Aug 18, 2010

Generation Huh?

I think it must be the curse of my generation1 that we were promised outlets for our creativity and not given them. God knows why we think we are so entitled, but the curse is evident in the growing number of my friends who have some sort of creative skill, urge or passion, and struggle to find the outlet or audience for it.

Unmarried

Previous generations seem to have been satisfied with THE HOBBY. That’s no good for us. We’re all about THE ART. We demand to earn our living and make our mark as creators. But we are the Peter Pan Generation that doesn’t really dig business, so we’re crap at useful things like self-promotion and networking.

I have friends who are happy with normal jobs. They tend to be the ones who are also married, because marriage is a sign of GIVING UP ON THE DREAM. It’s OK to be with someone for ever, as long as you don’t get married. Because you couldn’t possibly get married until you’ve figured it all out (ie. next year).

So we’re all floating along. We hoped turning 30 might bring a flash of enlightenment. It didn’t. We’ve created a wonderful and free digital world where everyone can have everything and we’ve turned down every opportunity to do things ‘the old way’, because we knew things were going to change.

Revolutionary trinket

And things have changed. Instead of making a trinket for fun, giving it as a gift, being surprised when people want more trinkets, making a few more, maybe setting up a little stall somewhere (always as a hobby – never seriously), selling more, making more and selling more, we think of an idea for a revolutionary trinket design, we register revolutionarytrinket.com, we make a business plan that has a huge question mark by the word FUNDING, we build revolutionarytrinket.com/shop, we set up a hosted Gmail account to deal with the inevitable flood of orders and to streamline team calendaring (there has to be a team), we post a couple of mysterious tweets and we wait.

Nothing happens. We never even get round to making stuff any more. We ignore the voices of THE DRAGONS that float over from the TV: “Malcolm, the best thing you can do is to LET IT GO. This is NOT A BUSINESS, and it will NEVER BE A BUSINESS.” What do they know? They’re old and successful. They didn’t create stuff. They did it the boring way. Little by little. With ice cream trucks and leisure centres and shrink-wrapped toys. What is this? 1982? We’re MAKING ART HERE, PEOPLE. Did you even hear Duncan Banatyne on Desert Island Discs? Worst. Taste. Ever.

What’s the answer?

Crowdsourcing. Crowdfunding. Fundcrowding. Micropatronage. Begging. It’s the new way! It worked for Coming & Crying and, um… there are others. We don’t even need to think about money any more. There are people out there who will just give. We think of a clever name for the second-from-bottom-price-point package2 and throw in a personal appearance (OMG! Seriously? You’ll turn up at my house and actually clamp a trinket to my mantelpiece? For only £599?), and the money will come rolling in.

Or not. I think there’s another way. In fact, I know there is because Xander has already thought of it. He just hasn’t built it yet. And while he’s away directing a play in Edinburgh, Miranda and I had a secret meeting (with tea and Co-op Truly Irresistible Stem Ginger Cookies), and planned it all out. When Xander gets back he’ll tell you all about it. It’s going to be amazing. ;)

  1. those born circa 1980, which puts us (depending whose dates you use) somewhere in the crack between Generations X and Y ↩

  2. ‘Having the various price points is key to effectively monetizing your network.’ — RocketHub Crowdfunding Manifesto ↩

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One Comment, Comment or Ping

  1. Nick Fitzsimons

    Great stuff here, Ben – kinda defines my career path so far :D

    Lots of “what the hell do THEY know?” and full of belief in the opportunities currently and the ones creating themselves before my eyes.

    What your post doesn’t account for is a feeling of responsiblity for your choices & actions – sure, there’re opportunities, there are new media, there is an audience there somewhere. And yes, some people put a sign up and say “Please Buy” and wonder why folks don’t.

    But if they fail to buy, then it’s not the systems fault, it’s the persons – and I think a surprisingly large amount of people are willing to dust themselves off and try again without growing bitter (or worse GETTING MARRIED – although I’ve been married for 7 years and it hasn’t stopped me from continuing :)

    That said, sometimes the best thing you CAN do is let it go…Especially as the path to your dream starts to lead you to a place you’re truly not happy being (e.g. didn’t realize selling that trinket would have you spending the equivalent of 3 months picking-and-packing flyers?) Letting ones dream make one miserable is a common story among the successful.

    But we’re living through a revolution, and expecting new systems to establish themselves before old systems well-and-truly collapse is hubris. Is it all just a matter of patience, persistence and stamina?

    Aug 19th, 2010