We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Goldstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Like many people, I have lots of ideas – too many to possibly have the time and energy to follow through with but one in particular was worth the effort to bring to life. This one that our personality type is related to way we are creative and do our best work is something I wanted to explore and it’s grown into an actual product that has influenced peoples lives. People continue reading and referring others to my book Creative You and I get feedback from all over the world about how it’s inspiring them to learn more about themselves and to be more confidently creative in their own way – and it all started with an aha moment.

My flash of insight was sparked at a time that I was learning from two people in diverse fields. Jean Gill, my watercolor teacher was giving a lesson on understanding our own creative styles, around the same time I was learning about Myers-Briggs personality theory from Otto Kroeger, who happened to be my new neighbor. In art class the person I shared a table with would paint a house by outlining the details of every brick, every blade of grass – every color as it appeared in nature. I looked across the room and a saw someone painting using all of his heart, choosing abstract colors and shapes to mirror his inner feeling. Some people were spontaneous, others were planned. And I know them all as friends. I saw that their likely Myers-Briggs personality type showed through into their creative process. Spark! That evening and in the weeks to follow, I feverishly wrote notes in one of those marble composition notebooks – laying out the theory and outline for a book.

Not just in art, this connection was everywhere, in the way people play music, cook their food, and the way they approach a business startup. I saw everywhere that people’s creative process was related to their personality type. Simply how we see the world and how we make decisions. Then I also saw injustice everywhere too. People were being criticized and discouraged from seeing themselves as creative – often by others who had a different idea of what creativity was. Creativity can be serious and planned just as well as it can be playful and spontaneous. I met many people who said they weren’t creative because they couldn’t draw in the lines. People who said they weren’t creative because they were too serious and liked to plan. People who said they couldn’t be creative because they didn’t like to show their emotions. People who didn’t like to brainstorm for on-the-spot ideas because they like to think and reflect for a while. These injustices gave me the energy to quantify my idea and bring them into a tangible form to help others see themselves as creative. I wanted to show all of these people they can be creative. Today to adapt to our changing environment, we all need to be creative but many don’t think of themselves that way.

Otto liked the ideas and agreed to collaborate with me. Not just a neighbor, Otto was a legend in the field of organizational behavior and had written a number of best-selling books. I started with some assumptions that gave me confidence that we could succeed. First, I had no doubt we could use his publishing connections to bring our book to light. This turned out to be false since his connections were no longer available and I was tasked with finding an agent and navigate the publishing process. I also assumed that I’d be the behind-the-scenes person and Otto with his enormous personality would be out in the world sharing our ideas. Also not true, Otto passed away soon after the book was published, so I was powered by my duty to bring our ideas out-in-the-world.

I could not have predicted it would take 15 years for bringing our ideas into something tangible and practical as a book. And 10 years after publishing, the Creative You is still finding new audiences and giving people confidence to be creative.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When you say you’re an artist or an author, the next question people often ask is, “But what do you really do?” These days, I’m proud to say that my reputation has preceded me enough that often when I meet people, they already seem to know I’m an artist and author—even though I do other things too.
It didn’t start out that way. Some years ago, while managing a startup, I needed a way to relax during my limited downtime. My wife enjoyed watching TV, and while I wanted to spend time with her, TV wasn’t engaging enough for me. So, I set up a small table in our living room and began painting with watercolors. That way, we could be together while each unwinding in our own way.
We decorated our home with my paintings, and when we hosted parties, friends would ask to buy them. At first, I couldn’t part with the originals—they were too personal. In those early days, it was natural to ask am I good enough to really sell my artwork not just to friends. I realized my best work was about as good as the lower end of what was being displayed in galleries. So, I began making prints, and people started buying them. People often asked where I found the confidence to do this, and here’s my answer:
My first word as an infant was “yellow.” Like most children, I loved art, but I wasn’t particularly talented. What made the difference was my mother’s over-the-top encouragement. Her voice saying that my work was BEAUTIFUL, was louder than any critics. Her belief in me gave me the strength to keep doing what I loved, even if criticized, and over time with practice, my skills improved.
From being the beneficiary of my Mon’s encouragement, I see the value in encouraging others, especially when they are doing creative pursuits. I never intended to be a writer—English wasn’t my best subject—but I had ideas that had to be shared. People often come to me for advice because I focus on what’s best for them, not what I would do. Helping those close to me was part of what inspired me to write Creative You, to encourage others on a larger scale to know themselves and build confidence. I’m proud of how well the book has been received, and I’m even prouder that it’s helped others express their creativity and see themselves as creative beings.
My writing and artwork all fall under the larger umbrella of creativity. One of my proudest achievements as an artist was being commissioned to paint the kite symbol by the Pan American Health Organization for World Health Day, which continues to be used to promote and protect human rights. Much of my artwork is about sharing the beauty of the world, whether as it is or as it could be with a little enhancement. I try to capture the essence of a place—not how I feel, but how it feels to be there.
I’ve been fortunate to live in Hong Kong, New York, and now the Washington, DC area, and I’ve traveled extensively. Today, people from all over collect my original paintings and prints, and that’s something I never take for granted.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

In my experience all marketing is relationship based and personal. When I started writing Creative You, I assumed getting published would be easy since my co-author had several best-selling books. Somewhere into the project, I learned that his publishing contacts have passed beyond their self-life and were no longer viable. Getting a publisher became my responsibility and was a learning experience that I’m happy to share what worked. I won’t tell you who my literary agent is or suggest you ask your author friends for referrals to theirs since this won’t be helpful to you unless you are writing a book on a very similar subject.

First, for non-fiction, the book does not have to completed before you start to find a literary agent. Easier said than done. Agents are busy hard to reach people as they spend their time sifting through mountains of submissions, acting as gatekeepers and representing only the best pitches before publishers. The big sale isn’t to the thousands of readers but it’s the one-time sale to the agent.

There are two way that I’ve climbed past mountains of other submission to get noticed.
First I went to the local bookstore and found books with similar subjects as the one I was writing and looked who the agents were. They are usually thanked in the acknowledgment section right before the authors parents.

The second, way is to get a monthly subscription to Publishers Marketplace. This is a professional industry insider searchable database of all the deals made that month. I searched by subject with particular attention to how many deals the agents made each year. With the more active ones, I figure, would stand a better chance. This brought my list down to six most likely prospects.

With those six potential agents, the next step is the write a query letter. Since I targeted so few, I was able to hyper-personalize. To produce the opposite of a form letter, I spent time researching each prospect, learning about their work, interests, getting to know exactly what kind of information they wanted submitted and getting a sense of who they are as people. My six queries resulted in four responses and the best fit was willing to take on our project. She is a superstar New York agent and got multiple offers and signed us with Simon and Schuster. Careful targeting allows for personalizing – and that’s how to get noticed and how great relationships start.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Building a solid reputation is all about trust. It starts with treating people right, keeping my word, and always doing my best on every project. I think of every customer as a potential ambassador for my brand—people are happy to share their good experiences. In the creative fields, where judging quality is subjective, I’ll go out on a limb and say trust and professionalism are more important than our final product.
For example, I once created blank holiday cards using an image of one of my snowy lake paintings on the front. I had thousands printed, and my assistant packed 25 cards into each box or so I thought. My neighbors loved them, as they felt personal and reflected our shared lake community. However, I later discovered that some boxes only had 20 cards. I weighed the remaining boxes and found that a few were indeed short. I also didn’t know who receive a less than full amount.
Instead of wondering who would notice or who might not have received the full count, I took immediate action. I reached out to each customer, whether they had the right number of cards or not, explained the situation, and gave them an extra five cards as a gesture of goodwill.
Every action, no matter how small, impacts trust. Doing the right thing reinforces those local relationships, which are the foundation of marketing. Members of my community continue to be some of my biggest supporters and collectors of my artwork because they know I value their trust.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.davidbgoldstein.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_b_goldstein/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldsteinauthor
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Davidbgoldstein
• Other: my book Creative You on Amazon:

  https://www.amazon.com/Creative-You-Using-Personality-Thrive/