From Golf Balls to Art

“Damn, I only have a hundred (dollar bill)”, the man said, as he started to put back the group of golf balls he’d selected from our egg crates.

“Hey wait!” my brother said.  “We can make change for that.”  He motioned the man to come over to where I was standing, at the other end of our table full of egg cartons filled with golf balls.

I tallied up his purchase, pulled the wad of bills out of my pocket, and gave him his change.  He and the group of guys he was with were laughing on the way back to their car, impressed that a couple of kids selling golf balls on the side of the road could actually have enough cash to make change for his hundred dollar bill.

My Entrepreneurial Spirit was borne of Necessity

Money was pretty scarce when we were kids.  I still remember being embarrassed to have to point out my name on the list of “poor kids” that only had to pay 10 cents for lunch, to the lady who took the money in the school lunch line.

I figured out at a young age that if I wanted or needed anything “extra” beyond the basics that our family could provide, I was going to need to find some creative ways of making some money.  Even then I somehow knew that to pay for things like summer sports leagues, books that I wanted to order from those catalogs passed around in school, and even being able to get a car and go to college, I’d better get my act together and start earning some dough.

So at age 11, not being old enough to legally get a job (although I did start my first fast food job at age 15), and living  just down the road from a golf course, my brother and I got this idea.  At night, once the course was closed, we hopped the fence and went swimming in the pond and gathered up all those “good” golf balls that had landed in the pond that day.  We also scoured the really rough rough along the roadway and found good balls there as well.

We took our bounty home, cleaned them all up, organized them into “excellent”, “good”, and “fair” categories, and and placed them into egg cartons.  We made a big “golf balls for sale” sign and some little signs:  50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents.

And then we’d schlep our cartons and signs out to the side of the road really early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, strategically placing ourselves directly in the path that the golfers had to take to get to the course.

I’ll never forget the sense of freedom I felt when we would pack up at the end of the day and head home with our pockets full of cash, knowing that I’d have some spending money for the coming week and also feeling good that I could pay for some things myself and not have to ask my Mom for the money, because I knew we didn’t have much.

It seemed pretty easy back then – go find the golf balls, clean them up, and sell them to the guys that wanted them – no start up or operating costs, no overhead, no taxes – it was great!

With those humble beginnings, and working my way through high school and college, I developed a good business sense, and appreciation for what it takes to earn a living and make one’s way in this world.  Along the way, I’ve had my fair share of character-building moments and financial challenges, but those have only steeled my vision, focus, and determination to go forward in achieving my dreams.  They’ve also given me some good life stories to tell.

Speaking of Visions and Dreams…

It is my dream to make my ART as my full-time job, and I’ve been building the runway toward making that happen for several years now.  I’ve just recently achieved another one of the stepping stones in that grand plan:

Today I’m announcing the grand opening of my new online store.

my new online store

I’ll be selling my “Hanna-dyed” scarves, art cloth, and fabrics, as well as my textile paintings on my new online store.  I’ve posted a few items to start with and I’ll be adding more products over time, so if you’re interested in buying my work, check back occasionally for new items.

From golf balls to art….it’s been a long and winding road to get to this point and every bit of it necessary.  I am thankful for the financial nudge that necessity gave me at such an early age.  It’s helped me have so much appreciation for each achievement and all those along the way that have helped make it happen.

Thank you all for sharing my art career journey!