Nathan Maingard powers his creative empire with Notion
Modern troubadour Nathan Maingard tells stories in many different ways — podcasts, films, songs, written words. With so many different mediums, there’s a lot of logistics to organize before he can start producing content. Notion cuts out the busy work so that Nate can focus on his craft.
Insights from
Nathan Maingard
Modern Troubadour
1
An artist's journal you'll never lose
Nathan’s stories start as seeds — a character, a melody, a thought. Ideas move from his notebooks into Notion. He uses Notion as a space to cultivate everything that he’s thinking about and working on. Filters help him track progress — a seed is an idea, a sapling is a project, and a fruit is a finished piece of content.
With enough care, his ideas grow and develop in unexpected directions. He can access his "Forest of Stories" on his phone or laptop and quickly discover or revisit all the ideas he's ever had.
Nathan’s Forest of Stories in Notion keeps his ideas safe and secure forever.
I know immediately what some ideas will be. Others could become a cool podcast episode, a song, or a bunch of other things. Notion helps me keep track of where ideas are going.
Nathan Maingard
Modern Troubadour
Modern Troubadour
2
Kickstarting songs and stories with templates
Just getting started on a song or a story is tough. There’s a lot of logistical work before Nathan puts pen to paper. For each medium, he uses a Notion template that automatically fires up a creative workspace.
“It sounds counterintuitive, but there's many repeatable parts of the creative process,” he says. “Templates help me get clear on how I want to take a story from the beginning to the end.”
His template creates a blueprint for the story arc: Who is the character? What do they want? What are the stakes? By using Notion to automate all his prep work, Nate frees up time and energy to focus on the act of creation.
Small prompts in templates help Nathan remember his goal for each piece of work.
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Task planning drives progress
With so many planned projects, it’s easy for Nathan to lose motivation, particularly when he’s consumed by busy work. By assigning each project a due date, Nathan creates simple and straightforward task lists.
He can view not just projects due that day and week, but also what he’s got coming up later — giving him peace of mind that he won’t forget an important deadline or milestone.
Different views give Nathan insight into what’s due today, this week, and in the future.
My home dashboard in Notion isn't any more complicated than it needs to be. It's just a quick way for me to see what I'm working on any given day.
Nathan Maingard
Modern Troubadour
Modern Troubadour
4
One workspace for creation, launch, and reflection
Creating individual pieces of art is hard, highly creative work — but it’s only half the equation. Nathan also has to nail all the last mile work necessary to get projects out into the world.
Notion pages act as a central hub for each project, allowing Nathan to control his release process. Whether it's hosting a livestream or sharing a photo on Instagram, he’s able to relax because he knows that every step of the process is written down. For example, when he shares a story on Patreon, he ticks off the checkbox and moves onto the next task.
Nathan continues to use Notion even after a piece of art is live. His “Garden of Love” collects emails, tweets, and messages from his audience. It's a cherished collection of positive feedback that Nathan can dip into when he needs a boost.
“A lot of creatives including me struggle with impostor syndrome,” he says. “It's been epic to have all my feedback in one place so I can read and re-read them.”
Nathan stores feedback alongside his work in Notion, closing the loop on the creative process.
