Welcome back to the Solo Strategy Newsletter. Last week, I shared how I chased the Creator Economy for two years without much luck. I broke down the challenges I had navigating the solo business world as a empathetic multi-passionate creator.
This week, I’m diving into the concept of “Building in Public”. While there were a ton of pros of building in public, there were also a few critical flaws with this approach. And those flaws turned deadly for building a business.
Before we get there, today’s song of the week. A nice little guitar / electric piano mix that brings me a good feeling of reminiscence and storytelling:
Lake Michigan Drive. A cyborg produced rap beat flush with guitars, electric pianos, and a banging drum set. |
building in public is different for multipassionate people.
Everywhere you look, people are telling you to build in public. There are a ton of benefits to building in public they say.
- You build an audience. This is leverage.
- You create authenticity, so people trust you.
- You build a community to help you as you build.
- You learn a ton of skills that will help make your venture profitable, like marketing and copywriting.
I felt each one of these benefits as I grew an audience, built a website, announced new launches, and learned new skills in marketing. But there is a secret flaw to it that not many speak about:
Building In Public can seriously damage your ability to create the solo business that you’ve been promised.
Here’s why.
As a multi-passionate, empathetic person who wants to change the world – you are drawn to a little bit of everything. And as Bo Burnham says – if you’re on social media, you’re getting a little bit of everything… all of the time.
And so you’re bombarded with opportunity.
- Build a marketing agency.
- Build a copywriting agency.
- Buy a brick and mortar business.
- Learn Crypto Investing.
- Flip houses.
It’s all there to learn. And each of the opportunities are truly profitable if you really pursue them.
Now enter in a human-centric, empathetic creator with a ton of different skills. As you meet people, make friends, build relationships, and search out new people to connect with … you start seeing problems that people are having. Problems that you know how to solve. Or that you know you can figure out if they give you a chance.
And so you start to think…
“Maybe I can help those people with those problems”. And you start reaching out, trying it out for a bit. But then you see another interest. And another set of problems. And that interest/problem set sounds better than the one you’re in now.
So you “pivot”.
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Actually, let’s not talk about you. Let’s talk about what this looked like for me.
I was working to be a solo-business consultant, as I mentioned last week. But then AI popped up. And being in tech, I see a lot of people who are:
- Woefully unprepared for the changing world that AI is going to bring
- Don’t understand the business model that nearly anyone with a skilled job can make money doing. (Footnote: lmk if you’d like to know more about this one and I’ll throw that in a later issue).
So I pivoted from solo business to AI. But then, I saw a problem I was getting irritated by. Misrepresentation of motivation. A bunch of muscular white dudes speaking to discipline and warrior mindset, as if that was the only way you can succeed. So then I pivoted to another idea… a podcast about alternative paths to success.
And then…. I just stopped. I paused. This was idea 10. And it still didn’t feel right. It was time to fix this. But before I talk about how to fix it – there’s one other challenge with BIP:
You begin to care more about the affirmation from build in public metrics than you do about making the business work.
And this happens gradually without realizing it. You tell yourself “I need to be on X/TikTok/Youtube all day to grow”. You’re responding to people all day. You’re posting. You’re refreshing to see who liked it. How many views did it get? How many comments?
You convince yourself you’re doing this because “it will turn into leverage”. But one day you wake up and realize that you’re spending your spare 2-3 hours a day on social media… instead of working on your business.
So:
- Not only are you pivoting all over due to taking on external goals you’re gathering on social media
- You’re also tricking yourself into thinking social media is more important than building towards those goals… that you maybe don’t even care about.
And then you’re realizing that you are chasing something you don’t want. And you start over.
And if you’re like me, that was 1-3 months down the drain.
Do this 4 times and you’re down a year of time that could have went towards building the thing you actually meant to build…
Or at least figuring out what that thing is.
So how do we fix it?
escaping the build in public trap.
Well first we have to level set. And that requires accepting a few things.
Our time Is Limited. We will never be able to do everything we want to. And we’ll definitely never be able to do everything we possibly could do.
But We’re Lucky. Because automations, machinery, and the internet have made it possible to experience 500% more than what our ancestors could … even 30 years ago.
And So Priority is the most important thing we can figure out. Because time is ticking, and that thing we’re putting off until “my kids graduate” or “when i build this business and can work 4 hours a day”… that is the thing that we need to making possible.
And lastly – the hardest lesson for heart-centered, empathetic people to learn… over and over again.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to. Just you can solve that problem for someone, doesn’t mean you have to. Or even that you should. Often times, that help is counterproductive anyway. (Footnote: if you want to know why, reply back and I’ll write another newsletter about that).
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So – if you’re with me. If those four points sound reasonable…
Now what?
Now it’s time to escape this trap. we see the problem with building in public and we are on the same page with our assumptions about reality, we can dive in further.
But this letter has gotten longer than I intended, so the solve has to come next week.
However, I’ll leave you with three questions to prep for next week:
- If you had to choose one or the other: Are you here to make money with a business, or are you here to find an aligned way to spend your time doing things you love?
- What is the thing you’re waiting to do because [reasons like kids, too much work, etc.]? And what are there reasons for you?
- If your energy and interest ebbs and flows like the tides, how can we find an idea that allows for those ebbs and flows without burning you out?
These are the questions I asked myself.
I’ll give my answers next week, and we’ll chat about what I did next to figure it out.
Until next week – toodles,
Josh