Be Visual: Progress in Hindsight
Hey! Elliott here.
I hope you had a great week.
I, unfortunately, came down with COVID, and I have been feeling quite subpar the last few days.
As such, I will only post one idea and one visual in this newsletter edition:
Even if it doesn’t seem like it, it’s still progress in hindsight.
Since 2008, I knew I wanted to build my own creative business. I was in High School around this time and saved enough money to purchase a DSLR (Nikon D7000) and lens (50mm f/1.8). I wanted to take portraits of people. So I took photos of all my friends willing to pose for the camera. I did the same through college, but I wound up taking the safe route and focused more on my studies so that I could get myself a corporate job.
Eventually, I stopped taking photos and doing anything creative for some time. Around 2014-2015 I started to look up to the likes of Peter McKinnon on Youtube. He got me excited about photography again, but I never returned to taking photos. I lived vicariously through his content (this is a frequent trap for me).
Don’t get me wrong; I did learn a lot about editing and composition. But I wasn’t practicing.
A couple of years later and I decided I wanted to build an online audience, much like Peter. So I started to take photos again finally. I even got a paid wedding gig which was cool. But the pay was a wash since I had to purchase a new lens to provide the service (Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8).
I very quickly grew tired of photography. It was too time-consuming, and I was a first-time parent. I didn’t have the luxury to go out into the field any time I pleased anymore.
So I started blogging. I liked writing, my wife said I was good at it, and it was something I could do from the comfort of my home. I did that for a while, but it was very difficult to stay consistent. I wasn’t getting any signal, and it felt like all my work was going into the void. So, as you may have already guessed, I stopped that too.
I tried Youtube (purchasing yet a new camera, Sony A7iii with the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G). After about 4 or 5 videos, I stopped Youtube.
It wasn’t until November 2021, when I met Janis Ozolins on Twitter and learned about visualizing ideas, that something hit me. I enjoyed the process of visualizing ideas. And I was getting signal. People were liking my stuff, and my audience was growing slowly. It was the first creative thing I tried that all these things were happening, so I doubled down. I created EVERY SINGLE DAY.
One year later and I have a small side business and a respectable online audience (72k on IG and 16.2k on Twitter).
So, was all this time from 2008 to November 2021 a waste? Or was it progress in disguise?
I guess you can see it either way. In my eyes, it’s the latter. A lot of the skills I learned when editing photos or writing blogs, or editing/creating videos were transferrable to graphic design. It allowed me to pick up the software a bit quicker, and it allowed me to be aware of the online world. I knew a lot about SEO, Youtube, creating websites, etc., which was helpful this time around when things started to work for me. I’ve also learned what I like and don’t like, which is super important.
I always advise people to try a million things when they feel stuck or lost. And that’s because I tried a bunch of things, too, and that’s how I landed on this one thing that happens to be something I love to do and is highly regarded by thousands of people.
So if you feel you have been wasting your time or you haven’t been progressing, know that this period of time is progress, too. But you’ll likely only be able to understand this in hindsight.
Click Worthy 🔥
Visualize Value: VV is highly regarded in the online space and is known as the Godfather of visualizing ideas. Jack Butcher is the personality behind VV and has built some amazing online courses about his learnings as an online creator (all with a ton of 5-star reviews). I just checked his website and found that his temporary inflation discounts are still running on all his courses. My favorite course is “Build Once, Sell Twice,” where he teaches about leveraging productized services and products online. But he also has “How to Visualize Value,” where he teaches how to visualize ideas through graphic design. Check these out while the inflationary discounts are still running to get a great deal on his courses! These are affiliate links.
See you all back here next week!
Cheers,
Elliott