Hey friend,
Back in California for work this week. Super jetlagged, but writing this newsletter to keep my eyeballs open for a few more minutes so that I can ultimately go to sleep at an appropriate hour.
Before flying west, I spent the most delightful Sunday in this gorgeous empty coworking space to get interviewed for a London-based podcast called The Work We Do.
Victoria and I explored our thoughts about entrepreneurship in the interview, and I wanted to share some of those thoughts here.
I know I don't talk about entrepreneurship very often in this email.
I believe in getting hired. I believe there is a necessary skill set one needs to know in order to find work in 2018 and beyond, and that's exactly what I teach and coach. I teach you how to become a hot commodity in the employment market.
If you want to spin that off into your own business, go for it. It's a very transferrable skill.
But I don't teach entrepreneurship. I teach the job search.
Even still, I hear from so many readers who also want to do something magical and amazing and artistic and entrepreneurial. Especially when I put out Instagram stories about shooting music videos or getting interviewed on podcasts. The glam stuff.
I hear from my own friends, too -- people who want to photograph weddings, start a fashion label, build a business, become a DJ, whatever.
I never treat it like it’s a joke. Dreams are not jokes. I always take it seriously.
And I ask: Cool, what’s the next step?
This throws people. A lot.
They immediately start running through excuses for me, instead of action items:
“Well, I work full-time. I hate my job. I couldn’t get the time off. I don’t know any engineers. Maybe I’ll take the winter off. Or I could quit?”
Alternatively, they back out of it:
“Haha! I mean I would if I could. I have an AMAZING idea.”
Okay.
So what’s your next step?
I will tell you what it is not: quitting your day job in a flash of light, riding off into the sunset, and living out your dreams as the credits roll.
It *is* getting interviewed on a Sunday afternoon after 3.5 years of sending out a newsletter. It is waking up a little early next week to take a client call. It is writing this newsletter after a full day of work, with one eye closed due to jetlag. It is calling a videographer to get a quote for how much it would actually cost. It is the extra ten hours of doing your taxes.
It is a grey area. It is slow, and pleasant, and boring, and promising, and tiring.
If you are chilling & fulfilled & having a nice time, this message is not for you.
But if you keep wasting your time talking about all your big plans, without taking any tangible action, all I have to say is:
Cool.
Sounds doable.
What’s your next step?
Big love,
xxA