In the early 1990's, I moved to downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, to live with friends in a one-bedroom apartment on Clematis Street, above O'Shea's, a pub that was frequented by area writers, artists, musicians.

The apartment where I lived was essentially a two bedroom with a small kitchen and long narrow closet. It was on the second floor, with windows facing Clematis Street.

I slept in the living room on a sleeping bag. So did Angel Lozada, this kid who had just moved from Puerto Rico. He had his own lawn mowing business. And when he wasn't mowing lawns during the day, he was passing out fliers, trying to get more customers. At night, he would lie on his back, headphones on his head, and listen to Tony Robbins motivational tapes. While listening to them, he would recite them aloud in his broken English. For Angel, this was a way to both learn English and to motivate himself.

In the corner of the living room, Angel parked his lawn mower, edger, blower, weedeater. It smelled like gas, and wet grass.

The other room in the apartment was the bedroom, where Gary Greenwald and Frederick Waters slept. (For a while Phillip Gilmoure lived there. He slept in a sleeping bag, surrounded by stacks of paperback books. He would sleep until about 4pm in the afternoon, make a bunch of phone calls and leave messages with friends to call him back. Then, he'd walk across the street, visit "Blessing's Market", and return to his sleeping bag to munch his goodies while reading or talking with us.) Gary Greenwald, for privacy reasons, built a bunkbed that had a sheets around it. Below the bed was his desk. Frederick Waters had a big bed near the window.

The rent at this time, 1992, was only $260 a month. So, each of us only had to come up with $65 a month, and split the cost of utilities, which were minimal. The inexpensive rent allowed each of us to do what we wanted when we wanted. It also allowed us to try to work for ourselves.

Angel started and ran a successful lawn business. Gary worked across the street for Lawrence Corning's The Downtown Group, which perserved historic buildings and renovated a 2-story building, converting it into an artist's residence with 2nd floor apartments and first floor galleries. Frederick Waters started and ran his own flier business called Flierworks. I worked at Respectable Street Cafe, a progressive dance club across the street on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays for a few months, then I worked at Toojay's in Palm Beach as a deli clerk. During my free time, I started and ran the FLO, a monthly 'zine which featured area artists, musicians, writers, and assorted renegades of the downtown scene.

Publishing that 'zine was hard work. In retrospect, I probably could have been a better manager, finding others to do the work for me. At the time, however, I interviewed people, wrote articles, took pictures, did layout, borrowed different computers to put it all together, and even drove to Stuart, using Stuart web, as they had the most reasonable prices on printing, once I began publishing 3,000 to 10,000 issues a month.

For me, the FLO was my key to the city. It was a way in for me, a kid from the suburbs, to meet people downtown. As the magazine became more popular in the underground sense, my reputation preceded me. Friends and acquaintances would introduce me as, "This is Kris, he does that magazine 'The FLO'. Have you seen it?" More often than not, people would be astonished that some kid, although I was 23 at the time, on his bicycle who was seen dancing at Respectable Street on weekends was able to produce a magazine. The enthusiasm I received gave me confidence.

Those 3 years living above O'Shea's in that two-bedroom apartment, with 3 other guys, gave me the financial freedom to pursue my dream of writing, photographing, documenting the emerging art's scene of downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. All the hard work of securing advertisors and getting it published on time was rewarded by the fact that I actually produced a magazine that people read, passed around, and kept. For me, the magazine was a way to connect the dots to make a picture. In a way, it was a journal that allowed me to digest what I saw, rearrange it into a magazine, and share it with others.

During these years, I didn't own a car. I rode my bicycle all over the place. For the trips to Stuart, I would borrow my mom's pickup truck. (Thanks Mom.)

What allowed me to produce the FLO was the fact that I lived for such minimal costs. The apartment on Clematis Street, being only $ 260 a month divided 4 ways, gave me the freedom to experiment with my time, and try new things.

What it difficult living with 3 other guys in a place that's only 300 square feet. At times, yes. Was it rewarding? Yes, in that it allowed me the financial freedom to try to publish a magazine.

This apartment was my incubator.

If you have a dream you want to accomplish and haven't yet started, you must make sacrifices for that dream in order to manifest itself. As much as people who produce art don't like to talk about money, this is an issue. You must face the reality and learn to live cheaper, in order to have the time freedom to make your dreams real.

For you, this could mean asking a friend if you could live in their living room or guest room, for free rent, in exhange for you doing the dishes, housecleaning, and cooking dinner a few times a week. As embarassing and off beat as this may sound, ask yourself:  will this really matter 30 years from now?  By then, the embarassment will have worn off, and you might have accomplished great things because you took a great risk.  Think about it.

My challenge to you is this: Find your incubator. And when you find it, plant your dream and nurture it so that it may grow. Do it today. Right now, find that cheap, safe place where you can stay, and then use your time freedom to work on your dreams.

Anything worth producing will require sacrifice. But at the end of the day, you'll be glad to have made the sacrifice once you've realized your dream.

Expect success.  Take action to make it happen.

http://www.kriskemp.com
Check out my websites.

Discover simple weight loss strategies at my free boot camp:  http://www.TheShiftDiet.com

Learn how to find, buy, and flip bargain properties anywhere in Florida:
http://www.FlipFloridaLand.com and http://www.MakeBigProfitsFlippingFloridaLand.com