The Freelancer

Why is there such a double standard with creativity and commerce?

Maybe the next time you take a photo and post it you’ll question your motivations as well. Or maybe you’ll think differently when you see a well-curated, edited shot from someone online and remember that their life is likely not all that or perfect. Better yet, maybe you’ll see some whales, jump up and down a little and be like, “FUCK YES, WHALES”. And forget you even have a camera or social media feed at all.

There are countless books, bloggers and thought leaders that will tell you that the key ingredient to a happy, meaningful life is to find the courage to follow your passion.

The dishwasher I bought that was supposed to be delivered last week isn’t here yet. I called the delivery company and they aren’t even sure where it is. The quote I requested from a fence company to fix my fence (a project worth a couple grand) still hasn’t come through. I was told I’d hear about that last week too.

The Sunday Dispatches podcast is coming to an end... for now? forever? My mailing list will continue at: pjrvs.com/signup

Minimalism is a mindset rather than a blind purge. If something is useful or pleasurable, you keep it. If it’s not, then you consider scrapping it.

A doctor doesn’t wait until she’s inspired to do surgery to save a patient's life. A lawyer doesn’t wait for circumstances to be absolutely perfect before she tries a case for her client. They have work to do, so they do it. There’s no mental hacks or habits or tricks required.

Word length, grammar, typeface, first person, who cares? It’s like debating shades of white in a paint store: it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. White paint is white paint. Good is good. Writing good simply means that you can clearly share valuable ideas with someone else. And I’ll take that over dense or flowery language any day.

Belief is only the first step to succeeding at something, action must follow.

You can technically be profitable with a single sale of a service, if you charge more than it costs you to develop it. That’s why services are easier to push into the black than products – they take less work to set up and start doing.

We read about time-saving tricks so we have more time to read about time-saving tricks. We optimize our morning routines so we can have 30 minutes longer each morning to work more. It seems like we collectively want more time simply because we want to cram more into the time we’ve got.

In medicine, there’s a learning model for new surgeons known as “see one, do one, teach one” — it was started by William Stewart Halsted at Johns Hopkins in 1890. Before that, there was no formal training program for people cutting into other people in hospitals (scary, right?).

Assuming we’re 100% right, 100% of the time is a recipe for never growing, never learning, never changing (for the better).

I have to start with this disclaimer… I hesitate to write articles that include phrases like “how to make money” because a) money’s a crappy goal in and of itself and b) I don’t want my writing to get lumped in with thought-leader marketing bullshit. Seriously, Google “how to make money from [insert any activity]…” and total crap fills the results. Hopefully this will be a shining beacon of honesty for Google. Or at least, for you. Disclaimers aside, most folks who make a living online including me, do so by revenue generated from mailing lists. “The money is in the list” and all that.

There are few things that incite rage in me like seeing a motivational quote on social media. There’s a few reasons why (other than, obviously, the fact that I’m a crotchety old man in training and get mad at most things on social media).

My entire business strategy can be summed up in four rules: 1. Be useful 2. Give freely 3. Stay simple 4. Keep track

So although I love that my list drives my revenue and the money side of my business, the real reason I love my list is because it lets me work in the way I want to. And that’s the real reason I work for myself: so I can have a business I’m happy with because it’s run in the quirky, introverted way I like to live my life. And even when life’s shitty, which it sometimes is, my list can take care of things for me. Sponsored by Freshbooks: freshbooks.com/sunday

If you don’t want to have employees, assistants, scale up or grow a company that’s bigger than you - there can still be growth involved. It’s just a different kind. Sponsored by Freshbooks: https://freshbooks.com/sunday

Instead of chasing the latest and greatest tactics ,consider first creating a strategy for your marketing. As in, what’s the ultimate purpose and objective for what you’re doing? Who do you want to reach?And how will what you’re doing actually and honestly help them?

https://growyouraudience.co for more details.