My styry life journey began with my decision to pursue Mass Communication as my major degree. Although it seems to be a far cry from the Painting Authentication & Art Appraisal, every step of my journey seemed to lead me closer to my ultimate pursuit of becoming an appraiser.
My first adventure was taking on various research projects and creating content related to painting authentication. In the process, I learned all the theories and facts that I assumed to be the basis of the painting authentication & art appraisal. This was the first time I encountered the art world and the scope of its offerings.
Beyond researching and creating content about paintings, I joined some organizations that offered me orientations and seminars about painting authentication and appraisal. Though these seminars were informative, I believed my further learning and development of these skills can only take place when I get into the classroom. Therefore, I decided to get my formal training from a professional institute.
It was there I received a degree in Art Gallery and Museum Management, which gave me the technical skills to become an art appraiser. During this educational journey, I also reconnected with my childhood passion of painting and developed some skills that would help later in my appraising career.
I then began work at a small auction house, working and learning under the supervision of other appraisers. With every auction, I learned something new and added them to my repertoire. I met some of the best appraisers in the field, who guided and encouraged me.
My journey didn’t just stop there. I kept on going and frequently participating in art appraisals, visiting various art galleries and auctions, and engaging in vigorous discussions with fellow professionals. I read books on the subject and attended informative conferences and seminars.
Finally, after years of dedication, I acquired the chops to be an excellent appraiser for any and all kind of artwork. My own fascination with the profession and dedication to the work only made me a better appraiser and also a better professional in my chosen field.
Today, I proudly call myself a Painting Authenticator & Art Appraiser and I cannot thank the world enough for guiding me to the perfect profession for me.
When bad things happen, learn from them and vow to not repeat the behaviors that allowed them to happen. When good things come along, take advantage of them and learn how to stimulate more good things like them to happen. That’s called creating your own luck, which is a far better option than trying to control the uncontrollable.
The greatest thrill in business is to experience success that you manufactured yourself. The joy comes from knowing that I did that, me. Taking pride in one’s craft and working hard for one’s own rewards is the opportunity of a lifetime. Failures and missteps will happen along the way. That’s natural. When they occur, get up, learn from them, and move forward.
We all have different ideas about what happiness is, which is why we shouldn’t all follow the same path. To embrace our unique passions and enjoy our own forms of fulfillment, we must be willing to step off the prescribed path and forge our own. No matter what your goals are, there’s always more than one way to realize them. Find yours.
I started the Smart Passive Income blog as a way to give back to the community of creative and ambitious online entrepreneurs like me. I wanted to help others answer the questions I once faced as well as share the tools and techniques that work for me.
Transparency is a huge part of this blog, as it is with everything I do online. My businesses, strategies, and income are all publicly shared for the world to see.
I created the Smart Income Podcast because I know firsthand how useful podcasts are for learning about business strategies and tactics. So, through my show, I reveal all of my online business and blogging strategies, income sources, and effective marketing tips and tricks so you can get ahead of the curve with your online endeavor.
I’m super thankful that the podcast has, since 2010, earned multiple awards, been featured in The New York Times, and has generated a total of over 60,000,000 downloads!
In 2017, my videographer Caleb Wojcik and I came up with the idea for a brand new tripod for Vloggers. 2 years later, the SwitchPod launched on Kickstarter and raised over $415,000 from over 4,000 backers, and today this growing physical product business is making waves in the video product space.
In 2015, my team and I created a podcast player called The Smart Podcast Player to encourage binge listening and subscriptions on websites. Thousands of customers later, this software company has now become FuseBox.fm, a suite of tools to help podcasters grow their business and connect with their listenership on their websites.
