Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Odin Halvorson, Founder of Round Table Writers, located in Sebastopol, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Round Table Writers is a multi-generational and multi-genre writing community. We have members from almost every age and from all over the world.
Our goal, as a writing organization, is a little different from the normal critique and workshop groups out there. We believe that writers become better, first, by becoming better people. And we believe that a supportive community of mutual aid is key to any artistic, social, or political enterprise.
Our main audience is writers in the early stages of their careers. We have scriptwriters in Hollywood who have a few credits to their name in popular shows, MFA students fresh from their thesis, and debut authors who are wondering how to take their craft to the next level. We also cater to the “indie” publishing crowd, which can often get ignored because it’s messy, massive, and not always profitable at first glance. However, this segment of the writing population generally tends to be extremely enthusiastic and self-motivated, and we’ve had great success using our platform to highlight the work they are doing.
Round Table Writers has actually been folded into the larger creative arts company I formed with my wife: The Unenlightened Generalists. The umbrella for all my personal and business projects now falls within The Unenlightened Generalists. This consolidation allows me to better support my projects, manage business contacts, and raise funds.
Tell us about yourself
I love connecting people, forming communities, and building friendships. I believe that the greatest problems are due to a lack of earnest communication and a lack of mutual aid within our communities (be they online or in person).
I’ve worked for years as part of non-profit organizations that center on strong community bonds. First, for a prominent Zen Buddhist community, as the director of their audio-video department. Then, as an advisory board member for Democracy Café, working alongside my good friend Dr. Christopher Phillips. Since then, I’ve taken on major challenges, like running the tech team for the 2020 World Fantasy Convention and serving EveryLibrary on the team building their Fight for the First campaign platform. All of this while pursuing two Master’s degrees!
I want to illustrate all of this because it showcases my most fundamental belief about life: learning, growth, and self-betterment is a continual process throughout life. Human beings are nourished by the act of creation, whether that’s an outside project or an internal shift in perspective, intellect, and imagination. And yet, I also believe that the key to a better world is the manner in which we conduct our lives. So, I ask myself every day: how can I be a better person than I was the day before? How can I better lead through example?
Round Table Writers is deeply steeped in this premise. By joining a community that cares and by accepting continual self-improvement as a core tenet, it’s possible for anyone with a passion for storytelling to achieve their dreams.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Building diverse communities. Too often, we find ourselves fragmented within social echo chambers. My work has consistently supported the opposite of this insular tendency, and it’s been heartwarming to see the connections that people make with one another if they are given a chance. Within Round Table Writers, this includes people attending in-person workshop intensives with strangers or coming together to support artists in Ukraine suffering from the effects of the war. Seeing the way our community interacts with the world and serves as a force for good is what fires my passion for the administrative work needed to bring it all together.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
It can be a challenge to maintain your own creative projects while at the same time managing things behind the scenes. This is oddly paradoxical for me because everything I do for Round Table Writers, and everything under the Unenlightened Generalists banner, is part of my creative life! Finding balance requires diligence, intensive habit scaffolding, and the practice of mindfulness: which, itself, is a lot of work to learn and implement. It’s absolutely possible, but it requires time, patience, and a lot of compassion.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
First, find your people. You’ll see a lot of advice about “networking” in the business world… throw it all out. You don’t want to “network”; you want to make friends. You want to be part of a community. Communities are how we find support for our projects, how we gain new opportunities, and how we invest in our personal fulfillment. But good communities, where everyone cares about supporting everyone else, take time to build and require diligence.
Second, value your time. No amount of money is as important as your time because the minutes and seconds of your life are literally the only things you really have. Added to this is the importance of valuing other people’s time. As a business owner, it can be tempting to push people who work for you because you personally have so much riding on your venture. But happier people do better work, and people become happier when they’re given time to do things right.
Diversify! It’s never enough to have just one project going at a time. For one thing, that will make you impatient, which is the bane of creating something that lasts. For another, if something goes wrong and your sole project falters, you’re stuck in the mud. Make sure you have multiple projects that you’re passionate about alive and growing at the same time, and allow yourself the patience to let them mature and evolve slower.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://bio.link/indubitablyodin
Mastodon: https://sfba.social/@indubitablyodin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ohartshorn/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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