What Did I Learn From “Losing” an Entire Day of Filming
There’s more to starting an art and teaching career than just doing art. I’m finding the setting up workflows and systems to be some of the hardest aspects of this journey. Here’s the story of how I thought I’d lost an entire day’s work of filming (over half a dozen video files), and what it taught me.
Being a solopreneur involves a lot of learning
I’ve been doing embroidery and textile work since I was 5, but it took me almost 40 years to decide to turn those skills and passion into a career. Now, if it was just a matter of making beautiful artwork and informative courses and then sitting back and letting the money roll in, I’d have a successful career in no time. But of course it’s not. There are so many skills I’m still developing and, as a one-woman show, I’m having to figure it out by myself. There are lots of resources for me to access, but I’m on my own in figuring out how to work it into my business. One of those skills is creating a workflow that I can stick to without my butterfly brain flittering around.
I’ve been focusing mostly on my video courses, at the moment. I love teaching and have been teaching textile crafts for over a decade, but the video production aspect of it is still new to me. I get a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out camera angles and lighting and editing. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with it and I spent the last 2 weeks of my boys’ school year batch filming all the parts of my upcoming pin loom course. I also edited a few of the videos, so that I have a clearer idea of how I want the clips to fit together, and therefore how I should film them to achieve that end.
Once I’d finished filming, I decided to take a few weeks break from the project and focus on having summer fun with my kids
When I eventually sat down to edit the next video, I couldn’t find the files! They weren’t in the folder I’d set up for this production, or any of the other course folders I had going on my computer. I checked my YouTube folder in case I’d accidentally uploaded them there, but nothing. I was distraught! A whole day’s work would have to be redone; disheartening in itself, but much more difficult with my kids home all day, since my home studio does not have a door or any semblance of privacy or separation. I resigned to waiting for the start of the school year to refilm everything and posted on social media that my course launch would be delayed.
This morning, I sat down at my computer to make a plan for reshoots, and decided to take one last stab at looking for the files. I started at the beginning and looked through every file and subfile on my business drive, even files that had nothing to do with film production. The third file I came to was titled “Camera Uploads.” I could have kicked myself up and down the street! Some time at the beginning of this endeavour, I had been smart enough to create a dedicated folder where I could dump my camera’s SD card to be sorted later. But after weeks of feeling overwhelmed by learning film production as I went, I had forgotten about it when I came time to actually put the files in their places (also in that file were clips I had filmed for an upcoming YouTube video). I’m thrilled to have found the files and not have to redo all my work, but disappointed in myself for making such a silly mistake and needlessly delaying my course launch.
Since this part of my career journey is all about learning, what did I learn from this?
Recognize overwhelm: I had too much going on at the time (producing my first course, dealing with kids’ end of school year needs, thinking ahead to family summer activities to come) and my cluttered brain couldn’t see what was right in front of it. I need to recognize when I need to clear my mind and not get brain cluttered (any tips are appreciated!)
Workflows need repetition: designating an upload folder for quickly dumping my SD card was actually a good idea, but I hadn’t worked with it frequently enough to develop a routine around using it. I’m kind of obsessed with creating the perfect workflow, but no workflow can work if I don’t work it. Continuing to develop (and use) my systems will greatly improve my ability to get stuff done
Give myself grace: as upset and, frankly, embarrassed as I am over this, I can’t undo the past, I can only move forward. I’m happy that I will be able to go ahead with editing and have the course published this year (so I can immediately start on the next one!)
This has definitely been an experience I hope not to repeat, but I’m sure I’ll have some entirely different SNAFU in the future. Being a solopreneur is a unique challenge but one that will be worth it.
If you’re interested in seeing what I was panicked about, you can get the course, Weave a Quick and Easy Lavender Sachet, on my course page.