AP 1177: I Have Too Many Business Ideas—What Do I Do and Where Do I Start?

AP 1177: I Have Too Many Business Ideas—What Do I Do and Where Do I Start?

Pat Flynn:
What's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to episode 1,177 of AskPat 2.0. And today you're about to listen to a coaching call between myself and an entrepreneur, just like you. And what's interesting about this episode is it's almost an entrepreneur just like me, because this person that we're speaking to, his name is Chris Fleck. He has so many things he could do, so many talents, art, comedy, video production. There's so many things that he's a little bit, when you get pulled from all directions and forces are equal everywhere, you're going nowhere.

And so this discussion today is for those of you, and for Chris, of course, who might be stuck because you're just not sure which direction to go down. And you might worry about picking one and then leaving others behind. How do you know which one is the right decision? What if you pick one and you should have picked the other one? This is what we're talking about today. A Chris, of all trades, if you will. But we hone in on something at the end that I think you'll be really excited about based on what he discusses and what he believes he's really good at. So let's talk about it. Here he is. Chris Fleck. You can find him on YouTube. Chris Fleck, F-L-E-C-K. And also his really good artwork at ChrisFleckart.com. Here he is.

Chris, hey, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming to AskPat. How are you?

Chris Fleck:
Hey, thanks for having me. I'm great.

Pat:
I'm really excited to dive in and see what I can do to help you. First of all, why don't you tell all of us a little bit about yourself?

Chris:
Sure. For about the last 30 years of my career, I've been a writer, producer, director. I make videos. I'm also, have an art background, so I do design work. Basically I'm a multipotentialite. When I first found you, it was like I was your exact target audience. I had just been downsized and set free. And so I found Let Go and it was fresh after my layoff, and it really meant a lot to me. And then I got into Will It Fly?, then Superfans. However, we've had this conversation a lot. You just weren't here. I would yell at my Bluetooth speaker. It's not that I don't know where to take my idea. It's that I have too many areas, and I can't make a choice because I'm a multipotentialite, and I get the phone by Rush, Freewill. If you choose not to choose, you still have made a choice. And that's where I am. And that's where I've been most of my life.

Confession: I have ADD, and I think a lot of creative people have that. We've just learned how to tie a rope around it and water ski behind it. With that said, I've got so many plates in the air on the bamboo rods, like the guy in the circus; when one stops, I have to go over and spin it. And then it leaves the others to wobble. It's a blessing and a curse at the same time. I'm a good utility guy, but I'm not a specialist in anything.

Pat:
I often consider myself the same. I've been told, and I agree with this, that I'm a Pat of all trades. It is the idea of wrapping a rope around certain things, creating containers and space to play as well as focus. And it can be very, very difficult. And even in your bio at the beginning, you're like, “I'm a writer, producer, director, art, all this stuff.” I can even see it, your desk behind you. People can't see this, but you have a whole bunch of stuff there, and it's like, that is your personality. You have so many interests, so many ideas, so much love for things. With Will It Fly?, we try a little bit to try to help people dispel which ideas are best, based on who are you and what do you enjoy. What are you good at? Well, you probably said yes to all the things. And you're like, “Okay, this is still like, I still have so many directions I could go.” Am I right?

Chris:
You are. And looking at the background in my shot, I fight a fiery demon everyday and his name is clutter.

Pat:
Clutter is a demon for sure. And it's something that we all have to live with sometimes, especially when you have kids. Let's talk about how we can dispel this idea of “I have so many ideas that I can't move forward.” I think it's a blessing, like you said, to have all these ideas because now you have more canvas to work with. You have more tools to potentially paint with essentially. I like to start in a couple of different directions.

Number one, laying it all out on the table is typically step one. So whether it's Post-it Notes or a note pad or a legal pad or whatever. Of all the things that you could imagine yourself doing, let's just lay it out on the table. Because number one, it can be both amazing to see all the ideas because our brains do a good job of coming up with ideas, but not really a good job of then organizing it as it's coming out. We can organize once we start to see things.

And I use Post-it Notes—I mean, literally I have 10 right in front of me right now for different things I was doing today. By seeing it all, you can start to deal with it all. And that's at least very comforting to know because some of those things you might go, “Okay, well, that's obviously something I don't want to do.” And then you can start to remove and start to filter things. You might be able to start to see patterns or cluster things together. And sometimes magic happens just from that experiment alone.

But then the other part of this equation, which is the very beginning portions of Will It Fly?, is this idea of, well, what are your goals? And this is where I want to spend a little bit at the beginning, Chris, because we can then influence our decisions based on where you want to end up and what your goals are. No matter what it is you choose, it has to be something that should support the goal that you have, thus offering another filter point for some of those Post-it Notes that we see. Let's talk about you. Where you want to end up in two, three, five years? What's your goal? What's your mission?

Chris:
Well, I think everybody, is maybe financially independent. It's funny that you say Post-it Notes because I'm ahead of you on that one. My master bedroom looks like a serial killer lives there because that's where I sit and ponder. And so I have rows of where my potential basic skills are and below them, I have Post-its of all the things I can do with that. And the one that I've probably advanced on the most is visual arts. Let me lay out, I guess, the areas and then we can spend whatever time ...

Okay, I'm a visual artist, and I have my artwork listed on ChrisFleckart.com. I've given art lessons in my attic. My entire attic ... I'm renovating a Victorian house, and my entire attic is a finished vaulted 900-plus square foot art studio. I just completed about a year ago, a portrait of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and it's listed on there. I'm selling prints of it. I do murals. One of them was featured in the New York Times a couple of years ago. I do caricatures, and I've written a children's book that I have yet to illustrate. My degree from the University of Kansas is design illustration. And then I also did broadcasting and advertising every chance I got, so it's an unofficial concentration.

I'm a writer. I have another website, ChrisFleckwriter.com. And that's pretty much just attached to my résumé if I'm trying to get a job as a writer or a creative director. I'm a videographer. I have a couple of viral ads from my commercial production days. I've done some standup comedy. I'm a musician. I'm pretty proficient at the harmonica. I've had the opportunity to play with a couple of famous people. I do some public speaking about creativity, and I show my commercial reel and I do a Q&A. I have some puppeteer experience. I got to meet Jim Henson and had an interview with their group. Spoiler alert: I didn't get the job. I host barroom trivia. Like I said, I'm renovating a Victorian home, and I'm writing a book about that.

When I listen to your program, I get ideas. I have this giant list of entrepreneur ideas. It's funny because when I listen to other people, I can think of ways for them to improve their ideas, but I can't get started on one specific idea for me, so there lies the problem.

Pat:
Yeah. First of all, your art's beautiful. I love that Andrés Segovia portrait with the guitar. And it's very, obviously you're a man of multi-talents. And I think that, like you said, is a blessing and a curse. What's really cool, and I'm just going to pop this in your head a little bit—have there been any ideas that allow you to do all these things at the same time?

Chris:
That's why I stuck with the job that I had for 30 years, because it did allow me to use all of my talent in some way or another as a branding coach for businesses. The video, I would do artwork for the video. I really enjoy helping other people succeed. So I’m kind of service oriented. I use humor in my video, especially when they don't have a budget, small market. That's how I ended up on Ellen. I didn't, but my commercial did. She had a couple of them because they were low budget and tacky, but with no budget in a small market, if you can make people laugh and they remember you, that's fine with me.

Pat:
So what's stopping you from finding something that allows you to do all these things now?

Chris:
I'm still handling some clients. And then I'm also in my attic painting commissioned pieces and other artworks to sell prints. Nothing's stopping me. It's just, I guess, maybe focus.

Pat:
Well, let me ask you a different question. It seems like you're still doing all this stuff. What's the problem?

Chris:
I've always thought if I do hard work and I enjoy what I do, one day I would be financially rewarded. So far, I'm spinning my wheels, and I just feel stuck.

Pat:
Why do you feel stuck? Where do you feel stuck? What's the container that you're in that you feel stuck in that's not allowing you to get out?

Chris:
I'm not generating enough income to not have a day job, I guess. And since the layoff, I've been trying to make my own business take off. And I'll have really great months. COVID hasn't helped, but I've had really great months. And then I've had really quiet months, and that doesn't pay the bills.

Pat:
If you don't mind me asking, how much money would you need to feel like, “Okay, things are good now. I now have room to play and experiment and have all these things”? If there was something, it doesn't matter what it was, but if it was bringing you X amount of money, how much money would that be per month would you say?

Chris:
If I can pull in $100,000 a year, I could relax a little, yeah.

Pat:
$100K per year.

Chris:
Yeah.

Pat:
That's less than $10,000 a month. When it comes to the skills that you have, I know that there are some companies, for example, and brands that would likely pay you that amount of money. Maybe it's just one company paying you on contract $100,000 a year to be creative and write and do all these things. That's possible. What would life be like? Let's play this game where we travel into the DeLorean. A company comes to you and goes, "Dude, Chris, this is awesome. We need your talents. We need your skills, your visuals. You will become the engine for us to do creativity so that more people can get our product and brand and discover us, and we can send our messages out there. We'll pay you $100,000 a year."

And you're working for them, and you set your own rules. You get things done on time. Some days obviously, like for any artist, it's a grind. And other days it's, you're just chilling. You're one year into doing this. What's life like? How are you feeling? Are you feeling good about it? Are you feeling, "I don't ever want to work for just one person or I'm feeling stuck." What's your mindset?

Chris:
Disney has a position called Imagineer. The first time somebody explained it to me, I lit up. Most people, they say when they hear that job, they're like, “That's not a job. What are you talking about?” And to me, that sounds like one of the few jobs where I might take off. A year into that, I think I'd be in a really good place.

Pat:
There are different companies other than Disney that have, their equivalent of Imagineers. It could be really fun and interesting and a nice little challenge for you to go and find those places and find and even talk to other creatives who are in that world. One of my friends who was in the marching band with me at Cal, she actually became an Imagineer. And she said she just, every day is like play for her.

And I would encourage you, whatever you choose to do, approach every day like that, where it feels like play. Even if it's for business, especially if you get paid for it. I mean, that's the ideal situation where you're playing and getting paid at the same time.

Chris:
I don't know another way to operate. Yeah, that's completely the way I'm wired. Whenever somebody gives me a compliment on being creative, I'm like, well, I can't ... I have anxiety when it comes to balancing my checkbook, and spelling is a challenge. This is just how I'm wired. I guess I kind of deflect compliments by saying that, but that's how I feel. It's just, this is what I'm set up to do, and I'm set up to do it really well, and it's in my wheelhouse. Yeah.

Pat:
Let's do another experiment. You start painting a lot more, and your paintings start selling, and your paintings help you generate $8,000 to $10,000 a month because you painted this really cool thing that got on Ellen and other people started seeing it, and you've been commissioned to paint all these amazing things. I know you do commission work as well. A year into this, that's most of your work that you're doing. Are you excited about that? You don't have necessarily a ton of time to do a lot of these other things, but you are painting. It is something creative and visual for you. Does that light you up, or does it feel like you're still missing something there?

Chris:
That lights me up. I think maybe Imagineer is something that might light me up a little more.

Pat:
I like how you went back there, by the way. That's a sign.

Chris:
Yeah, yeah. It's way of more of my arrows in my quiver that I might be able to express myself in different media and still help somebody solve their problems.

Pat:
There was a documentary about Pixar and how Pixar got started and the deal with Steve Jobs and all this stuff. You perhaps have seen it.

Chris:
I've read Creative Inc.

Pat:
Yeah, Creative Inc.is amazing. If you ever see a documentary or look up video about how Pixar does what it does, you look into their offices. Every person's cubicle is just an absolute—it literally looks like what you have behind you right there.

Chris:
Well, you too.

Pat:
And me too, just, yeah. With the Star Wars stuff behind me and everything. You need to find other people who have desks like that and just go like, "How'd you do that?" Get to know them, build relationships with them, try to serve them in some way. Maybe you can in some way—I know somebody who is an animations artist. And he creates these videos that are about his take on something that Disney did, and he'll do his own version.

Like he's like, "Disney didn't want me to make this animation," or something. And then he'll take the Pixar lamp, and he'll make it his own version of it, and he'll extend that story with the lamp, Luxor. And he's getting hundreds of thousands of views. And I'm guaranteeing you, there are animation companies and maybe even Disney themselves or Pixar who reached out and gone like, "Hey, we'd love to have you work for us because we've seen your stuff."

And that's where I think YouTube could be a really interesting play. I don't know if you're on YouTube, but essentially as an experimental ground for you to just when you create, that's a place where you could share it. The cool thing is you don't have to niche jump because you are the niche. Your creativity is the brand. And that can be a way into Imagineer or another place.

For example, I know a friend, this is more business, but this is a friend of mine, Noah Kagan, who wanted to work at Mint.com. He went in for a job. He didn't get it. So he was like, "Screw it. I'm just going to write a 20-page report of all the things that if I were marketing director, I could do to help this brand." And he just delivered this report to them. And they're like, "Oh, you again." And they're like, "Just read the thing." They were so impressed by it that they ended up working with him. Instead of, “Hey, can you let me show you my work?” Just show the world your work, and attract the people who will be attracted to it. And you might find that it could open up some really amazing avenues.

Plus, YouTube itself could provide some income, especially if you bring your personality. And you say that you can bring this comedy? Let's see it in these videos. You say that you're a visual artist? Let's see these things visually in these videos. And it might be just a cool way for you to, even while you're starting to grind and work on this other stuff that's going to make money, because YouTube is not going to make you money right away. It at least becomes the outlet for you to play and experiment and have all these talents be shown. Because on the side, you still might have this thing that you maybe don't want to do, but you have to do at least for income for now whilst building your brand.

Essentially YouTube is your résumé. People can come and follow you. Already just in this conversation, Chris, I could tell that I'd be subscribed to your channel, and I'd probably just look forward to the next wacky, crazy, comedic thing that you're going to do next that involves writing, publishing, directing all these skills. If you've already been on Ellen, let's have the world see this on something like YouTube. I don't know if that's sparking any ideas for you. And I'm not telling you “Add another thing to your plate,” but this could be the glue that combines them all.

Chris:
I like that. I've applied for jobs at Pixar, mostly as a concept guy or a story, a writer. Yeah. I guess they, they take kids right out of school.

Pat:
Oh, they do. But it's because they know that those people were taught a specific thing in a specific way, and they can be confident in that. They don't know you yet. Gosh, there was, I can't remember exactly who it was, but somebody back in the day, not anybody I knew, but this was news, did something to get the attention of the company that they ultimately wanted to work for. I'm just saying, this, this could be risky, wacky, fun. Every video is like, "Hey Pixar, my name's Chris. I know you don't know me, but let me show you what I got. I'd love to work with you one day." Every video just starts with that until you finally get hired.

You’re persistent about it. Right? But you're showing your stuff at the same time. And what's really cool is people who know you're on this mission will support you. And it's probably not going to take quote-unquote “long.” I mean, who knows how long it's going to take? But somebody will see it who knows somebody who knows somebody that'll go, "Yo, my friend who works at Pixar, this guy, Chris, you got to check out his stuff. It's exactly what we've needed or it's exactly the kind of stuff that's been missing. That could be really interesting." If that is your goal, if you're like, "I want to be that," let's just go for it.

Chris:
I like where you're going. Yeah.

Pat:
I don't think anybody can do that, though. That's the thing. I wouldn't tell this strategy to everybody, only people who I know had that personality and that grit. And I think you do. It could be very interesting. It could catch wind. It can make the news. It could be PR. With your skills, I'm sure you could get the attention that you'd want, too. If your work is something that is desirable from an Imagineer or Pixar or equivalent, it'd be pretty awesome, I think. Does that help, Chris?

Chris:
That does help.

Pat:
How do we follow you? How do we find out where we can go to follow along in the story with you?

Chris:
Well, I'm on YouTube, but not aggressively. And just under my name. Yeah, so far it's just some of my commercials. So maybe I'll develop that channel. And the artwork again, ChrisFleckart.com.

Pat:
Yep. I find that video that is about that guy who was creating animations based on Disney stuff, because YouTube is a beast. Right? YouTube isn't just about you painting something, showing the painting and being like, "Hey everybody, I want to work at Pixar. Help me out." It's going to be the way you tell that story. It's going to be a commercial for you. It's going to be how you hook them in. And I know you know how to do all this stuff. If YouTube is the thing, let's learn all about YouTube and find inspiration from other channels who seem to know how to capture people's attention, how to keep and hold that retention rate. You want that kind of level of stuff if that's what you're shooting for. Would be happy to help. Reach out to me, Chris, if you want to share some stuff with me as you publish it so I can offer some feedback just on the YouTube side of things. I know how things work analytically. Dude, I'm stoked. I'm excited.

Chris:
I am too. And I needed this, a real shot in the arm. Thank you so much.

Pat:
You're welcome. Well, we'll follow along. Thank you, Chris. And best of luck to you. Hopefully if you don't mind, we can reach back out to you a little bit later to have you come back on one of the Where Are They Now shows and kind of catch up with you if that'd be cool.

Chris:
That adds a little urgency. I like that.

Pat:
Okay, good. Good. We'll hold you accountable then.

Chris:
Thank you, Pat.

Pat:
Thanks, Chris.

All right. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Chris. As you can tell, just an amazing personality, amazing character, and somebody who I know that if he just dedicates his time and focused effort into, can create something special, just like his artwork. Because when he's drawing something, he's not having different brushes and one on each foot and one in each hand and drawing four different pictures at the same time. He's focused on a single piece of artwork and it turns out amazing. If you just treat your business ideas in the same way, you can get to the point where they're either finished or automated or working for you. Then you can move on to the next thing.

Chris, I wish you the best of luck. I cannot wait to connect with you in the future and see how you progress from here and what you focus on and what unlocks for you. I'm really excited for you, and I hope everybody is too. Chris Fleck on YouTube or ChrisFleckart.com. You can check it out.

And thank you for listening all the way through. I appreciate you. If you'd like to get featured here on the show and get some coaching and help many other people at the same time, just like Chris did today, then you can go to askpat.com. You can fill out that application form, and I might reach out to you in the future, and hopefully I do. Take care. Thanks so much. Make sure you hit that subscribe button because we've got a lot of good stuff coming your way next week. And until then, take care, peace out. And as always, #TeamFlynn for the win.

Thanks for listening to AskPat at askpat.com. I'm your host, Pat Flynn. Our senior producer is Sara Jane Hess. Our series producer is David Grabowski, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. AskPat is a production of SPI Media. We'll catch you in the next session.