Bi-Weekly Wednesday Newsletter no. 124

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Reality Check

The Facts

• Still living in my parent's house
• 25
• 2 years out of a job
• Illustration is not making me money
• Working in sales didn't get me money
• Ugly

What I got going for me

• Jesus
• Still alive
• Can still make things

So what are the options?

1. Looking for work

If I were to look for work I think an early startup (~3-10 ppl) is the clearest option right now because:

• I want freedom
• I want money
• I live in SF
• I have no kids

But also, I learned these past few months that I can structure, design and code whole products myself

• I think startups want that: someone who can do everything
• I won't have that same freedom at bigger companies, and they'll want to pigeonhole me into 1 role

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2. Being a founder

This means being the one starting the startup.

I feel like my skillsets align well with this, but I'm not too stoked about this right now.

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Being a "founder" usually means you have a big, groundbreaking idea that you pitch to investors for a ton of money

• My ideas aren't grand enough to need funding
• Besides, I'm already just building them right now.

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So that means I'll be just working on someone else's idea for free. Eh....

Only if I really believe in it I guess lol

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3. Doing my own thing

​Concaly: I think it will make a difference for artists, but not make me a lot of money.

In 3-4 years it can possibly be a 6 figure passive income, but most likely it will just be a side project that generates goodwill in the art community (which is honestly still really cool)

• Artists will always be top of mind
• Convention organizers are probably where monetization is, but requires that I have users first. So that will take time.
• But if both artists and conventions are on there, then that itself is actually a huge win. We might capture the whole convention vertical (given the total market is still very tiny LOL)

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​Mudboard: this one has more potential, but it is still very early.

• I'm making something that I would want to use. So that's a good sign (I'll probably use it for myself anyways lol)
• The way to monetize is way more straightforward

But I still don't know what the best type of person to tailor this to: photographers? hikers? professional artists?

The goal right now: unlimited sharable customizable personal moodboard/gallerys. But without a specific target audience, it's still very generic....so...idk. I have to ask around (let me know if you have ideas).

But. If I crack that then I have a good shot

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Now What?

We'll see how it goes. I plan on building these things out for the next month to have a rock solid portfolio. And hey, if I end up making money from them then cool!

Then we'll see if people want to hire me. And hey, if not then that's cool too!

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I'm actually kind of excited to work with people again. It gets kind of lonely....but I also get to be writing this at 2:42AM

What I've been thinking about

I wanted to write this "reality check" because last Thursday was when I started the PCT last year, so I got kind of sad and started reflecting on how different life has been.

I get like flashbacks of my time on the trail sometimes LOL. Like when a plant reminds me of something I saw.

But the answer is not that I need to do it again, but rather that I should cherish and appreciate the experience I got to have.

Thank you!

Thanks for sticking around during the good and the bad. Appreciate it. Glad to be writing this

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Book stuff

Next Newsletter is May 28th!

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