“Santa for Nerds”: custom collectibles and the business side of a creative life with Paul Pape

Paul Pape is a TEDx speaker, author, and business consultant for creative entrepreneurs, known professionally as "Santa for Nerds." With 30+ years in the arts—including over 20 years designing custom props and experiences for Disney, Universal, and Nickelodeon—Paul brings real-world creative credibility to his transformation work. Paul is the creator of Gamify Business and author of four books: The Creative Player's Handbook to Business, The Creative Player’s Workbook, The Game Master's Guide to Business and his latest book, Quit Selling Your Sh*t. His approach uses gaming frameworks and RPG mechanics to help artists, designers, makers, and creative entrepreneurs build profitable businesses without selling out to corporate business culture. His mission is clear: destroy the starving artist mindset. Paul proves that creative entrepreneurs don't have to choose between artistic integrity and real profit—and that the business side of creativity can be just as innovative and fulfilling as the art itself. Business is an Adventure, so don’t be an NPC. In this episode, we discuss his custom approach to building unique objects, all the modalities he uses to create custom items, his work in TV and film, why he can build items fast, his creative process, why you should sell yourself as a creative instead of your items, how to approach building a business like a game, what Paul’s “rule of 100” is, and more.     Follow Paul on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulpapedesigns/  Check out Paul’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_HqOy0Fn4YYW_aYjneS8g  Check out Paul’s Website: paulpapedesigns.com  Check out Gamify Business: gamifybusiness.com  Subscribe to Version 1's substack: version1podcast.substack.com/  Follow Version 1 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/version1podcast/ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/waverlycolville