Another Excuse Newsletter

Welcome back to the Another Excuse Newsletter. It isn’t just another excuse, but a reason to start that thing you’ve been putting off.

What to expect this week:
👓Perspective - What is Art?
🔨 Tool - Bubble
🍿Consume - Derek Sivers Wisdom
📖Concept - Seller Financing

Perspective

What is art?

When I say art, what comes to mind?

Usually, it’s the big names. Picasso, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, the names that we associate with museums. Then, when we think about it for a while, we’ll add sculptures, dance, music, poetry, and a few others to that group.

Do we stop there?

The definition of art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. That’s a pretty straightforward definition.

The question is, can NFTs and AI art be called “art?”

I know most people would be very quick to say no; it isn’t art. It’s made by a computer, so how could it be? But hear me out for a second.

When photography was invented and for most of the 19th century, many didn’t consider it art. These days, I think most people think it is, or a form of it.

Without going too far into the weeds, NFTs and AI art have many facets to them. To paint both industries with a big “no-art brush” is harsh. And most people don’t understand what it takes to create these pieces of work.

For example, generative art (a form of NFT) is code that results in an image. Yes, the computer technically created the final product, but hours of learned skill, imagination and trial and error by a human go into it beforehand.

If you want to see what goes into creating a generative art piece, check out Tyler Hobbs’ project QQL. You can create your own artwork by changing certain parameters. They’ve created an interface for the code to help you understand how it works.

AI is slightly different.

It takes a lot of work to learn prompt engineering and creativity to create images that connect with people. But these tools are learning what we like and creating more of it. For now, it fits the definition, but this could change soon.

The point is, there’s more to it than a digital image. A lot of human skill and creativity goes into it.

Art is a feeling, and the definition is merely a guideline.

Keyboard warriors will debate this forever, but the question is, is it valuable to you? You could argue that more people value good art because the artist connects with a wider audience, and that’s the skill.

If you disagree, respond to this email. Would love to hear your opinion.

Tool

Bubble

No-Code is a term used for applications that don’t require coding knowledge, but give you the freedom to create things as if you could code.

Some popular no-code tools include Notion, Zapier, Airtable and even website builders like Squarespace. Each one allows you to build a flow, application or page that used to only be possible with coding knowledge.

What is Bubble?

Bubble is a no-code platform that enables you to build apps without prior knowledge. They have an extensive library of learning materials to get you going and templates to help you start your web app journey.

Creating an app in Bubble helps you understand how an app works and what elements we need to get it up and running. It’s great to build out an MVP to acquire funding for your new business idea.

An app is made up of three elements:

1. Design: this is the look and feel of your app (UX). Bubble’s customizable drag-and-drop elements help you create a look and feel that suits your brand.

2. Database: is the backend of the app and how all the data necessary to run it is stored.

3. Workflows: are processes necessary for your app to run. For example, click the “sign-up” button —> sign-up page will pop up —> after successful sign-up go to the home page.

Bubble is free to use. If you have an app idea and you told yourself you need money to get started, you’re wrong. Now you don’t have an excuse.

I’m building a business idea/planning app and plugging it into ChatGPT. It’s not revolutionary, but it will be a fun way to learn how to use Bubble.

Consume (Read / Watch / Listen)

Derek Sivers

There’s an authenticity to Derek Sivers that’s hard to explain.

His preparation for this interview and the way he speaks came from a place of care for the listener. You can just tell.

He and Tim Ferriss discuss many topics, but the ones that stood out for me were:

Getting off the cloud and running your own server.

Trusting institutions with your data is risky and running your own server isn’t as complicated as you think. He breaks down the steps and they’re easy to follow.

Few things are true

Almost nothing is objectively true.

The physical actions we see and hear are the truth, but everything else is interpretation and projection.

We tell ourselves so many “truths” about why we can’t do something or what someone else thinks. But these things aren’t objectively true and they’re just fabrications. Meaning we can change these narratives by changing our perceptions.

Mentors

This topic shook me awake and exposed the excuses I was making.

Most of us have people we look up to who we’d love to be our mentors. Some are alive and some are dead. They’re our mentors because we’ve consumed whatever they’ve put out into the world and it resonated with us.

Derek suggests doing an exercise where you prepare for a short call with your mentor. You know their time is precious, so you try to be as specific as possible and put in the work to have answers for all of their pushbacks or questions.

After doing this, you realise you know what your mentor would say and you don’t even need to consult them. We all know what needs to be done, we just need to put in the work.

These are a few of the many topics they discuss in the episode.

Derek also has a personal website with great resources and content his written over the years, so check it out.

Concept

Seller Financing

Seller Financing is a loan from the seller to a buyer.

It may sound silly, but when I found out that this was a possibility, it blew my mind.

For example, if you want to buy a business. The person selling the business can loan you part of the business’s purchase value and you pay it off with the profits that are already being made over an agreed time.

Sometimes, an owner wants to retire immediately and can hand over a business with no money down and the buyer pays off the business over a few years while already running and owning the business. So, if they make any updates or improvements in the business, they benefit.

Crazy right?!

Businesswoman and content creator Codie Sanches preaches about acquiring boring businesses. Established, cash-flowing businesses that you can improve. Her content opened my eyes to a whole world of new possibilities.

We all know that you aren’t going to become set-for-life rich by just working a 9-5. You must own assets that cash flow and small businesses are a great way to do that.

Maybe owning and running your own business isn’t as far-fetched as you thought.

Thanks for Reading

Now start something!

P.S. Feedback is welcome and needed! If you’d prefer to send me an email and not respond, you can do so here: [email protected]

Secret word: Live 😉

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