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.
On doing hard things
Today was one of those days where nothing seems to go your way.
I was waiting to cross the street downtown when I checked my phone and got some more bad news over slack. I let out a long, drawn out "fuck" quietly under my breath. But apparently not that quietly when I realized someone else was standing behind me also waiting to cross the street—and she totally heard me.
Oops, that was embarrassing. I'm just the guy quietly swearing to myself on the street corner.
After I sat down in front of my laptop I was just frustrated. Shouldn't this whole business thing get easier with time?
Often when I'm feeling stuck I turn to my journal with one simple question:
"If a friend came to me with the exact problems I'm facing now, what advice would I give them?"
For some reason it's hard for me to know what to do and I easily feel overwhelmed, but I find it easy to give advice to others. So I just pretend I'm that other person.
The first thing I'd say is that it never gets easier. You think it would—after all you're more skilled as a founder, have more money, a bigger audience, and have an awesome team. And maybe it does, but you just use those new advantages to tackle bigger and bigger problems. So for ambitious people it actually gets harder over time.
Second, I'd remind this friend to focus on what he can control. Specifically to focus on the things that don't change. In this case building the best product for creators and helping them earn a living. There's always shiny new things going on, but a relentless focus on customers is a winning strategy. Oh yeah, and go talk to those customers. While you only see the problems, they'll tell you about how your product is impacting them in a positive way
Third, I'd say to look up from what's immediately in front of your feet. Think long-term. I was reminded recently how many companies we have competed with over the years (that at times had much better products than we did) who aren't relevant anymore. They gave up, lost their way, pivoted, or failed. We just kept on going. Show up every day and never stop. The only way to fail is to give up.
Thanks for coming to my own personal pep talk. If you're feeling stuck, I hope it helps.
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I've got two things I think you'll enjoy this week:
First, my friend Sean McCabe came on the podcast this week. He's one of the most prolific creators I know. He's wildly talented as a designer, writer, and podcaster. He also now runs Daily Content Machine, which is the productized service that edits and manages my podcast, creating the awesome clips that go on social.
Second, I love this quote from Tyler Cowen about raising other people's aspirations. David Perell highlighted it on Twitter:
October 6th 2021
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This journey we're all on will always be hard. Ask for help when you're stuck. Give yourself the advice you'd give to a friend in the same position. Just put one foot in front of the other.
Keep going.
Thanks for reading this week,
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.
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