Check your Pulse #49

Do you have clarity on what kind of financial value you aim to create?

Do you have enough savings to sustain yourself during a ramp up period? If it takes longer to ramp up, how will you gain financial security? Is your significant other on board? Will 1,000 fans paying $10 a month satisfy you? Is your goal to build a sustainable business or are yo... See more

Joseph Campbell’s words ring so true here: “If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.”

Looking back won’t serve you. Looking above won’t serve you. The trick is to look ahead, like a biker riding into the sunset, with light... See more

Will you use this opportunity to grow and evolve or will you use it to beat yourself up?

Ideas start out small, weak and fragile.

In order to grow, ideas need financial capital.

But they also need emotional capital — good energy, positivity, and resilience. The best way to control your emotional capital is to fine tune your internal monologue and r... See more

“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.”

“Invention requires a long-term willingness to be misunderstood. When you do something that you genuinely believe in, that you have conviction about, for a long period of time, well-meaning people may criticize that effort. To sustain yourself over this time, you can’t look for accolades, and you can’t rely on being understood.”

Your business exists in the context of a marketplace, but also in the context of your lived experience.

Defaulting to the norms of your industry will shape your business to be similar to the rest, where the best entrepreneurs zero-in on their self expression. Do you have an eye for good design? Inject design into a tasteless industry. Do you have a ... See more

Can you learn to enjoy the process as the end in itself, not the means?

In the beginning, the dissonance between the scale of your aspirations and the reality of your days will riddle you with anxiety. You will be tempted to strip the unknown of its surprises and travel to the future: What if my customers churn? What if a competitor introduces a be... See more

When you’re anxious, there is no quicker relief than checking things. Checking your Substack subscriber stats, refreshing your inbox and order confirmations.

Scott Belsky coined the term insecurity work to describe work that does not move the ball forward, but is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing.

Unlike insecurit... See more

The best way to control your emotional capital is to fine tune your internal monologue and replace your hunger for approval with a desire to grow.