Category Archives: Parenting

Posted on

Confessions Of A Child Tycoon

3 Good Ideas, 1 Horrible Idea and 4 Important Lessons On Seizing Opportunity

by

stuffed piggy bank and sack of cash

I started four businesses between the ages of 8 and 13. Not all were good ideas. My longest one lasted about a year. I shut down my shortest venture after 2 minutes. Each one taught me some important lessons about perspective, people and opportunities. Here is a brief and humorous synopsis of my childhood businesses. I trust that you will learn from them just as I did.

Business #1 – Candy Man.

My mom wouldn’t let us eat hard candy when we were kids.

“It’s bad for you.”

“You’ll choke on it.”

“You’ll break your teeth”

The problem was, the hard candy was the cheap candy. Most people buy big bags of cheap candy around Halloween. It seemed to be the go to candy of choice to hand out to trick-or-treaters. We ended up with a lot of left over hard candy.

One day in early November I was lamenting the tyranny of my hard-candy-hating parents to my friend Chris as he sucked on a green apple Jolly Rancher in front of me. He tucked the Rancher into his cheek and said, “I wish I still had a bunch of candy left over like you. I’m almost out.”

It was a Light Bulb Moment.

Posted on

The one thing every Improv show has that your team needs

How to get your team to perform fearlessly

by

Fearless Jump

Grace. It’s been a popular name for decades. We say grace before we eat. The Bible says we are saved by grace. Without grace, figure skating becomes hockey, and dancing devolves into twerking. Grace is also a key element of improv comedy and needs to be a key component of your organization.

One of the things I love most about improv comedy is the inherent grace that is a part of each show. Because of the immensely interactive nature of improv comedy, there is a connection between the actors and the audience. We’re in this together. They become invested in the success of the show as we use their ideas to create the comedy.

The audience is also aware of the risks we have to take to do improv. That’s why it’s so exciting. Humor and story written in the moment. Created for the first time, every time, right before your eyes. It’s the comedy version of crossing Niagara Falls on a high wire. Comedy without a net.

For improv to work, grace must be in play.

Grace must be in play because we’re going to fail. At least once every show. Failing is part of improv. Sometimes a joke bombs or the guy who can’t sing is forced to sing a solo. He painfully screeches his way through a song about the trials of raising hairless llamas as the audience applauds and cheers with glee. That’s right, applauds and cheers. Because they love it.

Audiences love the authenticity and vulnerability of improv.

They love it because they understand the agreement.