I am Anthony Stephen Mendes, a minimalist generalist trying out various skills and trades with minimal effort. The opposite route is to be a specialist with maximal effort but that's not for me.
You will understand as you read along.
To be Anthony Stephen Mendes is to be a minimalist.
As a teenager it was easy for me to fall into the allure of collecting junk masquerading as valuables. It was easy as Anthony Stephen Mendes to overload my senses and get engulfed.
Then there came a point where I was tired of this maximal approach where life revolves around collecting, stacking and getting bored of items and files.
Anthony Stephen Mendes was meant to be a minimalist.
As a toddler I was happy with few possessions but that changed as I grew up interacting with friend and classmates who fancied the latest games, collecting the newest toys and boasting about how their uncles or aunts could get them limited edition items from abroad.
It felt nice when I could one-up them and yet it felt shallow, even at a young age.
What caused me to become a minimalist.
There was a day where I woke up and saw piles of junk in my house as well as a pile of files in my phone. Both reflected a collection of items that I no longer associated with or felt happy carrying around.
Living in a small house in Mumbai did not help collecting items. Google Drive's storage being close to full gave me anxiety.
In the search to find a solution, I ended up discovering Marie Kondo for physical minimalism and Cal Newport for Digital Minimalism.
Ever since then I have been practicing minimalism wherever possible and inventing new ways with self discovery and minimal journaling.
What are the perks of being a minimalist?
As Anthony Stephen Mendes, here's what being a minimalist helped me with:
- Establishing a physical space where I can work and complete my projects without distractions; there's some way to go before I find the optimal solution but I will work with what I have now.
- My phone is declutterred and acts as a box of memories I want to cherish; no useless files, memes, screenshots of something toxic someone sent me.
- I have mental clarity - the aspect of minimalism in the physical and digital space has helped me realise what I seek for in life, even in relationships or interpersonal connections.
- My relationships with people have improved - those I could not deal with I have fired them out of my personal space; hope they do that to me too. The folks that I currently have in my life are those that take the time and efforts for me in the same measure that I do for them.
Anthony Stephen Mendes was never meant to be a generalist.
As a kind, I wanted to become a scientist. A specialist in creating UFOs or time traveling machines; perhaps something that can do both.
I become a generalist out of a need for being able to afford bread. And it works well for me.
Being a generalist can help you with survival.
I dropped out of college and was on the hunt for a job due to specific reasons I do not wish to disclose.
Luckily the only skill I had worked well to pay the bills. I used copywriting and content writing as a starting point with full time and freelance gigs for various startups in Mumbai.
During that time I was highly motivated to do more. This meant that I took the time to learn Photoshop, Illustrator and many other software which now help me make money or bring value to employers.
Skills I have learnt so far as a generalist:
- Copywriting, content writing/editing, blog writing
- Graphic design (Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Affinity, Procreate).
- Video editing (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, LumaFusion).
- Music production (FL Studio).
- 3D modelling (Blender, Cinema4D, Forger, Nomad Sculpt).
- Augmented Reality (Meta Spark Studio, Lens Studio).
- Event marketing (Paytm Insider, Luma, Kasa Kai Mumbai, Uhtend).
Anthony Stephen Mendes greatly benefited from being a Minimalist Generalist.
Here's why I feel everyone should be a minimalist generalist: the least possible steps to learn the most skills will open opportunities and multiply the so called luck factor.
Couple this with personal branding and you have a wonderful stage to be ever-present in the minds of those looking to add value to their ventures.
The first bit of success with being a minimalist generalist.
Anthony Stephen Mendes from 2015 would never believe an ad would change his life - Meta kept showing ads on Instagram for creating Instagram filters.
At first, being hesitant was obvious then I decided to look up a few tutorials where I could learn how it all works.
Therefore, I started learning Spark AR Studio (Meta Spark Studio, now defunct).
And guess what? It required a lot of my skills to bring AR experiences forward: 2D textures, 3D models, SFX for augmented reality experiences, etc were all things I picked up from my years learning new skills.
This happened in 2020 when the pandemic struck. I was able to monetise my AR effects and offer services to clients globally.
On Gumroad, I made close to $1000 simply selling guides, templates and methods to other creators - not even AR effects.
The success of those years led to being offered a role as a manager at Oraar Studio.
The urge to build minimalist productivity SaaS for others
With good revenue and a steady job came this urgency to create SaaS for personal productivity. I worked with Aavin Ashta and Parik to launch the following.
- Dwoth - a journal that uses emojis to create micro journal entries that are accurate and true to life.
- Chibaku - a simple tool that lets you copy text with one tap once you have added it to a board.
- Calendope - a social calendar where you can create a link of your personal schedule or your brand's calendar.
Currently I am working on a monthly events subscription in Mumbai where you can attend all of our events for ₹199 per month!
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If you would like to work with me then do schedule a call so I can understand your requirements better.
