Skills and Expertise

I’m writing from my desk at home this week. Full disclosure, it’s late Sunday night and the only thing keeping me from bailing on this post is knowing that you’re all just salivating at the thought of reading about what kind of overthinking I engaged in this week. And who am I to let you down?

Just kidding. This week was good. I did equal amounts of brainstorming and idea-organizing. It felt good to get everything down on paper. The research I’ve done has really helped me to hone my idea and clarify my goal. I continued learning more about the commercial production industry but I also spent some time thinking about what skills and expertise I bring to the table. Additionally, I did some reflecting about my experience with this pursuit so far. But before I continue, I want to share an exciting development.

Wow. Having a deadline in place feels a little scary but mostly invigorating. This idea feels a little different than some of my recent next big thing ideas. The biggest difference is that it doesn’t feel too good. Don’t get me wrong, it feels good. But more importantly, it feels fulfilling, exciting, and ultimately attainable. However, it also feels like failure (big, scary, consequential failure) is a real possibility. And that feels a little daunting, but ultimately, I like it. I think it’s a good sign. All of my most gratifying achievements felt this way at the start. It’s taken me a while, but I’ve also realized that I need this kind of risk and challenge in my life, in some form, at all times. Otherwise, I just flap around like silly bird. Bleh.

So, I started digging into what skills and expertise I bring to this potential company. This felt a little scary at first. I don’t have videography, photography, or editing experience or a film degree and it seems like most people who start a production company do so as a freelance videographer or photographer and grow it from there. This was almost discouraging, but I then I realized that I bring some equally important big picture skills to the table. And this felt great! I’ve been trying to find my path as a more specialized artist for close to a decade now, but none of those pursuits felt entirely right, at least on their own. (i.e. acting, writing, directing) Additionally, I’ve always been afraid to lean into my operational skills for fear of losing the possibility of a career in the arts that also includes a significant amount of creativity. But I was able to set those fears aside and getting real about my skills and what feels gratifying.

It felt so good to clarify what I bring to the table. Not only does it feel good for the self-esteem, it also helps clarify the things I still need to learn, and even more importantly, what things I will need to hire someone else to do. I’m going to dive more into that this week as I start to clarify what needs to happen to launch and prioritize that list of to dos.

I’m off to bed for some necessary sleep. I hope you all have a chance to relax in the ways that feel good to you this week.

Wishing you satisfying rest,

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.