Reading time: 6 minutes
Hey legend,
Have you ever experienced that surreal moment when you finally meet others for the first time in person, even though you’ve been connected for months, and feel like you know them quite well?
I know a lot of folks who experienced this due to C-19 shifting everyone to 100% remote work or study arrangements.
And feeling a tinge of apprehension or excitement as we gradually returned to seeing people in real life (and not through a digital screen).
Fortunately, while I was visiting my family in my home city, I got to (finally) meet up in person with the Melbourne-based legends in our Storyteller Sprints community for a wholesome AF dinner.
And our resident reader and never-ending book recommender Michael Lim thoughtfully hand-picked a book for each of us, tailored to suit the season of our business or life that we’re each going through (what a legend!)
🚀 Sidenote for Self-Improvers
Having read over 100 books on self-improvement, Michael’s also compiled a free e-book that encapsulates 50 practical life lessons he’s personally drawn from them all (so you don’t have to).
Having downloaded and re-read it multiple times, I can personally attest that it’s a certified banger, so if self-improvement is up your alley, get yourself a free copy today.
🕰️ Our Parent’s Generation
In the same way, we usually go deep on topics during weekly Sprint Check-In & Support Zoom calls, our dinner chats dived from topic to topic and eventually landed on discussing differences between our parent’s generation and our own.
Moreso, the circumstances and opportunities that weren’t afforded to them but that we often take for granted when it comes to pursuing health, wealth and meaningful relationships.
One thing that was clear to me is that each of our Storytellers has subconsciously inherited from their families:
- a remarkable work-ethic
- a resilient mindset, and
- a spirit of entrepreneurship
But something their generation didn’t have access to, that we were fortunate to grow up with, was…
🛜 The Internet
The Internet enables eight billion monopolies.
– Naval Ravikant
Never has there been such a game-changing equaliser that has decentralised access to, or the distribution of, information.
Traditional gate-keepers, such as media publications, educational institutions and governing bodies, no longer hold a monopoly control over who gets access to or doesn’t.
Do you own a device capable of connecting to the internet?
Bingo.
You’re on an infinitely better playing field than what your parents had.
Any individual can now start and scale their own one-person business, sharing their story online while inspiring, empowering and helping others while also receiving enough $$$ to never look back at a 9-5 job for the rest of their life.
The internet makes all of the former roadblocks of starting a business redundant, such as:
- major investment, loans or capital fund raising
- a string of flashy titles on a resume
- an expensive business degree
- a physical office space
- a team of employees
Or any other “barrier” to starting a business that’s been outdated by today’s digital landscape.
Today, anyone can start their own business with just an idea.
Yes, my friend.
That includes you.
But suppose you find yourself unsure how to take advantage of the digital economy, whether it’s for your hobby, side hustle or a full-time venture you’d like to start.
Well, this guide will reframe how you think about business in the internet era and help you get started on your one-person business journey.
We’ll be breaking this diagram into 3 parts which are:
- Influence – The aspects of your life that make you the hero of your story and the guide for others on a similar journey.
- Impact – The levers you can utilise to help, inspire or empower others who are in demand of your unique solution(s).
- Income – The audiences that provide a monetary exchange to you in proportion to the value of your solution(s).
Your Influence Comes from Your Life
No one can compete with you on being you. Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.
– Naval Ravikant
Amen.
You have a remarkable, untapped, creative vision for your life and a set of internalised values guiding you towards it.
I’m confident that, unlike 99.9% of the world around you, you’ve woken the f*ck up.
You know what you want for your life.
And.
You know what you don’t.
Sure, you may have fallen off the track from time to time, but your values keep you on track.
Instead of trying to become a copycat (or “2nd class version”) of someone else, you live as the first-class version of yourself.
And no matter what projects, problems or pursuits you have in your life, no one else in the world approaches them exactly as you do.
That also means the solutions you’ve formed to overcome them are unique to you.
Solving your own problems is called ‘self-improvement’. Selling your solution to help others to solve the same problems is called ‘entrepreneurship’.
– Dan Koe
Your influence comes from your story. That includes all of the goals, the setbacks and the processes you’ve tried over and over again until eventually you’ve overcome those challenges and become the person you are today.
To someone a few steps behind you (or even your younger self), you possess the knowledge, skills and/or wisdom to help them navigate to where you are today.
That’s the value you have to offer and help others. Your mess becomes your message.
Your Impact Comes from Leverage
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
– Archimedes
We are so blessed to be living in an era where access to the internet gives you access to free (or very affordable) digital tools that let you “multiply yourself” so you can reach more people.
In our parent’s generation, business involved a lot of 1:1 interactions that were capped to how many customers or clients you could service within a set period of time.
That’s why the traditional way of scaling a business is through leveraging other people’s time (i.e. employees) to work for you.
Nowadays, you can use your smartphone to create a free piece of valuable content (i.e. that helps others solve a problem) on a free social media platform that has the potential to reach millions of viewers.
I honestly think our generation can’t fathom how insane this is compared to what our parents would have to have done (or paid) to achieve that same reach in their time.
Today, you can spend 1 day creating 1 piece of content that continues to “work” on your behalf indefinitely, even when you’re not working.
Leverage is the difference between what you put in and what you get out
– Alex Hormozi
Today’s one-person business owners in the digital economy are scaling their impact by utilising these four levers (and you should too!)
- Code – Social media platforms, website builders, email/newsletters services, video/photo/design editing tools etc
- Content – Video, podcasts, blogs, written posts, courses and other digital products
- Collaboration – Building relationships and working with similar creators with shared problems, a common purpose and/or a similar audience to accelerate your growth
- Cash – Investing in additional digital resources, tools or services for your business that replace the need for hiring or managing employees (i.e. AI tools), or that can amplify your existing reach (i.e. paid ads)
To see an example of how I promoted and launched a free digital product (“content”) using free digital tools (“code”), check out this video I shared on Instagram.
Your Income Comes from Your Audience
You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of the problems you solve.
– Elon Musk
The tougher the problem, the greater is the value of the solution.
That’s business. It’s the art of solving problems for others.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And getting a fair monetary exchange for doing so.
So pour your care, love and soul into your solution.
Package it up in a way that has your special sauce, flair and character.
Make it iconic and offer it to the world using leverage.
And as the diagram shows, your income can come from any of the 4 audience sources willing to pay for your solution:
- Community – You may have a village of loyal subscribers or followers that are willing to pay for digital access to you (i.e. a paid private community)
- Clients – Your unique skillset for solving a particular problem in your way may be highly valuable to other businesses that are willing to pay you for your time (i.e. consulting or freelancing)
- Customers – You may have a packaged digital product that your audience are willing to pay to use themselves so they can solve their problems (i.e. a video-course or a Notion template)
- Contributors – You may have a set of fans that want to thank you for the impact you’ve had on their life just through your free content (i.e. Buy Me A Coffee or Patreon)
And of course, make sure it’s a problem that you enjoy solving and moreso, enjoying solving for others.
Sensible people get paid for doing what they enjoy doing.
– Alan Watts
So, in summary, your one-person business in the digital economy consists of:
- Influence – The aspects of your life that make you the hero of your story and the guide for others on a similar journey.
- Impact – The levers you can utilise to help, inspire or empower others who are in demand of your unique solution(s).
- Income – The audiences that provide a monetary exchange to you in proportion to the value of your solution(s).
Oh and you know the drill, my friend.
New month.
New playlist 🎶
Bless your ears with the updated MambaFM Spotify playlist as your soundtrack for September.
See you in the next one legend,
🕺🏽Mamba