Building a Creative Living in the Digital Age

Scott Kirsner, a social media maverick, wrote a book I’ve just got around to hearing about entitled “Fans, Friends, & Followers: Building An Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age, published a year ago.

What I liked about it is that he went directly to the source: creative people.  He interviewed visual artists, comedians, animators, documentary filmmakers, musicians, writers, and others who have been pioneering new ways to build a creative career online (and off.) It delves into the business models that can support leaving the day job behind. And all of the material in the book was collected in 2008 and 2009.

To check it out yourself, you can download a partial pdf or buy the book.  Here’s the link.  Or read his reviews here.

Clearing the Way to Do Artist’s Work: some time-tested solutions

Creative Workout: Do a prep task, lasting no more than 4 hours using David Seah’s productivity sheets. Note whether stopping regularly helped with deferring procrastination or interfered.

Artists can feel mad, as in crazy-mad because they often feel like they are tossed about a million times over in an effort to get their left and right brains in gear. And because  they have to do what often feels like endless setup just to begin.  The plight of us all!

The trick is to use what you can to get settled quicker.  It’s an area I think I could help you with, since I’ve been on the lookout these days for some how to’s.  Sustained focus isn’t exactly easy when constant distractions fall into your lap, and when the chatter of our mind insists on taking care of every little thing.  But hey, there’s a limit to this, and you might as well heed it.

In this workout, identify your task and break it down into its key components.  It can be a task that is four hours or less. Then, locate the productivity sheet of David Seah online.  If you find you like less structure to your task tracking, check out this, more open-ended Task Tracker for Creative Types. Then, get yourself some beautifully colored markers and color in your progress with each fifteen minute increment as you go.  It’s a simple device to bring your attention back to where you are in pursuit of completion of the whole.  It also serves as a great reminder about how you actually end up spending  your time.

By the way, if your task is longer than four hours, it is probably not a single task and not one that will make this productivity sheet suitable.  Instead, make sure your overall goal is pretty much what you want to accomplish in a four hour slot, and then, reward yourself for moving forward on your path.  The strategy may not work for everyone but there’s nothing like seeing the results of your sustained attention, especially when it is towards doing what you really want to complete.

So, what about you?  What visual devices do  you find useful?

Community Cafes: Outstanding hangouts for networking and work

Every now and then, I get the feeling I know nothing about my community. It’s when I am not working a “regular job” or when I am more invested in imagining my future than creating one, that I can feel the disconnection.

I tell myself it is only a matter of weeks before I’m going to take the world by storm but then, another week whooshes by as I get caught up in a ridiculous avalanche of goal-driven detail. What then?

Then–and please don’t take this in a pollyanish way–I know it’s time to skip off to cafe land. I go because I recognize how much I want to be reminded I’m a part of the community, not only by address, but in-person. I go to get out of a rhythmic rut.

Turning that corner many times over, I have confidence I can now be of help to you. I checked out YELP to get started in choosing where to go but I found that the reviews were all over the board–some didn’t reflect the actual experience, some chose criteria I didn’t care about, some were for the younger folk alone. So, I came up with my own criteria. Here’s what I wanted to know:

1. Did the cafe have a nice, welcoming, energy flow in terms of its spatial arrangements, cafe culture, attitude toward my being there, sometimes for a good part of the day? We all need to keep the energy flowing, and there are qualities to a place that often go unconsidered in this regard.

2. Did the cafe have a nice conversational hum–that is, not too quiet so as to implicate me as a culprit for actually engaging with my day and yet, not too loud that I couldn’t hear myself think? There’s a way of being comforted by the crowd but also not becoming the crowd killer. I needed to bet on the former.

3. Did the cafe serve food that wasn’t getting a kick out of bloating Americans? Funny how I think this must now be an international past time but there’s no need to serve up details, mine or yours, is there?And, here’s the point. If I’m going to be there for a while, I can really use some good but simple foods as opposed to only pastries, pastries, pastries. Did I mention pastries? How about a simple salad with lemon dressing? Or a peach from time to time?

4. Did the cafe take a bow to the community; that is, express some of the personality of the people who make up the neighborhood as well as the passions of the owners? An openness to providing some visual or auditory interest or to sharing what else is going on in the community is never going to get old.

And centers for community we still desperately crave, stated or not.

5. Did the cafe go the extra mile, and consider how different people like to congregate? Today, I’m a slouch and need some couch coddling. Tomorrow, I am meeting up with those small business owners, and wouldn’t it be great to introduce an informal element into our relationship by taking them to a comfortable, yet dignified place made for great conversation?

6. Could I imagine myself striking up a conversation with anyone and how easy would that be? Truth is, we could always use a few more friends, and cafes are one of the few remaining holdouts for unpretentious, casual, authentic conversation–face-to-face, that are true opportunities for exchange in our day-to-day. We don’t often do it, but I think most of us want to know it’s there.

What about you? Is this your criteria? Interested in my discoveries about what matters to solo workers as they gravitate to cafes?  I’m compiling some visuals of what cafes here really have appeal.  Stay tuned.

Coworking: A More Rewarding Collaboration and Community Opportunity or Not?

I just shared with you my criteria and assessments of the local cafe scene as a collaborative space. Indeed, cafe spaces have great potential for both the solo, work-at-home consultant and those pulling together meeting space for the team.

Ironically however, right after finishing the post, some coworking literature found its way to my mailbox. It seems here’s something else vying for my attentions and consideration. But I’m wondering–does it add value or complication to my life, make me more of something I want, like becoming more productive and connected, and how much smarter is it joining one of them versus my now old standby, making the rounds with the cafes?

First of all, for those of you who don’t know the idea, coworking is a cafe-like community/collaboration space for designers, makers, prototypers, DIY’ers, writers, and independents. And boy, is the concept growing, as identified by Todd Sundsted. And check out the number of places cropping up across the U.S. already!

The concept is this: People want to self-organize and receive the benefits of affiliation but they also want to make individually-determined time commitments, feel out some alternatives, and choose a context that, unlike the last job they came from, is now enabling the good fit. This may come down to essentially renting a desk for the day, week, month. And what a desk it is!

By opting in, you also typically gain access to all the standards of an office: meeting rooms, whiteboards, mailing, faxing, message center services, etc. In addition, some of the spaces have some very interesting extras, like cafes that are within their own walls, and scheduled evening presentations where people explore complementary collaboration tools and professional information. No need to submerge into that echo chamber of isolation that seems to come part and parcel with working at home.

It might even be said that coworking is a next level commitment toward one’s own advancement. You rent a space for a time you can commit to (with some coworking entities–there are even limited time frame arrangements to check out for free). At which point you can begin to gauge if the commute, the new people, and the added stimulation make sense to you. Many people attest  that the more you affiliate, the less you have to wonder where your next interesting exchange is going to come from. Remember, that unlike the old corporate, take-it-as-it-comes job, people are very often creative and coming from disciplines you may not ordinarily have connection time with. Again, joining a coworking space can be a way to get in touch with what helps your own productivity the most.

But then, we come back to the question about whether coworking is somehow a truer, more rewarding form of collaboration and community, versus the cafe where you may already be pulling together folks for community table congregating or securing a savory seat by the window just for you. What do you think? What have you found out about the way you work? How well do you work in these various venues and what raises your productivity to the max?

Have You Exercised At All Today? No, I mean, exercised your brain!

There’s a book that’s been around since ‘99, but one which is the forerunner to many since. It’s called Keep Your Brain Alive by Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin, and they’ve named their fitness practice, Neurobics.

The premise is that to keep our productivity up, we need to be exercising our brain — daily. For example, learning something new every day, like waking up and smelling something unexpected (vanilla instead of coffee), putting a chess game in a collaborative space so with each person throughout the day is responsible for making just one move, doing common tasks but with the hand you don’t typically use, and placing different gelatin filters over your lamps, (which create new associations).  These simple activities all lead the way toward increasing your mental fitness.

I particularly like the one that makes the shopping list into a treasure hunt. Instead of listing the ingredients, describe them so the shopper has to work a bit to figure out the ingredients for dinner.  Oh, and have a backup plan, just in case.

Both playful and very serious, Keep Your Brain Alive sells at Amazon.

Help in the Modern Age

This is not my strong suit, this business of asking for help.

I’ll admit it. My will to figure things out on my own inevitably interferes, and I’d willingly go ’round and ’round with something myself, sometimes for many painful hours on end, than stop the swish in my brain to find another way. The sad fact is that I’m stubborn, and can refuse to let in what would make my efforts easier.  Doesn’t have to be your fate though.  Interested in some valuable tips?  Read on.
 

 
 NAME WHAT YOU NEED

First, it’s a good thing to name what it is you actually need. For me, the passage of time and the chance to be still usually hint at where I’m lagging. Then, I follow that up with a written plan of my top 3 strategic goals and my most passionate implementation ideas, both which become incredibly useful devices for helping me see my own needs. And finally, there’s nothing like the evidence of what never seems to get done at the end of the day to amplify the ways I am simply standing in my own way (just in case I might prefer to forget!).

No, you aren’t perfect and no, you can’t do everything yourself.  But, there’s good news awaiting. Name the thing, maybe even two things, to turn things around for that day, that week, that month, and you’ll do a whole lot better.  To get closer to what this might be for you, consider naming:

• what it is you are going for so you remind yourself where your energies are best placed,
• what those things are that are not getting done, and preventing you from reaching any kind of task closure, those times when even your body feels like a slug, and you’re going ’round and ’round, and
• those small steps you can take that will pull you up and out. If you don’t know them, read ahead.

It’s an ongoing cycle, this process of checking in, naming, and moving forward by the way. And we’re not done yet!

ASK FOR HELP

You’ll need to ask for help next. There can be loads of things to say about this and nothing really to say.  Or to put it another way, you’ll either ask or you won’t (sure, since it’s always easier not to.  Avoiding keeps our super person fantasies alive). Nevertheless, it really feels like crossing a threshold when you finally can make asking primary because suddenly you’ll find many people can be helpful. Letting yourself be available to influence brings a whole lot more serendipity too.  A story someone casually shared when you asked suddenly becomes the subject for you–a useful article, angle on a creation or job lead.  It’s all good.

One caveat.  Always stay true to your overriding intention or goal. If you subsumed your own interests, now is the time to put an end to that. Instead, use your metaphorical sword and shield, remember its use.  Because to continually return to what it is YOU are going for, that’s what matters. It’s the bigger picture, the grander idea you are hatching, that even our closest friends may sometimes not truly get.  So, deflect idle comments as much as possible.  And if you’re the type that’s easily thrown off course, make sure there’s a place you pass by every day that showcases a reminder photo or  mind map to help you stay on course.

ZERO IN AND GET SPECIFIC! (what really needs a boost: managing quality, cost, service or time?) 

I’ll add that knowing where to get help is certainly going to up your chances of following through. It’s distinct for each one of us.  If you are underhanded, think virtual support or sources of volunteers. If you are time-starved, timely reviews so you get to the point of what’s primary to take care of.  If you feel distanced from your own goals and/or out of the flow of the networks you want to reach, identify a few ready advisors whose guidance can get you closer. Here are some strategies for all these areas.

• Do a google search on virtual assistants (there are hundreds but check here and there) to give yourself a little relief. Some of them are good and affordable–even in our recession, 
• Check out mentoring blogs to see who you can line up to give you feedback (the words “mentor” or “coach”,  your geographic location and area of need are worthy searches to do online), 
• Get active on social networks that pull together people around the same issues as yours, 
• Put the word out to friends, online and off, who can give you leads on where they turned.

Of course, you can also check out my previous posts on good sources for volunteers and how to find good advisors.  And if anyone out there has found their own great options, please feel free to leave your helpful comments below. 

DEVELOP NETWORKS BY BECOMING USEFUL! 

One parting thought: Getting help is a new pattern for loads of us out there and quite frankly, it’s not always clear how to get within some people’s sightline. But using our networks and continually putting our real needs out are perhaps some of the smartest ideas one can have on staying afloat.  Don’t think you always need the sturdiest of vessels to close the gap between what you don’t yet know and what you think you should; an inflatable raft is really just as good.  Need to borrow one?  Ask!

Managing Your Email

I happen to think email is great.  When my phone is not working or my connection to the printer clogged, most of the time, my email is still chugging.  It is the one stream that seems to be reliable, even if it doesn’t exactly manage itself.   I love the capacity to get reminders about calendar events and to group emails via filters so that low priority items are literally “out of my sight”.  This minimizes my freakin’ out, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, my reaction to overwhelm.

Still, there are tricks of the trade to make your life easier.  Here’s what I’ve learned (for a more in-depth look at these options, click here):

• Have several email accounts to suit different purposes.  I’ve divided things up so that I have one account for personal emails and pressing communications, usually work-related.  Use online google email in conjunction with desktop email.
• Create folders that put like-minded activities together.

• Don’t let vacations or intense time demands screw you up.  Use AwayFind to auto-respond when you are away and for designating the important senders of information within your network so that their important messages get through to you via an address that pops their message into your mobile.  AwayFind essentially singles out the important, ‘must respond to’ messages eliminating the need for staying glued to checking your email box all day.
• Take advantage of mobile email capabilities.  There are tons of apps which you can search for, just using the word ‘mobile.” I like using things like JOTT which can take my voice messages and turn them into email messages or turning calendar information into email reminders.  You can go overboard on reminders but this I make sure to limit where I can.  For example, when I set up my Google calendar/send to configuration, I limit what calendars or To Do lists I really want reminders for.
• Set up Google Gears.  This enables you to view Gmail offline, which makes access much easier.
• Have a plan for backup.  Check out online backups like Mozy.

NOTE: With limited time, patience, and interest, what should guide you is your desire to simplify. It could be a really fine-tuned filtering/rules setup so your inbox doesn’t get to be “too much”, or using several accounts so that keeping up information is separated out from the day to day urgencies.  You can even consider unsubscribing and/or having newsletters and the like sent as RSS feeds.  And believe me, if all this leads to an empty inbox, it will be a joy.

Social Media Impact — Some Ideas Worth Trying

Sometimes, I just want to figure out what matters most in terms of social media impact.  As messages, dire and otherwise, blast my ears, and content consumption line my days, I decided to attend an Inbound Marketing Conference moderated by Chris Brogan in San Francisco.

I walked away with two major insights.  How to be as consumer-centric as possible, and what that entails, and how to get yourself/your company ready to deliver impact.  This topic is split up into two posts.

Developing Consumer Centricity

• Always be helping has replaced always be closing — The context at the conference assumed you were selling something, and of course, with selling, this is how it is more than ever. Can’t be overgeneralized though.  If I were always helping, I’d become depleted and lose my usefulness, not to mention go broke. But within certain boundaries, building social capital and meaningful relationships (being responsive to fellow community members on social media sites) is a valuable endeavor, requiring that you focus on ways to recognize and empower others through what and how you share.
• When you want to crowd-source something, by all means, make it easy.  Crowd what? Crowd-sourcing.  Simply means enlisting your community to contribute content. Ever try Pegshot.com or hear about the Extraordinaires? The former makes it easy to share videos and photos of what’s happening where you already are.  And the latter provides the software to help you mobilize your community to contribute photo albums and maps.  Either way, you are getting people to know who you are and what you aspire to.  That willingness to crowd-source will fuel a sense of affiliation within your community.
• When you ask people to register for your e-alerts or info, manage their expectations about they are signing on to receive — how much and when.  This will let customers know you value their time from the get-go. Don’t forget to also include options for sharing (e.g., send to a friend options) within your emails.
• Always ask: what does your community really need most from you?  Don’t wander too far from that need. What is the point of your content from their perspective?   How can you most help? Come to think of it, why not come up with something actionable from every conversation you have.
• Trust comes most frequently from recommendations and you must learn to make customers a more central part of your story in order to earn those recommendations.  Check out sources of customer case studies; in all of the ones that were effective, you can be sure customers had a meaningful opportunity to contribute and loved the recognition!

The Collaborative Process for Creatives

(remember, principles don’t have feet!)

There are principles for effective collaboration, and then, there is finding a group with whom you can actively practice. The latter has feet, the former, not really, because it is a common outcome to languish inside your thoughts as opposed to taking off through the support of others.

Here are some key principles:  

• Hanging out with creative types will keep the value of your creative undertaking front and center
• Allowing others to make fun of what you do opens up your mind.  You need that!
• Tracking your process (new media like blogs are great for this since they serve as a useful record of your evolution, which can keep you moving towards what works and can help others collaborating with you).
• Generating your creative output daily helps you learn about the impact you’re having with your creative ideas (essential!)
• Finding a creative buddy will win you regular feedback, another vital ingredient to collaboration success.

But I think the real value in any process comes from doing, and joining a group that’s already doing what you do, a group that meets in person, is great,  although yes, there are now twitter groups, blog challenges, the whole nine yards.  

This past weekend, I went to a new co-working group that opened up in my neighborhood (try googling  ’co-working and meetups’, or ‘google groups for co-working’ to find one in  yours, or look up general information about present state of co-working here).  The result?  I found it useful. No more pulling my hair out when I get to a stuck place technically. Similar to co-working, there are also barcamps too. Think of these as “do it yourself” conferences (attendees create the agenda). Many cities or regions now have them.

Or simply join a group whose focus is on the creative outlet you care about.  Ladies Who Launch is a great resource (though not free) for meeting up with other creative folks, and identifying specific directions you can take with your next creative pursuit, whether it be a hobby or a revenue-generating activity.  Then, there are online art association sites or meetup,com for finding specialty groups.  And there is creating your own blog or site so that your specialty can be seen by those who share similar interests to yours (because how are you going to find collaborators if people can’t see what you’re doing, right?) Any of these ideas make the possibilities for hooking up to collaborate much more likely.

So, you’ve got it now, the major ingredients for collaborating successfully.  Get going.  Choose one.  Go!!!

Time Out: Hanging out with Carmen

I’m really taken with dramatic tales that pack a punch; in other words, drama where everything seen and heard has a reason and so, keeps you riveted and present.  The movie, Carmen: The Cullberg Ballet (1994) by Mats Ek’s is one of these gems.

It’s got incredible choreography, more modern than ballet, which beautifully punctuates and follows the music — inventive as well. Ana Laguna is a mesmerizing and irresistible Carmen, with Yvan Auzely and Marc Hwang as her rival lovers. The mysterious character M. is a dancer that is equal in character to Laguna’s.  You can’t take your eyes though off any of these performances and it’s a film you can relax by (an hour’s diversion, no more).

So, go for it, rent it from Netflix.  it will let you slide back into a beautiful rhythm, what we all could use when we are “too full” with our own work.