Changing Course
Hello friends!
I’m trying a new format for the blog for the next few weeks – I’m going to be giving weekly updates on the Neurospicy Art project and sharing what is working well for me as I go.
A quick recap of last week as I had nowhere else to share it; last week was super productive after I returned to my beloved Shape Up methodology.
After the exhibitions and NSA launch, I started to flounder a bit and struggled to find a good rthythm to settle into. I realised that without my big deadlines, I found it hard to prioritise and focus on what to work on, and I also felt like I was spinning my wheels a bit – endlessly busy, but feeling like I had very little to show for it.
Then I realised that the issue was that I had entered into a new and different phase of this project and this required me to change my approach as well as I settle into a more long term kind of pace for things.
As soon as I correctly identified the issue, I course corrected and had the strongest week I have had in ages, which is awesome.
Last week I did a major overhaul of the NSA website and also produced display images for all 109 pieces of art in the collection. This was an absolutely massive job, and took me hours to complete, but it was essential. I also realised that I will need to change the layout of all 109 sales pages (😱) because even though they are functional, they are just too basic, and lack any sort of features that customers expect when they are about to make a purchase. To be honest, I can’t believe that customisation for product pages on Squarespace is practically non existant, but I’m sure there is a reason for it. At any rate, I need to be able to include videos of the products and other supporting visual assets on the sales pages and at the moment, I can’t.
I created a product page design that I liked last Thursday, and will start the Herculean task of re-doing every single product page before the end of the year later this week.
This time around, I am combining Shape Up with a framework that Ryan Serhant uses called Finder, Keeper, Doer. This is a helpful addition to the Shape Up framework if you work alone (like me) and have to do everything yourself.
The Finder Keeper Doer framework ensures that your focus stays balanced and that you are not neglecting any crucial areas of your business.
Because NSA is a social enterprise and has a very unique business model, I can’t use Ryan’s framework straight out of the box and have had to tailor it to my needs. Specifically, I have dropped the Doer category of work entirely, and I have re-named the first two categories ‘Create’ and ‘Improve’ respectively.
Thid means that I will have a more even split of time across marketing activities and 1% improvements of things like the website.
I’ve also started vlogging, and the first episode will be out on Friday (all going well).
I will do my best to publish the weekly newsletter and the weekly vlog from the previous week on the same day (Friday) but you are of course, welcome to watch or read whenever you like.
In other news, I have found my two charity partners for the 2026 season – I am pleased to announce that I went with the Mark Hughes Foundation and also the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation who will be receiving the profits from the NSA project for the duration of our partnership together.
Both groups have been wonderful to deal with and I’m really looking forward to working with them more closely over the next 12 months.
In light of having some collaborators on the NSA project I finally had an excuse to try Basecamp and it was all my dreams come true.
I always assumed (incorrectly) that it was only useful for teams, but actually, it’s perfect for anyone who has to manage projects, even if you are only working on them by yourself.
I upgraded to the paid version and have transitioned all of my existing projects to it.
I will film a video talking about all the digital tools I am using on the NSA project and will share that with you all when it’s ready.
Overall, I’m feeling good about things, the two months after the exhibitions/NSA launch were trying to say the least but I feel like I am back on top of things now and can see a way forward.
Ok, I will check back in with you all on Friday,
Have a great week!
Linda ✌🏻