1/
When I started writing, I saw a pattern between online writers who do This photo is from October 2020, when Mom and I went for a holiday and I told her ‘I want to quit the corporate world in 6 months’.
Of course, she laughed it off thinking it’s just a phase.
Imagine you’re in your mid-twenties, and nothing makes sense to you at work. Why are you pulled into all these meetings? What is this race that you don’t know how to win?
It feels strange.
Like a battle between who you are and what is expected from you.
E.g. “I don’t want to be b!tchy for a few brownie points or suck up to a leader. But I probably should?”
It doesn’t feel right if it’s not a part of you, isn’t it?
This is what I felt 3 years ago. And the feeling stayed for way too long.
It kept lingering over my head and weighed me down.
Naturally, I thought I was a lazy millennial who didn’t want to work hard.
Until I realised — Who makes these rules? Who taught us there’s only one way to live and one path to success?
We push people to follow a path, yet applaud the musician or entrepreneur who made it big and made everyone proud. But we won’t tell our kids to follow it, because it’s not ‘certain’.
But what is a certain path anymore?
Since when is one truth applicable to all?
You and I, yes you — reading this, we’re both different.
Yet we have to follow the same path to success, have similar routines, and the metrics for our happiness should be similar too. How does that make any sense when we are both so different with distinctive personalities and strengths?
It’s like our uniqueness is trumped by one notion.
This is what made me think, back then when I was 24 —
“In 6 months, I will quit my job and earn way more.”
Of course, an inner voice told me it’s a random phase. So did my parents.
In 7 months, it happened.
2/
4 years ago at this time, I also had questions like — “How to make money online writing” and “passive income streams.”
Now that I get these Qs in my DMs, I don’t respond to most of them.
I have a reason — hear (or maybe read) me out…
Because most of these generic questions are easily Google-able. If you’re asking a Q to a specific person, it might help to navigate to their content and see if they’ve already spoken about it.
Because most online creators build in public.
I also learnt from people like Ali Abdaal on YouTube and Tim Denning on Medium about how can I quit my job.
I now consume a lot of content from Justin Welsh and Matt Gray on how to scale my solopreneur business.
So if you feel how I used to feel back then, which is:
- A misfit in the corporate sector
- Don’t see the point of 8h workdays
- You know you don’t belong here but don’t know where you do
Here’s the drill:
- Read books (Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins changed my life)
- Look at people you want to be like and binge on their work
- Find people who’ve done what you want to, and emulate their process
I do the third one a lot because I’m lazy. Why reinvent the wheel?
So that’s how I realised how I could write online, create Upwork proposals, apply for gigs, and earn online.
The universe helps those who help themselves.
3/
To quit my job, this was the #1 thing I worked on. If you can work on only ONE aspect to improve your life, I recommend this.
Think about this — we don’t share our ideas and strategies. We’re more scared of someone stealing them than taking action.
In India, I get why this happens. We’re so populous that we’ve been competing since we were kids. Every institution is about competing for limited seats, and competing becomes a part of us.
When I started working on my side hustle, I noticed:
- Top folks are sharing all their secrets on how they make money
- Nobody will steal your idea because people are too lazy to act. And ideas don’t make you better, execution does.
- Sharing ideas helps breed better ideas (it’s how I created my courses and products that puts food on my table)
I needed to shift from a scarce mindset to an abundance mindset.
From believing
- There’s not enough for everyone to succeed
- To rise you have to pull others down
- Never share things with others
To realising
- There’s enough money you can make
- You rise by lifting others
- Sharing your ideas helps your ideas
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” -Oprah Winfrey
Obviously, this wasn’t easy.
This needed me to believe in myself, which I never had because in my head I was average and always criticising myself (my abilities, body, acne, everything).
And after this, I too build 100% in public.
All my secrets are out there across platforms, hoping I can help somebody else out there who was in my place.
“Giving is the secret of abundance.” — Sivananda
I’ll link in the comments a few books that can help you create a growth mindset. This concept isn’t fuzzy self-help, it’s scientifically proven.
To do something extraordinary, you need to think like most people don’t.
You need to have the mindset of a winner.
Once you conquer your mind, other things become easier.
4/
“In 3 months, I’ll make $10,000 a month, quit my job in 6 months, and live happily ever after.”
That’s what I told myself in October 2020 when I made my first big buck online.
Back then, ‘big’ meant $129.
Because it was 10,000rs for 2 hours of work! That was more than how much 3 days of my full-time job paid me.
I was mind-boggled.
However, little did I know that just because Internet gurus are telling you how easy is it to make $10k/m doesn’t mean you’ll earn that instantly.
I think on the internet and in life, everything compounds.
For a loooong time, nothing works out. Until it suddenly takes off.
I’ve seen people complain about the system being rigged. I’ve seen people, many of my own students, share with me how they moved to a part-time job or quit it altogether.
Both these sets of people have the same goals, but different approaches and mindsets.
Most importantly — commitment.
It took me 9 months of side hustling to quit.
I write pretty okay because I’ve been writing for 20 years!
So whoever has that big online goal — stay at it for at least 12 months, that’s when the good things begin to happen.
Showing up is the hardest. But it gets easier from there.
12 months, minimum.
And then see your path unfold as you discover the magic.
“The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” — Anthony Robbins
Of course, this is only for those who aspire to be on this path. I don’t think everyone should do this, just like everyone isn’t meant for a 9–5. :)
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This will help you succeed online: You need to stop getting so darn attached to your online persona + rejections or lack of traction.
4 years ago this time, as I was venturing into the online writing world, I made a few promises:
- Stay at it for long enough
- Focus on the process
- Detach from your work
We are in love with what we produce because it’s taken our precious effort.
But 3 years ago this time, all my articles on Medium got rejected and I barely got any response on my freelance proposals too.
Waking up to rejection happened so frequently that I eventually got used to it.
It’s then that I worked on getting detached so I don’t keep getting hurt.
(I have a very fragile heart and cry in all movies, imagine.)
Detachment helps me stay focussed on the process because I don’t have any control over the outcome.
It helps me hit publish and move on to the next piece of content.
This is important because as a writer online, publishing matters, not perfection.
Today, it also helps me stay detached from my successes or downfalls — I believe it is all impermanent.
And life is to find joy in the daily boring.
So if you’re going to venture into side hustling or solopreneurship, my final advice to you is to let go of things. You can’t control what happens, but you can control the quality of your thoughts and your work.
And when you work on this inner universe, the outer one changes in ways we never imagined it to.
All the best.
Love,
N
PS: Sign up for Summit 21 here.