Another Excuse Newsletter

Welcome back to the Another Excuse Newsletter. It isn’t just another excuse, but a reason to start that thing you’ve been putting off.

What to expect this week:
👓Perspective - Time well spent
🔨 Tool - 80 Thousand Hours
🍿Consume - Blackberry
📖Concept - Personal Branding

Latest Podcast Episode

In today’s episode, we chat with Jack Swynnerton, a lifestyle and wildlife photographer and videographer in East Africa. He has started multiple businesses and has worked many jobs. He shares some interesting insights and the lesson of taking your opportunities with both hands.

You can check out the episode here.

Perspective

Time Well Spent

Retirement in 2023 is a strange one.

Many people simply can’t afford to retire because of how expensive everything is. Pensions don’t enable the lifestyle many people would like.

Retirement can lead to boredom. Retiring at 65 used to make sense with a life expectancy of 75-80. Modern medicine is changing that and many people are living far beyond that.

It’s a catch-22. People can’t wait for retirement to take a break, but as soon as they do, their health deteriorates because they aren’t keeping busy.

These prolonged retirement years change how long pensions should last, and how long we aren’t doing anything.

A driving force that keeps people alive is a sense of purpose.

Many people believe that they’ll take up the passion project or do more travel, but studies show that this doesn’t happen.

What I get from this is to find a job or business that doesn’t feel like work. The only end is a change in the project or focus. Age shouldn’t be a part of the equation, as you can work far beyond 65 if you enjoy it.

I know this is all theoretical for me, but it’s a shift in my perspective. I don’t plan on retiring; I plan on doing what I enjoy, so it never feels like work I want to retire from in the first place.

Tool

80 Thousand Hours

Carrying on with the theme above, finding a job with purpose isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

At 80000hours.org you can find resources and a job board to help you find a job with purpose.

Many successful people attribute their success to feeling like they had a purpose. They were striving to achieve goals where they felt they were genuinely making a difference.

That’s a key part of never feeling like you're working.

The site provides ebooks on how to find these jobs, 1-on-1 coaching and a job board.

They also provide extensive research about why finding a job with purpose is important and the industries that will have the biggest impact.

So, if you’re feeling stuck or in a dead-end job, check out this site.

It’s all for free and you never know. It may set you down a completely different path where you feel like you’re making a difference.

Let me know if anything comes from it.

Consume (Read / Watch / Listen)

Blackberry

This is a great Canadian Indy film about the story of Blackberry.

I’m not sure if you remember them, but they were the cellphone with a keyboard that captured 45% of the US cellphone market by 2008.

It’s a story about their rise and fall and what it takes to be a success.

It’s an interesting story and has some great lessons about tenacity, greed and innovation.

I knew little about what went on with Blackberry. One year it was the “in” phone and the next it was gone.

It’s a great story with some captivating performances. I’m sure they were caricatures of the real people, but great nonetheless.

It’s currently streaming on Prime.

If you watch it, let me know what you think.

Concept

Personal Brand

This is a topic that I’m passionate about and there are many parts to it.

So, for today, I’m just going to point to a few statistics to drive the importance of a personal brand point home.

There are many other aspects to it, like mental barriers, benefits of self-learning, new opportunities and following, but today, let’s focus on stats.

Three of the biggest creators, Jimmy Donaldson (Mr Beast), KSI and Logan Paul, all have millions of followers.

This doesn’t mean that people just watch their videos, but they can monetize their audiences and sell almost anything to them.

Mr Beast:
Mr Beast Burger: ± $30,000,000
Feastables: ± $10,000,000

KSI & Logan Paul:
Prime: ±$110,000,000

These numbers are profit and, of course, these guys are at the top of their game, but they started somewhere.

Once upon a time, they had zero followers, and they hustled to get to where they are today.

Although these are extreme cases, it shows the power of a personal brand.

If people resonate with your ideas and follow you for you, whatever venture you start can be a success.

The personal brand is a cheat code for business.

Share your thoughts and create that community. You never know who might be listening.

Thanks for Reading

Now start something!

P.S. Feedback is welcome and needed! If you’d prefer to send me an email and not respond, you can do so here: [email protected]

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