Project Mongoose: Phase 2 Complete!
November 12 marked the end of Phase Two of Project Mongoose!
I’m still not quite where I want to be with Project Mongoose.
But! I’m not going to let it get me down or put me in a position where I cannot meet my goals. I just need to adapt and adjust.
Let’s start with the good stuff first!
Commissions
Phase Two Goal: 4 Commissions
Phase Two Output: 4 Commissions
Though this is less than last week, they were more detailed than some of the other commissions I was able to finish in Phase One. Two took over 15 hours of total work, bringing my total commission work time up to over 50 hours over the past 2 weeks.
I’m glad that I’ve been blogging about this process because I was able to look back today to see how I was able to improve on my goals and processes. I did much better with commission time management in Phase 2 than in Phase 1 and I think that will only continue to improve. The two pink bullet points under the what worked section represent goals that I set for myself for Phase 2 when I finished Phase 1 so that I could do better.
What Worked:
Chunking sketching, inking, and coloring together.
Streaming the work on Twitch to avoid decreasing Twitch streams
Maintaining communication with commissioners with upcoming works (holding myself accountable)
Letting commissioners know that I was streaming their work on Twitch. Most seem to enjoy this.
Giving myself Wednesday off. I found myself better able to complete commissions on Thursday and Friday as a result.
Starting the commission waiting list I planned to start in Phase 1.
Not overworking myself on commissions so that I can make time for other projects, too.
What Didn’t:
Pre-sketching commissions for Phase 3 remained incomplete - but only by a small margin.
What I’m Doing Differently in Phase 3:
Sharing the sketches with commissioners earlier for approval.
Scaling back how much is drawn live on Twitch to allow for other Twitch goodies.
I’m very pleased with how this portion of Project Mongoose went. I did not over-commit my time and I was able to get done what I needed to get done.
Emotes Progress Update
Emotes are still lagging behind. However, like in Phase 1, I believe that I can catch up with emotes easily on the back end of Project Mongoose. That being said, I have decided to make crucial adjustments in Phase 3 to the plan so that I am not stressed, can still meet goals, and can make sure that I have time to actually let people know these emotes exist (which is a major problem right now).
Emote Phase Two Goal: 10 emotes
Emote Phase Two Output: 6 emotes (60%)
What Worked:
Listening to class lectures and drawing emotes at the same time.
Putting emote drawing on my to-do list when I find opportunities for it.
Working in 10 minute windows on emotes when I’m not listening to lectures.
Planning out what emotes I’ll be doing next. I now have a better roadmap.
Planning for the Chainsawman Emote Request stream on Friday, November 18.
What Didn’t:
I did not do a Twitch emote stream in Phase 2 because of my schedule with exams.
Not having my templates better formatted.
Trying to draw emotes on Wednesday. I need Wednesdays off. I took it off. It worked better.
What I’m doing differently in Phase Three:
Made a permanent To-Do list and ordered it from Cat Print. It has emote goals listed daily.
Fixing emote templates.
More emote request streams
Creating and launching emote commission promotions for social media and Twitch
Product Development
Studying is still a major disruptor in completing products. It’s a major problem.
Product Development Phase Two Goal: Order new merch based on manufacturer sales and design sketches for it.
Product Development Phase Two Output: Nothing.
What Worked:
Nothing.
What Didn’t:
Overestimating available time for product development amidst a third round of exams.
What I’m doing differently in Phase Three:
Clearing out all reading and assignments for school ahead of Phase Four, which will leave 2 hours per day for study and allow over 4 hours per day back into my schedule for product development until I’m caught up.
As a part of the static to-do list, Product Development as well as Game Over are on the list, which means that I will have to identify at least 1 hour of work for each going forward. This will ensure that, even in busy times, something, anything, is being done.
On the positive side of things, there haven’t been any major sales through my manufacturers that would have warranted placing new orders. This means that I’ve mostly been watching for sales on existing merch for reorders and will better be able to clear out the backlog.
I’m most disappointed that I probably will not have the pillows ordered for December’s arts markets.
Emotes in Online Shop
In phase one, I tanked this goal. In phase two, I didn’t do much better.
Phase Two Goal: 10 emotes in online shop
Phase Two Output: None
What Worked:
I did finish updating the licensing permissions for emotes and was able to send them to my attorney for revisions and approval.
What Didn’t Work:
My chunking plans from Phase 2. They never made it onto my daily calendar. I wrote these down and then forgot about them when I went to plan my weeks.
What I’m doing differently in Phase 3:
Chunking the goal into three parts:
Writing a template page for emote listings to apply to all future listings (Monday)
Updating emote download terms (Tuesday)
Sizing all remaining emotes (Thursday)
Zipping all the emotes into files (Thursday)
Devoting one day per week to uploading as many emotes as possible in 1 hour. This will give me an understanding of what my output could be and how to budget time.
Very disappointed that I didn’t make this happen in Phase 2. Most of it was because I had so much studying to do for exams and a large amount of assignments due the day of an exam that I could not even access until two days prior. This really messed up my time commitments. It won’t be happening in future semesters. I will not be taking as many classes.
Other Stuff I’ve Been Doing Well or Need to Improve
The kitchen is a mess. My art studio is getting cluttered again. The laundry is piling up.
This is all very, very stressful.
I also learned that the 3 minute ad breaks on Twitch are not reliable in staving off pre-roll advertisements. I’ve had to switch to another model. It’s much harder to manage and I’m trying to figure out what to do about that.
Arts Markets have been rough and take a huge toll on me. I’m also skeptical about a lot of markets in the area after I did one that seemed to be affiliated with an event but, it turns out that they weren’t and were actually 2 blocks away. So that’s frustrating. I’ve had to cancel some of my markets with them as a result and that has disrupted my ability to earn.
Arts Markets are not something I want to do much of going forward. I am physically unable to reliably do them and, it seems like, because I’m “young” and look “capable”, that others assume that I am physically capable of doing what others can. I’m not. I’m somewhere between “able” and “disabled”. I still walk with a cane from time to time. Lifting heavy weights and trying to set up a tent (which is heavy and too tall for a shortcake like me) is taxing on my ankle. It simply cannot handle that type of work every weekend. Additionally, I was suffering from heat exhaustion every weekend through the summer and early fall. Now, it’s cold again, and I’m having asthma issues from that. These just aren’t viable.
I was also disappointed that the Japanese shrine charms I ordered arrived with printing errors that were not a part of the proof. Vograce wasn’t able to really help me fix this. So, now I’m fixing them myself, which is time consuming. I’m glad they gave me some money off of my next order though.
I haven’t maintained the blog well either. Or YouTube. I see that being resolved after classes end in December. I have, however, been making shorter posts.
In Phase One, I identified 7 areas that I wanted to improve on, so I feel it important to answer to my progress on those as well.
No new product listings online.
No change
Did speak with a mentor about creating better listings and promotions, so I feel like I have more direction on what to do now. Before, it all felt a little aimless.
Not creating promos for streams early enough
I’ve started doing “weekly” promos that show streams and markets, new merch
Have been tweeting more frequently
Have been talking about what’s coming up while streaming
Wrapping streams on time
Did better with this. Went over a few times, but still got things done.
Need to take Wednesdays off
Still have not actually done this due to school and work
Making this a priority going forward. I’m too burnt out.
More on YouTube
Still on hold. Have been replying to comments when I can.
Arts Markets cause significant fatigue and time sink.
Reduced number of markets for December.
Focusing on booking conventions for early 2023.
Portfolio Disaster
Mostly fixed.
Would like to find a mentor on this.
Had to prioritize this unexpectedly because of convention applications
I still think Project Mongoose is effective. However, whenever there are major school or life commitments, I find that my productivity tanks. I need to do a better job with time management and setting expectations to prevent that from happening.
On to Phase Three!!!
