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Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

staysketchy.com

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Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#2
> In business theres a term called “Total Adressable Market,” or TAM. This is basically everyone in the world who could buy a product in a given category. What’s the TAM for a product like fishing rods? Well, that would be everyone in the world who likes fishing...

> The reason we mention this is because when Pablo first started selling his art online, he created all his posts strictly in Spanish - his native language. Over time, he felt that this was limiting him, so he started making posts in both English and Spanish, and then eventually just English.

The bit about cutting out Spanish entirely suggests this is not a lesson in maximizing one’s TAM

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#3
> “If you’re getting hate, that’s a good sign.” ...In the past, he used to engage with them...Now, he doesn’t get too involved.

Did he mean to say "passion" in this case? How is hate a "good" sign of engagement? If someone has an opinion and is willing to share it with me, I'd hope they could do it in a constructive way (but I wouldn't call that "hate", and this is the Internet he's talking about).

Imagine being surrounded by 100 people hurling insults at you, telling you you're no good and your product / service / art sucks. How is that a "good sign"?

Edit: Maybe the assumption is "For every hater, I find 10 people that _do_ like it", so the realization is that "I'm reaching people," and the underlying prayer is that "And hopefully, they're not _all_ haters."

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#4
post #3

> “If you’re getting hate, that’s a good sign.” ...In the past, he used to engage with them...Now, he doesn’t get too involved. Did he mean to say "passion" in this case? How is hate a "good" sign of engagement? If someone has an opinion and is willing to share it with me, I'd hope they could do it in a constructive way (but I wouldn't call that "hate", and this is the Internet he's talking about). Imagine being surr…

It’s the unrecognized but genius artist fallacy: many great artists were unknown and poor when they did their best work.

Therefore, since I am unknown and poor, I must be a great artist.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#5
post #3

> “If you’re getting hate, that’s a good sign.” ...In the past, he used to engage with them...Now, he doesn’t get too involved. Did he mean to say "passion" in this case? How is hate a "good" sign of engagement? If someone has an opinion and is willing to share it with me, I'd hope they could do it in a constructive way (but I wouldn't call that "hate", and this is the Internet he's talking about). Imagine being surr…

I think the argument here is that hate (which is a subset of passion) is not the purely negative thing that we immediately think it is. Especially in art. When people _hate_ art the art has served its purpose. Art's intention (to paint with heinously broad strokes) is to create emotions and drive thoughts. That's a very different intention than a product/service and they shouldn't be compared in that sense.

But also:

> Afterall, it’s good for engagement and the Instagram algorithm.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#6
post #2

> In business theres a term called “Total Adressable Market,” or TAM. This is basically everyone in the world who could buy a product in a given category. What’s the TAM for a product like fishing rods? Well, that would be everyone in the world who likes fishing... > The reason we mention this is because when Pablo first started selling his art online, he created all his posts strictly in Spanish - his native languag…

TAM vs ROI is a thing… obviously.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#8
post #2

> In business theres a term called “Total Adressable Market,” or TAM. This is basically everyone in the world who could buy a product in a given category. What’s the TAM for a product like fishing rods? Well, that would be everyone in the world who likes fishing... > The reason we mention this is because when Pablo first started selling his art online, he created all his posts strictly in Spanish - his native languag…

Yeah, it's more like min-max'ing your TAM. Minimize effort in areas that don't have any return and maximize the areas that do. Business 101.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#9
post #3

> “If you’re getting hate, that’s a good sign.” ...In the past, he used to engage with them...Now, he doesn’t get too involved. Did he mean to say "passion" in this case? How is hate a "good" sign of engagement? If someone has an opinion and is willing to share it with me, I'd hope they could do it in a constructive way (but I wouldn't call that "hate", and this is the Internet he's talking about). Imagine being surr…

It's what artists do to lie to themselves so their entire life doesn't seem like a waste of time. I went from music to tech. Art is full of completely delusional hacks.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#10
post #3

> “If you’re getting hate, that’s a good sign.” ...In the past, he used to engage with them...Now, he doesn’t get too involved. Did he mean to say "passion" in this case? How is hate a "good" sign of engagement? If someone has an opinion and is willing to share it with me, I'd hope they could do it in a constructive way (but I wouldn't call that "hate", and this is the Internet he's talking about). Imagine being surr…

It's what artists do to lie to themselves so their entire life doesn't seem like a waste of time. I went from music to tech. Art is full of completely delusional hacks.

I mean, that does sound like something someone who switched from music to tech would say, but it’s also a little true.
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