Highlights from the Absolutely Small "Business Plan"

My chosen way of working on any writing project is to just get the ideas out there, stream of consciousness-like, and ask questions later. As you'll be able to see, that is working REALLY well for the ol' business plan.

Drafting up a business plan is like digging my way out of prison with a spoon. A plastic spoon. A flimsy plastic spoon. And not a spork, either. It’s a tremendous amount of effort with very little in the way of results. But it must be done.
I used to be really, really good at this sort of thing: drafting up plans, searching my navel for the answers to everything, fixing everything with well drafted words. And then, of course, I would forget all that work and all that I had discovered and I would have to write it all up again.
Maybe I’m just not into that any more. Maybe it hurts my brain. Words and I don’t really speak any more.
But! It! Must! Be! Done!
I have this great idea that if I could put a little fence around the business, I could live my life more. If it had it’s own little area to live in, I would be happier and more productive. It’s certainly worth a shot. But drafting this up is dredging up so many issues. And I get so easily distracted.
It goes like this: “Hey, I should really work on that business plan.” 5 minutes of absolute dead brain air. “I’d really like to live in Wes Anderson movie. I wonder how that could work. Can that be part of my business plan?”
Because I can’t just write a “business plan”. Some part of me feels I have to write a WHOLE LIFE PLAN. And that, of course, is a monumental task, not to be entered into lightly.
Oh, the things I worry about. I won’t bore you with all of them, but here’s one:
“Business plans have nothing to do with art! You just live your life according to your inner ethics, and the art comes out. I wonder if James Kochalka (or current artist of my obsession) has a business plan. I wonder what it looks like.”
Oh, right. So: The Absolutely Small Business Plan!
…….
Because there is a difference between having a business and randomly selling things. Yes. So…what’s it going to be? Well…I like to sell the things I create. I like it when people like what I make, and it brightens them up. That is awesome.
I just need a goal. Or two. What do I really want to get from this thing? This Absolutely Small thing.
I want…to not work a day job any more. (I write this, by the way, at said day job. Thanks guys!) I like…to share my art with people. Or crafts. Arts. Crafts. Hm. Arts or crafts. Arts and crafts? No, I don’t like the sound of that. Huh.
…….
Right……..
Those period I just typed are little squares. How stylish!
…….
Nice.
Oh, right! Business plan. I should make one! It is important!
I don’t need to be a captain of industry or anything. Hey, that makes me think of that Shins song, “Girl Sailor”. I so relate to that song. I am a Girl Sailor. The little pirate girl on my purse says so.
I don’t want my business to take over my life. I read interviews with very successful people and they say, “My business IS my life. There is no separation. That is how it must be, if you want to run your own business. And be successful. Work hard!”
I don’t think that’s a good way to live. I don’t want to live like that. I want the business to be a part of my life, but not all of it. There’s just so much more to life. Besides, how would I get ideas to create new things if I never experienced life?
Riiiiiggghhhhhttttt…..
So I want: to keep it small? To keep it in the periphery? Er. No- to keep it a part, but not the only part. Just a part. The engine is a part of the car, it’s not the only part. Just an integral part.
I like to share my work with people. I love it when someone buys my work or comments on my photos or blog or whatever. Genuine comments are exciting. So the more the merrier, right? I’m sure there’s a point where I won’t feel that kick any more, but we’re not there yet.
My dream is to not have to wake up early. To create things all the time and have people dig them and tell me they are neat. To travel around. To not work a day job. And the sun would always be shining. To be all like, “I am an artist. It is what I do. And why yes, I do get paid. TO CREATE THINGS. People like them! Won’t you come to my next show?” And to live a colorful exciting life.

It goes on, actually. But we'll stop here! Becuase I have to go and....work on the business plan! Ha! Yes, it is still not done. But I've decided on the not waking up early thing, so that's progress.
Absolutely Small: It's a sugar-cube empire built one spoonful of dirt at a time!