336: Exploring Arkansas's Crescent Hotel with Author and Artist Sean Fitzgibbon

Summary: Welcome to another great episode of Startup Junkies! On this episode, hosts Jeff Amerine, Victoria Dickerson, and Grace Gill sit down with Sean Fitzgibbon, author and artist of the nonfiction book What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel. Sean is a freelance creative who specializes in various forms of visual development. He has had his work exhibited throughout the United States and was a 2023 recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award. Throughout the show, Sean shares the eerie history of Eureka Springs’ Crescent Hotel as well as how he turned a longtime interest into a passion project, his experience promoting his work on Kickstarter, and best practices for entrepreneurs looking to do the same.   Show Notes: (0:49) Introduction to Sean (9:40) About What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel (15:13) Utilizing Kickstarter (23:42) Stories Found in the Book (32:35) Sean’s Research Experience (39:59) Where to Find Sean’s Work (42:06) What’s Next for Sean (44:57) Advice to Other Creatives (52:52) Closing Question   Links: Jeff Amerine Victoria Dickerson Grace Gill Sean Fitzgibbon What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel   Quotes: “This is a big passion project because I’ve always loved telling stories. I always have this weird history I’m attracted to. I always want to go to these strange places that are off the beaten path.” - Sean Fitzgibbon, (9:13) “If you’re going to do a Kickstarter campaign, you need to go support other Kickstarters. There's a network effect. People will look and be like is this just some interloper coming into our community…also a lot of people think of Kickstarter as a shortcut and it’s not. It’s a profit maximizer.” - Sean Fitzgibbon, (19:00)   “I want to do something for society, and I feel like I’m helping bridge this gap of making history accessible. It’s a gateway to literacy for children.” - Sean Fitzgibbon, (47:28) “A fist doesn’t do anything, whereas an open hand gives and receives. And that’s the way I look at it…I don’t ever want to have a closed fist.” - Sean Fitzgibbon, (50:06)