Get Bigger Problems

The answer to life isn't about not having problems. It's about having the right problems. The problems that matter. Solving big things. 

When we complain about problems, they are usually either too small to matter or we aren't keeping things in the proper perspective. If you're a business, and you win a big piece of work, that's inevitably going to come with a whole boatload of problems. If you're complaining about those problems, then you need a reset. A fresh glass of water. 

There's the saying: 'that's a good problem to have'. Change your problems into opportunities, and you may finding yourself bumping into much bigger, and better things. 

Your Muse Isn't What You Think It Is

Your muse may hide in music, or in the shape of poetry. Or your muse may dodge and weave, not quite there, then lost between the days. Or maybe it appears in abundance so simply -  like drinking from a fountain or standing in the rain.

This is the muse we wish for. 

But the muse isn't as temperamental as myth makes it out to be. The muse really responds to only one thing: Doing the Work. Respecting the Craft. Not waiting for the voice but finding it, re-finding it, a lasso to the wind that with a little luck lands at the the feet of something. Anything. Trout fishing and holding nets to the sky. 

That's the muse. Dragging it out into the open kicking and screaming. Doing the work. 

Comfort and Joy

Comfort is the enemy. 

I was getting a haircut the other day, and my barber said she liked Bellingham because it was ‘comfortable’. 

How many times has comfort led to discovery?  Or invention? 

Comfort does not equal happiness. 

So step away from that which is warm. At least for a moment today. You might bump into something (or someone) special. 

Credit: StartofHappiness.com

Robin Williams and the Art of Generosity

I’m not going to pretend to know what made Robin Williams tick or try to dig in on the disease (depression) that finally killed him. There’s lots of other people that can do that.

But I did have a run-in with Robin Williams once. I was in a Barnes and Noble in LA right after Mrs. Doubtfire, and we both converged at the check-out line at the same time. His hair was dyed blonde, so it took me a second to put the pieces together, but without even missing a beat he motioned for me to go ahead of him. I did.

And as I was standing there, with my back to him now, I suddenly realized who it was. It was a “Jesus Christ, Robin Williams just gave me his place in line’ moment. It was a rush. One of my all time favorites was standing two feet behind me.

Now, if I’d written the script, I would’ve turned around and we would have started talking about this or that. Maybe I would asked him what book he was buying, or who his favorite talk-show host was.  Even his favorite restaurant in LA, something. Anything.

But I didn’t. I was completely and utterly tongue-tied.

When the cashier finally motioned that it was my turn, I did finally turn to him and say “Thanks. I really enjoy your work.”  There was that twinkle in his eye that we all know, and he replied, very softly, “I appreciate that.”

Then it was over. I was out the door. He went his way, and I went mine. An incident he probably forgot immediately, a moment I’ll remember forever.

When I look back on that now, the thing that strikes me most is that one moment when he could have stepped ahead of me in line, but didn’t. That moment when he must’ve thought “This asshole looks like he’s in a real hurry, I’ll let him go ahead.” That moment of generosity.

That’s why I’m especially floored by this one. Totally sad. Feeling the void. The engine of life churning through us all. But I was especially heartened to hear all the stories like mine about his generosity, his approach,  his integrity. Yes, there was the unfathomable sadness I hope to never understand, but there was also such brightness. Such boldness. Such gold.

Let us remember that as well today.  And pay it forward.

Thanks for everything.

http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/remembering_robin_williams

Digital Walla Walla and Why This Matters

When you think of Walla Walla, WA, you most likely think of small towns, wine, and horizons that spill off into the grape-soaked distance. With a population of just 30,000, it's generally considered  a sleepy place that serves up great food and lazy afternoons. It's a correct assessment. 

But there's also a strong digital undercurrent. Walla Walla is situated next to a broadband fiber highway that extends from Portland to Spokane and further east – and the town has tasked itself with figuring out ways to use this network to help drive good business. If you think of the service economy as moving heavy things from point A to point B (like waiters or boats), the knowledge economy is about moving data: documents, files, videos, games, images, webinars, conferences, anything that can be digitized and sent off into cyberspace. By tapping into this possibility, and training people to become knowledge economy literate, you are creating a much more valuable and vibrant workforce. A workforce that can work virtually with anyone in the world.

CASE STUDY:  According to Code.org, people who graduate from college with the ability to code computer games have an average starting salary of $90k. The average of all other majors?  $30k. So it's pretty apparent that any educational curriculum pointed to providing well paying jobs and growth opportunity should be at least have some focus on computer literacy. 

To that end, Dennis DeBroeck over at Walla Walla High School has formed a highly rigorous computer science program fifteen years in the making. Students in this class are creating visual effects (for videos and film), 3-D modeling, and computer games – and the course is so popular it is going to be offered to other schools as well as a career track. Graduates have been offered numerous college scholarships as well as jobs straight out of high-school working on major motion pictures and for Tier A gaming companies. Impressive. 

Complementing that is CrewSpace at the Walla Walla Public Library – a cutting edge content production facility open to the public. Classes range from podcast creation to full-blown video production, the only limitation being what you bring the table. Again – all facilitating the basis for a creative economy that drives business as well as pleasure. Really neat stuff. 

In the words of David Woolson, who leads the charge at the Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce:

Digital W2 is a Chamber of Commerce initiative created to build the digital media industry and our broader creative economy. Living in a fabulous location and working on a world-class global level is not only possible, it's being done. Being in the middle of nowhere ain't what it used to be.   

Action Item: Ask yourself, what's your digital initiative? If you don't have one, the train is leaving the station and you better hop on. 

Bellingham?  What sayest thou?

Going Deep: Podcasts to Make Your Writing Better

I'm always looking for ways to stay knee deep in it. So I was really pretty stoked to run across this great list of screenwriting podcasts. I suggest you take a listen and bask in the tribal knowledge these guys share. 

http://www.screencraft.org/blog/5-screenwriting-filmmaking-podcasts/

I've only dug into Scriptnotes with John August and Craig Mazin - the site is a treasure trove of info for writers - no matter the medium. If you're even mildly interested in the written - and the long running debate of whether there should be one space or two after a period - then this is the place for you. 

Let's get our game on. 

5 New Years Resolutions You Should Steal

This post originally appeared at Hand Crank Films. Here's to a great 2014.

Every New Year, I make the standard list of resolutions. They often involve exercising more and eating less. But this year more than ever, we're on a search for Quality. And to me, quality means connecting with things and people that resonate, fulfill their purpose, and last.

Here’s a few ways I think we can all add quality to our stories in 2014:

> Find the Romantic Hook: Romance is the deepest connection – the way we find joy in the smallest things. While it’s the most powerful of all the hooks, it’s also often the first to be let go under the grind of the day to day. Don’t let this be buried under the incessant paperwork. Fight hard for it. Don't let it go, above all else. 
> Listen to Better Soundtracks: Every piece of media we consume affects how we feel. Don’t waste much time (other than a few guilty pleasures – New Girl anyone?) on content that doesn't reinforce who you want to be. Instead, find your soundtrack that inspires. Then march to it. 
> Find a Better Cast: Surrounding yourself with people that don’t dream the same way you do is a killer. Cut their scenes as much as possible, and hang with people who want to share the same crazy life you do. That’s the best way to reach new heights. And the most fun. 
> Produce Quality Content: Every email, every tweet, every Facebook post and video, is part of your brand and reflects who you are. Your content is what fills your own personal TV channel, and if you want people to watch, you have to focus on quality. No, it may never be perfect, but it should add value and make people’s lives better. Progress, not perfection. 
> Ignore the Critics: Producing (rather than just consuming) is risky business. You’re going to have to eventually throw stuff out there for people to see. Inevitably, you’ll get feedback that is negative, snarky, and mean. But you’ll also get good feedback. Use it to improve and fuel the engine. The best advice I ever got: Don’t get dragged down by people who never had the guts in the first place.

The Big Questions and the Big Answers do matter. By stealing some of these resolutions, maybe we can all do well and put a ‘dent in the universe’. Be who you are. 

Your thoughts for 2014? Let us know. And check out our new work here.

Photo: On the set of Caleb Young's feature film 'Ghostwoods'. 

Pulling Focus: The Art of the Lens

One of our intrepid Production Managers at Hand Crank Films, Avielle Heath, forwarded me this article about multi-tasking that rang a very familiar bell. Five minutes ago, multi-tasking was all the rage. If you weren't responding to your email, fielding a call, ordering a cappucino and having a conversation with a co-worker while planning your next vacation, you were not working fast enough. Plain and simple. Job postings everywhere made 'multi-tasking' a pre-requisite to success. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to the brass ring. I for one have come to realize that the thing lacking from my work and my life is pretty straight-forward: focus. The ability to dig deep into something and take the time to understand it. To listen. To understand. And then, perhaps, to act. 

The resistance tells us we need a 'to-do' lists a mile long. That we are measured in quantity. That speed is a virtue. That check-marks are our most important asset. I've believed it, and lost many opportunities because of it. And that's too bad. 

ACTION ITEM:  One thing I've tried to do is take some time every Sunday to outline my 'Model Week'. During this outlining process of the Model Week, I mark the 3 big objectives I need to get done in any given day. That may include something as simple as 'Start  :30 Script' on Monday and 'Finish :30 Script on Friday, with all the necessary steps in between. If I get my 3 things done everyday, then the rest is gravy. I try not to rush to look for the next thing I can spit out the door. I try to use the in-between time to understand the job at hand. And, most importantly, to Think Bigger. 

It's tricky stuff to be sure, but try it next time. Living in the weeds makes you think smaller. No exceptions. 

That's the beauty of great film, fine prose, poems that are music. These things pull you into the moment. Grab you. Force you go deep as well as wide. You can live your days like that too. 

And that very well may include a phone stack or three in your future. 

You Can’t Track What You Can’t Measure

There’s an old adage in the marketing game that says “You can’t track what you can’t measure”. Which is a fairly adequate description of success in general: setting milestones, achieving milestones, resetting milestones, and so on. In the age of the NSA, we really are just a collection of data points, and these days it’s easier than ever to track what you’re doing to determine success. In the e-commerce game, there are three real simple metrics:

• Number of visitors to site.
• Percent of visitors who buy.
• Revenue generated.

You can probably tell me a zillion more, but these are foundational.  Your spreadsheet wants to know all of it, but these remain the keys.

Right now, we’re basically zero on all these fronts over at www.brainsarefun.com. Every week, we’ll be posting our income report here, so you can see how, if, and why we grow. The first thing I did today was hook up Google Analytics to this site just to see how it’s bouncing through cyberspace. We did that a while back on www.brainsarefun.com  – and the numbers remain fairly discouraging (about 15 unique visitors a day). Our goal quite simply is to double this within a month and focus on this one metric alone for now.

FYI: to be honest, I’m not a believer of ”You can’t track what you can’t measure”. There are things like happiness and joy – even love – that remain ethereal and magic.Big Data can never fully capture that. But in the e-commerce space – numbers matter.

Throw me a lifeline – give me advice here.

Why This Blog

People have called my father difficult. He has been fired or let go from a few jobs along the way, perhaps the most famous story being when he told a very important VEEP from CITIBANK to ‘ZIP it’ during the middle of a presentation he had prepared weeks for. He was fired soon thereafter.

He has never been afraid to tell people like it is, whether it be his children, his childrens’ wives, his own wives or his best friends. People have cowered, fought back, have laughed at him and with him, but always, always, he is after the truth.

“The Truth?” he would laugh. “Does that even bleeping exist?” Maybe not. The search continues.

So when you take on a quest with my father, you sort of know what you’re getting into. A firefight. A fistfight. Moments of frustration and sincere mayhem. Wondering ‘WTF, Life is too short’ and almost, almost moving on.

But never quite. Because his good side always wins in the end. Which is why I’m on this quest with him. For years, he has banged the drum that ‘education goddamnit just needs to focus on the basics: Teach our kids to read and the rest will follow. The rest will come. Anything else is sheer madness and a waste of the taxpayer’s money!”

That’s why he started www.brainsarefun.com. And because I know a little bit more about the world wide webs than he does, I decided to help him. It’s been a blessing, a curse, a joyride, and an incredibly steep learning curve. Though I’m a pretty good marketer, I don’t have much of a clue about e-commerce – so we take the machete out and chop at the long vines of HTML, shopping carts that won’t work, and PayPal. Plus all that other stuff.

We’re getting there. 

I’ve learned a heck of a lot about all this in just a few short months. Stuff I’m going to share. Thoughts I’m going to ponder. Madness I’ll be sure to dissect.

And oh yeah, one more thing: I love my dad. He’s the best. This is our journey. From zero to wherever, we’re starting now. I’ll keep you Posted.

Throw me a lifeline – give me advice here.

So We Begin

As you can tell right now, this blog sucks. It ain’t shit. It’s horrible.

If I were you, I would run, not walk, over to someone like ChrisBrogan.com or check out anything by Seth Godin. These guys are straight up the best. There, you’ve been adequately forewarned.

Over the course of time though, I can promise you: this blog will kick ass. I am on a keen spiritual quest to add value and quality to your morning cup of coffee or afternoon shot of heroin. But be forewarned again: this blog doesn’t adhere to ‘marketing speak’ or pablum (look it up, bitches) or follow the G rating as set forth by the MPAA. If you are easily offended, then maybe this isn’t the place for you. And yes, I know I’m doing exactly what I tell my kids not to do online: which is to say anything off-color or controversial for fear of sometime not getting ‘the job’ or making ‘the sell’. Oh well.

But that all said, I don’t want to be an asshole, either. I want a good honest conversation and to learn something from you guys. So let me have it. Right between the eyes. For the most part, for example, this blog will discuss e-commerce online and setting up a business. I have SO much to learn in that department. But it will also digress into philosophy, meanderings, and maybe even the occasional photo of my cat juggling skills. Bear with me while I dial it all in.

There you have it. My first blog post on the illustrious ChrisDonaldson.com. More to come. For now: Let’s roll!