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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • October 2012
Money • a[w
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2012
MONEY MATTERS Budgeting: Let’s get started BY HELEN BUCHANAN Self-Sufficiency Counselor
Cherokee Nation citizen Dino “Oogeloot” Kingfisher, of Salina, Okla., paints on a feather that will eventually become a hatpin, which is the most sought after art piece he makes. PHOTOS BY JAMI CUSTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Cherokee artist celebrates 20 years in business Dino Kingfisher’s mostsought items are handpainted hatpins made from feathers.
“We paint on just about anything we can get our hands on,” he said. He added that he doesn’t stay with just Cherokee art because he attends a lot of intertribal powwows and tries to make art for all tribes. “It’s not just all a Cherokee thing with us, we’re just Native art.” BY JAMI CUSTER Kingfisher said he has set up art booths Reporter at the Tulsa Powwow, Choteau Day and SALINA, Okla. – Cherokee Nation Grove’s Pelican Festival, but never misses citizen Dino “Oogeloot” Kingfisher has the Cherokee National Holiday. Kingfisher has sold pieces all over the been an artist most of his life. He said he United States, but the “cool” thing, he said, didn’t find art, but that art found him. That is that he’s represented on each continent. discovery has turned into a 2–decades-old “And to me that’s just cool because I may profession. never get there myself, but it’s cool that “It’s been 20 years now… I worked part of me has made it somewhere else.” regular jobs for a long time and I knew Kingfisher and his wife Cheryl, who that wasn’t something I wanted to do,” handles the “business side” Kingfisher said. “I used of his art profession, said to play music a lot when I it wasn’t always easy over was younger. So we used …We paint the past 20 years, but they to play at the bars, and I never wanted to stop. on just about met my wife and we got “It was hard at first, and pregnant…the bar scene anything we we set up at a lot of places just wasn’t going to work where we didn’t make can get our for what we had in store if anything hardly,” he said. we was going to make us hands on. “And kind of had to work work. So I got out of that – Dino Kingfisher, two or three jobs to kind of and worked a few jobs and get us through, and it just I just wasn’t happy. I done Cherokee artist kind of slowly caught on.” art in high school so she That tenacity is his encouraged me to do that, biggest piece of advice to new artist: don’t and it just kind of clicked.” The art Kingfisher creates includes quit if it’s in your heart to do it. “Just have patience with it, and honestly, framed art pieces, dream catchers, I guarantee if you’re meant to do it you’ll earrings and necklaces. But his most know. You’ll feel it,” he said. “If it’s art that popular items are his painted feathers that you’re into, you know, then you can’t let it are used as hatpins. go. There’s not a day that I don’t want to paint. I always want to paint.” Cheryl said her husband signs most of his art in his Cherokee name “Oogeloot,” which he laughingly said means “stomach sticking out.” “That’s what they told me anyways. I was 2 years old when I was named,” he said. Cherokee Phoenix linguist Anna Sixkiller said Oogeloot translates into “something blowing up,” while “stomach sticking out” in Cherokee would be ugaludi. Most all of his art is reasonably priced and can be purchased anywhere from $3 to $1,500. Those interested in seeing Kingfisher’s works can visit his Facebook page at Dino Oogeloot Kingfisher. The Cherokee Gift Shop at the Tribal Complex also carries his artwork. For more information, call 918-434-7770.
Pieces from Cherokee Nation citizen Dino “Oogeloot” Kingfisher’s art studio in Salina, Okla.
jami-custer@cherokee.org 918-453-5560
Want to properly manage your money and improve your financial situation? The most effective way to do this is to create and maintain a budget. A challenge for most of us, but with planning and a little work it can be accomplished. Having a successful budget can be done with some basic steps: • Identify all sources of income. Know to the penny what you have coming in each month. • List all fixed expenses. These are the things that stay the same every month such as rent or car payments and must be paid on time. Add to this list utilities such as the electric or gas bill. Use a three-month average to determine how much to budget for these monthly expenses. • List all flexible expenses. This will take some tracking for a few weeks, even a month, to get all expenses written down in categories such as food, gasoline, work lunches and so forth. These expenses must include everything from movie rentals to vending machine purchases. • Don’t forget expenses that are due less often like insurance every six months. Divide cost by six and add that amount into your monthly budget. • Budget for savings. A small amount a month is a good way to start and will add up over time. Be consistent and pay yourself first. Write your budget down with pencil and paper or enter it on a computer
spreadsheet. There is something about putting those figures on paper that will make it real and fixed in your mind. Review the information you have gathered and set fixed amounts to spend on flexible expenses (dining out, entertainment or buying clothes) and stick to the amount budgeted for these items. The “envelope system” may be one of the easiest ways to allocate for these expenses. Put in the envelope what you allow for those purchases. For example, $20 a week for miscellaneous things such as newspapers, magazines, convenience store purchases, vending machines, etc. When the envelope is empty don’t allow yourself to spend any more on these things until the next week. Remember that getting your budget started is half the battle; sticking to it is another. Your budget is a plan and like all plans it can be thrown off track. Don’t get frustrated when this happens because it will. Unexpected expenses or something you forgot may come up. Review and modify your budget often. Figure out what works and what doesn’t. Cutting back on overspending in some categories may be necessary to bring your expenses in line with your income. Decide what you can live without and change spending habits. Set goals for yourself, whether it is getting out of debt or saving more. This will give you something to work toward and help you stay motivated. Your progress may be slow at first, but don’t give up and be realistic. Budgeting, like any task, may seem overwhelming at first, but with practice and discipline it will become a skill that will steadily improve your financial health. helen-buchanan@cherokee.org 918-453-5624
Native American Times owner and Cherokee Nation citizen Lisa Snell, sitting far left, and Mike Henson, majority owner of ELOHI and CN citizen, standing far right, show their Oklahoma Native American Business Enterprise Center awards as outstanding minority entrepreneurs after a recent awards banquet in Tulsa, Okla. COURTESY PHOTO
2 Cherokee-owned businesses honored BY STAFF REPORTS TULSA, Okla. – Two Cherokee Nation citizen-owned businesses – ELOHI and the Native American Times – were honored as outstanding minority entrepreneurs by the Oklahoma Native American Business Enterprise Center recently at an awards banquet in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Named the Rising Start Firm of the Year, ELOHI is a construction management business that was formed in March 2011 in Oklahoma City. Its majority owner is CN citizen Mike Henson, who has worked in construction since age 15 and has spent his entire career working on government construction projects. ELOHI offers technical assistance to other tribally owned construction companies that are entering the realm of military construction. It also works with consultants and subcontractors. Earning the Media Award, the Native
American Times is owned by CN citizen Lisa Snell, who bought the paper in September 2008. The newspaper began publishing 18 years ago, originally as the Oklahoma Indian Times. However, under Snell’s ownership, the publication’s circulation has increased by 80 percent to become the third-largest circulated weekly newspaper in Oklahoma. Snell has also grown the news organization’s web traffic by more than 200 percent. The Native American Times also has a Facebook fan base of nearly 18,000. According to its website, the OKNABEC provides business advisory services and other critical resources to ensure the continued success and growth of minorityowned businesses. Through strategic partnerships with leading Oklahoma organizations, OKNABEC strives to assist minority business owners in reaching the next stage of growth for their companies.