My Dad's Bedtime Stories

       I have found some great insight from a few great, strange people. I call them strange because they have ways that are weird to most of the world, and yet they are great to me because they have accomplished something I am so hungry for: making a living from their passions.

      One of those is Cliff Ravenscraft; check him out at http://gspn.tv/ This guy and his wife are wonderful people. They are actually amazing, inspirational and slightly weird, all at the same time! No, really... He truly stepped out into his passion, a leap of faith kind of thing, and mostly crashed - at least at first. He's worked hard, made life long friends, learned things and has barred his soul with the world in unbridled honesty that makes you want to know him. 
Here's the quick version: he hated his work selling life insurance but had it made financially, begin to love podcasting and starting doing that with his wife mainly around the Lost TV show. 
Now he has a whole community of people he knows individually, that throw money at him to do what he does best in the world!

Here's Cliff without his mustache. There are no known actual pictures of him that can be found in the world. I have come to believe that he really looks like this!

     Another great person I've recently connected with is Ellen Violette. She's the e - book coach - http://www.theebookcoach.com/
This lady has became a person that found great success, sort of, in the music world, only to find out that it matter more who you know that what you can do (at least in her experience).  She actually got a Grammy nomination, but was disillusioned with the process and the cost in the music writing business.
She wrote an e - book about how to move efficently -  www.movingtips4u.com and wanted to find an e - book coach to help her but couldn't find the information she needed.
I will have her help with a future e - book that I am currently writing, but it would be cool for her to also write a song with my music!

She is willing to take your money - go to website and sign up for her emails - however she does offer a lot of free things. She's probably being nice to pull you in so you'll buy something! That would be a good idea, even if she isn't doing that on purpose...

     So these are a couple of the strange and extraordinary people that I've come in contact with. I've got a few more I'll spill on you next blog around. There's just something wonderful about touching those kind of people that are doing it! It is amazing that they turn out to be wonderfully kind and truly helpful.

Blessings,
Scott

It's the only splatter picture I could find that seemed appropriate...strangely so.

    I've been working very hard lately, on finding out who I am. That sounds strange, in a  sense, but I'm finding my way through Deb Ingino's class on You and Your Wiring. This is part of the Free Agent Academy that I'm a part of. Visit them if you have a passion to be successfully self-employed. http://www.freeagentacademy.net

This is one of those classes that ask you to think about what activities make you feel a great sense of satisfaction and why. It's very strange, in that I feel like I'm an explorer on the planet Scott trying to figure what makes me tick.

I suppose that's why I've entitled this, "Why is My Story the Hardest One to Tell?". It is much easier making up a story about something else or even talking about the story of someone's live, not your own. It can be difficult to see inside your own head and find out what your real story is.

You know how great detectives can put together a few random clues and determine who the killer is? My absolute favorites are Monk and Psych, but years ago I greatly enjoyed Columbo with Peter Falk.

According to the actual detectives, real life isn't like that. You don't have 4 or 5 clues that need to be strung together in order to be the mastermind, there are 100's of clues. Most of these have nothing at all to do with their current murder/crime dilemma.

Such is figuring out ourselves; there's so much minutiae in life that it is hard to find which pieces even belong in the right puzzle. Yes, I did have to look up that word, and no, it still doesn't look right.

Still, I am beginning to see patterns in my life and I'm going to work it all out. Maybe I'll be creating a new chapter to my story. Let's see what happens.

Scott

        Why does it matter if a story can make you money? Should money be connected to the story at all? Shouldn't we all just do our thing and not worry about or be concerned with the money part?

I would like to live in a world like that, or at least I think I would. A place where money just took care of itself and there wasn't a need to make the connection between what we do and how or if we get paid.

I have a bedtime story called "Mama's Still Here" where the main characters attempt to create a story to make money. In so doing, they are changed themselves and the story they create becomes much bigger then the intended result; just a few bucks.

Do you wonder why we love to watch reality shows? They have been the salvation of TV in general, even you don't appreciate them.
I think it started with "Survivor", but now there are so many shows like: "Project Runway", "Top Chef", "So You Think You Can Dance", "American Idol", "Cake Boss", "Dancing With The Stars", "Biggest Loser", and I could go on and on.

What is the pull, the attraction, the obviously great desire by most of the masses to follow these shows? It seems that we want a rags to riches story, to see some ordinary person like us succeed, to make it big! Or maybe to say we voted for them.

I'm simply saying that the story can make money, as long as making money isn't the reason for the story.
I remember (when I used to watch American Idol with my wife) seeing Simon Cowell dismiss a talented singer from the tryouts. The guy was a pretty good singer, in my estimation, but he had a cocky attitude.
Simon started to talk to him about what he would do if he won the competition and he begin to talk about the money and all the stuff that he would get. I think that was the reason he was dismissed, even though his other qualities appeared to be good enough.

I am determined to be the guy who lives his dreams! I will make my living, one way or another, from My Dad's Bedtime Stories. I'm not completely sure how, yet!
But I do realize that it can't be about that as a primary motivation.
Earl Nightingale said that you are not successful because you earn money, rather you are successful first and the money follows.

If my stories bring enough smiles and peaceful dreams to children everywhere, then I'm convinced that the money will work itself out and follow me.
Hey! Why don't we create our own reality show? I'll be the rags to riches story and you can vote for me!

Scott Harpole
My Dad's Bedtime Stories

      This morning I was blessed to notice that our van tire was getting flat. I say blessed because I am so thankful that I didn't have to change the tire in the snow! After I filled the tire up with air, I took the vehicle to Rural King, since they have the best tire center in the area.

I wondered around the tire and battery area for the better part of half an hour, and spent some time on the only place to sit in the entire store. There's a gliding, park bench with a broken slat that seems strangely appropriate for the store. I wonder how many people have sat in that seat and either worried about the impending news regarding their tires or possibly how much the park bench hurt their rear end.

That must be the most unimaginative place in the entire city. The shelves are stocked with the hard reality of tire repair kits, batteries, something called Purple Power and of course dozens of tires.

But as I wandered about, I begin to think of a story called "Tire Girl". You'll have to check back in to my site (mydadsbedtimestories.com) to listen, since I haven't completed it yet.

Does it seem odd that on that cold, hard, concrete floor, surrounded by all of the dull reality, (I mean the pain of buying, repairing, or replacing boring tires) that there is a story somewhere in the middle of the that?

I doubt that any of the tire repair guys or girl (yes, there is a tire girl in that store), came into work at 7 am this morning with excitement or looking for the story that would brighten their day. But somewhere, sometime soon there will be children listening to me tell a story about a tire girl. And hopefully it will make them smile, and give them a peaceful end to their day as they drift off to sleep.

Scott

         If you are a fan of older movies, you may remember how some of those showed the bad guys as planning to steal thousands of dollars. The "Italian Job" was produced in 1969 and in this movie Charlie plans to steal $4 million dollars. When this movie was remade in 2003, the plot grew to  a plan to steal $35 million dollars.

I guess a million dollars isn't that much money anymore; Okay it's still a lot to me. But it is amazing how the necessary amount keeps growing in order to make the story seem reasonable.

Wouldn't it be funny to see a movie where the main character fights for only $200,000? But that's what Clint Eastwood does in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", where he is in a life and death struggle for a mere $200,000 in gold.

In 1993, the Canadian band "Barenaked Ladies" produced a song called "If I had a $1,000,000." If you haven't heard it, go to this YouTube site. I still love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHacDYj8KZM

In 2009, Travie McCoy sang a song called "Billionaire". Now there's a recent song by T-Pain called "Trillionaire". I don't recommend either version to listen to.

When does it stop? How much does the story have to change in order to be reasonable to the listener or viewer? Every story told seems that it must have some basis in reality in order to stick with the listener. Even those stories that are all fantasy, like WALL-E.

This Pixar film is a wonderful children's story about a robot named WALL-E who barely speaks. Still, the film makers give human attributes to the robot and shows him falling in love with another robot. Even though this story is made up, it still has some connection with real life; love, perseverance, determination, etc.

I just wonder how the story lines of tomorrow will change in order to catch the attention of the masses. And yet some of those basic human conditions and emotions will always be a part of every great story. 

Scott

When I look at the world, I see stories everywhere. Some are hidden from the casual view and some take effort to pull out of people. Every child you talk to, every elderly person you meet and those you simply pass by have at least one riveting tale to tell.

Look at the world ar0und us. You know what gets our attention? It's a great story that seems to take our minds off dull, typical, everyday living. The most eye grabbing stories right now are those that evoke the greatest reaction in us. If we read it, see it or hear about it and say "No way", "I love it / or hate it" or some other great reaction, then it is a worthwhile story. It can be Angry Birds, Sarah Palin, 6 months without a job, or keeping your New Year's resolution. It hardly matters which story it is.

The point is we will never run out of stories to tell to our children and each other. The best books, movies, plays, and drama's are those that tell the best stories. We simply must become more aware of the stories around us.

This kind of thing happens over and over - a writer is getting a haircut and hears about a story that happened in that small town years before. In a seemly short amount of time (at least to us), we are watching a movie based on that real life story. A story that most people in that little town took for granted. 

Right around you today are the makings of a wonderful story.  Open your eyes and see it!