WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:02.360 I have a confession to make. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:10.280 The first Star Wars movie I ever saw was Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace. 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:15.520 I was 13 and it just hit the Dollar Theaters, pour one out for the Dollar Theaters, 00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:19.160 when my friend invited me to go see it with him. 00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:27.440 He realized I had never seen the original trilogy or Eridge Tridge when I was surprised that, 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:30.680 Spoiler alert, Quigong Jin died. 00:00:31.580 --> 00:00:42.100 We fixed that quickly, but this movie, despite being considered one of the worst Star Wars movies of all time, I would say it's probably bottom two. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.040 This movie started my love of the franchise. 00:00:48.020 --> 00:00:57.480 So I thought, in honor of May the 4th, I'd share with you what solopreneurs can learn from Star Wars, particularly from a 00:00:57.700 --> 00:01:01.040 Systems and Automations Point of View. 00:01:01.300 --> 00:01:05.160 Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Streamline Solopreneur, 00:01:05.660 --> 00:01:09.440 the show that helps you automate your business so you can take time off worry-free. 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:15.500 I'm your host, Joe Casabona, and may the fourth be with you. 00:01:15.940 --> 00:01:23.320 I'm a huge Star Wars nerd, and while most of my analogies fall into the realm of baseball, 00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:27.440 I do love talking about Star Wars. 00:01:28.240 --> 00:01:37.080 So I'm going to go over three ways, or really three lessons from the Star Wars franchise that 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:42.100 solopreneurs can take to run their business better. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:43.940 The first will be do the work. 00:01:44.220 --> 00:01:45.760 The second is nothing is permanent. 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:48.360 And the third is you can't do it alone. 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:51.140 So let's start with do the work. 00:01:51.900 --> 00:02:00.040 One of the reasons, the prequels, and for clarity here, I will refer to the original trilogy 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:07.140 or the Eridge Tridge as episodes four, five, and six. That is the ones starring Mark Hamill, 00:02:07.960 --> 00:02:17.860 Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. They are A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and the Return of the Jedi. 00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:23.580 So those are the original trilogy came out in the late 70s, early 80s. 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:28.000 The prequels are the early 2000s movies. 00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:31.380 Episodes 1, 2, and 3, the Phantom Menace, 00:02:32.260 --> 00:02:38.020 attack of the clones and revenge of the Sith, starring Ewan McGregor, 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:41.160 and Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman. 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:47.560 And then the sequel trilogy, episodes 7, 8, and 9, 00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:50.800 are the ones that came out in the mid-tens. 00:02:51.200 --> 00:02:59.940 So those are the ones starring Daisy Ridley and John Boyega and Adam Driver. 00:03:00.260 --> 00:03:02.280 So that's what we're working with. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.380 That's the naming convention that I and many Star Wars fans use. 00:03:06.380 --> 00:03:08.620 And so I'm going to talk about the prequels right now. 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:16.720 One of the reasons the prequels were panned so badly is because of how good the Euridge Tridge was. 00:03:17.880 --> 00:03:24.180 Those movies told a compelling story of good versus evil, of redemption, 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.020 while also pushing the boundaries of special effects at the time. 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:36.340 My kids and a smattering of younger folk will ask me 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.700 why the Star Wars movies are considered so great. 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:45.380 And sure, 50 years on from the originals, 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.040 or at least the first original, it's kind of hard to see maybe sometimes 00:03:50.260 --> 00:03:54.520 because the movies have permeated our culture in such a way 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:59.580 that it's really hard to understand just how groundbreaking these movies were 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:06.040 and they were groundbreaking the most in the special effects department. 00:04:06.220 --> 00:04:12.820 The things that they were doing at the time were never seen in movies before. 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:28.140 And so they used the technology they had to push the boundaries to tell stories in a different way to make great storytelling happen. 00:04:29.140 --> 00:04:33.220 The prequels didn't really have either of those. 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:42.760 They had neither a compelling story nor were they pushing the boundaries of special effects at the time in a way that aided storytelling. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:48.840 Instead of telling a compelling story, they largely lacked a main character in any movie. 00:04:48.940 --> 00:04:53.120 This is like an ineffable quality of the movies until you realize it. 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:59.380 But if you go back and you watch The Phantom Menace, you'll realize that there's not a single hero in the story. 00:04:59.380 --> 00:05:00.940 We don't watch a hero's journey. 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:04.860 We just watch a bunch of things happen to people. 00:05:06.580 --> 00:05:08.980 And that is not good story. 00:05:10.140 --> 00:05:15.740 And there is a lot of stuff that could have been unpacked here that wasn't. 00:05:17.460 --> 00:05:22.800 And Trey Parker and Matt Stone talked about this in a lecture they did for NYU. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:27.640 As far as I can tell, for a part of MTVU's stand-in series. 00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:31.000 So they taught a lecture at NYU about good storytelling. 00:05:32.139 --> 00:05:37.380 And this is what they have to say about that. 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.340 So this is a clip from that lecture that I found on YouTube. 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:42.200 I'll all link to the video below. 00:05:43.020 --> 00:05:45.980 We can take these beats, which are basically the beats of your outline. 00:05:46.580 --> 00:05:53.380 And if the words and then belong between those beats, you're f***ed, basically. 00:05:53.710 --> 00:05:55.220 You got something pretty boring. 00:05:55.640 --> 00:06:01.600 What should happen between every beat that you've written down is either the word, therefore, or but. 00:06:02.100 --> 00:06:06.920 And that's why you get a show that feels like, okay, this to that, to this to that, but this, here's the complication. 00:06:07.400 --> 00:06:10.400 that. Just like, this happened and then this happened and this happened. That's not a movie, 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:14.860 you know, that's not a story. Like Trey said, it's those two, but because, therefore, 00:06:15.640 --> 00:06:19.300 that gives you the causation between each beat, and that makes, that, that's a story. 00:06:20.900 --> 00:06:29.260 And Star Wars, the prequels were basically just a series of events, right? And then, and then, and then, and then, 00:06:31.030 --> 00:06:37.360 and then. But that's, that's really not the point that I'm telling you about here, right? 00:06:37.380 --> 00:06:44.220 Right? It's like they were panned because, you know, it was not a good way to tell stories. 00:06:44.880 --> 00:06:51.860 And those events took one of the coolest bad guys of all time and reduced him to a whiny, sniveling twerp. 00:06:52.640 --> 00:07:03.780 But the lack of story was, in my opinion, reinforced by the overreliance of a relatively new technology at the time. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:05.040 and that is CGI. 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:11.100 This, coupled with heavy, heavy use of green screens, 00:07:12.140 --> 00:07:16.220 gives you a mostly boring, mostly emotionless movie 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:20.740 that fails to connect with the viewers, right? 00:07:20.820 --> 00:07:23.680 If you are talking to CGI, whatever, 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:25.460 and you're not given a ton of direction, 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.640 and you're just doing stuff in front of a green screen, 00:07:29.700 --> 00:07:39.340 You need exceptional story and exceptional direction to bring that to life. 00:07:39.340 --> 00:07:41.800 And we saw that with like Roger Rabbit, right? 00:07:41.880 --> 00:07:53.660 Like they devised a way to make it seem like Bob Hoskins was actually talking to Roger, 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.800 a fully realized cartoon rabbit. 00:08:00.940 --> 00:08:02.860 So why am I telling you all this? 00:08:03.020 --> 00:08:04.880 Well, the first lesson is do the work. 00:08:05.280 --> 00:08:11.300 As a solopreneur, we want to be more like the original trilogies and the prequels. 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:21.860 The originals actually used technology to assist in making something great while still relying on a great story and the human element. 00:08:22.880 --> 00:08:27.460 The prequels leaned too much on technology doing the work for them. 00:08:28.020 --> 00:08:30.260 and the movies fell flat. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.479 So as you use technology in your business, 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:40.800 use it to build better systems to help you do better work. 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:47.340 Don't use it to replace you in the actual work. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.040 Or don't use it to carry you through the work, 00:08:52.420 --> 00:08:54.580 which is what we saw with the prequels. 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:56.760 So that's the first lesson, do the work. 00:08:57.400 --> 00:08:59.780 The second lesson is nothing is permanent. 00:09:00.839 --> 00:09:05.920 Now, if you're not Gen X or an elder millennial like myself, 00:09:06.540 --> 00:09:10.760 you might be wondering where all the hate from the prequels is coming from. 00:09:11.280 --> 00:09:14.180 You don't remember them being that bad. 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:18.040 Certainly not as bad as the mess that is the sequel trilogy, right? 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:19.560 I mean, we'll talk about that in a minute. 00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:23.240 But, man, talk about not being able to pick a lane. 00:09:24.540 --> 00:09:26.860 And this really brings me to my second point, right? 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:34.360 the prequels have enjoyed an incredible resurgence and a rehabilitation that's due to a bit 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:35.240 of retconning. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:38.160 And if you don't know, retcon means retroactive continuity. 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:44.060 And these films have had nearly 30 years of it, which makes me very sad because I was a 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:46.080 teenager when the Phantom Menace came out. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:49.640 So it existing for three decades upsets me. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:56.880 Now, the retconning took place in books. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.920 that took digs at the idea of midi-chlorians, 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:01.860 which really upset Star Wars fans, right? 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:04.960 Because it took the force from being this magical, 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.020 mythical thing to something that could be measured. 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:11.580 But it also benefited from novelizations 00:10:11.880 --> 00:10:14.900 that actually took the time to explain 00:10:14.990 --> 00:10:17.280 and like big spoiler alert here, I guess, 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:18.640 if you're listening with your kids. 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:23.500 Novelizations that actually took time 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.860 to explain Anakin's transition to the dark stuff. 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:32.260 instead of just like a couple of cut scenes of him looking really angsty out a window. 00:10:33.760 --> 00:10:41.860 They had entire, they have entire comic book series that explores Bader's trauma and TV shows 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:45.260 that give the prequel's room to breathe. 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:50.460 And according to Claude, I asked Claude this because I wanted to make sure. 00:10:50.880 --> 00:10:55.840 But Recconning actually has more of a negative connotation than I thought, which makes sense, right? 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:58.100 it's like you would say, oh, they reconed this. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.660 Like they recond Asoka. 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.820 And she's inexplicably missing from the original trilogies, 00:11:03.900 --> 00:11:05.420 even though she was around for them. 00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:09.000 So I'm not going to use the term retcon 00:11:10.220 --> 00:11:12.260 when I talk about the Clone Wars, 00:11:12.380 --> 00:11:13.840 which is the animated series, 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:19.580 that probably is the single biggest savior of the prequels 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:23.000 because it adds depth. 00:11:23.560 --> 00:11:24.720 It adds context. 00:11:25.540 --> 00:11:29.520 It adds emotional anchors to the prequels. 00:11:30.260 --> 00:11:37.380 It's the connective tissue that was lacking between attack of the clones and revenge of the Sith. 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:51.220 And it was that connective tissue in a way that made them more relevant today that provided enough backstory that it didn't just seem like a series of events. 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:59.400 Like it added a bunch of the becausees and thens, or the becausees, right, and therefores. 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:09.900 And so while it did add its own continuity problems, the point is that nothing is permanent. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:17.000 As solopreneurs, we can experiment and try things and iterate to create something great. 00:12:18.760 --> 00:12:20.240 So start simple. 00:12:20.400 --> 00:12:23.680 Start with simple automations and build them into bigger systems. 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:28.680 Start with the most basic podcast that you can think of. 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:33.540 Start with a super simple CRM in something like Google Sheets. 00:12:34.800 --> 00:12:38.720 And then iterate into a bigger system that grows with you. 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:44.100 Most of us aren't doing something that is permanently unchangeable. 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:49.220 We don't have to hit a home run every time. 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:56.860 and rushing through something to get it done causes more harm than good. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:57.560 Right? 00:12:57.660 --> 00:12:59.960 We hear with, oh, AI lets me do stuff faster. 00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:02.500 Faster is not better. 00:13:03.160 --> 00:13:08.940 I would say if you want to do something faster, do a smaller version of it and do it well. 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.940 Don't try to do the whole thing as fast as possible. 00:13:14.780 --> 00:13:19.740 Dave Faloni, the showrunner and mastermind behind the Clone Wars and many other 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.800 post-Disney acquisition Star Wars content. 00:13:23.680 --> 00:13:26.940 He loves what George Lucas built. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.520 So he took the Star Wars franchise. 00:13:30.280 --> 00:13:35.040 He deepened the stories and he helped rehabilitate the prequels. 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:41.340 And the story of Dave Filoni working with like John Favreau and Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas himself 00:13:42.040 --> 00:13:47.420 actually brings me to the third and final lesson from Star Wars for solopreneurs. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.220 And it's a big one. 00:13:49.640 --> 00:13:51.500 it's that you can't do it alone. 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:57.640 The original trilogy is an incredible testament to teamwork, collaboration, and iteration. 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:03.400 Lucas would do something, which by the way, George Lucas was heavily inspired by like spaghetti 00:14:04.230 --> 00:14:08.400 westerns and Japanese film for Star Wars. 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:10.980 So his inspiration came from somewhere. 00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:11.840 He did something. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:18.440 And then others, directors, writers, editors would come in and iterate on that and fix some of the 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:25.480 things that didn't make sense. Lucas only directed a new hope. Other people like 00:14:25.740 --> 00:14:34.700 Irvin Kersner and Richard Mark Kwan directed the other movies, right? Empire Strikes 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:40.780 Back and Return of the Jedi, respectively. So they took these things and they iterated on them. 00:14:41.560 --> 00:14:46.999 The prequels did not have that luxury, though they could have, right? There was a lot more money 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.580 for the prequels and there was for the original trilogy. 00:14:50.560 --> 00:14:54.160 George Lucas basically took a first draft best draft approach, 00:14:55.040 --> 00:14:57.560 wrote the scripts and took very little feedback. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:02.380 There are videos behind the scenes of people suggesting changes 00:15:02.410 --> 00:15:04.760 and him just straight up shooting them down. 00:15:05.900 --> 00:15:10.040 He got to do what he wanted because he had the clout 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.900 and the rights to do it. 00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:16.960 And the end result was a worse product. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.080 But just because multiple people are involved doesn't make it de facto a better product. 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:25.200 I told you that we would talk about the sequels. 00:15:26.060 --> 00:15:26.640 Here we are. 00:15:26.920 --> 00:15:27.820 Look at the sequels. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:36.040 Two directors and largely discreet films, as in largely separate films. 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:42.140 Things were set up in episode seven that had no payoff in episode eight. 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:46.960 Episode eight basically erased what episode seven said and changed them. 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:52.980 bunch of things, and then episode nine, because J.J. Abrams, they brought J.J. Abrams back 00:15:53.920 --> 00:15:59.440 into direct seven, even though they had somebody else, he decided to completely ignore eight. 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:06.140 And all the things that were set up there and just pay off the things that he set up two movies 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:14.960 ago. And so the lesson here is you can't do it alone. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:17.700 but have a vision. 00:16:17.920 --> 00:16:19.240 Get help when you need it 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:21.240 and be willing to work with other people. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.920 Build systems that allow you to delegate. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.780 Being a solopreneur doesn't mean doing everything yourself. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:35.280 You will end up with a better product when you work with other people 00:16:36.140 --> 00:16:38.780 to help execute a vision. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:43.800 That's what the sequels lacked was an overall vision 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:45.260 of what needed to happen. 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:48.520 The prequels had that vision, 00:16:48.760 --> 00:16:50.080 but it was poorly executed 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:51.180 because there was no help. 00:16:51.280 --> 00:16:54.340 So you need to find balance. 00:16:55.380 --> 00:16:55.980 So there you have it, 00:16:56.160 --> 00:16:57.620 three things that solopreneurs 00:16:57.820 --> 00:16:59.080 can learn from Star Wars. 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:01.820 Thanks so much for listening to this episode. 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:02.560 Let me know what you think 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:04.400 over at streamlinedfeedback.com. 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:07.839 And if you want more stuff like this delivered 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:09.079 to your inbox, 00:17:10.040 --> 00:17:11.360 you can sign up for my mailing list 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.640 at streamlined solopreneur.com. 00:17:14.600 --> 00:17:15.540 Thanks so much for listening. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:16.760 And until next time, 00:17:17.800 --> 00:17:19.600 may the fourth be with you.