Month: March 2019

Done

Not pretty, no flashy, but done. Finish the task, the run, the job, the day. Get to done, and keep it rolling.

Felt this when running some trails in Maryland. Breathing heavy, shoes wet from two creek crossings, legs caked with mud, barely managing a 13 minute mile pace – but it’s done.

When I was riding mountain bikes back in my high school days with friends, I loved hills, but all my pals would stop when they got to the top. I always kept it rolling, no matter how slow. Just keep moving forward, because the important work was… done.

And when it’s done, you get to keep going.

SLIDE

Slide through today like you’re wearing fuzzy socks on linoleum floors, and expect good things to happen around you!

Nothing makes me feel younger than sliding around the kitchen when making my morning coffee. Do the things that take you back to happy times, carefree times! It’s okay to revisit, and feel that spark of joy you used to carry with you.

Just Make Great Music Videos

Seldom does a band just randomly following me on Instagram or Twitter catch my attention, but this sure did.

“Rent a space, greenscreen it, use stock video” THEY SAID. “Build it all in my house by hand” CLYDE SAID. – Instagram

Go follow that Instagram link, seriously.

That’s what I love about the creative spirit. It makes no sense on paper to build a space ship, or a cubicle set, or a waiting room, in your HOUSE. But the creative energy takes hold and you make a video and it has 10,000 views in less than a month.

The band is Tides of Man, and they’re touring the US now. I wonder how many people discovered the band this same way, because of this music video?

Start Over

Don’t let a bad morning ruin your day – every hour is a chance to start over!

I slept bad the other night, and it could have set the tone for the entire day. Instead, I made sure to have a good breakfast, crank some good music, avoid negative news (which means ALL news pretty much), and just got to work.

Did the rest of the day go great? NOPE! But each set back was another opportunity to START OVER.

Build When You Can

Love this message from Rebekka Dunlap:

Not every post will be a hit. Not every song is a hit. Until it is.

That’s why I try to put up three LATER episodes per week. If I just put up one a week, I’d have less feedback, less interaction, less momentum. Is each episode a hit? Not at all. That’s not the point. The point is to ship, even when it’s not perfect.

My blog posts aren’t perfect, nor research for hours. They’re published quick, just to keep things moving. Perfection is the enemy of done, so I’m okay if everything isn’t gold.

Triumph over your fears and enemies with laughter, defeating the darkness by slightly peeing your pants.

It’s pretty much impossible to fret and worry when you’re cry laughing, or when you can’t breathe because you’re face is about to fall off.

Grief Comes when it Comes

Grief strikes at the oddest times, I swear. Holidays and birthdays are fine, but I recently saw some guys out with their moms for lunch, or coffee, and that just destroys me.

Those moments when mom would ask me about an old friend, or a job, or a place I visited, those are gone now. She cared, and noticed, in a way that’s different than anyone else.

Knowing I’ll never get to have a coffee date with my mom, ever again, is tough. It doesn’t seem fair, but that’s life.

Websites Should Sell Stuff

We’ve seen sites we love sell.. shirts, sure. But I mean, there’s sooo much to be sold out there.

Apparently New York Magazine opened a shop, which seems odd, right? A music site could sell music (like Bandcamp’s store in Oakland, CA), but what’s a magazine sell?

In the beginning of 2018 I envisioned opening a shop for Skull Toaster based around classic metal magazines, like a museum of sorts, which then of course would have merch to buy to keep the lights on.

And heck, existing store can do it backwards! They already have the store, now start a site! I think of the countless record shops and music equipment stores and metal-themed restaurants that could use their brand to pull in artist and bands and designers, interview them, then put all those assets on the website for people to see for years to come (rather than disappear in the river of social media posts that are gone in 3.2 minutes).

Do websites still matter? That’s pretty much where you buy tickets, and do your banking, and emailing.. yeah, websites still matter. Make sure you got one in 2019!

Podcasts and Blog Posts

I wish more podcasts had blogs, and vice versa.

It doesn’t have to be a site with 14 updates a day, but it’d so nice to read some of the highlights of an episode before diving in.

I’m thinking beyond “show notes,” too. Podcasts are hidden and out of sight. It’s hard to stumble into an episode, whereas social media makes it easy to randomly find interesting ideas, or stories.

It would make sense, too, for weekly shows to post daily, because that just builds the brand. What news items do you cover? Maybe reviews, or instructional posts? Blogs get sticky, and when you have repeat visitors, whammo, you have a new episode up, and people click play (especially people who aren’t quite into podcasts, yet, and that’s a lot of people).

And how many quotable items are inside a podcast? The stories and insider information are just tucked away in an audio file, and maybe the episode gets one post of like, “hey, here’s our new episode.”

Pull out two items, that’s two more posts, that’s two more items to post to socials, and include in your email newsletter. One podcast could practically get you five posts that you can spread out over 2-3 weeks.