The question

“Do you create any value?” — I asked this question for the past year a lot.

Not many people around me do that. Probably not many people in general.

There was a particular reason for that.

Now I’m gonna tell you about it. I also really want you to take a second to think about it and share your feedback with me.

I was a workaholic. You know that if you know me personally, or have read any of my previous posts. And I have never had any problem with this question before.

“Do you create any value?” Yes, I do. I did.

When I was an engineer, I created value for my company and for the regular people, who could enjoy fancy LED installations all over the city.

When I was a sound designer, I created value by helping awesome singers and musicians record and mix their creations.

When I was a 3D artist, I created value by adding my work to the bigger game creation process.

But when I started working on games… I got stuck.

With games, it works another way. When your goal is to bring joy and a good time for the players — it only happens when the players actually buy and play the game.

Otherwise, all your effort is wasted.

If the game has not been made – it’s wasted.

If the game has not been good enough and no one liked it — it’s wasted.

If the game hasn’t been sold enough — it didn’t reach a decent amount of people. Kinda wasted too.

And for the past years, I had an issue with releasing games I can be proud of. What had been done well, what had been sold well, etc.

So I started to feel like all my work during that time, all my effort and experience, all my life, and my limited time were completely wasted. Logically, I know, that it’s not true, because, you know… There is a new experience, you cannot control everything, etc. I know.

But I felt like this. And I still kind of do it.

I looked around and noticed that most of the people don’t even ask themselves that question. They live on autopilot. They even don’t care if their work has been wasted. For them it;’s not a problem.

What are you really talking about? You overthink it too much, man — they said. But, I knew there was a thing I needed to deal with.

There should be a better way

As usual, there are two ways to solve the problem — to change the reality or change your perception of the problem, so it’s not a problem anymore.

I am not a big fan of choosing only one path by doing that. I need to combine them somehow.

I started by analyzing what activities I do, and how can I make the biggest impact in each of them.

First of all, I was a 3D artist. I felt like just continuing to make models for projects, which will be canceled or failed by other people is not a very appealing thing to me.

I can do assets for the marketplaces, I thought. Well… there are a lot of people doing that already, so I have to compete in a very overcrowded market with insanely low prices for the products. Really. Take any service or industry and you will not find a month of senior-level specialist work for $5 in-store. Plus, simply produces a bunch of things for stores and prays someone will buy them. So… nope, not this way.

Another part was to create more and better assets than average. To do this, you need more skillful artists. So it basically leads to making a 3D art outsourcing company. It would be a good idea if I wanted to create art just for the process and have no life-related issues. Last year I had a lot of calls as an art producer with dozens of awesome outsource studios all over the world. This market is even more competitive and harder to enter. It was completely clear to me. So… nope again.

But I love creating fancy interactive things… I need to find a way how I can make the same work more efficient. Bring more value with each thing I create. Somehow…

Second, of course, are games. I love making them more than playing now. It’s challenging and exciting for every project. It is the thing that always keeps you learning something new. Games are good as a product to build a business on. The thing here is that it takes time to build a studio from scratch. It takes time to make the game itself. It takes money to even hire someone or do it alone.

The problem with this was obvious — there was a war happening, I quit my job and did not have any income, and financial sanctions over Russia. I also was burned out. Not very easy conditions to launch a game studio.

Anyway, even though the process itself is well-known to me, I felt like it could bring more issues than benefits. I am also not a fan of spending 3-5-8 years on getting the studio to become profitable.

I had to find a more efficient way. Or, at least, to lower the risks.

Lastly, I got into writing. Truly, into reading first, then into writing.

I was lucky to meet the person who introduced me to how good writing can affect any business revenue. These are the things and meetings I believe happen on purpose by the Universe, God, or whatever you believe in. It was a shot dive into a completely different, market, industry, country, and mentality. Like a cold shower. I hate cold showers, but after each of everyone, I have a clear understanding of WHY exactly I hate them.

The missing puzzle

It became like a small missing-piece puzzle for me. I finally had a spark of courage in my head. The whole picture wasn’t completely clear, but I felt that was it. This is the thing that can change everything.

I remembered anything I knew in the 3D art-related industry. Store assets, outsourcing companies, YouTube videos, and paid courses. They (except just a few) missed that one crucial thing. The thing that adds so much value both for their products and them as companies.

In the games industry, it happens too. Those who can do this magic thing — gather their audience faster and have better sales on release. This thing helps their studio skyrocket. This thing helps them generate money after release. Mobile games do similar things with their analytics, that’s why all the money is in the mobile section of the gaming industry.

The power of written work can surprisingly add an insane amount of value to anything. And those, who can master it and apply it in practice create a real value instantly.

“This thing is for me!” — I thought. I started absorbing everything I could about writing, copywriting, sales, automations, books, etc. I saw how to combine all those things I knew and loved to make them into something bigger than usual.

Something cooler.

Something more valuable.

Something that makes more value to the people in general.

Since then, I’ve been talking and working with many creators and business owners. I helped several people by now to boost what they were doing. And I can clearly see what the added value happens right away.

That bothering question is not gone anyway. It still rings in my ear every day. But I now have an answer for it.

This is a good place to pitch some kind of service I’m offering.

But no. Not now yet 🙂

This blog is just the place where I mostly share my journey of self-developing, building a one-man online business, and other random stuff. You can follow and learn from it. Adding a little bit of value for someone, I hope.

To be short, I’m coming up with three projects I will announce soon one by one.

As you might already expect — one of them will be about writing, one about 3D art and tools for game developers, and the last — about games themselves.

Do you?

In the end, I have the same question for you (actually a bunch of questions).

Do you create any value?

Do you feel that you create any value?

What did you do if you feel not?

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