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A sculptor's journey towards the Fastlane

Abrodos

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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!
 
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Abrodos

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OK, second week of the year finished, and it has gone fairly well in terms of productivity (or at least in not wasting time).
52 work hours, of which 22 have been actual work on paid projects, 20 more at the university, 4 dedicated to investing, 3 to general tidying of my digital and physical workspace, and 4 more to optimizing the characteristics of my next personal art gallery works in order to get as much feedback as possible.
21 to self care, sports, social events, just 4 to actual resting or having invalidating migraine, and just 16 hours wasted.



Good stuff:
- Deleting everything from my computer, all the browser favorites, etc, has liberated a lot of physical and also mental space, that I've put to work. Regarding hours worked, this week and the last would place in the top 5 of all my 2019 (quite an achievement).
- Weapon sculptures are almost finished, I've sold another furniture piece, and the big beast sculpture is advancing, clients are happy.
- Also I had a really fun and beautiful day yesterday, acting on a theatre play with many friends.
- It's been nice to meet new people in the Master's degree at the uni.

Bad stuff:
- The college has taken a LOT of my time these first three days. 2 hours of commuting for a 4- hour class that is 2 hours of effective work (bc of starting late, external interruptions, making work groups, repeating non-useful stuff... we even watched a movie in one of the classes..).
6 hours a day is quite difficult to combine with 6 hours of work.
I'll probably opt for unique assessment in most of the subjects: that way I'll just have to go to the final exams. I'll try to keep going to the university a couple of days, to the most interesting classes. Having 5 days of the week for my comissions will definitely make a difference.

- Regarding the sleep habits, this week has been even messier than the Christmas holidays: my doctor gave me sleeping pills to treat my head pain, but this fact along with staying up late some nights to finish the weapon commission, has made me wake up at 10am a couple of days. 2 other days I woke up at 6:30 to work on the big sculpture so not that bad. One of them because a nightmare that I was telling the clients the big sculpture would be finished that same day (it has like a couple months work at least).

Plans for this week:

-Keep combining full time uni with work, to see how many days I need for myself, and talk to all the remaining teachers about the possibility of exam assessment.
-Try to get back my consistent sleep schedule so I can actually work several hours in the morning.
-Finish the weapon sculptures and start molding them (two are ready, 5 remaining).
-Work a bit more on the big piece. Decide if working more on the sculpture is worth it or not (it will be non-paid because i've run out of budget).
-Reduce my time-wasting activities a bit more.

Keep going!!!
:bicep::bicep::bicep:!!!
 

Abrodos

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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:cool:.

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! :bicep: :bicep: :bicep:
 
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Abrodos

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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!!! :bicep: :bicep: :bicep: :bicep:
 
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Abrodos

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Week 5 done!

Not much to talk about.

I've done 50-55 work hours, pretty much like the week before.
I've been making a small habit tracker, and i'm doing quite better than the week before, achieving about 50% of what I'm trying to change.
Less porn, less fapping, 4 out of seven days without eating any chocolate/sweet, and I've lost 3 pounds of weight.
Still the biggest problem is the sleeping schedule. Waking up at 9 doesn't leave me room for poductive morning work + increases my headaches, and I know it's just a matter of leaving the phone on the desk instead of the nightstand.

The big sculpture hasn't advanced a lot, mainly due to starting working late, + some interruptions that I had to attend in the middle of the work hours, and the only day I could dedicate entirely to work, I woke up like a truck had passed over me. I could just work 4 hours that day. The inside of the sculpture is finished though, and the most important parts of the outside are as well.

And not much else, I had a very good time on Saturday afternoon with a couple new friends from the university. They were putting up their first street stall, selling hand-made jewelry and I went to visit them, we talked a lot about starting a business, and I bought them some stuff.

I don't feel very good about this week. Even though I've performed better than the weeks before in several areas, I feel like I've failed. Maybe the goals were too high.
Also I started the week with a lot of energy and will power, but I found it hard to mantain them constant. The headaches also started again in the last half of the week.
Also there's several people like waiting for a response from me (I ghosted some friends, craiglist buyers, small stuff), I'm procrastinating in several aspects.

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

Anyway let's see how everything goes next week.

Next week goals:

- Going to bed every day between 11-12.

- Waking up between 6-8 am 5 days out of seven.

- Being ready in less than an hour 5 days out of seven.

- Three hours every morning at least, working on the sculpture. 3 more hours every afternoon on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Or 2 hours, if after a 2 hour session I feel really tired. A total of 24 hours at least.

- No chocolates/sweets 5 days out of seven.

- No fap for four or more days.

I'm going to leave it here for today. :(
 

Einfamilienhaus

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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

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Thank you for taking the time to write such a long reply! :)

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?

38 hours is the total weekly hours spent inside college, commuting, and at home, doing college homework. I have started listening to entrepreneurial podcasts on my commuting time, also drafting projects by speaking out loud in the car, in order not to lose that commuting time.

This particular week I was doing a big workspace cleanup . I had accumulated 5+ years of garbage, so that meant a full weekend spent cleaning, and lots of trips to the recycling plant, all of it non-paid but necessary work.
Usually I do about 25-30hrs a week of paid work on specific comissions, and 10-15 of unpaid work (mainly organizing+planning, learning about marketing, looking for investment oportunities, and personal artistic work).

Right now I'm stuck with this sculpture project, however, due to budget miscalculations from my part, so what I'm doing with the beast figure is unpaid work as well. That's why I want to get it done as soon as possible.
The foam weapon project was also unrealisticaly budgeted from my part, but I seeked that comission because it allows me learn how to work with new materials with an expert in the field, and it gets me in touch with a whole new niche of clients. It was like an investment in some way.


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've been self-employed for several years, but I had found some balance lately. I bordered depression a couple years ago for the same very reasons you mention, that was when I decided to start working some hours as a high school teacher.
I guess now, combining college with my commissions, working so many hours, having stopped seeing the kids I teach, my coworkers, my friends, is what is affecting me. Also changing habits so drastically I suppose, and knowing for a fact that I'm not going to earn any money during these months. Luckily college will only take me until the end of March, then a couple months of redundant unpaid practices at some other high school, and by September I'll be able to work full-time as a public school teacher, with a 2k monthly salary that'll give me some income stability.

Thanks for the support words overall! :)
 
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Abrodos

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Week 6 done! And it has gone much better than last one!

I've been able to sustain a very good level of productivity. Super focused monk-style till Thursday, and achieved everything!!!

72,5 total productive hours (56 of them at college or doing college work),
12,5 of social life,
and7,5 of resting/doing nothing.

I'm really happy. I went full gas on commitment, and having mantained focus during the week, I've felt less guilty relaxing on the weekend.

So far I can remember, it's been the most disciplined I've been ever.
On 4 out of 7 days I've been able to get up before 7, get ready to work in less than an hour, and go to sleep early.
And on 5 days I've been able to resist physical urges of chocolate, sweets and porn.
Been having strong headaches for half of the days though, having a strong one right now, but I'm very happy nevertheless.
I was able to finish the sculpture in three 3-4 hr morning work sessions, now I just need to sand some minor details and I'll go full resin next week.
And as foam weapons are still on a halt, I kept focus and switched to college work, in which I focused for 13 hrs straight on Wednesday and was able to finish a final essay. I've been working on research for another essay for 12 hours this weekend and the major ideas are mostly laid out.
I attended a very interesting meeting in my investing club (about crowdlending platforms),
And finally I've had a couple meetings with some new and old friends on the weekendl, very enjoyable times.

By the way I deleted Instagram, and all the search/favorites history, and that helped me a lot in being conscious about my time during the weekdays. I'm going to block a few pages as well.

Next week plans:
- Fully cover the sculpture with resin,
- Finish this college essay, start another one if possible,
- Meet another good friend with whom we've been having a pending appointment for a month,
- Meet up with another friend that wants to buy me some artwork,
- Set up an investing account in a crowdlending platform and start familiarizing with it,
-And mantain the same focus and productivity as this week, and try to mantain it till friday afternoon in addition.

Keeping up!! :smile::smile::smile: :bicep: :bicep: :bicep:
 
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BellaPippin

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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!
 

Abrodos

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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!
 
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Abrodos

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Week 7!

59 hours studying/working (although I feel like I've worked way less), 20 spent with friends, and 13 of rest.

This week I 've been a bit self-indulgent regarding discipline and habits. There have been lots of social life events, so I don't feel guilty or anything, but it's like nothing has advanced. I want to return to the highly focused state of last week. Also an inconsistent sleep schedule has made my headache come back.

I've had some investing meetings, haven't started to operate with the crowdlending account but everything is set up, have done some more work with the foam props, several doodads and a lot of non-productive college work (mainly proofreading).

So the goals for this next week are pretty much the same as last week:
The most important - regain the previous week's focus and productivity and try to mantain it till friday afternoon:
wake up at 7 every day, be ready to work in less than an hour, go to bed early, no porn, no chocolate.

And:
- Fully cover the sculpture with resin,
- Finish that college essay (final touches) and do some more college work,
- A couple social events as well,
- And start messing with the crowdlending platform.

That's pretty much it!
 
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Abrodos

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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!
 
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Abrodos

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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!
 
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Abrodos

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Hi guys, this week has been really complicated. My father had an aortic aneurysm and he's in intensive care since Tuesday. The recovery is being slow, but overall positive. I haven't had time to count anything or do any kind of reflection this week.

:) I'll keep posting when everything is fine again! In a week or two I hope.
See you then!
 

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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

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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.
Thanks you @bdb !

Weird weeks right now. Have been a whole week at home, I've done some college work but overall I've been glued to the covid thread here, and to the news, so I haven't been able to be actually productive.
It's quite weird because I've got it frankly easy to work from home. I've been hoarding lots of art materials for years, and I've got several projects as well.
I suppose it's some kind of grief we're all experiencing, that we're still resituating.

I've been Skyping with college friends until 3-4 in the morning everyday, and headaches have come again due to altering sleep schedules.
Anyway, I've decided not to let this grief/altered days last more than a week, and go back to my routine as soon as possible.

My father came home from the hospital last week, we're happy at home, everything has come to normal again, and everyone I know is in good health at the moment, so I'll try to disconnect from all the news.

I've already ordered materials to continue working on the weapon project, and tomorrow morning I'll reprise work with the big sculpture as well.

Hope everyone is doing well!
 
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Hi! I'm here again.
Had been 2 weeks without tracking my schedule, working on college stuff basically.
This week I've reprised my usual tracking system, also I've started using Todoist, I was very used to working on paper but I ended up with several lists having the same items.
Anyway, the thing is, even with the weird schedules and overall situation (lockdown) due to the virus, this week I've managed to do 40 hours of work. I'm happy because I thought I'd done much less.

I've been working basically on the props, now the 63 pieces are all cast, and I'm sanding them. in order to paint them.
Another project has come, a couple of Gaudi-inspired scenery sets for theatre. It looks good but the construction budget is very low and the deal is far from closed, so I'm trying to spend as little energy as possible on that. If possible, I'll just work on the design (which is much better paid) and I'll tell the company to find someone else to build the set.

And I've found some time to reprise my fl project, I've started working in new sculpts that would be like extra rewards for some of my kickstarter backers.
One of the followers of this project asked me whether I'd reprised work on it (i told them probably by April I'd finished all my comissions and I'd be able to reprise the project) and I'm not sure I've given the correct answer. I told them I was sculpting new pieces, and I showed them, but they are a bit unrelated to the first product I said I was releasing, so they're a bit action faking in some way.
And the commissions are still pending, so everything will probably be delayed again.

I'm feeling a bit of pressure these days. At least the quarantine has delayed the delivery dates, so I have a bit more time to work...
 

Abrodos

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Hi there!

Here's the usual weekly update.
I've reprised good levels of productivity this week:
52 hours of work, 17h spent with friends/family, and about 19h of unproductive stuff.

I've managed to stay focused for half the week regarding daily habits, so there's still room to improve, and put those unproductive hours to good use.

2 important updates:
-The foam weapon commission is almost finished (only need to paint small details and apply an ink and a varnish), even though there are a couple issues to solve. What I thought would be a quick commission has spread over almost five months. A combination of the quantity of pieces, the fact that materials and techniques were somewhat new for me, (also super expensive, difficult to handle, results vary enormously, low shelf life...) and the level of detailing that is required for them have been the reason for the miscalculations.
So, at the moment I don't find it profitable, even if I sold the pieces directly to the public, I should charge like 100 bucks for a small tool, which noone is going to pay. I believe the solution could be to make some kind of special pieces that can justify the increased price, like, with character, and of course externalize most of the process.

Anyway, it was an idea that had Fastlane potential and had to be tried, and it still has potential, so I'm thankful for everything I've learned with this commission.

And also, regarding the Gaudi project, I've had some kind of epiphany: In short, I've been trying to price everything according to an hourly wage. That has always left me unsatisfied and underpaid, or when I've tried to renegotiate the price or the timing with the clients, I've caused an impression of being untrustworthy, not delivering on time, etc. This was the same guy that I considered an abusive and toxic client, he's got some defects, but he's also got some points in what he said, that helped me a lot.

The basic problem was perfectionism: I was trying to differentiate through quality, so the perfectionism made me invest (voluntarily) more hours that the ones required.
The clients don't care about how much hours you spend doing something: they just care about the product and its price.
That means there's also big room for us to maneuver there: we can just set up a high price even if it is unjustified in our own terms.
I'll try to disconnect my commissioned work from the formula "hours spent x hourly wage" from now. on.
 

Abrodos

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Hi everyone!

Another weekly update.
Work hours: 40, rest/social: 10, unproductive time: 27

I've been super focused... but just for half of the week. Migraines and trouble sleeping have come again. I've had a super unproductive weekend, where my to-do list has kinda slipped away.
Yesterday I spent all day emptying and disassembling a giant aquarium that had been occupying my workspace since 2012. It was something I wanted to do for a long time. Now I've gained 8 feet of desk, and I can finally open all the windows of my studio again. I feel I need to clear my spaces and get rid of stuff, to renovate ideas and be more focused.
Anyway, the stuff I've done has been focused in the right direction: I've finally reprised my FL facebook page, people are happy to see me come back, and I've been learning new tools for its implementation.
I've also produced some "fastlane" art, focusing on it being quick and easy (for me) to do, and trying to shift my personal work towards what sells most, ie: what adds more value to potential buyers.
 
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Abrodos

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Here I am again on my usual Sunday night appointment!

I must say, even though this week hasn't been especially productive in terms of hour quantity (the usual 40h) I feel like I've advanced a lot in several aspects.
I made a timetable with all the stuff I wanted to get done, and 90% of the tasks are now finished. I didn't spend too long perfecting stuff, so I've been quite effective.
Besides, it's the first week since december that I spend most of my work hours in my FL project. I've analysed the structure of the marketing campaign of a very successful competitor m who has been able to raise 100k in a single kickstarter campaign. I've detected several stuff I'm doing wrong, mainly not having all the sculpting work already done beforehand.

Also I've started shifting my mentality towards art production, to kinda move to a more time-efficient production (more expressive/abstract stuff), also modelling after a couple very successful artists I know.
I've been doing a lot of research, gathering ideas that now I've got to work on.

Also, I've solved the last big problem I had with my weapon production,

And I've produced my first "finished" digital sculpt for the FL project (I've been producing physical pieces to 3D scan them, but 3D modelling is a very powerful and effective tool for a sculptor).

And finally i did the first sport since the quarantine, my first calisthenics routine ever and my usual 12 km walk.

Overall I'm super happy and I feel I've accomplished a lot this week!
 

Abrodos

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Good evening!

50hr this week. Not much else to say. Stuff is going forward at the usual pace.
I've reprised the big sculpture and the foam weapon project and sent some messages I was avoiding.

I'm not sure what to do right now with my FL project: I gathered about 300 fans before the six-month stop, by posting on various groups. I've reprised posting new content on my page, but it's hardly getting any response from them now (a couple likes for each post).
I'm not sure wether to launch the kickstarter campaign or not. I mean I tend to delay stuff a lot, I'm very perfectionist, but also 300 people is a very little amount for running a successful campaign (about 10% of those 300 would normally participate), and I don't have any idea about how to push the campaign/reach more people once it has started. I should have more spectacular products to offer, and a better KS page. Doing all that needs a lot of time, but I don't want to make my followers wait more.

I've spent like 10 hours modelling a single piece in clay this weekend, a secondary piece with little appeal in itself (an inner wall of a building).

Anyway...
 

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Good evening!

50hr this week. Not much else to say. Stuff is going forward at the usual pace.
I've reprised the big sculpture and the foam weapon project and sent some messages I was avoiding.

I'm not sure what to do right now with my FL project: I gathered about 300 fans before the six-month stop, by posting on various groups. I've reprised posting new content on my page, but it's hardly getting any response from them now (a couple likes for each post).
I'm not sure wether to launch the kickstarter campaign or not. I mean I tend to delay stuff a lot, I'm very perfectionist, but also 300 people is a very little amount for running a successful campaign (about 10% of those 300 would normally participate), and I don't have any idea about how to push the campaign/reach more people once it has started. I should have more spectacular products to offer, and a better KS page. Doing all that needs a lot of time, but I don't want to make my followers wait more.

I've spent like 10 hours modelling a single piece in clay this weekend, a secondary piece with little appeal in itself (an inner wall of a building).

Anyway...

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!
 
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Abrodos

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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.
 
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Abrodos

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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 :)
 

Kid

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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.
 
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AFMKelvin

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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

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Hi guys! Here I am again!
This week has been quite good in terms of productivity.
49h of work (29 dedicated to my FL business), 20 of social life/sport/rest, and 20 unproductive hours.

I've finally delivered the weapons, so a thing less to worry, been able to not let college stuff take too much of my time, and the week has been spent basically sculpting, both in 3d and traditionally for my project.
I've found several people who are doing quite good with similar projects (especially patreon miniature sculptors).
I want to launch my Kickstarter as soon as possible but I'm not sure how to proceed in terms of preparing the campaign and having enough new material to keep it afloat throughout its duration. But if I prepare enough extra stuff, I might take half a year more, and people will get pissed off....
 

Abrodos

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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!
 
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Abrodos

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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

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Hi!

Sorry for being so brief, I have a terrible headache right now.

Last week I worked about 19h on my FL work + 19 on college stuff. So a total of 38hours. And this week I'm at 28 hours, all of them college work (there's still room to get to the 38-40 mark, I usually review my plan on sunday night).
Not bad but I've lost a lot of time these weeks, about 30 hours each week browsing tiktok and shitty stuff.
I tried to make myself acountable this week on other aspects, but I haven't stuck to the plan either.

So not very happy overall.
Also a lot of headaches due to neighbourhood issues ( 3 demolition hammers working for 10 hours a day, for 3 weeks straight. I even called the police) and a lot of pressure and overall lack of focusing due to college work.

On the good side, I've found an online course about making models for 3D printing (my FL project), a course that focuses on workflow and the technical aspects of it that I didn't know about.

And there's just an assignment left of college, due in a couple weeks, and then I'll have to work all summer on my master's thesis and It'll be finished!
So :)
Have a good week everyone!
 

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