A few days ago I mentioned the struggle I had with my central air conditioning system, which had broken during a heat wave. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I learned enough to do some simple diagnostic work, then tried a quick fix. It didn’t work, but I had learned enough to know that proceeding further would likely be similar in repair cost by a professional, so I was at peace with the decision. Throughout the entire ordeal, I was fully aware that I was on unfamiliar ground and did not beat myself up over not mastering the Art of Air Conditioning Repair.
It later occurred to me that knowing and accepting I was a novice helped keep me stress-free during what otherwise would have been a frustrating experience. By comparison, I had been feeling SUPER STRESSED about my continuing efforts to achieve creative freedom through learning how to design and sell my work. And that’s when I realized that this time, I was a novice but didn’t fully accept it. My goal is conceptually simple, and in my mind I had come to imagine my growth path as “becoming a simple country designer, working and living free of the corporate stresses of big business.” And yet, for the past three weeks I’ve been feeling exceptionally perturbed at my lack of progress. It also seemed like I had a million things to do, and even though I knew I could start anywhere and make progress, I still felt a looming sense of hopelessness.
I am a Novice at Making my Own Way
In other words, I was a novice at this. As clear as my end vision was, I had fallen into the trap of assuming that I knew what I was doing. And indeed, I do know what needs to happen. However, unlike a master, I have no framework of understanding that I can use to anchor my studies. I’m vaguely aware that they exist, but I haven’t systemized them or even tried to create helpful structure to make the task easier.
That is not to say I’m completely ignorant of what I need to do. I have what I think is a solid basis of understanding about business and business practices. I also have an evolving plan, which I’ve been writing about at least once a month for the past few years. What I don’t have is a…well, I wasn’t sure what was missing. All I knew was that I felt constantly demoralized by the sheer number of things that I had to do, and I was painfully aware of how many dependencies existed between each task. It’s like a big tangled lump of many colored strings of yarn; I know if I can unravel it perhaps there’s a beautiful sweater waiting on the other side, but in the meantime I can’t really see it because the mess is so overwhelmingly difficult to unravel.
Itemizing Chaos
Having recognized that (1) I needed to wake up and accept my novice status as a business entrepreneur and (2) I could now turn on my structured learning process, I decided to spend Friday morning doing a brain dump. A brain dump is (as I define it, at least) the writing-out of everything on my mind regarding a particular subject. Once everything is out of my brain and in the open, I can then go through what I wrote and find the patterns.
So I picked a topic: “Stuff that I should be doing (to succeed)”, and started writing. I expected at least a couple dozen things, but I was surprised at just how many topics were on my mind…no wonder I felt so conflicted. Below is a table of everything. Click EXPAND ALL in the table header to see the entire list.
LIST OF WOE-INDUCING CONCERNS – EXPAND or COLLAPSE ALL
BRAND
01-000
Brand – The positive values and associations that my work embodies, creating an ideal that I and others gladly and proudly identify with.
BRAND
01-010
Fly the distinct Dave Seah Mission Flag
BRAND
01-010
Elevate the brand as a shareable core value
BRAND
01-010
Be a bright spot on the Internet
BRAND
01-020
Develop and share iconic artifacts
BRAND
01-020
Be shareable
BRAND
01-020
Write ebooks and books
BRAND
01-020
Share the knowledge and and experience freely
BRAND
01-030
Enable the tribe to converse and play
BRAND
01-030
Sponsor movements
BRAND
01-990
Link the products and the activities to the Brand
TRIBE
02-000
Tribe Relations – The people that are like me, and who I am like. What I do (as embodied by the “brand”) resonates with this group because it reflects shared values and ambitions.
TRIBE
02-010
Maintain website content quality
TRIBE
02-010
Post regular, useful content
TRIBE
02-010
Content Collections for Website
TRIBE
02-030
Develop product ideas from reader requests
TRIBE
02-030
Create product variants from reader requests
TRIBE
02-030
Mention reader projects and share news
TRIBE
02-040
Join with like-minded bloggers and artists
TRIBE
02-040
Collaborate with like-minded people
TRIBE
02-000
Support the brand mission
PRESENCE
03-000
Points of Presence – There are places where I can be “seen” and evaluated by current and prospective tribal members who respond to what I’m making.
PRESENCE
03-010
Main Website
PRESENCE
03-020
Facebook Page
PRESENCE
03-030
Twitter
PRESENCE
03-040
Google Plus
PRESENCE
03-050
LinkedIn
PRESENCE
03-060
Amazon.com
PRESENCE
03-100
Affiliate Marketing Program
PRESENCE
04-000
Getting the Word Out – In addition to being where I can be seen, I also have to actively put the word out and monitor reactions. This gives me insight into what I’m doing right or could be doing better.
PRESENCE
04-010
Incoming Links and Mentions
PRESENCE
04-010
Press mentions
PRESENCE
04-010
Internet-based mentions
PRESENCE
04-020
Sponsorship and Affiliations
PRESENCE
04-030
Search Engine Optimization
PRESENCE
04-030
Press placement
PRESENCE
04-030
Directory Listing
PRODUCT
10-000
Product Development – The foundation of my model for revenue generation is to have things to sell that support the brand and the tribe. New products should lead the way by expanding our capabilities or making existing ones more awesome.
PRODUCT
10-000
Speculative Research
PRODUCT
10-100
New Free Downloads
PRODUCT
10-200
New Digital Products for Sale
PRODUCT
10-300
New Paper Products for Sale
PRODUCT
10-400
New Non-Paper Physical Products for Sale
PRODUCT
10-500
Books
PRODUCT
10-600
Software
PRODUCT
10-700
Workshops
PRODUCT
11-000
Product Updates – Keeping old product up-to-date and useful is different from making new products. It’s not as exciting, but it needs to be done to maintain a resilient foundation for long-term revenue generation.
PRODUCT
11-100
Free Downloads
PRODUCT
11-100
Compact Calendar Mid Year
PRODUCT
11-100
Academic Calendar Mid Year
PRODUCT
11-200
Digital Products
PRODUCT
11-200
Year Almanacs Mid Year
PRODUCT
11-300
Paper Products
PRODUCT
11-300
Non-Paper Physical Products
PRODUCT
12-000
Product Package Prep – To sell a product, it needs supporting writing and media. Product packaging needs to keep costs as low as possible while meeting the physical requirements of warehousing, shipping, and handling. This factors into unit cost and ultimately pricing.
PRODUCT
12-100
Product Lines and Bundles
PRODUCT
12-100
Product model number
PRODUCT
12-100
Product UPC / SKU
PRODUCT
12-100
Product minimum suggested retail price
PRODUCT
12-100
Product minimum selling price
PRODUCT
12-100
Product ordering information
PRODUCT
12-100
Package dimensions and weight
PRODUCT
12-100
Product shipping costs US, EU, Asia, Australia
PRODUCT
12-200
Product functional description
PRODUCT
12-200
Product feature description
PRODUCT
12-200
Product use cases
PRODUCT
12-200
Product color commentary and description
PRODUCT
12-200
Product market and industry keywords
PRODUCT
12-200
Product materials
PRODUCT
12-200
Product notable materials
PRODUCT
12-200
Product requirements for use
PRODUCT
12-200
Product warnings and disclaimers
PRODUCT
12-200
Product slogan
PRODUCT
12-300
Product photography, Plain
PRODUCT
12-300
Product photography, Lifestyle
PRODUCT
12-300
Product photography, Feature details
MKTING
20-000
Marketing Activities – Looking forward, understanding the existing market/tribe provides the necessary intelligence data for making and testing strategic decisions that hopefully yield great reward.
MKTING
20-100
Researching broad keyword categories
MKTING
20-100
Website analytics review
MKTING
20-100
Identifying markets and competitors
MKTING
20-100
Identifying compelling product mixes
MKTING
20-100
Collect price data in the marketplace
MKTING
20-200
Sending product samples to reviewers
MKTING
20-200
Running surveys and analyzing responses
MKTING
20-200
Talking to existing users of products
MKTING
20-200
Collecting testimonials
MKTING
20-300
Writing newsletter content
MKTING
20-300
Creating customer lists
MKTING
20-400
Purchasing advertising based on keywords
MKTING
20-410
Creating opportunities to buy through points of presence
MKTING
20-500
Establish retail price point of products
MKTING
20-500
Establish target markets and strategy
SALES
30-000
Direct Sales and Support – Being prepared to sell my products, and making it as easy and convenient as possible for a variety of customer types.
SALES
30-000
Monitoring sales by market and product sku
SALES
30-100
Writing product descriptions for store
SALES
30-100
Writing use cases for store blog
SALES
30-200
Wholesale orders
SALES
30-200
Contacting retail outlets
SALES
30-300
Affiliate programs
PARTNER
31-000
Revenue Generating Partnerships – At times, there will be opportunities to make cool stuff with other companies and individuals.
PARTNER
31-100
Advertising on website
PARTNER
31-200
Advertising on forms
PARTNER
31-300
Affiliate programs for products I like
PARTNER
31-400
Licensed Works
CONSULT
40-000
Consulting Services – I still do some work for hire; while my goal is to reduce this to zero, it is still a major source of revenue so it is on my mind.
CONSULT
40-100
Project-based Work
CONSULT
40-200
Retainer-based Work
MAKING
50-000
Manufacturing – Finding quality companies that can mass-produce my physical goods in a timely and affordable manner. The best ones help me realize new products by educating me about what is possible.
MAKING
50-100
Maintaining supplier relations
MAKING
50-100
Identifying new suppliers
MAKING
50-100
Ordering samples of new materials
MAKING
50-200
Evaluating competitor materials
MAKING
50-300
Cost budgeting to make
MAKING
50-400
Specification of Order Run
MAKING
50-400
Specification of Order Packaging
MAKING
50-400
Order and Order Quality Control
MAKING
50-400
Order Acceptance and Ship to Warehouse
INVENTORY
60-000
Inventory and Fulfillment – The goal is to create the simplest way to store product inventory and send it to customers without my direct involvement. This requires a lot of system definition and organization.
INVENTORY
60-100
designing the product SKU and inventory SKU
INVENTORY
60-100
UPC and SKU mapping
INVENTORY
60-100
product sku
INVENTORY
60-100
multi-unit product sku
INVENTORY
60-100
color variant skus
INVENTORY
60-100
model number to sku mapping
INVENTORY
60-100
digital only sku
INVENTORY
60-100
digital + physical packages
INVENTORY
60-100
multi-pack sku
INVENTORY
60-100
buying and managing product UPCs
INVENTORY
60-200
monitoring warehouse supply and sales rates
INVENTORY
60-200
arranging for resupply when stock is low
INVENTORY
60-200
coordinating with printer on packaging and labeling
INVENTORY
60-200
shipable packaging design
INVENTORY
60-300
shipping skus to inventory warehouses
INVENTORY
66-000
Special Fulfillment – Some product inventory I may maintain at home.
INVENTORY
66-100
Handling returns or product inquiries
INVENTORY
66-200
Managing non-FBA and non-Shipwire special inventory
SHOP-AMZ
70-000
Amazon Operations – Managing an Amazon-based store plus fulfillment operation is a job in itself due to its custom administration interface.
SHOP-AMZ
70-100
Adding new product listing
SHOP-AMZ
70-200
Supplying new product to FBA
SHOP-AMZ
70-300
Monitoring sales
SHOP-AMZ
70-300
Monitoring customer feedback
SHOP-AMZ
70-300
Monitoring customer inquiries
SHOP-SSS
71-000
Shopify Operations – To handle international shipping, save money, and present a more brand-centric online store, Shopify is part of the new system to augment Amazon sales.
SHOP-SSS
71-000
Managing online store according to brand
SHOP-SSS
71-000
Writing return policy
SHOP-SSS
71-000
Writing customer satisfaction policy
SHOP-SSS
71-100
Adding new product listing
SHOP-SSS
71-300
Monitoring sales
SHOP-SSS
71-300
Monitoring customer feedback
SHOP-SSS
71-300
Handling email inquiries
SHOP-SSS
71-300
Handling phone inquiries
SHOP-SSS
71-300
Monitoring order fulfillment
SHOP-SSS
72-000
Shipwire Operations – Inventory and fulfillment management for Shopify and Specials are handled by Shipwire’s global warehouses.
SHOP-SSS
72-200
Supply new product to warehouse
SHOP-SSS
72-200
Coordinating with Customer Care for Inventory Breaks
SHOP-SSS
72-300
Handling returns
SHOP-SSS
72-000
Automated Email: Writing Boilerplate
SHOP-SSS
72-000
Shipping Labels: Making sure it has my company name on it
EXEC
90-000
Company Direction – Key decision-making about what to focus on when and for how long, to achieve my overall revenue goals as quickly as possible while adhering to my values.
EXEC
90-100
Strategic Focus and Planning
EXEC
90-100
Periodic Review of Strategic Goals and Progress
EXEC
90-100
Provide executive support
EXEC
90-100
Maintain accounting of available resources
EXEC
90-100
money
EXEC
90-100
people
EXEC
90-100
Reward Accountability
EXEC
90-200
Lead short-term goal completion
EXEC
90-300
Acculate medium-term goal into strategic sets
EXEC
90-400
Watch for trends in revenue and market opportunities
EXEC
90-500
Maintain sight of the Brand and the Mission
LEGAL
91-000
Company Administration – Legal operations and requirements for running a business entity. Ugh.
LEGAL
91-100
Establish LLC operations more formally
LEGAL
91-100
Establish LLC bank account
LEGAL
91-200
Update bank account connections with vendors, suppliers
LEGAL
91-200
Get internal accounting and procedures operating
LEGAL
91-200
Arrange for CPA oversight
LEGAL
91-100
Establish international legal company entities
LEGAL
91-300
Patents
ACCT
92-000
Accounting – The collection and distillation of information about all revenue-generating activities, so I can see how financially solid I am. Winning or losing?
ACCT
92-100
PayPal
ACCT
92-100
Gumroad
ACCT
92-100
Business Checking
ACCT
92-100
Business Savings
ACCT
92-100
Business Credit Card
ACCT
92-100
Stripe
ACCT
92-100
Amazon transactions
ACCT
92-100
Shopify Transactions
ACCT
92-100
Shipwire Transactions
ACCT
92-100
Draw to Personal Accounts
ACCT
92-200
Expense Reporting
ACCT
92-300
Tax Planning and Payment
ADMIN
93-000
Office Operations – Maintaining the office space in my house, along with the services, equipment, and software that I use to make product.
ADMIN
93-100
Software Licenses
ADMIN
93-100
Computer Hardware
ADMIN
93-100
Computer Maintenance
ADMIN
93-100
Project Management Software
ADMIN
93-100
Internet Connectivity and Services
ADMIN
93-100
Office Telecommunications
ADMIN
93-100
Office Physical Mailbox
ADMIN
93-100
Professional expenses
ADMIN
93-200
Office furniture and equipment
ADMIN
93-200
Office cleaning
Organizing Chaos into Focus Buckets
I can see why I was feeling so crappy; I was trying to do all of that at once, one tiny thread at a time. Each task thread is tangled up with other task threads, and is a distraction.
The table above is actually the cleaned-up version of my brain dump, with each thought grouped into an appropriate category with a clear responsibility, as if I was writing a resource for defining job positions at Dave Seah Enterprises.
Every one of those 180+ line items produces a benefit for the operation. I made-up a bunch of accounting codes to go with them, so I could define a job position as a list of result-producing activities. The main benefit to me, as a solo operator, is that I can reduce the scope of my thinking to that of a particular role. For example, if I am designing new product, I’m not even going to think anymore about the packaging design or inventory; I’ll handle that when I’m done with design. Before, I would allow myself to think about upcoming tasks related to the work at hand, like having to make a new logo or write the copy to go with it, while I was designing. That meant I was distracted, which made the design work go slower. If I started to consider packaging or inventory control strategies, I would have to “switch heads” and drop out of designer mode. This is not very efficient when you are actually trying to get something done that requires any kind of continuous concentration.
Now that I have a map of all my tasks identified and grouped into “buckets of thinking”, I am feeling much better. I’m not 100% certain that this is a false sense of security, but I think this map will remind me to not try to think of everything at the same time. Instead, I can think about one bucket at a time, and remind myself that it’s OK to take the time now to do the job well. Then, I can move to the next bucket that needs addressing. As a result, I think I will have a more realistic sense of how fast I can work; before, I felt like I was always too slow, possibly because I was aware of the giant ball of tasks that I had assigned myself without thinking about how to divide them up.
This week, I’ll see how effectively I can use this list to give myself both focus and peace of mind as I chug along toward the goal of creative independence.