Staying Motivated & Breaking Through

QUESTION

Joey, I am a 34-year-old Graphic Designer with a 9-5 day job. I have been working on a personal side project for a little while, which allows more freedom for creativity.

I love what I am doing on the side, but trying to put the pieces together to bring this project to life on Kickstarter has been a struggle as I am a one-person show. Struggles include finding a vendor, building a plan for exposure, writing out content, etc.

I know nothing is easy, but sometimes I get discouraged when things are not moving along. How do you motivate yourself to continue and not put that pen down?

—Arber

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ANSWER

Hi Arber, I remember my own Kickstarter days well. There was certainly a lot of hat switching—design, writing, promoting, and so on. It was invigorating, but also exhausting.

Since you have a day job, there aren’t any bills piling up that need to be paid by launching this project. You have the luxury of time. Remember that. This is something you should enjoy, not stress over.

Here are two suggestions for getting your project launched.

1. Fill in the holes.

   You have a certain set of skills that makes you the right person for imagining your project. But that doesn’t mean you have all the skills needed to launch it.

   When I was early in the process of launching our first Kickstarter, I called about fifteen friends with various skills, ordered a handful of pizzas, and fed them a free dinner while they helped me talk through challenges. Figure out what you don’t know, find out who does, and talk to them.

   It may turn out that you need a business partner, someone who you’re able to bounce ideas off of and who brings new ideas to the table. Be open to this.
    

2. Materialize your path.

   This may sound obvious, but you should make sure to have an outlined plan before you dig in too deep. I recommend using a project manager like Basecamp or Flow to organize your high-level milestones, apply them to a sequence and a timeline, and then add low-level tasks as you move forward.

   Organizing your project on a timeline with tasks is beneficial for a number of reasons, but the prime purpose is psychological: When you see progress—as things get checked off—you will feel much more productive than if you completed a task without tracking it. This keeps you going.

   In addition, you’ll be able to see issues coming long before they strike. For example, if you’re planning to launch in seven weeks, but you see that your task manager is showing twelve weeks’ worth of work, then you can push your date back early rather than at the last minute.

Ask for help. Create a plan. Reach your goal.

I'll keep an eye out for your Kickstarter launch. :)

—Joey

Creator of Baronfig
Author of The Laws of Creativity

Pizza, the magical unifier and motivator of humanity.