2015: Year of Foundations

(c) Ulisse Albiati

My last big post was about 2014 and my Year of Creation. I learned a lot, pushed my limits and became a better creative because of it. With every year, I challenge myself to do new things within the context of a new theme. I did pretty well in 2014.

2015 is my Year of Foundations. Everyone has to start somewhere and while I've done a lot in previous years, I still have a long way to go. Here are my 2015 goals and mission within the Foundations framework.

Establishing My Brand

I do a lot of different things because I enjoy having one foot in one project while another rests in something different. I play, write and record music. I work for a tech company. I write stories. I try (though I sometime fail) to also be a very available father. I can't do everything I want to do, but I can strike a balance between the things I like the most.

I need to be able to have a 'brand.' Doing so many loosely related projects does little to build a career and I need to be able to give a sense of what I do in the smallest amount of time possible. I'll be experimenting with what works best so that I can narrow down a mission statement and more specific long-term goals.

Building My Platform

Jimwilbourne.com is going to be the cornerstone of my platform. I'm working on building it out and though there isn't much here yet, I have a lot of content in preparation. Most are my own creations, but some of it is content to help you create new things.

I also need to build relationships with those who enjoy my content both here and on social media. This will be a challenge and won't be a huge concern until I actually have more people checking on these channels.

Testing The Waters

This is primarily for my fiction. I haven't published anything yet and I don't completely understand how everything works under the hood. I hope to have the first book ready to go in Q4 of 2015. I'll be figuring out exactly how it works, what strategies work best for my distribution and what I need to do for my next releases.

I have a specific book for this. It's a side project and something I'm very okay with playing around with until I have a better feel of the market.

Exploring Avenues of Collaboration

I really like the idea of working with other creatives to make a bigger vision come to life. I feel like creatives often feel like they're competing with other creatives when in reality we should be working together to help each other achieve their goals.

There are things I'm not good at that many other creatives are. Cross-pollination between platforms and finding the right people who are enthusiastic to create new art can be a beautiful thing. When egos are put aside, you focus on what's awesome.

Artwork, co-authoring, book bundles, song compelations, guest blogs for jimwilbourne.com and me guest blogging elsewhere could all play into this.

Building a Fanbase

This goal will be the smallest portion of my progress and will hopefully be a byproduct of the other goals set. By releasing at least 1 book by the end of the year, starting a mailing list and blogging more consistently, hopefully some people will be interested in the entertainment I provide. I'm not overly interested in any sort of rapid growth in this arena. I'm still finding my legs and I hope that by the end of the year, I'll be ready for pushing this goal further for 2016.

Amendments

I have amended this list here

What are your big plans for 2015?

Whether you make a Theme or a Resolution, I'd love to know what you plan to change as we shed the skin of 2014.

Let me know in the comments!