We underestimate our potential.
Imposter syndrome, useless critics, and overworking at a job blind us from the limitless opportunities that exist online.
Before we get carried away, it’s important I tell you I’m average.
I don’t have an Elon Musk morning routine or take cold showers at 4 AM. I don’t have a Notion dashboard and a cool pomodoro clock either. And I don’t do burnouts in a Mercedes Benz C63 for my Youtube channel.
My life is quiet. All my spare time goes into looking after a one year old who is a better thief than Houdini. I just earn enough money to take care of my kid. The rest is a joke and distraction.
We overcomplicate the sh*t out of making enough money online to live the good life. Let me simplify it so you can take action and get momentum.
Why to do it first thing in the morning (before 9 AM)
I said, “Before 9 AM.”
Science says we’re more productive early in the morning. There’s another crucial reason. When we go to work there’s a lot to do. By the end of the day we’re exhausted from emails and back-to-back meetings.
Most people wait until they get home to build something online. The problem is by this point, the energy left is close to zero. So it’s easier to either delay the online goal or work on it with minimal effort.
Before 9 AM is easier.
It allows you to use the best part of the day for you. Then your day job gets your leftover energy rather than the other way around.
The secrets of deep work
Deep work isn’t the same as traditional work.
Normal work is done in a distracted state — phone pinging, non-stop Slack messages, people gossiping a few meters away.
How the heck do you build an online empire in this state? You can’t. It’s why the work done at a job is so mediocre. We’re taught to work in a distracted state rather than a flow state.
Here are the secrets of deep work:
- Put your phone in another room
- Load up on caffeine if needed
- Turn off all notifications on whatever desktop/laptop you use
- Play movie soundtracks to center your focus
- Do a warm-up activity before the main task
- Start with the smallest possible action to get momentum
- Put your before-9-AM-session in your calendar. Tells others to politely F off and leave you alone.
- Close the bedroom door.
Deep work is a way of life. It’s a rebellion against bullsh*t work many people do by default because society programmed them to.
The biggest benefit of deep work: 3 hours before 9 AM is the equivalent of 8 hours after 9 AM. No joke. Join the before 9 AM deep work club.
Part-time instead of big shot full-time
The biggest failures try to go big and go home.
If you’re average, like me, you need to try experiments. You need time to learn and grow. You don’t have all the answers and your uncle isn’t Mark Suckerberg or either of the Google founders.
Online empires are built after hours.
Online empires are built part-time.
The whole journey is easier part-time. Your goal goes from a moonshot to shooting your shot.
There are a few rules:
- Don’t tell your dumb boss. They’ll talk you out of it.
- Focus on the habit instead of the outcome.
- Get around other part-time creators.
- Expect it to be freaking hard.
- Celebrate the small wins.
Once your online empire gets momentum, the biggest hack is to go from four days of 9–5 work down to four. It allows you to double down while still taking minimal risk.
The law of compounding
In the headline I said 12 months. Not to be clever or follow some headline guru template and collect empty ‘likes.’
But because 12 months is the minimum amount of time it takes to get the law of compounding working in your favor.
Most people start online with short-term expectations. So when the results don’t happen in 30 or 90 days they give up. But 12 months of data is enough to convince you there’s a future.
If you want to upgrade your mindset, then aim for 5 years. If you want to join the Top 1%, then focus on 10+ years.
So what exactly compounds? Let me explain. When you post on social media every day your audience starts to grow. At the start it’s two-tenths of stuff all. After a year it’s sizeable.
Money compounds too.
If you make, say, $50 a month in writing royalties in the first few months, by month twelve that number is likely to be in the thousands — that assumes you don’t hang around losers, think making money online is a pyramid scheme, and are okay to adopt a sales mindset.
Did I say yet that mindset is everything? Oopsie … too late.
The first $100K
Now we gotta talk money. I’ll have to slap ya around a bit. Soz.
There are millions of ways to make the first $100K online. The easiest is to sell a service to 1-3 clients a month for somewhere between $5k-$10k.
This option is easiest because you don’t need 100k followers or 20k email subscribers. Just 90 days of consistent attention on one social media platform is enough to find the hidden gems who will buy what you have.
If you think you have no service to sell, wrong. You have 9-5 skills, remember? Resell them if you’ve got nothing else. Even better…resell the skills associated with your obsession.
You can literally be a paid coach who teaches others how to play your favorite video game. No joke.
Resourcefulness is the hidden skill here.
Spend time to remind yourself what your obsession is. Go to communities where those obsessed people hang out and, well, hang out. Then work on this service before 9 AM every damn day.
Eventually this service will become your first digital product.
2024 is the year to make it happen
Too many people wait for the perfect time. “I’m busy.” Boo hoo hoo.
There’s never a time in life when you’re not busy. Read that again.
Do you think I’m not busy either? I’ve got a 1 year old pooper kid running around my house like a madman from a horror movie. I still make it happen. I still spend my time before 9 AM working on my online empire.
Excuses get you nowhere. The only perfect time is right now.
2024 is the year to make it happen. Why? AI can help you build the empire faster. Freelancers are easier and cheaper to access than ever. Social media is easier than ever to master and find people who need you.
Don’t delay.
