The Complete Creative

Today I talk about something that's taboo even for me, and I don't think anything is taboo. I talk about the massive depression I've been feeling recently, even in the face of overwhelming success. It's something that entrepreneurs face all the time, and nobody talks about because we're just supposed to talk about the good time. I don't roll like that. I love talking about the bad times, and the weird times, and exactly what I'm feeling right now. That's what these little episodes are all about. Because I think that's what helps people. I think that's where real value is, in being straight forward. So yeah, I've been feeling massively depressed recently. A couple of rungs above I can't get out of bed. It only in talking about it that I get out of my own head. I've never been depressed before, not really. I've been thoroughly bummed out a lot in my life, but this is different somehow. I trey to understand in on this episode. Why it's happening. Why now that I'm finally having success am I in such a bad head space. So I hope this help, even if it's just one of you.

Five days left until the Kickstarter is over, and we're working toward wrapping up the season. That means after this there's only a wrap-up show left next Friday! Oh no! 

Also Yay, because this Kickstarter has taken a lot out of me, especially in the last few days. There's one thing I know for sure, and it's that the audience we built over the last year has been instrumental in making this book a reality. 

And if you want to make your project a success you need to start building an audience now!

Today we talked to John Dover, who a fantastic professional trumpet player and writer. We talked to him about his origins in music, in working sales to build his business chops, and in expanding his brand into writing. You can check his out at www.johnnyscotchjustice.com. Enjoy the show.

We did another live event! This time at Long Beach Comic Expo! We had a great time at the show, and I came back with the froggiest of throats. However, I muscled through to show you exactly why live events are so important, and I talked to a bunch of amazing creators. Don Walker is the creator of Agent Wild and Reaper Corps, and he is the man when it comes to Kickstarter. You can find him on twitter @dork_empire_ink and at dorkempireink.com. Kyle Roberts is a great artist. Art teacher by day, creator by night. This dude knows art! He is an artist on Kill Trent Science Sleuth with is a public domain character reimagined with new creators. It had two successful Kickstarter projects. He's also the creator of The Dark Hours, a horror western limited series. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @kyleroberts_art. Joenell Luma is an artist and had one of my favorite marketing gimmicks at the con. He wore an apron and welding mask the whole day. I loved it. Also, his art was fantastic which always helped. He created a cute little animal called the Unicoon, which loves to cosplay. You can find him on instagram @the_zen_lu and on twitter @unicoonsarereal. William O'Neill is an official Star Wars artist, who came up with a brilliant idea to sell his art. He took pages from old Star Wars books and drew Characters in those pages, and then framed them. I've never seen anything like it. You can find him online at gentlemannerd.com and on twitter @gentlemannerd42. He also loves cosplaying as Riker from Star Trek: TNG. DJ Kirkbride writesThe Bigger Bang for IDW and Amelia Cole for MonkeyBrain, along with co-edited Popgun, You can find him on twitter @djkirkbride or djkirkbride.com Joelle Sellner has written tons of everything from animation to live action to comics. She's written on sorority Eva through LionsForge, Ben 10, Sonic

Boom, The Avengers and more. You can find her on twitter @whereisjoelle and online @writtenbyjoelle.com

This week, my friends, the fatigue set in. I usually run 30ish day campaigns, but this one was 40 days. I was told by multiple people to do the longest campaign possible, so I tried it. As one person, I do not recommend it. I mean we had to do it, because we'll be at LBCE this weekend, as well as at two conventions next weekend, The GLAWs digital conference and Pasadena Comic and Toy Show. We HAD to have the Kickstarter live for both of those. However, we have so much going on these days. We have the launch of Katrina Hates the Dead at LBCE, the launch of the Gherkin Boy paperback to plan for Wonder-con, along with Kickstarter University's continued launch (and official launch later this month). We also offically announced our new chidren's book I Can't Stop Tooting: A Love Story, coming to Kickstarter on April 5th. You can head to www.cantstoptooting.com to check it out. It's a lot to manage, and I'm only one person, but I know one thing. If I'm fatigued so is the audience. We're going to do one more final week push, push it hard at the live shows, and then we'll be done. I can't wait for the wrap up.

It's a question we get asked all the time. Are we profitable? And since we just finished our taxes this is a great time to tackle it.Sometimes I think people ask too much, but I'm glad people are talking about it, so on the other hand I'm flattered. I mean it's a valid question. We are a small press. We put out a lot of books, so are we? Unfortunately, both for us and for whomever asked, it's not just a simple yes no question. There's a lot of ins, outs, and what have yous. So I tackle both the simple answer to the question, and the much more complex answer. On top of that, I flip it back to YOU and tell you how you can use everything I've learned to help you, and what it means for your career.

Today we talked to Cat Ranson about living in New Zealand, in a small town, and still making a living as an artist. I think this is fascinating as somebody that living in Los Angeles and has access to much more opportunity on the surface. We talked to Cat a lot about that, but also about devaluing yourself as an artist, creating a brand, and kickstarter...my favorite topic. You can check out Cat on facebook @ Cat Ranson or Deviant Art @ Sunktokeca.Also, don't forget to check out our Kickstarter for My Father Didn't Kill Himself. If you want more info about Kickstarter, head to www.kickstarteruniversity.com and check out our courses. Or if you want some cool comics, check out www.wannabepress.com

This week...honestly not much happened with the Kickstarter. We've been really trying to focus on what works and cut out what doesn't work. You'll be surprised what doesn't work for us, even though it worked well on the last two campaigns we ran. Additionally, we talk about how important it is to just have focus, because if you know what works you can drive all your attention to it. Don't forget to check out Kickstarter University, Wannabe Press, and My Father Didn't Kill Himself live on Kickstarter Now.

Today is the soft official launch of Kickstarter University, a project I've been working on since late last year. It's a big one, our biggest launch to date, and I have big plans. However, I am today filled with dread, so I take to the air to talk about it, about KU, about why we did it, and about why I'm filled with fear today instead of excitement.

I loved this episode. Les has been working as a professional artist since 1992, and he's seen everything. He's been and still is a comic book artist, 3d modeler, storyboard artist and more. He's been punched in the gut by this business more times than he can count, and come out stronger on the other side. Les owns sixus1media (www.sixus1media.com) and came on to talk about all the awesome work he does, and how hard it is to run a business in the arts. He really gets down to it, talking about how important having a partner is, and how we need to balance idealism with realism. All of the stuff he talks about in this episode can be found on his site www.sixus1media.com. Enjoy.