schedule

Promote Your Heart Out (Importance of Marketing)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

May the 1st be with you, dear readers.

And also with you timotheories. Go forceful and multiply.

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Thank you my friends! It’s that time of day, day of the week, and day of the month when I share with you this month’s plan, and of course, give you some theories to whittle away at. Are you ready to see the schedule?

Of course you are!

It might seem like this is turning into old hat – I give you the schedule, and because you know how each day’s theme plays out, you should expect to get your share of film, music, visual art and theories about the arts. Maybe some wisdom too, if you’re up for it.

But hold up a second, because you know what? Well, actually I don’t need to go into hypotheticals.

You already know that I am doing much more then simply giving you content each week. timotheories is also about sharing with you the important components to be successful as a creative type in today’s mix of social intelligence, online media, and globalization. You know in your heart, because you can’t have heart without art, that consistency of character is integral to a successful blog/portfolio/gallery/channel. And as it relates to the bigger picture, that who you are defines what you do.

When we look at this concept through the lenses to business, an incredibly important facet of artistry, we call this character a brand.

So if you’ve been playing real close attention these past few months of 2016 you’ll know that I haven’t been releasing “monthly schedule” posts on Sundays nor on the first of the month. Sundays are the day I share theory with you, when I release interviews, Cross Talk episodes, and also important updates to the timotheories brand.

Today isn’t going to be about the schedule. No, today is about marketing.

Because marketing is how you develop your brand. If brand houses the vehicle, than marketing is the set of vehicles that you CAN use to get from A to B. You might not need every vehicle, but they all can help.

Which is why I want to share with you some basics of marketing and how to ensure that you develop your professional relationships and connect your art to the people who should be seeing it. Which will help with your brand. And interestingly enough, I’m going to be taking this ride right along with you.

You see dear readers, I haven’t fully realized my brand yet either, but I know how to get there, because I’ve got a map. Courtesy of articles like this one.

The truth about marketing your particular brand is that you spend a large part on prep. You have to know your audience which means exposing yourself to the experts and learning from them as best you can. And fortunately enough, there are countless gurus out there that can provide you with information about syndication, professionalism, image, and your plan. And maybe other pieces.

  1. Starting with your business plan (summary of your business, your strengths, your weaknesses, goals, competition, and what makes your business unique) and memorizing it is probably the most important.
  2. Following it up with a regular schedule of promotion or syndication (sharing on social media, participating in events and communities, and collaborating with other experts.
  3. Setting up your image online and in person so you look and sound the same everywhere. That means logos, mailing lists, introductory videos and landing pages. You name it, it needs to match your image.
  4. Professionalism is similar to image, but what it really means the is that the authentic voice everywhere is consistent with who you are and puts your best business foot forward.
  5. … well let’s not get ahead of ourselves

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I’m sure you have questions about this process, but one thing is for sure, the future is not set, and I’ll be there with you as we fight the good fight. I know you have good art to share, and I want to help you share it. Marketing is key, so promote your heart out.

And those are all of the theories I’ve got today friends. I’ll see you tomorrow with something melodic. But you already knew that.

Tim!

Dealing With Time (Lucas Chaisson Interview Preview)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

We’ve all been there.

Making plans and hoping that we’ll follow through on them, and then blaming any number of reasons for why we don’t live up to our self-imposed expectations.

Obviously there has been research conducted that proves the reasons for our big fails after the new year, but no one really talks about it for too long, then we settle back into our routines, start talking about our favourite shows, and complain about people and our environment – effectively victims of time.

What it really comes down to is a matter of starting small and focusing on things which will spread outward into all aspects of your life, you can only change one step at a time, not in giant leaps. If I want to have a successful business, I need to look at the details, and get good at them one at a time, and before I know it, I’ve constructed a symbiotic relationship with my vision and my life.

For instance, this year I’ve decided to create my own weekly planner, but I’ve incorporated components to ensure that I am effectively managing my money. Because I have so many personal goals, and because running timotheories isn’t without cost, I need to plan my week(s) and stick to a budget.

That way I am hitting several key goals at once – coming up with posts, committing to my movie watching plan, planning for game night and date night, and slotting time for the adminstrativa of timotheories (marketing, editing, networking).

Here is a screenshot of my schedule, for reference.

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I kid you not, because of this one small change in my planning, I’ve been particularly good at keeping up with my promises this year. Maybe the haters will say that this success is because it’s only been a month and the promises I’ve made haven’t blown up in my face yet, but I also think it has to do with the fact that I’m keeping it simple. By adding little notes to a schedule, I set reminders for myself, so that Future Tim has an easier time.

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I also think that because I’m focusing on a behaviour rather than a result, I don’t have the problem of letting myself down, because this is now part of my process and who I am. If I think about it in relation to my body it becomes even clearer – I can modify parts of myself (exercise, diet), but my body is never done or complete, it is constantly changing. By changing my frame of mind and my environment, my lifestyle can grow, flourish, and take over the old.

And the last thing I need to do is forget that my body, mind, and soul all work together in conjunction.

Which is why I’m excited to give you a taste of the first timotheories interview of the year! This gentleman produced and released an album last year titled Telling Time, and I had the good fortune to speak with him about his record and his thoughts on the concept of time.

Below is a clip from our interview!

I’m incredibly excited to bring this Lucas Chaisson interview to the table and you will see the final result next week, but for now, enjoy our brief interlude and the rest of your Sunday. And maybe if you can see time in a different way, you’ll begin the process of living your dreams, rather than setting goals.

And those are all of the theories I have for today, dear readers! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I’ll see you tomorrow for a neat music review.

Tim!

Piecing It Together (The Watch List redux)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

For serious, it’s Sunday evening already? Man, time flies when you are having fun cleaning up the administrative mess left over from the previous year.

I’ve spent the better part of the weekend filing away emails, pictures, receipts and all manner of boring stuff that I only need occasionally, but regret it when it isn’t handy.

But that’s not what we’re here for today. Nope!

On the previous Timely Thursday entry I wrote about one of my major goals for 2016 – tackling The Watch List with more veracity. The reason for this venture is so that I can begin to share some thoughts and research on human behaviour and how we can learn a lot about what motivates us. My theory is that this is perfectly possible to do by participating in pop culture and it’s often more formal sister, the arts. And if we marry the sciences and arts together, we are better for it.

When I last left off, I had just outlined the guts of my movie diet for the year. But now I need to spell out my regimen for you. How I plan on doing this is threefold.

  1. Watch new movies as they come out in the theatre or are given a home release.
  2. Watch movies I have added to my collection during my bulk shopping routines (black friday, boxing day, store closeouts, discount bins, flea markets, etc.)
  3. Watch movies that are on the top rated lists of IMDB, ensuring I hit at least the top 10% or 25 movies of each genre

Point number one is pretty straight forward – I buy 1 new movie each week on a Monday, and review it before posting about it the following week. I also give you guys a heads up on my instagram if you want to know what’s coming. (@timotheories)

Point number two is also fairly straightforward. I currently have 88 movies to watch. Most of them were from Black Friday and Boxing Day of 2015, but roughly 10 of the movies were runoff from the previous shopping efforts of 2014. That means if I want to stay ahead of myself, I need to get those movies opened and enjoyed before November 25th 2016. Or to put it another way, in 44 weeks.

Point number three is where it gets interesting. I currenty have 951 movies on my list which I have not watched. It used to be at 1109, but my efforts between 2014 (142 watched movies) and 2014 (15 watched movies, sadly) bridged the gap somewhat.

This is why I said The Watch List would take a few years to complete – I knew when I first shared this project with you at the end of 2014 that I had been powering through movies, without any real schedule or rhythm. It would be impossible to keep up that rate without discipline, because while most of these movies are critically acclaimed, some of them are boring as shit, and even I get bored watching movies over and over without anything else going on.

Without going into too much detail, my 2014 was pretty subdued and movie watching was the highlight of that year.

So let’s talk numbers now!

If I keep up with my expectations of watching one movie a week for a review, and want to get through all of my bulk purchases before 2015 Black Friday, I need to watch two of those a week as well at the minimum.

If I am being completely unrealistic, I would need to tackle 18 Watch List movies a week to get through them all this year. I know that is unrealistic because if each movie is roughly 2 hours that 18 movie watch time is equivalent to a 40 hour work week. And let’s be honest, I have to work my day job, sleep, write blog posts, watch 3 other movies, and do other things like video editing, game night, reading, and attend local events to stay on top of my other timotheories goals.

So I’ve decided that I am going to commit to watching at least 1 movie from The Watch List a week, and I’ll try to squeeze in extra movies when I can. The challenge of course is whether Netflix and the public library have the catalogue I need, so I may be buying some of these films in my bulk purchases later in the year, which will allow for some cross-functional categories.

You see, dear readers, I have this theory, that if I stick to this schedule, I can get through this list and provide you with the content you need, curating it as I go, of course.

What do you think, is my list too crazy? If I only cross off 52 movies this year, I still have 900 to go. At this rate, I’ll complete it in 18 years. Welll, my hope is that I will start binge watching them on the weekends, and that I will bulk buy new movies less often as time goes on.

Please leave me some comments, encouragement, criticism, whatever! See you tomorrow for a music review!

Tim!