Elliot Jay Stock's opening keynote at the Yggdrasil 2016 conference.

1. Why Passion Should Guide You
C O N F E S S I O N S O F A N A C C I D E N TA L B U S I N E S S M A N
Elliot Jay Stocks
elliotjaystocks.com
@elliotjaystocks

2. Hello, my name is Elliot
Co-founder of Lagom magazine
Founder of 8 Faces magazine
Music-maker as Other Form
(Former Creative Director of Adobe Typekit)

4. 1 A Bit of Background

24. 2 Business-y Thing One: Going Independent

42. 3 Business-y Thing Two: 8 Faces

57. ia.net/blog/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period

58. elliotjaystocks.com/blog/the-fine-flourish-of-the-ligature

59. elliotjaystocks.com/blog/expert-subsets-for-css-in-123

60. elliotjaystocks.com/blog/say-it-with-a-swash

61. elliotjaystocks.com/blog/stylesets

66. 4 Business-y Thing Three: Viewport Industries

83. 5 Business-y Thing Four: Lagom

85. readlagom.com

97. Van de Graaf Canon

98. Van de Graaf Canon

99. Van de Graaf Canon

100. Van de Graaf Canon

101. Rosarivo’s Gutenberg Canon

102. Rosarivo’s Gutenberg Canon

103. Rosarivo’s Gutenberg Canon + Van de Graaf Canon

105. retinart.net/graphic-design/secret-law-of-page-harmony

106. besquare.me/session/antiphonal-geometry

126. 6 Business-y Thing Five: Going Independent… Again

127. Product
work
Client
work

128. Product
work:
Lagom
Client
work
Product
work:
8 Faces
book

129. Product
work
Client
work

130. Client
work:
standard
Client
work:
retainer
Product
work

131. elliotjaystocks.com/blog/working-for-half-a-day-to-be-more-productive

136. Have a side project!

137. Have a side project!
— To work with your friends
— To escape from your day job
— To fulfil your own needs
— To help people out
— To promote yourself
— To have fun

138. Have a side project!
— To work with your friends
— To escape from your day job
— To fulfil your own needs
— To help people out
— To promote yourself
— To have fun
— To create a new business?

139. 7 Lagom’s Extremely Complicated
& Top Secret Business Plan

140. 7 Lagom’s Extremely Complicated
& Top Secret Business Plan ;)

142. Money out
———
Printing costs
Contributor costs
Misc. (travel, research, etc.)
Money in
———
Partnerships
Unit sales

143. Money out
———
Printing costs
Contributor costs
Misc. (travel, research, etc.)
Money in
———
Partnerships
Unit sales

144. Money out
———
Printing costs
Contributor costs
Misc. (travel, research, etc.)
Money in
———
Partnerships
Unit sales
Profit

145. 8 A Sort of Conclusion

146. “Profit”

147. Make lots if money, because
the things you love to do
won't pay very much.”
~ John Maeda, paraphrased,
speaking at Brooklyn Beta
“
Photo by Marc Thiele

148. It’s okay to make money.
A sustainable business is a business that
is able to make enough money to pay the
people who create the product.

149. It’s okay to make money.
A sustainable business is a business that
is able to make enough* money to pay the
people who create the product.
* That bit is up to you.

150. As long as there is something
offered, I consider it a nod of
respect — and that’s all I need.”
~ Lagom contributor
“
£

151. Typically we judge success
on impression-based metrics,
but I look more towards
expression-based metrics:
how much do people
actually care about it?”
~ Ian Coyle, 8 Faces #1
“

152. Traditional business = making money

153. Traditional business = making money
My business = doing what I love

162. “Businessman”

163. ?“Businessman”Lover

165. T H E R E A L C O N C L U S I O N :
Money should be an enabler;
a by-product of doing what
you love, not the end goal.

166. Thank you!
elliotjaystocks.com
@elliotjaystocks

167. A special thank you to Yggdrasil attendees:
Get 25% off any Lagom order (including
subscriptions) using promo code worldtree
readlagom.com/shop
@readlagom