More Than Just A Resolution

With a new decade coming up, I thought a lot about larger life choices and what direction I want my life and career to go. I made a couple brainstorming mind-map things, starting with this one. Major things I realized were that I feel like I’ve hit a career plateau and I need to push myself to keep learning new things, especially graphic design-wise. I also need to update my websites to reflect my current brand, and even gain clarity on what my brand IS! I do many things from my own comics (AER HEAD - which I just finished drawing!) to custom comics, to teaching, to design & more.

Also, the end of 2019 has been a bit rough for me, but I know 2020 will be a more positive future! “Know thyself” is key - I recognize negative thought patterns in myself and will take steps to catch myself and replace the negative thoughts with positive thoughts. It’s all about MINDSET!! For example, concerning AER HEAD, sometimes I think I’m working so hard on it but in the end, as an indie comic it won’t reach many people and not many people will care. WRONG! AER HEAD is AMAZING and if I can learn more about how to market it correctly, it WILL reach more people! Even by word of mouth alone - I had 85 backers for my Kickstarter and 27 patrons on my Patreon (yes there is some overlap with people supporting both :), as well as all of you on my mailing list, and that is FANTASTIC! Definitely already blessed with lots of support!

Keep in mind that all the post-it notes in the pic are NOT just “resolutions.” They are action items that I want to work towards in 2020. Sometimes just by labeling something as a “resolution,” it’s almost doomed to fail by mid-January. MINDSET!! I made another action-map based on items from these goals, which I’ll post in a future blog.

Life Tip

Even though this is the time of year when the holidays are bustling, take some time to reflect beyond just a resolution now instead of picking something the first week of January, then dismissing it mid-month. The start of a new decade is time to think BIG! Start with a larger goal and brainstorm some action steps you can take to work towards that goal, like “mini goals.”

Happy Holidays!

Less than 24 Hours Left to Kickstarter!

Greetings! As of this posting, we’re less than 24 hours left to my AER HEAD Kickstarter and almost at $3,000! Super happy that so many people have come together to make all this happen :) Still stretching towards the next stretch goal though, to hire a flatter! But really anything on top of my initial goal is icing on the cake. Last chance for you to be part of the action and get your name printed in the thank you page of the book (back at any level), get original pages from the AER HEAD comic (it’s hand drawn!), and more. Check it out before 5pm Thursday Oct 10 (that’s tomorrow!)

Business Tip

You can’t promote too much when you’re advertising something like crowdfunding, an event, a special sale, etc. We artists struggle with self-promotion a lot, but I’ve found the more you do it, the easier it gets. Sometimes I wonder if I’m being too annoying posting all over facebook or in my IG stories, but the thing is, this is what these platforms ARE DESIGNED FOR!

Also reaching out to people with personal messages has gotten more people to actually donate to the Kickstarter. We do need to be mindful of the way we message though! A friend/colleague in the comics world today was just saying how people just send him links to their crowdfunding with no message. Pretty rude and it doesn’t really work. I see messaging people as a way to reach out and reconnect with someone you may not have seen in awhile and also let them know you’re still creating great artwork (or whatever it is that you do).

Cheers!

Half Way Through the AER HEAD Kickstarter! New Computer Tech Stuff!

Half way through the Kickstarter! So elated that people have come together to support myself and an artist and my dreams :) . Read my latest Kickstarter update here. Many thanks to all my current backers, and if you haven’t already joined the fun, please do so and select an AER HEAD reward like a digital or physical copy of the book :)

In other news, I added a new media section to my website! Since I’m reaching out to people and news entities about my Kickstarter, I wanted to add a tailored section of select media like articles, interviews, and podcasts that feature my Kickstarter. Check it out!

Business & Tech Stuff

You’ll see at the bottom of the media section a coaching call with Tyler James of the ComixLaunch podcast. It’s humbling for me to have this out on the internet because we discuss problems I’ve been having in the freelance world, but it’s always a learning journey.

One of the hurdles I faced recently was that I had to get a new computer during my Kickstarter - super stressful! But I am typing to you right now on the new computer and IT’S AWESOME. I’m also just glad that the screen doesn’t blink in and out and that programs start in 2 seconds. Keep in mind that I had to get the computer regardless of how the Kickstarter went, as it was literally dying. None of the Kickstarter money will go to the computer unless I make extra beyond my stretch goals.

I highly recommend doing THOROUGH research when buying a new computer if you’re mid-career. When you’re a student, you take what you can get, but as you grow professionally you realize that sometimes “off the shelf” computers won’t cut it. Brace yourself, I’m gonna get my TECH on:

Refurbished 2018 MacBook Pro on the left. Early 2011 MacBook Pro on right. Yes I’ve made that baby last 8.5 years by Frankensteining it. This model was one of the last of its kind where you could switch out the parts. Today’s Macs are built in one solid piece so if one part has problems internally, you pretty much have to get a new computer. For the 2011 one, I replaced nearly everything in it except the screen, keyboard, and fan. The logic board was the first to go - took it to Apple’s Genius Bar & they fixed it. Then the hard drive went - luckily I got it replaced without losing data. I upgraded my RAM 3 times on this Mac - once all by myself. The RAM is Random Access Memory (yes the Daft Punk album is based on actual tech stuff lol)

Over the years of having that computer I gradually learned about the tech stuff to save money. WHY was my computer slowing down and what was the cheapest way to fix it? I’ve learned through asking techie friends, YouTube, and Apple support on the phone & in-store. It’s difficult for me to understand everything about RAM, for example, but the only thing you need to know is that THE MORE RAM YOU HAVE, THE BETTER because it speeds up your computer. I knew that if I wanted my next computer to have a chance at lasting many years I HAD to get the highest RAM possible, which meant customizing, which you can do on the Apple website.

But customizing is more expensive. I decided to look into the refurbished section of the Apple site and found one that was modified to 32GB of RAM instead of the standard 16. I had to wait awhile for an affordable computer (their inventory fluctuates all the time. Once literally a mac disappeared before my eyes! BEFORE my EYES!!) but a suitable one popped up and I snatched it!

Another problem was that I couldn’t easily transfer all my files from the old Mac to the new one due to hard drive size. Years ago my external HDs kept failing so I saved all my data on the Mac’s internal HD & backed up remotely through CrashPlan (switched to Carbonite now). When I replaced the HD on the old computer, I souped it up to 500GB, but the new Macs come with only HALF that due to people saving files in various clouds. For all my previous computers, I just migrated the old computer to the new one, but trying to do that now would have caused many problems because you can’t transfer 500GB of data to a device with only 256GB of space.

In THIS case tough, I did NOT choose to buy the extra internal HD space because it was hella expensive!! You can always get more EXTERNAL HD space for way less. I got 2 1TB external HDs, each for like $60. I downloaded all the data from Carbonite to one of the HDs. I never used TimeMachine because it’s for the entire system & don’t want to go down that tangent. In my case, I think Time Machine would have made the transition more complex.

Anyway my newer Mac has the regular 256GB internal HD, and I’m storing all my data now on an external HD, which I’m backing up to a 2nd external HD and will reconnect it to Carbonite later to also back up my new files to their cloud.

Ok my eyes are bugging out from re-living all of this lol! My new computer journey was even more complex than this but I have to stop here or my brain will explode. This stuff is hard for me to understand but I CAN learn it if I try, but I do get burned out easily from it. Made lots of progress though and am super happy with the end result!

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!

Learn Anything from Podcasts

I totally geek out about podcasts and have learned so much about productivity, social media marketing, science, well-being, and more over the years from them. My favorite used to be Beyond the To Do List but my NEW favorite is the ComixLaunch podcast by Tyler James, and I was actually featured in a clip of this episode! Anyone can ask a question over voicemail and it’s a cool way to engage listeners of the show. I had a question about the lowest Kickstarter tier and took Tyler’s advice. My lowest tier is now set at $5 instead of $1 or $2. Tyler has all the winning qualities that the productivity “gurus” have, but he applies them to the comics realm, which I’ve never seen anyone do before. Even if you’re not looking to launch a Kickstarter now, he and his guests also give great real insight into the comics industry, as in this episode.

My Kickstarter for AER HEAD #1 is scheduled to launch on Wednesday September 4th (mark your calendars!), but I still have a lot of research and planning to do, so I’ve been listening to the ComixLaunch podcast nonstop to learn everything I can about Kickstarter tips while doing inking work, other comic work, doing dishes, cooking, etc. I’m a big fan of saving time this way and write Kickstarter tips on post-it notes if I hear a good tip to look into or action item.

Business Tip

What area of life would you like to learn more about? Seriously there’s a podcast for EVERYTHING, you just need to dig around a little for it. I discovered the ComixLaunch podcast from ANOTHER podcast (Funding the Dream) which mainly focuses on gaming projects on Kickstarter. And you don’t even need to have an iPhone to listen to the podcasts - for years I just listened on various websites (when I had crappy Android phones). It’s great to learn new things and always keep growing as an artist and as a person, so find the podcasts that can help you reach the next level of your life!