Stealth Stories

I’ve mentioned experience before and I’m sure I’ll mention many more times in the future.

Experience is good. I almost get offended when someone doesn’t want to experience something. Especially when I think it’s great. Surely if it gives me this much joy you will enjoy it also.

“Hey, have a bite of this salmon”… “No thanks, I don’t eat fish”.

“Hey, you should try Skydiving” … “No thanks, I’m scared of heights”.

“Hey, listen to this audiobook”…”No thanks, I don’t like books”.

“Well, have you ever tried any of them?” “Nah, they don’t interest me”.

People are different. Fair enough. Makes sense.

Fun factors aside, these people are missing out on huge amounts of experience. How else are you ever going to truly understand what these things are about? Experience is an essential tool to live. Living is experiencing.

A good friend of Experience is Determination. When the two get together you are almost unstoppable.

As a young man, serving a licence suspension, I remember riding a bicycle to the train station, going to the city and hopping back on the bike again to ride kilometres in 35 degree heat, with a heavy backpack full of sample designs, laptops and ideas to get to a meeting. I would arrive sweaty, haggard and looking somewhat unprofessional but hey, I got there, respected the client’s time and delivered as always.

Not all weeks are the same. Some are busy, some are slow, some are fun and others are mundane. My favourite weeks are the successful ones. What do I mean by successful? Well, we all enjoy success. Defining success is hard, it’s different for everyone. I find success in many ways. Gaining it through work is one of my favourite approaches.
Since work is something we can’t avoid and have to do, why not use work to increase success both for you yourself and your clients and customers. Success is many ways is a pathway to happiness. Who doesn’t want that right?
A big part of Stealth Design is offering success for my clients; mostly achieved through forms of visual communication. It’s a pleasure to be able to compile years of knowledge and unload it into a project. The results speak for themselves when I can actively take the reigns and share my thoughts and wisdom to clients who have real problems to solve. I like solving problems.
For those who don’t know, when reflecting upon my journey, Stealth has evolved and transformed significantly over the years. Out of the gate I was fortunate enough to score a job (that I was completely unqualified for) creating designs for a brand that I truly loved and subsequently was directly involved in an existing hobby of mine. This hobby has actually eventuated to become potentially my most favourite hobby – driving, tinkering and enjoying performance cars. Yes, I’m a rev-head at heart.
Stealth was born out of necessity; the initial out-of-the-gate dream job was soon to be a failing one. This business was on a downward spiral. It wasn’t run efficiently (or ethically) and before long closed completely. I felt sorry for the owner. He tried hard. He had the ideas, he had the motivation books on the shelf, a subscription to Money Magazine, the premises, the people, the fan base – everything. So why did it fail?
Honestly, I was too young to remember exactly, but I do remember his face, the face when he had to admit that it was failing. The face he had when he learnt that I had just gotten a loan for a car a few months earlier that he knew I wouldn’t be able to afford soon. The face he had when he had to return computers on lease, sell his own car and trade equipment to staff instead of pay them their wage. It wasn’t nice. While he saved face for a while, I could see in his eyes that things weren’t perfect.
All of us loved the brand. We loved working there. We had a creative bond between us, and each staff member wanted this thing to work. I remember being mad at the owner, he let me down, he let “us” down…
Looking back now (12+ years ago)… He had a team of young and enthusiastic advocates on his side with a fanbase ready and willing to buy. He had a share of the market that was unchallenged and virtually unrivalled. This is hard to find in the modern world and if the same opportunities arise today it’s almost a guaranteed win. We are more connected than ever and are overloaded with ideas, opinions, choices, and options plus a whole new digital world ready to be used in it’s full capacity.
I could solve his problems now. I couldn’t then, but I could now.
The owner would have been my age now back then. I guess you could argue that I experienced the failure of his business as though it was my own, maybe not to the same degree as him but a failing none the less.
I never wanted to experience that feeling again but at the same time, I didn’t fear it. Then it occurred to me… he had missed out on some vital “experience” that would have allowed him to pick up the business and move in a direction aimed for success.
The gift of experience is so underrated. Experience can’t be taught. By the very definition of it’s name you need to “experience” experience. There isn’t a substitute. Simply doing something results in experience – good and bad.
At Stealth, experience is but only one of the many things brought to the table when engaged in any project. Fast forward to now and I realise how many trials and tribulations I have pushed through – in both business and personal life. It’s the experience, lessons learnt and effective strategies created that bring on success.
How’s your business going? What problems do you have? It’s time for you to succeed.
Let’s chat…

The rain has been impressive this week! Flooding, road closures, rivers overflowing. The rain feeds life but it can also wash everything away. Sometimes I feel like the human brain could do with some rain to give it a good rinse every once in a while.

I’ve been feeling a bit like I need a strong rinsing lately. The stress of work and everyday life, coupled with constant bombardment from social media, TV and emails relentlessly fills my brain up to capacity. Perhaps you can relate?

I often listen to podcasts, they provide me with some relaxation, which while productive and informative, tend to still overstimulate the mind. Sometimes it’s fantastic and other times it just adds to the mix of “Stuff” the brain accumulates.
A recent podcast I listened to involved a character who goes by the name of Naval Ravikant. He’s an interesting person, involved in multiple businesses, intelligent, wise and a philosopher in many ways.

He mentions that he likes to “rinse out” his mind every once in a while. His method of choice involved meditation and switching off the devices that equate to “chatter” in the mind. I gave this a go the other day for the first time and discovered this was pretty difficult but from the short time I tested his instructions, it felt like I experienced some immediate benefits. Look him up, you may find some value there.

The next day I had scheduled a meeting in Sydney CBD and afterwards decided to go for a walk through the city admiring the impressive architecture in the rain. I love the rain. Something about rain is calming and positive.

After wandering around the city for thirty minutes, I eventually found myself walking through Hyde park. The rain was heavy enough that most people were inside or staying under cover, avoiding the park. The park was completely empty. I was the only one there, enjoying serenity in a place that is normally flooded with people. Ironically the park was almost on the verge of flooding and I was instructed to leave prematurely as they were closing the park due to “severe weather”. I was disappointed as the grass and surrounding fauna were thriving due to all the rain we’ve had. It was very pleasant.

Since I was kicked out of the park, I realised that I was quite close to the NSW Art Gallery. I haven’t been there for years. The last time I had visited the art gallery was around 2006 when I was still studying graphic design. I thought to myself, that’s a great way to do some “rinsing”.

When I got to the Art Gallery, you’re greeted by a huge sandstone building with six giant columns out the front. It resembles the Panthenon in Greece. Very impressive.
Once you get inside, there is an expansive main corridor that divides the left and right galleries. The left side is for Contemporary and Aboriginal art and the right side is reserved for International artists. I spent the next 40 minutes or so wandering around the gallery, arms behind my back, hands clasped together above my bum mimicking the walk that the rest of the “adults” were doing around me, as though I visit the gallery often and know what I’m looking at… Jokes on them.

Initially, I wasn’t really connecting with anything I’d looked at. By the time I was done with the contemporary arts, I reached the International arts area. This section is described as a “Grand Court” and it is. Each room is of a colonial style with high ceilings and elegant trimmings. Some paintings on this side date back to the 16th Century. All of the paintings here tell some interesting stories. You can sit and look at them for hours and imagine scenarios surrounding what each painting is about.
There was only one artist that really made an impact on me. His name was Eugene von Guerard. He was born in Vienna but moved to Australia in the 1800’s. He had some amazing paintings of New Zealand, best I’ve ever seen. His brushwork is amazing, especially the detail of the water and clouds – almost lifelike. I’ve never been to New Zealand but from what I’ve heard, these paintings represent exactly how I would imagine it to look.

The paintings were the very definition of “Peace” embodied on oil canvas. I could imagine him setting up a spot and just getting lost painting what he was looking at. Astonishingly, a plaque on the wall informed me that Eugene had painted these in a studio using drawings he had made on the spot and wasn’t in New Zealand at all!
The imagination is a powerful thing. It’s a shame we never get to use it to it’s full extent because of all the “chatter” we receive day to day through our phones, work and interactions.

While I only spent about an hour here, I can say that reflection and alone time is good. I think Naval the Podcaster is onto something. I recommend it. Make time for it.

A women came into my office today enquiring about a website. She was an older women, I would have guessed around 55. Turns out she was 70! I’m sure she would be pleased with that assessment. She was quirky, intelligent and arty and reminded me very much of my creative Auntie – Kate. I liked her instantly.

Her initial queries resulted in a full blown meeting. This isn’t a normal occurrence as all meetings typically need to be booked in advance, however, for whatever reason, I wanted to hear what she had to say.

 I took her to the meeting room and loaded up the 70” screen with a bunch of reference material. As with all creatives, she really wanted to show me her work. Admittedly, I was very eager to see what she can do.

Her work was very unique, she uses landscape photography as a base for her artwork and turns it into kaleidoscopic art using photoshop. It was very psychedelic, and merged her love of photography, art (and probably) LSD & Marijhuana from her heyday. Again, I liked her instantly.

During the meeting we discussed, a range of topics intermittently with her website/brand related inquiries. While her website requirements were somewhat rudimentary she had a unique style that I could totally run with to develop some very effective strategic marketing. 

It’s interesting to me that most of my main friend circle encompasses some of the most sensible and successful people I know, and yet here I am always somewhat drawn to this type of person. While I have met similar people, this woman was still different to everyone else I’ve come across and definitely shared the creative gene. I do think that this “creative gene” is a gift and provides a  unique bond to some degree. I don’t think non-creatives experience this but I may be wrong…

I’d really enjoy working with this woman in the future and since it is still fresh, perhaps we will. At least at the time of writing.

One main impression she did leave with me with was her immediate and constant comments on how valuable and engaging the meeting was. “You should be teaching business” “You are born to teach”… These comments are always humbling as she was getting so much value from a free consultation as well as enjoying a fellow creative’s company… Imagine what paid services would be like right!? 😀

Her main problem is that she is too scared to put her work out to the public. The fear of being ridiculed, judged and also having her work plagiarized and illegally distributed have been overbearing for her so far.  I’ve been there, this isn’t a problem. Just put it out there! As Oscar Wilde once said “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken”. 

While writing this I have been at home working in solidarity with a very interesting soundtrack for the past few hours.

It’s super abstract. A bit weird. It’s definitely not for everyone but (to me) It’s like the earth’s beauty and chaos joined in spiritual symphony. 

I’m not exactly sure what you do with your time at home, but when you’re just chilling, possibly working, doing chores, whatever… you should just have this album on in the background. It’s like going to the theatre and just getting what you’re given. It’s also awesome to work too when you’re over everything else. 

Each track is so different yet similar. Fuck, it actually makes me want to do LSD and listen to it while I carry out my activities. (Note: I haven’t had LSD before but if I did, it would be to this soundtrack).

For reference this album is IGORR – Spirituality and distortion.

Standout tracks: Camel Dancefloor, Lost in introspection and Overweight Posey.

Be high. Be sober. Be drunk; doesn’t matter. It does have some Death metal elements (Track “Parpaing” for example ) which you might skip… I did skip this one initially but see if you can get through it. There may be some tracks that scare you. Tracks that amaze you. If you don’t listen to any form of rock or metal at all it might be too much but give it a chance – for creative sake. 

I’ve never seen drum and bass, dubstep, Opera, Classical, Black Metal and Death Metal meld so seamlessly into one. Maybe it’s just because I have studio reference speakers on this computer. Either way; Fuck I’m digging it and I hope you do too.

Circling back to the point of this story, this woman not only has problems I can solve but she opened my eyes as to a skill set that I had not previously recognised wholly.

Part of my business enables me to meet unique and interesting people which I find super enjoyable. It reinvigorates, excites and awakens.

It’s always the smallest, most unique encounters that make the most impact. This goes both ways. There really isn’t a substitute for this. You never know what will come into your life so enjoy every aspect of it and roll with the experiences – good and bad. 

Looking back at my life and especially all of the business interactions and successes I have enjoyed… It’s a minor introduction, a twist of fate, a circle of events that lead you to prosperity… or at the very least a minor difference in your own life that provides a path to an alternative route for what’s to come.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been attracted to beautiful things. The artwork in my books as a child. The cinematography in the films I watched. The cool packaging of the toys I played with and the creative writing in all of the media I consumed – I absorbed it all.

My imagination was bigger than most of the other kids my age and this was reflected in the games we would play. I have fond memories of role playing with my neighbours. Our generation grew up on Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Gi-Joe and Ninja Turtles. Since we were all impressionable boys, it was only natural that a favourite of ours was the aptly titled: “Fighting Guys”.

“Fighting guys” was our very own action movie where we would play out intricate roles from fighting dragons and adventures into the jungle to fighting crime as hardened cops. One time, I brought sandwich bags full of talcum powder over to my friends house so we could play “Drug dealers”. Man did I get in trouble… I remember even getting an old pair of gloves and cutting the fingers off so I looked like a real “street punk”. Pretty intricate stuff for an 8 year old.

We all loved playing “Fighting Guys”. My friends would always make it my responsibility to set up the story or scenario – which I loved because I always had a new fun idea to play out. It was at this time where I first decided that I would like to do this for a job someday. Whenever the question Of “what do you want to be when you grow up”? I would always emphatically respond with “A director”. Not an actor but a director. This is an important distinction as after testing many different jobs throughout my youth prior to my current job it makes sense that I ended up where I did. While it would have been nice to just hop straight to my current career path, experiencing alternative careers was paramount to truly understanding where my passions and skillsets lie.