Craftsman Creative 2022

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Today I want to let you know what the year ahead holds, both for Craftsman Creative, but more importantly for you.

It can be summed up in one graphic (that I drew!)

Ready to see how this all works? Read on...

How Craftsman Creative Inspires Creative Ideas

The start of every creative business and career is an idea.

Sometimes it's a belief that you can do something that you've never done before, or a desire to try something creative.

Other times you see a need and want to help, so you figure out how to make something new.

These ideas are little sparks, or lightbulbs, that contain infinite potential. Who knows what could come from the pursuit of this idea and turning it into a reality?

The Craftsman Creative logo and the new BCC Newsletter header (which is also my Twitter banner) speak to this concept, that taking ideas and turning them into reality is powerful and an amazing process.

But inherent in this concept is an element of work.

Ideas don't turn into projects, or businesses, or money all on their own. The logo signifies taking a whole life worth of ideas and experiences and taking action by writing them out, sharing them with those who would care to read them.

The header is an extension of that - when you connect an idea and add power, electricity, then it illuminates and reaches farther than it ever could as just an idea with no effort behind it.

This first step is what my focus is on for 2022, to turn Craftsman Creative into a resource for creators, artists, entrepreneurs, and makers to help inspire new ideas, connect new experiences to old, and inspire action.

This will be done through the Craftsman Creative Book coming out in the spring as well as the community that will launch at the same time. Hundreds of creators coming together to connect, engage, and empower each other, and help turn ideas into action.

From Ideas To Projects

Once you have an idea, you then put it into action by creating and planning out a project.

Creative projects are the foundation of any business, any career, and anyone's ability to earn a living doing creative work.

An album. A book. A photography project. A short film. A painting.

It's the act of taking an idea and turning it into action.

One thing I realized over the 2021 holidays is that I don't need to create more projects, I need to do more with the projects I've already created.

The problem I, and many of you, have isn't creativity or productivity or talent, it's awareness.

The community will help us all gain more awareness for our creative projects (more on that in a bit), as will the book chapters on marketing and audience building.

But, as most of you don't know, I already created courses on how to make something, turn an idea into a project and do creative work at a professional level.

But I did a terrible job telling people about it!

So, here it is, in case what you need is help going from idea > project.

Most projects are one to one, meaning one artist to one client, or trading time for dollars. But it doesn't have to be that way...

My goal is to sell 1,000 courses this year to creatives who want to become creators, whether part-time or even full-time.

Speaking of which...

Craftsman Creative Businesses

There are many creators and artists that I know personally that have been doing creative work for years and still haven't built a business to support that creative work.

So they still struggle month to month to pay the bills. They are chasing any gig that arrives in the inbox whether it will help their business or not.

They are perpetuating the starving artist meme, and I want to help us all put that idea to rest.

There's no reason we can't use proven frameworks and principles to build successful, resilient, profitable, six-figure businesses around our creative and artistic talents.

The Craftsman Creative book will help you learn that process, and the courses - both live and pre-recorded - that are coming out with the book will help you take that next step to create your Craftsman-style business.

Businesses help creators reach even more people, grow their impact and their contribution, and build sustainability into their work so they can do that creative work for as long as they like.

I want to help 200 creators build six-figure businesses this year, through the book, courses, and community.

While content and information is helpful, sometimes, however, it takes a little more "oomph" than that, which leads me to the last part of the process.

The Craftsman Creative Fund

This is in the earliest stage of everything with Craftsman Creative, but I want to put it out into the world now so you know where we're headed, but so that I can hold myself accountable to all of you reading this.

The greatest leverage I think I can have is by investing in creators.

But the idea of becoming a VC firm, or a fund manager, was uninteresting to me. I love being a creator - writing, producing, teaching, sharing, and contributing to other creators.

I don't want to just be a guy with money behind a bunch of gatekeepers.

And I don't want to manage other people's money.

While the returns may not be big enough for the typical VC to show interest, my belief is that creators are the most deserving of that sort of attention and investment.

My plan, as it sits now, is to take 50% of the revenue from the Craftsman Creative community and reinvest it into creative projects submitted by those in the community.

A simple upvoting system will surface the most exciting and deserving projects, and those are the ones that will get the investment.

I say investment because we, as the community, will invest that money and expect a return. Something in the "recoup our investment + 20%, then 10% of all revenue after" range.

What that means is that we as the community will band together to help market and share the projects, we'll get first access to the projects, and the money will replenish itself to grow the "fund" and make more and bigger investments.

Imagine being able to help create an album, or a short film, or a book, or a new youtube channel, or any number of other creative projects, giving a leg up to those who otherwise wouldn't be able to do the project!

I hate thinking about all of the creators out there who don't have the resources they need to create their amazing work. I want to help them, and the best way I can think to do that is to inspire them, teach them, help them, and invest in them.

Ideas > projects > businesses > investments.

That's the plan, and I'm excited for you to join me.