Mimi's Newsletter - A Holiday & A Big Audit (Patreon)

Hello everyone 🌷

I hope you're all doing well! I've been a busy bee since I last checked in a few weeks ago so I have lots to catch you up on.

Sydney & Vietnam

I left Brisbane at the end of March and spent a few days in Sydney just to visit, and while I was there I popped in to the Colourful Minds Market hosted by my art friend Annelise (@emotionalsupportbuddies) and her mum Nicole which was really lovely. There were so many talented artists there and I had this tiny custom portrait of Dan and I made by @pencilcritter and I looove it.

I had a picture book due at the end of March so I spent some of my time there finishing the final illustrations for it, and then I flew to Vietnam!

I feel like I've had lots of small pockets of time off lately, but always for things that I can't control (like sickness, cyclones etc), but I took off the whole first week of April just to take an actual holiday and explore some of Vietnam on a bus tour.

A group of us travelled from Hanoi to Hoi An, and now I'm staying in Da Nang for a little while to spend some time making art by the beach. It felt like a proper rest to take a full week completely away from the computer and just be able to soak in the sights of Vietnam.

There are so many beautiful landscapes and scenes in Vietnam - and of course lots of lanterns! I'm definitely going to drawing some illustrations soon inspired by all of the lovely things that I've seen here.

A big audit

Now that I'm back at my computer, I've been doing an audit of my business to see what's working for me and what isn't. I mentioned in the last newsletter that Dan is doing his own trip hiking in North America, so now that I'm on my own for a while it felt like a good opportunity to reassess what I spend my time on and how I run things.

I really love what I do and I'm so grateful every day that I get to make art and content for a job, but now that I've been building this business for 5 years I think I need to change a few things to keep it sustainable.

I feel burnt out more often than not, and it's mostly from the video content. Video has always been the hardest thing for me to make - it's just the biggest process and takes the most energy - but I love having the outcome of sharing what I do in videos, and they're one of the most valuable parts of my business.

But, I think I realise now that I can't sustain making so many videos if that's not the part that I love. It also makes it really difficult to take more than a week off at any one time because I need to create so much content ahead of time that it almost isn't worth it.

So, I wrote down what's working and what isn't to make a new plan.

What is working for me right now in my business:

I'm enjoying making written content (like blog posts)

Making art & tutorials

Prioritising SEO so that I don't need to create so much new content

Taking proper breaks away from the computer (not just a day here or there, but a full week or more)

What's not working for me right now:

Making regular YouTube videos

Relying on sponsorships for income (because then I have to make videos)

Always needing to film/document my art making process for content

Maintaining too many platforms

Feeling switched on all the time, never taking long breaks away from everything

So. With all that being said, I have a new plan.

To allow myself longer breaks and to avoid burnout, I'm going to try two things: reducing my video output to about one YouTube video a month (plus the Patreon tutorial video which are simpler to make), and then I'm going to trial working in 'blocks' or 'seasons'.

If I can reduce my workload by enough, then I can more easily make content ahead of time which will allow me to take more time off. So I'll work for a block of time, get lots of things made, and then take a longer break - knowing that all of the content for that break is already made and scheduled.

The way that I've been working isn't sustainable for me anymore, so something needs to change, and I think that this new plan will allow me to take proper, restful time away and then have more energy when I'm back at work.

I'll still be making art when I'm having time off, but only when I want to and I won't feel the pressure to be making content about it in the moment.

The risk with this new plan is that my income will drop because I'll be posting less on YouTube, but since I've firmly established now that it wasn't sustainable anyway, I don't think I really have anything to lose in trying a new system.

If you're interested in seeing more of an insight into the business side of things, I'm going to trial making quarterly reports for my business and share them to the Beautiful Bluebell tier, with information like where my revenue came from, what my plans are, what's working or isn't working etc, so stay tuned for the first one this month 😊

Let's see how it goes! I'll be working now until mid-May (next to the beach!), and then taking four weeks off to explore more of SE Asia 👏✨

💖