Making plans in 2020 was a losing battle, and 2021 isn’t going to be any different. With “two weeks to flatten the curve” in its tenth month now, it’s hard to say when some form of normalcy will return. However, I have a prediction that things will start to return to normal when most people finally reach their breaking points. I think that will happen sooner rather than later, and things are going to get really interesting when it does.
As people reach their breaking points, we’re probably going to see a repeat of this past spring and summer, but on a larger scale. Two groups will emerge during this time: the violent mob and the folks who just opt-out. Where people fall in this dichotomy depends on their connection to their community. If people feel a connection to the community, they are far more likely to stop following arbitrary governmental edicts rather than burn down cities. Passive-aggressiveness will be a theme of 2021.
Slight flashes of passive-aggressiveness and opting-out are already starting, as the most locked-down locations don’t seem to be doing any better than locales taking a looser approach, and politicians in the most locked-down locations are caught flaunting the rules. It’s part of a trend that we’ve seen in elite circles over the last few decades, where those in power seem to think that the rules for the commoners do not apply to them. This elitism led to the election result of 2016 and the rise of populism around the world, and it’s not going away with a change in presidential administrations.
Karma will not be kind to those who think there’s one set of rules for some and another set of rules for everyone else. People opting-out should be the least of their worries.
Seeing this mayhem coming down the road, I don’t believe that in-person events will return until at least the second half of the year, and possibly until the fourth quarter of the year. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have a limited travel schedule in 2021. CiderCon, which was supposed to take place in Chicago the first week of February, has been moved online along with the Cider Summit tasting event, which I attended at Navy Pier in 2019, the last time CiderCon was in Chicago. If you’d like to join the online tasting event, check out Press Then Press for ordering information. Cider Finder might host a Zoom after party for participants – details to come.
Aside from CiderCon, the only other potential trips on my calendar are GLINTCAP in mid-May and a trip to the Front Range for Denver Startup Week and Great American Beer Festival, along with visits to a number of cider makers in the area in October. These are the only events I think may have any chance to happen in the real world instead of the virtual – GLINTCAP because it’s a set number of judges and stewards, which makes screening for coronavirus easier; and the other two because they take place in October, at the beginning of Q4. I don’t believe any of the traditional Iowa “entrepreneurial events season” events will happen in person this year. EntreFEST will probably be virtual again, and we’ll see if any of the central Iowa events like Monetery and the Young Entrepreneur Convention get off the ground in 2021.
Regardless if Denver Startup Week happens live or virtually in October, I’m planning to travel out that direction. Most of the planned multi-week trip, even with an in-person Denver Startup Week, is to visit cider makers and promote Cider Finder. The main reason I attend in-person events is for the random connections I make during the event, with the added benefit of possibly learning a thing or two from the presenters. If the event is virtual again this year, stripping it down to mostly presentations again, the plan is to visit the cider makers during that week and catching a small handful of presentations in between visits. Honestly, that might actually shave a couple of days off the trip, so maybe I should hope for an online event again this year!
Even if most events are moved online or manage to happen in the real world in 2021, I’m not going to be attending nearly as many. I do love events, but I’m going to be narrowing things down as things begin to return to normal. Cider-related events make the cut, for business reasons. Iowa entrepreneurial events will always make the cut, because they rarely require more than an overnight stay somewhere within 2-3 hours of home. Denver Startup Week will always make the cut, both for the benefit of Cider Finder and for the ideas I get to improve our startup community here in Iowa City. Beyond that, it’s going to be a tough sell due to the law of diminishing returns.
As for Cider Finder, I’m excited for what 2021 has in store. I’ve been slowly plugging away at the app, improving our social media presence, and working on a video series called The Cider Finder – 4 episodes featuring the four biggest events I attended before the World of Corona began. The app beta test should be done by July 1, and we’ll have our big launch just in time for the traditional cider season and, hopefully, the reopening of taprooms across the country. I know that I planned to do most of this over the past 12 months, but with all of the shutdowns during the pandemic, there wasn’t much of a rush to get things done. Now, as things begin to reopen, it’s the time to launch!
Promoting the entrepreneurial ecosystem of eastern Iowa is something I’ve been doing in a disorganized way over the past few years. Now is the time to get everything organized under an umbrella funding organization. In 2021, I plan to launch a non-profit organization dedicated to ecosystem building events and projects. It’s going to be the financial and organizational home of Startup Weekend Iowa City and Iowa City Open Coffee, along with some new events that will launch when the pandemic finally subsides. (I may launch some of the new events online beforehand, just to see how it goes.)
Leaving a position has always been tough for me. I’ve always been good at starting and continuing things, but separating myself from something that I hold dear is incredibly tough. With the amount of time Cider Finder and the startup community building non-profit are going to take up, I have to give up something. I’ve decided that September 1 is going to be my last day as the face of 1MC Iowa City. With all of the travel launching Cider Finder, I’m probably not going to be in the state a number of Wednesdays after September 1, so it makes sense to hand off my role in the program eight months from now.
As part of the transition, I’m also going to be finding someone to help with Iowa City Open Coffee on the weeks that I’m not available. Depending whether or not we are back to in-person events by September, the 1MC crew should be able to handle the online version of Open Coffee. If we’re back in MERGE or meeting outside and socially distanced, I’ll need someone to handle the hosting duties. This is where it’s tough to plan – nobody knows when we’ll be able to enjoy each other’s company. Either way, I’ll be looking for someone to take the lead here in the coming months.
Concentrating on streamlining what I’m doing, I’ve decided to cut down the number of tasks I offer as a freelancer through Jay Cooper: Freelance Media Producer. Until now, I’ve done everything from landing pages, to random video clips, to voiceovers, and copywriting. This is unfocused and draining, and makes it difficult to say no to projects that I don’t want to do, either because it’s technically out of my wheelhouse, or because it’s more of a hassle than it’s worth. Therefore, I’m trimming down my offerings to three areas: Web app development (no more landing pages), podcast production and editing, and video production and editing. I’ve lined up a number of partners for the services which I no longer offer. I’ll be updating and modernizing my Web site in the coming weeks to reflect this change in services.
Ever since 2018, I’ve been trying to find the time to get the Freelance Media Podcast off the ground. As I’m streamlining the number of projects I’m involved with over the next 12 months, I’m determined to get this thing going. It’s not going to be an every week type of podcast, and I’ve wavered on the specific focus since coming up with the idea. However, in the next few months, I am going to get this thing out the door and to the masses. If you know any freelancers who would be good interviews for this project, please let me know. I’m always looking for interesting people with fascinating stories.
Before I finish out the year, I do want to mention BondingBox. We’ve had the project paused for the last year – I thought I’d have more time to work on it, but time just got away from me. I’m hoping that we’re able to get things up and running in 2021, but it will completely depend on the amount of time David MK and I can spare between other projects. He’s incredibly busy with all of his different endeavors, and you all know how stuffed my schedule is.
Overall, I want to be cautiously optimistic about 2021. This year has been rough on all of us, and deep down we want things to improve. However, I think we have a long way to go and a lot of conversations to have before we all can work together again. There was so much momentum going into 2020, and it’s tough to see how everything ended up. I hope that 2021’s year-end post is cheerier – it seems like all we can do is go up from here. Happy New Year, everyone!