Category: Creating Art

My aunt loves sewing.

She loves it so much that she bought a ~$10,000 sewing machine.

And she uses it for every penny she invested into it.

She’ll quilt. She’ll create apparel and gifts. She’ll even create quilted artwork.

When I asked her if she wanted to earn some side hustle money by helping sew patches onto students’ uniforms for the martial arts school I work at… she quickly (and graciously) turned the idea down.

“As soon as I start doing it as a job, I’m going to hate it.” She explained.

And so she doesn’t.

Instead, she follows her curiosities. She challenges herself with interesting projects. She even finds ways to use her unique set of skills to help better the world around her.

Just today, she gave me container with 20 hand made toiletry bags that she wants to fill with toiletries and give to those at local women’s shelters.

Here’s the thing: turning our skills and passion-projects into side hustles can be great… but it can also ruin the thing that lights you up.

Like my aunt, tread that line carefully and dutifully check in with yourself to ensure you’re always fanning the flames of your inner fire—never smothering them with dollar signs or anything else.

When it comes to building an online business, what comes first, the product or the audience?

…Which feels a lot like what came first, the chicken or the egg? And I have no idea how to answer that one.

But, when it comes to the former question, build your audience first, and you’ll more likely appeal to a general demographic that has a more broad taste in product. Plus, you’ll probably be more focused on trends, fads, and broad appeal (for virality probability) which, by definition, will only grow your more general following. And when you try to build a general product to appeal to that general audience, it’ll invariably blend in with the countless others.

Build your product first, and you’ll have a much better idea of who you want to target for your audience. Plus, when you build your product first, you get to build it for you. My opinion is that the internet is incomprehensibly massive and there’s undoubtedly a niche of people who would love your product—once you know what it is and invest the time and energy required to build it beautifully and pack it with value.

What we don’t need are more general products that appeal to general audiences. What we need are people who have done the inner work and have come alive inside to create a product that they themselves would be thrilled to buy, that they can then start telling their (specific) people about.

The product, in my opinion, should come first.

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P.s. These are the two products I’ve built so far. Number three is on its way. :)

I can get into a flow state for writing much quicker when I follow my normal routine of inspirational primers (uploading quotes from various sources to MMQ) → nap → coffee → write.

It’s much harder to get into a flow state for writing when I do something more like I did today which was inspirational primers → nap → coffee → look up flights → search for cool EDM concerts → playfully imagine fun vay-and-day-cation itineraries → write.

Those added variables of flight, concert, and trip planning would have been MUCH better inserted at the end of the writing session. Because it doesn’t take any priming, focus, or discipline to playfully do trip planning. It’s fun and automatic.

Writing, however, requires each of the above in sacred measure, proper order, and more.

Otherwise, at least for me, my Muse feels betrayed… overlooked… ignored… and will require copious amounts priming, attention, and discipline (aka blank page staring), due in full, to make up for it.

Order matters.

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P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

I’m struggling to come up with a topic to write about today.

And part of me wonders… wouldn’t it be better to write and publish only if I have something potent and juicy enough to share?

…Like, why force myself to write something every… single… day?

And then the other part of me remembers… there isn’t a day I write that I don’t struggle.

It’s rare that I ever sit down to write and know exactly what I want to say or exactly what story I want to share.

And even on those days… I don’t think I would recognize the insights or stories as they unfolded in my day if I didn’t have an obligation to myself to write… if I didn’t have my daily time block and space… if I didn’t force myself to look inward and be patient as my mind settles…

And what never ceases to amaze me is where that little bit of forced inner work leads me… like how I arrived here… with this one minute daily piece typed out… a staple in the legacy of my writing… a gift that just might be well received… something made from nothing…

And something that definitely never would’ve been… if I left it up to “when I feel like it” or “when I have something potent and juicy enough to share.”

I struggled for a while to find the words today.

I stared at the blank screen. I went for a walk. I tried pressuring myself. I tried referencing old writing ideas… I even tried replaying old experiences in my mind.

And to no avail.

It wasn’t until after two-ish hours that I caught a whiff of a potential takeaway…

Struggling to uncover what’s inner is never time wasted—so long as you stay true to the struggle.

…The thoughts I had to go to certain websites for inner inspiration were nothing more than distractions leading me away from my inner focus.

And the thoughts I had to pressure myself so that I could more quickly squeeze the inner were cheap attempts that only resulted in juice from superficial layers.

And the thoughts I had to expand on old thoughts fell short because I was no longer connected to that frame of mind—faded inner experiences.

It was just before I started (finally) writing this piece that I found myself repeating the following lines as personal writing advice: “I am not this tension; I am not these distractions; I am not these words of yesterday.”

“I am relaxation; I am here; I am now.”

“…And what do I honestly have to say about it?”

If I’m trying to write, but can’t think of what I want to say…

Rather than “look for inspiration” and browse websites, other articles, social media, etc…

I’ll try and force myself to sit with the not knowing.

The mindset is this: we already have an ocean’s worth of insight from the hundreds of thousands of hours we’ve been alive… what we don’t need is a few more drops of inspiration to add to our ocean… what we need is a space that allows us to dive into that ocean so we can (finally) do some proper exploring.

Think scuba diving.

…You don’t see scuba divers browsing social media, scanning websites for inspiration, or asking search engines which direction to go.

Scuba divers dive and explore. With absolutely zero distractions.

And when it comes to all things creative… so should we.

“It’s actually pretty gratifying.”

…A friend of mine said about her painted rock side hustle.

What started out simply as a hobby that entailed collecting rocks on her morning dog walks that she would then paint by night as a creative/ calming outlet… slowly turned into a business name, with chic branding, and small pop-up stands.

…Not with the intent of massively scaling and changing the world.

But, with the intent of sharing her unique gift with those who cared.

And the funny thing about sharing gifts with those who care…

…Is that it’s actually pretty gratifying for one’s self.