of having them share their creativity and inspiration with the coolest audience around (Thats you!!!! Now i cant guarantee yes’s from each creative I reach out to, however I can tell you I’ve already received some exciting responses and will continue to reach out until I can get a steady flow of inspiration and knowledge moving through the blog to add some extra value to your personal creative endeavors.

On top of that I have an overwhelming stack of books I will be reading and reviewing for you guys as well as continuing my regular photographic inspiration series introducing or reminding you of some of the industries most creative minds!!

The year is still young yet we have a ton of excitement planned going into the next few months!! Im excited to have you all aboard and as always am open to your requests and suggestions of what you would like to see from Nick Exposed! Together we can make this a leading source of inspiration for the photog and creative community

Live Life :: Love Life
~Nick Mayo

Guest Post: Betsy Crouch

by Nick Exposed · February 15, 2012 · 16 comments

Have you ever thought of your “unique set of gifts, talents, and perspective,” as “creativity?”

You are creativity. You are a magical and unique expression.

Creative expression is “life blood,” and fuels all areas of our lives. However, our deep cultural belief in practicality squeezes creative expression out of our lives.

Creating space in your life to express your unique set of gifts, talents, and perspective, could be the most practical choice you ever make.

Creatively expressing myself has lead to a deep sense of well-being which has positively effected every aspect of my life.

Growing up I loved music, drawing, dancing and singing. As a child I never pursued any of these things much beyond required classes and some years of private cello lessons. I also loved sports, and I spent many hours playing and practicing, plus I was “good at sports.” When I went to college, I really wanted to take art classes and I never registered for a class because it wasn’t “practical.” I took an adult education drawing class two years out of college and since then I have taken classes on or created space for: stand up comedy, improv, improvisational singing, drawing, portraits/self-portraits, photography, and writing.

Continue reading →

Tomorrows Guest Blogger!

by Nick Exposed · February 14, 2012 · 4 comments

First of all Happy Valentines Day to you all!! I hope your spending some wonderfully meaningful time with your loved ones!!

Now onto business because I am very excited to share tomorrows Guest Blogger with you!

Betsy Crouch is a perfect example of balance between professional work life and personal creative expression, and often find ways to blend to two together creating extraordinary results! Betsy is the CEO and Founder of Sizzle Consulting where she is passionate at helping people find what makes them come to life. I have had the amazing privilege of having coaching calls with Betsy over the last couple months, and I must say I look forward to the call each week. They not only push me personally and professionally but also creatively, and finding a intertwined balance between each area in order to perform at my best. I find that Betsy and I share some common beliefs on the power of bringing personal creativity into your life, which happens to be the subject of her post tomorrow.

Betsy has enjoyed a life of much success with various different career achievements, including top producing management positions and a Vice Presidency with an extraordinary Financial Consulting firm, and now with founding Sizzle Consulting. Betsy is an entrepreneur, coach, artist, speaker, writer, improv actor, and a storyteller. She has conducted over 4,000 coaching sessions helping individuals and organizations to thrive. To say she is qualified to share thoughts on the power of creative thinking would be an understatement!

Be on the lookout for the post tomorrow, and come ready to be inspired as Betsy shares thoughts on the meaning of creativity and how to openly express it in order to thrive.

You can check out more on Betsy at her various sites.