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title, source, author, published, created, description, tags
| title | source | author | published | created | description | tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| shenwei |
III – How to turn multiple interests into a lucrative way of life
"There are a few things we know so far:"
- You have multiple interests but feel like you can't keep learning forever
- You have a love for interest-based self-education but have to carve out time outside of your career to do it
- You understand the need to become self-sufficient but you feel like you don't have value worth paying for, yet
- You need to be able to adapt fast because we don't know what the future of work looks like
The question then is, how do we combine all of these things into one way of life?
How do we combine learning and earning into something you can do for work?
I'll try to make this as logical as I can.
To make money from your interests, you need other people to become interested in them too. That part is trivial. If you became interested in something, other people can too, you simply must learn to persuade.
Further, you need a way for them to pay you. In this context, that usually means you need to sell a product, because you probably aren't going to find a job that allows you to express your interests, and investing in stocks or real estate (to any effective degree) requires a good amount of capital.
In other words, you need attention.
Attention is one of the last moats.
Because when anyone can write anything or build any software, which ones are going to win? The ones that people know about. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, the person who can capture and hold attention will run laps around you.
As an aside, and if you've been keeping up with the tech space, no, I don't think everyone will just "build their own software." Most people don't even spend 20 minutes cooking their own food. They would rather pay a few bucks for Uber Eats. And people have their own things they want to spend their time on.
"Back to the point:"
You need to become a creator.
Now, before you cringe and leave, I don't exactly mean becoming a content creator (well… it's complicated).
I mean that the solution to stop creating for someone else because you need them to give you a paycheck is to create for yourself.
Humans, by nature, are creators who were convinced that being a machine would lead to the American Dream. We are tool builders at our core. We thrive in any niche because we create solutions to problems. If a lion were put in Alaska, it would not build shelter and clothing. It would die. A lion belongs in its own niche.
The thing is, every business is a media business now. And remember, you need attention. Where is the attention? Mostly on social media until the next attention preference platform comes around - you'll need to adapt at that point. So yes, if you have multiple interests, it would be wise to become a "content creator," but it may be easier to think of social media as a mechanism to get your interests in front of other people. It is one piece of the puzzle to do independent work.
Plus, that covers all of our bases.
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You love learning? Great, reframe it as "research" and now that's literally your main job. Most of the things I write about simply come from me learning about my interests and treating social media like I'm "taking notes in public." (You're already spending time learning, now just spend that time learning in public and boom you have the foundation of a business).
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You need to become self-sufficient? Well, you'd need a business to do that, and every business needs to attract customers, and you probably don't give two f*cks about paid ads, SEO, or any other form of marketing. This is what trips many people up because they are only used to doing one specialized task within a business as an employee.
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You need to be able to adapt? Amazing, you can build and launch new products to your audience as fast as you can build them. I have a solid audience, and if my next product were to fail, I have people who would be willing to invest, be a part of the team, or support the next product. You can build your little SaaS company, but if you don't have distribution, you are putting in marathons of extra leg work into getting capital, finding talent, and getting things off the ground.
No other job or business model allows you to do just that with so much freedom.
But how do you actually start building it?
How do you tie all of this together?
IV – How to turn yourself into a business
If you've ever helped someone with your interests, you're qualified to start a business.
They no longer require upfront capital. They are not reserved for unethical elites. They are not only for people who want to make a lot of money. And they are not only for talented or special people.
The reality is that entrepreneurship is in our nature. It is modern survival. We are wired to create and distribute value to a tribe of like-minded people. We are wired to hunt, explore the unknown, seek novelty, and never stagnate. Psychologically, this is the most enjoyable way of life, even if there are low periods, because those are what allow the (non-artificial) highs to exist.
Further, the barrier of entry has collapsed.
All you really need is a laptop and internet connection.
Distribution is now free thanks to social media (well, not free, but skill-based, which can be expensive in time). Anyone can post an idea that reaches millions, and if they have a product, those millions of eyes can result in millions of dollars if you know what you're doing, and that's a big if. Most people just love becoming really good at an interest or skill that doesn't directly impact their success, potentially because they're afraid of it.
Tools and technology now handle what used to require teams of people. You have access to AI and a plethora of useful software.
Now, there are 2 paths you can take to start.
Path 1) Skill-Based
This is what dominated the internet for the longest time. You "learn a marketable skill." You teach that skill through content. Then you sell a product or service related to that skill.
The limitation here is the limitation of being a specialist. It is one-dimensional. You put yourself in a box. You "niche down" because you were told it is more profitable, and since you're chasing profit over interest, you tend to build yourself into a second 9-5 where you do work you don't care about for people you don't care about.
Path 2) Development-Based
"The creators that win right now are those without a niche they can be pinned down to. Typically, they are focused on one of the 4 eternal markets: health, wealth, relationships, happiness. Or even all of them. Technically, everyone's niche is self-actualization, they are just all taking infinitely unique paths to get there."
- They pursue your own goals (brand).
- They teach what you learn (content).
- They help others achieve the goal faster (product).
For those with multiple interests, I obviously recommend this path, because it goes a bit deeper.
First, when you take this path, you are also taking the first path. Because building your brand, content, and product requires you to become good at all of the relevant marketable skills, so even if you fail, you have something worth paying for. You are building your business, and you can help others with a specific part of theirs if you are good at it.
Second, it flips the traditional model on its head.
You don't create a customer avatar so that you can niche down and only focus on that. You turn yourself into the customer avatar.
That makes things much more palatable.
You pursue your goals in life and develop yourself → you have already validated the usefulness of what you will offer → you help the past version of yourself reach that same goal.
Don't be a YouTube creator. Don't be a personal brand. Don't be an influencer. Be you. But in a place where your work can be discovered, followed, and supported. Right now and for the foreseeable future, that's on the internet.
Jordan Peterson (or others like him) isn't a "content creator," even though that's how it seems on the surface.
He goes on tours, writes books, leverages social media as a base, and uses all of the tools at his disposal to spread his life's work. He isn't worried about the latest content idea trend. His mind outperforms any of those myopic growth strategies. The quality of his ideas is what sets him apart and changes people's lives (regardless of your opinion on Peterson).
With that, I want to provide a different perspective on brand, content, and product. That way you can use this as a vessel for your life's work.
V – Brand is an environment
Stop thinking of your brand as a profile picture and social media bio.
Brand is an environment where people come to transform. Brand is the little world you are inviting others into. Brand isn't illustrated when a reader first visits your profile. Brand is the accumulation of ideas in your reader's mind after 3-6 months of following you.
You illustrate your worldview, story, and philosophy for life across every single touchpoint. Your banner, profile picture, bio, link in bio, landing page design, pinned content, posts, threads, newsletters, videos, and the rest.
"In other words, your brand is this:"
Your brand is your story.
It would help to spend a day writing out where you came from, the "low" points of your life, the experiences you've had and skills you've acquired, and how those things have helped you the most.
When you're thinking of ideas, content, or products, you should filter them through your story. This doesn't mean you have to talk about yourself all the time. It means you have to align what you're saying so that your brand is cohesive.
The difficult part is realizing that your story is worth telling, even if you think it's boring or haven't reflected on your growth.
"The point:"
Your bio and profile picture do not matter. There are literal people with one word in their bio and a singular color for their profile picture.
"My recommendation:"
- Make a list of 5-10 people you respect online
- Look at their profile picture, bio, and content
- Take mental note of patterns between them
- Start formulating what you should do for your own brand, with your own little spin
In all honesty, I wouldn't overcomplicate this or even worry about it. Your brand will take shape as you start writing content. We could even say that brand is content, so we need to get that right.
This article on the content ecosystem to build your own world may help.