Stretch Your Mind.

Today's Marketing Cookie is a promise. Once you have a new idea, it will be very difficult to let it go. Even if others tell you that your ideas are crazy or your skills are lacking, no one can take your ideas and dreams away from you. Don't let them do it! Some of the most successful marketing ideas are also the craziest.

Today's fortune reminds me of the story of Theodor Geisel who was born in Springfield, MA to German immigrants. He was a young kid when the United States went to war against Germany during World War I. The other kids at school threw rocks at him and called him names because he came from a German family. While he didn't fit in very well socially, he found that he could escape his troubles by reading. When Prohibition started, his father and grandfather had to shut down their successful brewery, and the Geisel family fell on hard financial times. Theodor had a lot of troubles... so he read a lot.

Theodor's dad eventually found work in the city park and later became the head of the city zoo. Theodor spent a lot of time with his father at the zoo. He would sit and draw the animals even though his art teacher in elementary school told him he wasn't very good at drawing. He didn't care what people told him. He just kept on reading, drawing, and writing.

Geisel attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and studied English. He began to write and illustrate stories for the college magazine and later became editor-in-chief. He was doing great until he and his friends were caught throwing a drinking party, which was against the prohibition laws and school policy, so he was removed as the editor. He secretly continued to contribute to the magazine under a pseudonym.

Eventually, he wrote his first book in 1937 using the same pseudonym. He was again faced with a boatload of disappointment as no publishing companies were interested in his work. Finally, after 29 companies turned it down, his first book was published, and it was a big hit! He never gave up on his crazy ideas and dreams. He kept on writing and drawing even though others told him that he wasn't very good. His first published book would be only one of forty-four children's books written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, who is of course better known as Dr. Seuss.