080522 — Blog — Rulerless

I wanted to start a YouTube channel. Here’s the story of why I didn’t (or, why I haven’t yet!), and maybe it can give you an aha for a project you’re stuck on.

It was the summer of 2020 and, like everyone else, I was kind of down and bored and looking for something to do. So I thought I would start a YouTube channel to teach people how to play music by ear.

Casey von NeumannJuly 19, 2022072922, 080522, 081122, 081522, 081822, 020123Comment

Are you cut out for this?

A fellow business coach suggested that only a tiny fraction of people trying to make it in business are “cut out” to be entrepreneurs.

Her reasoning was that people don’t want to do the hard work and they complain too much. (Wasn’t she complaining as she said this?)

I get impatient with this kind of gatekeeping. The thing that I like most about small business is that anybody can do it.

Casey von NeumannJuly 14, 2022071922, 072722, 080522, 080822, 121622Comment

How do you know when to quit and when to keep going?

I recently started a new project. I’m not ready to talk about it publicly, but message me and I’ll share.

In this new project, I’m facing all of the terrible and uncomfortable thoughts and emotions.

You know the ones. Questions like: What if this is a waste of time? What if I look stupid? What if I do it wrong?

Casey von NeumannJune 27, 2022071522, 072122, 080522, 081222, 121422, 122722, 011323Comment

The real work

Now that I’ve completed a project that I’ve been busy with for a decade, I can see myself making the same mistake I counsel others against.

I keep thinking that I will get to the end of my to-do list and have time for my new project.

I’m supporting clients. I’m overseeing all of the important administrative details of my daily existence. I’m working through a somehow self-propagating list of tasks associated with my existing projects.

Casey von NeumannJune 23, 2022080522, 092622, 100422Comment

Important to me

The other day, I passed by a bus shelter on Monroe Drive in midtown Atlanta where a woman was determinedly sweeping the sidewalk with a broom.

She seemed to be an unhoused person, judging by the large amount of stuff stacked on the bench within the shelter. This was her home, her turf, and she was defending it from the onslaught of grime and debris from the road.

Even though I’m in a more privileged position in life, I can relate to this woman’s desire to do the tidying that she could. I understand her instinct to maintain life’s little routines in the face of chaos.

Casey von NeumannApril 22, 2022050222, 061722, 080522, 092322, 100422 Comments