It’s not just corporate greed, its also about the education system and this strange belief that has overcome the nation that everyone has to have a college education to make a difference, when in fact it really can be better made by taking advantage of our natural gifts and talents. Why should a gifted artist need a degree? Why should a musician need a degree? Why should a person who does IT Technical support need a degree? Who really needs degrees? What mold of measurement does this hold a person up to except the hierarchy of the University structure? A structure which has capitalized greatly on the greed factor with amazing advertising campaigns stating that give the impression that *You are NOTHING without a degree!* – one that the government has gleefully saddled millions of otherwise intelligent Americans with insane amounts of debt to show how smart they were to get this degree in a field they usually don’t care anything about or aren’t passionate about but it pays well… right?
In doing so it’s absolutely depleted the creativity of the individual. If you read the signs of that so many of the 99ers hold up.. Really read.. Then read signs and pages held up on the blog site.. so many are “educated” and unemployed. They’re airing frustration at a SYMPTOM that has been created by this archaic educational structure that was developed during the INDUSTRIAL age to create good industrial employees. Their creativity has been quashed. Their individualism has been geared toward weekend busts of freedom. Their identity has become a title on a business card. Slowly, we’ve become USA, INC. – with banks as faceless, uncaring investors run by groups of people with no individual accountability and with the voracious appetite of a locust to consume everything it can. In as androgynous a fashion as it can, these faceless entities grow by taking on a customer base to feed the profits to its investors and shareholders.
You see.. The creative person inside feels they must conform. This conformity has left jobs that they were working to be outsourced to another location because it was cheaper, and yes, the Corporation will do that. Now.. that trained, educated person is lost.. the system they played the game is has failed. The education they received did not prepare them for the society of today. Their gifts, talents and dreams are left in their heads because they’re so well trained to suppress these thoughts because it *does not fit the industrial mold* they can’t see how to get past the current problems. Even our own elected legislature can’t see that. This is what the Occupation is really about.. an awakening that the Industrial Age of America has passed and its time for the individual talents to come back. It’s time to create a new age that embraces our creative roots while embracing all the global reach that technology has made smaller for us.
Aside from my own life experiences, these are some recent references and inspirations:
We Are the 99%
Sir Ken Robinson

I am Colin Bulla – I am the 99% – I am awake!

Authored by Colin Bulla, www.colinbulla.com

I know I’ve had a little lapse in time since I wrote last. When things get busy, sometimes they get really busy! In true form with Spring coming, baseball in Florida got underway. This year had an unexpected surprise for me… all three of my boys were engaged in America’s Pastime in addition to my engagement working with the Minnesota Twins and their A Advanced team, the Miracle, here in Ft Myers.

Since 1888 Florida has been hosting Spring Training for baseball teams and currently still boats the highest number of teams of any state with two professional teams and 14 minor league teams. Legends in the world of baseball such as John Henry Lloyd, Al Lopez, Buck O’Neil, Bill White and Lou Piniella were born in Florida. Others such as Deion Sanders and Mike Greenwell honed their crafts in Southwest Florida and have gone on to have significant sports careers that influence our local youth here today.

Of course, just mentioning Deion Sanders also brings to mind football. With three professional football teams, three college teams having won the National Championship multiple times in the past two decades, and virtually every high school and major educational institution offering it as a sport, you can well imagine what fall in Florida is like. Even watching the NFL game the names of Florida local youth who have made it through the grind, college and combine are found on many teams. For many in Florida its not just a sport, its a way of life.. one of those little institutions of comradery that exists where there seems to be little feeling of ‘home town’ pride in what many see as the transient communities of Florida.

In recent years the introduction of Ice Rinks and a sport that’s foreign to most of us who have lived in Florida all our lives has also made an appearance. No, its not speed skating or figure skating but ice hockey. Fun to watch but hard to get ‘in to’ as I have yet to see someone who doesn’t have a Canadian accent playing the sport. I love watching the games live locally and sometimes on TV, and even cheered on our Tampa team when they won the cup a few years ago.. but I have trouble staying with it for the 9 months it seems to be played, eh.

Of course, Florida is also synonymous with a host of other sports. Golf seems to be one that many associate with Florida, though few I know actually play it. Diving and Fishing are highly participated in. Kayaking and paddle boarding seems to have developed into its own niche in recent years as it provides inexpensive ways to enjoy being on the water and getting exercise, sometimes mixing the diving and fishing in as well. And lets not forget Beach Volleyball!

No matter how you look at it, Florida is a state the beckons its residents to be outdoors. Gators, snakes and bugs are no match for the active people of Florida.. regardless of the heat you’ll find people out enjoying the beauty of what Florida has to offer virtually every day… though sometimes we have to duck and wait for a hurricane to pass by!

Colin Bulla is a Certified Life Coach and Professional Network Marketer. Call 239-878-2328 or email colin@colinbulla.com to arrange an interview to receive coaching or to work with his amazing networking team of sharp men and women changing their financial stars!

Authored by Colin Bulla, www.colinbulla.com

Continuing the theme about Florida’s history, I’ll delve into stuff thats not normally taught into school with this blog. Most people, at least in Southwest Florida, know that Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone spent winters here.

In 1885 Thomas Edison purchased property near current downtown Fort Myers, Florida. Being the cutting edge inventor that Mr Edison was, the house he had built was one of the first pre-fab house built in the United States, having been built in Maine and shipped down on two schooners and assembled in 1886.  In addition to the home he also had a lab built so that he could continue to work on experiments and ideas while wintering in the tropical climate.

It wasn’t long before Thomas Edison convinced his friend Henry Ford to join him in Florida for the winters. Mr Ford acquired property adjacent to Edison’s and the two wintered together until Mr Edisons death in 1931.  Mr Ford was also known to bring prototype vehicles down (or have them shipped down) to drive around and test. There is a story told of a news paper reporter who found Mr Edison and Mr Ford sitting on the running board of a Ford vehicle chatting and asked the two for a brief interview. The reporter asked all manner of questions but never asked about the car, had he done so he would have had the story of the year as Mr Ford fully expected the young reporter to ask about the vehicle and share about this new vehicle with him. It turned out that the vehicle Mr Edison and Mr Ford were sitting on was the prototype sedan with the first V8 motor developed just inches away from this young man who interviewed them. Think about that the next time your asking people questions…. are you asking the right ones?

While Ford and Edison cavorted around the south western parts of Florida, another man and budding auto manufacturer,Rasnom E. Olds, part time resident, auto racer and developer was making his name on the packed beach sands of Daytona and Ormand beaches.  Olds, already famous for racing on the beaches with his first timed run sometime between 1894 and 1897. About 1896 or 1897  he and Alexander Winton (Winton Motor Carriage Company), arranged the the first unoffical staged event. Winton beat Olds by .2 seconds and planting the seeds for future beach auto racing! In 1902 Winton, driving The Bullet, and Olds, piloting the Pirate, were at it again racing on the beach, having rounded up about 50 spectators, put on a show between two different approaches to a stock racing car. Officials clocked them both as having achieved the same speeds of 57 MPH, a somewhat unlikely occurrence  but allowing for them both to advertise their results and promote for better results next time. It’s speculated that the Ormand Beach hotel may have played a part in that to entice the return of the drivers and specators. It worked! The following year the drivers returned as did thousands of spectators, and a new driver, James Hathaway and his car The Stanley Steamer. Rich people brought out their cars and were persuaded to take them on speed runs, and a reporter described the crowd which had gathered as a mix of “crackers” and “pickaninnies”. After the activities, participants and representatives of Daytona and Ormand gathered together to create the Florida East Coast Automobile Association. Olds is also credited conceiving and developing whats now known as Oldsmar in the north side of Tampa.

About the same time Edison was building his winter estates, another well known name in the United States was setting up shop in North Florida. Henry Morrison Flagler, a known as a developer, tycoon with Rainroads,  and a partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, was instrumental in the development of Florida’s east coast. It started by following physicians advice to that his first wife, Mary, winter in Florida to ease her illness. Mary died two years later and in 1881 Mr Flagler married the woman who was his wifes caregiver, Alice. They traveled to St Augustine and had the seeds planted for future business ventures after finding the hotel and transportation options lacking. In 1885 Flagler began building the 540 room Ponce de León Hotel (amazing influence that Ponce had!). To support his new hotel ventures, he also created a series of short line railroads which became known as the Florida East Coast Railway. In 1888 the hotel opened and was an instant success. It wasn’t long before Palm Beach then to an area that was little developed, now Miami! By 1905 Flagler decided that the railroad needed to be extended again all the way to Key West. If you’re thinking he was crazy, he is a businessman and he saw opportunity! At the time Key West was Florida’s most populated city and the one with the deepest ports. In 1912 the overseas railroad was complete and for the first time in modern history, the ability to go from Key west to the mainland was able to be done without taking a boat!

Of course, while all of this was going on Aviation was quickly soaring into its own significance. Some may know about Lincoln Beachey, an aviator who was nationally renown and considered to be one of the best in the business. Mr Beachey is also credited as being the first aviator to take off from Florida soil. After winning a contest for powered flight time aloft in Orlando in 1910 (5 minutes, duplicated each day of the fair), Lincoln Beachey then took the next logical step by making the worlds first successful night flight over Tampa. In 1912 another aviation pioneer established the first Florida flight school on Miami beach. In 1917 the military selected Florida for flight training and used Carlstrom Field, near Arcadia for principle training . In 1919 the first “guided missle”, a radio controlled plane carrying a bomb, was also flown from Carlstrom field. On August 21, 1920 Lt A.G. Hamilton recorded the highest parachute jump by descending 20,900 feet lasting about 12 minutes. And in 1926 Florida Airways was founded by Eddie Rickenbacker, who later took over as general manager then owner of Eastern Airlines in 1935 and 1937 respectively.

And thats how Florida went from a swampy appendage hanging off of the southeastern tip and began a new age of growth and prosperity for the entrepreneurs who thought with no boxed boundaries!

Colin Bulla is a Certified Life Coach and Professional Network Marketer. Call 239-878-2328 or email colin@colinbulla.com to arrange an interview to receive coaching or to work with his amazing networking team of sharp men and women changing their financial stars!

Authored by Colin Bulla, www.colinbulla.com

Continuing the blogging history of Florida and following my first nights blog as a bit of an outline, tonight I’m writing about Key West!

Every year millions of people make their way to the beautiful chain of islands at the southern tip of Florida thats simply referred to as the Keys.  From Key Largo to Key West, the 106 mile island chain is littered with historical moments, pirates, treasures gained and lost, stories and songs inspired and written, and lives and lifestyles changed forever.

Ponce de León may have discovered the islands as far as the western explorers were concerned, but these islands were already inhabited by a local tribe, the Calusa’s. Though efforts to establish a farming colony further north in the area of Mound Key had failed, a fishing and salvage village as established with a Garrison on the island of Cayo Hueso, or Key West as we know it now.  The  island changed national ownership several times from Spain to Great Britain, back to Spain 2o years later, however no true defacto control or governance was ever established.

In 1815 the Spanish governor of Cuba deeded the island to Juan Pablo Salas, a Royal Spanish Navy Artillery officer posted at St Augustine, la Florida! When Florida was transferred to the United States the eager owner of this island sold it twice! Once for a sloop valued at about $575, the other to a US businessman in a Havana cafe for approximately $2000 in pesos. On March 25, 1822 the schooner Shark was Matthew C. Perry sailed to Key West, planted the U.S. Flag and physically claimed the Keys as U.S. Property. It was subsequently noted that there was acts of piracy occurring in the Caribbean as well. Surprise!

The island was renamed to Thompsons Island, the harbor called Port Rogers, and in 1823 Commodore David Porter took control with the United States Navy West-Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron ruling with Martial Law. Piracy cleared up mostly, the names however…. well, you see how that worked out!

Most of Key Wests residents were immigrants from the Bahama’s. They were mostly the sons and daughters of Loyalists who fled to the nearest ‘Crown’ soil after the American revolution and were simply referred to as Conchs (konks, not konsh as some people mispronounce it as).  The term has been revived in the 20th century to identify people born in Key West (saltwater conch) or migrated there and lived greater than 7 years (freshwater conch).

By 1860 there were a number of major production businesses in operation in Key West – fishing, salt production and salvage. Salvage was such a lucrative business that it actually helped propel Key West to the status of one of the wealthiest towns, per capita, in the US.

In 1912, Henry M. Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway connected Key West to the mainland with the Overseas Railway for the first time since western inhabitants started calling it home. After it was partially destroyed in the hurricane of 1935, the US Government rebuilt it as an automobile highway, completing in 1938, as an extension of US1.

Some notable names of people who called Key West home are Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. Aside from the 6 or 7 toed cats which still inhabit the house that Hemingway lived in, there is still a penny in the concrete of the pool he had installed.. its said that as he shoved the penny into the wet concrete he proclaimed “Here! Take the last penny I’ve got!”

In 1982, Key West briefly declared independence from the United States in protest over a boarder patrol blockade, and called itself The Conch Republic.

While tourism is more the norm for income among the islands, one thing still remains.. the salvage for the lost gold, silver, and gems lost aboard the many vessels which did not successfully pass by is still sought by many.. found by few.. and the stuff that dreams and legends are made of!

Colin Bulla is a Certified Life Coach and Professional Network Marketer. Call 239-878-2328 or email colin@colinbulla.com to arrange an interview to receive coaching or to work with his amazing networking team of sharp men and women changing their financial stars!

Authored by Colin Bulla, www.colinbulla.com