What? Another blog post? What year is this, etc.
Been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of months, specifically about the aforementioned “Phase II” stuff. Time to reassess.
As we near the end of 2023, it’s good to look back and see where I’m at. I always knew this was going to be a lean year for sales, and that’s played out as expected. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a concern – I can only keep the business afloat at a loss for so long, but for the moment the ship is holding. But yes, I’m feeling the pinch.
That’s what “Phase II” was supposed to be about – if I won’t be generating sales, I can at least grow the footprint of O:P and bring more people in. So there was a big push back into mainstream social media, the reactivation of the TikTok channel, and me trying to post something on Socials every day. While not a failure – the numbers did go up – it certainly wasn’t what I’d hoped. More importantly, I found that it generated far more stress than it was worth.
Time. Time is always the enemy. Time I spend making videos and other media is time I have to take away from building. Building is the only thing that brings income, so time away from that is a tangible cost. And it becomes a vicious circle, where I’m so worried about building enough that the stress mounts and it becomes harder to think of ideas for new funny videos, etc.
Then came the run-up to Halloween, always a special time ‘round here. This year I did something different – instead of worrying about quotas and build times, I wanted to take one build and just spend as much time on it as I liked. The result, a delightful Nosferatu that I’m very proud of, became the first O:P “Premium” puppet at a higher cost than anything I’ve sold before. It also sold about a week after it was listed.
Hmm.
The important lesson here is, at the end of the day, for me and O:P, doing the Capitalist treadmill is a pointless exercise. It saps the joy out of it, and without joy, puppet building is meaningless. I can’t ignore time altogether, but I can give myself a little more breathing room every now and then.
I’ve decided for at least the remainder of this year, I’m not even going to plan build queues or track time. I’m going to make what I want to make, however I want to make it. Same for Socials, no more feeling the need to post something every day. If I have something to post or an idea for a video, I’ll make that. If I don’t, I won’t. Keep it organic and free flowing.
I keep saying, the rules of The Puppetsphere are different. There’s no algorithm that will help me. Perhaps others have found a way to work the system and rise, but I’ve given it my all and made no tangible progress. The Internet as a mass doesn’t want what I do, and me trying to do anything other than what I feel in my heart makes me miserable. Word-of-mouth is the only way for me, and if it stays small, it stays small.
As always, quality matters to me far more than quantity. Don’t get me wrong, quantity does matter, on a practical level if nothing else, but if I’m honest with myself and the work, quality matters to me far more.
Onward. At our own pace.
After coffee.