I am currently flat broke. On Christmas Eve.
Or in Japanese, FURATTO BROKKU!
I spent my last $1.72 on bread and gas.
$0 is not good in any language.
Not to mention $4000+ in credit card debt. On top of school loans. Aaand back taxes now that I think about it.
Life can be a kick in the balls sometimes.
But I spent the entire summer blowing through all my savings (and retirement fund) like a madman! As soon as I moved out of my parent’s place, I GAVE UP ART, chased women, bought a motorcycle, and took up boxing!
Now I know I can:
- Live well on my own
- Get laid
- Ride clutch
- Take a hit (and give one too!)
I had planned to chill out and do odd jobs for the next couple of years until I had my fill of fooling around. But now in the Wintertime, I’m like the grasshopper who spent all his time fucking people and boozing instead of stacking bread like the ant.
Oh well.
Am I worried? Nah.
Should I be? I wish I was! It’d make more sense.
But I’ve seen rock bottom, and this ain’t even close. Next to that, this is a minor inconvenience.
Broke-ness is really just a state of mind.
I tend to put myself in extreme circumstances which teach me the most.
My last desperate cash grab idea before going fully broke was a personal loan.
The thought of that idea in my back pocket filled me with relief for weeks as I barreled towards poverty. It’s such a quick and easy process, too! I didn’t even need to leave my home. The money would just come to my account in hours. Problem solved. Right?
But that’s how they get ya.
My credit didn’t even have to be that good. So borrowing $6000 would’ve been no big deal right? I’d just pay it back as soon as I made money from my art.
But here’s the catch.
The loan repayment would begin 45 days after disbursement, then I’d be paying $250 per month for three years until I paid back all $9000 I borrowed.
Wait, $9000?!
And that’s when I understood what APR meant. -_-
That, and the little APR Nen beast from Hunter x Hunter.
So my back-pocket idea was a no-go.
And now I had 2 problems.
- I had grown accustomed to the life of pure freedom I was living.
- I was roommates with my best friend playing videogames all day
- Chasing girls around, getting laid.
- Buying a motorcycle on a whim and joyriding.
- Life truly felt like some kind of early 2000s college movie.
- I refused to go back to a day job forever. And I still do.
I wandered around day after day, my retirement savings dwindling to nothing, unable to stop the impending ZERO and unwilling to get a “regular job”. I was praying, meditating, and waiting for an answer. Either that, or wishing for something to come and save me!
Then one day, the answer hit me! I could DRAW for a living.
Yeah. Surprised me too.
It had been sitting right in front of my face the whole time.
I went to school for it, I’d been drawing for decades, so the answer should’ve been obvious right?
So I decided to create a Zine to get back into it. A mini-book of drawings using my Air-Rider characters and centered around the 90s & Y2k theme.
An illustration every day in December, until January when I’d sell the whole thing online, and make $30,000, have rent paid and continue my life of complete debauchery.
But so far, the idea is more of a catalyst than anything. It’s galvanized all the resources within me towards creating things again. I gave myself no choice and backed myself into a corner, just to see what I would do. And now I’ve come back to my life’s greatest obsession.
To MASTER STORYTELLING.
I must now bring forth the ideas that flash into my mind on the edge of my consciousness. And I don’t really see a better use of my time than attempting this goal with my whole ass.
I tend not to half-ass most things.
I don’t see comics as “COMICS, or FUNNY BOOKS” I see them as portals into other worlds which can pull you in and engage you. Storytellers are merely your guides to these other realms, picking which characters to focus on, which ones are doing the most interesting things, and the ones with the deepest personal lives. We’re really just telling you what we saw in the best way we can translate it.
My soul has been reignited. I’ve always wanted to make money creating, and I believe that money is just a reflection of how much I’ve entertained you. That’s always how I’ve bought my favorite books.
I’m paraphrasing, but as genius businessman and writer of The Millionaire Fastlane, MJ Demarco put it:
To make money, you must create more than you consume.
Out of everything I read in that book, that ONE idea has stuck with me until now.
Create more than you consume.
Now that I’m in a position where my only choices are debt slavery, or creating my own job,
I magically get it all of a sudden!
I wouldn’t have understood it earlier when I had money and bitches. But now I can focus. Had I jumped into some job to catch myself before landing at $0.00, I’d be more miserable than ever, and my creativity would remain dulled, and locked in a schedule between 8hr shifts, Youtube, and video games for distraction.
Now my senses are sharpened to a pinpoint. Focused on creating enough value someone would actually pay for.
As much as I want to galavant around the world with my riches, now is not the time. But I can’t think of a better way to get there, than by enriching the lives of others with my art.
I get to start from ZERO. I get to begin anew. I get to learn how money actually works, and make more of it than I ever thought possible.
I was originally just going to draw a zine, post some sketches everyday, run a quick kickstarter, sell some books, then bounce.
But instead, I’m following marketers on Twitter, Indie comics creators, Russell Brunson, engaging with artists daily, got my email list up and running, and I’m currently creating more issues of my comic Air-Rider. I’ve got Youtube ideas, post ideas, and all of them are gathering at an accelerated rate. All I had to remember is that I am a Creator.
And so are YOU.
I spent decades developing my skills to the level they’re at now, only to realize I’ve finally made it to the BASE of the mountain.
Time to start climbing!