state of the projects
~ 6 minutes to read
Okay, here we go.
A state of the union for the projects that I want to prioritize but haven't been prioritizing (for whatever reason). Plus some kind of plan to get back to prioritizing them, pls, thanks.
To be answered for each project:
- What is the project
- Why do I want to work on this thing
- What is it's current status
- What's the next goal
- What needs to be done to reach that goal
- What's blocking me + how to address it
- A plan
Project #1: Impulse Bye
- What is the project
- A FlutterFlow app for spending more mindfully.
- Why do I want to work on this thing
- Because I personally want to be more intentional with how I spend my money, because it is a very timely topic and need and I think lots of people would benefit from using it.
- What is it's current status
- It's technically launched as an MVP! Available on the Apple App store and in closed testing on Google Play (although I'm working on registering as a business to bypass the need for closed testing). Also! It has one subscriber! Someone I don't know! Which is WILD, and also affirming.
- What's the next goal
- I want to add two features before I start marketing it and soliciting feedback from a broader audience: 1) Apple and Google sign in options 2) anonymous sign in option 3) okay and also maybe add an in-app way to give feedback somehow
- What needs to be done to reach that goal
- I need to sit my ass down and work on it. If I had to estimate it, I think it'd probably be an 8-10 hour feature, if only because I think I need to test it on real devices (or an emulator) which tends to take more time/effort.
- What's blocking me + how to address it
- Competing priorities. But also, I am feeling resistance to sitting down and working on it. The kind of resistance that comes up after I haven't touched a project in a while; a little bit of guilt and also feeling unfamiliar? I think it can be overcome by just sitting down and sitting with that feeling until it's passed. Or sometimes realigning myself with why I want to build this helps.
- A plan
- This week is already spoken for, but I will allocate next Monday to working on this. I think to force myself to work on it more this next month, I'm going to cancel my FlutterFlow subscription. That way I have a deadline to get things finished and deployed, and when it expires, I can switch into gathering feedback and marketing mode.
Project #2: SJ's Screen
- What is the project
- My YouTube channel where I share about building apps and other on-screen things
- Why do I want to work on this thing
- Honestly, my primary goal with a YouTube channel is that I think it could be a nice way to have passive income. Obviously it takes a lot to get to the point where it is passive, but the time will pass anyway, so why not? Secondarily, I do find it to be a fun way to express myself. I think specifically with recording my screen, idk, it feels a little playful, a little intimate (in a non-creepy way). It's low effort enough to not feel overwhelming, but still has a lot of room to play around. I also think it's valuable to share the process of building! I love helping people and making videos like the one I made about the different query strings makes me feel helpful.
- What is it's current status
- Very untouched. Lol. I last updated it 7 months ago (October!), and it currently has 31 watched hours and 24 subscribers. I think the last couple of videos I uploaded were to submit Impulse Bye to RevenueCat's Hackathon.
- What's the next goal
- Ideally, it would be to get back to posting regularly (I think for a month-ish or two I was posting weekly?).
- What needs to be done to reach that goal
- Recording something. Editing that recording. And publishing it! Sounds so easy. I suppose it really starts with settling on an idea. Of course, I could stay focused on Impulse Bye and record my working towards getting Apple and Google sign in working. I think I'm still trying to figure out what style I like? I wanted to test out like a weekly vlog-esque style where I check in through out the week. But I don't know if screen-recording lends itself well to that. I think a list of ideas for videos would be helpful - standalone videos that I could record if I don't do the weekly vlog that week. And a schedule? Or nah? I don't think they help a lot, but it also does help to have a goal of when.
- What's blocking me + how to address it
- Dedicating the time. Maybe I decouple the video recording from Impulse Bye? It feels like a lot of pressure for one thing. I would be down to make a few videos about BearBlog. I could even record a bunch and then schedule them out to make things a little easier? (Oh no, the urge came up to make another blog where I can script and plan videos... why not do that here? IDK IDK IDK TABLE IT FOR LATER PLEASE) Agh, back to the problem of how to dedicate time... make it fun, make it quick, make it easy. Let go of the want for perfection, be happy with good enough. Let's try to record a little bit each day? or every other day (aim for 5 clips?). But like, not just "here's what I did", but rather, "here's something I want to show you" and then show them. Show, don't tell, ya know?
- A plan
- Okay! A plan! I will make a list of standalone videos I could make + some bearblog ideas. Then each week I will assess: do I have it in me to make a weekly vlog? Or do I pull from that other list? I think a visual doc that outlines the process would be helpful, too. A high level overview/breakdown just to help me stay clear on the steps. I think I can do these two things (brainstorm + make steps documentation) on Friday. (Yes, I realize I said this week is booked, but that's easy/fun work that I can do during a break soooo)
Project #3: Painted books/zines
- What is the project
- A year? ago, I had this idea that I wanted to paint the pages inside a book, so it would essentially be like a picture book, only painted and also abstract. The original idea (which may be revisited later) was for a regular sized paperback type of size. But now, I think I'm pivoting to painted zines. Same vibe, but much more easily approachable.
- Why do I want to work on this thing
- Because I think it sounds fun. Honestly, mostly just that! I also just think it's something I haven't really seen before, or if I have not a lot. I'd love to offer that to other people: a little world of painting that they can hold and get lost in like they would a book.
- What is it's current status
- I have one bigger book that is unfinished. I think I painted maybe half of it? As for the zines, I made one prototype, but it was weird because I used clear acetate paper, which is a cool idea I might revisit later, but I think for now I want to stick to regular paper.
- What's the next goal
- Well! Pocky and Zines is coming up at the end of the month, and I'm tabling at it, so I would love to have maybe a dozen or so painted zines to sell.
- What needs to be done to reach that goal
- Some more experimentation on how to make them: what paper, what fold, what's the visual vibe?
- What's blocking me + how to address it
- Ooh, my studio being used as a closet. I can clean my table off fairly easy, so I'll do that and get some surface area back. I think that's a big blocker, and then other smaller one is again, just not dedicating the time. So to do that, I just need to pick a day I guess.
- A plan
- Okay, next week I will clean my studio and do a few more prototypes. I'm just realizing I really only have two weeks, so, yeah. Will have to plan out next week more in detail soon.
Dang. If you read all that... thanks? But also, why? But also, welcome to the way my mind works? It was pretty helpful to type that all out, and I'm hopeful this next week and this next month will see me working on these projects more. No promises about updates, I think my approach with this blog is you get what you get. I guess now I'll add the tasks from here to my todo list and maybe even add them to my calendar?
- Written: 07-14 May, 2025
- Published: 15 May, 2025
- Last updated: 3Â months, 2Â weeks ago
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