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!
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!
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