It’s been a few days after my deadline of September 12th.
I haven’t created business cards for my art coaching business. I haven’t learned the principles of javascript or front-end development or created a game.
The other day a friend was asking me about how to start a side gig and I had so much to tell him, yet these days I’m feeling a bit down and undermotivated.
A few realizations are perking me up a little.
Realization 1: My coaching program is not overvalued.
I want to charge $25,000 per year for my coaching program to help someone create a masterpiece. Before even pitching it to anyone, I felt like this was too big of an ask, I should lower my rates etc.
But as I thought about it deeper a few things occurred to me:
I will be spending a lot of time with a client. I plan on spending 2 hr every other week with clients on formal coaching sessions, but that’s not it. My entire professional attention and all my skills are aimed at helping my clients succeed. So outside of formal coaching sessions (in person if I can manage it). I will be taking calls emails, and setting up times to do virtual sessions. My goal is not to be a doctor you see for checkups or an art class you regularly go to. My goal is to understand your art inside and out, and be a true partner, mentor, strategist, and guide in your process. I think $25,000 for a year is an absolute crazy steal for that.
I’m not focused on getting clients that are poorer or don’t really have the funds. That would be both unethical and a bad fit. I already offer another class that can satisfy that demographic of people where it is more like a regular class, albeit a somewhat vetted and serious class (and not serious at the same time). I’m focused on the people who have the money and the passion to back it up, and we can spend some time to do something special. For someone retired with several millions of dollars, this will be nothing to them as long as they want it enough.
Realization 2: The process is complicated, but I have my blog
The whole point of this blog is be a place where I can incrementally work on works of progress and get better at things over time, instead of getting the final version all at once. If I don’t use this blog, I can also use my google drive, google docs, and slides to draft out things step by step and track overall progress in the blog.
Okok. After working on my AI Consulting Plan for a few days, something is really fucking clear to me (excuse my French).
I need more than 10 days to make a name for myself. I am going to need 3 months. Videos are the absolute best way to make a name for myself. However, videos take absolutely forever to create.
So let us give us enough time to make them.
Goal: Be known, give preview of consulting
UNIT ONE (1 month): Build a crowd who will engage with anything I put out
Shoot 3 simple videos
Shoot 3 complex videos
Write 6 LinkedIn posts
Involve people every step of the way
UNIT TWO (1 month): Get people to start reaching out to me with AI questions
Create reaction videos to comments
Create videos based off on comments
UNIT THREE 1 month): Get big enough following to invite famous people on my videos
Figure out the platform I can get big on
Post on it consistantly
BONUS (1 day): Look for automation/outsourcing, try to make as low effort as possible
Ok let’s dive in deeper.
UNIT ONE (1 month ends March 22nd)
Planning and setting up artifacts for videos (10 days ends March 2nd)
Executing, shooting and editing (10 days ends March 12th)
Feedback and editing for bigger videos (10 days ends March 22nd)
And even deeper….
UNIT ONE | Part 1 Planning and setting up artifacts for videos (10 days ends March 2nd)
Create plans for each of the videos (4 days ends Feb 25th)
What videos I want to shoot (already done)
What those videos will look like in the intro (partly done)
What clips I need
What research I need
Who I need to talk to
When I need it by – figure out shooting schedule
How to break down each of the ideas into smaller content
Figure out how to shoot each video (3 days ends Feb 28th)
Break down as much of the video as I can
If needed, come up with an imaginary best case scenario story just to know what shots I need
Solidify shooting schedule
Reach out to the people I need to reach out to
Shoot preliminary non-essential parts of video (3 days ends March 2nd)
Shoot any part that I can that don’t require other people
Goals: I really want to feel less shitty and tired and I want to come up with a direction for my podcast edit and how I can edit it in 40 minutes or less.
Here are the metrics for scoring:
Energy rejuvenation (1-5)
Confidence in solution (1-5)
Creativity (percentile)
Raw efficiency, work over energy (percentile)
My plan for my warmup is just for go for a long 15 minute walk.
Plan for work session:
UNIT ONE: Analyze video (10 min)
Might want to create a good intro
who are you and what have you done
What would help her as a writer?
Creative process from start to end
Talking about book in a way people want to read it or get greater insight
Greatest struggles as a writer
What like to write about
What do other people probably want to know about a writer?
Where come up with ideas
Interesting passages from book
UNIT TWO: Process/look at other ideas (10 min)
Going all in on Judy Blume masterclass video:
As soon as you tell me I can’t do something, I’m going to do it.
I hope that in sharing with you what I’ve learned over 50 years of writing that it will help you find your way as a writer.
As a 12-year-old, I was obsessed by the idea of growing breasts and getting my period. But there was no place that I could read about it. When I started to write, I was determined to be honest. So I’m going to share with you the practical side of writing.
There’s nothing more important than character. You’re living with these people for years. You had better feel for them. Do some exercises. Have your character write a letter to you. The first draft is pure torture for me. I hate every second of it. I have a messy mind, and my writing is a process of cleaning up the mess, then slowly making a story. I will be able to show that to you.
I got a particularly nasty review once. It got to me, and I took my typewriter, and I held it over this arroyo. And I was going to throw it in. I thought I cannot do this anymore. And then this little voice went off in my head. Wait, you’re going to let this one review stop you from writing? That’s crazy! That’s one opinion. I enjoy finding and supporting new writers, and this is a chance for me to reach more of you.
I always ask myself, why would anyone write if they didn’t have to? I mean it’s so hard. So this is for all of you who feel that you have to.
I’m Judy Blume, and this is my Master Class.
Something really special about Danuta and unique about her personality, show don’t tell.
*Beeroll on books and images from life, maybe emotional points of interview
Some sort of intro to talk about what this is about (maybe introduction)
Something about how she gets started with creative process, or something about art or creativity.
Walk through the step by step creative process
*Images or animation if possible
Talk about a challenging emotional experience
Resolution if possible
Deeper philosophical point
End
UNIT THREE: Create plan for actual editing (currently thinking one short, one long) (10 min)
UNIT ONE: Gathering clips
UNIT TWO: Gathering broll
UNIT THREE: Compositing
Bonus time: shot list
Something really special about Danuta and unique about her personality, show don’t tell. Should be humorous and controversial.
Beeroll on books and images from life, maybe emotional points of interview
To kill the other
Some sort of intro to talk about what this is about (maybe introduction)
Something about how she gets started with creative process, or something about art or creativity.
Walk through the step by step creative process
Images of process
Talk about a challenging emotional experience with resolution if possible
Deeper philosophical point
Some sort of ending
Bonus time: animation thoughts
Trying out pencil 2d!
Postmatch Review:
Overall, this was very fun and rejuvenated my love for editing and video.
Energy rejuvenation – 4 I don’t feel 100% but my energy went up TONS since I started working
Confidence in solution – 2 I feel the plan is really solid but the timing seems a little tight to get all of this done
Creativity – 70th percentile, pretty good, not revolutionary. But I don’t think most people could do this.
Raw efficiency, work over energy – 80th percentile, I think most sessions and people can’t be this productive in 40 minutes that was actually insane.
Match 2: Video Editing
Goals: I want to be excited about this video edit, feel satisfied, while boosting my confidence in pushing out videos faster with less effort
Here are the metrics for scoring:
Excitement in the edit (1-5)
Satisfaction in the edit (1-5)
Efficiency (percentile)
Fun (1-5)
How ME it is (percentile)
My plan for my warmup is to hype myself up – play music, tell friends etc. + motivation.
Clean, write on my board.
UNIT ONE: Gathering clips (10 minutes)
Something really special about Danuta and unique about her personality, show don’t tell. Should be humorous and controversial.
Beeroll on books and images from life, maybe emotional points of interview
To kill the other
Some sort of intro to talk about what this is about (maybe introduction)
Something about how she gets started with creative process, or something about art or creativity.
Walk through the step by step creative process
Images of process
Talk about a challenging emotional experience with resolution if possible
Deeper philosophical point
Some sort of ending
UNIT TWO: Gathering broll
UNIT THREE: Compositing
Postmatch Review:
Excitement in the edit – 2 I’m not that thrilled about the cut so far
Satisfaction in the edit -1 I’m not all that satisfied in the edit
Efficiency (percentile) – 60% I’m better than average but a bit slow compared to experienced video editors
Fun (1-5) – 3 I had quite a lot of fun
How ME it is (percentile) – 15% not a lot of me in it so far
Match 3: Video Editing + MEified
Goals: I was right that the last match did not finish the process of editing. It was just too much. But I did make REALLY good progress. The only problem is, it’s not ME enough. This last challenge, I want to get the edit done, and I want to inject some Jack magic into it.
Metrics for scoring:
How ME is it (percentile)
Completeness & polish (percentile)
For my warmup, I’m going to watch a bunch of my videos.
Ok the warmup didn’t work, I’m gonna play some nice music and meditate. Me is goofy, profound, soft, and emotional.
UNIT ONE: Compostiting
UNIT TWO: MEify
UNIT THREE: Finalize
Postmatch Review: It ended up taking two hours. I’m tired now!
How ME is it – 65% it does feel real, and grounded but not as me as I could make it
Completeness & polish – 65% its actually not bad at all, could use some broll and animation
Today I came up with a new emotional processing tool, finding a way to personify the feelings within me and making friends with them.
The goal is to accept and validate feelings within instead of trying to push them down or quickly process them.
Here are some examples:
Valorant stress and anxiety (fear of being bad/defective, fear of failure) – a little black dragon called Neelu. The tension in my stomach and heart are the dragon’s body my frustration its fire.
The feeling of being overwhelmed by the thought of work – Pedro the Triangle, a pyramid floating in my chest with sharp edges
The desire/pull for attention or to be liked – Lethe the a sort of fast moving air or energy in my chest
These personification, I make friends with them, allow them to be with me while I go about my business.
I also wanted to talk about a really good video I watched.
Some lessons I learned:
Stay consistent
Figure out what you want to be the best at (good enough for others to want to pay you money)
Figure out what comes before the money in terms that is more grounded and more closer to your purpose
Taking the final advice, I wanted to think about it a little more.
I want to make $200,000.
My two goals are:
To help people turn their artistic gifts into masterpieces
Works of art that are honest, emotional, grounded, playful, imaginative, personal, and beautiful
To make companies 10x more valuable
More purposeful, unique, efficient, intentional, innovative processes, brands, culture, products and leaders (consistent and aligned)
The question I want to ask myself is: how would I need to go about my goals in such a way that it would be strange if I didn’t make $200,000?
Today I feel mentally and physically drained. I went to bed at 3 AM last night. I feel defeated, anxious, and sad about my relationship. I keep asking myself what it means to own a startup, what it means to be in charge. I think what it means is to be able to take a day off if you need to.
Let’s take a look at some of the different areas of my life right now:
STARTUP
I’m disappointed in both the effectiveness and efficiency with customer projects as well as the level of sales outreach.
I feel disconnected from my partner with quite a bit of friction, feeling that there is always a barrier to do what I want to do.
What might be the next steps?
Identify areas my partner is strong in to involve him more on things I need help with
Identify areas I feel strongly I should lead and take more leadership in that area
LIFE
I’m a bit stagnated on my todo list
My life systems for food and exersise are seeing big wins
Huge desire to get more sleep
What might be my next steps?
Fallout during the day only for leveling up people
Netflix and long fallout sessions at night in bed
To do list cleaning/grooming on fridays
COACHING
I’ve stopped completely
Undecided on whether to work on my own art projects or continue coaching
I want to work on my youtube channel and an art group
What might be my next steps?
Finish artist interview challenge
Outreach for potential clients
RELATIONSHIP
I feel misunderstood a lot, mismatching values, too much physical distance
Today I feel very tired but at least better rested than normal. I really want to finish my taxes today and I also want to experiment with art therapy and exercise to help get through the stress and effort of finishing.
My initial thoughts about art therapy is that it is all about reconnecting with your body…to do flow theory or follow what you feel. Art is about touching the forms with lines and paint, music is about creating sound, dance is about moving your body.
I’m doing more research. Here is a video that talks about using art to find a safe place:
Here is another video:
Current art therapy ideas:
Express what you feel kinesthetically
Scribbling
Banging on the piano
Flow theory dance
Free writing
Create a safe space, express what feels safe
Drawing
Writing
Music
Repetitive motions
Shapes
Chords
Motions
But how does this translate to greater art creation? How does this create a world?
Thinking about this more, art creation is about the following:
What you want to share with others
What you find beautiful
What you feel wonder about
What stories you want to tell
What is quirky, unique, and creative
What worlds you want to live in and provide others
I have a couple ideas of how to transition from therapeutic art to art art:
My therapy exercise (take a problem and solve it in the story by making the main character face a problem 10x more painful)