Believe me when I say that a home based business is not built overnight... I seem to get stuck on research & I've gotten very good at that... I think they call it, "Information Overload"... After all of this trial & error, needless to say, I've wasted a lot of time...
I decided to make the most of what I have & I'm pretty grateful for the fruits of my labor... I'm 81 years old & have been on the internet for about 20 years... I've had numerous lifestyle setbacks that have brought me this far... From here on, "If it's going to be, it's up to me"... I'm not a quitter except for things that I discovered through trial & error that were bad for me...
I am a firm believer in "Divine Guidance"... I've learned to pay attention to the signs that point me in the direction that I must take to improve my life... I call these God Nudges! When I was at the lowest point in my life I spotted an unusual bicycle collecting dust in my neighborhood bike shop... It was a scaled replica of an 1889 Columbia "Boneshaker"... For me it was love at first sight because all of my life I've had a love of bicycles... This one had a 27" front wheel & the frame dropped down to a little 12" wheel in the back... It also had high handlebars... It wasn't until after I bought it that I needed to find a way to show it off... Parades would be just perfect because the bike wasn't built for speed or distance... But now how do I get accepted to join the parades in my county? I could become a clown... That settled it... I learned from another clown that I was fortunate to meet, about a book that would teach me all that I needed to know about clowning... He had been clowning all of his life since he was 9 years old & he had retired from Ringling Brothers... I bought the book, learned all that I needed to know & the rest is history...
Now, it was off to the makeup store... It was time for trial & error... Every time I found something that wasn't quite right, I made it better the next time... The first time that I attempted to put on the grease paint I was intimidated by the process because it's difficult to remove if a mistake is made... It was then that I thought to myself, how silly that was of me... What woman doesn't know how to put on makeup? Having overcome that speed-bump I needed to work on a costume... I had a clown friend who highly recommended a seamstress who lived in my neighborhood who modified thrift store clothes for me that would make appropriate costumes for me...
More inspiration drove me to the Christmas store where I picked up enough red, green & gold tinsel garland that I used to wind through the spokes & around the frame of my bike... I topped it off with pinwheels & an oogah horn... I was ready for my public if they were ready for me...
I did the Christmas Parades in my county... I lived in Clearwater at the time so I became "Clearwater Crackers" & the bike became my "Cherry Bomb"... I was soon drawn to St. Petersburg's "Festival of States" parades... They have a 500 piece band known as "The Awesome Greater St. Petersburg Second Time Arounders Marching Band"... They are made up of people of all ages that had played in a High School marching band & they ranged in age from 18 - 85... I made up a new clown character specifically for them... The morning of the parade I told the band founder, "I am now Re-Pete of St. Pete", my bike is "The Recycle", so that makes me "A recycled clown for the Second Time Arounders & I want to be your mascot... He told me to get to the back of the band & that's exactly where I wanted to be... From the back of the band I could bounce up & down on my bike while doing doughnuts... I could sort of keep time to the beat of the band while hollering out 'Merry Christmas" St. Pete from Re-Pete... Needless to say, they loved it...
I also created a new clown character for St. Patrick's Day at our local O'Keefe's restaurant where they had the largest beer tent I had ever seen... I painted faces & let folks take my photo as, "Garlic O'Hara"... I made some extra money & had a blast while doing it...
I hope that I didn't bore you with my story... My desktop is down & I have many photos stored there so I cannot include any more at this time but will as soon as I am able...
I will be happy to answer any questions you may have... I'll leave you with these thoughts...
Linda Michel White
Share
Tweet
Pin
Email
Share
Comments
All of life is pretty much a case of trial and error Linda but doing your homework, preparation and research are essential to success. Getting stuck in them, rather than going out and doing, is itself a learning process which we've all encountered. What comes out of your article is that you've gotten very good at just living naturally with fun and exuberance. Now that's what I call 'success'!
Thank you, Tom for your kind words about my blog post... Needless to say I felt like Sherlock Holmes trying to discover the next move I would have to make to keep moving steadily towards my goal... I kept trying something different to improve my character for each parade... Is it slow & steady wins the race? :D
Who said that clowning around is not a serious business?! :-) But when it's fun and satisfies your passion then it inevitably pleases other people too. That Linda, as you discovered and expressed so well here, is the true meaning of success in life.
My clowning was never meant to be a serious business... My efforts were meant to do what clowns do, make people laugh & forget their problems for awhile... The parades were my main expsure as a clown so it was mostly volunteer which put a smile on my face... I never got any complaints... That's what put the Happy in my Smile... :D
I learned from the reql PATCH ADAMS, to practice Extraordinary Happyness on a daily basis... As a result I'm probably one of the happiest people you could ever meet... :D