Mind of a Maker
A daily blog inspired by Matthew Dicks
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”
To become better at something, you have to practice. What better way to become a better writer and storyteller than to practice by making a habit of writing daily?
In this daily blog, we’ll discuss Maker-related topics as well as what inspires projects, including YouTube videos, Movies, TV Shows, Disney, Star Wars, LEGO, Books, and more. Everything is on the table, and nothing is off-limits.
Disclaimer: The thumbnail images featured on this blog are often AI-generated. See Disclosure page for more information.
4 Entrepreneurs I'm Constantly Learning From
I love learning new things.
This year started like many others with lots of things I wanted to learn more about, watch, and read. However, one major things was different: I was also focusing on implementing the ideas in my life and business. Instead of reading and watching, but doing nothing—which is just entertainment—, I challenged myself to actually put what I was learning into practice.
3 Reasons Business Owners Must Lean Into Hard Things
Owning a business, unfortunately, comes with doing things you don't want to.
You have to keep your business legal by keeping accounting records, file taxes, and submitting legal documents. Not to mention creating content, finalizing products, and refining your business strategy. Even if you aren't avoiding anything on those lists, it reminded you of something you are.
We spend so much time avoiding hard things, but going into 2026, you should lean into those hard things you are avoiding.
5 Reasons Why I'm Thankful To Be A Maker
Like everyone else, earlier today, I was caught in a round-table where everyone said what they were thankful for.
Now, not to sound like a cynic, but I've never been a fan of that particular Thanksgiving tradition. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that we have so much that we should be thankful for and we should be thankful. I mean the generic answers most people give like family, friends, and spending time together.
But it did get through my cynical side and it made me think about why I'm thankful to be a Maker.
Notification & CTA-Only Newsletters Are Dead
Most people fundamentally don't like email newsletters.
Our email inboxes are already crammed full of bills, orders delayed in shipping, the 3 themed days for our kid's school this week, and updated terms and conditions for some streaming platform. Why would we consciously add even more things to sift through till we get to the emails we actually care about? And that's just our personal inboxes.
The 1 Thing Successful Entrepreneurs Have In Common With Batman Begins
Recently, I've been rewatching the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy and have picked up on several themes that have inspired me as a Maker and aspiring entrepreneur.
I love how Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox identify problems and iterate on existing designs to come up with new solutions (like Batman being able to turn his head). It's inspiring to see Bruce refuse to be beaten as he tries again and again to climb out of Bane's prison, The Pit, despite failing several times. Both of these examples are what Makers and entrepreneurs face every day.
Why Being A Maker Made Me Want To Start A Business
Lately, I've gotten serious about building a maker-focused business, but where did it come from?
I've always been interested in how things work, even as a kid. I would take apart old VCRs (who remembers what those were?), try to figure out how they worked, tinker, and try to put them back together... unsuccessfully. I was even fascinated with the DVD bonus features of how movies were put together and why magic tricks fooled people.
Without knowing what a Maker was or how to use any tools, I had started down the Maker path that I love today.
5 Mistakes I Made When First Starting My Maker Content
In early 2017, I started an Instagram page for Southern Style DIY that was dedicated to posting my build projects online, but it didn't go as well as I thought.
I had watched tons of YouTube videos and thought I knew everything. After all, how hard could it be to post some pictures of my projects online and create a massive audience? In short, I didn't know what I was getting into, but I still think it was a great decision.
The Best Advice From K-Pop Demon Hunters For Maker Business Owners
Unless you've been living under a rock, K-Pop Demon Hunter has taken over the world and I'm finding more reasons to love it.
Not only are the songs super catchy (don't lie and say you've not jammed out to Soda Pop by yourself in your car), but the messages are amazing and apply to Maker Business Owners as well. You're probably expecting either the uplifting message from Golden or the hype up from Takedown or How It's Done, but I have a different favorite:
Follow This Simple Advice To Get Ahead Of 99% Of Makers Growing An Audience On Social Media
How to get ahead of 99% of people:
Stop watching videos telling you how to get ahead of 99% of people.
Start doing the things you know you should be doing instead.
And if you’re trying to grow a Maker audience on social media, here’s what you should be doing:
3 Reasons Notion Is Overpowered For Growing Your Maker Small Businesses
If you're growing your business and are looking for robust tools, Notion is completely overpowered.
Since I first started posting content online, I've used pretty much every popular platform for my content calendar, project builds, and video ideas. I've jumped around from Google Sheets to Monday.com to Trello to AirTable to ClickUp and even tried pulling different note apps like Apple Notes and Evernote into complicated automations with Make.com. Every tool has its drawbacks, but I find my favorite has been Notion ever since trying it out in 2024.
3 Hidden Costs Preventing Your Side Hustle From Being A Profitable Small Business
You've already discovered many of the little costs of building a business, but you might not be seeing some of the big hidden costs that's keeping you from pushing through to the small business level. Most of these have nothing to do with opening your wallet, but with allocating your time and focus correctly. Your time and focus is your most precious resource as a side hustler, so let's use it efficiently and get the most out of what you have.
To make your side hustle into your career, you'll need to minimize or eliminate these hidden costs.
The 1 Reason Your Content Creation Systems Aren't Working
You've worked to transform your hobby into a side hustle or small business, but your systems aren't working.
You can't seem to post consistent content.
You can't point to any results from all your hard work.
You can't figure out what's not working.
1 Simple Framework for Turning Your Weekend Projects Into Online Posts
You've been working away on weekend projects for months and have thought about posting them online, but don't know where to start.
Makers want to connect with other Makers. Posting your projects online helps you join that community that you might not have locally (or know where to find them). But how do you get started?
3 Ways Maker Content Creators Can Leverage AI To Grow Their Businesses
You're a Maker, which means you cannot leverage AI since it's a digital tool, right?
Wrong. While AI is not able to build things in your garage (yet), you can still leverage it to handle time consuming tasks on your computer.
Use AI to give you more time in your shop and working on your edits (and get one step closer to your own personal protocol droid).
Top 3 Mental Frameworks That Have Helped Me When Things Seem To Be Hard
Some days, you feel like everything is going right and anything you do will win. Unfortunately, most of the time you feel like your efforts are in vain, nothing will work for you, and you should just quit (at least that's been me lately). The good news is, both ends (most amazing and most disastrous) are likely more built in your head than a reflection of reality.
6 Reasons Makers Hold Themselves Back From Creating Content
For over a year after I created my Instagram account to share my projects, I built things, took photos, but rarely hit "share".
Since starting to post projects online, I've learned more, made friends with other Makers, and been incredibly inspired by this amazing community.
If you've thought about posting your projects online and feel like you can't, see if any of these reasons are holding you back (and why they are faulty beliefs).
3 Maker Business Topics I am Exploring Right Now
There are 3 topics I am actively thinking about a lot these days:
• Effective Email Marketing
• Creator Small Business Growth
• AI
3 Hard Truths To Answer Before Turning Your Maker Hobby Into A Business
Everywhere online, you see people who took their hobbies and turned them into profitable businesses and you want it too.
Whether it’s to leave your full-time job or just bring in some side-hustle money, bridging the gap between hobby and business is no small feat. Social media makes it look effortless and like you can’t avoid winning big. Unfortunately, the reality can be much more difficult if you aren’t honest with yourself about what you’re getting into.
5 Hidden Fears Keeping Your Maker Business Stagnant (And How To Push Past Them)
You've posted some content on social media, built a website, maybe even have a low-cost product or two to sell, but your Maker business just isn't growing.
The insidious thoughts creep in.
Maybe you aren't cut out to turn your hobby into a business. Maybe people just don't understand your genius. Maybe everyone else who succeeded had an unfair advantage.
Or maybe, you aren't being honest about what's really holding you back (hint, it's you).
3 Rooms In The Haunted House Of Failed Businesses
While talking to a neighbor about how we should have used an empty house on our street as a haunted house, I started thinking about Maker businesses. Sure, how would a Maker decorate an entire, empty house and make it spooky, but also what would the Haunted House of entrepreneurs and business look like. What would scare owners and creators so much that it would spurn them to action tomorrow.