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| Kill It By Doing It, Maybe |
1) Not a revenue event now, and very likely not ever
2) Not anything remotely like anything I've ever done before, which is a hard and amazing thing to say after 20 years in marketing and advertising
3) Highly dependent on the product of others, who also haven't done this kind of thing before
4) Possibly never going to see the light of day if it doesn't achieve a certain degree of quality, and
5) Incredibly irresponsible, in that it's distracting me from actual revenue events at a time when that sort of thing is critical.
Needless to say, it's all I can think about, and the scope of it just seems to keep growing and growing in my mind, to the point where I can even imagine spin off lines from the base project, and grandiose dreams of What It Might All Become.
Which is all an absurd and ludicrous amount of teasing for something that might never happen, but isn't that the best kind of project, really? No matter what, I'm going to learn something from this experience, even if it's that I'm not suited for this kind of work and I need to have the courage or discipline to get back to my usual pursuits. (But the folks that I've shown the v1 work to... are dangerously excited. Enough to want to contribute.)
Of course, thinking about this sort of thing is dramatically easier than doing it, and the danger of success is also a potent issue. Success in this endeavor might mean a whole lot more of this kind of thing, without a clear revenue stream, and falling in love with the output so much that it also does damage. For fans of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel", there's an episode in Season 2 where an artist has a piece of work that he keeps in a private room and never displays, and will never sell, because he knows this is the best thing that he will ever do. I feel the same way about a single chapter of a self-published novel I wrote 15 years ago, actually.
Putting your whole heart into anything -- whether it's art, a start up, a song or even the housework -- is a rare skill and indulgence. Most of the time, people get distracted by more pressing needs and easier things, and as my "Mrs Maisel" aside shows, I'm not immune to distractions.
But what you gain is this: the knowledge that you are capable of going all in and finding hills to die on.
Which is something your clients and co-workers tend to remember and appreciate.
More later on this. (Next Sunday being the later.)
I hope...
