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b'Hey guys, welcome back to ONKEN RADIO (formerly NION radio), the podcast where we explore the body, mind, and soul of the creative entrepreneur. It\'s my goal to help you take your creativity, business, and life to the next level. I\'m so glad you\'re joining me on this journey!\\n\\nToday, I\'ve got an inspiring episode all about creating what you\'re passionate about and making a career out of your Creative Alchemy.\\xa0\\n\\nHave you ever thought that it\'s impossible to make a living from your creative medium? Maybe you\'re tempted to give up your Creative Alchemy and try something new to make money. Well, before you do that, I want you to read about my guest\'s journey. He made a full-time profession out of an insanely niche medium: LEGOs. He\'s constructed a successful career out of following his passion for building LEGOs. That sounds crazy, right? If he can work full time with LEGOs, you can make a career from your Creative Alchemy.\\xa0\\n\\nI\'m incredibly excited to have the great LEGO artist Adam Ward on the show today. Adam and I discussed a range of topics relating to his career, engaging in the creative process, handling success, and practicing mindfulness. You\\u2019re going to learn a lot from Adam and be inspired by his story, so let\'s dive in.\\xa0\\nWho Is Adam Ward?\\xa0\\nAdam Ward is a Los Angeles-based artist who uses LEGO pieces as his medium. He\'s built iconic sculptures out of LEGO, worked on The LEGO Batman Movie, and has a YouTube series with the channel SoulPancake titled Brick x Brick, where he shows viewers how to construct a wide range of LEGO creations.\\xa0\\n\\nAdam grew up as an only child in Minneapolis. During the winter season, the cold climate forced him to enjoy his time indoors, where he developed a love for LEGO. He regularly spent whole days building LEGOs and using them to tell stories.\\n\\nHe lost interest in LEGO during his teenage years, but he rediscovered his passion while in his mid-20s by sheer chance. Adam\'s roommate had an Apple TV that kept overheating on top of a receiver, so Adam went to Target to purchase a shelf. Adam found himself browsing in the LEGO section, where he realized that he could build something out of LEGOs to prevent the TV from overheating. He went back to his apartment and excitedly constructed a functional shelf.\\xa0\\n\\nAdam rediscovered his love for LEGOs and built other functional constructions for his apartment, like coasters, picture frames, and a phone docking station. Adam soon found himself pursuing a career in his childhood hobby.\\xa0\\nHow Adam Built His Career with LEGOs\\nAdam didn\\u2019t originally intend to build a career from his rediscovered joy for LEGO, but he realized that he could help others with some of his LEGO creations. One such creation was a fob for his keys. He was in the habit of misplacing his keys, so he built a small key fob and a LEGO box. He would attach the LEGO key fob to the box whenever he returned home. He realized that he had solved a problem with LEGOs and that others could benefit from his creation. He began posting photos of the fob and other practical LEGO creations to help others.\\xa0\\n\\nAdam decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to create a small business involving his practical LEGO creations. After gaining traction with the campaign, companies began getting in touch with Adam to collaborate on LEGO projects. This was a turning point for Adam:\\n"That was really the catalyst of turning this hobby into, at first, a paying hobby, and then a part-time job, and [then] a full-time job, and now a career." - Adam Ward\\nThe company Genentech reached out to Adam during his Kickstarter campaign to construct 650 picture frames for an event. During that project, Adam discovered that the most challenging part of fulfilling LEGO contracts was creating a design:\\n"The build is simple. It\'s the design that\'s really challenging. It\'s the design where the picture frame that people actually receive is the 70th iteration of some design because the kickstand doesn\'t work right,'