Now I am focusing on how to live independently. Although I said that it is necessary to take our focus out of money to live self-reliantly in an earlier article (this article), money is still a problem.
Today, I will talk about a work style that could suit us.
How to create products based on changing moods
Sometimes, we want to create an independent life without worrying about money.
Although independence means reducing social dependence, including reliance on money, we still need a certain amount. We have to solve the problem unless we are completely self-sufficient.
In my opinion, there are two approaches to making money when we head toward independence:
- Create and sell products: the more short-term approach
- Investment (including managing assets): the more long-term approach
To realize early independence, creating and selling products could be a way.
The problem of our mood changes
However, there are two big problems: our mood is easily changeable, and we are not good at selling.
First, our mood frequently changes. We cannot continue to do one thing. It means that it is hard for us to provide one certain kind of product or service, which is the usual working style for many people.
Next, we are not good at selling. We don’t want to disappoint customers or get into trouble. We want to be free from such social stresses.
These unique natures trouble us. That is why we have to apply a different working style that allows for mood changes.
Today, I will introduce one working style. This might help you imagine how to make money, although whether it sells many is another matter.
A style to create products based on mood
One production style I suggest is to make it and release it based on your mood. We solve problems based on our current interests and release them.
The style is like the following:
We are not bound by genre or form. We make and release a variety of things, from small to large. We make neither a plan nor a schedule. We don’t make promises to customers, including the release date and its quality.
In other words, we sell what we create instead of planning and making. We can change the form of our work by mood since we don’t make any commitments to our customers. Even in the middle of creation, we can change the direction when we find a better idea. We can also stop and release it as a finished product even during the creation.
The way to create customers naturally
We provide simple things we can make out of our likes and interests every day or every week for free. We feel they are not worth paying for. They are just for our fun in the short term.
This attracts people who are interested in our activities. In other words, we can create customers naturally.
We sometimes want to focus on one product seriously after experiencing such little things. Our mood changes in the medium term. This is the time to create a product enthusiastically.
This time, we try to be perfect. We sometimes plan but sometimes change flexibly. We also consider the change in our mood in the future. This balances between pursuing perfection and a solid completion in a limited period.
Two approaches to finding product themes
We create it based on our current interests. There are two approaches.
The first is using our current desires. We make things that directly improve our lives. We can release some parts of it.
The other is looking at others’ troubles. Knowing the difficulties of others inspires us. We often want to help others. We imagine their situation, research their troubles objectively, and find a better solution based on our creativity. We sell it to people with similar problems.
They would be the approaches to deciding the theme of the production.
The customer’s perspective
Although deciding by mood looks inconsistent, this becomes a style when we allow mood swings.
From the customer’s perspective, we are attractive creators. They often check out and enjoy our free products. That makes them determined to buy the product once we release it. However, we don’t release regularly. When it comes time to release, it is always sudden. Even with such a nature, they wait with expectation.
Perhaps you know such creators. They are moody but attractive.
Misunderstanding about consistency
Trying to create too much consistency confuses our working style.
For example, I know a person who wrote a blog. He loved the structure of Japanese castles, so he dramatically explained the role of castle parts with his knowledge and imagination, such as where the enemy attacks from or where the defenders establish defense lines. He wrote about them every day energetically.
On the other hand, he had an online store. He also liked cosplay, so he sold his photo collection.
He linked the online store from his blog, but he felt something was wrong.
How to deal with inconsistency
Perhaps you can understand why. It is strange to sell cosplay photos on the castle lover’s blog. It is clearly inconsistent.
There are already potential customers on his blog. However, he didn’t release a product about the castle.
He might have thought such a castle product would not sell. Nobody produced such a thing. On the other hand, there were so many photo collection products of cosplayers. That might have made him sell it.
However, we can make a consistency with two contradictory sides. It is like a pendulum. A pendulum swings and has consistency.
It means we don’t have to merge them by force. He was able to show both on the blog. That would be his unique working style.
Customers look differently
It is like a moon. The moon waxes and wanes. He sometimes could have written about a castle, sometimes about cosplay.
Although it looks chaotic from the perspective of the producer, customers don’t care. Customers see him as a cosplayer who loves castles or a castle lover who also likes cosplay. His fans soon understand his mood swings between castle and cosplay.
In other words, he didn’t need to shine constantly like the sun. Those who seek paths in the night rely on the moon when it is bright. On the other hand, those who want to do fortune-telling rely on the moon when it shows the waning side. For the customer, the moon is the moon. They can accept the moon phases.
Showing our multiple aspects
Perhaps this is why resolving a mental complex often makes our lives better. We can accept both sides and show them. We don’t care if one customer accepts only one side.
However, if we have a mental complex, we want all of ourselves to be accepted. That makes us show only one side and try to be clearly consistent because customers can understand easier.
In other words, we are afraid of being denied one side. This is the cause of stagnation and our exhaustion.
We can put the castle books and the photo books in the same shop. We can show our multiple aspects. Even if they look contradictory, they have consistency, like the moon.
Our fans don’t care about our mood changes. If we understand that, we can make products while following changing moods, although whether they sell many is another matter.
Conclusion
That is one working style for independent survival life.
This allows us to make products while following changing moods, although whether they sell or not is another problem.
This knowledge might help you imagine how to make money.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
