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Around Your ART

There probably aren’t too many entrepreneurs gutsy enough to launch a product-based business without a product! But with her design background, founder and CEO of Tragos Games LLC, Carolina Acosta did just that, designing a website for the game that was still largely an idea!

Her shot paid off in a big way as the self-funded venture, which started with 200 pre-orders, grew to $2 million in two years.

“We became a brand that people started talking about. After the pre-orders, I had to come up with the actual game,” Carolina says laughing on a recent episode of the Werk Mija Podcast. 

From Idea to a Business: The Product Idea Behind Tragos

The idea for Tragos came during a heritage trip to Colombia. The U.S.-born Carolina went to explore her roots and met her now-business associate John Lim. The two bonded over their cultures and came up with the idea that led to the launch of an Asian party game, Azn Flush. Carolina, who has a BFA in Communication Design from...

When Autumn Adeigbo was a little girl, she enjoyed wearing the beautiful dresses her mom made her and was even voted best dressed in the fourth grade. However, while she always enjoyed and had an eye for fashion, she didn’t view it as an accessible career path. She graduated from undergrad with a degree in economics, but decided to pivot and pursue her passion. She enrolled in Parsons School of Design where she obtained a degree in fashion design, then she worked her way up from intern to associate working under top A-List fashion stylists in Hollywood. 

“Traditionally, in Nigerian households, you become a lawyer or doctor but luckily my parents aren’t the traditional mold in terms of strongly holding me into what they thought I should do, and were supportive of me pursuing what I wanted to pursue,” says the fashion designer. 

Autumn successfully built a sustainable powerhouse brand that empowers women around the world by making connections that...

About 20 years ago, Paul C Brunson took a plane ride to Turkey that would change the course of his life. Just days before the trip, Paul had given a presentation to a group of Turkish dignitaries in Washington D.C, at the Kaplan International Center where he worked acting as its youngest and first African American director.

After he was done speaking to the delegation, an elegant Turkish businessman stood up and proclaimed to the crowd: “One day this man is going to work for me!”

Totally blown away by this man’s confidence, Paul ended up having dinner with him and the two hit it off so well Enver (the man) invited Paul to come meet with him and his associates in Istanbul. Besides his wife and mother, everyone in the world told Paul not to travel to Turkey with this stranger, but he went. And the meeting would change his life. Turns out Enver Yucel and his family owned the largest education group in Europe and were looking for some to help them grow and invest in...

In the female-dominated world of matchmaking, relationship expert Paul C. Brunson is a bit of a unicorn, and he likes it that way. 

Paul, who grew up in Jamaica, Queens, always wanted to be a businessman. Inspired by the rappers from his neighborhood, like Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent, he gravitated towards entrepreneurship and saw how smart business people utilized media to speak to their audience directly and grow their endeavors. 

Following his childhood dream, Paul began his career in finance as an investment banker and equity analyst, getting his CFA and brokerage license and later getting a business degree from Georgetown University. Basically, he was a baller. In fact, he was working for a billionaire in charge of his U.S. assets when Paul spotted the opportunity of a lifetime.

You see, in addition to being a hustler, Paul has always been a helper, (he jokes he’s Jamaican and has to have at least 10 jobs at all time) and in addition to his successful finance...

Successful NFT artists Sam Madhu and Ola Vola brought the goods and insider tips on how to enter or expand—and succeed—in the NFT market. The artists, who sell their NFTs on Nifty Gateway, shared their struggles and lessons learned so that your entry into the NFT world can be smoother.

They also shared their personal experiences and what may be in store for NFT-curious artists should they decide to take the plunge. 

If you missed it, you can always watch the replay. If you tuned in and you’re still considering your NFT options, you can relive the REPLAY here: 

THE ARTISTS:

Originally from India, Sam Madhu is a Berlin-based mixed media digital artist whose work fuses elements from East and West with a side of cyberpunk thrown in. Her futuristic art of dystopian cities draws from temples, gods and demons from the past and reinterprets them into the future. Her work also features dystopian cityscapes, inspired by her time in New York and India. It also...

“Let’s take a moment and appreciate this moment,” says Paul C. Brunson.

The C stands for Carrick and is a nod to his Irish and Scottish ancestry, but it could just as well stand for Confidence, or Charisma, or Consistency, because Paul has all of those in spades.

The moment of gratitude Paul is referring to is his present life. Paul is a millionaire who is considered the most famous and successful matchmaker in the world. He is a serial entrepreneur who received an NAACP Image Award nomination for his bestselling book: It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have to Be): A Modern-Day Guide to Finding and Keeping Love, and was the co-host on Oprah Winfrey Network’s show “Lovetown.”

But his life didn’t always look like this. Paul built this life for himself brick-by-brick with a personal branding strategy he’s developed.

And clearly, it works!  

That is why we are sooo psyched he is hosting a new masterclass for Parsons...

Duncan Cock Foster delivers BIG on all things NFT. You may know that NFT stands for non-fungible token but what is an NFT exactly? How does the NFT world work? And what does it mean for you as an artist?

If you missed it, you can always watch the replay. If you tuned in and you’re considering wading into the NFT pool, you may want to put the replay on REPEAT!

Duncan is co-founder, along with his identical twin brother Griffin, of Nifty Gateway, the largest marketplace for NFT digital art. He describes Nifty Gateway as “an all-in-one platform that makes it easy to buy, sell and store digital art and collectibles.”

A year after creating Nifty Gateway, the twins sold it to by Gemini, a cryptocurrency platform founded by another well-known pair of twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Nifty Gateway’s mission is to make NFTs easier to access or as Duncan puts it, “our mission is to make Nifty Gateway drops as fun and equitable as possible.” 

When...

When we met up with Paul Carrick Brunson in his stylish flat in London, he embodied the poster boy for success: handsome millionaire with a gorgeous wife and two adorable sons, friend of Oprah with multiple profitable businesses and projects in the works.

While he may look perfect enough to be annoying, the truth is Paul has earned every bit of his success—and it hasn't always been easy. Growing up with a proud immigrant mother from Jamaica, Paul almost flunked out of high school. With the support of his parents, he turned his life around and graduated college starting his career as a lowly non-paid intern in investment banking, fetching coffees and running errands. But he worked his way up the industry and was soon making bank, with a Rolex and BMW to boot.Even with these external signals of success, Paul still had a stomachache every Sunday night as he dreaded another grueling work week in this cutthroat industry. Trusting his gut, he quit his coveted gig and over the next...

Alright, let's talk taxes!

Yep, we could feel your eye roll. Because let's be real, when has anyone EVER wanted to talk about taxes?

Well, talking about taxes becomes a lot more interesting when there's the potential of big-time money-saving! And that's exactly what we're going to be talking about today. 

In the US at least, taxes aren't super user-friendly—especially for small businesses. There are so many little nuances and deductions. And if you aren't aware of them, you're leaving money on the table—money that could be invested back into your business!

Luckily, we have small-business finance coach Andi Smiles to walk you through the steps you need to take to get your maximum refund!

And if you've already filed your taxes this year (go you!), Andi also shares time-saving hacks to help make filing in 2023 a lot less stressful. 

You can watch this video to get all the tax tips from Andi Smiles:

Click here to download your own copy of the Tax Deduction...

When was the last time you actually looked forward to writing a business plan? 

Uh... Probably NEVER!

The truth is a lot of people put off writing a business plan (and some never actually formalize this vital document) because it's just so intimidating. Like for real—we pursued our creative passions so we wouldn't have to write boring reports and documents, right?!

But, the traditional 20-something page biz plan document isn't the only way. In fact, it can actually be beneficial to start with something WAY more compact (we're talking ONE PAGE BABY!)

Why opt for a one-page business plan?

1. It helps you keep your ideas concise. When starting a business, it's easy to have idea-overload. And while a lot of those ideas might be GREAT, they can dilute a business plan or business idea. (Plus partners, investors, and anyone-who's-anyone in the industry loves a solid, concise pitch.)
2.  You quickly realize where your idea need work. When you're putting together a 20-page-doc, it...