CREATE Entrepreneurship - Will our Orchard Outlast our Lives?
July 1, 2058
This is a prelude. On the morning of July 1, 2058, I will celebrate my 100-year-old birthday. And if I am not here, I want you to know that I planned every inch of perennial fruit trees to bear the good fruit on this land that was begun in me to be fragrant, fruitful offering. On July 1, 2028, my 70th birthday someone asked me what is on my bucket list! I said “I don’t have a bucket list.” I have things I want to begin, that I would like to see through to people who will bring it on to the next generation, and so on. If they find some value in it. What is here is what has lasted. My hopes, my prayers, my songs, stories, home, work and community. There are trees of hope, trees of prayer, music and words about home, family, friends and neighbors in the communities that we serve. In the years leading up to my 70th birthday, I had to start thinking of home, our marriage, family and community. And the word integrity. Integrity is often defined as being the same person you are at home as you are at work an in community. I think that’s backwards. Integrity in the most generous terms is that our whole being are integral parts connected at home, in my marriage, through my family, my soul work and in the community I serve. At 67 years old when I was laid off from my last job, someone asked me, “What are you going to do?” I said, “I’m through with looking for a job. I can now get down to the work that I was put here on earth to do.”
A Musical Life
When I was thirteen, I was asked the question, “who are you?”
From zero to twenty-one- we wade in the children’s pool.
When I was twenty- two, I was asked, “what will you do?”
From my twenties to forty-two- It was work, life and school.
My life is like a musical- Story -music and words
Our life is like a romantic comedy, Where our love and
laughter are heard- our life is a musical life!
When I was forty-one- I was asked the question “where are you going?” From my forties to my sixties, there are so many things to do.
I write the music, the words you will write, our love will use it under a starry night. I write the story, under the lights- and together every day and every night- we live and play- A musical life.
I remember being in my room at six years old, watching and listening. The portable record player and playing the musical “Oliver.”
I grew up in the shadow of Broadway and Musical Theater caught my imagination and spoke to my reality. From watching the record spin at 33 and a third and listening to stories sung out loud- I developed an ear for words, music and rhyme. I not only memorized scores of music; I started to write tunes in my head! From my early memories of The Beatles, the musicals, the soundtrack of JFK, the tragedy of the assassination, my parent’s migration from Brooklyn to Greenlawn, Long Island and learning were food for thought. In the second grade – I remember being told that I was struggling with reading. Even though I would read books, listen to music, and read out loud to my parents, the teacher put me in the slow reading class where Dick chased Spot and Jane told Dick where Spot was. In 1965, there was a “retreat” for second graders who were to receive first communion at St. Anthony of Padua in East Northport, Long Island, close to our home. It was during the time of Vatican II. The Mass would be in English, not Latin. When I was really little, my parents would take me to church, and when they were late, we would stand in the hallway, where a speaker piped in the Mass. The Priest would say something in Latin and my father and other congregants would respond in Latin. I thought it was gobble-gook! So, I responded out loud “Gobble-Goble-Goble Gook!” Which horrified my parents! But somewhere in my wicked childhood! My mother made me a meatloaf sandwich and sent me off to learn “The Mass” in English. And at 7 years old my life was changed.
The nuns, the Brothers, the teachers and the Priest took each part of the Mass and made us read, recite and repeat the words they taught us, to the prayers, the liturgy and the songs of The Mass. Sometimes they were encouraging, other times stern and strict. At the end of the week, we dressed up in our blue suits, the girls in their white dresses and the Priests in their Celebratory Robes. Somewhere between Monday and Sunday, the words and the music, went from my head, to my voice, to my heart. And as I grew, the words and the music of The Mass became part of my daily thought life! It also spoke to the way I learned. My learning style became inward, thoughtful than outward, sharing an experience. My folks took me out to breakfast and on a trip to New York City. Maybe it was The Empire State Building or The Statue of Liberty. It is funny, I can remember the retreat, and The Mass but not the treat and the experience of the celebration! I think I received a Crucifix and a missalette.
My parents were concerned about my reading at school. They found a reading teacher, who lived and worked from his home across the street from The Broadway School in Greenlawn where I attended second grade. Mr. Jim Gallagher, was a friendly and warm man, who always gave me toys after a successful session. Sometimes they would test my eyes, but I was always reading out loud at his office. There were reading tests and exercises. After a couple of weeks, Mr. Gallagher reported to my parents and me. “Richard, I would like to continue to work with you.” I thought – “He found a problem.” As it turned out the testing showed that I read at a Sixth Grade Level at the age of 7. When my parents met with school, I was put in the advanced reading group. And when the “Weekly Reader” newspaper was delivered, it was my first newscast! My life has been music and words. And there, at seven years old, they converged and could be expressed.
I have been working towards reflecting and projecting where I fit into the Leadon Family Foundation- I have been inspired and excited about each twist and turn. The idea of working toward an MBA has been intriguing. And as much as I have been excited about certifications- I have also been humbled by the realization of what I am here on earth to do and to become. First of all - I love investing. When I worked at Oppenheimer Shareholder Services my eyes were opened to accountability from regulations and freedom from exercising restraint.
As a composer, lyricist, writer and producer, I understand entrepreneurship, problem solving, creativity and financing and investing in our work. I also learned that from recording-arts working with musicians, engineers, producers and managers, the system works best when each part of the organization are contractors and artists with an entrepreneurial mindset. The first system that I learned is Create, Produce, Distribute! Once you get that down you begin to learn how to invest, reinvest and return on investment!
The marketing side is always a performance issue. I have been performing since I was 7! Professionally since I was 10! Yesterday I was performing with my Celtic Band (Celtic Mountain Strings) and someone came up to me and said, "I never have seen anyone better at connecting with an audience as you as a singer and an emcee." I told him, "When you have done this for 56 years it is second nature." Integral Parts. Once I figured that integrity is the connection of who we are at home and being at home, through our work and in the communities, we serve and growing the community that we serve in- that is our market!
So where do I fit in with Leadon Family Foundation/University? I am working on writing, producing and composing a soundtrack for a documentary on "The Great Awakening." I also have my own projects like writing and voicing audio books, eBooks, curriculum and setting up incubators for entrepreneurs in Media/Arts and Mentor Hill. I perform and remix classic media that my not for profit has digitized. I am a curator, a cultivator of ideas that I need entrepreneurs to launch or co-launch with.
Part of Integral Parts is to play my position!
- Create- Produce- Distribute.
- Invest-Reinvest- Return on Investment
- Write-Perform-Grow markets
- Teach- Mentor- Plant- Perennial
My investments: (My mutual fund)
Communications
Recreation
Education
Arts
Travel
Entrepreneurship
My daily work: CREATE SUCCESS
Story and Songs
Unique Offering
Collaboration with Entrepreneurs
Cultivation of Ideas
Endeavors-Products
Service
Soul and Spirit - Engage Soul Work and ignite the Creative Spirit in self and others.
Objectives:2026
Start Internet Radio Network (Sound Century)
Community Radio Broadcast - Folk Heroes
CREATE Daily Column syndicated
Reboot CREATE Daily Podcast (RAB Inc)
Start CREATE Travel Club ($15000 investment)
Continue my work on certification on Therapeutic Music
Write a Thesis (Book) on Entrepreneurship- CREATE Daily
Start MAIN- in Walsenburg; Mentor Hill
Ana-Digital – and Studio Alliance
Continue to develop Quintessential Presentations Software and Design,
Start Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting (Lamar)
Support and invest in my wife's Music Mountain Instruments for Travel and Camping (and school)
Plan July 1, 2058- the good fruit orchard on my 100th Birthday (Instead of my bucket list) The Good Fruit Orchard. Will our Orchards outlast our lives on earth?