The Art of Doing Nothing
Do you rest by doing Nothing? How do you do it? What does it mean?
This week we have a very short post. It’s all about doing nothing or trying to do nothing. And there’s a few things more!
Menu for today:
How do you manage to slow down and rest?
A tool built for me and for you!
A Slow Week in My Life
Who else works too much and can’t stop? Who else knows it’s important to take breaks, but pushes through anyway? And who likes chilling and taking some time off to actually… enjoy?
And there’s more: how often do you actually do nothing? And if you practice doing nothing - how do you even do it? Is this even a thing? Can you actually do nothing…?
If you’re anything like me, you might also need a break :) And as always, I promise you, it will do you good!
I took over a week off, completely and entirely. My fingers didn’t touch the tablet for 10 days straight. The lid of my laptop stayed closed and collected some dust. All non-essential emails had to wait for me. Instead, I was walking long kilometers every day, to my multiple destinations of getting another coffee / pastry / book / delicious meal. I indulged myself with sweet treats, reading without thinking about what time it was, lying still with my dog, watching series, staring at the sun and listening to the ice cubes clunking in the glass of my delicious coffee.
Being a freelancer gives you so much freedom – which, in my opinion, is the best thing. But on the other hand, many freelancers are freelancing because they’re doing something they’re utterly passionate about, and it gets even more evident in the case of creatives – which means it’s literally impossible to disconnect from your work, because your head produces, cooks, digests and handles tons of creative ideas, to-dos, shoulds and shouldn’ts, have-to’s and can’ts constantly.
It was absolutely unnecessary to leave my studio, home, Amsterdam and the country to do that, but it made it so much easier to disconnect from my everyday surroundings. Moving for a moment back to Spain helped, with much-needed sun exposure and amazing food intake. I felt pampered, refreshed and a bit more relaxed.
So I invite you to take a moment off and hang out with me in my first week of many in Barcelona.
Maybe it’s something for you?
I’ve been going on and on for the past year and a half about my artists coaching program. This piece is not about that, but it’s something my mentorship practice **actually ** inspired.
I’ve been having 1:1 sessions with illustrators looking for help, guidance, and creative or strategic support. To organize that in a professional and sleek way, I used a booking tool integrated to my website, based on an ongoing monthly payment. Since I open the cohorts every 3-4 months, I receive the payments around those dates, but I want the artists I work with to have the freedom and option of booking their ongoing sessions as it suits them - which simply means I had to pay a pretty elevated fee every month just to keep the booking integration open.
This booking tool was quite complicated, with features I didn’t need at all, and on some occasions, it was unclear for the illustrators to navigate - still, it was the most ‘seamless’ option out there.
So my husband, who has 1.000 ideas per minute, grabbed his computer and built an alternative for me. And anyone out there, really. There are no fees necessary to keep the booking page alive during slower months as anyone can sign for free with no monthly costs, and has no unnecessary features for freelancers and professionals who offer online services - it’s super basic and super easy to use (“still in beta so might be buggy” he says). So a couple of most relevant things:
It has a plan with no monthly cost, so you only pay a tiny fee if you get paid
It has a Pro plan with more features
It has Stripe and Paypal (soon) so you can accept many forms of payment
Integrates with Google Calendar (beta)
It has your own branded booking page + @username
It works for one session or multiple ones with the same booking code
Let you set your own availability
You can issue complementary booking codes (gifts or to include in other products)
You can create services in your own currency
Super simple to use, two clicks to buy, two clicks to book
Modern and simple ᯓ★
It syncs with Stripe (PayPal next) and Google Calendar and lets people book time with you directly, once they chose a product and make the payment, book with two clicks literally, one session or many, and under one unique booking code.
It’s not shiny or fancy, but rather simple and straightforward. So if you or anyone you know offers paid professional services that require setting up calls or online meetings, check it out!
The creator (aka my husband) is offering free lifetime accounts to anyone willing to test and give some feedback on the app during this beta round.
Just follow the easy steps:
1. Go to glup.me
2. Create your public profile
3. Set up your details and branding
4. Add one or many products or sessions
5. Drop your glup.me/username link below
This is mine https://glup.me/orlandopedro ;)