Last week, I announced I was writing a book. It’s about what it takes to stop thinking and start creating what we really want to create—be it a business, a YouTube channel, a blog, whatever. It’ll consist of lessons and stories from badass creators and entrepreneurs who just did the thing.
Naturally, I’ve been reaching out to said badasses this past week and will continue to do so.
Much of my outreach has been to people in my network. A ton of “Who do you know’s.” But I’ve also been sending direct messages and emails to my favorite creators: podcasters, YouTubers, musicians.
One out of twelve of them has responded so far. And I’m thrilled with that ratio!
The woman who responded, an incredible entrepreneur, is well-known in the Indie Hackers world. She wrote one of my favorite articles of all time. She posed all the normal responses one should before committing to anything (especially with someone they don’t know):
• What exactly does this entail? • How much time will this require? • I might have to say No to protect my time/energy.
It’s vital to bring these up immediately when anyone asks us to do anything…and she did it in the most respectful and candid way. Once we’re totally on the same page, we’ll see if it’s something she’d like to do.
The first ‘set-in-stone’ call I set up was with one of the most powerful creators and entrepreneurs I’ve ever known: my coach.
He’s built a community of over 100 life coaches from six different continents and has radically changed the trajectory of my life. It’ll be an honor to sit down with him for an hour and learn more about his journey.
Aside from that, I’ve gotten in touch with several friends of friends who are doing wildly cool and impactful things: running an arts collective in Rwanda, becoming a standup comedian, running a charity which provides underprivileged kids with toiletries…
I couldn’t be more excited to continue exploring.
In just one week, here are my biggest takeaways:
1) Most ‘big time’ people will say No Thanks or won’t respond. When that happens, I’ve lost nothing. We’ve gone from zero contact to zero contact. And who knows…eventually someone will get back to me.
2) Most people are so down to help—especially if they’re getting something out of it and it’s not a huge time commitment.
3) As Byron Katie says, “You can have whatever you want in life if you’re willing to ask 1000 people for it.”
Only 988 more to go.
Preorder your copy of Do The Thing here.