My 1,000,001st Idea

I’m writing from a local Irish bar this week while I enjoy a pint of Dortmunder Gold Lager by Great Lakes Brewing Co. It’s probably my favorite beer at the moment. I love drinks. I’m one of those people who usually has two or three different beverages with me at a given time. Some of my favorites are kombucha, green tea, and plain ‘ole water. Lately, I’ve been starting my day with a water, a strong greens powder mixed with water, and an iced green tea. Jesus, health-conscious much?? I’m even learning to love a vegan protein shake as I figure out this working out thing. Anyways. On to the post!

I’ve got it. I think. I’ve said this a million times before. But I’m starting to realize that maybe trial and error is all part of the process. (Duh..??) Some time ago, my girlfriend and I were talking about the necessity of failure. She hypothesized that only is it a necessary part of any success, it might be more effective to reframe failure as a learning opportunity. Now, this isn’t a new idea, I realize that. But it’s only this past year that I’ve really been internalizing that idea and applying it to my own life. It’s taking time to build the mental habit of reframing failure, but it’s already been paying dividends.

So this time around, in light of this learning, I’m curbing the masochistic judgement about having another next big thing idea. Instead, I’m focusing on how I can better explore this idea before spending any money or other resources on taking the first steps (and doing so without getting debilitatingly discouraged when I discover that others are already doing a version of my idea). This means increasing time spent on the research step and pushing the steps that require a financial commitment or a significant time commitment further out. Hopefully this will save me time, resources, and money in the long run and limit the opportunity for any buyers remorse.

So, the idea. If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning you know that I recently took a walk (okay, a sprint) down a product creation/e-commerce path for a few weeks. I even got so far as getting estimates from a few different product engineering firms and doing the financials for initial steps. But the problem with this idea was the proximity, or lack thereof, of this e-commerce business idea to my main focus: building a career in the film industry. When I got to mocking up the necessary financial investment to create this product (and other related products in the future) it became obvious that not only would this pursuit require far more money than I had, or had the ability to raise at the time, it would also require an amount of time and energy that I need to reserve for my pursuit of a career in the film industry. As is the case with sheriffs, there’s only room enough for one primary pursuit in this town.

OKAY. Okay. I know I said I was going to tell you the idea at the start of the last paragraph but I wanted to give you some context first. And now that you understand what didn’t work about the last idea (the most recent of many) you can better understand why this one feels more solid. After independently producing and directing two live theatre productions right after college, I toyed around with the idea of starting a theatre company. I LOVED the experience of producing and directing but something always stopped me. It had to do with the medium, I think. Theatre was never quite right, even when it felt really good. My brother and I have also talked about the idea of starting a film production company to produce movies years in the future, but we always assumed we had to establish ourselves as professionals in the film industry first. But, I’m not so sure that’s true.

Actually, I don’t think it’s true at all. Why wait? If I expand my definition of production company it can encompass much more than risky entertainment productions shot solely for people to enjoy. Creators and companies are hiring production companies to create, shoot, and edit digital content now more than ever. Why not start by producing work in the (somewhat more) stable world that is commercial film production? This could potentially allow me to leave my current job to manage this company full time and then allow me to continue my work towards creating and producing film work for entertainment simultaneously. Additionally, this would offer a great opportunity to learn on the job about producing film (commercial, creative, etc) and making a living as an entrepreneur. The upside is huge.

Unlike the product creation/e-commerce idea, this idea offers me the opportunity to train and grow my career in the film industry while also replacing my existing PTB job with an entrepreneurial pursuit AKA a Bossless pursuit! This pursuit would combine my desire to work creatively in the film industry with my desire to be Bossless while building and growing a business.

So, there it is. That’s my 1,000,001st idea. It might be the one. It might be one of a few (correction: many). Maybe I’ll do a bunch of research and realize it’s not viable. I don’t think that’s the case, but this next week will be full of research, so I’ll have a better idea next week.

As always, thanks for reading. If you’re enjoying this blog each week, please share with anyone you think might enjoy it! If you post or share any Bossless Blog posts on your socials, be sure to tag the @bosslessblog! We’re on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter.

I hope you’re enjoying a drink that you love this week.

Wishing you inspiration,

Will

P.S. The name Will Barnes is an alias. As mentioned in my first post, I can’t leave my current job until I have another comparable stream of income and I’d like to prevent my boss from firing me first. Please don’t seek out my real identity. I will reveal myself when the time is right.

You can reach me via email at [email protected] or on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @BosslessBlog.