MegaFishbein is a collection of lessons, life-hacks, and lifestyle: A journey of a creative hell-bent on perfecting his process.
Pathologically curious and never satisfied with the "norms".
Some of you know my story.
For those who don't, I'm a pathologically risk-averse, hyper-calculated, bootstrapper.
And I don't have much reason to depart from this approach; I've built two self-supporting businesses over the last 6 years without loans, outside (or inside) financial investments, and without missing a single paycheck each time I transitioned from day job to biz owner.
But, here's the thing…
Wouldn’t it be great to know if your business idea was going to work before you dripped a single drop of sweat into it?
Wouldn’t it be neat if there was a way to test business ideas in their early stages in such a way that you knew with absolute certainty that all the hard work in front of you was gonna be worth it?
That would be really helpful, right?
Here’s the thing:
There kind of is!
You’re at a cocktail party. Someone approaches you and says:
“Hey, I hear you’re a _____ and you do _____ for a living. I have this problem I need help with. It’s right up your alley. Here’s my question:___________________?”
What do you do?
Mmmm, that’s a delicious dream.
So big! So YOU!
Can’t you just taste the juicy future?
Once achieved, this dream will forever mark that milestone in your life when you went from “meh” to MIGHTY!
Oh no, but it’s so far away...and there’s so many steps...and boy...the effort it’ll demand…
You know what, never mind. It’ll never happen…
"I'll sleep when I'm dead!"
For those of you who just read that and thought "Hell yea, get that money! HUSTLE FO' LIFE! GRIND OR DIE!"
Fuck off my blog. Leave now.
I'm sorry (deep breath). I do in fact hope you stay and read because it is you (you 12-hour-day, self-employed, workaholic you) who is precisely the individual that stands to benefit most from this post...
"Let the battle begin." I think to myself as I adjust my ass on the cushion.
"Breathe in for a count of 1, 2, 3...and exhale, 1, 2, 3..." The disembodied voice soothes at us. "Notice the muscles in your face. Notice your brow, your eyes, your jaw...and allow all tension to melt away...1, 2, 3..."
"Melt" I think. "Cheese" I think. "Chuck E. Cheese" I think. "Man, what a terrible job that would be, to have to sit in a sweaty rat suit all day while kids run around punching and kicking you in your sensitive rat-parts...".
"Darn it! Back to the goddamn breath...1, 2, 3"
My adversary has made his first move.
Most folks are possessed by one of two fears:
#1 - "I'm not doing enough, not dreaming big enough. I'm lazy and will never really achieve the thing in life that will truly fulfill."
#2 - "I'm too ambitious, I dream too big. I'm afraid that my eyes are always so focused on the future milestones I'm missing out on the joys of the present...and upon my death bed I'll realize in horror the life I could've lived.
I am unfortunately afflicted with both.
Mayhaps not so unfortunate...but before I spoil the ending, allow me to begin at the beginning.
"She'll sob for hours staring at the wall. Nothing I say helps."
I happened to overhear this as I sat outside of El Cortez in Brooklyn last week preparing for a night of Karaoke with an old friend. There were two guys, perhaps late 20's early 30's, having a conversation. They were just drunk enough to be perfectly articulate yet entirely oblivious to my being within earshot.
Creative marketing and advertising is sometimes a catch 22. We artists scream for freedom, for pure and unconstrained parameters of creation, yet, we are notoriously lazy, disorganized, and distractible. We clamor that rigid guidelines and fixed turnaround times poison our creative processes...but somewhere deep inside we worry that if truly left to our own devices we’d never get anything done.
These ideas are false. My experience does not show that planning kills spontaneity. It does not indicate a correlation between a firm deadline and a sacrifice of creativity.
"If only there was a way to ensure with perfect certainty that I should never forget an important task..." I once wondered.
"Pick me!" - Asana, Trello, BaseCamp, Evernote, and all their cousins hollered back in harmony.
