This Is the End
An artist's experience at a market research conference and insights on pursuing one's passion.
Hey! I was at a market research and insights conference 2 weeks ago. I was invited to give a keynote presentation and to “create a booth.” It was a lot of fun. I even won the award for best exhibitor. I wrote about it on my website. A lot of conversations I had with people started something like, “What are you doing here?” They wanted to know why me, an artist, was sitting in a market research exhibition hall. They sometimes even asked me what I was hoping to get out of it. Sometimes people didn’t even speak to me. They just looked at me quizzically. And then, when they couldn’t process how I fitted in, moved on. Those that did stop to chat got free art and stickers. I told them about my art, asked them questions, and heard interesting stories. Hopefully, I made their days a little less business-oriented, and slightly more fun.
But it got me thinking. Not many people get to do what they love all day, every day. I did that for 3 days in a row. No emails. No iPad even. I doodled and painted, chatted, and ate good food. All in a beautiful old venue in Amsterdam. This was me doing what I love. Whereas, most people I chatted to were there as a means to an end. It was a stepping stone to something else—getting what they wanted, attracting more business, learning how to do what they do better. So, in hindsight, when people asked me why I was there, I should’ve said, “Because this is what I love to do. This is the point. This is where I’ve always wanted to get to. This is what I want to do when I retire. This is THE END in and of itself.” I don’t know if that would make sense to everyone. I don’t think many people know what they want, or where the end is. But if you do know where your end is, spend as much time doing it, even before you “get there”, as possible. If it’s only 10 minutes a week, so be it.
I’m working on 2 big things right now (not 12 like I’ve done in the past): my NFT class and my LIMINA NFT project.
But I have done some small things in-between these big projects:
I wrote a post on why being a part-time artist is beneficial. Since, I now consider myself a part-time artist. Even though I’m still 100% self-employed.
Added the Mantanani Coral Reef vinyl sticker project I did for Cloud Gallery and Essential Glasses, earlier this year, to my website.
Added the booth I created, during the conference I talk about above, to my website.
I have an NFT, that I created live at the conference I went to, that you can see on a map and view using AR. You can mint one for roughly $5. A friend, from the ThirdWeb Learn cohort I was part of earlier this year, is behind the project. The blockchain it’s minting on is Polygon if you care to know.
❤️ Big loves
Rich from TapTapKaboom