Some strategy and plans to out-produce the economic crap and crazy.
We’re all under the crushing load of the shortages and rampant inflation. Our margin between income and outgo is getting far too narrow for comfort.
It seems that the best answer is to out-produce what is going on. There are a number of actions we will take to do this.
First: Upgrade website.
Multiple blog posts need to be written and posted. This 365 Blog or Vlog thread needs to be caught up. Multiple Vlog posts need to be shot, edited, and posted.
Paid subscriber section needs to be developed. Value-added content needs to be created and links made to Amazon Publishing. Some paid content will also be posted to a Patreon account that needs to be created.
Second: Video plans
Many more videos need to be shot, edited and posted. Most videos will be short – 5 to 10 mins in final form. The plan here is to use the framework of the different categories of the website, rather than a weekly rambling forty minute video.
Projects and videos will have links to affiliate products, as well as personal products.
Full tutorial videos will be shot that have PDF content of plans, schematics, parts lists, affiliate links. The “quick version” will be freely available, but the full versions will be part of the Patreon perks / paid content.
Third: Video workflow steps include:
Study camera instruction manual
Study Premiere Pro instructional videos
Use existing video as practice material
Edit existing video
Post existing videos
Shoot new video on a regular basis
Have partner supply original music tracks for backgrounds without fear of copyright strikes.
Shoot / Edit / Post / Repeat
Set up posting schedule to match day of the week with website category.
There are six categories, so one day a week will be able to be used for any bonus videos.
Forth: Publishing workflow
My plan for the full tutorials will include written instructions, schematics, equipment lists, etc. These will be posted to my Amazon Publishing account so they will be available for purchase individually, as well as being available as Patreon perks.
The process includes:
Research
Trial and error
Adjustment
Recording results
Write instructions
Create PDFs
Full video of process, explaining how we get the result we want.
Still shots of needed details
Any edit and reshoots needed
Background music needs to be subtle or absent
Fifth: Projects and Products:
I have an Amazon Handmade account. I need to create quite a few items and go through the steps of:
Creating
Listing
Packaging
Shipping to Amazon
Promotion to get them sold.
I have ideas running through my head like a platoon of sugar-crazed toddlers. Some ideas will probably be more successful than others. Time investment on some will make them less economically viable than others.
Supplies and equipment have been collected for many of these products.
Wood burned projects – Coasters, drop spindles, additions to treasure boxes.
Treasure boxes / book boxes. Sculpted, embellished and painted. Cats, roses, dragons will be the main themes.
Drop Spindles – These will be in a variety of types and materials. Some will be all wood, others may include clay and sculptured elements.
Yarn bowls – Sculptured and embellished. Some will include mosaic decoration, others simply sculptured from cold porcelain.
Small looms – These will be primarily bead looms, but can also be used for tablet weaving / tape weaving. When we get the wood shop put together, I plan to add inkle looms and triangle looms
Other projects will be added as inspiration strikes.
Homestead Projects
Turning a worn out forty year old single wide mobile home into a working home and homestead is not a project for the faint of heart.
We’ll be shooting video and posting the history of our progress. We were discussing our progress this morning. Rahn admitted that he thought the progress should have been quicker and more complete by now. He also admitted that the progress has been substantial.
The most recent progress has been getting a larger air conditioner to keep the central section of the house at a reasonable temperature. With outdoor temps hitting 105F, and indoor in the central part of the house nearly as high, something had to be done.
Window units in the bedrooms and my Homestead Office were keeping those spaces cool, but the living room, dining area and kitchen were not going to be handled by the lower BTU rating of window units.
We took advantage of our local pawn shops willingness to keep things on layaway for us, and the much below retail prices available. We put a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner on layawy last winter at about half of normal retail. We picked it up a few days ago, and Rahn got it set up. It is also a heater, dehumidifier and fan.
We do have the wood stove installed, and have a good amount of wood cut and stacked. While much of it does need to get split, the electric wood splitter we also got from the pawn shop will make that a much easier chore than swinging a splitting maul.
The Homestead Office needs to be completed. Interior wiring, insulation, paneling, finish flooring, and an exterior porch all need to be added.
I’ll be putting together a solar generator to take much of the energy needs of the Office off the grid electric. The plan is to put together a 2 kilowatt inverter and battery bank. Initially, the batteries will be charged with grid electric, with a small generator as backup. When the budget allows, solar panels will be added.
We have a second 2 kilowatt inverter, and the plan for it is to take the chest freezer and second refrigerator off grid electric with another set of batteries and solar panels.
The power outage and deep freeze of February 2021 had some sharp lessons for us. We plan to be much more prepared and responsible for our own safety.
The next post will concern farm projects and progress.