So this is is a week late, pardon the delay I’m trying my best to catch up…
The title doesn’t fit quite right but it does explain this post quite well. I am writing this after SXSW and cleaning had been a chore. Time to take a break and download everything thing into a small boiled down post for my sanity and work inspiration you (the reader) and myself.
First off the 3 biggest things I learned:
1. Building a community and doing social good allows your company to sustain itself even through the recession we are going through right now. Things are looking better only because we are looking at home to do things rather than spending the money on something else. Take the DIY movement right now, I’ve started getting back into building things for my craft more than I have spending money on the big things around me. We are all giving a little more to those less fortunate around us only because we know that will come back one day to us when we are a little less fortunate.
2. Bootstrapping your business is better in the long run than getting money from a venture or angel investor. We can get the quick money now but a flame that is hot and fast as we all know can’t sustain itself for very long. There are those examples for both that do have the ability to. The majority of the time, however; don’t have the ability to sustain themselves for very long with large capitol creating large returns. A flame that is stoked and carefully watched over can grow and grow and grow and can run for a very long time. Eventually like the flame your business will take care of itself. Yes, you’ll still have to run it but less is needed to run as you move forward.
3. Finally, concentrate on doing things for your own and start working on small projects on your own time and get those done. As you do those sharpen your skills and you get to learn how to problem solve. We all have the same ability blog, take pictures, video or even code. The thing that makes us each valuable is the ability to problem solve and work things differently. Make your self the one thing that no one else has, you. (Thank you to @makecoolshit for this advice)
On to the rest of the Film and Interactive parts of the week;
for those of you who come here from my twitter feed please know that this is more of a personal blog and yes I do rant on and on but do understand I am a person who believes in transparency on things I do. In an age of everything being on the internet it is very hard to have everything split apart as it should be.
The interactive festival was well worth the price of admission alone and I do have every intention of going again next year. It will be hopefully the last year I will have during a week of spring break. I am planning for a May 2011 graduation. I only hold one contention and that is all the best panels were at the same time of another interesting panel and that they were all towards the end. The few beginning ones left me with a wondering of weather I was paying for taking classes that I am already enrolled in for my graduate degree.
As the second day rolled around it became apparent that, in fact no, they weren’t. The panels were an in depth discussion I am lacking from the over populated classroom I sit in where there are too many students and too few professors available for a discussion at this moment. I wonder if I have made the right choice often for my degree. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be where I was today if I weren’t there I wouldn’t have the thoughts of interactivity on a level past the general population.
I wish I could take some of the panelists and put them in to a less bureaucratic environment that @academicdave champions over and over again. The more I think lately the more self taught people I know and realize the only reason I go to a school to learn is sheer motivation. I can either self motivated and learn everything on my own, of which I try my best to keep on trends and learn, or learn through an antiquated environment something new.
The films were good from what i heard, I only saw the one, Tony. The movie was one that gave hope to the film makers who were told they were crazy and told not to even try such a risky way of telling a simple story. There is no true end to the story, life just goes on just like we march forward and a chapter of our life closes and we open a new one weather it be a mile stone or some or a change of career or a change in life.
That is all I have for now so I close with Later Days,
P.S. Pictures from the week are available on my Flickr SXSW Set.
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insomnia and all that jazz... 