Art For Profit’s Sake

There’s been a lack of blog activity lately, and food that I am sorry.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working hard; Art for Profit’s Sake has turned into a bigger time sink than I had expected. With each episode I publish, my efficiency improves- only to be replaced with more work.

I developed a checklist to help me track my progress for each episode:

I am an avid user of checklists, and this helps me make sure I do all of my required tasks after each episode is recorded.

Last week I joined a live Masterclass related to growing your podcast through listener interaction. The hosts that guested on that episode each agreed that their podcasts took off when they started sharing clips on TikTok. I may be late to the party, but for the last two episodes, I’ve exported short clips and turned them into videos. It’s more work but hopefully, it’ll translate to more listens.

This also does double duty of keeping me active on TikTok, which I need to do anyhow.

One struggle I’ve had is tying my Art For Profit’s Sake branding with my Chain Assembly branding. Right now, I have a separate Facebook page but everything else is under Chain Assembly. Is that a bad thing? I don’t know. Are the A4PS TikTok clips going to annoy my Chain Assembly TikTok account followers? I don’t know that either.

Time will tell.

I’m also running ads to increase awareness of the podcast. This is a facebook and IG ad, and it’s the first time I’ve run an awareness ad. It’s strange not looking at clicks as a metric but instead just seeing how many times it appeared on someone’s feed. I’ve put about $96 into it so far and I have seen a bump in listenership, but I can’t tell if it’s because of the TikTok clips or the Facebook Ad. Once that one runs out, I’ll try a Reddit ad. I’ve heard good things.

You can listen to Art For Profit’s Sake wherever you listen to your podcasts or by clicking this link.

The Women’s Wheel

This project has been in development, along with Melissa Elizabeth of The Heart Temple, for the last 6 months, and we’re finally approaching the launch of the Crowdfunding campaign. The amount of work that we have each put into this is immeasurable and I’m really excited to see it come to fruition. The art, the design, the aesthetics- every inch of this is designed to match the deep philosophy that Melissa has developed over her years as a healer.

I entered this partnership with a healthy dose of timidity. I am a very fast worker, and I don’t like having to wait for another person to complete their portion. But I met with Melissa and was blown away not just by her ideas, but more than anything by her work ethic. She has that same hustle and desire to learn that I see in myself. I also was really drawn into the idea of expanding past a tarot deck, past an oracle deck, and making something that worked in a communal setting- full of activities, for more than one person, to allow people to grow and learn together.

For this project, we’re also going to be using the new Crowdfunding feature of BackerKit. I’m nervous about the shift from the familiarity of Kickstarter, but that has been softened by the direct communication I’ve had with BackerKit’s customer service and marketing teams. I truly feel like we’re working with people who also want to see our project succeed.

That being said, we will still need your help. So please hit this link and make sure you have a backerkit account so you can join us on day one.

Cindy’s Jewelry

In May of this year, my mother suffered a massive stroke. She was living alone in Miami at the time and didn’t have any Long Term Care Insurance. Through lots of stress and sleepless nights, I was able to bring her to a St. Petersburg long-term care facility, near me, and get her on Medicaid. Before the stroke incapacitated her, she was known for, among other things, her love for Native American jewelry. To help with her bills, my wife and I have been cataloging, researching, and photographing all of her pieces. Most of these pieces are currently available for sale in the Cindy’s Jewelry section of my Etsy Shop. Don’t worry, we’re keeping her favorites and bring them to her to wear during our visits.

If you or anyone you know is interested in this type of jewelry, please share the listings with them. Each sale is set aside and used for her property taxes, HOA fees, water, and electric, in her Miami home until we can sell it and buy a condo where she can age gracefully in St. Petersburg.