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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m pivoting away from free content creation for financial and personal reasons. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard or ridicule anything said.

Operation 11th Hour

Happy Monday everybody!

First things first, are you subscribed to the Everything is a Remix newsletter? If not, I command you to do it!

It’s new emails every Wednesday about creativity and AI. Most recently, I took a swing at defining when it is and is not okay to use AI art.

When you subscribe, you’ll get my new free guide, An Introduction to Creative AI, which walks you through 11 places to start your journey into creating in collaboration with AI.

So go subscribe!

Operation 11th Hour

As mentioned last week, I have one quarter (January - March) to establish a viable business producing educational content. I’ve now dubbed this mission… Operation 11th Hour!

Sounds campy but also serious. Yeah, it is!

This is my final attempt at making an independent business work. If the numbers don’t add up come April, that’s it, and I move on to pursuing in-house opportunities.

The primary revenue vehicle for this is my new video course, Create Content with ChatGPT and AI 2024. (If you’ve not bought it yet, you should and you can still save $50.)

I’m now two weeks into Operation 11th Hour. How’s it going?

So far… it’s working! However, please brace yourself for a rather enormous “but.”

BUT!

This is the part that often works: the launch. 

The challenge when selling digital products is to keep the faucet of sales flowing over the coming weeks and months. It’s very common to see sales stop entirely not long after launch. My daily battle is to keep the sales going.

I got a small win this week because week 2’s sales actually surpassed week 1’s. That’s no mean feat.

A huge win would be if month 2's sales exceeded month 1’s. How can I do that?

Firstly, through ongoing sales efforts, day in and day out.

And secondly, I’m gonna try something crazy…

Video.

I’m sure many of you are old enough to remember when I retired from video content creation. Yes, something like that did happen!

But actually, it was more specific than that. I quit doing the kind of video production I’d been doing for years: making cool videos and praying. That kind of video-making is indeed over. 

When you don’t have a business model, video content doesn’t make sense. I now have one, so video makes sense.

For Operation 11th Hour, I’m trying some new things and some uncomfortable things, like ongoing sales. But I also want to play to my strengths. I need to break out the big guns for this battle… and that’s video. 

So videos are coming to the YouTube channel! (I also might make a video for a large newspaper I’m sure you’re familiar with.)

Are you somehow not subscribed to my YouTube channel? I command you to go do that too.

Steamboat Willie is now free

Did you know Steamboat Willie entered the public domain? A lot of copyright pessimists thought this day would never come and copyright would just be extended endlessly. Well, it happened. You can legally do whatever you want with Steamboat Willie.

But remember, Mickey Mouse is still trademarked, so don’t go trying to sell Mickey Mouse t-shirts on Etsy.

That’s it, folks! Have an awesome week!

Kirby

P.S. Subscribe to the Everything is a Remix newsletter! It’s my straight-laced pro newsletter. This is my screwball personal newsletter.

Order my new course, Create Content with ChatGPT and AI 2024, now and save $50!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m pivoting away from free content creation for financial and personal reasons. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard or ridicule anything said.

Are We Creatively Losing It?

Welcome back and happy Monday!

Feedback for my new ChatGPT and AI course has been fantastic! You can see a few testimonials from Hans, Jeff and Charlie on the landing page. If you’ve bought the course and have feedback, I’d love to hear it!

I'm excited to announce that I'm broadening my horizons beyond just the video course. I'm now venturing into personalized coaching, consulting, and interactive teaching sessions. If you need deeper engagement, tailored guidance, or hands-on learning, this is how I can provide that.

If you want to raise your creative game with ChatGPT – or without! – I’m now available for bookings. Sessions are assumed to be virtual but I’m open to travel.

Now is definitely the time to book. If you’d like to discuss, just reply to this email.

Alright, I’m now going to do some thinking in public.

Are We Creatively Losing It? If So, How Do We Get It Back? (Part 1)

Are we, as a culture, in creative decline? If so, why and what can be done about it?

As many of you know, I’ve been thinking about this for a bit and I’m going to start sorting my thoughts here, in installments. 

Let’s start with The Stones. 

I love The Rolling Stones. Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street are as great as anything you’ll ever hear. As a young man, I loved them with a weird intensity, and I still love that music now. Lots of the stuff I loved when I was young doesn’t stand up. Their music does.

The band has a new album out and critics are again breaking out this old chestnut: “their best album since the seventies.”

I'm old enough to remember when critics said that about the now extremely forgotten Steel Wheels from 1989. As a hardcore teenage fan, I tried my best to love Steel Wheels but I couldn’t keep up the facade for long. And that album, for its time, seems better than this one. 

To be clear: if you love The Stones, the band sounds good on the new album and hey, the old fuckers are still doing it! Maybe that’s more than enough. But let’s not delude ourselves: the new album isn’t actually good. 

The Stones have lost it. Just like we all do. Some of us even become embarrassing.

When it comes to losing it, music is a tough industry, almost as tough as being an athlete. Musicians peak early and decline early. They have their heyday, then maybe they're good or occasionally very good after that, but not like they were.

There are always exceptions. 

• Beethoven was in his fifties when we wrote his 9th symphony (and almost entirely deaf).

• Leonard Cohen released I’m Your Man at 54.

• Beyonce has remained a vital pop artist into her forties.

• Johnny Cash was releasing exciting music at the very end of his life.

It can be done. But mostly, it isn’t. And this doesn’t just apply to us as individuals.

Entire genres lose it. Jazz, classical, folk, the blues, and rock were all once teeming with innovation and are now dead. Rap is late in life and will soon follow. 

And entire cultures lose it. Egypt, Rome, and the Ming Dynasty all lost it well before they fell. I’m sure war, disaster, and famines were major drivers, but I suspect creative decline is another factor for why empires fail to rejuvenate.

Are we late in the game too? (By “we” I’m not sure I mean Western Culture, I think I mean global culture. The world is now running on the same economic operating system and seems to operate within one creative paradigm.)

Now before I go on, I’m sure some of you are thinking… BUT TECHNOLOGY! VIRTUAL REALITY! AI!

Yes, there’s those. But next time I’ll explain why that’s not enough. I’ll continue unpacking this in the weeks to come.

Have a great week everybody!
Kirby

P.S. You can now watch the entire first module of ChatGPT and AI course, for FREE! That’s 7 videos, over 25 minutes of content. And you can still save $50 on the full course using this code at checkout: JZ834HQ

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m revamping my work and my life. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard, or ridicule anything said.

NEW VIDEO

MULTIPLE DISCOVERY
The Curious Case of Simultaneous Invention

This is one of my favorite segments from the original Everything is a Remix series. It didn't fit in the new version, but I still wanted to update it and share it. Hope you enjoy and if so, please tell the world! Click here to watch.

Operator 11th Hour:
Month 1 Update!

I have one quarter (January - March) to establish a viable business producing educational content. I’ve dubbed this mission… Operation 11th Hour!

Month 1 is complete! Where did I land?

The short answer is: 65%. I got 65% of a bulls-eye for the course launch.

Sales were… fine. They were slightly good. And I had good success in a few additional areas:

• The Everything is a Remix newsletter had good growth.

• I’ve been consistent with producing two articles per week.

• The Remix site has gotten the most traffic since its heyday.

• I tried Google Ads as a small experiment… and got an actual sale!

• I started doing coaching and consulting and I’ve already arranged bookings for Month 2. I can help with ChatGPT training, video and creative consultation, and more. If you’re interested in working with me directly to help with education or your projects, reply to this email.

Overall, Month 1 sales results are mixed.

On the one hand, it’s a decent start and I’m still learning.

On the other hand, this was a launch, which is when you get to ride downhill for a bit. Month 2 will be all uphill, at least for the video course.

All in all, I need to regroup and find some high-leverage plays. Here are a couple upcoming attempts.

• Videos are returning to the YouTube channel! The first one is already up!

• I’m launching affiliate sales. If you register as an affiliate and sell a copy of my course via your link, you’ll make approximately fifty bucks. (Details TBD)

However, I’m not sure I’ve got anything on deck that can turn the ship quickly. So I called in the cavalry. I’m doing some commission work to relieve some short-term pressure. This will slow the progress on my business, but it’ll give me some financial runway and some space to reflect and re-orient.

Age of Deceleration

Part 2 of "Are We Creatively Losing It?

In my last installment, I asked this question: are we creatively losing it? Go read that before reading on.

The most obvious counter to this question is: but technology!

Yes, there is that. For example.

• AI, above all, is exploding.

• Augmented reality might be about to go mainstream with Apple’s Vision Pro.

• Even the widely despised crypto/web3 is vital, has exciting potential, and is currently worth a fortune. The real question is whether it can do anything or not.

Tech remains an innovative and dynamic realm… but it is definitely slowing down too.

Think about this.

It’s 2024. Let’s say you’re using a ten-year-old computer that you bought in 2014.

It’s a bit sluggish, it can’t run the latest operating system, but it does everything you need. It even pretty much looks like the new models. Sure, you want a new computer, but you’re fine.

Now hop in a time machine and set the dial for 2004.

A new iMac in 2004 looked like this.

But you’re not using that. Again, you’re using a ten-year-old computer. It’s 2004 but your computer is from 1994. That’s something like this.

This beast is an ancient relic. It’s a gray box with a huge, heavy monitor. It’s unbearably slow and has no storage space. You store your extra files on, yep, a stack of floppy disks.

You are miserable and desperate for an upgrade. You’re not fine.

Computer hardware was a runaway train in the eighties and nineties. But not anymore.

You can feel this. You can feel each new iPhone or new laptop being a smaller and smaller upgrade. More likely, you’re upgrading because the old thing is broken.

Tech is still briskly advancing and some areas, like AI, are explosive. But it is slowing down. Those of us who experienced the break-neck innovations of the eighties and nineties have witnessed this deceleration.

But the slowdown in tech is minor compared to the slowdown elsewhere in society. Next time up I’ll show you just how slow progress has gotten in the rest of human creativity.

See you next week, folks! Happy Monday!
Kirby

P.S. Did you know you can watch the first module of my ChatGPT course FREE? (That's 7 videos, over 25 minutes of content!)

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m revamping my work and my life. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard, or ridicule anything said.

The Latest Stuff I’ve Made

Happy Monday folks! I’ve been a busy little bee lately, so let me recap some of the stuff I’ve made recently.

• A new video!

• I’m a month into Operation 11th Hour, here’s how it’s going!

• Part 2 of “Are We Creatively Losing It”

• A breakdown of how James Clear remixed Atomic Habits

• A breakdown of the launch video for the latest Arc Browser

• The Everything is a Remix newsletter continues to grow and progress. Sign up now and you’ll get two exclusive guides for free, “11 Incredible Ways to Work With Al” and “Finish It Now!”

Let's Make Lots of Money

The Everything is a Remix affiliate program is now live!

Here’s how it works.

• You sign up for the program.

• You generate links.

• You share these links.

• When someone clicks your link and buys something you get a commission!

Sell anything from my shop and you make 25%! For the ChatGPT course, that is a cool fifty bucks if you sell it at full price. (Terms not finalized yet.)

Important note: This is a pilot program, a beta. There might be kinks. If you're not an early-adopter type, you might wanna hold off until this test phase is complete.

If you’re game, sign up for the Everything is a Remix Affiliate Program!

My Mallety Finger

And now BREAKING NEWS! I tore a tendon in my right ring finger!

I play rec basketball as often as a middle-aged man with a business to save and a small child to raise can manage. “Jamming” your finger is a super common injury in basketball. That's when the ball hits the tip of your finger, dislocates a knuckle, and you've got a sprain. Kinda painful, but not serious. I've jammed plenty of fingers.

But this jam was bad or unlucky and tore a tendon in my right ring finger, so now the tip doesn't pull back straight when I extend it. This is called mallet finger and it’s not as useful as it sounds.

For anybody thinking, "Well at least it's your ring finger!" You'd be surprised how useful ring fingers are! Especially the one in your dominant hand! You could even say ring fingers are handy.

Puns folks! I'm a dad now, I can't help it.

Tendons get low blood flow and are slow to heal, so I’m in a splint for… two freaking months!

Fingers crossed (the ones still work) that my finger can be straight or straight-ish after it heals. Stay tuned to this newsletter for all the latest on this developing story!

AI and The Shock of the New

Did I mention I’ve been a busy bee lately? Yes, I also wrote another brand new article, “AI and The Shock of the New.” Normally these go right in the newsletter, but I think you can read it more comfortably at my site.

Have a great week everybody! Enjoy your non-mallety fingers!

P.S. Again, the Everything is a Remix Affiliate Program is live! I’m still working out the kinks, but if that’s okay with you, sign up now!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m revamping my work and my life. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard, or ridicule anything said.

Just one question

Happy Monday folks! I know you’re all eager for updates about my mallet finger injury, but you’ll just have to cope with that suspense for a bit.

All I’ve got for you is a single question: what do you think of this idea?

Have a great week everybody!

Love,
Kirby

P.S. I have a major new article, AI and The Shock of the New.

P.S.S. The Everything is a Remix Affiliate Program is live! Make as much as $50 when you sell my course through your link. I’m still working out the kinks, but if that’s okay with you, sign up now!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m revamping my work and my life. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. I’m thinking aloud about all of this here. I might later revise, discard, or ridicule anything said.

The results are in!

Folks, thank you so much to all of you who responded to last week’s poll! This poll had the most responses I’ve ever gotten. Without further ado, here are the results!

• Almost half of you were very enthusiastic about this idea.

• About a quarter of you were interested but still needed to hear more.

• And 7.5% loved this idea and would pay for it now.

• So 80.5% of you liked this idea.

• 15.5% thought the idea sounded good but were not personally interested in it.

• And 4% don’t think the idea is worth pursuing.

• So 19.5% weren’t that into the idea.

Overall, a pretty enthusiastic response! 80.5% is pretty high approval and, as I said, this was about double the response rate I usually get from polls.

I’ll continue to brew on this topic. Stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, I have another question!

Read Like an Artist

People don’t think of reading as creative. It’s considered passive, consumptive. Reading certainly can be those things, but it can also be highly creative if you do it the right way.

The simple key to creative reading is this: take notes. Make highlights and write notes. E-books are especially great for this and Readwise is the best tool to manage those notes. Your book highlights and notes should be part of a notes system that also includes your own notes drawn from your ideas, life, and experiences. Out of this brew of your thoughts and the thoughts of others, all sorts of ideas will appear.

Creating is so much harder if you don’t take notes. You’re perpetually stuck in the “blank page” phase, staring into the void and waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration.

Another key to creative reading that I’ve discovered is this: timing is everything. Read the book when it’s time to read the book.

I pre-ordered Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act as soon as I saw it was coming and I was thrilled to see it pop up in my Kindle library later. Nonetheless, I didn’t dive in, I set it aside.

There are a special few books, movies, and albums that I save until it’s the right time to experience them. How do you know that moment has come? I dunno, it’s a feeling, but I think this feeling comes when the work fits within my current interests and might have a role to play.

The time for The Creative Act recently arrived and I’ve been slowly reading it over recent weeks. It’s an inspiring book regardless of how you read it, but saving it for this moment made it explosive for me. It’s inspired thousands of words of writing and many good creative insights.

The first thing it inspired came after reading this passage.

If you know what you want to do and you do it, that’s the work of a craftsman. If you begin with a question and use it to guide an adventure of discovery, that’s the work of the artist.

This idea combined with a recent conversation I had with my friend Andy Allen, then this article, “Art, Craft, and AI,” came flowing out. I think this piece is a strong insight, but it’s also an early expression and it’ll grow into something bigger and better

The Creative Act also inspired a new course idea, which I asked you all about in last week’s question. (You’re still welcome to answer if you want.) We’ll see what comes of that.

Because I read The Creative Act when it felt right (and made notes!), the book triggered countless ideas, many of which will continue to grow for months to come.

I know exactly what most of you are thinking. “Before you go, pleeeeeeze tell me more about your mallet finger injury!!!”

Oh folks, I can’t give away all the primo content in a single newsletter. I’ll dispense that gold in a future installment.

Love,
K

P.S. Don’t forget to answer this question!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. These thoughts are a work in progress.

The latest!

Happy Monday, folks! First off, here’s the latest stuff from me!

• I have a new video!
  Multiple Discovery: The Curious Case of Simultaneous Invention

• Read Like an Artist: How Notes Fuel Your Creativity

• And finally, some satire, A Recipe for Awful Creative Feedback

You can always head to the articles section of the Everything is a Remix site to see what’s new. I typically update twice a week.

More results!

Last week I ran another poll. I pitched you this idea.

I'm considering creating a live virtual training event that teaches you absolutely everything I know about making videos and writing in the Everything is a Remix style.

I then asked this question: Would you buy this at a premium price?

It’s not a question I expected to generate many yeses... and it didn’t! This would be an uber-niche product with a small audience and, thus, a high price tag.

In total, 17 of you said “yes, I would pay a premium price for this.”

This might sound small, but this response is interesting to me. What I initially had in mind for this class was something like 12 people for $1200 each. So this is potentially worthwhile and I’ll be giving it further thought.

Should it happen, this course will certainly be an extraordinary and perhaps one-time-only experience. If you’d like to see it happen and you’d pay a premium price for it, you can still respond to the poll.

Operation 11th Hour:
Month 2 Update!

I have one quarter (January - March) to establish a viable business producing educational content. I’ve dubbed this mission… Operation 11th Hour!

Month 2 is complete! How’d it go?

The short answer is: I survived!

Operation 11th Hour basically entered a holding pattern. In January I could see that course sales would be much slower in February. I didn’t yet have a good plan to boost sales and get in front of new eyeballs.

So I elected to buy some time. I rallied some freelance work, coaching, and consulting to fill the hole… and it worked. (However, because I diverted time to this other work, course revenue probably dropped even further.)

The end result: February generated almost as much revenue as January. I remain in the same position as at the end of Month 1, which I described as “slightly good.” I’m in a decent place for the short term, but staying at the “slightly good” level will not cut it. The trend line’s gotta up.

What’s in store for Month 3? It might look a lot like this month because I’ll still be working on those freelance projects, which will take most of my time.

I definitely need to change things up and get fresh revenue flowing. Month 3 would be successful if I could generate some new momentum from the educational work while working on freelance projects.

Wish me luck, folks! I wish you all the same and see you next week!

Love,
K

P.S. You can still respond to last week’s question!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.

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The Midlife Remix

Hi there, I’m Kirby Ferguson! I’m best known for the series Everything is a Remix. I’m seeking financial stability and personal fulfillment in the second act of life. These thoughts are a work in progress.

The latest!

Happy Monday, folks! First off, here’s the latest stuff from me!

• I have a new video!
  Multiple Discovery: The Curious Case of Simultaneous Invention

• Read Like an Artist: How Notes Fuel Your Creativity

• And finally, some satire, A Recipe for Awful Creative Feedback

You can always head to the articles section of the Everything is a Remix site to see what’s new. I typically update twice a week.

More results!

Last week I ran another poll. I pitched you this idea.

I'm considering creating a live virtual training event that teaches you absolutely everything I know about making videos and writing in the Everything is a Remix style.

I then asked this question: Would you buy this at a premium price?

It’s not a question I expected to generate many yeses... and it didn’t! This would be an uber-niche product with a small audience and, thus, a high price tag.

In total, 17 of you said “yes, I would pay a premium price for this.”

This might sound small, but this response is interesting to me. What I initially had in mind for this class was something like 12 people for $1200 each. So this is potentially worthwhile and I’ll be giving it further thought.

Should it happen, this course will certainly be an extraordinary and perhaps one-time-only experience. If you’d like to see it happen and you’d pay a premium price for it, you can still respond to the poll.

Operation 11th Hour:
Month 2 Update!

I have one quarter (January - March) to establish a viable business producing educational content. I’ve dubbed this mission… Operation 11th Hour!

Month 2 is complete! How’d it go?

The short answer is: I survived!

Operation 11th Hour basically entered a holding pattern. In January I could see that course sales would be much slower in February. I didn’t yet have a good plan to boost sales and get in front of new eyeballs.

So I elected to buy some time. I rallied some freelance work, coaching, and consulting to fill the hole… and it worked. (However, because I diverted time to this other work, course revenue probably dropped even further.)

The end result: February generated almost as much revenue as January. I remain in the same position as at the end of Month 1, which I described as “slightly good.” I’m in a decent place for the short term, but staying at the “slightly good” level will not cut it. The trend line’s gotta up.

What’s in store for Month 3? It might look a lot like this month because I’ll still be working on those freelance projects, which will take most of my time.

I definitely need to change things up and get fresh revenue flowing. Month 3 would be successful if I could generate some new momentum from the educational work while working on freelance projects.

Wish me luck, folks! I wish you all the same and see you next week!

Love,
K

P.S. You can still respond to last week’s question!

You got this email because you subscribed to this newsletter. If you like what you read, please forward this to a lucky friend. And if you received this email from someone else, you can subscribe here.