We were lucky to catch up with Robrecht Berg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robrecht, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

After working 25 years in the military and then a year afterward as a contractor for the military, I wanted to be my own boss. The stress of working with highly classified materials as well as having to deal with some toxic bosses from time to time was something I welcomed to leave behind. At first I was not sure what or where I wanted to do for a business. I took an eight week course on entreprenuership and developed an initial business plan for a cafe/art studio. I looked at locations and considered the last exit off of I-25 before hitting New Mexico coming out of Colorado. 78 acres were for sale there at the exit including an old coal mine ghost town (Morley Ghost Town) and ruins of a Spanish mission (St. Aloysius Church) at the top of the hill there. I put a deposit down on the land purchase and began doing my due diligence research. In the end, I had to cancel the purchase as I could not determine if any high cost environmental cleanup would be required before building on the land for a business. For a more simple business start, I decided to try my hand at being a vendor with my art at conventions. This would be near zero startup cost and I could test the waters.

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?

I’ve always enjoyed the creative side of art. I started out largely with influence from playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. I would draw my characters and other players’ characters for them as well. I consider art to be not only traditional painting/drawing that first comes to mind for many, but also all the many other creative professions such as photography, dance, jewelry making, cinematography, writing, and many more. Even while in the Army for 25 years, I always tried to pursue my creative side. I applied competitively for a position with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory at one time. Successful in winning the position competition among military Space officers, I spent a year at the Applied Physics Lab. In that time I was able to work on twelve different highly technical projects including NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto. In all that I do, I see creativity as a way to achieve greater things.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society and economy has moved forward as a whole for quite some time. Now we seem to be meeting another stagnation point where the wealth gap between the ultra rich and the common person has reached a breaking point. The common person and family struggles hard working their lives away just to make ends meet. Artists and creatives are typically in this majority. The rich do not seem to realize that trying to continually increase profit margins to fill their pockets more will just eventually break the system. Steps such as automation and AI are sought to further increase profits at the expense of human jobs as well as creating downward pressure on human wages. The masses of poor and middle class are being skimmed of what their labor brings to enrich a few while they suffer for all their labor. The only way I can see this changing in modern times is potentially with the implementation of Universal Basic Income (UBI) funded by the massive profits gained off of their sweat and labor that only further enrich the ultra-rich. UBI would be a great step forward for creatives in being able to pursue their best talents.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are multiple parts that feel rewarding as a creative. Number one for me is seeing others enjoyment of what we create. One of the biggest joys I found in trying out cosplaying after starting to attend comic and fan conventions was the joy the creation or emulation of characters brings to many people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://qrco.de/RobrechtArt
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robrechtart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberteberg/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VeryShortFilms
• Other: imdb.me/robrechtberg

Image Credits
Photo of me wearing hat used on IMDb profile by Brian Foxworth