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.
The rising tide
Picture this: It's Saturday and you're headed over to a friend's new airbnb to help her assemble furniture to get the property listed and making money. Next weekend she'll be over at your rental house (along with more friends) to help you redo the landscaping. A third friend has his food truck at a popular brewery this weekend, but their employee is sick, so you step in for the busiest time to help take orders.
It's a small circle of friends who all have clear goals that they talk about with each other, aren't afraid to ask for help, and are eager to accept it.
All in service of building a solid financial foundation.
It doesn't have to just be things in the real world. Imagine a group of friends all trying to grow their Twitter audiences. Instead of doing it in isolation they start a text group to encourage each other, give feedback on hooks for a tweet, and to retweet and amplify the best posts. Everyone reaches their goals faster.
One of my favorite articles on the internet is called A Patel Motel Cartel?. It’s about families in India pooling resources to immigrate to the United States and buy motels, then use the proceeds to help more relatives do the same thing. The money is always paid forward, never paid back. It’s the perfect example of a group doing something that wouldn’t be possible alone.
I love this story. Few things bring me more joy than stories of hard work progressively being rolled forward into bigger learnings, investments, and new freedom in life. So much that I wrote a whole essay about it.
But it's so rare.
So why don't we do this more? Why isn't it more common?
Well, most people...
- don't talk about money
- don't want to work that hard
- don't have an idea for a side hustle
- don't share their goals with friends
- don't know how to ask for help
- ...and are awkward about accepting help when it's offered
And so on.
I've got a few groups like this. The mastermind group I joined in 2012 played a huge role in the success I have today. I started a real estate investment business a few years ago to do something similar with a few friends.
This last weekend I helped a friend start to remodel their new house. We removed layers of wallpaper, plaster, and plywood to get down to the level where we can run new wiring and build a beautiful home.
Honestly, I'm not that useful. Other friends are far better at construction, but I think it's so meaningful to come together with your friends and help them achieve their goals. Even if all you can offer is 3 hours on a Saturday.
If you have a dream for building something meaningful tell your friends about it. Find a group of people who want to help. Forward them this email to give them ideas.
It could be anything from real estate projects, to a mastermind for growing a newsletter, to watching their kids so they can get in a few hours of focused writing, to helping them pack orders for their ecommerce business.
Find your group. Offer to help. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Show up. Accept help when it's offered. Then you can all be a rising tide for each other.
—Nathan
P.S. I really enjoyed this episode I recorded with Jessica DeFino, a freelance beauty journalist and newsletter author. You should check it out.
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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