Started a thread about Working individually together. Got suggested to start an MMG, and here it is. Let me first quote from the other thread so you see what this is about:
I'm FI and retired from my 9-5 job. Now I work on my own projects. I find it nice to work on projects alone, but there are also some downsides of it:
- I don't feel much of a commitment. Some days I don't do much work since I don't have to.
- You don't have colleagues to discuss the ideas with.
- Also no one to check/verify the work you do. Example code reviews for programmers.
- No one to consult on the parts you are not so good at. If you make an app, it's nice to be able to ask an expert marketer about the marketing part.
Why not create one or more "work groups" where we can work individually together? This would be especially nice for those of us who have reached FI, and miss some of the social parts of work, but also to have some sense of commitment. Also we could cheering each other forward and make a positive, loving environment, kinda like a workout group. Unlike at a work place we won't be competing for the next promotion or shit like that.
It would even be possible to do some work for each other without need of sending bills around. If one hates doing marketing, and another loves it, then the marketing-expert could do 10 hours of marketing work for the programming-expert, while the programming-expert would do 10 hours of programming for the marketing-expert.
These work groups don't need to be only for those who work alone on a project. They could also be great for those who are alone in a specific role in a small (or big) company. If you are the only designer in a startup, you would benefit from having other designers to discuss with.
So this group will be for those who have a project and would like to be part of a group where we motivate each other on our journey, and exchange ideas and critics to each other's projects. The project/business can be anything.
I suggest we have weekly status meetings, and a channel where we can ask questions and give feedback between the meetings.
Post here if you want to join or have any questions.
I would be interested in this if we can figure out a way to also keep part of it on thread here for everyone to benefit. We can PM to figure out details.
Zine Biz Zine outline here: viewtopic.php?p=267009#p267009
Business Goal: $500 a month of consistent low stress art sales (starting with science/illustration Zines and commissions, but could be other things) by July 2024. Learning new techniques or information to make the zines takes priority over sales/marketing, but at least 50% of time showing work on various channels to build up a following initially. I have to be stoked on the topic for commissions or alternatively to learn/practice an underdeveloped technique. I have a decent backlog of illustrations on various topics that could be turned into zines. I have been polishing one of these every morning for posting. As I stated recently in the art MMG: Immediate goal- first 12 page zine printed and for sale online by Feb 28.
I think it's a good idea to update here about the projects, but members should also be allowed to not go much into details. Some prefer to stay anonymous. However, in the closed group we should not hide identity. There everyone should show their projects and go more into details about their tasks. What do you think?
Great project you work on - nice fit for this MMG.
I agree on all these fronts. People can remain anonymous WRT the forum if they want to and offer what they are comfortable with on forum. I think there is a great benefit (mainly reciprocal trust and respect) that comes with knowing who people really are. Especially for motivating one another and accepting constructive feedback. The one caveat to this is that it might be limiting the potential group to a much smaller number of people who would be willing offer that trust. So even if it is just you an I (I hope it is not!), that would be fine with me also. That is how that artMMG started, with two members. Now we have 8.
The one caveat to this is that it might be limiting the potential group to a much smaller number of people who would be willing offer that trust.
That's right! Let's see if some more people join. For me it's also fine to start with only you and I.
My work
Web projects, where I do everything: programming, content creation, design and marketing. The marketing part is the hardest, and I would like some ideas about that. Also I would like to get some feedback on the website I currently work on (that should be relevant for ERE people).
I'm so sorry too, didn't see your post before now.
I'm still at $0, @mountainFrugal LOL. Because of that I went back to a regular job (I don't need to money, but I needed to provide value for someone), but it's pretty good. Before I retire again I want to at least have some customers, or at very least some users of my products. Still I'm interested in running starting this MMG. I'm not working a lot on any side project now (40 hours is already 10 hours more than ideal), but have some ideas I would like to discuss.
For the year-
$149 - Season Pass Trade for poster
$20 - Poster Sale
$34 - "free beer" other poster
$150 - Teaching Zines/In-person teaching (only partially counts)*
Live sketchnotes for scientific meeting (only partially counts as well)*
$750 - Airfare
$900 - hotel
$500 - Meals
I have a lot of backlog content to share and am blogging and posting every week... headed in the right direction. Will ramp up after I get married and wedding logistics are behind us.
Add: *Considered W9 income for tax purposes as I am considered a "vendor" for those.
That's great!! I didn't understand all of your accounting, though. The airfaire, hotel and meals are expenses? Considered a vendor? I get kinda confused, but hey, I live in a country where taxes are filed in 15 minutes
I am making this a "lifestyle" business so I am still trying to figure out how to calculate all of this.
From a business only perspective, I made $0 on the scientific meeting sketchnotes.
However, I got to travel to a new city, urban sketch there outside of the meeting, trail run in an ecosystem I have never explored before, share meals at restaurants that I would never pay for myself with scientists in many disciplines, learn more about their work, advertise my art/science combination skills, get free social media advertising through scientists that retweeted my illustrations of their work... the list goes on...
All of this from attending a meeting last year, doing sketchnotes and posting them. The main organizers loved this so invited me to this meeting specifically for this skillset and paid for everything.
All of this from attending a meeting last year, doing sketchnotes and posting them. The main organizers loved this so invited me to this meeting specifically for this skillset and paid for everything.
So are you aiming to be the next XKCD or PhdComics?
I have read these comics for a long time. They are inspirations! Consistency of making while maintaining high quality is what sets them apart. I want to appeal to the adventure/athlete/nerd/explorer demographic. Overlapping audience I think, but not a lot of nerds get after it in physical domains (ERE excluded of course!). I am aiming to appeal to what I would like to read/do and niche down into that. It is an exploration in it's own way though. I will likely hit my sustainable stride in some unanticipated way. A fuzzy target off in the distance that I will know when I get to it.
@mountainFrugal Now I understand! You got these expensive hotel stays and meals - that's amazing! I once had a job where we went to really expensive restaurants.. It costed my employer more or less the same as I spent on dinner rest of the month, at home.
To be clear, I would rather have that money for meals in cash and just eat something cheaper... but it was good to interact with other scientists and get to explore a new city/surrounding ecosystem. Runner-up as far as that goes in my goals hierarchy. It is also a trade-off too because flights outside of complete on mission adventures of my own design might be the cutoff in the future if I am going to burn that carbon. To put it another way... I am not trying to design a carbon intensive lifestyle that is just paid for by someone else without considering the broader consequences. Even if it is not paid by me, I am ultimately the one doing the consumption. A lot to think about.
Yeah, same here. I would rather take the 150 euros, that those dinners cost, as cash, but I guess the employer did it more for "Team Building" and that kinda stuff. They wanted people to eat a nice dinner and drink a lot of alcohol to get a corporate team spirit, I guess.
This MMG sounds fun. What are some typical issues you've encountered with your solopreneurship efforts?
If I needed to rely on this as a livelihood instead of an infinite runway start-up (FI) then my goals would be clearer (i.e. make shit, talk to customers). However, because I am viewing this as a lifestyle business to augment my savings/investments I am less concerned with the money aspect. I want to be able to find a sustainable way to explore ideas and landscapes, make art around that, and make a little bit of money from that. I think 15-20K/year of more "incidental" type of income could be on the horizon.
