As I continue prepping all the behind the scenes tech and marketing minutiae, I thought I’d share what I plan to do with the first batch of contributors, and why.
Loaded question, really. So much to get across.
The larger picture is indeed, quite large
It’s a big part of why it’s taken me so long to even understand what I wanted to do with all my experiences and how I wanted my life to proceed.
I wanted more out of life than I was giving credit
And I wasn’t brave enough or mature enough, before recent times, to go after what my heart was telling me to. Caused me a lot of angst, anger, anxiety, fear and confusion.
That’s an entire other post – one I can’t wait to dig into deeper with you all when the time comes.
But it highlights what some of my fellow artists and creators are feeling right now, as they try to make something of their work. Or just start, in the first place.
Overcoming these formidable first obstacles is one of the main reasons why I built this site
To start is hard and sometimes scary. Worse yet, if you’ve already started and been somehow slapped in the face by an unappreciative world, you may feel reluctant to try again. Or to try on such a large scale as last time.
You don’t want to get burned again.
Understandable. And a very real, very rational reaction to putting yourself out there.
I want to have a place where people like this can safely get their feet wet
To experiment and to even learn how to one day do all of this on their own, if they desire it.
To start being successful before their platform even exists.
Maybe you only have an idea or a feeling that there’s more of you to give. Or there’s a cause you support that you’re beginning to understand means a lot more to you than you’d first realized. Or you have people depending on you to do better than you are now.
Regardless of your WHY:
- You have a need to be seen, heard, experienced and understood.
- You have a need to bring some sort of gift into the lives of others.
- You have a need to live a life better than the grind you’re currently enduring, as your talents and dreams wither and die a slow death on the vine.
I want to help you deal with all of that.
I want to take as much non-creative work off your plate as possible, so that you may simply focus on getting better at whatever it is you do. And focus on making sure you’re giving your best to those whom you care about most.
You need the technical aspects of building, marketing, and maintaining a website removed, as much as possible, so you have the mental capacity and the calm needed to create.
And as it was for me, there’s an even larger mission here for some of you
You’re already creating. Maybe prolifically. You see the potential both morally and economically of doing a better job of reaching your intended audiences with your message, regardless of its form.
You may be waking up to the fact that you want more than you have the courage to face.
No sweat. I have material in here addressing how I faced those same fears and pushed through to the next level. Just follow my lead.
You folks are the peers I am looking to run with.
I do me and you do you. What can we turn that into together?
This drives a lot of my day to day thinking, pondering, and note taking.
I want a big life and I want to build it with others who feel the same.
So, back to my original point: I plan on kicking this off by first displaying the work of some close friends of mine, starting with Mike Wahl.
He’s got a bunch of nice pics from his time in Nepal and he has lots on his mind to both entertain and help others. We should all be digging the hell out of everything he produces!
I will be doing all that behind the scenes stuff mentioned above so that he is free to create, which is all he’s interested in right now. Just wants his words out there in a way that helps me build my baby too.
This type of arrangement is how I operate best.
More than anything, I am really “The Guy Behind The Throne” and I prefer it that way
I get what I need easier when I go after it in the context of helping others get what they need. It seems to be a DNA thing.
The way this will work with my first group (as far as I can see right now) will be as such:
- Publish their written work in Kindle digital format or CreateSpace print format on Amazon
- Publish their audio work in ACX, CreateSpace for CDs, or something similar
- Design personal pages for them inside this site where the world can interact with them
- Teach them ways to monetize their work, if that’s a thing they wish to do
- Interview them so we may all get to know one another better
- Make some of them direct contributors to the site
- Build content specific display sections for the various types of media my friends produce.
- This will act as a store for some
- It will act as a business card for those who need a place to send potential supporters
- And more that I can’t even remember right now. (I find things. Take notes. Ask questions. We’ll see what other alchemy I can perform as we go.)
Some of this is a test
Parts of the plan are happening, no matter what. Some are ideas, concepts, tools, and systems I am toying with and we’ll see how the world reacts and how my people react as I build with them.
This whole thing is an experiment. But one backed with decades of study, counseling, and previous successes guiding my decisions.
And my contributors, my friends, my mentors, and you out there are going to help shape this piggy as it goes.
I’m pumped! Are you?
