The go-to newsletter for ambitious individuals creating alongside their day job. Each week you'll get a deep-dive on topics ranging from growth, decision-making, monetisation & business.
Resending: 💰 How to make your first internet dollar
PTCC: #26
In the mail 📧
- Fun fact 🤔: Microsoft's first year.
- The story 🎒: How to make your first internet dollar.
- Small ideas 💡: Idea capture, living & problem finding.
- (NEW) Mental model 🧠: The map is not the territory.
- (NEW) Tweetspiration 🐤: Steph Smith & Taylor Swift.
Read time: 2 minutes
👋 7,600+ part-time creators.
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Fun fact:
Microsoft was founded in 1975. In that year they reported revenue of $16,000. 48 years later (2022) they reported revenues of $198 billion.
THE STORY:
Hang around on the internet for long enough and you’ll realise the incredible power of this tool at your fingertips. Some people are selling 7 -figure businesses just by using a free Twitter account.
It’s the size of the power that can be overwhelming. You can fall into the trap of running before you can walk. I’ve seen people make the same mistake over and over again (I did it for years):
- Get focused on big numbers
- Skip the vital steps
- End up failing
Instead, by focusing on the small & manageable goals, I’ve personally seen results I never thought were possible (and I kept my 9–5). Instead of thinking big, go small. Start by thinking about how to make your first $1 on the internet.
Here’s how you do that.
1. Fun focus
First, you need to build the stamina to play the long game.
It takes 5–10 years to build a solid audience. It’s why you need a shift in mindset:
- Do something you enjoy
- Find fulfilment in the craft
- The season to learn, not to earn
When you first start on the internet there is one major mindset you need to break. It’s been ingrained in you since you started work. It’s this:
Hours worked = hours earned.
In the first few months (or years) of creating on the internet, you won't earn much. You won’t want to write for your audience when you first start. Not because you’re selfish or entitled. But because it's too much of a shift.
Build for you first.
Missed opportunity: I started 9 businesses between 2018-2020 in an attempt to make money & listening to other people.
Maximised opportunity: I started writing in 2020 and focused on myself. It’s the thing that led me to my for $10k/month on the internet.
Writing is where I made my first $1.
P.s. writing on Medium is a brilliant way to start.
2. Eliminate distraction
Get-rich-quick schemes seem too good to be true because they are. It took me a while to realise that any shortcut was me taking a long way around.
There is no escaping the fact that you need to get good enough for the market to listen, making money is about compounding factors:
- Knowledge & experience
- Developing a clear value proposition
- Clear positioning for your target market
Focus on those and forget trying to get rich quick. Not only will it not work, but it will also be about x100 less enjoyable.
3. Optimise experimentation
Testing ideas in a low-risk way is foundational to progress, here’s how I approach every experiment I run:
- Step 1: Ideate
- Step 2: Test
- Step 3: Measure
- Step 4: Learn
Run experiments weekly (I write about them in the Part-Time Experiments newsletter ) & understand what is working, then optimise for that.
Missed opportunity: Between 2020 - 2021 I didn’t consistently review my data, it led to months of spinning in circles.
Maximised opportunity: In 2022 I doubled down on data & built 3 new revenue streams in 2023 so far.
4. Leverage community
There are 2 pillars to building a content-based business.
Creation & distribution.
Distribution is so often overlooked, but it's the secret to huge growth. Don't forget that a piece of content is seen for a moment in time, you want your content to work harder for you.
You can do that by building in public:
- Share your wins & loses
- Learn from others
- Ask for help
The added bonus is that it keeps you accountable.
5. Sustainable growth
In my experience, it takes 3 years to build traction (& 5-10 years to build a solid audience). With that in mind, there is zero point in sprinting. You'll run out of steam and feel pretty rubbish in the meantime.
I have a motto: pace is the pacifier.
Instead, try this:
- Speed up when you feel good
- Slow down when you feel bad
Use pace to help you stay the course but enjoy the ride.
Take all of those lessons and apply them to your own content-based business and you'll make your first $1 in no time.
Small ideas:
- Idea capture is better than idea generation. Instead of forcing ideas, I write and have a postit next to me to capture.
- More living, less things. Always surprises me simple that is.
- Find a problem, solve a problem is a brilliant business approach.
Mental model: The map is not the territory.
The only way you & I can understand the world is through some sort of removal. You can't understand the complexities of the world, there are too many, so you have to take away to make a map.
But the very development of maps then is subjective. So they are of course useful guides but remember they have had bits 'cut out' to simplify them. So they are flawed. Be careful of that.
Tweet inspiration:
October 22nd 2022
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How I can help you:
Time is tight, I get it. It's why I've put together super-affordable courses to help you create alongside your full-time job. If you're interested in growing your Twitter, I'd recommend:
→ 0-1k Twitter course - the exact strategy I have used to go from 425 to 8k+ followers in less than 4 months. Join 224 people using the course.
If you're interested in growing your Medium account, I'd recommend:
→ The Medium Blueprint - The multi-layered system for creating top-quality content on Medium alongside your full-time job. The system I've used to go from 0 to $2k/month. Join 86 people.
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The go-to newsletter for ambitious individuals creating alongside their day job. Each week you'll get a deep-dive on topics ranging from growth, decision-making, monetisation & business.
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