There is a philosophy that I try my best to follow when it comes to my own businesses and that is designing for extremes.
I’ve talked about it before and wrote a blog post on it that you can read once you’re done with this email but the gist of it is this.
Take a look at the people you want to sell to and find an extreme case within them. Someone who is on the edge of the group.
And then make sure you can help them because if you can help them, then you know you can help the rest of the group.
So when I was thinking about the Create Your Own Economy Cohort, I started to think about the people that I wanted to help and what an extreme case would look like.
For me, that is the person starting from scratch. The one who feels they don’t have any of the skills or knowledge to simply jump in and start talking about whatever topic they choose. And the reality of this is that’s actually most people.
The ones that you see finding success today are usually faking it till they make it or just copying the knowledge that others are sharing. And this gets easier to do every day because all you need to do is spend a couple of days doing research on the most popular content by a group of Creators, rewrite it, and now you have guru content.
But I understand not everyone wants to go that route and it’s not a route I’m even suggesting.
For the true beginner, there are two distinct tactics you can go with and not to spoil things, but I won’t cover them in detail in this email. But I also won’t leave you hanging either.
I know that these methods work, but I can’t give anyone a recent example of myself doing either of them. And technically, that’s not really a problem. I’m fortunate to know enough things in this space that I can present what I know in a unique way that captures people’s attention.
That’s a huge advantage that 99% of the people here don’t have.
But there is a huge conflict between what you see from some gurus (I got to $10k a month in just 47 days) and me saying that if you play the long game a certain way it will pay off in the end.
So if I’m going to give the advice then I believe that I need to show you how I do it myself. Which means, that I have to start over from the beginning with something.
And I love it.
I think some people might not understand because I have a good thing building up with Odd Noodle. The common business advice would be to only focus on Odd Noodle and keep growing it.
And I will grow it just as I have been doing for the past 3 months.
But I’m also going to grow two other brands in worlds (niches) that I have no authority in and nothing to lean back on. In these worlds, I don’t have a past that I can hang my hat on and tell new people that they should just trust me.
And since I don’t do the fake it till you make it thing, I have to do what a lot of you have to do: build something viable from the ground up out of nothing.
So what makes me excited about this?
I might discover something new! I’ll follow the strategies that I know work, but what if I uncover something new that I didn’t know before? What if I hit a roadblock that I never encountered and I have to find my way around it?
I also have to LEARN deeply about new topics. Instead of being the teacher, I get to be the student.
And this is where I will show you how to build a business while being a student. I don’t know about you but I think that’s amazing.
What are the brands? For now, I don’t want to share them only because I don’t want to give them an artificial boost (albeit a small one), but I can tell you what they’ll be about and if you come across them one day, then that’s just how things play out.
- Writing fiction. Specifically fantasy and sci-fi. My pet project, Odd Wonderful, is all about building worlds so I’m not new to writing fiction, but I’ve never studied it or learned best practices. I just write. Now I want to see how to do it better with more structure and detail, along with writing books.
- Learning how to learn. School really screwed us over by never teaching us how to learn. Instead, we’re told to read the chapter, take random notes, and then take a test. There are obviously better ways, but I don’t know them and because I’m an adult I don’t have textbooks. So how can I absorb new knowledge in an efficient way and more importantly, how can I pass these things down to my kids before the school system gives them bad habits?
It’s important to understand that the only way I know how to build a successful business is by being one of the most known people in that industry. I don’t know how you build an okay business by just staying okay. Eventually, others will surpass you so trying to be okay keeps on pushing you down.
But if you’re always trying to climb the ladder then how many others are going to do the same?
That’s my only goal with these brands. I don’t have a timeline I can give you like when they’ll reach $10k a month. It would be easier if I was an expert in these fields, but I’m not.
So how do I shorten the timespan to make these successful businesses? We will have to find out together.
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And let’s be honest. How many other leaders in this space would do something like this?
None.
They don’t do it because they’re in a good spot. Continue to scale their business that teaches people how to make money.
And I like that. I like when those at the top get comfortable.
It makes it easier for the rest of us to sneak up on them.
Where do you think I’ll be 6 months from now as I build these other brands and continue to share what I learn as I go along? I have an idea and it makes me smile.
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I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer this honestly for your own good.
If you knew you had to focus on a topic for 3 years, do you think that once the 3 years is over you can be one of the best people in the world on that topic?
If you spent over 1,000+ days continuously learning about the topic by reading, practicing, and creating content around it?
Maybe asking if you’d be one of the best in the world gets you scared. So we can change the question to would you be at a level where you feel people should pay you well for your experience?
Here’s the second part of the question.
Knowing you had 1,000 days, would that change your approach to how you went about building a business around the chosen topic?
Would you freak out after 3 months when your numbers aren’t skyrocketing? Would you give up after 17 days when you think this isn’t for you?
What if you gave yourself permission to work on this thing for 3 years, would that make it easier on you mentally? Because that’s the timeline I’m giving these two new brands.
Don’t get me wrong, it would be a lot cooler if I promised to show you how I get them to $5k a month after 60 days, but I can’t tell you that.
Where am I going to be in 3 years after building multiple successful brands, documenting the journeys, and teaching anyone that is willing to listen?
Where will you be?