Pre-production is a critical and often overlooked aspect of starting a gig as a creator.

Another is building trust by building in public — demonstrating to your audience who you are, how you work, what makes you you. Step Zero in this process is drafting an ‘about me’ statement that:

1. Transparently describes your motivations,
2. Charts out your curiosities and your relationship with curiosity (instead of just the subject/s that you will write about)
3. Documents what you need to meet your goals, and what you already have that gives you a headstart.

I have been working as a solo, independent creator for nearly five years now. Two of the most visited posts on my website are still the

‘Who am I?’ and ‘What is Sanity?’ pages which I wrote early on in my journey (but not early enough) and have frequently refreshed.

In hindsight, not only have these two documents (together they constitute my ‘about me’) helped new readers find me and decide to support me, more importantly they have helped me find clarity whenever I have felt lost or demotivated. They are my biggest asset as a creator: my story.

I regularly help independent creators troubleshoot (see the end of this workbook for how you can work with me). This is the stuff that I discover most people haven’t had the opportunity to rigorously consider before they launched their product/platform, causing significant creative and even commercial problems down the line.

In this workbook, I will share with you the process and structure I would have followed if I had to start all over again. These are primarily my notes to myself. They are not prescriptive or definitive. Nor do they contain unheard-of wisdom — I have only organised in one place some knowledge that I have picked up during my own evolution. As long as this helps you get started on your thinking journey, I’d consider the effort worthwhile. 

All the very best. — Tanmoy