Mar
The 12 Week Challenge
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The thing that I’ve been hinting at for a while now is here and this is what it’s all about…
If you read this blog you’ll probably know that I’ve held a long-standing ambition to be a working, professional illustrator. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and talked about for as long as my wife has known me – we’re teenage sweethearts and have been together for 15+ years now, so that’s a pretty long time.
I’ve had a few goes at it, a few false starts, a few attempts to get it going but for various reasons it’s just never happened (could be something to do with “a creative’s lack of self confidence”?!). But now is the time.
Over a nice hot cup of tea a few weeks ago, we decided that this was it. Actually Lea (my wife decided she’d had enough of me going on about it but never making it and I agreed. And so we both agreed that I would spend the next few months really focusing on getting my illustration career going and that this was my final go at it before giving up that ambition forever (although those were her words, not mine).
And then we decided that if I was finally going to go for it, why not share that journey and that challenge with others…and so, the 12 week challenge was born!
What It Is
The 12 Week Challenge is an opportunity to make amazing progress towards your goal of becoming a full time professional illustrator. But this time you won’t be alone.
Here are a few things we hope to achieve with the 12 Week Challenge:
• Life-changing progress for as many participants as possible
• Community spirit and a collaborative effort to get “there”
• A platform and spotlight for those on the journey with me
Who Can Take Part
Anyone! The 12 Week Challenge is being run across all three of our existing communities at Kinetiva. That includes this community for illustrators at zero2illo, Lea’s community for health & wellness professionals at Vibrapreneur and our joint Location Independent community.
So that means if you’re aiming to become a professional illustrator, a successful health & wellness professional or location independent (or a combination of all 3), why not join us as part of the challenge?
How It’ll Work (I Hope)
This is going to take a bit of co-ordination but what I’m hoping to do is this:
- Set a weekly task for all participants alongside recommended resources & tips
- Round-up participants’ progress on zero2illo each week
- Generate community spirit and encourage interaction and connectivity on each of your sites & blogs, not just on zero2illo.
What that means is that I’ll be setting you a task to complete each week, asking you to feed back to me and let me know how you’re going (so I can feature you on zero2illo) and help & encourage other participants by commenting, following, tweeting and promoting fellow participants’ sites and projects as much as possible.
I’ll be walking you through the steps needed to achieve your goals (for zero2illo, these will largely focus on producing work, putting your portfolio website together and the business aspect & setting up/running your business), sharing our top resources with you and asking leaders in their respective fields to share their top tips with you too. It’s a win-win situation and no-one loses.
What You Need To Do Now
There are a few ways we’ll communicate with you throughout the 12 Week Challenge, so it’s important that you’re signed up or following zero2illo on one of these channels if you want to get all the good stuff:
- The Blog: I’ll be setting the weekly tasks for the aspiring illustrators on zero2illo, so make sure you’re subscribed here so you receive each task.
- The zero2illo Mailing List: I’ll be sharing extra resources & a monthly round-up to subscribers to the newsletter so if you want these, make sure you’re subscribed..
There are a few other things you might like to do too, which include:
- Mark your calendar now for the start of the 12 Week Challenge: Monday, 5th April.
- Tell everyone you know about it, so they can join in too and change their lives.
- Display the 12 Week Challenge badge on your site to show you’re proudly taking part to change your life…
Related posts:
- 12 Week Challenge: Starting As We Mean To Go On
- Week In Review & The Week Ahead 15th-21st June
- Week In Review & The Week Ahead 4th-10th May
- Catch Up & The Week Ahead 8th-14th June
Perfect timing, Jon. I have been stagnating lately and this is just the impetus I need. Count me in.
I’m thinking this is something I need, too. I’m very interested.
This is great timing for me too.
I’ve recently decided to be more seriously committed, and a help along the way for 12 weeks would be brill.
[Playing Devil's advocate here, not to monkey-wrench, but to balance out all the praises.]
Doesn’t “professional” mean you have actual clients who pay you with real money? So in fact, what you’re claiming is that you (and all who participate) will find at least one paying client within this 12-week period. It seems to me that has more to do with effective communication and attitude to potential clients than any particular skill level. Act professional and deliver the goods as promised.
That’s exactly what we’re hoping for Rene (but not necessarily “claiming”).
The ultimate goal of this project is for both me and all participants to get their first paying (with money vs. skill swaps etc.) illustration gig. Obviously I can’t guarantee that this will happen for anyone, but by moving forward with our illustration businesses, putting a stop to the procrastination and working together to support and encourage each other through ‘The 12 Week Challenge’, we will be giving ourselves a better chance of succeeding on all fronts.
The 12 WC is also about more than just getting that first paying client.
Some of the activities will be about how to set up solid foundations for a business which stands the test of time. One of the lessons I’ve learned from working as a professional/freelance graphic designer for the past 3+ years is that you must approach it like a business vs. just being a freelancer. It’s the only way to help overcome the challenge of boom or bust which so many freelancers face - that’s something we’ll be hoping to address as part of the challenge too.
@Andy, @Allan, @Jon - Great to have you on board. Looking forward to working together over the weeks to reach our goals
Count me in. I have been working on t-shirt illustrations. Been printed once. Second time coming up in April. This will help I think. Thanks.
Cool, great to have you joining us.
Congrats on the t-shirt printings - just been looking through your designs, lovely stuff (especially like the ‘Shadow Pidgeon’, ‘Lacy Heart’ and ‘Tigerrr’).
Count me in. This is definitely something I need.
Excellent Jill - feeling really positive about the great feedback so far and looking forward to some real success stories at the end of the 12 weeks
Great to have you with us.
This is a great idea, Jonathan. I wish you, and all who participate, the best of luck. What a great way to grow as an artist and a creative professional.
Thomas
Hello hello, Oooh how awesome is this!! It sounds like an adventure and I would love to join ^_^!
Let’s get creative
I’m ready too! Brilliant Idea!
I think I’ll slice up the illustration blog that I have completely designed and start it up. This is a great idea.
@ TJ @ Kamil @Chad Great to have you here - look forward to all making progress together
In the immortal words of Dr. Peter Venkmann, “I love this idea! I’m excited to be a part of it! Let’s do it!!!”
This is a brilliant idea Jon. You’ve just given the illustration community a collective kick in the butt. I look forward to being a part of it.