Happy Friday loversssssss. It’s been a hot ass week and in the best way possible. Today you get your dose of positivity baked into the ramblings of me, your host(?), Colin!
Am I considered a host if you’re reading my words? Your leader? Your…. bestie? Yea, that feels right. Your bestie.
I hope you’ve all had a great week. The summer solstice is here. Love is in the air (or maybe thats dehydration). And this week we’re talking all about — Creativity.
Hopefully you’ve noticed there’s been some changes to the format of this post (if not that’s okay too, I have no clue what I’m doing).
That’s because I’ve finally figured out what to call this thing.
From now on you’re going to be reading the No Money Memoirs. I’ve been thinking a lot about my life as a creative, professional, mid-20’s something, single dude living this life. I’ve thought a lot about what resonates with me, and the identity I want to have.
I introduce to you: No Money.
My creative brand.
‘But Colin, that means you’re a broke bitch. Why would anyone want to work with a broke bitch?’
Omg bestieee always the good questions. Well, this is for a few reasons.
It’s something that I’ve always been hyperconscious about in my own life.
It’s something I’ve always chased, but that chase is something that never made me happy.
I believe it’s something that the majority of people can resonate with. Startup founders? No Money. Artists? No Money. The majority of the population? No. Money.
That’s right — the whole concept is centered on the #1 thing that makes me, and MANY others, the most anxious. Money. And not having any of it.
We’re all in the wealthiest time in history, yet many live paycheck to paycheck. We’re in a time of abundance, yet many have a scarcity mindset. For me — creativity should never feel inaccessible. It should never feel scarce.
Creativity shouldn’t be gate kept by having means.
Creativity is about creation. From thin air. From the imagination — bringing to life ideas that are jostling around in that little noggin we have.
What does this mean? Why am I telling you this? Well, I’ve had this concept for a pay-what-you-can-model for editorials for awhile and it’s something I’m going to start doing soon.
There’s some sort of business model here for creativity to be built off accessibility. I’m going to find it (AND NO ITS NOT IN AI).
Looking hot and feeling good and being guided by someone who can help you feel that way should be for everyone.
Having someone capture those moments should be for everyone.
‘What does that mean for today?’ Lemmeeeee tell ya.
We’re going to talk through my relationship with creativity. Where it started. What I wanted to be when I grew up. How it fits into my life. How you too, can be creative — even if you think you’re not. And what I want for the future.
And then we’ll wrap it up with two things: A thank you to Nicer Tuesdays for the inspiration of this post, and a dose of positivity.
Buckle in, it’s gonna be a fun one.
Where do we begin?
Let’s start with baby boy Colin. Little itty bitty blond towhead Colin.
This kid was ALWAYS imagining things. From little imaginary friends that lived in his walls to ghosts that haunted his stuffed animals. He faced sleep paralysis and thought these were angels and demons coming to get him.
He had a very overactive imagination. So much so he was scared of Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy (almost socked my dad in the face once because I caught him coming in my room to check for teeth under the pillow).
But he also had so much fun with his imagination.
He put himself in every single book he read (and there were a lot). He created characters he wanted to be in every video game and imagined himself living those lives (I still do).
He dressed up in costumes with his childhood friends and would create these fantasy worlds to live in in his childhood basement.
He played GI-Joe’s and created forts out of blocks to build a world that he controlled.
He doodled. He built. He created.
His answer for what he wanted to be when he grew up? An inventor.
What the actual fuck does that even mean? He had no clue. But he wanted to be it.
His first invention on paper was a hover board (and I swear to god I still think that would be dope af).
But he was always inventing something that he didn’t realize until much much later was a form of invention.
Worlds.
He created these scenarios that brought about feelings of adventure, confidence, laughter and fun that he loved so much.
As he grew older this shifted more towards video games and living in other worlds than creating his own.
But he found a new way of creation — poetry. And later photography.
He’d now build little bite sized worlds based off his experience and feelings. Or capture the world around him and then edit photos to bring about a new feeling that wasn’t there before.
This has always been my life. One of creativity. And it’s taken multiple different shapes.
The Evolution of ‘Invention’ to Me
This love of invention and creation made me decide to go into engineering — I thought that was going to be the closest thing for me to go into to be an inventor.
I learned pretty quickly that was the furthest thing from the truth.
So I picked up a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation — seeing these incredible people start businesses and be entrepreneurs was inspiring. I saw that they were creating these new technologies from thin air, just like an inventor.
I was like — yes, that’s it. That’s what I want to do. So I spent the last 5 years surrounded by these people, supporting these people, and working in a space that slowly took me away from my creative self.
I found myself in venture capital because I had (and still have — we’ll come back to this) a pursuit of money. It pushed who I am in my core — to the side. I worked behind spread sheets. I wasn’t creating. I wasn’t interacting with anything that inspired me on a day to day basis.
Something I realized in this process was that I need to be creating. I need to have a job that allows me to be both analytical and creative. And be supported in that process.
In this journey, I’ve had jobs that allow me to do that, I’ve had jobs that don’t. Unfortunately, I was in one that didn’t. But it was a lesson that pushed me in a direction that I needed to go in.
It made me trust my gut. It made me chase my soul.
It made me reflect on what is important to me and where I feel my flow.
The answer to that is creating. I feel that as I type this. I don’t regret the journey I’ve been on to get here. A story for another time — but my career path has been anything but straight forward. In fact, I’m still figuring it out. But tech did teach me a lot of lessons.
To keep it relevant, it taught me the ABCs: Always Be Closing.
But creativity taught me: Always Be Curious.
And quite frankly — I think that’s more important.
I want to give direction. I want to bring ideas to life. I want to bring YOUR ideas to life. I want to be curious, I want to follow little inklings and see where they lead. I want to flip the sample (shout out Hassan Rahim for the lingo).
I want to turn something minuscule, unobvious, ordinary — into a centerpiece people love.
I want to build worlds. Even if just for a moment.
To me, this is invention. Creativity is invention. And I am an inventor — in my own sense of the word.
Tech taught me the ABCs: Always Be Closing. But Creativity taught me: Always Be Curious.
And quite frankly — I think that’s more important.
(Inspired by Karlotta Freire’s talk at Nicer Tuesdays)
Colin, this is sick, but how can I be creative? I’m not creative. I can’t even draw.
Lover, creativity comes in all shapes and sizes — just like people. People are creative with — numbers, finances, yarn, cooking, baking, doodling, fonts, design, business, reading, writing, gardening, organizing, costumes, fashion, makeup. You can find creativity everywhere.
My take is that humans are inherently creative. We have been building things since the dawn of time. Fire. Huts. Farms. Skyscrapers. The Internet.
All of these things stem from creativity.
My advice — to be creative is to practice a part of you that has always been curious.
It starts with wonder. It starts with day dreaming. It starts with tapping into the little kid that you were.
My creativity often starts with self reflection — especially my writing. Perhaps start there.
Ask yourself, ‘How do I want to express myself?’ — maybe that will let you come up with a outfit that feels, in your gut, exactly like who you are.
If you journal — try letting your imagination run wild instead of journaling about how you’re feeling. Incorporate those feelings into fiction. Or poetry. You never know what might come up with.
If you like to bake and cook, make a food that fits your mood. Or bake yourself a sexy sweet little treat (we all know you deserve one).
Perfect the recipe and then make tweaks. Find complimentary flavors to change what you started with.
For me — being creative has always been about trusting my gut. Following the threads of curiosity that are pulling me toward a final version of what I started making.
Don’t go grandiose to begin with. Start simple. A doodle, a stanza, one cookie, one line of code, a house plant. Whatever it might be — start there.
As long as you start. That’s the most important thing. You never know what you might create (house plants are my favorite because you can create your own little jungle).
Trust your gut, let it lead you to your soul.
Where my soul is taking me.
Now for the future.
No Money is just beginning. And it’s going to be place where whoever wants to be creative can be.
I want to create a place where, even if you have no money, you can express yourself.
Even if I have no money, we can express ourselves — together. For now, No Money Memoirs is going to be the easiest way I can begin.
I’ll continue to document my time during funemployment. I’ll continue to write my thoughts. And publish my poetry all under this format of No Money Memoirs.
I’ll continue to do photography — with the idea to turn No Money into a creative space across mediums.
Stay tuned for that ;)
What I want for my future is one filled with curiosity, creativity, and accessibility.
I do want to make money — I do have a pursuit of money (told you we’d come back to this later), but I am no longer making that what drives me. I will pursue my soul. My creations. The love I have for this life.
For me, creating my world — in real life — is my ultimate goal.
It’s been what my gut has been telling me to do. It’s why I’m Chasing My Soul.
Nicer Tuesdays
‘Colin, you mentioned this thing called Nicer Tuesdays a few time today. What the hell is that?’
Phenomenal question as always. I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to a random even in NYC this week by my good friend Malu, a design girly.
Nicer Tuesdays is an event produced by the It’s Nice That centered on highlighting creatives, the creative process, and providing inspiration. It’s Nice That is was founded in 2007 in response to a university brief to “put something into the public domain that makes people feel better about themselves” (remember I told you we’d have our dose of positivity in here).
It’s grown into one of the leading communities for creatives, by creatives, to inspire and influence art.
Nicer Tuesdays, in particular, is an event where three speakers from across creative spheres share their story, insights from a recent landmark project, and showing the ideas and processes behind their creativity.
As the team puts it, it’s ‘fun, candid and ever-eclectic,’ which is very on point. The talk I attended highlighted a few of the artists I mentioned earlier (Hassan Rahim, Karlotta Freire, and Poupay) is a source of inspiration for creative people of all types from across the globe.
What I learned during the few hours I was there is…
To give yourself permission to accept that your personal style is good enough to be your professional style. Don’t compensate for some imagined version of what’s professional.
To communicate who YOU are through your art. Communicate who your SUBJECT is through your art.
That art doesn’t need to be pretty — it can be sarcastic, it can be grimy, it can be simple. It can be whatever you want it to be.
That competition kills creativity. But ‘constructive gatekeeping’ forces people to create (I’ll elaborate — don’t give away all your secrets, but encourage those around you to figure out how to recreate something you’ve already done. It’ll teach them more about their creativity than giving them a handout).
To fall off your bike. Fail. Make shitty art. It’ll lead you to your masterpiece.
To Always Be Curious
To trust your gut. It’s telling you something and be curious enough to follow it through to the end.
Thank you to the Nicer Tuesdays crew and It’s Nice That for putting on a wonderful event — excited to now be part of the community.
Now: for more positivity hits to your brain worms!!!
No Money? No Problems. There’s positivity all around us.
They say mo money mo problems, so no money means we’re problem free. Look. At. That.
What I have seen around this fun little world since Monday:
Blue Skies EVERY day. That’s insane. I loveeeeee it. HAPPY SUMMER. Seasonal Depression IS OVER!
I randomly ran into other Ohio State alumni on the Subway. So I made a new friend — look at that! That’s happy news.
I often say I hate old people because of how they are entitled to saying hi to my dog. Today is different. I love old people. BECAUSE. This 90 year old man was pushing grocery carts in Louisiana heat, and a woman raised $233K for him to retire. He deserves it. It’s time to rest my friend.
Conservation works. I’ll repeat. CONSERVATION WORKS. We’ve seen it time and time again. And this time with the Iberian Lynx. In just 2 decades it’s come back from the brink of extinction. Yay Cats!
Who watched the History Channel religiously growing up? Just me???? (doubt it you lying bitches). WELL. In archaeology related news — 900 Ming Dynasty artifacts were recovered from shipwrecks in the South China Sea.
POP QUESTION: (only because the above reminded me of this fun way to hit on people — if they get it right, you buy them a drink)
Have you ever been so annoyed by how loud construction is? Or how about your neighbors leaf blower? NO NEED TO BE ANNOYED ANYMORE. Students invented a leaf blower silencer. Be careful — you never know when you’re gonna get snuck up on by a leaf blower now.
I’m gonna leave you with some news about an ass🍑. What ass you say? The ass that got lost and has been spotted living with a heard of elk 5 years later. Living. His. Best. Life.
Much luv,
colin scott mortemore
(bet some of u besties didn’t even know my middle name. fake bitches. we ain’t even friends are we?)
Ps. if you’ve not checked out my poetry on Medium you should. A whole 71 other people like it and so should you. Click here for my deepest darkest secrets.