We were lucky to catch up with Joshua Medling recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

The arts have a proven, direct and positive impact on communities and the economy. More than most other industries because it brings people to the community where they explore and buy things. Art is healthy and improves physical and mental wellbeing and can accelerates entrepreneurship. However, only about 1 in 10 artists are making a living with their craft. Realizing this and researching more into it brought up a lot of things.

The “hidden talent” and “starving artists” idea is just as cliche as “shop local” is. But, it’s all true and I think deeply connected. The artists are starving because they are hidden making it hard to shop from, let alone locally, let alone online. This is what the foundation of civilization is built upon, local makers, local exports keep a small town alive. Now everyone’s attention span is so far out from local that there seems to be a direct cause and affect. And the creatives that don’t have the business skills or time to really brand themselves are getting left in the shadows of the modern economy. We think it’s a straight forward challenge to solve though and this is while we created Show Me Artists. To discover, spotlight and accelerate local talent to their own community and beyond.

Marketing is only getting more competitive and saturated. So we created our platform around local artists getting exposure in their own community first and then through our services to the rest of the state. The whole idea is THINK LOCAL – ACT LOCAL – SHOP LOCAL, ART, ONLINE. Essentially ShowMeArtists.com is a showcase of Missouri based talent organized by city zip code, on a print on demand art store, making it easy to “shop local”. It’s free for the artists, funded by sponsors (also local). Then we spotlight the artists and the gallery in a hyper local print magazine that is direct mailed to the entire local community, every household and business gets one. The magazine has QR codes that take the reader to the artists landing page where they can either contact them directly, or order prints online, or visit another website or social profile of theirs. Finally we are producing a spotlight video series where we interview the artists (and community sponsors), this gets transcribed into the print magazine, while the digital videos also promote the magazine and website. They all work together to spotlight local talent and make it more accessible. Then we are also working on a series of art fairs, artists retreats and music festivals to have a physical presence and get people together for shared community experience around the arts. A lot of these things exist and many successful examples especially in larger cities. But what we found is that no one is connecting them all together, and nearly zero smaller communities are doing anything at all to support their arts or attract creative people.

So now with just a little creativity, and some design skills, we have built a platform that showcases and empowers talent to create and promote their passion – at no upfront cost to the artist, while also simultaneously delivering a positive quality message to the entire town at one time through the magazine. Now, there is absolutely no more excuse about not knowing who or where or how to support them. Sponsors win with hyper-local exposure to the entire town, exclusive and limited opportunity with a goal of seasonal or even monthly publications once the ball is rolling. It’s a self reinforcing operating system, for a community to co-create an artistic identity and support the creator economy in their own area. Our goal is to replicate this in every community along Historic Route 66 in Missouri to start with as the 100 year centennial anniversary is 2026, the perfect global spotlight on these small towns and art specifically. (Missouri iis the birthplace of Route 66, and it’s arguably the most iconic art trail in the world or even most famous road). We are starting in our own back yard and reaching between St. Louis and Joplin, and then will expand to all 8 states on the route. We are building a legacy that will last and support local artists, accelerate entrepreneurship, empower the hyper-local community and the family units within it.

We want to inspire people to think bigger and focus their attention and intention. Energy goes where attention flows… And as soon as you pick up your phone you are instantly transported out of town, out of country, out of site… Small towns are bleeding out because the local family units that make them up are spending their attention on things outside the town. It’s fairly simple actually. It makes sense how all this happened over time with technology and resources and society expanding in all directions. However, the fact remains that in order to create a sustainable economy we have to start at the bottom. The family unit is the foundation of all society. A sustainable family unit is the a priori condition. A “hyper-local” community is made of family units. We must start there and inspire them to work together and create and support each others’ creations. We don’t need as many “jobs” in box stores along the highways or factories making widgets for other states and countries. We need to bring back the local creator economy that started it all.

So… how? How do we cut through the noise, and get the local population to focus their attention on the local community. Well… we have to create systems that rival the popular global apps everyone is addicted to. As well as use them for hyper-local exposure. Amazon is not the enemy. Imagine is every artist or business in a small town was selling online… the entire town would see a very real trackable jump in revenue. So… it’s attention, and then action. THINK LOCAL – ACT LOCAL. And we need to be as convenient as those online apps. We need to make it easier to SHOP LOCAL – ONLINE. This can only be done with a concerted focused effort in a community, one at a time, by building a website and platform that combines enough people to reach a critical mass. It will compete with the global apps and hH, because it is hyper-local and hyper-relevant to the local populations, and has everyone in it. A “community e-mall” if you will. Easy to do, just a bit time consuming. The big players will never do this, it requires boots on the ground. Our boots are the local students, chambers of commerce, and artists in the community looking for opportunities to create and sell their ideas. By working together and making it easy and free for the artists, not only do we attract paying sponsors, but we create a fast moving efficient machine that starts to refocus local attention back within. Focused INTENTION instead of mindless scrolling and escaping.

It’s the power of perspective. That there are more opportunities in a challenge than there are obstacles. You first have to think about it and get to the bottom, the fundamental “first principal” of what makes it work. In this case, it’s people, that live near each other and survive together. And it the town’s attention on things out of town that needs to shift. So, a website, real art, a video series, a print magazine, and physical events tie it all together. It’s all there in most communities, it just takes connecting the dots to create the true synergy. We are not alone, we should stop absorbing content alone and being marketed to as individuals. We are family units, we are hyper-local communities. That is the foundation and all that exists. Anything outside your own personal circle of influence is a waste of your time and energy. People should not be weighing in and controlling situations not in their hyper-local community. Sure there are exceptions and the need for some sort of macro economy or governance. But, I think that should be done between communities and between the families in them.

Anyway, art is the catalyst. It allows us to SEE THE DREAM and LEAD THE WAY.

Joshua, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I stared a freelance marketing company in 2008 Solarium Productions out of college doing graphic design, video production, and websites. The goal was to get into the film industry so started a marketing co to do commercials and eventually make movies. Years later we have written a screenplay but the corporate grind of marketing and branding for small business to pay the bills has taken over most of my time. But the last few years we have been shifting the business model into the art-forward focus, and video-first strategy. If you tell your story with video you can then cut up that video into a lot of parts creating a whole multimedia content library you can use to promote and share. Versus doing one piece of content at a time. Think about a video interview… The video can be chopped up into shorter videos and posts. Still photos can be cut from the video. The audio can be used for a podcast blog or radio snippets. The audio can be transcribed into text for blogs, articles, ads, etc. Work smarter not harder. Start with video and then optimize your focus on creating more than thinking about what to post, or having that work guilt of I need to post… People want authentic raw stories and perspective more than polished ads. They want to connect – because they are isolated being programmed by a screen, programmed for them individually. We need to come together more and create community. Now more than ever. We are really excited to have had the time over the years (at great, all, costs..) to be able to think this way and find solutions. And we are only just now putting it all together, so it’s been really interesting journey and seems like we are aligned right on time with what the world and communities need. And it’s the best time to start a business and brand ever, there’s more tools and free access than ever before. So the crux of the matter is JUST GETTING STARTED. Tell your story. Don’t wait anymore. Start with video. Connect with local art and other entrepreneurs. Support and accelerate the youth through art. All the solutions are right in front of us. Any frustrations we have are reflections of own to do list…. Just do it…

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Many books exist on entrepreneurship and self development, tons… Personally I don’t read as much as I would like to because I am always grinding and pathfinding the next step. But a few things I have picked up over the years have stuck with me and I have referred to them over and over and over. It’s almost a mantra now and keeps me going through the fog of war.

“Stephen Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” This is a great book but if you distill the 7 topics into a quick start guide and reminder whenever you get in a pinch it helps you clear the fog and find your footing. And it’s best if you don’t try and find that exact SPECIFIC THING in the habit – but rather let your mind wander and ask yourself “what kind of stuff can I do that aligns with this concept..” (1. Be proactive. 2. Begin with the end in mind (Covey was referring to his own eulogy.. and legacy….). 3. Put first things first. 4 Think win-win. 5. Seek to understand first before being understood. 6. Synergize. 7 Sharpen the “saw”) There is a deep introspective emotional lesson here to internalize conflict as a reflection of self. What are you doing or not doing that influences your perspective. Other people help us understand our selves by reflecting what we are projecting. It’s a trip but once you accept it the whole world moves…

Another saying that keeps coming up when trying to pathfind challenges. (True, Kind, Useful – the 3 sieves of Socrates?, if it’s not at least 2 of those, or really all 3 then I don’t care about it and is a waste of energy.)

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

This brings me full circle back to why we started this whole endeavor. ART is the foundation of creation. We are art. Of the Earth and the Universe. Of our creator. We are creators. The modern world has created this isolated illusion and work grind for other people not even near us for trivial things or money or control.

I wish that I knew, and my parents knew when raising me, and I knew for my own kids – that this idea of hyper-local community and entrepreneurship, and through the arts, was a real viable path to explore. Public school and the grind to go “get a job” has destroyed the creativity of billions of people… When – if we all work together in our family and community we can create solutions to any problem. Banding together and being in a more tribal, intergenerational lifestyle removes the need to go “work” for someone else, making widgets that you don’t even use, and spending all of your time and energy not on you, let alone inside or around hazardous materials or environments.

Kids these days need to explore nature, discover their own local community, the elders, intern, learn, create – locally. I wish there were platforms like this when we were younger, with no barrier to entry and that fed the soul and amplified expression. The internet and social media are amazing tools that give basically free unlimited access to everyone. Now the issue is just being distracted. But again, I think the idea of pooling resources hyper-locally and working together to create our local creator economies – this inspires and uplifts people, empowers them to be entrepreneurs. You don’t have to quit your job to build the side hustle. You just have to quit giving your energy to things outside your circle of influence. That lesson is the most critical thing I can think of that no one ever taught me. Focus. On. You. Turn off the media – turn on your creativity. And if you can’ think or all the shadow work starts seeping in – then get outside in nature. She will reconnect us to our self identity. Create more – consume less. That is the foundation to happiness I think, and being in the present moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ShowMeArtists.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Solarium1984/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamedling/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Solarium1984
• Other: https://SolariumProductions.com
  https://SolariumFoundation.org
  https://RadiantAdventure.com