I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Go on a public quest
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Hi Reader, I’m a big fan of working in public. I don’t just mean taking your laptop to a coffee shop (although I love doing that too). I mean in a figurative sense: showing your work as you go, sharing the process, and letting other people in on your progress. But beyond just showing your work, share where you’re going. What are your ambitions? What’s your aim? What is it you want to achieve? Danny Miranda loved watching basketball as a kid. He idolized Kobe Bryant’s relentless pursuit for being the best basketball player and wanted some kind of obsession of his own. Then he found podcasting and fell in love. He immediately knew this is what he wanted to explore, get good at, and be known for. But he wanted to set an ultimate vision. Something he could strive for but would also be interesting to people following his journey. He remembered going to Madison Square Garden when he was young to watch the New York Knicks play. That’s when it hit him. He knew what his goal would be: “I’m going to sell out Madison Square Garden.” Danny doesn’t believe he’s specially talented or inherently gifted. But this ambition to podcast in front of an unfathomable number of people gives him something to strive towards. He truly believes he’ll reach his goal within the next 10 years. Because people can hear the conviction in his voice, the more he talks about it, the more connections he makes, and the more people he has rooting for him to sell out Madison Square Garden. This is what I call a public quest. Danny knows if he’s going to do what he’s set out to do, he needs to get better at what he does. The quest is a driving factor for developing his skills. Things like public speaking, researching, interviewing guests, and being entertaining. For many people, if they get a reel that goes viral, that’s the pinnacle for them. But that’s such a vapor. Set out to do something that will change you and drive you to build hard skills along the way. Go on a public quest.
ARTICLEClock speedWhat is the biggest determinant for success in a technology company? Sriram Krishnan makes a case for the answer being “clock speed”. He explains what he means in a 2-minute analogy. This is a really important idea that I believe defines many organizations. It’s also why we ship a new feature every week at ConvertKit. NEW BOOKGhost Town LivingLong-time readers will know that my most random investment is that I own 10% of the California ghost town Cerro Gordo. Brent Underwood, the dedicated genius behind this project, wrote a book about the wild journey these last six years. The book comes out today. I think you'll love it! Buy your copy of Ghost Town Living » Have a great week! —Nathan P.S. I passed my private pilot check ride on Friday. Which means I'm not a licensed pilot! |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Hey Reader, If I could solve only one thing in my business, that would have the biggest impact, what would that be? This is the question every great entrepreneur obsesses over. Rather than trying to do everything at once, you look for the bottleneck and focus on solving that. There’s a book called The Goal by an Israeli physicist named Eliyahu Goldratt. It’s a 1984 business novel that business systems nerds love. However if you’re not a business systems nerd you probably… won’t love it. It’s...
Hey Reader, Have you ever spent money on something and immediately felt guilty afterward? Will Guidara spends his money foolishly on purpose. And he thinks you should too. He once bought an entire barrel of whiskey and put it in his basement. He also put a skee-ball machine in the office. Is he going to get a monetary return on either of these things? No. But that’s kind of the point. He calls it the 95/5 rule: Manage your money and time like a maniac 95% of the time (no expense is too...
Hey Reader, Have you ever spent a whole day on something almost nobody saw? It's painful when the whole reason you worked hard was because you wanted to reach people. If you teach a workshop in person, you reach the 20 people in that room. But if you record that same workshop once, you can keep teaching for years on autopilot. This is the concept of leverage, and it's something I talk about in my upcoming book, The Ladders of Wealth (you can pre-order it now). A lot of people will look back...