PTCC #003: Please Create on the Internet
This week you’ll find out about how to change strategy when you need to boost growth. Let’s dive in.
In the mail 📧
Small ideas: Things to ponder.
Stories: Shifting gears on your strategy.
People: Cool creators on the internet.
News: An update on the name change.
Read time: 2 minutes
SMALL IDEAS
We’ve misunderstood the purpose of a productive morning routine. It’s about getting you ready to have a productive day, it’s not about doing as many things as you can.
What if you thought of time as money? That 2 hours you just spent worrying is $40 down the drain. That $40 could have bought you a day out with your family.
Doing nothing is a perfect way to increase productivity. Spending time in your own head, reflecting, pondering and thinking are where some of the best ideas come from.
The article this week:
6 Solid Reasons To Create Part-Time on the Internet
Most people have no idea what they want to do with their life.
Sure if you look at their LinkedIn they’ll seem like they have it all figured out but interrogate a little further, catch them on a bad day and they’ll tell you that they have no idea what they are doing. Welcome to the club.
When people finally figure it out, usually it takes some catastrophic life event for them to spring into action. Someone gets ill. They have a near-death experience. They realize in some traumatic way that life is short and they get one go around.
If you find yourself wanting to do more, to figure out what you want to do, and to try your hand at this online creator thing, here are 8 solid reasons you absolutely should.
1. To feel alive
Carving out time each day to tap away on the internet trying to get other people’s attention is a massive undertaking. There are a gazillion people all trying to do the same thing. It’s hard work, you won’t make it straight the way, but it’s one way to make you feel alive.
Creating on the internet, showing up each day, and trying to work out this creator thing feels like you are really trying. For some reason the human mind is predisposed to protect itself, to not try so hard, to keep itself from failing.
Trust me, when you put yourself out there, when you have a go, you feel more alive than ever. It’s a feeling that you will get addicted to if you give it long enough.
“The only failure is not trying.”— Robin S. Sharma
2. To stress test yourself
You’ll constantly wonder what could have been if you don’t give it a go.
The best way to know what you are capable of is to go out and get evidence. It’s by testing yourself and seeing how far you can go you start to break down your self-limiting beliefs. The more you do the more you learn.
It’s the building blocks of confidence. You try, you see it’s not as scary as you think, you do better than you think and you realize you can go further than you thought you could. It’s liberating.
Testing yourself and seeing for yourself what you are capable of is one way to stop all the noise in your head.
3. To learn that failing publicly is okay
Being vulnerable sucks.
Staring out into the internet from the desk you sit behind feels weirdly scary. It’s the thing that stops most creators from taking their first step. It feels inconceivably hard to put your thoughts into the world and see what happens.
Your mind races into scenarios that might happen, and all of a sudden your brain is filled with problematic thoughts:
What if you make a mistake and everyone laughs at you?
What if the world thinks your ideas are stupid?
What if nobody cares?
Here’s the beautiful thing. All those things will happen (and hold on to your hat) life still carries on. Here’s the thing about failing online: it will happen and you will be okay. Now, what’s your excuse?
4. To figure out how to work through the bad days
When you commit to creating on the internet you’ll realize something about your bad days.
You’ll learn that as much as you might try, you can not avoid the bad days. They are coming whether you like it or not. You can’t wish them away, you can’t hide underneath the duvet, you cannot escape them. You realize quite quickly if you want to stick around for the long run, you’ll need to learn to work with your bad days.
This is one of the most underrated talents an online creator can master. If you can experience boredom and realize it’s just part of the deal when you decided to sign up to create online you’ll be more consistent than you ever hoped. Creating online through the bad days will set you apart.
5. To experience what it’s really like to be an entrepreneur
There is an image of an entrepreneur that has become the poster boy of 2022.
Those people making money on their own terms, making their own work schedule, with more spare time than you or I could ever dream of have hit the jackpot. Those are the people to be.
For years I’ve tried to start businesses that would allow me to work for myself. All of them failed. I was desperate to start something that I could say was my own. Two years ago I finally committed and here I am, making my own money online. Here are some surprising things I’ve learned about making money for yourself:
Some days are a total bore.
Some people are mean and want you to fail.
It’s not so different from a 9–5.
Before writing online I had this image of what I thought entrepreneurship was like. It’s nothing like I thought.
6. To make yourself proud
If there is one reason to wake up early or work after hours on your own thing online it’s this: to make yourself proud.
No, not to make anyone else proud. Not so your mum thinks your a good boy or so your colleagues think you’re cool. But for you. These days we do nothing for ourselves. We have to call it ‘self-care’ for it to qualify for any time in the diary. Well, I’m saying no.
I’m saying you should create something online for yourself. So you can look yourself in the mirror every morning and say, today I tried. Not because you guzzled a heavy dose of self-help and now you’re inspired but because you wanted to create online and you did.
Is there anything better than feeling good about who you are?
It’s the best decision I’ve made
For years I sat in my own pity party wondering why I hadn’t ‘made it’ yet. It’s embarrassing to admit but I’d slump on the sofa, watching documentaries of successful people believing that could be me. But for years I did nothing about it.
Instead, I tried a zillion get-rich-quick schemes trying to shortcut my way to success. Don’t do it. It’s a cheap way to get to the feelings you want to feel. It’ll make you feel worse.
Instead, grab your computer, figure out what you want to create, and commit yourself to the process. Fail, try, work through the boredom and enjoy the good days.
2.5 years later, creating on the internet is the best decision I ever made.
Count down until the book launch: 15 days!
The release sale is just $0.99, what can you get for $0.99 these days?
Just bought the book, eager to read it - I have been a part-time creator for a while, under a number of different banners, but I'm focusing on my writing now. I love to write - and I'm determined to get my words out there!