Londons Times Cartoons Blog » life coaches

Life Coaches Vs Wisdom. Is There A Winner? By Rick London

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:14:52 +0000

“So what gives you the right to open a wisdom shop?”, asked an old childhood friend on facebook. It is not that I am Confucius (or anything close), but it’s important to keep in mind that about 90%+ with whom I reconnect through social media have not seen me in at least 25 years; some as long as 35 years or more. I am 56 now and will be 57 in two days. So, they are correct, I was not so wise in kindergarten, 4th grade, 8th grade or even early college. I may not be that wise today, but probably a bit wiser than when we were friends in person at age three through twenty one.

So am I a wise old sage now? Not even close. But I did open RickLondonWisdomShop.com (and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express). Not to sound too much like early Steve Martin, “But you ask ‘Rick, why would you open a wisdom quote gift shop?’

First, why not? But there’s more to it than that. In 2007, I launched ShoesThatAmuse.com. At first, I simply designed shoes that showcased masters of poetry, philosophy, politics etc. and on the side panels posted a famous love quote by each of them. My inventory included (and still includes) Shakespeare, Emerson, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Nietzsche, Helen Keller, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and many others. It worked so at the urging of my wife Lee Hiller-London also a designer and owner of what the media has heralded “Dazzling” LeeHillerDesigns.com, I added greeting cards and later other gifts and collectibles such as mouse pads, T-shirts, caps, mugs and such.

But I was putting myself in a corner. Since ShoesThatAmuse.com became well-known for its famous love quotes, I was limited to famous love quotes, and they couldn’t be too new, or I would not be playing the copyright game fairly. So I went for the old-timers and still do; all the way back to Socrates and Plato.

As I have entered my third year of Twitter, I notice one of the most entertaining parts is that people love to post famous quotes. They are not all good. In fact some are dismal; but those are usually posted by life coach-types who take famous quotes, reword them a bit, and make them their own quotes. Some even “free-fall” not using even plagiarizing old quotes (and changing them up a bit) but trying their own. We quickly take these thieves out of our Twitter stream and look for good wisdom and love quotes by the true masters, not “make believe life coach masters” who look silly at best.

That knowledge itself; knowing the difference between real masters and faux masters aka life coaches is a form of wisdom. Here is an example. While most life coaches teach motivation and inspiration (generally taken from famous quotes, rewritten and packaged beautifully in books, CD’s etc) for hundreds and even thousands of dollars, William Wordsworth has one famous 3 word quote that sums it up and gives the same lesson; “To begin, begin”.

I started tweeting famous wisdom quotes and they were retweeted far more often than love quotes; though I must admit famous love quotes (especially by Shakespeare) get retweeted quite often.

So its a no-brainer. Do you want a pretty package of re-written quotes that the life coach claims is there unique original saying (and pay a fortune) or do you want the true

master’s quote for free? That’s a rhetorical question. By the way, like alligators in a Florida swamp, life coaches roam the halls of Twitter seeking their “food”. And you are usually in their jaws way before you are aware so caveat emptor.

Which brings me to Rick London Wisdom Shop. It does not take quotes and reword them. I do not make products from my own quotes though I’ve written several hundred. I create gifts, tees, mugs etc with graphics of the real masters with their real quotes and there are few items in the shop over $20 and many much less. Now there’s a way to remind oneself of wisdom without having to mortgage the house.

Bottom line, life coaches, spiritual coaches, spiritual guides, and all the other names they call themselves thrive in this economy. Many (and many are elderly and poor) spend their last penny in hopes of “an opportunity”. This same opportunity is available free by simply surfing the web and googling “famous wisdom quotes” and/or visiting your library and reading biographies of great accomplished wise men and women. In no time, you’ll be running circles around these charletons.

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Rick London, using no life coaches founded Londons Times Cartoons in 1997 in a tin shed in rural Mississipi. It has been the number one Google and MSN ranked offbeat cartoons and funny offbeat gifts since 2005. He recently founded Rick London Wisdom Shop the premiere shop for wisdom gifts. He’s founded other licensed image shop and offers an inventory of almost 300,000 items among all his cartoon collectible shops. Both Sears and Amazon carry many of them.

Ridding Your Home & Life Of Rodents & Life Coaches by Rick London

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:22:33 +0000

I particularly love to write a blog in which I haven’t a clue what the subject might be and this is for several reasons. And when it is early in the morning like now, I tend to regurgitate experiences that have recently occurred. And what person who has been on Twitter more than a month (I’ve been on 3 years) has not encountered the deadly “Life Coach On The Town” aka “Bronx Zoo’s Other Cobra”? They want your money and will go to ANY means to get it. Really.

Of course the first and main reason the gratuitous slap in the face to all the life coaches, social media experts, “wisdom experts” (who either lift quotes and/or articles and take credit) or edit them just enough to insult our intelligence with their name as the credit. I love such “writers” who do not understand that we’ve been to college, because they certainly haven’t. Most of those are what are known as “life coaches” who are nothing more than a “gang of literary thieves”. What they do is often attractively package and sale mundane and sometimes exciting philosophy that we learned in college and is, of course, now free on the web. They charge a fortune for books, tapes and the like, leaving their victims (clients) bleeding in the streets, but with the opportunity to become such a “literary-thief-in-training” as well. So it has a “Donald Trump/Amway MLM feel to it”.

My wife Lee and I decided a long time ago that was not for us. Don’t get us wrong. Nearly every major life coach on and off Twitter has tried to recruit us…let me rephrase that..recruit our wallets, but we decided it might be safer to put what extra we have in savings and invest in our our clean businesses which involve designing and selling gifts and collectibles. Our business is very simple, very clean, and offers products of tangible value, no regurgitated philosophy or wisdom, simply usable and/or collectible gifts, clothes, etc.

Lee is an amazing nature photographer who writes a nature blog, Hike Our Planet, and I’m sometimes told I can turn a phrase and create a cartoon that goes on all our products. Though we often deal with POD’s (Print On Delivery) manufacturing companies, our main factory for six years now is in Rhode Island and the majority of our products sell at Amazon. Recently the Sears Marketplace picked up a good many of my cartoon gifts. Lee has taught herself not only photography, but how to take that photography and her own unique graphics and create products such as shoes, tees and gifts at her Lee Hiller Designs Shop. Her items are also available at associate shops all over Amazon.com. She has no snake oil for sale. It’s the real thing.

Why do I make this “comparison story” between “life coach” and legitimate businessperson? Early on, especially in social networking, it could have so easily gone the other way. The life coaches are artists. Con artists. They are friendly. They know all the right things to say. They can win one’s hearts and minds the way no politician or army even dreamed of doing. And they have built in radar that heads straight for the pocketbook.

Life coaches often “build a name for themselves”, then start the process of writing books, making cds and tapes, having seminars, and talking nonsense that sounds somewhat like wise philosophy, and it should, as it is more often than not lifted from major names like Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and so many others, edited and/or watered down, and their own (the life coach’s name) placed on it. I’ve even seen them lift Biblical quotes, change them a bit, and wala, guess who the new author is?

If you’ve just started Twitter, you probably have many of them on your friends list who are following you. They seem to be predatory (the most) to newcomers who haven’t a clue. Many of the wiser ones change their moniker to “spiritual coach”, “spiritual advisor” “life author” “coach/author”, and the list goes on and on. In any case, watch for subtleties; the devil is in the detail and as I mentioned earlier, they are con-artists of the highest degree.

My wife Lee once quoted, “You are your own best life coach”, and she is so right. The alleged purpose of the life coach of whom you pay thousands of dollars is to motivate.

I prefer the freebie by Walt Whitman who would laugh at any life coach. His great quote is, “To Begin, begin”. Really, what more does one need to know?

Oh, look in the yellow-pages under “pest control” to rid ones home of rodents. I almost forgot that part of the story; but should note it since rodents and life coaches seem to be in the same category (sorry rodents, I know you’re better than that).

When I read an article, I don’t just want information, I want a remedy. A solution.

The solution is, when you find yourself being called and/or emailed by these “Oh, so nice life coaches”, and you will, cut off all ties. Yes you will hear cries like a baby. They will “badmouth you” on Twitter, facebook and wherever. Trust me, in the long-run, these are the types you DO want to bad-mouth you; for persons of goodwill know, that if these crooks think you are “no-good”, you must be a person of substance.

And you really are if you were able to out-maneuver these cyber-whacky sharks by cutting them off and blocking them from your Twitter stream. It is as simple as that. Oh and screen your calls. You may receive a few curse-word filled calls for your sinful betrayal. That means “You Done Good”. Congrats. Now it’s time to play REAL Twitter. The riff-raff has suddenly disappeared and the drama and chaos has magically dissolved. Oh, and you still have your money. Now, wasn’t that fun and easy?

On the side of the blog I’ve posted some recent products I’ve made from my various shops (the cartoon store, ShoesThatAmuse, and ABoyNameSushi) shops for your entertainment enjoyment. Oh, and please don’t be shy to purchase. If you don’t, I may have to have a life coach call you for an appointment.

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Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, and designer. He created Google and MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times in 1997. Less than a decade later he launched online shops which now feature over a quarter million licensed products which are featured at such shopping channels as Amazon, Sears, Shop.com, Shopping.com and many others. He also has his own shops such as Rick London Collection where he sells his favorite cartoons on tshirts, mugs, greeting cards and other funny gifts. London founded the world’s only famous love quote shoes in 2007, ShoesThatAmuse.com which have received the thumbs up from APWire and USA Today. This year he launched ABoyNamedSushi, a division of his ShoeShies which are sushi artwork shoes and gifts. London has published over 500 articles and his cartoons have appeared in the Jerusalem Post. His main Londons Times Cartoon site boasts 5000+ color offbeat cartoons which have lured 8.7 million visits. Several of his originals are a permanent part of the Roy Orbison Collection and Mayo Clinic Medical Library.