Art. Business. Etcetera.

I turned in my resignation at Teefury a few weeks ago, and I’ve been communicating with the new art director Tom Kurzanski with advice about his position.

I advised the new AD to “suffer your own mistakes” instead of letting everyone else, internet comments, coworkers, etc have input into the decision making.

Certainly, a wise man learns from other’s mistakes and successes, but many others have never attempted or been in the position to ever make the mistake on which they are advising you.  Most people lead lives of complacency, never putting themselves in the hot seat.  They want to feel as if they have input and control, but without the risk.

They take the LEAST risk, by interjecting their opinion on your decision because YOU will be the one to suffer their misjudgment and YOU will be the one doing the leg work.

So how hard is it to have an opinion? Not very hard at all is it?

How many armchair quarterbacks are there?

How many people know how to fix society and how to operate the government, yet hold no political position?

Isn’t it fantastic to be the giver of advice? If you are right, you get to feel like you are the source of the victory, but if you are wrong, so what, you aren’t the one who executed the decision.

So… unless advice is coming from an experienced adviser, beware of free advice.

Suffer your own mistakes, learn from them, keep making new mistakes, rinse and repeat.

It’s My 36th Birthday, so…

I’m resigning from Teefury.

I will officially step down as art director at the end of June.

5 years ago in July 2008, Teefury was born. The first shirt they ever printed was a “Jimiyo” entitled “Hope” so I felt that it would be apropos that I exit in this anniversary year.

Over the past 5 years, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to accomplish great things for Teefury. I guided the ship by approving and directing over 1500+ designs and I have helped Teefury grow from a startup to an established true business, rivaling some even bigger sites like shirt.woot.

The first time we ever hit 100K visitors in one day was when my design was on sale. The second time we hit 100K visitors *again* a little bit later was also when my design was on sale.

One of the Teefury co-owners and the CEO of Sunsports said to me once “you are 90% of what pulls this machine.” (Gratuitous compliment? Maybe.)

The CFO once called me the “Golden Boy.” He also called me a “bipolar diva” once, but that’s a story for another time.(Bipolar? No. Diva? Maybe. High performing? Definitely.)

I don’t want to be so bold as to say I was the sole reason for Teefury’s success, because TomG and MJ were without a doubt the other key spokes in the wheel of success, as well as the crucial synergistic relationship with the printing company Sunsports. However without reservation, I have strong doubts that Teefury would have reached the level of success it has attained unless I had been part it. (I forgot to mention Marissa from CS. She’s a bad ass.)

Of course, none of it would have been possible, without the artists that supported Teefury with their awesome art. Artists, if you’re reading this, you deserve a pat on the back and all the exposure and commission you can get! FIST BUMP -explosion, sparkle fingers- Thank you!

I tell you these things because as soon as I leave, time will erode my mark on the company, and my hard work will become moot, irrelevant, forgotten facts.  So here’s me tooting my horn, cause it won’t matter in a blink of an eye.

So why are you leaving Jimiyo? So you say you helped build this thing, you helped make it successful, and now you’re leaving?

Like I said to the owners, I keep wondering, WHAT IF, instead of continuing to build TF for the next 5 years, WHAT IF I built something that I owned?

Honestly, Ive been somewhat miffed to have trail blazed for the pop culture shirt-a-day industry, only to see others cloning the best practices, and building smaller, yet successful, businesses mimicking Teefury.

In the past, the Jimiyo persona was an artist, a person who created things. As an art director, Ive been so busy working the grindstone, promoting and fostering the success of other artists, that I had convinced myself that the artist in me died a long time ago…

The opportunities for internet savvy artists are so much greater than it was 5 years ago, so much so I just keep thinking there’s got be a better opportunity for me out there now, especially with the immersive firsthand experience and market knowledge of the last five years.

My dad keeps asking me to build a business so he can work in my warehouse after he retires… and I don’t think I can do that working for someone else.

So what are you going to do Jimiyo? You gonna be an artist again? You gonna build your own shirt-a-day site? You gonna be Crazy Internet Cat Man?

Frankly, I don’t know right now.

I just know that in my mind I ceased to be as much an inspiration to others over the last few years.

When I was the artist Jimiyo, when I decided to spend a whole year being a professional online tshirt contest winner, and succeeded, I was an inspiration.

When I was the artist Jimiyo, pouring my heart and time into a piece of art, and I didn’t give a shit about if it would make money or not, and I created art because it was sourced from the totality of who I was, I was an inspiration.

I haven’t been much of an inspiration as an art director. I’m good at it, and I know I’ve helped others become successful as artists by pushing them into the spotlight, BUT inspiration is not working for a paycheck, it’s walking away from a big one in hopes, rather a belief, that beyond just money, there are greater things to achieve. (However, young rebellious whipper snappers out there, know that it’s a CALCULATED RISK.)

So I think my first step to becoming an inspiration again, is to step down back into the battlefield with everyone else, with all the other artists… to reclaim my identity as an artist, and not the Art Director of someone else’s company.

Because an artist is not just someone who creates “art”, it’s anyone that strives to grow and learn, to perpetually create a better version of themselves through their art. Artists see the world from a different perspective, seeing possibilities where others may not, and they share this with the world, so the world may be inspired as well, to see from a different perspective, maybe even a better one.

So that is what I intend to do.

Thanks for your support.
:jimiyo

It’s not time we lack, but focus. – Buddha Standard Time by Lama Surya Das

The concept is common amount thought leaders. Zig Ziglar said the same thing in Success for Dummies, and added, “We all have twenty four hour days.”

Success comes to those who leverage their time and focus to maximize their life’s true intention and purpose.

I’ve been freelancing for a total of over 5 years now.

I would assert that the most difficult part of freelancing is NOT finding work or income, but finding a balance of what one should do with their time.

In freelance, you make almost all the decisions. You create your schedule, you maintain your taxes, you manage your social media marketing, and maybe you make time to do the actual work that yields the income!

With all the things one has to do, it’s easy to get distracted and become unproductive. Throw in addictive, unproductive obstacles like Facebook and other internet distractions, you have a great challenge to overcome, moreso than just creating a product or service that makes money.

Over the last few years, I have picked up a few tools and tricks to keep myself productive.

1. Leechblock

Managing social media would be an easy job if that was your only job to do all day. However, most of us don’t get paid to just post on Facebook or Twitter, it’s just a small fragment of all the many things we have to do.

In 2012, I frequently found myself in an endless inefficient loop.

Post on Facebook.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Check email.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Check twitter.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Repeat to infinity!

I would be working with Photoshop art files, if it took more than 3 seconds to open a file, while it loaded, I would fall back into the inefficient routine.

Then I found Leechblock. Essentially, it’s a Firefox add on which allows you to block specific site(s) for variable timeframes. You can click, but the site blocked will not load.

EUREKA. When I need to focus and git ‘r dun, I throw Facebook/Twitter on lockdown.

If you can take self discipline out of the picture, you’re more likely to succeed… at least in my experience.

2. Daily to do lists. It’s a pain, but if your tasks are varied, making a to do to list every morning is very helpful.

Initially, I started with Post-it Notes, but I upgraded to a refreshable Boogie Board last year and it’s been a great tool. You can write your daily to do list on it, and at the end of the day wipe it clean or rewrite for the next day. It’s also pretty fun to doodle on.

For more longterm goals and ideas, I do have a whiteboard in my office. Some things don’t belong on a daily to do list.

3. Priority Workflow Chart – Although I create to do lists, sometimes you need a solid IF-THEN system to sort out in what order you should execute your work. I use index cards with rules to decide my work for me.

I have a myriad of tasks on my plate. Approvals, designing, creating images, social media, taxes, etc. I also juggle a rolling schedule that requires I have work done ahead of time that requires decisions making to be on a flexible schedule.

For me, there are things that are priorities like art approvals or finished scheduled designs, so I have an index cards on my desk that dictate my workflow. This is one of them.

Although it may seem like a no-brainer and pointless to have such basic commands on an index card, it’s been very helpful to put my brain on auto-pilot…

It’s been several years since I began freelancing, but in hindsight, it might have been good to have simple instructions like these with things like “Take a Shower” or “Go out in the sun.”

Simple things are easy to forget when you are left to your own devices.

So I have several other cards related to freelancing that hold me accountable for other tasks like: posting on social media, interacting with the community, creating art, etc.

The toughest thing for me working as a freelancer has been knowing IF I have worked hard enough.  When you can work endlessly, sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop.

If you reduce your work down to a IF-THEN workflow, then it’s easier to make decisions and know when you’ve done enough to succeed.

Additional thoughts:

Currently, much of my life revolves around work, and I’ve become quite adept at work work. I’m often looking for ways to seek happiness, or rather contentedness, and I’m finding that maybe I need to add structures in place to foster the same rigor in controlling my behavior to benefit my health and relationships since contentment is not just work success.

Thanks for reading!
Jimiyo

Unfortunately being on the art directing side of commercial art and seeing 1000′s of designs every month, I notice when an artist is just skilled at stealing ideas, yet as the business requires, I pick the best executed of the concepts.

So here’s an ugly truth, to become a popular commercial artist, you have to

1. First be skilled in technical execution,
2. secondly be skilled in research and trend spotting,
3. thirdly be skilled in hiding the fact that you lifted the idea off someone else,
4. find an outlet that promotes your work, and let the momentum of fans and publicity ensure that in the minds of the audience, you were the first to the idea, since if they see yours first, you have implanted that your showcase and genius was the originator.

Other Jimiyo-ism:
- The one with the largest fanbase wins.
- Customers don’t care if you aren’t the originator of the concept.
- It’s always interesting to me that the ones who “call out” others for being thieves are quite likely to be the most cunning at lifting ideas.

Finito!

EX) Apple invented the rectangle.

PS. Just because this is the game, doesn’t mean I condone it. I actually get pretty annoyed at my artists if they take from that well too much.

There’s an Arab-Israeli conflict, the Fiscal Cliff, Obama Presidency, etcetera, but it’s sunny and blue out of my work desk window.

It’s odd that our moods or reactions are often affected by realities primarily existent in the mind and in the minds of others.

There may be a war on the other side of the world, or there may be millions starving somewhere, but none of that changes the measurable circumstances of the now.

I have all my fingers and toes, instant Starbucks coffee, money in the bank, a good job, and I live in America where there are no gunshots in the streets.

I’ve been studying Buddhist philosophies for over a year now, and previously, when I heard axioms about “being in the now,” especially in regards to meditation, I never understood it until I started to apply the principles.

The basic concept during meditation is that you try to clear your mind of all thoughts, and the easiest way to do so is to concentrate on your breath, to be present in what’s actually happening right now. Breathing in and out. Breathing in and out. The mind easily wanders into thinking about other things: what to have for supper, what to post on Facebook, things to do for work. When those thoughts start to invade your meditation, one is to focus back on breathing in and out.

Often times, our minds are so cluttered with future events, what we are going to do, what we should be worrying about, doubt, fear, and even conversely, excitement and anticipation, so much so, that we do not live in the present, only in the realities of perceived futures, often based on past experiences.

Being in the now keeps you present, whether you are sitting at your desk with the sun out your window or even on a dreary cloudy day.

If you *aren’t* in the now, looking out that window, you might compare a dreary day to a sunny one in the past, and there will be a twinge of disappointment, unhappiness perhaps. Being in the now, if it is cloudy, minimally at least it allows you to accept realities as they are, and without comparison to past or future, it should theoretically yield a lesser effect on your mood.

Now, it is difficult to be unattached to something as simple as weather, and it is impossible not to utilize events of the past to plan the future, however it seems counter intuitive we allow ourselves via media/news and the flawed perceptions of what will happen, and the exaggerated perceptions of what has happened to muddy our realities in a negative direction.

The Arab-Israeli conflict, the Fiscal Cliff, Obama Presidency, does it really even matter? Does it affect me sitting here at my desk with the sun outside… not really.