• December 2015

Kevin Costner Takes Us on an Epic Adventure: Let's Join Him!

We celebrate the final month of 2015 by going on a literary adventure with Kevin Costner. The award-winning actor and director has turned his talents to co-authoring The Explorers Guild: Volume One: A Passage to Shambhala.

“This globe-trotting tale harks back to the storytelling style of Kipling,” Costner explained when he and his fellow authors, Jon Baird and illustrator Rick Ross, stopped by the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on the first leg of their book launch tour.

Sure, it’s only natural for the star of “The Guardian,” “The Bodyguard,” and “Dances With Wolves” to pen an adventure story. But how did he come to connect with Baird and Ross? Why did it take eight years filled with trials and tribulations to bring the book to fruition? And how much magical power does it take for an A-list celebrity to turn a children’s book into a best-seller? Scroll down for our article on the authors.

This issue is also jam-packed with additional delicious adventure stories:

  • Are you ready to have a culinary adventure with your kids? Edible Education’s chefs Ann Butler and Whitney Trent share their kid-tested-and-approved recipes that are perfect for making real food for the 12 Days of Christmas. Anyone up for Two Turtle Doves — Chocolate Pecan Turtles? “It’s easier to make than you think!” insists Chef Ann.
  • This one is for the grown-ups in the house. Pour yourself a lovely glass of Burgundy or Bordeaux, and sit back and relax as you listen to this Grateful American™ podcast starring Gabriele Rausse, who has been dubbed “The Father of the Modern Virginia Wine Industry.” Listen to our podcast interview.
  • A daunting thing happened to Olympic athlete Tara Sheahan when she was 35. Trained as an elite athlete in cross-country skiing, she found her dream job as a VP in sports marketing and television. She left the corporate world to become “Super Mom.” Then she contracted Lyme disease. Read how she got her life back.
  • Financial adviser Carmen Wu helps women 65+ prepare for the financial adventure of their lives in this month’s Retirement column.
  • And, we invite you to take our 12th adventure of the year with Gretchen Rubin as we share her final words of inspiration from her best-selling book, The Happiness Project.
  • Finally, we visit Kevin Costner as a kid. What was his favorite book when he was in elementary school? Find out — and also learn which children’s books inspired the imagination of his co-authors — in this issue’s Book of the Month.

We end the year with this parting thought from Kevin Costner: “I haven’t lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that’s from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them.”

Here’s to the next great adventure of your life. — Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Be Inkandescent magazine

The Golden Age of Adventure Returns

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH: DECEMBER 2015

Kevin Costner, Jon Baird, and Rick Ross offer a splendidly designed, action-packed, globe-trotting adventure in “The Explorers Guild.”

By Hope Katz Gibbs, Publisher
Be Inkandescent Magazine

Behind the staid, public rooms of an old-world gentlemen’s club operates a more mysterious organization: The Explorers Guild, a clandestine group of adventurers who bravely journey to places in which light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth.

The secrets they seek are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, buried in the ocean floor, and lodged deep in polar ice. The aim of The Explorers Guild: to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world.

Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western civilization on the edge of calamity, the first installment in “The Explorers Guild” series, “A Passage to Shambhala,” concerns the Guild’s quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth.

The search will take them from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep inside the Himalayas, before the fabled city finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.

What inspired Kevin Costner, and co-author Jon Baird and illustrator Rick Ross, to write this 784-page epic tale that they describe as “graphic fiction” — a marriage of text and images?

On the East Coast leg of their book tour, Costner, Baird, and Ross sat before a packed room at the National Press Club last month, explaining how the journey of the book began eight years ago.

While the story was originally conceived as an animated movie, after the big studios turned down their 22-minute clip, Baird went to Plan B and began turning the tale into a book.

Initially, Costner acted as his guide in the adventurous project, but “at a certain point, it ceased to be something that was mine,” Baird said. It was something that “he was giving input on and it became something we were working on together.”

A masterful storyteller himself, Costner explained: “It was very important to me that this be what it wanted to be. It wanted to be a novel. Let’s let it exist as that and I’ll go carve the movie out of it someday” if Hollywood decides that it now likes the idea.

Adding the graphic illustrations to the book was Baird’s idea, because he had written books using this engaging technique to hook readers and advance the story. So he went hunting for an illustrator on Craigslist of all places.

It didn’t take long for artist and filmmaker Rick Ross to see the ad and respond. The gig was right up his alley.

As the publisher of the online, graphic fiction anthology Agitainment Comics, Ross was the lead artist for the graphic novelization of Spike TV’s “1000 Ways to Die,” and he created artwork for numerous animated-motion comics, including for the Cinemax television series “Femme Fatales.”

Together, the three-man team gives us a wonderful way to end 2015. Here’s their message to us: Gentle Reader — It is the boast of modernity that Man has mapped and measured, claimed and contested this Earth down to its last inch. He has tamed its moods and subdued its monsters, and lit it from end to end with the fires of his ingenuity. So we are assured. Yet we who have been canvassing this same Earth through the centuries — who have been every place in it that you would care to go, and many more that you would not — we incline to a different view.”

What is Costner’s big dream for this giant adventure story? “My lofty goal is that 150 years from now, ‘The Explorers Guild’ will be held in the same regard as the novels penned by Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad,” he says. “And my greatest hope is that it could be an heirloom. Thank God for storytelling. It helped me find my place in the world.”

Do you have the spirit of an adventurer? Click here to find out.

The Adventurous Spirit of the Entrepreneur: Do You Have It? Do You Need It?

Do you eat chaos for breakfast? Are you hell-bent on making your company the biggest and best it can be? For generations, that’s what it reportedly took to be a successful entrepreneur — grit, determination, and an adventurous spirit.

But according to The Hartford’s 2015 Small Business Success Study, released on Sept. 29, fewer small-business owners are focused on growing their business now than in 2012 — yet more of them are feeling successful about how their business is operating and say they are optimistic about the economy strengthening this year.

The fifth annual study shows:

  • In 2015, 33 percent of small-business owners — down from 41 percent in 2012 — said their primary goal is to grow their business significantly, which means a large increase in sales, revenue, and staff.
  • Fifty-five percent of owners say they are looking to maintain their business at its current size, a proportion that has been largely consistent over the past few years.
  • Even though more than half of owners have a maintenance mindset, 73 percent feel successful about how their business is operating now, up from 69 percent in 2011.
  • And, the proportion of small-business owners who are optimistic that the national economy will improve this year has increased from 33 percent in 2012 to 52 percent in 2015.

“It is encouraging to see better overall sentiment among small-business owners; however, the decline in owners focused on growth is something all of us need to pay attention to,” said Christopher J. Swift, CEO of The Hartford, a more than 200-year-old insurance company based in Connecticut.

“There is no better place to be an entrepreneur than in the US, so it is imperative that we work to create an environment that better fosters small-business formation, success, and growth.”

So what are the top characteristics of today’s highly successful business owners?

1. It depends on how successful they are.

Based on an analysis of data over the past few years, The Hartford’s study found that owners who take more risks and feel optimistic about the national economy tend to be more inclined to say their business is extremely or very successful.

  • In addition, the highly successful business owners are not as conservative as those who feel slightly or not at all successful.
  • In the 2015 study, one-quarter (27 percent) of owners who feel extremely/very successful about how their business is operating right now rate their overall level of risk as “risky” rather than “conservative,” compared to just 14 percent of those who feel they are slightly/not at all successful.

2. Talented employees matter.

The analysis also found that owners who feel their business is operating highly successfully are relying on better qualified talent, better guidance from other professionals, and even bank loans. In contrast, owners who feel less successful seem to be taking on the load and stress of running a small business more on their own.

  • Those who feel their business is operating less successfully and have not hired or not hired as much as they would have liked this past year are more likely to say this is because they are taking on additional responsibilities themselves compared to those who feel highly successful (38 percent vs. 21 percent).
  • Highly successful owners who have not hired or not hired as much as they would have liked in the past year are less likely to say the reason for not hiring is that their business is not growing, compared to those who feel less successful and have not hired (20 percent vs. 59 percent).

3. Optimism rules.

When asked which theme song would be their small-business anthem, respondents said:

  • 35 percent: “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, reflecting those who are determined and hardworking.
  • 21 percent: “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, because they are hopeful and optimistic about achieving their goals.
  • 14 percent: “We Are the Champions” by Queen, because they have persevered and overcome.

For more information on these survey results, visit thehartford.com/successstudy.

Small-Business Success Study Methodology: Braun Research conducted a telephone survey among small-business owners across the United States on behalf of The Hartford. A total of 2,003 interviews were completed with small-business owners of for-profit businesses with fewer than 100 full-time employees who have been in business for at least one year. The study included a nationally representative sample of businesses in the United States. One owner, co-owner, principle owner, or sole owner per business was interviewed. The interviews were conducted between July 7-16, 2015. The margin of error is ± 2.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

About The Hartford: With more than 200 years of expertise, The Hartford (NYSE:HIG) is a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and mutual funds. More information on the company and its financial performance is available at www.thehartford.com.

Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in The Hartford’s 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, and the other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Hartford assumes no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued.

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

– Henry Miller

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.”

– Albert Einstein

You must have chaos within you, to create a dancing star.”

– Frederic Nietzsche

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

– Mary Oliver

Some things are destined to be—it just takes us a couple of tries
to get there.”

– J.R. Ward, Lover Mine

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

– Charles R. Swindoll

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”

– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice

A person who learns to juggle six balls will be more skilled than the person who never tries to juggle more than three.”

– Marilyn vos Savant

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

– Mark Twain

With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”

– Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton

The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”

– Bruce Lee

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”

– Robert Frost

The goal of Life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with nature.”

– Joseph Cambell

There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be…”

– John Lennon

Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.”

– Edgar W. Howe

Change is a math formula. Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change.”

– Alan Webber, author, "Rules of Thumb"

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

– Joseph Campbell

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.”

– Andrew Carnegie

I can’t go back to yesterday—because I was a different person then.”

– Lewis Carroll

The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. The greatest failure is to not try.”

– Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields Cookies

If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there’d be millions of no-brained, harebrained individuals quitting their day jobs.”

– Bill Rancic, "The Apprentice"

If you do not tell the truth about yourself
, you cannot tell it about other people.”

– Virginia Woolf

Look at everything as though you were
seeing it either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.”

– Betty Smith

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity 
and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”

– Indira Ghandi

What is the point of having free will if one cannot occasionally spit in the eye of destiny?”

– Jim Butcher, White Night

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

– Andrew Carnegie

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.”

– Thomas Carlyle

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.”

– Francesca Reigle

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.”

– Thomas Dunn

Destiny is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

– William Jennings Bryan

As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

– Christopher Morley

It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way.”

– Aristotle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

My goal was to tell the life side of the story. We have become a nation of voyeurs that expect sensationalism, and that offends me.”

– Kathleen Jo Ryan

My job is my hobby. I come to work to play.”

– Uli Becker, president, Reebok International

The dove descending breaks the air / With flame of inkandescent terror.”

– T.S. Eliott

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”

– Winston Churchill

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”

– Marcel Proust

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

– JFK

The quality of your life is directly related to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with.”

– Tony Robbins

That which grows fast withers as rapidly; that which grows slowly endures.”

– J.G. Holland, novelist

It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”

– Alfred Adler

A man without a smiling face
 should not open a shop.”

– Chinese Proverb

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
 what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

– Jimi Hendrix

The biggest flaw in our existing theory of capitalism lies in its misrepresentation of human nature.”

– Muhammad Yunus

I don’t do very well without fear. There needs to be a part of me saying, ‘That’s going to fail,’ so I can prove myself wrong.”

– Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Be Inkandescent Magazine's Back Issues

Don’t miss the great advice our entrepreneurs have offered in the past. Click below to view our back issues.