A 2016 Publish-Mortem: three Questions All Artists Ought to Ask Themselves

#1: What the Hell simply occurred?

Simply kidding. However probably not, as a result of I might spend this whole article working that one out with you. In case you’ve spent 5 minutes on Twitter within the final 12 months, you’ve in all probability scrolled previous a couple of “go away, 2016” tweets. I feel it’s secure to say that 2016 will go down as one of many least-loved years within the 21st century for a lot too many causes.

In case you’re like me, you’re greater than able to get up on New Years Day and take the deepest breath you’ve had in 365 days. No, the 12 months can’t be undone, however the welcoming of 2017 is usually a probability to let the previous be the previous, and to welcome a clear slate.

Shifting into the brand new 12 months, it’s time to set intentions to your work as a creator for the upcoming 12 months. To take action, let’s begin along with your “why.” Why create? Why make extra issues this 12 months? I’ve an concept. As an artist, your work has by no means been extra essential than it’s immediately. Individuals flip to you to specific the issues they really feel however can’t put into existence, via phrases, songs, work, or comics. Whether or not you make a comedy podcast, online game evaluations, acoustic music, or make-up tutorials, your viewers seems to you to maintain doing it. So when you concentrate on your “why,” I hope you keep in mind this.

Okay, transferring away from the candy second we’re having to inform you about one thing the Patreon groups do when closing 1 / 4, undertaking, or experiment: a autopsy assembly. You could be confused at why we do these conferences, as a result of Vocabulary.com tells us that autopsy means “after dying” and is a “medical examination of a useless physique to find out how the individual died.” Morbid, however essential.

Publish-mortem conferences at Patreon are fairly completely different. In response to Shopify, a autopsy assembly is “an open discussion board that’s run on the conclusion of a undertaking, the place you your staff, and your shoppers can establish and analyze all features associated to the undertaking’s lifecycle.” In different phrases, it’s an intentional assembly to look again, debrief, and establish wins and losses of a undertaking or time interval… creepily like an “after dying” examination, however not for an individual (fortunately).

The advertising and marketing staff has post-mortems on the conclusion of each quarter. We get collectively to reply three essential questions (I’ll get there). To me, it all the time looks like we’re wrapping up and placing a bow on the quarter, strolling away with an understanding of how the quarter affected what we’ll do transferring ahead.

Operating a autopsy makes a ton of sense inside a enterprise — you have to know what labored and what didn’t so our errors and wins steer our ship within the right instructions — however I might argue that they’re equally essential for artists.

Content material creators and artists like you’re operating your personal companies. You make decisions that both work properly to your shoppers (your customers, viewers, followers, patrons, and many others.) or don’t, and also you extract learnings from these choices just by taking a better look.

So whilst you’re saying goodbye to 2016 and making your sport plan for the brand new 12 months, run a autopsy assembly with your self (and your assistant, editors, shoppers, and many others). Whip out your pen & paper, laptop computer, crayons, calligraphy pen, or any artistic weapon of alternative. The utensil doesn’t matter, however the brainpower does, as you’ll be marching via these three questions.

Right here we go! Listing out all the things that went best for you and your artistic enterprise this 12 months. Nothing is just too small or too massive so as to add to the checklist.

Did you get pleasure from working with Pleasure, your freelancer? Did you triple your social following? Did you modify your ideation section to Tuesday mornings as an alternative of Tuesday afternoons, and the creativity was off the charts? Did you begin a weblog collection on politics that boosted shares by 10%? Did you begin stretching earlier than portray, enabling you to color for 1 hour longer daily? Did you fireplace your assistant who all the time missed deadlines, then discover the proper alternative? Did you collaborate with one other Youtuber with twice the subscribers, and it elevated yours? Did you collaborate with one other Youtuber with half the subscribers, and had extra feedback in your video than ever earlier than? Did you launch on Patreon? Did you reorganize your workflow so you’ll be able to catch afternoon daylight to play soccer along with your daughter? Did you spend money on new pens that elevated the standard of your work?

As you’ll be able to see, nothing is just too small or too massive so as to add to this checklist. It’s best to stroll away from this portion considering “Wow, so many issues went proper this 12 months, and I can’t wait to repeat and enhance on these within the coming 12 months.”

Possibly you’re an optimist, so answering query 1 was a breeze however query 2 is inconceivable. Or possibly you’re a pessimist, and also you couldn’t wait to get to this half. Hopefully, you’re a stability of each, possibly even a realist, so you’ll be able to perceive that some issues go properly, and a few issues positively don’t.

What didn’t go properly? Start the checklist, and keep trustworthy with your self all through it; it wouldn’t have been a profitable 12 months if there weren’t errors and failures alongside your artistic journey. Bear in mind, nothing is just too massive or too small.

Did you exit on a limb to speak political beliefs throughout your stitching podcast, and lose a piece of listeners? Did you cease releasing one thing each week? Did you signal a nasty contract? Did you promote a chunk for too little (or an excessive amount of)? Did you miss a serious deadline with a consumer? Did you not fulfill a promise you made to your viewers? Did you are taking a break from Instagram, the place most of your followers are? Did you spend an excessive amount of time on a aspect undertaking and never sufficient in your important gig? Did you outgrow your studio? (Congrats, by the way in which.) Did you allow your guitar in your Jeep and somebody smashed the window in and took it? Did you disappoint your self? Did you miss your greatest targets? Did you begin making issues that your viewers likes, however that you simply don’t? Did you not get the earnings you have to survive as an artist? Did you burn a bridge with one other creator as a result of they acquired the deal you wished?

Phew, joyful that’s over. In case you do that portion proper, you’ll in all probability really feel like taking a break out of your studio. BUT, don’t. Understanding what didn’t go properly all year long will assist you to make knowledgeable choices for the approaching 12 months, which leads me completely to…

Now that you’ve got an inventory of your wins and losses of 2016, let’s take these learnings and look to the longer term. What do you need to do in another way? What ought to you do in another way?

Are there tasks, workflows, or kinds of labor that you simply need to strive in 2017? Are you working with a staff, however spending an excessive amount of time managing and never sufficient time creating? Are you itching to launch that new artistic endeavor? Are you wanting to chill it with the aspect tasks and observe via on creating and posting smaller issues extra typically? Do you need to change the pricing of your work? What do you have to do in another way?

Initially, congratulations. Critically. Selecting aside a 12 months of exhausting work to search out the triumphs and holes may be each exhilarating and exhausting, however essential both manner.

So, what do you do now? It’d really feel like you could have a extremely bizarre checklist of 2016 notes. However the info in entrance of you is full and utter gold. In entrance of you, you see a years’ price of labor — learnings, disasters, challenges, missed alternatives, goals, and extra.

Don’t let this info go to waste. Why dig deep into the success of your artwork, rejoice the wins and anguish over the losses, to not do something priceless with it? Schedule a follow-up assembly with your self quickly after (possibly a day or two later, so all the things is high of thoughts) to show these insights into motion gadgets, like a battle plan for 2017. This step is totally vital to a autopsy, as a result of it’s the entire level of doing one.

In case you’re misplaced with the place to start out, Shopify recommends rolling via these three questions:

1. What do I completely must do?
2. What can I do about it now?
3. What ought to I do about it quickly?

These questions will assist you to prioritize your motion gadgets when it comes to each significance and urgency, as an alternative of knocking out the straightforward/fast issues first.

I hope creating your 2017 battle plan is a tremendous, reflective expertise. I hope it evokes you to belief your self as an artist, and to belief how impactful your work is and may be in a time the place individuals deeply want inspiration.
After you employ this framework to your autopsy and battle plan, please let me know the way it went within the feedback! I might love to listen to your learnings and what you’re most enthusiastic about tackling in 2017.