The Enchanted Kiosk Officially Launched

It's been a few long years since I first got The Enchanted Kiosk website online and let it just sit there in cyberspace so that I could experiment with it, with the intention of one day turning it into an interactive game (or interactive something) site.  Well, last week that day finally arrived.  I finished getting my online store in place, redesigning the Website, completing and putting my first products on the virtual shelves, and making my first two sales.  Everything, including the sales, went smoothly, too, after years of struggle to get to this point.  In the past I felt like I was the poster child (man) for self-saboteurs, but I proved to myself that I could overcome it, even if it took a long time.  We are, as they say, our own worst enemy, but we can also be our best friend.

My first product release is directly related to overcoming self-sabotage.  In fact, I used it during the last year to hurdle over the last fear-obstacles standing in my way, to get to the finish line of having my business up and running.  It's a three-products-in-one interactive called The Magic Number Technique. The first aspect is a downloadable eBook introducing a self-help method for improving productivity and overcoming procrastination that I developed fifteen years ago and then practically forgot about.  When I quit my job to focus on developing the business, I ran into my biggest obstacle:  me.  My focus was scattered;  my passion dissipated;  I procrastinated;  I got tired too easily.  After floundering like that for a while, I remembered the Magic Number Technique and decided to revive it, to see if it could jump-start me again.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  The improvements were immediate.  I overcame my inertia and became more productive than I could ever remember being before.  Not only did I get a lot more done than usual;  I actually finished my projects and got them to market.  Finishing worthwhile personal projects had usually been beyond me in the past.  The Website, the eBook, the interactive Web Player Book version of the eBook, The Secret Treasure Path puzzle/exploration game that's bundled with this product, and several intricate paper sculpture castles--all completed within the last few months--were the result of using the Technique.  (I should mention that I started using the Technique on an interactive game project before realizing that I could share the Technique with other people.  That's when I had the idea for the eBook and Web Player Book.  You could say that I used the Technique to write about and demonstrate the Technique.)

            Screenshot from "The Secret Treasure Path"

There's a very long story (twenty years long) behind The Enchanted Kiosk and the first products I put in its online store.  It's one that would be good for me tell--not because of my ego (though I don't deny I have one), but because it contains a few lessons about patience, persistence, facing fears, and following the path that each one of us is meant to take.  I came from a place of great fear and insecurity, self-sabotage and self-doubt, and made it through the rocky terrain of my life to this point without keeling over, though I came close a few times. 

I won't tell the story now, but as time goes on I'll reveal bits and pieces of it.  It's also an ongoing story, because I and my business are a work in progress.  I'm a little bit like my own experiment, and I'm curious and nervous about how it turns out.  Right now I'm testing the "follow your bliss" advice given to us by all self-help gurus.  Does it really pan out?  They say things like, "Do what you love, and the money will follow."  Recently I happened to see an Oprah show, where all of her guests were entrepreneurs who followed their dreams and became very successful and fulfilled.  At the end of the show, someone brought up the saying, "Do what you love, and the money will follow."  All of them, including Oprah, smiled, nodded in agreement, and said that was absolutely true.  Well, I guess I'm about to find out (gulp).

That's all for now.  I just ate a little while ago, and it's making me sleepy.  If you have a chance, please visit my Website.  Thank you for your time, and have a great day!

Ken Vandre