by Lindsay, 9th grade, USA
I started my first television production company almost 20 years ago. It has evolved into my current company called "Mark Kistler Media". It is a very small company, just my brother, a few employees, and some very supportive dedicated volunteers. A fun benefit of being a small company means each of us get the opportunity to do so many different things, from writing television scripts, to shipping our products to far away lands, to visiting elementary schools around the country teaching genius kids how to draw in 3-D.
2.) What does your company/business do?
We write, produce, and distribute a very cool children's television series (we have an entire section explaining the show and the mission of our efforts on the web site at www.draw3d.com). We also write children's books, and conduct educational workshops about drawing in elementary schools throughout the USA.
3.) What is your job title?
Hmm....good question. It depends on how I feel each day. Some days I'm the "President" of my tiny teeny little firm. Other days I'm an "Author", free, independent, creative, and a "writer". Other days I'm a "television Producer", which is fun and very "Hollywood-Los Angeles", however I do not have a ponytail or a goatee to complete the entire "TV Producer" image.
4.) What kind of training or education prepared you for your position?
Some of the most important classes I had that prepared me for my career were of course all the wonderful art classes I had growing up, with enthusiastic committed teachers. I also clearly remember enjoying my 7th grade "typing" class. We all had to take "typing" in Jr. High, and most of the students did not enjoy it. I thought of it as a cool game, we watched a projected film strip with an accompanying audio tape (this was before video tapes and computers where in schools). I thought it was really fun to try to beat the typing key sequence before the voice on the audio tape, sort of an early version of your generations video games, except a lot less violent! As an adult I am so grateful I learned how to express myself quickly via a keyboard, this is so important now with much of my days are spent typing on a computer keyboard with emails, writing projects, and production plans.
Another very important element in my youth that helped prepare me was my love of reading. I still read 2 books a week, usually fiction. My love of reading self help, goal focusing books in my teenage years really helped me understand the importance of really clearly identifying your dreams in order to strategically create an action plan to make them become a reality. Books by Norman Vincent Peale, Earl Nightingale, and Napoleon Hill. Nowadays books by Oprah Winfrey, Bill Phillips, Bill Moyers have enlightened and inspired me. Isaac Azamov, a very famous science fiction author and philosopher once wrote a letter to a friend of mine (fellow author Harley Hahn of "The Internet yellow Pages", www.harley.com) that "You can learn anything from a book", I believe this deeply.
5.) What are your main responsibilities?
I have so much fun with my work. It is difficult to define the "main" thing I do. I suppose one of the most important things I have to do is maintain the enthusiasm, energy and focus for our corporate mission.
"To produce quality children's how-to-draw television programs and other related products that enthuse children with the joy of drawing. Teaching the world how to draw in 3-D one child at a time."
You see, I believe that by teaching kids how to draw, I'm teaching them how to think creatively, how to solve problems on a blank piece of paper with imagination. As more people in the world think creatively with imagination and compassion, the better place this planet will be to live on.
I maintain the corporate momentum toward these goals by touring the USA conducting elementary school workshops, producing wonderful unique children's how-to-draw television shows for Public Television (to date we have produced nearly 300 episodes, 65 of these episodes are listed on my web site under "about the PBS show" at www.draw3d.com), and writing children's books (type in my name under author search at www.amazon.com for a listing of my 5 books currently in print.)
6.) What qualities does a person need to be successful in your job?
I consider myself a teacher, a cartoonist, an opera singer (just joking), and a creative entrepreneur. Having the ability to dream of possibilities, strategize those dreams into specific goals, and then to focus energy, time, and resources to attain those goals making my dreams a reality. I have also learned how very important it is to be flexible and adaptable. Everyday things happen in life that threaten to knock you off your goal track. Someday things happen that so monumentally disrupt your life that it takes weeks or months to find your way back to a focused track. During these times you need to remember it's all part of your grand life adventure, your exciting journey through unknown territory. You need to keep your keen sense of humor intact, and laugh every day at the delightful wacky chaos of life. You need to pick yourself up each and every time you get knocked down, dust yourself off, re-tie your shoes, and push on. I read somewhere that the true measure of a persons success is their ability to do just that, each and everyday, every week, every year. I am constantly amazed with the relentless indomitable strength of our human spirit.
Your generation is the smartest most creative generation the population of this planet has ever seen produced. I am so excited and waiting with breathless anticipation to behold the amazing wondrous things you are going to invent, produce, create, and discover. In my youth my mom would say, "the world is your arena", now-a-days I say to you, "The Universe is your arena!".
7.) What kind of work habits and attitudes are expected of employees in your company?
We only have a few employees, but each one has a good sense of humor, a good professional manner on the phone when speaking with customers, and a good track record of arriving to work on time. Our company mantra is "the customer is always right". This helps remind everyone on our team that the viewers, customers, and school clients are our bosses. We can pay our bills because these people like us and support our mission enough to purchase our products and services.
8.) What advice do you have for high school students that would help them be prepared to get a good job?
What is your most wild wonderful dream of what you would LOVE to do when you grow up? NOT what do you think will make you the most money, but what would make you so happy that you couldn't wait to get to work each morning? What would be the most fun and the most beneficial to the people around you, your loved ones, your family and friends? For me it was cartooning and teaching children. I combined my love and enthusiasm for those two separate fields and forged a unique adventurous career for myself.
You must clearly identify what it is that you really love to do, what it is that absolutely beyond a doubt would be YOUR dream career of the new millennium. Once you identify this passion, you then need to throw all of your effort, talent, creativity, time, and energy into making this YOUR career. weather it is to become a "Doctor", a "Senator", or a "costume designer" for Broadway plays, you have within yourself the most remarkable self adjusting compass. This compass will direct your life toward the things that you think about the most.
If you become wonderfully delightfully consumed with your passionate pursuit of your dreams, many exciting things will happen. You will discover that people will flock to help you reach your goals, people love to be around a cheerful goal oriented "mover and shaker", people love to be around someone who loves life and lives with passion and focus. You will also discover the thrill of accomplishment, which will motivate you to set your goals for even more loftier targets, which will thrill you even more when you achieve them, which will...well, you see, it's a self perpetuating success wheel. You dream, you strategize, you apply a lot of creative effort, you succeed, you dream even bigger! This process keeps your inner wheel of successful dream conquering spinning along at mach speed in your life. Your inner wheel is so strong it will amaze everyone around you. Your inner wheel will roll over obstacles in your path, break through enormous walls of resistance, splash through torrential rivers of problems and strive, bounce over mountain peaks of difficulty, to amaze and astonish the world with your extraordinary existence.
12.) How old were you when you knew that you wanted to be a cartoonist?
I remember clearly being 8 years old, in the 3rd grade learning to draw cartoons with Preston Blair's cartooning book, thinking to myself "This is what I want to do, everyday, for the rest of my life". I began to understand how rare this kind of self direction or career insight was so early in life when many of my friends and classmates still had no clue as to what they wanted to "grow up to be", even as late as college. I know my mom had a lot to do with my believe that I could do whatever I set my mind to do. She bought me all the cartooning books and supplies I ever wanted, not an easy task for a single mom with 5 kids! Much of what I've said above reflects her dynamic pro-active philosophy in life. I have featured her and her national teaching award on my web site under the link icon "my hero's" at www.draw3d.com.
13.) Did you ever have another dream job that you didn't pursue?
Oh sure, this is one of the exciting things about being human and being alive in this new millennium, we have so many choices, so many options, so many possibilities. I've always wanted to be an astronaut, to pilot a hot air balloon, to be a scuba diving researcher with the Cousteau Society, to write action adventure novels, to explore caves, climb mountains, and dive the reefs of the world.
This huge volume of options will be your generations greatest and most important test. How to take in all the wondrous possibilities and choose just a few to focus on, to master, to excel at. I think you have it much harder then my generation, as far as trying to pick your special path, there is just so many exciting ones to choose from. This is why it's important to experience as many fields of study as possible in high school and in the early college years. This will give you a wide enough base of experience to be able to choose with educated understanding what it is you excel at and enjoy doing.
I'm not saying you can't pursue all of your dreams, I'm just saying that you need to be realistic and tackle just a handful at a time. For me, I've been working on getting my pilot's license for 7 years, slowly, but I will eventually. I've been on over 500 scuba dives, on a dozen exotic reefs of the world, but still have over 50 dive destinations in my dream journal. I've ridden in colorful hot air balloons over Seattle, Maine, and Sydney Australia, but I think I'll wait until I'm 60 to get my hot air pilot's license...everything is just a matter of scheduling! As far as my dream of being a novelist, I peck away at this every week, trying to type at least 30 minutes a day, writing books is really much harder than I ever thought! I've been working on my current fiction novel for over three years! You know how just about everyone at some time or other has said, "I'm going to write a book about my life/adventure/job/experience/childhood/etc..?". Do you know why only about one person in 200,000 actually writes a book? Because it is REALLY, REALLY HARD! This is true unless your name is Steven King, Lawrence Block, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Danielle Steel...etc. Some folks just need to sit at a keyboard and brilliant fiction just drips off their fingers like syrup. Can you tell I'm a frustrated novelist?
14.) Do you really enjoy what you are doing?
More than I could possibly describe in words. My good friend and producer of my television series, Robert Neustadt once said to me, "You know you enjoy your career when you would do it even if you could not get paid for it". Well, I do and I would. You will too, I just know it!
Lindsay, Have an exciting amazing journey, may you accomplish your dreams, conquer your fears, and laugh with joy each and everyday. Along the way, remember to...
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
For all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.