I'm always lost on to how to title my daily journal. Sometimes, I can never find the right words to succinctly describe what I want to write about. But this just hit me: title it with the greatest emotion or event of the day. Write about it. After all, this is a daily journal for myself to keep track of memorable events or thoughts in my life.
To the wayfaring stranger that stumbles upon my journal, enjoy your rollercoaster ride flipping through the posts.
Today's post presents 3 themes about the first $50 I've ever made from an online product:
Good Habits / Systems Really Work
Put Yourself Out There
Gratitude
Today's been one hell of a ride. I launched my first ever online newsletter to help Young Makers like myself. I interview successful makers and condensed their insights into actionable advice. Oddly, it was actionable enough for me to apply it.
I did exactly that and setup an option for people to pay for a subscription to my newsletter. And someone actually subscribed for a $50/year membership.
It's so surreal i couldn't believe it. I ran to my mum, who was sitting in the living room, slouched, and tuned in the TV. She seemed focus but that was no matter. I had to tell her of my success, even though it seems like a trivial achievement to others.
I've been working so hard for weeks, building up good habits one after the other. I had no idea if it would positively change my life and result in the outcomes I wanted. All I had was faith and the stories of many other successful makers who said it worked for them.
Today was proof that building systems work.
Many people who saw my recent success asked me:
How did you find your mentor?
The answer simple: put yourself out there.
I spent months writing a daily journal and then, I built in public on Twitter. It was way outside my comfort zone but I wanted very much to improve. I did that every day, and improved myself by 1% daily. That 1% could have been many things that just compounded. It became something far greater that I'd imagined.
As I built up consistency, I knew I could do anything. I read about how people were improving their twitter skills. They did so by tweeting things that added value such as what they've learnt. Or their thoughts on a complex subject. I did that plus many other things.
Using those skills that compounded, I wrote a post on ISAs for makers. Then Andrew, the kind mentor who guided me on creating my newsletter reached out. I pinged him and we exchanged messages. We then shifted to a call and one thing led to another. I found myself taking in all the advice he had.
I knew then, I had to execute on as much of the advice he gave. I had to because I appreciated his help. And I wanted to make sure he spent his time well by taking a chance on an unproven maker like me. Doing that, I learnt so much more than what my 4 years of college taught me. Copywriting, value creation, consumer psychology...
Just put yourself out there.
I'm grateful to Andrew. To the indie hacking community. To WIP.chat. To Reading Supply. To Jim. To Twitter. To all my first 525 followers on Twitter. To Amy Hoy. To my past mentors. To my girlfriend. To all those who supported me in anyway they could, even words of encouragement.
Huge thank you to Marcel Hagedoorn as well for being my first $50 online! Will remember you for life!
For much of my college life, I struggled with conforming. But I've now found new communities of friends that helped me to grow a lot. All without judging me for who I am. They wanted to give, and give.
I promise myself: I will always try to help young makers like myself always, in any reasonable way that I can.
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