S6E70
· 28:22
Hey. It's Matt. Welcome to MoneyLab. I got an email from Susan, and it's a good one. She writes so I don't I must have did an episode called how I slowed down because that's what the title of this email is.
Speaker 1:But she writes, I really resonated with this episode. As a solopreneur, I am always overwhelmed. Just published my newest book, this one on fruit tree pruning, and I'm getting amazing reviews. I'm not gonna read the review, but that's awesome. You got a great review.
Speaker 1:But she says, I'm exhausted. Helpful to think about focusing on fewer things. At some point, I might move on from the elearning like you did with MoneyLab even though it makes most of the money. But there is so much maintenance. Question.
Speaker 1:How hard was it for you to dump all the amazing business courses you made and move on? Regrets? I'm not sure I'll do this, but nothing is off the table. My health comes first. So this is a great question.
Speaker 1:And the answer is I have absolutely zero regrets. I think my buddy Sean asked me the same question. I'd have to remember, but it was because he recently shut down his core. He didn't shut it down, but he stopped selling his course on basically, like, freelance writing. And I honestly I no regrets.
Speaker 1:Like, zero. Absolutely zero. Like, I'm so glad I don't do it. Right? I think it's for more than one reason though.
Speaker 1:Like, you know, in in the case of MoneyLab versus what I do now, I didn't shut down my biggest moneymaker. I shut down what was making a lot of money to, you know, like a hundred thousand dollars a year is not it's just a lot of money. Yes. But I was trading it for something that made even more money than that. So it wasn't like I stopped to do like, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:I I think because I thought to myself, well, if if I'm not doing that, right, if I'm not doing MoneyLab and making this extra 100,000, I could take that time and there's a ton of mental energy that goes into just having and maintaining all of that stuff to just putting all of that energy into one thing that has that makes more money. It's it's something that I constantly wrestle with in terms of, you know, wanting to start up a bunch of different things and wanting to have multiple things to do. But the idea of having less to do, but the thing that you do is more important. So no regrets to answer your question. And I think it was very it's a very it was a very easy decision.
Speaker 1:One, I think because I kinda lost interest in this world of, like, teaching other people how I made money online, which which which is what I was doing and what I currently do now. But the way that I do it now is effortless before having, you know, a weekly call, which I do miss. But having to, like, build courses and make those products on top of doing some university. Right? It it just it was like a lot of work for very little extra money.
Speaker 1:And I think that's the disparity. So imagine whatever extra work I was doing, if I just put that extra work into my current thing, into my main thing, or even fewer things, how much better those fewer things would be. And how effortless I could make not just my life, but the sales of whatever it is I was making. So with that, let me just let me just think through something. So today is day I'm recording this.
Speaker 1:It's 02:30 in the afternoon, and I am freezing. I'm freezing. My basement is ice cold and it is probably 70 degrees out outside. So I need to get some blood flow. Right?
Speaker 1:So I'm moving around. It's day two of me designing the the hot tub handbook. Okay? And the first day, I worked from about ten to six and I got the template up and I did all this stuff. And today, I went in with fresh eyes because it's a new day.
Speaker 1:Right? And I was like, yeah. Alright. I got a new way of doing this. It's better, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1:And then what I started doing was putting together images, you know, for the book because I I'm doing it one chapter at a time. So I put the chapter together and then I go, okay. What images can I add here? Blah blah blah. And what I started doing was I started adding quick images.
Speaker 1:I was just like making really fast images in Figma, using assets that I already had and throwing it in place and going like cool. And then I was working on one image and it was like 01:00, and I was just like, this doesn't feel right. This feels like I'm rushing this. And so I went, okay. You know what I have to do?
Speaker 1:I can't just take these existing assets and just stick them in place. I have to build new assets so that this book feels like someone like, it's very branded and somebody worked on it. Right? So I came upstairs to get some lunch, and I had said this to myself, and I'm like, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1:This is what I was telling Steph, which was when she was writing the book, she kept wanting to finish it. She's like, I wanna finish this book. She's like, I wanna finish it by Black Friday so we can have a Black Friday sale. I'm like, why? What's the point?
Speaker 1:Why are you rushing this? And each time, she was like, I just wanna finish the book. I'm like, why? Just this is the the thing is is, like, I said to her, I'm like, look. This is the only thing you have to do.
Speaker 1:This is it. And it was like, let's not not only is it the only thing you have to do, like but I kept reminding her and I'm reminding myself is that this is the only thing that really matters right now. Everything else is just extra and everything else kinda doesn't matter. Right? If you if I can sit down and craft this excellent book, If I if I put my effort into this thing.
Speaker 1:Right? My job later when I go to sell this thing over and over and over again is going to be way easier because I know that I will have put in the work upfront for it. And this is I don't wanna call this is like this is slowing down. This is what I'm this is what I'm realizing as I get older. And as I have all these things that I'd like to do in life, it's just like, okay.
Speaker 1:Fine. Yes. Isn't that great that there's so much to do? Who's telling you that there's so much to do? Where is that coming from?
Speaker 1:Because if you're the business owner, it comes from you. The more that you read blog posts or you listen to podcasts or you watch a YouTube video about business, the more ideas from others including myself will seep into your head that things need to be done. And when that happens, it causes overwhelm when in reality, those are just other people's ideas that you are that you think are good and therefore putting it into your own bank and then going, I want I should do this. I should big freaking air quotes. Right?
Speaker 1:I should do that. And then all you've done is just added something to your plate. You just you just something that didn't need to be done, that wasn't done before, that probably, like, almost guaranteed will not change your business. Like, I'll give you an example of of something that I'm like, it's it is sitting on my on my to do list right now. And it is figure out this is the actual task, which is figure out how to incorporate ManyChat into my social media process.
Speaker 1:Okay. Now, ManyChat is a software that I downloaded. I think it's paid like $20 a month. It's whatever. It's basically chat software that it's automated chat software.
Speaker 1:And the idea I heard from somebody was if you implement this, this is how you could start collecting leads, like email addresses from social media because you can say, hey, DM me this this word and then I'll send you a link blah blah blah and this whole thing. That's sitting on my to do list. Is that my idea? No. The reason why it's been sitting there and it's overdue is because I don't know how to incorporate it.
Speaker 1:I don't have a good idea. I just thought, oh, I should try that software. Right? Now, here's this like, here's the big million dollar question. Why?
Speaker 1:Why should I try that software? If I existed in a in a vacuum, I would not know that that software even exists. So something, whether it was a podcast again or a or a video, was was just like, I I'm a business owner and I use ManyChat and this is how I get leads. I went, that's an interesting idea. Add it to the to do list, and now it's an overdue task.
Speaker 1:No wonder I'm overwhelmed with things to do. Those are not things to do. Those are ideas from from other people that now that now I've made a priority in my to do app. It I did not think it through. I did not spend time with myself and go, is this something that I truly believe in my heart of hearts that will change the course of my business?
Speaker 1:And the answer is a hard fuck no. Like, seriously. You know what I mean? Like, it's just not. And you write this email about this book that you worked on this book.
Speaker 1:Right? And I'm willing to bet that if if if you're getting reviews like the one you sent me, it's like, okay. You have something that's really good. Okay? Imagine if just for a second.
Speaker 1:Just for a second. Okay? And I think about this all the time because this is, like this is just so relieving to think about. Imagine if the only thing you had was that book. Right?
Speaker 1:Imagine how much everything in marketing would get easier if that was the only thing you had to sell. Right? Because now all of your your content would be highly focused around what's in the book. You wanna reach people who want the book, and you would just start making content around that. And you would just start promoting your book in like, whether you did it hard pitched or just mentioned it.
Speaker 1:Like, hey, here's a you know, like in my case, one of the things I talked about with Steph was I go, you know, instead of doing hard pitches in our long form YouTube videos, why not just mention that we have a book? Like, hey, you should skim your pool every three to four weeks. We actually mentioned this in chapter six of the pool care handbook. That's it. And then, like, maybe show it for a brief second on screen.
Speaker 1:Everything gets much easier. Everything gets much more focused. And then the question is is like, well, but I'd make less money. Right? Because I would I would only have one thing to sell.
Speaker 1:Right? And I would make less money. Maybe. Right? At first, yes.
Speaker 1:That would absolutely be true. But over time, if that's all you did and and and think about this. If you had a product that was pretty timeless and you just your goal was just to sell a million copies, like, how would you do that? You would just market the living shed of it forever. And that is so interesting to me in terms of how to think about business.
Speaker 1:And I and I know that this this comes from a place of privilege, or I should say, it comes from a place of I'm I can think about these things because I'm comfortable in what I've already built. But I'm looking at what I've built over the years, and I'm just talking about Swim University, and I'm thinking to myself, how do I take what's already here and make it that much better? Like, this is the only thing that matters. Right? So if this is the only thing that matters in terms of, like, my work in life, what would make this better?
Speaker 1:Not what gimmick can I implement next is how do I take what's already existing and improve it? And start to think about everything that I make through that lens. Because it's the only thing that matters. So I don't I'm not gonna sit here and necessarily say that this is about slowing down. I think it's more about intentionality.
Speaker 1:Is that's a word? I don't know if that's a word. But being hyper focused and hyper intentional about your work. And that's the lesson that I'm learning literally today, which is I am trying to, like, get this book designed because I want this book out into the world. Right?
Speaker 1:I want it done, I guess, is the is the real feeling. But what I'm failing to realize is that done does not does not mean good or great or okay. It just means done. And this is a I hear this a lot in entrepreneurship where it's just like, you know, what is it? Done is better than perfect.
Speaker 1:And I'm not sitting here arguing for perfection. What I'm arguing for is if this was the only thing and it should be, then put everything you got into it. Like, make something that is truly worth the money that someone's willing to pay for it. Like, should feel great as a person, as an as a business owner. You should feel confident and great that the thing that you are giving to people, the thing that you are selling to people is truly your best work.
Speaker 1:If if if there's anything short of that, I kinda feel like you're everybody else. You're you're every other business owner and it's why, you know, the the adage is like 90% of businesses fail. Right? It's because people are just trying to make money. Right?
Speaker 1:The that what they really want is just the exchange of in just the the exchange of dollars or whatever of currency. What they what they're not thinking about is like, am I truly making something worth consuming? And I am guilty of that. You know? There are some aspects in my business where I'm like, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:I did good work here and I believe that, you know, this is worth the money. And then there are other times where I think, I mean, it's good. Right? But do I know that I could do better? A %.
Speaker 1:So, like, why am I not doing that? And the reason I'm not doing that is because I have so many other things to do. I have so many other things that are overwhelming me that I'm like, well, I don't have time for that. But in reality, that's the only thing that I really need time for. That's it.
Speaker 1:When I when I said to Steph, look, why are we trying to push this? Why are we trying to get this out? There's no fucking rush. There's no rush. What's what's what's more important to me or at least what's more important in general, whether it's for me or not, is that you feel as the writer that you put everything you had into this project.
Speaker 1:And you put out something incredibly high quality and you worked really really hard on it. Now when I say again, worked really hard on it. I'm not talking about busting your ass. I'm not talking about like slogging through and grunt work and awfulness. I'm not talking about that.
Speaker 1:Because that come on. That leads to shoddy work. Right? If you fucking hate it, then then then you're not gonna do it well. But if you like it and you're doing it for a higher purpose, like, you're doing it because you want to maybe, like, change somebody's life or blow somebody's mind even.
Speaker 1:Right? Then you'll do a better job. And, yes, it will take you longer, but that's better. Like, I just, it just feels better. And then when it and then afterwards, when you're done the project, right, which is another episode I have planned.
Speaker 1:When you're done this project, it it get it gets easy after that. Like, it's the rest is, like, really, really easy. I'll tease what the next episode is gonna be. I have this thought about micro and macro projects. And I wrote down this thing.
Speaker 1:But the idea being that like, you have macro projects. I'm working on a macro project right now. The I am putting together and designing a book, like a like a thing that once it is out into the world, it is evergreen, it can be consumed a bunch, like it's a it's product. Most product development is macro projects. Right?
Speaker 1:And then there's micro projects, which is the consistency in which you promote that product. Right? It's very those things are not hard to do. Something that I've noticed recently is like or I just like observed recently. There's a bunch of new TV coming out and well, you know what?
Speaker 1:I'll save it for another episode. Point is is that your just to kinda answer your question, it's not hard for me to dump courses that I've made and moved on and move on. It's not hard to do that because I had something that I I could say, look, it's one less thing to do. It's just leverage. It's time leverage.
Speaker 1:It's mental capacity leverage. Right? If I could work an hour less, but put that concentrated energy towards something that if I did really good work, would move the needle way further, then that's what I'm gonna do. You know, like, if it if I worked eight hours a day, four at some university, four at money lab, whereas some university at four hours made a million dollars a year, and money lab made a hundred thousand dollars a year. Well, imagine taking those four hours and condensing it into just some university at a million.
Speaker 1:How much could I even push that? Or maybe I don't even put those four hours. I just remove those four hours and now I have four hours of working on some university, but that that highly concentrated four hours is much it's better work because I don't have the other thing looming over me. I don't have it taking up mental space. I don't have it stealing energy.
Speaker 1:If if that's the the the currency that we really have, which is just pure energy. Like being overwhelmed is an energy sucker. It's a stress inducer which is a which is a tiring agent. I would make one thing I think it's an exercise worth doing. Okay?
Speaker 1:And I'll end on this. An exercise that I think is worth doing, and something that I've I've done slowly over the past year, is to look at your write down every single thing you do in your business. Like just write down every single task and you can I mean, if you keep a journal, go back to your journal and write down every single thing that you did in your business? Even if it's a done project. Right?
Speaker 1:Write it all down. And then look at that. That's like if we you have to think of it in terms of a budget. Right? This is the same exercise for a financial budget.
Speaker 1:You write down everything you spend your money on all year. Right? You you write down everything and then you go, okay. There are clearly a handful of high leverage needle moving activities. Alright?
Speaker 1:You can do this one of two ways. You can either isolate just those things, highlight them however you wanna look at it and go, okay, everything else dump it. Or you can dump things that are just low leverage, you know, low stakes, you know, low needle moving, and then you're left with the, you know, handful of high leverage tasks. Right? Just do that and you'll and just give them up.
Speaker 1:Give up all those tasks that are fucking meaningless. Just stop doing them. I can tell you, it's a relief. You just, like, give yourself permission to not do them. That's it.
Speaker 1:And, you know, it's just you it's the mental energy, like, should it get done? That's that's you saying that. Does it need to get done? Like, absolutely need to get done? Probably not.
Speaker 1:And you just or does someone else need to do it? Probably not. So you don't even have to hire. Like, you just have to stop doing it. But the thing is is that the more things you stop doing, that's points, that's energy, that's extra money, however you wanna look at it, and then you can put those extra things towards the five or handful of main things that are really needle moving, and you just put more effort into those five things.
Speaker 1:And I'm just pulling the number five out of my ass. I have no idea how many things. And then, you go, okay. Look at those five things. Can any of them be outsourced?
Speaker 1:Not even with another human, can they be AI outsourced? And then you're like, wow. It's even less shit to do. And now it's like, I only have to do one thing. And this is the one thing I have to do.
Speaker 1:And it's get it just and then the the the hardest part about this though is keeping it there and and having like, once you've once you've created the plan, you just have to execute over and over and over again. It is boring as fuck. Right? Absolutely boring. But you will have so much other free time.
Speaker 1:You'll have so much free time that the hardest part is not stealing that free time away from yourself with other shit. Just like that's the hardest part. It's like let yourself have the free time. Just be free. That being part is the I think the hardest part.
Speaker 1:Anyway, let me know what you think. Shoot me an email, matt@moneylab.co, and I'll talk to you next time.
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