You were not expecting this. I promise.

People often ask me what I do for a living. I say something different each time. “I am a custom furniture maker. I’m a content creator. I make things and I teach people how to make things. I’m a woodworker. I’m an entrepreneur.” I’m never satisfied with the answer.

But there’s one answer that’s true even if it’s incomplete: I’m a writer.

Writing is the only thing that I have real talent for. I’m pretty good at lots of things, but none of them came easily. I’ve always had a way with language. And then I went to school and studied literature and writing. On top of that, I’ve had a long and strange career in a number of fields. So you name it and I’ve written it: fiction, journalism, opinion, poetry, memos, instruction manuals, memoir. I even wrote a book about woodturning.

So when an old friend started a comic book studio, he asked me if I wanted to write some scripts. I jumped at the chance.

I’ve loved comics for years, and even studied them in graduate school. (yup, that’s a thing you can study.)

Comic scripts are a fascinating challenge. The writer typically decides on the number of panels per page, the layout and shape of each panel, as well as the dialog and narration. The writer describes each image in microscopic detail and even includes things like camera angles. It’s a slow and painstaking process. I quite like it.

And my old friend (named Darick Ritter, by the way) is an accomplished fine artist. His wife is a political scientist and the two of them cooked up the idea that he should start a business turning social sciences research into comics. It sounds a little nutty, but it works. Most research never reaches the general public. Even important discoveries go unnoticed. And most people can’t be expected to read scientific articles. Hell, I’ve got a PhD in literature and I have a hard time reading them. But comics…now there’s a medium where even complex ideas can be understandable and exciting. 

So we contracted with a couple of professors, I wrote a couple of scripts.  Darick drew them and we hired a colorist. We delivered the work and we got paid pretty nicely. Then we did another, and another.

A few months ago I took a trip down to Nashville to visit Darick and hammer out some details of our work. And while I was there, something surprising happened. Darick took me out to dinner and offered me a partnership in the business. Of course, I said no. I’ve already got a demanding business that takes all of my attention. But that’s the point. I already have a business that makes money, that pays bills, that delivers on time, week after week. Darick is a brilliant artist, but he’s new to business and he could use a little help. I already do a large chunk of the writing and we often talk about ways to organize and publicize our work. I’m already helping to run the thing. I might as well get paid.

So all of sudden, I’m a part owner of Sequential Potential Comics, a real comics studio that turns out top-quality work. I admit, I get a thrill of pride when I think about it.

I can’t show you most of the work we’ve done so far; it’s the intellectual property of professional researchers who intend to publish it. But today, we’re releasing our short piece “How Your Comic Gets Made.” It’s a single page that shows our whole process and the huge potential of research comics. (Please feel free to share it anywhere; we want all the publicity we can get.)

And there are a lot of other things on the horizon. Darick is a fan of my Youtube channel. He likes my woodwork. We’ve discussed making some instructional comics about joinery and furniture making. It’s exciting to think about this new way to communicate. 

So, what’s going to change with the Youtube channel? Nothing.

You can still expect an original video from me each week (with the occasional week off.) Mostly thanks to my Patrons, my business is at a place where I no longer have to handle every single detail myself. I’m slowly building a team. I have an editor and his work is every bit as good as mine. I have an attorney. I’m looking for a Social Media Coordinator. More and more, I’m putting my attention on the things that only I can do: designing and building the projects, writing the books, and being on camera. But those things are only a fraction of running the business and somebody else can handle a lot of those other details. I don’t need to manage the website or do the graphic design. I can hire people for that and they’ll do it better than I would anyway.

So today, Darick and I are starting to push our new business. We have some wonderful clients, but we’re in the market for more. And we’re not limited to research comics. Sequential Potential is a complete comics studio with multiple writers and artists. We can do fiction, nonfiction, posters, book covers, and instructional comics. If someone wants to combine outstanding writing with top-notch artwork, we can do it.

And I always want my Patrons to know what I’m up to. If you follow me on social, you’ll see some occasional bits of our work. We might do a woodworking comic. It all works together, and even though this business is separate from my Youtube channel, my Patrons have given me the freedom to stretch out a little bit.

I love making videos, but no one knows the future of YouTube. If I’m going to build a sustainable career on creativity and teaching, then I must diversify. I can’t be at the mercy of a single platform that someone else controls. By stretching out into new media and new business ventures, I’m ensuring that no matter what happens with videos, I’ll be here bringing you my best creative work for a long, long time.