"Writer, Artist, entrepreneur extraordinaire, catalyst of dreams"
In a SiteSell (an online e-business site building host) case study 34 year old Artella founder, Marney Makridakis (who I affectionately call "Baby Peg") said: In September, 2002, I had the idea to start a magazine for artists and writers. That's where it began.
In a May 2006 update for the case studies, Marney noted:
We have expanded our team so that we now have 10 wonderful people working with us.
We've topped over 1,000 products sold on the site. The line of eProducts I've created are expanding and are joyfully profitable, and what's even more rewarding is that Artella is now selling products created by those who have learned about the process of creating eProducts from my "Create Your Own YOUniversity" e-course and other products....
Traffic continues to grow. We've been winning awards (including two years on Writer's Digest's 100 Best Web Sites for Writers List), been featured in books, and I've been publishing articles in leading magazines. I'm also writing a book about starting creative businesses.
That's BIG growth! And, as Marney says in her interview, she's done it nontraditionally - the Square-Peg way.
How do you see yourself as a Square-Peg?
I'm enlivened and excited by the opportunity, daily, to create my own set of rules and conditions through which I can create and live...I've gotten to a point in my life where I feel confident doing so...I don't feel hindered by rules of culture.
When I asked how Marney got that confidence in her life, she said: I hit the point of rock bottom in my own life. I'm Bi-Polar... {found out} about 10 years ago - after not being diagnosed for many years.
When {I was} at rock bottom I wanted everything to be over. There was so much pain that I wanted to die. I saw how dark things could get...
When I worked through that, I wanted to get better...I worked through such darkness and depression; such turmoil...and then saw that I could tap into that ability - creating my own reality - that I could create using powers of good.
Marney also spoke of the feeling many Square-Pegs have mentioned: ...not fitting in through childhood and adolescence. I was a great student, but socially pretty awful. I didn't fit in until high school, when I went to a performing arts high school.
And Marney mentioned what seems like one of the great dividers between round-hole and Square-Peg folks: "I was always fiercely creative."
What's been the hardest for you as a Square-Peg?
The hardest was pre-Artella - pre being comfortable creating my own reality. {Especially} when people would ask: "What do you do?"
My last "real" job before Artella I worked for the educational department of a professional symphony orchestra...lots of social events. I never felt more Square-Peg in my life.
I was exploring my artistic side, doing craft fairs, designing and selling greeting cards - finding "my wings". As I would talk about those things with people I felt judgement - about who I was - not good enough - not appropriate.
For a couple years I felt like the best I could do was try to conform. I wanted to live - to not be Square-Peg - to be boring, straight-laced, where I "belonged". This was after I worked through my mental illness.
Then my husband came to the rescue. He said: "That's not you - there are ways to take all of that for good" - and I kept what was good and pure about my creativity.
It was scary - the power of coming into Square-Pegness...what I had allowed in treatment and recovery was to get shy and quiet. I had real self-esteem issues and was heavily medicated.
It took a long time...to not throw away the baby with the bathwater. I found I could be more confident - could be me and safe - being me didn't have to be being "sick".
Now I feel lucky. I don't have to interface with the round-hole world, but there were plenty of times.
Marney laughed as she said: Now I have an elevator speech that sounds somewhat mainstream. If you don't have the confidence to create your own rules you can feel - I have felt - the scrutiny of other people in social situations.
How do you maintain your Square-Pegness in a round-hole world?
Now I surround myself with people who affirm Square-Pegness. The internet is great for that - Square-Peg people are just a moment away. That means I don't have to...have my Square-Pegness crushed.
What is your favorite Square-Peg trait?
Inventiveness - thinking things people wouldn't ordinarily think. This goes back to seeing myself as a Square-Peg. I create my own rules - I've done it in business over and over.
Alot of business decisions {I've made are} not linear - more often intuitive. The whole decision and business plan of the company can be related to a dream I had. This related to my strategy: go from the heart - gut.
When I want to do something I am tireless in figuring out a way to do it.
For example, Marney has an ebooklet, called Opening Doors with Brainstorming and Bartering, where she teaches bartering - one of the non-traditional things she's used to grow her business.
Marney also mentioned "follow-through"" as one of her favorite traits.
The roots of Marney's creative brilliance can be seen in her childhood:
Even as a kid I had tremendous follow-through. Before Kindergarten, when I first wanted to write stories, (my mom had taught me to write and sound out words) I couldn't mechanically keep up with the writing...I was sad and crying.
...my Dad had the idea that I could type the letters and brought home a typewriter from the university.
I learned to type and sat there as a 4-5-6 year old girl for hours. There are boxes and boxes of these stories. My Mom can read them - they are in "Marney language"... no punctuation - no spaces between words - one word after another.
Marney told a story that illustrates a combination of both her favorite Square-Peg traits in her childhood:
In my childhood...for 2 years - maybe 3rd or 4th grade...I "ran" a boarding school - the Alphon Moyar Boarding School - did all administration for it.
...there are medical, emotional - hundreds of health records of girls...
There were applications - entrance exams - which I took for each girl... When making them I had to make them be too hard for me...I took tests for 100's of kids, then would go back and grade them.
I knew what each kid looked like, who their siblings were...made lesson plans for all classes, planned field trips... would go through magazines...cut out pictures - make spreads - books of decorating for parlors, drawing rooms and dorm rooms.
I sent for pamphlets from American Airlines - and had {pretend, but set up from actual airline information} reservations for trips home at holidays and summer...
Marney mentioned having ...a friend who did this with me for awhile, but she burned out.
What are your favorite books?
My favorite "Square-Peg" book that is new on the shelves is The Creative License, by Danny Gregory.
It gives you permission and superlative tools for being creative and out of the ordinary in such a comprehensive way. I just got to interview him for the upcoming issue of e-Artella. He's fantastic.
I guess I have to say that Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman is my #1 favorite book. It's a series of little stories that are fictionalized versions of Einstein's theories of time, and they are just so beautiful.
It's probably no surprise that my very favorite genre is books that combine words and art in utterly fascinating ways, so I love books by Nick Bantock, Barbara Hodgson, G. Garfield Crimmins, Danny Gregory.
So many non-fiction books have been important to me. If I had to name one book that has influenced me the most as a Square-Peg, I'd say it would be Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I got to attend a workshop of hers a few months ago (I landed there by pure synchronicity, actually, but I was obviously meant to be there) and it was so meaningful to connect with her in person.
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Visit Marney at Artella Land - her continually growing resource for artists, writers and all creatives.
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Read more Square-Peg Interviews here!
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(Full Disclosure: we're affiliates of Amazon.com - so when you buy from the book links above you don't pay a penny more, but you help support Square-Peg People. Thanks!)
