A sculptor's journey towards the Fastlane

[Abrodos]

Week 1: FOCUS

Hi everyone!
I'll be documenting my progress here. As you might know, I'm a 30-year-old sculptor from Barcelona.
I've been freelancing for five years, and although everything is going better each year, it is hardly enough to cover my minimal living expenses.

I've never done any marketing effort seriously. All the customers have been people that know me personally, or acquaintances of them.
On one hand that's good because that means my product is good enough, on the other it means that I have plenty of work to do in the public aspect of my business.

My main problem these years has been that I've wanted to be a jack-of-all-trades.

So far, to just get it out of my mind, the projects that have been giving me some consistent money and recurrent customers for the past few years are:
1. - Giant fibreglass beast sculptures (one of a kind, very time consuming, low paid, but cool and impressive)
2. - Custom-made trophies (nice Fastlane potential)
3. - Painting/drawing comissions (portraits of friends mainly)
4. - Scenery for theatre and hand-painted lettering (one-of-a-kind commissions)

5.- And last but not least, this past year I've started working for short periods as a substitute teacher at several schools. Some sporadical slowlane switches that I felt were necessary for my mental health (being a struggling entrepreneur for so long, the loneliness, the uncertainty, everything was taking its toll on me).

Besides all this, last year also got into several non-paying stuff:

6.- Submitted a sculpture to one of the most important realist art contests (and, although not selected, I got into the catalogue!)
7.- Started collaborating with not one but two indie videogame studios,
8.- I signed up to an online course on digital marketing and e-commerce,
9.- Became a member of an investment club, which led me to Unscripted and
10.- the discovery of the FLForum,
11.- Started meeting with art galleries, to evaluate and redefine my paintings and sculptures,
12.- Started a paid partnership to create weapons for a fantasy prop shop,
13.- Started my first CENTS-based project, 3D printable scenery for wargames (which is on indefinite standby btw).
14.-Started a second CENTS project as well about silicone sex toys, also on standby,
15.- And started keyword researching and making Youtube sculpting videos.

As you can guess, jack of all trades means master of none, so most of those projects are unfinished or badly executed.

My main objective in this 2020 will be to FOCUS. Try to just do one thing at a time, and finish it before I get to the next one.


FIRST WEEK PROGRESS
So far, I've been able to:
1. Finish polishing the sculptures for the first set of weapons for the prop shop, which are due in two weeks (8 knife models and 8 copies of each),
2. Finish the remaining 75% of the online marketing course (I didn't want to start the year with it pending, so I've chugged it, 5 topics a day, and it's done).
3. Do a painting comission (3 portraits). Kinda fastlane because, while I usually charge 20/h, I charged 180 for the full commission and managed to do 2 portraits in under an hour and a half. The third one got messed up and required a lot of extra work, so I ended up working at 20/h really.
4. Work 3 hours on the fibreglass beast I've got halfway, so the clients see some small progress,
5. Empty my bookshelves from old books and rearrange them. I've divided my workspace/room in 70 small parts so I can tackle the tidy up process one step at a time. This week I've done 8 of these parts.
6. Open an account on a P2P secondhand selling app and upload several items, which was part of a group challenge to work on our selling abilities, I had this pending since summer.
7. Worked on some designs for a giant gargoyle commission for a Halloween haunted house.
8. Let go of the videogame unpaid project I was in. Told them I don't have time for it.
9. Told the school I'm teaching on not to count on me on a regular basis, as I will have very little availability from now till June.

Overall, about 48 hours of work/study, 25h of self care (social events, doctor appointments, and two 2,5h walks) and 13 hours of procrastinating.



SECOND WEEK PLAN:

1. I'll be starting a mandatory master's degree for my teaching job. 4 hours a day + commuting, monday to friday from now until June. YAY. Not sure how I'll combine it with my other jobs. Not sure if it was the right decision (not much actual knowledge there, it is mostly a bureaucratic procedure, but you need to have it to get hired full-time in any school).
2.I need to finish the weapons for the prop shop (the texturing, moulding, and casting + painting of about 60 pcs total, all due in a couple weeks, probably not gonna meet the deadline but the shop owner is not in a rush either. Nevertheless I'll try to have it on time, as I want to give out a good first impression.)
3. Some testimonial work on the fibreglass beast (right now a polystyrene sculpture) for the clients to see progress. But not the focus this week.
4. Decide whether or not I renovate my yearly subscription to my investor club. On one hand it's what lead me to Unscripted , to the FLF, and there are some very strong individuals and resources, especially in estate investing and flipping skills.
On the other, I feel that it isn't providing me enough value, that most members are hardly proactive, that the mentors are much more distant compared to MJ here, and that college won't leave me time to actively participate there this 2020. Besides, the yearly subscription fee is 700€, which, despite not being a large sum, is quite expensive for someone that earns barely 1000 a month, and super expensive compared to the value the FLF is offering me, which is maybe 10x or 20x.
5. Maybe tidy up some small chunk of my room/workspace. No more than 2-3 hours.
6. Resume my usual sleep schedule. I feel better when waking up before 7:00, and these christmas holidays have been a bit messy in this aspect.
7. Delete all the games from my computer. I feel it'll help me be more focused and increase my awareness on how I spend my free time. I'll delete all the porn as well.

If, and just IF, the weapons are finished, I'll put all my remaining work hours in the big beast sculpture. Trying to get the shape finished as soon as possible, as I'm not sure how many work hours are remaining (bc new process it should be no more than 80, but last beast were 400).

So that's it! I don't want to make other plans. Maybe I'll use some of the lecture time to work on something, not sure still.

Anyway,
I'm leaving it for today, it's getting late.


I'll try to post once weekly! On Sunday or Monday evenings.
Thanks for reading!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Week 4: Clean spaces, big advancements, happy clients, and a big time leech.


Cleaning of my workshop:

The big mountain of trash has been finally taken to the disposal plant, it took 5 trips, full-loaded car, but everything is now tidy and nice. Still some stuff to throw away, but at least it's confortable to work in there now. I also cleaned an outside terrace I had at home, which was full of old sculpture materials and is now fully empty.

Beast Sculpture:

The big sculpture is mostly finished from the outside, and now, also from the inside! It's a performance piece (like a dancing statue), so a guy has to lift and move it from the inside.
The inner space was something that worried me a lot; because I didn't know how much time it would take me, or how it would compromise the sturdyness/weight of the beast. Fortunately in two days I've been able to work it out.

The clients came to see it and, despite how long I've made them wait, they were very impressed and happy with the result. We've agreed the piece will be presented on April, so no procrastinating now.
I've resolved myself (and told the clients as well) I will apply the resin to the piece by the start of next week; that means no more dilating the sculpting process.
The clients liked the piece as it is, so no more perfectionism and retouching. This week will be the last one to sculpt.

Prop weapons:

On the other hand, I've tried the new materials for the prop weapons; still some tests to do, but I think I've got the proper one. This client has moved the deadline, so no need to hurry.

University:

At Uni everything's ok; This week I've just gone three days. A class was cancelled so we had time to socialize; super nice people there, I'm very happy to have met them.

Habits:
I did quite well until thursday, really productive, no time wasting, good eating, etc... but I fell into a big time leech that consumed most of the weekend, also I fell to trash eating. as well.
I'm now compromising publicly to a fully disciplined, healthy, ascetic and productive week.

I did 54 working hours (less than past week), 8,5 rest hours, and 22h time-wasting hours.
Even though I have waken up later than I wanted, the sleep pattern has been consistent, and my headaches have diminished considerably (they're still present though, but I've diminished my painkiller intake from 10 to 2 a week. I'm also dreaming a lot, 4-5 dreams a night, and most are nice and interesting.

so everything is going well!

I'll take this relapse as a reminder, to stop the bad habits from the very beginning.



Next week planning:

I will start with two small tasks I wanted to do on the weekend:
1.- Finish the foam casts of the weapons,
2. - Define a calendar, from now until March, of all the work I'm going to do, especially for the sculpture and the uni work.

And the goals of the week will be:

1st priority: - FINISHING the exterior of the big sculpture!!!
2nd: - Mantaining the daily habits all week long, no exceptions.

If the two above are accomplished,
3rd: - Keeping uni work up to date;
4th - Advancing the weapon project if the client approves;

And if all above is accomplished,
5th - Some more tidying and dumping away (limited to 2-3 hours);
6th - Find an afternoon to go hiking.

Full gas!!!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Here I am again!!!
A very good week overall. Almost no migraines, and I've been able to get to work early and finish early for the whole week (i had construction workers at home 8am-5pm every day so I've tried to match their schedule and not be around while they were working. That definitely helped focus in the sculpture.
A total of 36 hours, 23 with the big goat sculpture the outside of which is mostly finished, and clients informed about. Right now I'm emptying it so it weighs less and it's easier to make it dance/parade. Reduced time on Minecraft to 17h, still a bit too much idling/fb browsing/yt watching when I finished my work time at 5pm (very physical work, I was arriving home very tired).
I'll try to maintain the same schedule this week but substituting idling with added work time on the evenings. Maybe something more creative like designs for the next KS campaign, or polishing the 3d files that need to be sent.
Regarding habits, it's been same or better than last week in all except browsing reddit before sleep.

Anyway I'm happy because all the open fronts I had are mostly under control and updated, and with the goat project I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Here are some pics of it:

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BellaPippin]

Don’t delete Instagram, use it to sell.
Have you ever looked into cosplay props? Like if you started making props from Apex, Fortnite, you know, every weapon/shield/helmet and what not of the characters everyone likes to cosplay, people would throw cash at you. Some people wanna cosplay but don’t enjoy the process of making it so they buy them. I don’t cosplay but if I had the money to spare I would have a giant gunblade hanging on some wall. How many well arranged cosplay e-commerce stores are around? Not many that I know of, there could be an opportunity there and you would get to sculpt your hearts content.

Guess where all those people hang out? Instagram.

Just an idea, keep it up!

 

[bdb]

Temporarily in BCN too, have you tried teaching other people what you do through youtube and maybe paid courses ? I do art too in my spare time and unless your fees are high, commissions are never a good time investment , instead try to create products / videos / software, related to what you do. Artist have a huge advantage compared to other people, anything you do, if you are good enough and do cool projects, people will want to know how to do it too. Show them and you can live off that.

hope your dad gets better.

 

[Abrodos]

Hi everyone!!!

Super good week overall.

52 hours of work, 42 of which have been spent on the 3D modelling course, which will help me be 10x more effective in producing assets for my FL business. A lot of focus and way less time wasted that the weeks before: 24 hours of rest/exercise with friends, and just 12 of unproductive time.

The pink one is what I was being able to produce before the course, the gray one is what I'm learning to do right now.


I've been tracking as well my daily discipline: been able to cut down to almost zero all unhealthy snacks, cell phone time, and skin picking. Still need to work on the other half of stuff, like sleeping schedules.

See you next week!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

So! I'm here again!!! This week has been like a rollercoaster.
But overall, i can say that....

MY FIRST FASTLANE VENTURE....

HAS STARTED!!!!

So I'm really happy and excited for it.
This is the link:

Wild Bone Tower Set

Scenery set for miniature wargaming, available in both digital and physical formats! Launching in Sept 20!

www.kickstarter.com

I'm finishing digital assets and making promotion through Facebook right now.

This is the Facebook page! I'd be super happy if people on the FL forum gave a like to it, I haven't still shared the project with my friends and acquaintances so now it's my first "opening" to the public.

Spirit Wargame Scenery

Spirit Wargame Scenery. 342 likes. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spiritwargamescenery/wild-bone-tower-spirit-wargame-scenery

www.facebook.com

Basically I'm selling a digital sculpture for people for 3D print, and I also will produce physical copies of it.
I'm aiming to reach 7000€(at least) in a month, it's quite a lot for a first timer but I'll try it anyway. And several other pieces will be made available if bigger sums are reached.

Lots of different suff to be working on right now, graphic design, rendering, more 3D modelling, physical sculpting, digital marketing...

And other than that, I've got a new small comission (500$, for theatre prop production), put my highschool teacher job appliance on a halt, and had an argument with my parents bc of that, but it helped me share the project with them so everthing's cool.

Haven't counted my hours! I have more important stuff to focus on!

 

[Abrodos]

Hi! Another Sunday here.

This week has been better than the previous, ahtough the anxiety attacks are still there.

Monday and Tuesday were as bad as last week; I went to therapy on Wednesday. The session went not as good as I hoped, I wanted to solve the immedate problem (to stop the sudden anxiety attacks) but instead the therapist started to go into mystical/family constellation stuff, telling me that anxiety had been put on me by some ancestor/spirit. She said this usually takes several sessions to heal, but I told her I wasn't sure this was what I needed at the moment, as I don't have the time nor the money (regardless of the helpfulness it might have, I can't afford to feel as sick for some more weeks).
I left the session with more anxiety than I entered, so I had enough and I took a couple diazepam pills that day.

This made a big difference: I did the same the following day, and for 2 days I was the same person as before. no irritability, no obsessive thoughts, I was actually able to enjoy the 2 days and really rest, even watched some Star Trek and really enjoyed it. On friday and saturday the anxiety returned, I kept it under control more or less with just one pill (the knot in the chest wouldn't go away but I was able to work more or less), but today has been really bad again (woke up with the worst headache in days, also today I've had 2 diazepams and 3 headache pills and still feel anxious asf.)
Something had to do with my friend suggesting me some social situations (a dinner with some long not seen friends where I wasn't really invited by them but by her, so I felt like I'd be fifth wheeling, also having a long conversation about social skills and taking the initiative got me in a weird/toxic mood).

So, in summary:
Very little work done: 28,5 hours.
Main thing I worked on: a week long sculpture for Instagram, suggested by a follower. Trying to get in touch with the public to see what could add most value to them. First suggestion was Medusa by that follower, then @BellaPippin suggested doing Shenron from Dragon Ball, and the same follower that suggested Medusa has asked for a centaur, so those will be the next pieces.

Here's a pic of it, and the summary video of the process if you're interested in it.

David Abrodos Aragonès on Instagram: "Here's the recap of the Medusa videos! A full week of work along with some better quality studio pics! Like the video if you enjoyed seeing the process!!! #artworld #art #sculpture #sculpturestudio #figurativ

53 likes, 1 comments - davidabrodos on September 11, 2021: "Here's the recap of the Medusa videos! A full week of work along with some better quality studio ..."

www.instagram.com

Apart from that, some more 3D assets have been finished (the first 9 attachments for the last extra are finished, and did some elements (flags, branches) that need to be arranged and I'll have the second pieces done, so 9 will remain).

I went hiking acouple days also, mostly to try to get as tired as possible and calm anxiety; didn't work, and also I've put on 2 kg of weight this week due to lack of my usual self control on meals and anxiety induced hunger.

No work on the flat,
no teaching work at public ed yet either, so still broke,
and no work on the goat, (the clients will come in 7 days).


Hope next week is better. I'll schedule an appointment with my doctor (he's now on holidays) to have my self-medication checked and also to keep track on headache meds.

And I'll probably stop with my therapist and start looking for an anxiety specialized psychologist to help me identify the cause of everything.

 

[Abrodos]

Week 3: breaking my records and a room full of garbage

OK, third week of the year has finished!

I keep improving in the total productive hours.
I've worked 13h this week on paid projects, spent 38 in class/doing college work, and dedicated 13,5 to non-paid work (mainly tidying up my workspace, which had accumulated a truckload of garbage (Leftovers from old projects/yet-to-be used materials).
A total of 65 work hours, which I'm quite proud of.

This process of tidying up my workshop might have been a way to procrastinate on my most important project (the big sculpture), but it had to be done sooner or later. As my place is very small (a 4x5m garage) and this stuff is really bulky, I was literally having no place to move.
Right now there's a big pile of trash bags full of styrofoam that goes all the way to the ceiling, plus several wood planks and random stuff, waiting to be taken to the recycling/disposal plant. It will take me about 10 car trips I suppose, I'll try to do them all next week in the little morning hours I have, starting tomorrow morning.

Good stuff:

-After a particularly strong episode of migraine on Tuesday evening, I had the first day without any headache in several months! I believe it has something to do with sleep schedules and some other habits I changed (manily diet and sexual habits). I think the pills are starting to have an effect as well.

- I've discovered the Tropical MBA podcast, and it's helping me put the commuting hours to some good use. Both episodes I've listened are super high quality material.

-Most small projects are going well, and I'm learning a lot at college about the teenage brain and great teaching methodologies.

- Had some really cool time at a high school with an art project I'm helping the kids with (as a guest artist). They were extra motivated. As a teacher I want my classes to be always like that!

- Enjoyed my trips to the college, discovered a beautiful park next to my lecture building, long, slow walks.

- I'm having a lot of weird/cool dreams during sleep, most involving pleasurable/interesting experiences. I keep track of them in a journal. I don't like dreamless sleep, it feels as if I didn't rest.

- All the garbage will finally get thrown away!

-I keep "breaking marks" in how much time I spend working, how little time I waste.


Bad stuff:

- The Tuesday migraine episode was particularly strong, It was related I suppose to anxiety about an argument with a friend about a social event I felt forced to be in. But overall headaches have been diminishing.

- I keep anxiety-sweating A LOT when in class, but I try to be cool about it. No big deal, I definitely prefer this to headaches.

- The foam weapons have been molded, but the casting has been slowed down due to some materials being expired. I'll be getting some from a different brand, also not a big deal.


Next week plan:

The most difficult stuff will be sticking to those healthy habits (Getting up early, less chocolate/sugar, less porn, skipping some meal), but those changes made me feel way better last week, so I suppose that'll made everything easier.

I've decided to do half of the uni subjects from home, to be able to just go to class 2 days a week. I'll keep going to all classes this week to have the corresponding documents signed. I'll keep putting the commuting time to good use by listening to the TMBA.
I'll also get those new materials asap and continue with the foam weapon project.
And finally I'll do the first 4-5 trips to the disposal plant.

If there's some time left after all that, I'll sand the sculpture and call it finished. I've decided not to change it anymore, and go straight to applying resin to it.

Overall, I feel focused and happy. I'm enjoying the processes, and I feel the more I throw away, the happier I am.

Btw, I've decided to keep being member of my investing club. But I'll reprise my activity in it on March, when I will have finished my classes.

Keep going!

 

[Einfamilienhaus]

I like your thread very much. Hopefully you can keep it further!

I've worked 13h this week on paid projects, spent 38 in class/doing college work, and dedicated 13,5 to non-paid work (mainly tidying up my workspace, which had accumulated a truckload of garbage (Leftovers from old projects/yet-to-be used materials).

I ask this question for better understanding. When you talk about the 38 hours of work. Do you mean the time you spend inside the college with no opportunity to work on your project directly?

Why does it take the same amount of time to work for clients like cleaning up your workspace?

Right now I feel a bit tired and sad, very low on energy.

That is normal. This is also one point I have learned pretty much fast in the first few months of being self-employed. Having time for yourself and work on your ideas is great. But you will also learn that it is very easy to get "outside the daily life". You dont have the same problems like others anymore and you start to feel "strange". It was a great idea to do an activity next to your work.

I will keep your thread on watched. Like to read in some parts the same thoughts inside your work progress.

One advice: If you are low on money you can make a lot of meals with noodles. There are usually pretty much cheap or soups. I have never eaten so much soup in my life like during the last 2 months.

Dont give up. You do the work most of the people are dreaming of and nobody wants to face the reality why they dont don't it.

Welcome to the 1% of fighters.

 

[Abrodos]

Don’t delete Instagram, use it to sell.
Have you ever looked into cosplay props? Like if you started making props from Apex, Fortnite, you know, every weapon/shield/helmet and what not of the characters everyone likes to cosplay, people would throw cash at you. Some people wanna cosplay but don’t enjoy the process of making it so they buy them. I don’t cosplay but if I had the money to spare I would have a giant gunblade hanging on some wall. How many well arranged cosplay e-commerce stores are around? Not many that I know of, there could be an opportunity there and you would get to sculpt your hearts content.

Guess where all those people hang out? Instagram.

Just an idea, keep it up!

Thank you Bella! I haven't deleted my account, just removed the app from my phone. I was noticing that several 5 minute pauses were becoming 30 minutes long due to IG browsing. It's a temporary measure.
Also I've been looking forward to creating cosplay props (that's the main reason why accepted the foam weapon comission), but the major issue here is the scalability. These pieces are costly to mold and cast, and often they can't be batch sold due to lack of enough demand, or copyright issues. I'd have to charge a lot more than 300-500$ for a custom prop.
But I should take a look at it definitely. Thanks!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Here I am another Sunday evening!

Week 8: 61,5h of work, 31,5 of rest/sport/social, and 12 unproductive hours.

This week has been great; I've had a very good time (24 hours straight with the college friends) and got to know some amazing new people. I've felt appreciated in many aspects, I've been able to share stuff with them that I rarely share. In addition, I've been in contact with extremely well-crafted and rare artworks, to which I feel a very strong personal connection (a visit to a 19th Century art academy, that was scheduled by a professor).
I remember experiencing a lot of pleasure and happiness from mundane stuff after all that, to a point it felt almost unreal.

Other than that, a lot of work has been put on that college essay (I've decided I'll base the final project of my Master's Degree on that essay). 14 total hours for those "finishing touches", maybe I could have finished it in less time. Anyway.

Green light from my clients on both the foam weapon project, and on resin-coating the big sculpture. So I want to do the weapons as soon as possible (the molds are done, I want to have one copy of each cast, sanded and painted in two-three days at most), and start the coating of the sculpture along with some minor touches that are still pending.

I've also sold a useless pc monitor so some extra cash, I've started investing on that crowdlending plattform, and I've received an offer for a paid training from a big estate investor. I still don't know the price or the days that mentorship will take place, so not sure if I will be able to take it or not.

And I've finally found some time to go hiking! A couple hours today.

4/7 days getting up before 8 and being ready to work in an hour,
5/7 going to bed early,
reached 72.1 kg of weight,
6/7 days without chocolate, cookies or sweets,
And 4/7 days without porn.

There have been 3 days of monk-style super focus, but also I've felt really tired on a couple days, with strong migraines as well.

Anyway! Let's see how everything goes next week!
Priorities are:
-1: get those foam pieces done, one copy of each (so the client can start photographing them).
-2: Put some fffing resin on the sculpture!
-3: Finish the rest of the foam weapons (7 more copies of each)
-4: Finish some remaining details on the sculpture.
-5: Invest a bit more on the platform, and decide on the mentoring stuff.

Good night everyone!

 

[Abrodos]

Week 9!
55 hours of work, 41 of social/rest and 7 unproductive hours.

This week has been amazing! Pretty tired but happy. A lot of different social events with different people.
Also this has been the first whole week without falling into any kind of temptation. I also reached below 73 kg on a couple days.
Just on Friday and Saturday I overslept a little.

Anyway, the first weapon set is finally finished and ready for the client, and I finally was able to apply some resin to the big sculpture.

This week I have to finish a couple college final essays, and the remaining priorities from last week, so the goals would be:

1. Finish both essays,
2. Make the weapon copies,
3. Finish the sculpture and cover a bit more of it with resin.

Good night!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Nice job grinding and getting things done!
First I will say I am a nobody right now, but I want to maybe point something out. On all these threads I kind of skimmed through them and found a common theme. You are working really hard and being productive, BUT you are trading your TIME for money. You may try and focus on something in your expertise that can grow exponentially? Good luck on your journey, and best of wishes!

Thank you @spinventing, indeed I'm now basically selling my time for money, and particularly now, in a very bad tradeoff. Since january I've been locked with two projects that involve a lot of work and very little gains. One of them I decided will be the last one I do, and the other one has been a kind of "internship", been learning the basics for a possible semi-fastlane business (producing foam props and selling them).
The other project, my FL business idea, which I've been reprising these weeks, involves selling digital 3d models. But these previous comissions must be finished.
Also, I've been making less than minimum wage for several years with my business, so that's why I started in January the master's degree to be a public high school teacher, to have some kind of financial independence to start.

 

[Abrodos]

Hi everyone, here I am again. This week has been particularly difficult in terms of productivity and general well-being. I started the week with continuous anxiety until wednesday. Then it was strong migraine also for three days, and finally a shoulder injury while sleeping has made very unconfortable doing any manual /writing task. I've also got up feeling super tired all the week, like I was hit by a truck, a feeling that lasted for half of the day, or the entire day.
Right now I've got a pretty strong migraine, which won't go away at least for a couple hours.

Also some difficult arguments with family, who are basically blaming me continuously for my health issues or for being "locked up all day in my cave", while their only conversation topic is fearing the covid and angry political ranting.

The start of the week was difficult, I felt overwhelmed with everything (I had like 40 tasks) so I reduced it to the five more essential, which I've been able to tackle (mostly).

Anyway, I've managed to do about 34 hours of work, most of them involving college assignments and the weapon project, which is now ready to deliver at last!
I'm very happy for that.

Basically my plans for the next week are taking the previous week calendar and keep writing things off the list, no new stuff except delivering the weapon props and new college assignments that have popped up.

Stay safe everyone

 

[AFMKelvin]

Hi everyone, here I am again. This week has been particularly difficult in terms of productivity and general well-being. I started the week with continuous anxiety until wednesday. Then it was strong migraine also for three days, and finally a shoulder injury while sleeping has made very unconfortable doing any manual /writing task. I've also got up feeling super tired all the week, like I was hit by a truck, a feeling that lasted for half of the day, or the entire day.
Right now I've got a pretty strong migraine, which won't go away at least for a couple hours.

Also some difficult arguments with family, who are basically blaming me continuously for my health issues or for being "locked up all day in my cave", while their only conversation topic is fearing the covid and angry political ranting.

The start of the week was difficult, I felt overwhelmed with everything (I had like 40 tasks) so I reduced it to the five more essential, which I've been able to tackle (mostly).

Anyway, I've managed to do about 34 hours of work, most of them involving college assignments and the weapon project, which is now ready to deliver at last!
I'm very happy for that.

Basically my plans for the next week are taking the previous week calendar and keep writing things off the list, no new stuff except delivering the weapon props and new college assignments that have popped up.

Stay safe everyone

Can you message me I was just searching on Google for a sculpture and than I see your post here. Do you have a catalog?

 

[Abrodos]

What about selling 3d printed models with unique twist for every buyer?
Like their name "embroidered" into sculpture.
Even though it still would be time for money but it would require less time for same money.

Thanks! I'm thinking about something like that, modular stuff. But first I want to try selling the same models to everyone, as in "having a normal product". I've been for a long time doing personalized stuff and it's not really fastlane.

Can you message me I was just searching on Google for a sculpture and than I see your post here. Do you have a catalog?

DM'd you!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Ok guys, here I am! A day late though, I was following the spacex mission all weekend.
Some day I want to talk about space, how small does it make us feel, and the transcendent aspects of it.

Anyway, this week I've done a a total of 48 work hours, 36 of them in the FL project, and also I've managed to do 2 four-hour walks, and spend all the weekend relaxing, including an afternoon/evening with some friends.

On my free time, though, I've been involved in mostly unproductive activities, mainly browsing fb, instagram and tiktok, and stuff like that. Also been overeating a lot. I want to reprise the more disciplined approach to my free time, try to take the most out of it.

But overall I feel accomplished. Stuff is going at a good pace. THis next week will be a bit more difficult (I'll have to manage several bureaucratic obstacles that will take a lot of time) but I want to keep focusing on developing my FL products.

Have a good week, and stay safe everyone

 

[Abrodos]

Thanks for the idea @foodiepersecond !
I'm trying to move away from the manual labor though, at least the artisan one of a kind comissions.

But funerary art is some interesting niche. I have a friend who runs a quarry, he does cnc cutting for important sculptors, and I'm learning 3D... You've definitely given me an idea!

This week has been a bit difficult to manage. Again just 31 hours of work, I've been unfocused, migraine nearly every day, a bit of anxiety as well, and 31 hours just wasted on social media.

Mostly I've been working on a small figurine comission (about 12 hours for the prototype sculpt, for which I'll be paid about 100$), and 12 more hours "working" in the last college task before the thesis.

I feel stuck, and i fear this situation will extend to all summer. Also with the end of the quarantine, friends are starting to have social life again and I feel pressured to go to events.

I'll start a modelling for 3D printing course next week which I'm quite excited for, hopefully it will help me a lot with my FL project, but this will take even more time from me.

I'm super tired and sad as well, I don't feel like doing anything. My FL page hasn't been updated for two weeks, also I haven't worked on the big sculpture comission, and I haven't worked on any 3D modelling either.
I feel like I won't be able to take my FL project forward with such a lack of discipline, and also I feel like I'm an a**hole for not wanting to be with friends or with my girlfriend, because I actually could have time to do both college stuff, the commissions and my FL work, but I just waste most of it.
I just want this situation to end really...

Anyway sorry for the whining, but here's the only place I can whine

 

[Abrodos]

Hi everyone! I'm here again. This week has been much better. Not much in terms of actual hours (46h of work) but in productivity and self-care (9h of sport which I'm very proud of). I've reprised the big sculpture that i kept postponing as well, about 9 hours of work into it, 24 hours into the 3D course, which is almost finished, and several other errands (elaborating some budget plans for the rubber weapon guy and a couple other customers, and also planning my work calendar from now till November.
But most importantly, I've been able to keep my bad habits at bay for all the week. On Friday evening I found it very difficult to concentrate, so I decided to make Saturday a day off. Today I've reprised everything as if it were a working day: 3D classes on the morning and a 5km walk with a friend on the afternoon. I've been able to consistently alternate between working out and going hiking almost every day, losing about 2,5 kg of weight. I've also been super focused throughout the week, and I've started a self-development book I had wanted to read for months.
Next week I'm gonna continue with the big sculpture and finish the last 3 classes of the 3D course, as well as start the final thesis for my master's degree, which is due September. I plan to keep the working out/going hiking schedule once the soreness goes a bit away and the focus on daily habits.

So see you next week!

 

[che_hojas]

Hola! Yo tambien soy artista tratando de convertir mi trabajo en mi negocio y fastlane, me gusto mucho leer todo tu proceso y saber que hay mas como yo ahi fuera!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[NT2]

Week 1: FOCUS

Hi everyone!
I'll be documenting my progress here. As you might know, I'm a 30-year-old sculptor from Barcelona.
I've been freelancing for five years, and although everything is going better each year, it is hardly enough to cover my minimal living expenses.

I've never done any marketing effort seriously. All the customers have been people that know me personally, or acquaintances of them.
On one hand that's good because that means my product is good enough, on the other it means that I have plenty of work to do in the public aspect of my business.

My main problem these years has been that I've wanted to be a jack-of-all-trades.

So far, to just get it out of my mind, the projects that have been giving me some consistent money and recurrent customers for the past few years are:
1. - Giant fibreglass beast sculptures (one of a kind, very time consuming, low paid, but cool and impressive)
2. - Custom-made trophies (nice Fastlane potential)
3. - Painting/drawing comissions (portraits of friends mainly)
4. - Scenery for theatre and hand-painted lettering (one-of-a-kind commissions)

5.- And last but not least, this past year I've started working for short periods as a substitute teacher at several schools. Some sporadical slowlane switches that I felt were necessary for my mental health (being a struggling entrepreneur for so long, the loneliness, the uncertainty, everything was taking its toll on me).

Besides all this, last year also got into several non-paying stuff:

6.- Submitted a sculpture to one of the most important realist art contests (and, although not selected, I got into the catalogue!)
7.- Started collaborating with not one but two indie videogame studios,
8.- I signed up to an online course on digital marketing and e-commerce,
9.- Became a member of an investment club, which led me to Unscripted and
10.- the discovery of the FLForum,
11.- Started meeting with art galleries, to evaluate and redefine my paintings and sculptures,
12.- Started a paid partnership to create weapons for a fantasy prop shop,
13.- Started my first CENTS-based project, 3D printable scenery for wargames (which is on indefinite standby btw).
14.-Started a second CENTS project as well about silicone sex toys, also on standby,
15.- And started keyword researching and making Youtube sculpting videos.

As you can guess, jack of all trades means master of none, so most of those projects are unfinished or badly executed.

My main objective in this 2020 will be to FOCUS. Try to just do one thing at a time, and finish it before I get to the next one.


FIRST WEEK PROGRESS
So far, I've been able to:
1. Finish polishing the sculptures for the first set of weapons for the prop shop, which are due in two weeks (8 knife models and 8 copies of each),
2. Finish the remaining 75% of the online marketing course (I didn't want to start the year with it pending, so I've chugged it, 5 topics a day, and it's done).
3. Do a painting comission (3 portraits). Kinda fastlane because, while I usually charge 20/h, I charged 180 for the full commission and managed to do 2 portraits in under an hour and a half. The third one got messed up and required a lot of extra work, so I ended up working at 20/h really.
4. Work 3 hours on the fibreglass beast I've got halfway, so the clients see some small progress,
5. Empty my bookshelves from old books and rearrange them. I've divided my workspace/room in 70 small parts so I can tackle the tidy up process one step at a time. This week I've done 8 of these parts.
6. Open an account on a P2P secondhand selling app and upload several items, which was part of a group challenge to work on our selling abilities, I had this pending since summer.
7. Worked on some designs for a giant gargoyle commission for a Halloween haunted house.
8. Let go of the videogame unpaid project I was in. Told them I don't have time for it.
9. Told the school I'm teaching on not to count on me on a regular basis, as I will have very little availability from now till June.

Overall, about 48 hours of work/study, 25h of self care (social events, doctor appointments, and two 2,5h walks) and 13 hours of procrastinating.



SECOND WEEK PLAN:

1. I'll be starting a mandatory master's degree for my teaching job. 4 hours a day + commuting, monday to friday from now until June. YAY. Not sure how I'll combine it with my other jobs. Not sure if it was the right decision (not much actual knowledge there, it is mostly a bureaucratic procedure, but you need to have it to get hired full-time in any school).
2.I need to finish the weapons for the prop shop (the texturing, moulding, and casting + painting of about 60 pcs total, all due in a couple weeks, probably not gonna meet the deadline but the shop owner is not in a rush either. Nevertheless I'll try to have it on time, as I want to give out a good first impression.)
3. Some testimonial work on the fibreglass beast (right now a polystyrene sculpture) for the clients to see progress. But not the focus this week.
4. Decide whether or not I renovate my yearly subscription to my investor club. On one hand it's what lead me to Unscripted , to the FLF, and there are some very strong individuals and resources, especially in estate investing and flipping skills.
On the other, I feel that it isn't providing me enough value, that most members are hardly proactive, that the mentors are much more distant compared to MJ here, and that college won't leave me time to actively participate there this 2020. Besides, the yearly subscription fee is 700€, which, despite not being a large sum, is quite expensive for someone that earns barely 1000 a month, and super expensive compared to the value the FLF is offering me, which is maybe 10x or 20x.
5. Maybe tidy up some small chunk of my room/workspace. No more than 2-3 hours.
6. Resume my usual sleep schedule. I feel better when waking up before 7:00, and these christmas holidays have been a bit messy in this aspect.
7. Delete all the games from my computer. I feel it'll help me be more focused and increase my awareness on how I spend my free time. I'll delete all the porn as well.

If, and just IF, the weapons are finished, I'll put all my remaining work hours in the big beast sculpture. Trying to get the shape finished as soon as possible, as I'm not sure how many work hours are remaining (bc new process it should be no more than 80, but last beast were 400).

So that's it! I don't want to make other plans. Maybe I'll use some of the lecture time to work on something, not sure still.

Anyway,
I'm leaving it for today, it's getting late.


I'll try to post once weekly! On Sunday or Monday evenings.
Thanks for reading!

It's nice to see another artist on here! Good luck with everything!

 

[BellaPippin]

How had I not ever heard of miniature wargaming!!!

That looks amazing dude! Can't wait to hear more!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Hi everyone! This last weeks I've been updating my first Fastlane project in the other thread:

EXECUTION - Running my first Kickstarter campaign!

So, hi guys!! I'm David, a sculptor. Since I read Unscripted and joined the forum a year ago, I've been developing a project about miniature 3D printing. My first Kickstarter is about to launch. The basic idea is: a lot of people are sculpting 3D miniatures for people to download and print on...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

At first I thought that the weekly self-accounting thread I'm running here since January was bullshit and action-faking, bc I wasn't actually working much towards the FL project for most of the year.

But I haven't been updating these last weeks, and, especially since the FL campaign ended, I've been leaving my day tracker notebook empty, and by doing so, falling again in procrastination and bad habits.

These last 4 weeks have been intense, but nevertheless I could have done much more. Training period at high school has occupied me a lot of time.
First week was the only really intense one (57 hrs in total, between working as a teacher and studying for an online marketing exam). But after that, during the following weeks, athough they were emotionally intense, i relaxed much more. Binge-played a couple videogames, re-installed time-stealer apps, didn't do any sports as well, watched lots of twitch streams, put on 10 lbs, didn't work as much (about 36 hrs second week, didn't record the third, and 25 on this fourth)...

So let's start putting things in order again. Time-stealer apps are already uninstalled, and today I've started eating properly again.

Good stuff that has happened:
- Ran my first Kickstarter campaign selling a FL product! Made 1250€. Not a super big number but not bad either for a first try.
- Finally finished my online marketing course that I started on 2018! One less thing to worry about.
- Finally finished everything related to the Secondary School Teacher's Master! 3 training weeks and a 20 page essay on them. I'm just waiting for the qualifications to be published.
- Geting up at 6:30 every day during the training period helped me a lot. Felt more tired overall but with less headaches.
- Had an awesome time at that high school (great teachers and methods, excellent students) that gave me a lot more hope for pursuing this career as my real mission in life.
- A couple comissions/day jobs, that have given me about 200€ more.

And, stuff that still is pending :
- Still have to finish the big goat sculpture (this week I've been sanding it)
- Still have to produce and deliver all the products people bought in my KS campaign, both the digital ones and the physical ones.
- Helping a scientific team with some illustrations (i plan on limiting a lot the amount of time spent on it).

All three things are due January 2021. As soon as I finish them, I'll make myself available again on the public education job pool, to try and take a "vacation" from all the freelance pressure and wholly design the second crowdfunding project in my free time.

If I manage to run these final stages of the two main projects at a good pace, I want to reprise my investing club activities. Be more active in their forum, look more actively for opportunities, etc. I'm not sure how much of my cash I want to save for a land plot/home for me either.

Anyway, see you next Sunday! Hopefully with a good amount of work done, and better habits mantained!

 

[Abrodos]

Hi there Abrodos,
amazing to read your journey, your progress and your hard work.
I find it inspiring to see your first Kickstarter taking off so well
By coincidence (or not? who knows for sure...) I am a 3D (jewelry) artist, as well. Freelancing,
building, hustling. Just as you. And another coincidence, also doing a degree, but for me it is a bachelor in economics
If you want, we can stay in touch to cheer each other on.
My progress thread.
Myself building online courses for 3D modeling for printing right now
If you want to check the first one out, even though your skills are probably by now far beyond those covered there - but who knows : Modeling for 3D printing for absolute beginners (and where to sell the models online)
The second one will come soon.
Maybe it will inspire you.

Best wishes,
Gesa

Thank you Gesa! I'll take a look at your thread

 

[Abrodos]

Cool progress.

@ Noise - can you use some noise cancelling earplugs? Or ear protection (like random page from google:The Best Hearing Protection While in the Workshop)

Thank you Kid! Reading this tip definitely helped me today go through the last hours of my workshift.
Been since Sunday with this headache (same yesterday) and some studio headphones and soft music kinda have blocked most of the noise (good that there was no heavy machinery involved today from their part). I don't use them often because they press my ears against the legs of the glasses so it starts hurting after half an hour.

Been looking for a long time for good noise-cancelling headphones, but I'm not sure which ones to take, the best ones cost like 400$ and they're too big and heavy, and the earplug-type won't probably block leafblowers, chainsaws or jackhammers.

But I won't be delaying the purchase for long... in a couple weeks my town hall is pulling up all the pavement of my street to find the sewer circuit, that'll be several weeks of jackhammering 8 hours a day, I don't know what I'll do.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

This week has been much better!
A more regular schedule overall.
38,5 hours of work, most of them kinda "procrastinating" (in the sense that I've been designing next year's FL goals/projects -which I wanted to start on January- and making this year's financial/goal recap instead of finishing current work, so procrastinating but in the FL direction).
On the "real work" side, I'm halfway through silicone molding the 3 remaining Tower pieces, and the Goat has had 1,5 kg of styrofoam removed.
Also I've finished prototypes for some personal projects that I had pending for more than a year, investigated the market for other FL parallel projects, and worked on the maquette for a sculpture contest I'll be participating in.

A comission has also arrived (a painting for Christmas), but I've applied FL premises to get rid of most of the work (they asked me for a painting with a literary quote, I'll be doing the image in Photoshop -a couple hours- and getting it printed on canvas).

There have been a lot less headaches, also weaker (construction workers are doing the finishings so lot less noise overall). And the problem that required the sewer company to open up all the pavement in my street has been solved quickly with clever use of probes, so another good news in that sense.

Overall better mood at home as well, parents are both in better humour and more receptive towards storage ideas.
But I've put on a couple of kgs, so I need to reprise exercising (arranged a walk for tomorrow).
And I've seen my friends today for a couple hours!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Abrodos]

Last post of the year...
This last week and a half hasn't been very good. I've been feeling very sad and lonely. No Christmas family dinners, no new year's eve with friends, overall feeling very tired and lost.
I've had some good days with people from my town (rehearsing and acting for a christmas theatre play I'm on each year) but overall I've been very alone, bumped into some friends that were making plans together without me and that made me realize how isolated I've been this year. Haven't spoken to my college friends since June, And of the two close friends I had, one is showing no interest in meeting (today marks one year since we last met, we used to hang out 2-3 times a week) and the other just got a new boyfriend a couple months ago so is a lot less around.
I've been trying to put some order, make a recap of the year (which has brought some good things) but there's this inner thought that tells me everything has been pointless.
I'm trying to do an alignment, to reformulate/upgrade all the goals for 2021, but the more I ask myself about my core values and the deeper I look, the more pointless everything seems.

This week and a half I haven't worked neither on any of the two projects that should be finished by now nor in the 2021 projects I began, and I'm feeling bad for that.

Not sure what to do with the high school teacher job pool. I'm considering of making myself available again on January and just start working and finish both projects after-hours.just as a kick in the a$$, even if I know it will mess up my schedule (which btw is already messed up) and delay both pending projects.

 

[Abrodos]

Here I am again! Feeling much better, thankfully.

I've seen some friends again, and talked with that best friend who kinda "disappeared" for a year. Turned out there wasn't any grudge held or avoiding me from his part, just busy schedules from both of us ( he got a new job, also my FL project had a big part in that). That left me much more at peace.
Things at home are quite well, good attitude from Dad towards cleaning up/ throwing away old stuff, I bought new furniture for the garage, which is to arrive soon.

I've decided to start taking a coach from the beginning of the year. If I need external help to be self-consistent with my work schedule, so be it. I've achieved lots of FL-related stuff this last year (got a master's degree in secondary schoool teaching, another degree in Digital Marketing and E-commerce, learned how to 3D model basically from scratch, ran my first Fastlane project-a Kickstarter miniature campaign-, had a try at making foam weapons for the live-action role playing market with a 70-piece commission, and more or less finished a car-sized goat sculpture), but I've also slacked and procrastinated way more than necessary, especially these last two months, when all my free time (and some of my work time too) has been spent playing minecraft and watching youtube streamers.
Probably I'll take a gym coach as well, as I find very difficult to mantain a consistent exercise routine.

To start this path I've made myself a schedule with all the stuff I want to do this year, dividing each day in four 3-hour chunks (leaving enough flexibility for meals, etc.).
Some of these chunks each week will be dedicated to new creative/investing projects with FL potential that I've been delaying for years (they'll be considered "hobbies", though, while the important FL project (orange) (the 3D miniatures crowdfunding project I already started) will be considered "work" and will occupy 21 hours of my weekly time.
I think one of my biggest mistakes has been considering anything creative/that required work as "work time". That made me feel like I was working 40+ hours a week while nearning very little money. The key, for me, is to understand that all this creative work is "hobby stuff", not work, and that I do it just because it fulfills me, but that it needs effort and discipline as well, same as actual work.
Mainly I want to shift from consumer to producer (yellow) by creating comics/illustrations, singing/music producing, photography skills, tattooing... and also start taking investing (green) more consistently.

I'm not sure whether i'll be able to mantain this schedule or not... It's very optimistic and very different from my routine. I know I get exhausted from long work days (especially when teaching), so replacing some after-work couch time with creative work will be difficult. But again, the routine I was holding lately was having a really toxic effect on me. I felt a lot of guilt from being unproductive, and also have been really tired and sad at random times most days, plus several small anxiety attacks this last half of the year, plus the constant migraine/tension headaches that have been especially awful these last months.
So I want to push myself. I know when I'm "ordered" or expected to do something i can do it better and quicker than most. I delivered my master's college tasks to the teachers weeks ahead of time, and when working at a school I have never been late or with unprepared lessons towards my students, but as soon as the institutional presence disappears and I have some "freedom" to organize myself, everything gets messed up.

So regarding the high school teacher job my plan is to start being available for work again. If I'm given short-period or part-time substitutions, my plan is to keep taking them until I've made 3.000€, and if some longer, full-time substitution appears, I'll just take it and remake the schedule from then on. Getting these jobs will put me in a better position towards next year's job selection process, and will also recharge my emotional batteries for the FL project.
Anyway, when I have to take a teacher job, my plan is to readapt my schedule by removing some of the "creative projects" from my schedule (still have to figure out which ones are more important for me and which less), while mantaining the 3D miniature project and other important stuff like exercise, social life and self care (blue), and time for dismantling my sculpture workshop (brown). My plan is also get over my fear of hiring people and start delegating some tasks to 3D sculptors and marketing/social media experts), to become more of a coordinator instead of the guy who does everything. That is both for the 3D miniature project but also for the other "hobby" ones.

Here's the rough schedule for January/June!


Unrelated to that, one of my goals this year is to take control of my social life by calling friends for meetups instead of being just a member of a group of friends that goes along with any plan we make (my best friend is like a "central hinge", if she's not around, we other ones can be months without talking to each other, and same happens with friends that I don't see often).
To finish this post, I wanted to thank all of you in the forum for accompanying me this year it has had some very tough moments but also some very good ones, and most importantly, I've gained consciousness of my fears and flaws, which I feel is the starting point towards any improvement. I feel good and hopeful for this 2021!

Lots of love and see you next week,

David

 

[Abrodos]

Hi everyone! Feeling good this week as well.

This week I've finished a portrait commission for a friend, kept working on the miniature production and started the first digital illustration for my anime Patreon. A total of 17 paid hours and 19 spent on unpaid projects.

But especially this week has been very good regarding my habits.
I've managed to reduce my non-productive idling time (facebook, games, IG, porn) to just 10 hours from the usual 25 or more. Instead, 40 hours of my free time have been dedicated to exercising outdoors (increased my calisthenics workout), helping Dad with garage renovation (I set up all the new furniture we ordered, now everything is in place, porch is empty again), meetings with friends and baking (gathered some acorns on my hike and tried an acorn cake recipe).

A Chrome extension called SiteBlock has helped me a lot with self-control. I wasn't aware of how many times I used to open Facebook/IG and the rest of pages, or how unconsciously I did it.
I've been very harsh on myself. I tend to work well when responding to someone else, so I kinda dissociated myself and I let my "employee half" do, without questioning, the work that my "boss half" had decided (not sure if that makes sense).

Also I've had a lot less headaches these last 4 days.
Regarding weight loss I did well during the week and got to 80,7 kg on Friday (again at 81,5 though). My aim is 72 in March.

Goals for this week:

- Mantain the productive hobby time. Consolidate the habit.
- Spend more time actually working (about 25 hours divided between my two paid projects and about 25 more on investing/other unpaid projects).
- Stick to the timetable I did last week (It'll be easier now that the commission and other holiday stuff is finished).

See you next Monday!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.