Building a Strong Base

At the time of writing this, it is March 19, 2021. Momentum is beginning to build a bit for this project.

A little less than a week ago, I caught up with my old roommates that I've spent half a decade with. We reconnected on Zoom, catching up and enjoying this time we had each other. In the past year we have only been able to physically see each other once and that was months ago. On the zoom call, we decided to play some drinking games, relax, and just get back to what felt somewhat normal.

Since we are all physically distant and don't have the ability to talk to each other like the old days, everyone has to eventually answer the universal question.

"What is going on with you?"

If you've read my other posts, you realize the anxiety this question gives simply because I answer back with more question marks.

"Well I'm trying to..."

"I have this project I want to..."

A lot of ideas. A lot of hopes. A lot of dreams. Not a lot of results.

But recently, these ideas and hopes have been feeling more and more feasible.

The thing with Simplex Minds is that I have to be more open with it, if I want it to be anywhere close to what I envision it.

So, I began to talk about my vision with Simplex Minds. (The liquid courage did help a bit lol.) I talked about how I envision this platform. How I want this platform to be a place where people can go to to humanize the hardships in their life. How I want to use this platform to build up and promote artists. How I want to be able to fund projects and give artists full creative freedom.

It got late and a lot of my ex-roommates had to tune out and head to bed, except my friend Joseph. We've known each other our whole college careers. We actually met at orientation and little did we know that our extra curricular life would mirror each other and become lifelong friends.

He showed interest into my project and ideas. He decided that he wanted to help with this project.

Wasn't expecting that.

Now that I have someone that actually wants to help collaborate and push this vision I've been having these past months, I really have to begin to push myself too. Before I was just on my own schedule. Able to go as fast or as slow as I wanted. Having the comfort of always planning and not actually putting myself and this idea I hold so close to heart out there.

This is actually kind of intimidating...

It's time to step up and truly build a strong base that we can grow with. It's time to put myself and Simplex Minds out there. Put it out there for critique. Put it out there for judgement. Put it out there and be vulnerable.

The beautiful thing about Simplex Minds is that it at it's core is supposed to be transparent.

In so many different situations I would want to read about what was going on through different founder's minds in the infancy of their brands and companies. I would want to transported into their thought processes, to their conversations, to their obstacles that they had to succumb to or overcome. I would want to know how they were dealing with the unknown. Not knowing whether or not they were going to succeed.

So let's be transparent. Now I need to work on the core values, purpose, and mission statement of Simplex Minds. The soul of the company.

Sorry it took a while to get to this section of the post, but I felt like it'd be a disservice to exclude context.

The goal right now is to take all of the ideas and thoughts that I've had with Simplex Minds into something clear, to the point, and easily digestible. If I can't understand those ideals myself, how am I going to be able to try and get other people to understand themselves. How can we work towards something together if there is no direction.

Thus begins the "Simplify the complex" portion of this project.

What do I envision for this platform?

I want this to be a place where creatives can humanize their struggles and understand that things take time. I want it to be a place where we can promote and learn from creatives/artists that are creating at that next level. I want it to be a place where everyone is pushing each other to get better and that it is okay to mess up from time to time. I want to be able to invest into creatives and allow them to develop their individual styles and give them the creative freedom to do what they want.

Draft 1:

Core values:

- Process orientated

- Invest, develop, and promote the creativity in people

- Community based

- Transparent

Purpose:

The purpose of Simplex Minds is to invest and develop the creativity of different people while promoting a behind the scenes perspective to humanize the hurdles we go through as human beings.

Vision Statement:

To promote the ups and downs that comes with life and career choices through an inclusive media platform. To normalize the journey a person takes when moving towards where they want to be. To help lift up the community and push creativity as a whole.

Are these all accurate in the technical sense? I have no clue hahah. From the research I have done, it feels like these describe these terms. But in reality, I could be putting these terms and descriptions in the wrong places. I'm a broke 25 year old with no one guiding me. Give me some slack.

BUT

Those statements above is what I believe is the soul and core of Simplex Minds. When I tell people what this platform is, that is what I am going to tell them. When I tell them what I envision Simplex Minds to do, it will be some variation of the purpose and vision statement above.

This is the beginning of the base that I want to build. The beginnings of taking this project from concept to a tangible product.

There are many more ideas and goals to get to. It's time to build the team a bit. I can't do this on my own.