Torvin Pristell a/k/a DJ Tap was a trucker dealing with the economic effects of skyrocketing gas prices, when his semi caught fire and permanently forced him out of the trucking business. Left with no income he started doing something he was passionate about but was just a hobby– Dj’ing. From thins interview It seems to be working out for him.He proclaims that even when economy turns back around he’s not going to trucking. I guess its like they always say “Always have something to fall back on” though I doubt they meant playing records.

“If you‘re not prepared to be wrong you‘ll never come up with anything original.”-Ken Robinson

Has school killed your creative spirit? What can we do to get it back? How does a grown up reclaim their own natural ability and utilize it to create a life of their own choosing?

Great interview from a pioneer in the hip hop music business that I found on TJ Chapman’s blog and a must watch for dreamers and visionaries.

The first answer:

“The key is to find your calling. And to take the fundamental risk and be curious enough with yourself to find your passion. And then not stop until you participate in that passion. too many people fall into what traditional pressures of family, friends and society have for them.You got to school you get a good job and start a family. It so well organized. I’ve never been that organized. I’ve had the support of my family to give me the strength to take as much risk early on in my career and early on in my life to find my calling.” -Lyor Cohen

That is a testament to why we created 21st Century Hustle. “..Be curious enough with yourself to find your passion.” That’s something that few people give much thought to, yet it is the major key to becoming someone of your own making.

I think another key point he made was when he said “I’ve had the support of my family to give me the strength to take as much risk early on in my career and early on in my life to find my calling.” That support is rare. Parents, in their attempt to insure success,  tend to pass along the fear of failure, which is the equivalent of dream paralysis.

Watch the entire interview, for  there are lots of gems.

Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come;

you have to get up and make them.

- Madame C. J. Walker

Watch CBS News Videos Online

(CBS) When Michael Jackson died this past summer, he had nearly a half a billion dollars in debts. Since then, it’s been a great year for his career: lawyers for his estate say they have lined up merchandising deals worth $100 million, and surging record sales and other income will produce another $100 million.

And this is not unusual. Decades after their demise, some departed stars continue to work on new projects and draw more income than they ever made while drawing breath. And there is a growing legion of agents and managers willing to represent them.

Dead celebrities can be just as lucrative as many live ones, and in some cases, a lot less trouble.

Since the onset of the internet age, the fate of the broadcast industry has been in discussion. While the internet is not yet a TV killer, media heavyweights are testing the waters of convergence, with a new web series called  The Broadroom.

“The Broadroom” is a four-part web series created in partnership with Meredith’s More magazine and Co.Op TV, sponsored by Maybelline New York’s Color Sensational lipstick. The first episode premieres today, at Maybelline.com/TheBroadroom, and features a cast including Jennie Garth (“90210″), Jennifer Esposito (“Samantha Who?”) and Talia Balsam (“Mad Men”), and veteran sitcom director Ellen Gittelsohn (“Roseanne,” “Designing Women,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”). (via adage.com)

While The Broadroom is just a four part series, it signals a shift in media thought. Check out the first episode at www.thebroadroomonline.com

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”

-H.L. Hunt

via nytimes.com

Asio Highsmith does not want to sell you a pair of shoes. He wants to sell you a lifestyle. He wants to sell you your life.

When you walk into his Pedigree Sneaker Gallery, soon to open on Willoughby near Adelphi, wedged between the pet-supply store Who’s Your Doggy and the laid-back BidonVille café, Mr. Highsmith or one of his appointed acolytes will seat you at a computer and administer a 100-item questionnaire about every pair of shoes you have ever owned, your favorite colors, your high school’s colors, your college colors, and significant dates, places and people in your life.

From this information, he will generate your Lifetime Style Heritage.

He will then scour the Internet and his fetishist’s knowledge of sneaker-maker back catalogs and track down your perfect shoe. Or perhaps he will recommend that one of the young artists he plans to retain draw a custom design on a shoe for you.

You will pay serious money for this — $600, $700, $800– because, Mr. Highsmith says, he will have written your cellular autobiography in footwear form.

“That’s what pedigree is,” Mr. Highsmith said yesterday morning outside his storefront, which he hopes to open in early summer. “Pedigree is the search for particular traits in an organism. I’m looking for a particular shoe trait in you that I can impose on you and on a shoe. Read entire story @ nytimes.com

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

-Lao Tzu

I will not be outworked PERIOD.

-Will Smith