MegaFishbein is a collection of lessons, life-hacks, and lifestyle: A journey of a creative hell-bent on perfecting his process.
Pathologically curious and never satisfied with the "norms".
There’s just something about working with your hands.
Especially when you’ve been too long working with your fingers.
When day in day out you’ve been tip tapping away on screens and keyboards, it is a soulfully welcome departure to do a bit of carpentry or construction (or destruction for that matter).
Hammers and saws and sanders and stain. I’ll be damned if I ever go desking again.
I met (name) yesterday.
Fluting around on the NW side.
He passed by and I said “Hey, that’s beautiful.”
He said “Thanks.”
It was only after he walked around the corner at the end of the block that I’d remembered a little snippet from Rick Rubin’s interview on the Broken Record Podcast: “Yea, I’ve just been really wanting to soothe people with my instrumental music, so these days I often go to the park and flute around.”
Goodness, that was (name) that just walked by…
I hacked the sucker.
I broke him wide open.
Put the screws to the mammajamma.
Or rather, removed the screws from the mammajamma, did some wigglin’ and a snippin’ and then screwed the screws back in the sucker.
Apologies for the abstraction. I am illustrating my morning battle with my Keurig coffee maker, and the resultant hack I was forced (nay, willingly embarked upon) to correct its character and insubordinate behavior.
But first, why was I battling with the caffeine machine?
There they were, gold-glittered and gay.
The bass thumped and the mass of dancers throbbed and pulsed along with the rhythm.
At the same time the whiz of a hundred coasting bicycle gears ripped through air behind me.
Today the mountain was alive with hedonism.
During my latest snowbird road trip to Portland, OR to escape the summer heat of Phoenix, AZ, I met a man.
This man lived in a van.
I had just driven my car through a redwood at Drive-Thru Tree Park (aptly named) and had parked to relieve myself and stretch my legs. As I moseyed into the meadow, I noticed a man and two dogs walking towards me back to the lot.
He noticed my noticing and nodded a salutation.
I nodded back, “Beautiful beasts you’ve got there.”
“Wanna meet ‘em?” He called back.
The 2nd espresso hits the bottom of your belly like Molotov, exploding fire into your spirit and whipping energy up your spine.
“I’m ready!”
But ready for what?
“Ready to give my gift to the world, of course!”
But which gift? And more importantly, which world?
To whom shall you bequeath your first fruits?
Choose carefully, for this is how you build your life…
Total autonomy.
Yea, that’s we want. No one to tell us what to do. Ever.
No one setting a bar or a deadline, no one telling us when to start and stop work, no one dangling a paycheck in front of our noses like a carrot on a stick beckoning the cart-pulling donkey ever forward yet forever out of reach.
“I wanna be my own boss!” we say. “I wanna set my own schedule! I wanna call my own shots! I wanna be free!”
Mmmm, a delicious series of sentiments. What a drag it truly is that this fabled “bosslessness” doesn’t exist…
Your money or your life?
You may think the answer is clear, but take an honest look at your life. Most of us, yours truly included, choose our money. As I write, on April 24th 2021, it really does seem like something is in the water…
Let us know if this sounds familiar: You dropped out of Art School, partnered with your best buddy and fellow creative renegade, and set out to build your very own lean and scrappy agency structure. You threw yourself into the market, dazzled prospects with fresh ideas and an edgy attitude, and quickly acquired a small book of clients. Both you and your renegade partner burn the midnight oil grinding out graphics, strategizing social campaigns and cutting video ‘till your eyes bleed.
Some of you know my story.
For those who don't, I'm a pathologically risk-averse, hyper-calculated, bootstrapper.
And I don't have much reason to depart from this approach; I've built two self-supporting businesses over the last 6 years without loans, outside (or inside) financial investments, and without missing a single paycheck each time I transitioned from day job to biz owner.
But, here's the thing…
