Interviewing I had an interview today. One for a job I’d really like to get. I did reasonably, but, man, it’s been a minute since I last interviewed. There were a couple of things I focused on that I really wish I hadn’t, and one or two things I could’ve put more emphasis on. The first is that I really am excited by the opportunity! Working for this particular group, even in a correspondence role instead of a creative role would be a great opportunity.

I haven’t even announced my availability, or put out a portfolio or demo reel, but somebody reached out to me with a potential job offer! They want a one and a half to two minute animated product visualization commercial. Likely they reached out to me because the prices for even a small professional shop to do this would be prohibitive. I like that they were realistic about the time-frame, and realize that I’d be using pre-built assets for nearly everything except their product itself.

The Garage Office I recently moved my desk, computer, and everything I need out to the detached garage to be my office. I setup some cheap lights and a green screen for my streaming experiment. I have a few things I still need to do: Instead of WiFi extenders, I just bought a 200 foot Ethernet cable and ran it out to the garage. I need to get some plastic guides to attach it to the wall instead of just having it run along the floor, then I need to get some stakes to guide it along the edge of the yard.

This year has to be about money. The last year has been a nice learning sabbatical, but now I need to focus on getting a revenue stream going. I have other goals, but I think this one has to be foremost. On my mind: Money Putting the house on the market in April of 2024 Moving to Portugal Learning Portuguese Making sure I understand the Visa situation This includes visiting without ruining getting a freelancer and/or digital nomad visa Health Insurance Whatever intricacies are involved in renting or buying a flat Tons of stuff I’m sure I haven’t investigates Weight, and health I purchased more Huel Now I have to drink it instead of my 4 Ego Waffle 2 Egg breakfast I have to cut back on evening snacks in front of the TV No Pepperidge Farm Cookies No Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars No chips, Doritos, or any other super high calorie snacks If I have to have snacks, fruits, or some veggies, could replace them I’m 315 pounds.

One thing I have difficulty with is focusing. I want to do schlocky science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. I’d like to do a “Kids Next Door” or “Scooby Do” like cartoon. I want to move to Portugal, and learn Portuguese. I want to learn to play my keyboard, and my guitar. I want to speak better and to sing. I want to learn to dance, lose weight, earn money, want, want, want.

I want to make, at a minimum, $30,000 a year freelancing. I intend to make a lot of that money doing my own animations and movies. Content. Content is the key. I’m not going to have a Pixar level of quality, but can I, a single creator, animate one full 30 minute episode of something a month? Even just doing the animations are going to be a challenge. I also need music and voice acting.

I have a challenging, and exciting year ahead of me. My goals? Generate at least $30,000 of revenue a year through remote work. More is always better, but that’s the least I want to make. If possible I’d like to make it by producing 15-30 minute videos, posted to YouTube, and maybe supplemented by Patreon, and/or T-Shirts, Toys, Post Cards, or other channel related stuff. Get my weight down. I’d like to see 220, but 250 may be more attainable from 315 pounds.

I never figured out how to live, despite the good examples of my parents. My father was an adventurer. My mom was a hard working mother who juggled her career, kids, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and full on construction on whatever house she was living in. Their spouses were both good examples in their own way. Dad’s wife is a consummate professional type designer, and mom’s husband is a hard working man who dedicated himself to his spouse, and we kids.

Edit: 2023-05-29 If you want a walk through, instead of a reference guide, I’d start with Hugo’s Quick Start. Then I’d reference its External Learning Resources. This page has web based, video based, and book based resources for Hugo walk throughs. These references more than make up for any criticism I had on Hugo’s documentation pages and are where I should have started. I found Hugo’s Quick Start page concise and easy to use.