Spillin' Tea: Swirling Dervish
The Swirling Dervish
I say this every month, I’m sure, but this month I’ve felt like a swirling dervish, jetting about from one project to another, but never quite feeling like anything is complete. Perhaps it would be best to explain myself here.
Looking back at January,
this is what we’ve been up to:
YouTube Mania
If you are a YouTube or a Twitter friend, you probably know that I’m really big on watching empowering videos and reading motivational quotes. Therefore, one of my first principles of success is to plan, plan, and plan some more. (We make the big plans, which lead to the smaller ones, which lead to the daily checklist.)
Having said all that, I found out during the first week of January that YouTube was not allowing anyone with under 1,000 subscribers to monetize. Our first thoughts were that this wasn’t an issue and that we would continue to grow at a pace that is comfortable and natural….. But, from way at the back of my brain, the competitor stepped forth and said, “What if we drop EVERYTHING else and could do an all-out push to reach that number?” I probably don’t even have to tell you that I am have been unnaturally-obsessed with doing just that. –And when I say we dropped EVERYTHING else, I mean it! So much so that I hadn’t realized that it was time to start drafting this newsletter until two days before it is scheduled to post. Yikes! With 2 weeks left, I am happy to say that posting at a rate of nearly 100 links every day has yielded incredible results, which is why I am sad to think that we might be just short of the mark by the deadline. The other great news is that I have discovered some extremely inspirational channels that I might not have stumbled upon had it not been for going down the rabbit hole, so to speak, into this process.
New Segment: Beyond Blooming: Backstage
Speaking of process…..—Nice segue, right? –We started a new segment to our YouTube and blog that highlights that behind the scenes stuff. It’s called “Beyond Blooming: Backstage” and our first post aired January 15th. We took New Year’s photos for the current activities and put that footage up for looky-loos like us. –I can’t speak for anyone else, but we are suckers for knowing what happens before the lights get turned on and the poses get fixed. We watch every kind of music and filming process documentary we can find. Therefore, I guess it’s no surprise that we’d share our own footage.
Beyond Blooming: Backstage #1 New Year's Photo Shoot
I was so enamored with the “Plan with Me” videos that I saw and loved the process, as a whole—since it underscores that planning is the key to future success—I knew in my heart of hearts that one was in my future. I had already ordered that high-ass, customized Plum Paper Planner, completed an “Unboxing” video, and am completely strung out on keeping track of all the bits of brilliance that flow through us. At first, I wondered if my “method” of planning is too helter-skelter for documenting, but it turns out that, once the camera was on, I lit up like a lightbulb and worked my brain through it.
Gab & Jam Episode 3 is Live!
Finally, we’ve posted our latest and greatest episode of our talk show, Gab & Jam. We’re calling this one, “What’s on our Bookshelf?” This time we’re talking about the books from our humongous library (that we’ve curated for over 30 years). We share an extremely short list of books and end by asking you, our tribe, what we should read next. As always, this episode is available as a blog post, as a podcast, and as a video.
Gab & Jam Episode 3, "What's on our Bookshelf?"
What got tabled:
Again, because of all our YouTube madness, there were some plans that we had made that lost their urgency on the priority list. Here are some of the most notable plans that were killed by our YouTube lust:
I am still in the middle of that Snailmail Record Store Crawl, but, again, it had to be tabled to put all our time and energy into this YouTube push (--subscribe! for the love of God!). Hopefully, after we meet this deadline, we can move forward with it, especially since I can’t wait to connect up with real-world independent shops that are still kicking ass and taking names in the name of creative freedom.
What may also get tabled is our Valentine’s Day giveaway…. I mean, the first week in February is almost over and, to be honest, it should have been up and running by the second week in January for it have any impact, so…… we may just table it. We’ll see how this next week goes…
Another post of the “Audrey, Please” process was in the works, but since I am slow AF with video editing, I doubt if I can put anything together for that during this YouTube thing, so…
What’s next:
1. Create More Profiles
When the dust settles a bit again, these are the things I am most looking forward to doing (after some of the tabled items above). I am so looking forward to doing a YouTube channel trailer, adding profiles in more social media outlets (like LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Wikipedia).
2. More Feedback Generated
Also, we want to do more to encourage feedback from you. –Trust me, we DO pay attention to the few of you that actually talk to us. We want to know what you are doing to channel and produce your own creative vision for your life, your art, and we would love to know how you maintain peace of mind while trying to attract the attention of potential like-minded spirits. One of the main purposes of us sharing so much is so that we can find more people like us, so actually knowing when someone is vibing with us is superbly important.
Taking it on home…
In conclusion, speaking of getting feedback from folks who are digging what we are doing, we are looking for two things from you:
1. What you’d like to see featured on the next episode of Gab & Jam?
2. We’d like video ideas suggestions for “Audrey, Please.” We’re looking for something out of the box, but that still keeps with the vibe of the song.
We would love to hear from you!
Drop your ideas in the comments section below.
Until next time, love, peace, and chicken grease!
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