Saying NO so you can say YES

This Labor Day weekend you probably said YES to a few summer activities, which means you probably had to turn down others. Even relaxing and doing nothing but watching Netflix is prioritizing rest and saying no to other things. It’s just like that with work too. As a freelancer, we need work, but saying yes to too many projects by default means that oftentimes we don’t have the time to do personal projects that matter to us.

I’ve had a lot of practice saying NO to projects over the years mainly because I’ve grown to recognize the red flags about questionable projects. Does this person actually have a budget for the project’s worth? Is the person good about communication? Do I get a weird vibe from them? There are even some times where I didn’t feel comfortable working on the subject matter of a project, if it’s against my beliefs or morals. This is especially hard to do when all the other flags are green. As an artist, I do get some pretty weird stuff thrown in my direction! But we all need to make a living, so I’m not saying to turn down projects left and right, but it’s good to have some guidelines and boundaries for yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed and end up working on something you don’t feel right about working on.

Recently I said no to a project and I realized that if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to plan my Kickstarter to it’s fullest. It’s crucial to plan your campaign out thoroughly and it takes a lot of time. There are so many moving parts it’s mind boggling! Everything from building your page to explain your project, to writing press releases (EEK! something I’ve never done before) to planning a social media campaign and OH YEAH you still have to keep creating the actual art!

I said YES to my own comic project, AER HEAD! For the next month I’ll be going full speed ahead on trying to promote AER HEAD #1 on Kickstarter. Please keep an eye out for my Kickstarter LAUNCH this upcoming Wednesday, September 4th at NOON Eastern Time. Search Kickstarter for “Mindy Indy” or “AER HEAD”. I’d love for you to join me in this endeavor of making the printing of the comics actually happen! We need more surfer heroes in the world like Aer :) Many thanks!

The Power Of Saying NO

This is a lesson that I've heard on a few productivity podcasts:  Sometimes you have to say NO to possible opportunities that come along that are lower priorities, so you can say YES to your top priorities and live your life the way YOU want to.  This prevents you from doing a zillion things that are "just ok" and getting burnt out, saving your energy for the BEST things. 

I know this NO concept sounds weird, as we artists tend to say YES to everything, especially when first starting out in our careers.  This is good up to a point, where you start to get a snowball effect of projects.  It's like an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet where you see a smorgasbord of all these different delicious foods, and you pile your plate really high.  But then after you eat for awhile you realize there's no possible way to stuff everything into your stomach in one sitting!  The same thing happens with art projects, gigs, and etc:  you literally cannot do every single thing on Earth that seems like a good opportunity, or has a slight chance of opportunity/doing something just for "the exposure" (we've all heard that load of crap before).  You have to take a good hard look at everything on your plate and turn some things down for your sanity and health.

For example, when I first started exhibiting in comic conventions, I'd travel sometimes 2.5 hours away for a whole day trip to very small conventions or shows with low attendance, where I didn't end up making much profit - sometimes I'd lose $.  But as I've progressed in my career, and now that I have a solid 3 ongoing projects with consistent pay, I realize I don't need to exhibit in every single convention.  After much consideration, I've prioritized either doing regular freelance work on the weekends, doing something fun, or just relaxing!  I've learned the hard way that I need to make R&R a priority, otherwise I catch colds from being worn down.  New Yorkers especially may think there is no time for R&R, but you have to MAKE time by using the power of NO.

Here's proof of the power of saying NO!  Whenever I hear multiple people I respect saying similar things, I take it into consideration.  From Julie Sheranosher http://www.imjulie.com/saying-no/ and Michael Hyatt http://michaelhyatt.com/027-how-to-say-no-without-feeling-guilty-podcast.html

By the way, don't worry about missing me at the large conventions like NYCC, Boston CC, Baltimore CC, C2E2, Motor City (coming up in May!) - I still intend to exhibit at those!