Can Artists Be Entrepreneurs? Hello Steemit! 🐳 🐳

Like many of us entrepreneurs, I found myself bouncing back and forth between entrepreneurial tendencies and traditional education while growing up. After two university degrees and 8 years of experience in the design and advertising field, I have devoted myself 100% to making an impact as a creative entrepreneur.

Following the lovely SteemIt tradition, I suppose a quick intro is due? :)

Who Am I?
I am a 28 year old designer, writer, artist, and self-taught musician with a knack for the digital landscape. I was born in Kuwait, raised in Toronto Ontario, and currently live in beautiful Lebanon which is where my mother is from. I currently live alone (common alter-egos include wolf-Mo and alien-Mo) and was raised all my life without my father. Our twisted relationship came with many valuable life lessons over the years, as one would expect.

But please, don't feel sorry! As Gary Vaynerchuk would passionately preach, such pitfalls are advantages when looked at from a different perspective. I like to look at that reality as something that's turned me into a better, more independent man.

I find myself having an obsession with wisdom. I thought my father had something to do with this. But it's probably just my old soul powering up my sixth sense, ever since I was little.

Where are you from? Would you like to share a quick sentence about yourself? I would love to read about you in the comments.

Are you wondering how I found out about SteemIt? Being an avid YouTube watcher, I stumbled across a video by @JerryBanfield while researching about cryptocurrencies. Since that moment, my interest in SteemIt snowballed into what it is today.

I am one of the late buyers of BitCoin (bought mine at $2700 per BTC) and have a strong passion for the direction cryptocurrency is headed in. But I'm sure like most ordinary people do, I also struggle convincing people about cryptos and Blockchain technology. I talk about the trust gap it fills in our economy. I talk about de-centralization and security. I give great examples. Yet most people out here are way behind. My personal challenge is to convince my chief accountant mother - if I can get her to buy into this, I can probably also make toilets fly.

The Rise Of SteemIt
How awesome would it be to have SteemIt rise as one of the major influence platforms in the field of art, right up there with Pinterest and Instagram? After doing my due diligence, I chose to commit to helping this platform as much as possible. I started encouraging my artist and creative friends to give this platform a go. Who wouldn't? Uncensored content, exposure to new audiences (I like to call us the 'children of the future'), decentralized governance, and a legitimate and fun reward system - I find it to be a no-brainer for any artist or creative.

In parallel to steeming about topics that intersect artistry and entrepreneurship, I'm going to be actively encouraging my friends and social media fans to join SteemIt so we can help this community thrive and bring innovation to the creative landscape.

Well folks, that's it for my intro! Thank you dearly for reading. I look forward to connecting with you all, long live SteemIt! Don't hesitate asking me any question on your mind.

Still reading? Here's a few fun facts about me before I let you go :)

Fun facts:
-I am a proud Canadian and have the national anthem memorized. In fact, during my last year of high school, I played the entire national anthem on my electric guitar to an audience of at least a thousand. Almost peed my pants. But didn't. 😅
-I live on the roof of a building, on a mountain that overlooks the valleys and ocean. Driving to the city is an activity I enjoy.
-My dream was to be a creative director in an advertising agency. I went and got a Bachelor of Science in Graphic design and a minor in Advertising, and went on to work at J. Walter Thompson agency. It didn't take long before I realized that my dream as a child was mainly based on all the episodes of MadMen I've watched, and that real life advertising is not like MadMen.
-I haven't watched TV for years (apart from it being on at other people's houses).
-I once painted a 7 foot cake which was used for entertainment in a corporate anniversary. A fashion model popped out of the cake, leaving hundreds of businessmen reconsidering their marriages.

-I'm also an educator. I've taught privately, within a company, and given workshops to refugees. My area of focus for children is art and music, and branding and marketing for older creatives.
-I founded the first Japanese Festival in Lebanon in 2015. The entire event was organized in just one month. In the festival were a range of activities such as a cosplay show in the movie theatre, anime karaoke, sushi making, ai-kido performances, live bands and much more. 298 tickets were sold in 4 days and 200 tickets were sold on the day of the event, with considerable press and media coverage. After the festival ended, the owner of the venue noticed the cashbox overflowing with money. He suggested we do a 50/50 split for the next event, which is funny because before the event, he literally mocked my idea and thought it would be some boring little event. As for the profits, I used most of them to pay my team, who I couldn't have done it without!

-I write short stories and fairytale poems. Check out my work at http://WhereIsMyUniverse.com/blog! -My ultimate strength is illustration. I've attached a few examples of my work, which amount to less than 1% of my total body of work. If you would like to check out my online store, you can find that on http://WhereIsMyUniverse.com. :)

Cheers Steemit! Until next time!

Thank you for making it this far :)