creativity - Amardeep

6 Practical Ways To Reverse A Productivity Slump

Amardeep — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 12:07:25 +0000

#2 Look at the bricks, not the wall

Edited by the author — original from Pexels

I don’t believe anyone who tells you they are productive all year round. We’re humans not robots and sometimes things don’t go to plan. Your systems can work well for months and all of a sudden they collapse and you don’t why. It’s not anyone’s fault and there’s not always a logical reason why.

It just happens. That’s life.

This happened to me a few weeks ago with the worst possible timing. Projects I had been excited by all came in at once and my brain seemed to go on strike. You know the scene from Marvel’s Avengers when where the Hulk refuses to come out to play? I felt like Bruce Banner. Out of my depth.

I had to change things up to get back to 100%. Try these techniques for yourself to see if they work for you. You don’t need to commit to doing them forever just until you get your mojo back again.

#1 Do a warm-up

When you’re in a slump, you can spend more time thinking about doing a task than it would take to actually do it. This used to happen with me and writing all the time. I made excuses to spend five more minutes on Instagram which always seemed to turn into an hour.

A simple hack I use to get myself writing is starting by taking online typing tests. The text is meaningless but it gets my fingers flowing. It’s like a game so I never procrastinate on this and this wins half the battle against my inertia.

I found this works for any high-brainpower task. Warm yourself up with something with no real pressure to get your momentum going. If you need to do heavy statistical work, find a random quirky dataset to mess about with. It’s cognitively easier because it doesn’t matter but at least you’re doing the same actions.

#2 Look at the bricks, not the wall

Perhaps counter-intuitively, when my productivity is slumping, I make my to-do list longer. The underlying amount of work doesn’t change but I break each task down into small components. I make sure it won’t take me longer than 20 minutes to cross anything off the list.

I confess part of this is procrastination. Yet, more importantly, it means nothing feels overwhelming. I can cross more items off per day which makes me feel good rather than doing 90% of one big task and my to-do list looking untouched.

If you find yourself feeling like you’ve achieved nothing in a day, why not try breaking down a task. If it’s writing an article, switch from the mindset of it’s not finished to the introduction, and the first three sections are done. It’s a more upbeat way of looking at your day.

#3 Channel your Marie

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up made a big splash both as a book and on Netflix. Let’s be real, most of us don’t prioritize organization as much in our daily lives as she does.

Yet when I can’t seem to get anything “productive” done, I often end up tidying up my room. It’s cathartic to give order to the objects around me when my mind is so messy. It’s a low brainpower task but a job I need to do. The results are clear and in the end, you feel like you’ve done something good.

You can do the same for digital clutter too. Maybe I’m weird but I can spend hours sorting out files into the right places and feel relaxed. Again it’s a job that needs to be done but doesn’t need much thinking. Perfect for a slump.

#4 Buddy up

I’ve been my own boss for nearly six months now and I’ve noticed a glitch in my matrix. Despite enjoying my creative self-led projects the most, I often prioritized the tasks I had to do for other people first. It was as if I quit my job to be a slave to my clients instead.

I don’t believe enough self-employed people talk about how hard it is to keep up your intrinsic motivation. It’s easier to work towards other people’s deadlines because it feels concrete whereas you can always kick your own ambitions down the road.

Accountability is crucial for me to ensure I work on what deep down I know I want to work on. I’ve started sending 2-minute daily updates to people in my inner circle where I assess the previous day’s productivity and outline my to-do list for the current day. Knowing I’m going to need to explain myself if I keep missing my goals helps to keep my mind on track. You might find it does the same for you too.

I’m launching a YouTube channel soon and I publically announced my intention to post a video a week from January 2022 while on a podcast with Hasan Kubba. If you are reading this in 2022 and my channel hasn’t met this promise, call me out on social media and I promise to retweet.

#5 No sweatpants when working

When I worked in consulting, one of my everyday joys was coming home, taking my suit off, and getting into sweatpants. It signaled the end of work mode and the start of chill mode.

Once I had the freedom to wear what I want, the suit gathered dust in my cupboard. I was sweatpants all day, every day. For a while, this was great like eating candy for breakfast. I was productive and comfortable, why would I ever choose to end this?

The problem is when I didn’t feel like working then I was already in my chill mode clothes. In my new freedom honeymoon, I could make myself work like this but it became more difficult over time. I began to resent myself for working when I’d rather just lounge around. Why was I spoiling chill mode?

While I haven’t dusted off my suit, I now wear business casual during the day. Studies have shown clothing can give you more confidence and it’s made a difference to me. I get the extra benefit of being able to switch back to sweatpants at the end of the day too.

Even if you aren’t your own boss, whenever you’re doing work from your own home, try to not taint your clothes for chilling by working in them.

#6 Reboot

Machines don’t have feelings but when they are a bit sluggish, the first thing we do is turn them off and give them a rest. We then switch them on again to see if our issue is solved.

If our first instinct with a machine is to switch it off then why do we try to force ourselves to work when our CPU is overloaded? Your productivity might be crashing because you are burnt out and you can try all the hacks in the world but nothing will substitute rest.

When I feel like this, I go to sleep earlier. Anything outstanding on my list can be picked up the following day in 99% of cases.

If it’s too late for this then you might need to take some time off and completely reboot. You might think you can’t do this but you get more done by working closer to 100% when you’re back than plodding along at 40% effectiveness.

It’s simple mathematics.

Give. Yourself. A. Break.

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The post 6 Practical Ways To Reverse A Productivity Slump first appeared on Amardeep.

13 Things You Should Give Up For A Less Stressful Life

Amardeep — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 12:21:22 +0000

Remove these toxic mindsets getting in your way

Edited by the author — original from Pexels

Sometimes in life subtraction is addition.

When you carry around toxic beliefs every day, they slow you down and wear you out. Over time you feel exhausted and part of you knows what the problem is but it’s never the right moment to address it.

39% of Americans say they have been often or almost always burned out in 2021.

It’s time to snap out of it. Many people can’t go on living the way they have because it’s unsustainable. It frankly scares me to see how stressed out the average person has become.

I used to want so much in life for the wrong reasons. You can’t outrun the wrong motivation because nothing will satisfy you. It’s harder in the short run to give up what’s weighing you down but the other side is worth it. Life will never be stress-free but you can still move in the right direction.

Here are 13 things you should give up.

#1 Conditional happiness

In a productivity-obsessed society, goal setting is a major part of our culture. It can be a good thing when used as a way to grow. Yet too often it’s used as a barrier to feeling whole in who you are today.

You don’t need to become a millionaire to be happy.
You don’t need the perfect partner to be happy.
You don’t need thousands of social media followers to be happy.

I’ve been there before myself. The desperation for external validation is the barrier to your happiness not whatever benchmark you set. Look in the other direction instead, what is causing you suffering? How can you remove these from your life or at least reduce their impact?

#2 Loyalty to your past self

Some people will claim their principles are so deeply ingrained in them that it’s in their bones. Yet all the cells in their bones are completely refreshed every ten years.

I’m not the same person I was last month let alone ten years ago. I’ve made many mistakes and learned more about myself along the way. I’m confident in a year’s time, I will consider the Amardeep of today a complete fool.

Clinging onto your past identity even when you’ve outgrown it is a sure way to cause yourself anxiety. Listen to your thoughts and feelings today. This is who you are and it’s ok if what made you happy before doesn’t make you happy anymore.

#3 Thinking you’re immortal

Multiple experiments have shown the power to resist rewards in the short term makes you more likely to be successful later in life. Yet this ignores how fleetingly short our lives are.

Oliver Burkeman covers this concept in his book, Four Thousand Weeks. Time will never be fully in your control. You can let that crush you or you can start living in the moment instead.

Work towards long-term goals but within reason. Sacrificing all of your twenties so you can enjoy life later implies the joy of youth is a neverending resource. If you want to climb Mount Everest, doing it in your 20s will be far easier than in your 60s.

You’ll never be younger than you are today ever again.

#4 Sugar as a crutch

A decade of karate gave me strong self-control but my kryptonite is sugar.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee explains the problem the best:

“We used to eat food to fill a hole in our stomach. Now we eat food to fill a hole in our hearts.”

The chemicals released from a sugar binge make us feel good for a bit before punishing us after a few hours. This might not be so bad if 10% of the US didn’t have diabetes. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it’s not a fun disease. It’s the seventh-largest killer.

Sugar as an occasional treat is fine but work on your underlying issues rather than relying on ordering another tub of ice cream. The first step is pausing and asking yourself what the real reason you crave the sugar is. If you can build this self-awareness, you can build on it to give up sugar as a mental crutch for good.

#5 The need to be right

This is the best thing I’ve given up for my day-to-day mind state. I took so much pride in my intellectual ferocity and had to have the last word. I got suckered into arguments because I couldn’t let things go.

I’ve popped my ego somewhat now and I’m so much calmer. I don’t agree with everyone but I don’t need to force them to submit to my point of view. If someone is getting heated, I wonder if there is something else going on in their lives rather than take it personally. I can refuse to escalate a situation.

Sometimes you will listen to someone and think they are deluded but if you can aim to moderate their views by 1% then it’s progress. Changing someone’s worldview in five minutes isn’t going to happen.

#6 FOMO

I have a confession. Growing up, I used to have anxiety about large social events. I didn’t want to go but I didn’t want to miss out either. Part of me would hope the event got canceled then both my desires would be met.

Your social exhaustion meter is one only you can read. Sometimes letting yourself skip an event or two so it can recover means you can enjoy the next occasion even more. Don’t measure your life in how many cool events you go to but the depth of your presence at those events.

Don’t let the fear of missing out drive you to social burnout.

#7 Shaming yourself for being human

The greatest battle we all face is the battle inside our own minds.

In Buddhism, they talk of two darts. The first is thrown at us and there’s not much we can do about it as bad things happen. Yet the second dart can be more painful because it’s the dart we throw out ourselves because of our reaction to the first.

We’re all bumbling our way through life and none of us know what we’re doing. It’s scary but it’s part of the fun. It’s normal to feel lost or make mistakes. You can’t be perfect but you can grow to be stronger in the future.

#8 Short term convenience

We find infinite ways to make life easier for ourselves. Then we pay expensive fees to go to the gym. Where’s the sense in that?

You don’t need to do formal fitness training to be healthy just look at those who live the longest. Simply keeping active with everyday activity is more than enough for most of us. Rather than fixating on running a marathon, stop driving to places where you can walk. Take the stairs rather than the lift. Turn on your own lights rather than asking Alexa to do it for you.

Make your life less convenient and rediscover the simple pleasure of movement.

#9 The echo chamber

Until 2016, I was caught up in an echo chamber where I thought everyone intelligent thought like me. I was so naive. The double whammy of Trump winning the US election and the UK voting for Brexit forced me to face reality.

I only ever read things that agreed with my opinions, which warped my perspective to demonize people outside of my bubble. This content encouraged me to be angry and to catastrophize. Why? Because it would keep me hooked and increase their ad revenue.

For some time, I would intentionally seek out opposing articles but now I only read if the writer can show both sides of an argument without attacking the people behind the ideas. Life is simpler.

#10 Expectations of praise

A pet peeve of mine is creators who think they deserve to have the world grovel at their feet.

They’ll post snarky messages about how their real friends don’t like their content or share their work. They’ll blame some form of discrimination as the reason they aren’t more successful because clearly, their content is flawless.

This toxic attitude is far too common.

If you only do something because you think it will mean others praise you then you need to examine your mindset. It’s unrealistic for any of us to expect the world to cheer our every move. When this fails to materialize, it will cause you to be bitter and lash at those around you.

It’s far healthier to be internally motivated. If other people appreciate your work then great but you should never allow yourself to become dependent.

Is a good deed truly a good deed if it’s only done for praise?

#11 Excess messages

I love talking to people but let’s be honest, messages and emails are not the same as meeting in person or even calls.

I could spend hours hitting the tiny keys on my phone’s screen each day in conversations which gave me less time to get through my to-do list. They took me out of the present moment without adding anything to my life. Earlier this year, I was replying to over 100 people each day.

Enough was enough.

Now I treat text conversations differently to voice ones. I’m happy to end message threads rather than keep them going out of a feeling of obligation. If you find yourself looking at your notifications with dread each day, start being stricter with how you reply. If a person is meaningful to you, it could be better to call them instead for a deeper connection.

#12 Other people’s dreams

I went to high school with many people who later became doctors and dentists and at the time, they thought it was what they wanted. The reality was obvious though. Their parents had conditioned them to believe this so they could boast at parties.

Many of them were miserable in their careers and several have already left.

We do this on a smaller scale all the time. We do what we think people want us to do rather than what we actually want. It’s unfortunately especially true of women in relationships. Whoever you are, your dreams are valid and you shouldn’t need to make yourself smaller to fulfill other people’s dreams.

It doesn’t mean pressing the nuke button but having an open and honest conversation. Unless you speak up, you’ll never know how accepting people could be.

#13 Comparison

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” — Anonymous

It’s never been easier to make yourself feel inadequate. All you need to do is open up Instagram and scroll through your discover page. There will be people more beautiful, more successful, and seemingly happier than you.

It’s all fake.

Everyone goes at their own pace and has ups and downs. A picture is a snapshot of a millisecond of someone’s day out of 24 hours. Do you think someone could understand your life from a few pictures? Then why do you think you can understand someone else’s life from theirs.

You want different things from life than me. If we switched places, you might hate my life but I’m the one living it and I’m happy. That’s what is important.

Driven But Always Stressed Out? Download Your FREE Anti-Burnout Toolkit Now.

The post 13 Things You Should Give Up For A Less Stressful Life first appeared on Amardeep.

Why Most Algorithm Advice Is Useless For Creators

Amardeep — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 08:00:32 +0000

Focus on people, not computers

Edited by the author — Original from Pexels

I’m sick of creators pretending they know the secret to the algorithms on whatever platform they are on.

They don’t. I don’t either.

Yet people will confidently preach their opinions and reference the “algorithm” to give themselves pseudo-credibility. They’ll gain a cult-like following of people who desperately want to be successful. If any of them truly had a hack to beat the algorithm then they’d be millionaires not tweeting it out to their 23 followers.

I’ve talked to people behind the scenes on different platforms. They don’t know how the algorithm works themselves! By design, they are complex beasts and constantly adapting to try to serve the human audience better.

I want you to shift your thinking from beating the algorithm to adding value to people. If enough people love your work, in the long run, you can’t fail.

Avoid jail

The one thing algorithm-related you need to do is make sure you don’t get flagged negatively.

This isn’t anywhere near as hard as some people make it out to be. Most platforms have detailed guidance and huge knowledge base banks. Yet people don’t bother reading them then complain instead. Never message more experienced creators asking for advice if you haven’t even read the manual.

Read the rules.

Follow the rules.

I’m assuming, well hoping, you aren’t posting anything illegal. If you are please close this article and shut down your device. Don’t switch it back on again. Thanks.

If your content is legal then you could be flagged for several easily fixable things such as misleading headlines or poor quality. Getting to this stage is the bare minimum level and after this, it’s all about connecting with the audience.

Don’t post this much

I’m expanding into YouTube soon and the way I work is that I research the hell out of something before I do it. I’m a nerd like that. I lost count of the number of videos telling me you need to post this many times per week at the same time because the algorithm rewards that.

It feels like an assumption repeated often enough by enough people who reference each other.

I don’t buy it. A consistent schedule might help the creator find their groove and ensure they keep putting good work out there. But does the algorithm have a clause to say if they post at the same minute every week then send them more views?

People still insist you need to publish something every single day on writing platforms because of the algorithm. Take it from someone who published 1.5x a week and built an online business big enough to quit consulting. You don’t.

Writing huge amounts of quality means you’re more likely to get a few lucky ones. It’s like if you wildly fling a thousand darts at a board you might hit the bullseye. If you take your time on each throw then the likelihood any given dart hits the bullseye is much higher. I take more pride in the second approach.

If your tactic is to flood the internet and hope something sticks then be my guest. Just please don’t pretend it’s because of some magical insight into how a platform works.

The rollercoaster

Narcissistic Creator Syndrome is where all the bad months are blamed on the algorithm and all the good months are because of individual brilliance. Sound familiar? My views go up and down each month, it’s the nature of a world where I’m not the main character in everyone else’s lives. I can’t hack the algorithm to deliver the same views each month. The algorithm can’t hack humans to force them to read rather than go out with their friends. The algorithm is not our enemy. The whole point of it is to promote the work it expects the audience to like to generate more views and engagement. Every platform wants the same thing at a high level as every creator. Yet this is the big picture and what you and ten of your mates experience are unlikely to represent the entire creator community. When it seems like views are down everywhere, everyone blames the algorithm. Poor thing. It’s an open secret more people were stuck inside last year than ever before. Doesn’t it make sense for there to be fewer views this year as the captive audience has been freed in many parts of the world? The RollercoasterWe need to shift the focus back to humans again. If your primary aim is search rankings or getting pushed by the algorithm, you’ve already lost in some ways. I want my content to speak to people for it to inform or entertain them. The algorithm likes titles like this.No, humans like titles like this. The algorithm likes images like this.No, humans like images like this. The algorithm likes these subjects.No, humans like these subjects. So many growth hackers fail because they forget the point of all this. Using every dirty trick in the book to get more views and followers can only work for so long until your quality needs to back up your marketing. The beauty in all this is you are a human. You know other humans too. Rather than trying to game an algorithm you can’t possibly understand, you can get feedback to appeal to more people on a deeper level. Don’t mystify things more than they need to be. Humans are complex enough as it is but studying them rather than lines of code will mean your work makes a greater impact. I’ve read pieces optimized for SEO and they suck because they are trying to appeal to algorithms. Let’s humanize content again.

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The Complete Guide To The Online Tools I Use In My 6-Figure Business

Amardeep — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 14:21:15 +0000

Why I use them and alternatives for you

Photo of author and edited by the author

One of the questions I get asked the most is what do I use to get everything done.

I’m a tool junkie. With my experience in the tech consulting world, I see no valid reason to make life harder for myself by doing things the hard way. I use over 50 online tools to help me with all the goals in my business. I’m not afraid to spend a bit of money to save myself a lot of time.

Yet at the same time, I have made some dumb decisions in the past and I don’t want you to do repeat my mistakes. I appreciate not everyone shares my preferences so I’ve given alternatives and explained exactly why I use everything I use to help you make a decision.

I’m hoping this is an article you bookmark and keep coming back to for reference as you grow your own hobby, side hustle, or business.

Here we go! You can use the contents below to teleport to the parts of the article you are most interested in.

*This post contains affiliate links!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Website
1a. WordPress
1b. Bluehost

2. Email
2a. Gmail
2b. ConvertKit

3. Audio and Visual
3a. Zencastr
3b. Adobe Premiere Pro
3c. Buzzsprout
3d. Figma
3e. Canva
3f. YouTube
3g. Google Meet

4. Productivity
4a. Todoist
4b. Notion
4c. Clockify
4d. Trello
4e. Calendly
4f. Google Forms
4g. Google Sheets
4h. Google Calendar

5. Learning
5a. Medium
5b. Blinkist
5c. Apple Podcasts
5d. Skillshare
5e. Teachable
5f. Udemy

6. Communication
6a. Voxer
6b. Slack
6c. WhatsApp
6d. Quora
6e. LinkedIn
6f. Instagram
6g. Facebook

7. Writing
7a. Medium
7b. Grammarly
7c. Hemingwayapp
7d. Cliche Finder
7e. Text Analyzer
7f. Google Docs

8. Finance
8a. Stripe
8b. Paypal
8c. Vanguard
8d. Binance
8e. Tide
8f. Starling

9. Miscellaneous
9a. Lastpass
9b. MoreYoga
9c. Amazon Prime
9d. Netflix
9e. Spotify
9f. Adblock Plus

The cornerstone of everything is the website. You can have a blog on another site but then you are at their mercy should they decide to ban you or change their format. My website is currently being rebuilt and you can see I have a cover page here. Yet if you go to this link, you might just catch what I’m building behind the scenes if you’re quick!

WordPress

Website creator

40% of the internet is based on WordPress for a reason because it has so many more options than most of the alternatives out there. The number of plugins is unrivaled to expand upon the base.

Yet if your needs are simple I would use Wix or Squarespace. You don’t need to be a developer to use those effectively. I have a technology consulting background so my learning curve isn’t as steep as it would be for most of you. Even then I’m going to outsource some of the more fidgety parts because life is too short.

My old site was based on Wix but I found it too limiting for the more advanced functions I wanted to add.

I also paid for the Astra theme and Elementor plugins to help me build the website quickly in an effective manner. It’s expensive overall so if you’re dipping your toes, it’s worth looking at the cheaper options.

You can see my current live website here and here’s a sneak peek at what I’m building.

How much I pay: $49 for Elementor Pro, $47.20 for Astra Pro (annual subscriptions)

Alternatives: Wix, Squarespace

Bluehost

Web host

You need to buy a domain to host your website and for it not to look amateur by having the website builder’s name in the URL.

The differences between the providers aren’t so large. I went with Bluehost because they are established so if I have problems then I know they have the resources to deal with them. There are more resources online on how to deal with various issues too because it’s popular.

You can’t go wrong with Bluehost even if it’s the cheapest or most feature-rich. Reliability is most important.

How much I pay: $300 for 3 years

Alternatives: Hostgator, GatorHost, GoDaddy

No social media platform has yet killed off email. It’s used by most people and is the method of communication most people are likely to see. In an online business, you need an account where you read and manage your emails then another provider to enable you to mass send emails and run marketing campaigns.

Gmail

You know what Gmail is.

Gmail is reliable with predictable usability features which is all I need is an email provider. This is path-dependent because I have used Gmail so much then I am comfortable with it and no other provider has given me enough incentive to switch.

The main debate would be Outlook vs Gmail for me and Gmail wins because it’s most commonly used by the others I connect with.

I pay for the Google suite because I want my custom email address of hello@amardeepsparmar.com. I pay one price for all of the different apps so it’s a steal in the end. If you’re paranoid about your privacy there are many other options out there for most people this is the choice of least resistance.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Outlook

ConvertKit

Email marketing software

Whatever business you run, an email list is critical. It’s the only way you can reach your customers directly and be sure they’ll at least see it without any algorithms interfering. You can use it to send sales emails or regular newsletters.

Normal email accounts like Google aren’t set up for mass sending emails so you need a separate provider for your marketing.

I was using Substack until this week because it was free and easy. Yet long term it wasn’t the right choice for me. The lack of customization and ability to do automation made it start to become a burden.

I’m currently teaching a course alongside

Nick Wolny

about how to grow an email empire. As part of it, I made tutorials about how to achieve different goals in main email providers. ConvertKit was by far the cleanest experience and had all the features I needed so it was a no-brainer to make the switch.

How much I pay: $79 a month (1000–5000 subscribers)

Alternatives: ActiveCampaign, Flodesk, Mailchimp

Although my online business started in writing, most of my time is now spent in the audio and visual space. I produce and host my own podcast, Mindful & Driven, create online courses and spend a large part of my working day on calls to other online creators.

I went into this space headfirst with my consulting hat on to minimize the learning curve.

Zencastr

Podcast recording

I produce and host the Mindful & Driven podcast which has both audio-only and video versions. I know many people use Zoom to record their meetings but their quality often resembles a potato.

I like Zencastr because it records both people locally first then uploads it so I never need to worry about a dodgy internet connection. It’s easy to use and hasn’t failed me yet.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Zoom, Google Meet

Adobe Premiere Pro

Video editing tool

If you’ve never tried it before, trust me, editing videos can be painful. I tried to cheap out by using different free resources but the quality just wasn’t there. I use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit everything from my podcast to online courses to Instagram reels.

For Windows users, it’s the industry video editor of choice and there’s no point swimming against the tide here. It’s quick to skill up with courses on Skillshare. If video content is an important part of your business then the costs are negligible.

How much I pay: £19.97 per month

Alternatives: Final Cut Pro

Buzzsprout

Podcast manager

For anyone looking to start a podcast, I recommend starting with Buzzsprout. It’s an easy way to manage uploading episodes and getting listed. The instructions are clear and concise and I had no problems. Their YouTube channel also has a wealth of tips and tricks.

I forked out more to pay for “Magic Mastery” which means all my podcasts sound great and the volume is even. It’s easily worth the $6 because it would take me far longer to manually fix the sound.

How much I pay: $18 for hosting per month, $6 for Magic Mastery

Alternatives: anchor.fm, riverside.fm

Figma

Design prototype tool

Of all the tools on this list, Figma is the one I enjoy using the most. It’s therapeutic for me to make my designs here. Every article image, podcast cover, and Instagram image of mine was edited here. It’s not difficult to use but I cheated a little because I learned how to use it in my corporate career so have an advantage over those new to the design world.

This week, I’ve been using it to mock up my website. For most people, I would say outsource this work to a graphic designer as despite what you think, you probably can’t make a good prototype in a reasonable amount of time. Yet I enjoy it so for me it was part work, part leisure.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Miro, Canva

Canva

Image editing tool

Many online business people are obsessed with Canva because of how quickly you can make a decent-looking custom image. If you have little design experience and don’t care too much, I’d recommend using Canva rather than Figma for your image creation.

The main drawback is because everyone uses it, you want to not pick the images right at the top if you want to stand out. I bought a subscription because I was going to use it to replace Figma but it was too limiting for my ideas. I now only use it for the background remover which is a waste of money and I haven’t renewed my subscription!

How much I pay: £8.33 a month (though waiting for the annual contract to run out)

Alternatives: Figma

YouTube

You know what YouTube is

YouTube is the dominant platform for sharing and making money from creating videos. At the moment my page is quite limited and I haven’t actively promoted it but you can find the video versions of my podcast there.

The barrier to entry to monetize is high. You need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time but for someone serious, this is actually a good thing. It means if you are confident enough you can reach there, the rewards are higher than what they’d be if everyone was paid. I’m only 1% of the way there but I haven’t prioritized it yet. Watch this space.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Google Meet

Video conferencing

My use of Google Meet rather than Zoom or Teams for my everyday calls is because it was the tool of choice at my day job. The differences between the apps aren’t big enough for me to bother changing.

If you’re using a tool for videoconferencing already it’s not worth changing in most cases. However, if you want to host grander events, I’d recommend Hopin.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Zoom, Microsoft Teams

This is the magic. I managed five income streams on top of my full-time job and it’s now a dozen since I left the corporate world. These tools are critical to stopping me from burning out and losing track of what I’m doing.

I’d strongly recommend creating a system and sticking to it for a little while so you can see the results. Sometimes it takes a little while to get adjusted before your productivity starts to spike.

Todoist

To-do list manager

My to-do list has over 300 items at the moment. That’s not a typo.

Using a notebook to track my tasks was a mess of arrows and scratched-out tasks. What I like about Todoist is how I can schedule tasks to separate out my lists. I select my tasks for the day so I don’t get distracted and can dump longer-term items in a separate list where they don’t overwhelm me.

I can also use recurring tasks. For example, I have a task for every day I edit Entrepreneur’s Handbook to look through the queue of articles.

The difference between the free and paid versions isn’t massive but when it’s so cheap I had no problem paying. It gives me extra options and filters to keep track of my tasks.

How much I pay: $36 a year

Alternatives:

Notion

Note tracking app

My Notion is my second brain, it stores all the stuff I’d otherwise forget. I have pages for recipes, book notes, and podcast notes. It hosts my own thoughts and wacky plans that aren’t ready for the world’s consumption yet.

Storing information here means less repeat work for my brain. If I want to remember the line I loved from a book then I just go into Notion and check my notes. It’s far more efficient than manually flicking through the book and hoping it triggers your memory.

Roam Research is a major competitor so it’s worth checking out both before deciding on what system you want to use.

The great thing about it is unless you want to share your notes with other people, it’s free!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Roam research, Evernote

Clockify

Time tracking

Clockify made a huge difference to my productivity when I went full time into online business. I found my schedule was messed up and I never knew how long I spent on different tasks.

Through Clockify I can track where I’m spending my time which helps me to use it more intentionally. A common problem I had was underestimating how long a task would take me and then cramming too much into my day’s plan.

Though I try not to be, I’m competitive by nature, and knowing I’m working against the clock triggers fire in my belly. If you often find yourself wondering where your time has gone then Clockify could be for you.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Trello

Task tracking

Trello is great for collaborative task tracking. I only use it in the freelancing side of my business where my client can add tasks to the “to-do” column with comments. Then I pick it up add my own comments as it goes through a workflow.

I value it because it protects my email inbox. The clarity of communication and tracking is perfect for client work because it removes the potential for misunderstandings.

How much I pay: Nothing (though the client does)

Alternatives:-

Calendly

Appointment booking app

As I write this, I think I’m going to make next week a no online call week. Calls drain my energy even if I love talking to the person and they disrupt my rhythm for the rest of the day.

With Calendly I don’t have to do the awkward dance of back and forth emails to try to schedule a call at least. When I have 5–10 a week, it becomes a headache fast.

I use Calendly to manage other people’s access to my time. I block time periods where I want to rest and automatically block half an hour before and after an existing call. This gives me the time to recover before the next round.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Google Forms

Data collection

As my online business has grown, collecting feedback has become more important. Google Forms allows me to do this painlessly in a way which many of my audience is familiar with.

I use forms to manage Entrepreneur’s Handbook submissions and Mindful & Driven preparation too. Considering the options you get for free, there’s not much need to analyze too hard.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Typeform

Google Sheets

Spreadsheet

As a former economist, I love a good spreadsheet. I was strongly a Microsoft Excel guy but today I don’t need to do complex econometrics so Google Sheets is just fine.

I use Google Sheets as a tracking tool and for when I need to structure ideas out in a table. I export the Google Forms data here to make it easier to find what I need.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Microsoft Excel

Google Calendar

Calendar

You might have noticed by now I use the Google tech stack. Whenever there’s a function covered by one subscription, I’m going to use it rather than hunting around elsewhere. Google Calendar does everything I need it to do in conjunction with Calendly.

One trick I use is checking my schedule on my Apple Watch at the beginning of the day. This delays my need to check my phone or my laptop as if I know I have no meetings to prepare for then I can have some peace of mind. It’s great when I’m out too and someone asks me when I’m free!

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Outlook calendar

Every online business at its core is either leisure or learning and the best are both. For me, I’m entangled because the places I learn also tend to be the places I teach as well. Here’s where I think the best resources live.

Medium

Blog site

The membership that changed my life.

There are so many blog sites online and most are awful. I don’t want to bookmark 30 websites to read the work of the people I love reading. Medium puts high-quality authors all in one place and I’ve learned so much here.

The membership is far too cheap for what you get. It’s especially useful for those in the tech and design fields which is how I discovered it initially.

How much I pay: $50 per year for an annual membership

Alternatives: Nothing quite like it

Blinkist

Book summaries

The editor’s curse is reading non-fiction becomes less enjoyable over time. It feels like work, not leisure.

The more you read, the more realize how most of the books can be summarized quickly and the rest is filler to justify the price. Blinkist gives short summaries in both written and audio form to distill the key ideas of books.

Most of the time I find this is sufficient for me to understand what the concepts are and I don’t need to read a million more examples.

How much I pay: $60 for an annual membership

Alternatives: 4-minute books

Apple Podcasts

Podcast player

One of the problems of being an editor is I get sick of reading articles. It means most of my learning now comes from podcasts rather than blogs.

I like Apple Podcasts’ simple design and prefer to keep Spotify purely for listening to music.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Acaster

Skillshare

Online learning platform

I have always been a skeptic of online courses. It’s ridiculous because I should invest in myself so I improve faster but I have a mental block.

Skillshare is perfect for people like me and I have used it to learn Adobe Premiere Pro in a day as well as how to create a podcast. It’s a cheap subscription considering there are hundreds of online courses included. I made my own course there too and I love that people can try it for a month for free.

If you want to learn a creative skill fast and cheaply then I don’t think there’s a better place.

How much I pay: £50 annually

Alternatives: Teachable, Udemy, Thinkific

Teachable

Online learning platform

I currently use Teachable for my intermediate writing course but I’m planning to migrate it to Udemy. I’ll break down why.

Teachable as a platform is great and has everything you need. Yet it’s expensive and relies on you driving the traffic to your course. This is an awesome trade-off if you love selling but not everyone does.

As I don’t push my course aggressively, after the initial launch, sales dried up so I wonder why I’m paying still. Yet I don’t want to shove it in people’s faces to turn things around. This is why I’m switching to Udemy.

Which platform you use depends on how much you enjoy selling. The potential for supernormal profits is greater on Teachable though.

How much I pay: $39 per month (I downgraded from the higher tier)

Alternatives: Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific

Udemy

Online learning platform

Udemy has its pros and cons relative to Skillshare and Teachable. You charge per course which means you make more per student than Skillshare. Yet you don’t have to pay a monthly fee like Teachable. Udemy, like Skillshare, will recommend your course to people in their ecosystem.

The downsides of Udemy are flash sales out of your control where they might decide to put a big discount on your course. You still get a share but it’s much lower than a normal sale. The fact there are public ratings is a reason some Teachable instructors avoid it as a few bad reviews can sink your course. Though if you’re making a course you believe in then you shouldn’t hide away from the public eye!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific

People think I spend most of my time creating but it’s not true at all. Most of my time is spent connecting with other people and working on different ideas and projects with them. It’s the greatest perk of what I do to have access to so many inspiring minds.

I also need to use different channels to get my own message out there to a wider audience. Managing this all can become difficult sometimes. Right now I have over 500 unread notifications from the apps below and I have group chat notifications turned off!

Voxer

Walkie-talkie app

This is one of the newest additions to my toolkit and has blown my mind. It’s just like a normal messaging app but you can send voice notes and the other person listens whilst you are talking.

It’s great for when something can be explained better through speaking but without having to jump on a proper call. Let’s say someone is giving me instructions, I can send them messages to clarify their points while they are still speaking so they can add that information. It makes working when you aren’t in the same room an extra bit easier.

It’s different to say Whatsapp where you need to wait for the completed audio and listen to it before you can reply. It’s a subtle difference but a great one. Voxer isn’t for people who like to record voice notes and delete several times before actually sending though!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Slack

Communications app

Slack is the classic app for collaborating with a group. I’ve mainly used it as part of mastermind groups and it works well when the group is active.

The issue is there’s a sweet spot of size. A few highly engaged people are better than many lurkers. I feel less comfortable revealing more vulnerable information when I know there are many people reading who I don’t know.

If you can get this balance right, it’s one of the best ways to host a community for free. Group mastermind slacks are where I’ve made some of the connections who’ve later become genuine friends.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Communications app

WhatsApp is my most protected communication channel where I talk to the people I’m closest with. It’s so easy for the lines between personal and business to get blurred but I enjoy having one channel where I can’t be bugged!

Whatsapp doubles as my on-the-go note-taking app too through a little hack I learned. You can create a group with just you in it and use it to send messages to yourself. I’ve been using WhatsApp for so long, it’s the place I feel most comfortable reading and sending messages so it’s a natural fit for me. It’s the place for my brain dump before I add the details to Todoist or Notion.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Instagram

Media sharing app

Pre-online business, Instagram was the social media app I spent the most time on as a consumer. It has changed generally in the last few years from a place mainly for friends and family to share photos with each other to a space dominated by brands.

As a consumer, I’m not sure how I feel about it but as a creator, I know it’s a valuable platform to show my personality to those who want to see more of me. It’s not a platform you have to be on, it depends on your audience. I target millennials and it makes Instagram a natural fit.

I mean where else do I show my writing fans me dancing to Bhangra?

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Quora

Question and answer platform

I underuse Quora but someone like

Sean Kernan

shows the power of building an audience there.

Quora is a good way for people to dip their toes in the online world. The required effort is less than writing a full blog post yet there’s still the potential to go viral and build an audience. I skipped this step but in hindsight, I believe it would have helped me become a better writer.

All I do is post links to my articles but a longer-term strategy will be to answer questions and engage more in their community.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Professional networking

I have a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn. I connect with some incredible people through there but I get many dead-end messages too.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve slid into my inbox hoping I’m going to call them for free to help them make money. If you were to consider doing that, save us both some time!

I’ve switched my default from connections to followers which means I need to spend less time accepting connection requests and the number of people who see my posts can grow passively. I haven’t bothered with LinkedIn premium at the moment because I struggle to keep up with the messages I already have.

Someone like

Tim Denning

is a master of using this platform and in the future, I’ll consider it a fun challenge to switch up my writing style to be successful here.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Facebook

Social network

I don’t use Facebook the same way I did ten years ago. It’s no longer personal, it’s all business. I only use the groups’ function where I’m part of several masterminds and moderate some of these. This includes the Medium Writer’s Academy by

Sinem Günel

Compared to Slack, FB groups are good because most people already have a Facebook account and the resistance to join is less. I find Slack better for focused groups and FB better for mass participation.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

A large part of my online business is based on my ability to write and edit other people’s work effectively. Mistakes do sometimes slip through as I’m human but here’s what I use to avoid embarrassment.

Medium

Blog site

Medium is the only tool that appears here twice because I use it for two distinct reasons.

It’s the main place I write because I can reach a wide audience through the existing membership. The UI is clean and easy to use.

If you write only on a WordPress blog, stop and write here instead. Medium does encourage high-quality writing so if you want to spam and get rich quick, go elsewhere!

How much I pay: Nothing to write

Alternatives: Nothing quite like it

Grammarly

Spelling and grammar checker

If you write online and aren’t using Grammarly then sign up as soon as you finish this article. What are you doing? As an editor, I resent the author whenever I open an article and there’s a sea of red squiggly lines.

Grammarly is like a live spell checker that can be used in your browser through an extension. The free version is good enough for my needs and picks up most of my mistakes. Yet I’m relatively privileged as a native English speaker with a university degree.

My friend

Sinem Günel

told me the suggestions from Grammarly Pro made a huge difference to her English writing prowess. Considering she’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars from her writing, I’m confident in recommending it. They seem to do discounts regularly so I’d wait for those if I were you.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Hemmingwayapp.com

Writing clarity tool

Although it has “app” in the title, I use the browser version.

Ernest Hemmingway is an American author who is famous for his concise style. When you paste your text into this site, it gives you a grade and highlights where improvements could be made.

I’m not Hemmingway and I like to have longer sentences sometimes to mix up the flow for the reader. Yet this site shows me where I’ve made my text too dense and I always use at least some of the suggestions.

If you find readers struggle to read your work, there’s no harm in checking what the site says.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Grammarly Pro has similar features

Cliche Finder

Does what the name says

Cliche’s can be useful but they can be lazy too. Paste your writing into here to find out how often you use cliches and see if you can come up with something more original instead.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:–

Text analyzer

Duplicate word/phrase finder

As an editor one problem, I see a lot is people reusing the same words and phrases throughout their article. I shouldn’t be halfway through your article and feel a sense of deja vu because I think I’ve read something you’ve said already.

The fix is to use a tool like Text Analyzer that tells you how many times certain phrases and words appear. If you can see something pop up a lot then it is a trigger to rephrase those sentences to make the reader experience more fluid.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Google docs

Document editor

Whenever I’m writing something, not for a blog, Google Docs is my go-to. It’s become the standard for people to use when sending documents online and most people are clued up enough on how to add comments and suggestions.

Whilst I used Microsoft Word for most of my life, it makes sense for me to use the same tool as my collaborators to reduce friction.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

The money side makes the world go around whether we like it or not. I have different ways of accepting payments online, my investment accounts and my business bank accounts. Beware this is flavored by my UK background and you should always seek financial advice before putting any of your capital at risk.

Stripe

Payment processor

Stripe is a payment provider and has boomed in recent years. Several of my income sources are reliant on it so I don’t have much choice in using it. Though when given a choice, I prefer using Stripe to Paypal because the analytics are better.

Running a paid Substack newsletter has meant I had to learn how to handle refunds and disputed payments. It’s not fun. Yet, touch wood, everything has worked out so far. If you can use something simpler early on, I would recommend you do it as the backend can be confusing at times.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: —

Paypal

Payment processor

Paypal is another way for me to receive money for my services. What’s great is I can drop people this link and they can pay me instantly. If you fancy buying me a coffee I won’t complain.

The security of payments is something I know many people worry about and it’s why Paypal is so dominant. It’s a brand name people know and trust. I’d encourage you to be highly skeptical of sending money to someone through a tool you’ve never heard of. Do your research on it or ask a more tech-aware friend.

The fees are a pain for me because of the currency conversion but the convenience and trust it triggers in clients makes it worth it.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Vanguard

Investment portfolio

I do all my investments through Vanguard though I know there are many providers. They offer low fees and are of a scale where I feel safe leaving my money with them.

I don’t actively trade anymore except for investing in the odd IPO because I don’t spend all my time reading about the markets like I used to. The likelihood I know better than a fund manager is pretty low. The chances you are better than a fund manager in the long term is low too, don’t lie to yourself.

How much I pay: % fees of investments

Alternatives: So many

Binance

Cryptocurrency exchange

I’m going to upset some people but I don’t believe in the cryptocurrency hype on fundamentals. Blockchain technology may well be the future but volatile coins with no intrinsic value are a gamble in my eyes.

Yet I’m investing anyway because I might be wrong. There are few ways to earn extraordinary results and I’ve only invested an amount that losing wouldn’t majorly impact my life.

I chose Binance over Coinbase because when I bought, they had better options to buy coins in GBP rather than USD. It doesn’t have the best user experience for the average person but it is improving.

How much I pay: % fees

Alternatives: Coinbase

Tide

UK Business bank account

Tide is a challenger online bank that is simple to set up through an app as long as you have your company set up properly. I chose Tide because I was bombarded with adverts for them and the user experience is clean. It was my first business bank account.

There’s a downside though as it’s a GBP account and most of my income is in USD so I get hit with high commission. Most of my transactions now flow through my Starling account but I find it useful to have two accounts for resilience.

How much I pay: % based fee

Alternatives:

Starling

UK business bank account

Like Tide, Starling is a UK-based challenger bank that has one considerable advantage for me. It allows me to open up a USD account.

This means my dollar-based income is no longer hit with a commission and I can transfer it to my own sterling account at a low cost. While on each transaction, the saving isn’t massive, over time it can add up quickly.

How much I pay: £5 a month

Alternatives:

This motley crew of tools is what keeps me sane and safe. I’m not someone who believes spending time online for leisure is evil though I try to be intentional about it. Here’s the wrap-up of the final tools.

Lastpass

Password manager

With all these accounts, you can imagine it would be a nightmare to manually remember passwords. This is where LastPass saves the day.

I use a hyper-secure, ultra-long password to protect all the other passwords. Don’t get into the bad habit of using the same password on multiple sites because it leaves you vulnerable. Unless you have a photographic memory you’re going to need a good password manager. Make sure to use two-factor identification too.

I upgraded to the “families” version last month so I could share passwords with my new personal assistant. This means I can allow my assistant to see the passwords she needs but not the more intimate ones like my bank accounts!

How much I pay: $4 a month

Alternatives: 1Password, Google Password Store

MoreYoga

Yoga membership

If you’re not in the UK then I’m not sure if you can use this which sucks because love them.

Online business is terrible for the body. Sitting at a desk at home means hours can pass without me realizing it until my body begins to ache. I try to combat it with better habits as much as I can but I still have bad days.

MoreYoga has thousands of classes available online to help me stretch out. I consider my membership crucial to my business because I would break down far quicker without it.

How much I pay: £50 a month

Alternatives: There are hundreds

Amazon Prime

Ecommerce membership

I hate myself a little for much I use Amazon Prime but the convenience of the fast delivery is hard to resist. The chaos of my business means when I realize I need something, it usually means I need it immediately. The annual investment to have access to millions of products in this timeframe is unquestionably worth it for me.

How much I pay: £79 a year

Alternatives:

Netflix

Online entertainment

Puritan mindfulness people don’t need Netflix. I’m not a puritan though. Sometimes a distraction is needed to escape into another world.

How much I pay: £6 a month

Alternatives: Disney +, HBO, etc

Spotify

Maybe I’m weird but I prefer to keep Spotify for listening to music and Apple podcasts for learning. I associate Spotify with having fun and downtime. It’s something that works for me. I pay because I can’t stand adverts.

How much I pay: £9.99 a month

Alternatives:-

Adblock Plus

Browser Adblocker

It’s last but it makes a huge difference to my life. It’s a plugin that blocks ads on most websites. Companies are becoming savvier and I do need to disable it more often now when hit by a popup but it still protects my mind a little bit from the bombardment of adverts.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

And there you have it! That’s everything I use in my online business and some of the changes I plan to make. Drop a comment to let me know which tools you use, I’m open to suggestions.

I put in a lot of effort into this piece so I’d love it if you could sign up below or share it with your friends as a thank you.

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The post The Complete Guide To The Online Tools I Use In My 6-Figure Business first appeared on Amardeep.

How To Troubleshoot Your Mood To Help You Find Balance

Amardeep — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:00:31 +0000

Bad days happen to the best of us

Image courtesy of Sean Kernan

We all have those days where we just aren’t in the mood to get anything done.

For some they are rare but for others like me, they are alarmingly common. Dealing with these days and still getting things done is an important skill to balance your lifestyle.

When I slack for a day or two, it can put unhealthy pressure on me to get tasks done in a short amount of time once motivation strikes again. I don’t write every day for this reason and I shift between different tasks to keep my energy levels high.

Sean Kernan isn’t like me. He was a financial analyst for years and still wrote every day in his free time. Even as a full-time writer, he still writes daily through thick and thin which is probably why he has hundreds of millions of views online.

Whatever industry you work in, sometimes you need to work when you don’t feel motivated to avoid your workload getting out of control. Sean’s troubleshooting method can help you on those bad days.

This article is based on the Mindful & Driven episode with Sean. You can listen here or find the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.

You’ve got to ask the right question

When I don’t think I’m working as well as I can, I can get angry at myself. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies because rage doesn’t fix the problem. You might begin to focus on “what’s wrong with me?” rather than “how can I get back on course?”.

The second question is what Sean’s troubleshooting document does. It’s a series of steps he takes which focus on how to make things better rather than placing the blame. When your laptop breaks, you often don’t care what caused it, you just care about how to get it switched on again.

We choose to fight ourselves because it can feel easier than understanding ourselves. To know to get yourself back on track, you need strong self-awareness. You have to understand how your thoughts can change your mood and how external influences impact you.

It can be a little uncomfortable to admit to yourself you need a rest and can’t plow through every problem. Take the time to collect different ideas you can use to turn your morale around and write them down. It doesn’t need to be done in one sitting, you can let the list build up over time.

Tips on finding the right steps

Last year Niklas quit high paying job because he realized it was stopping him from fulfilling his potential. From a purely financial perspective, his decision was insanity. He was being paid enough to live comfortably, was good at what he did and it didn’t take up much time.

Even once he’d realized the job was sapping his energy, it was hard to quit because of the comfort of the money coming in. He kept at it longer than he should have because like most of us he’s hardwired not to turn down dollars.

Yet he had to be brutal with himself about what he wanted from life. He’d regret not freeing up his time to produce his best work more than he’d feel the loss of income.

I was in a similar position earlier this year. I knew with all my heart I wanted to be a full-time creative and I had matched my day job income. I could live comfortably on far less but it took time to shake off my psychological goblin that was addicted to numbers.

I’d advise you to be honest with yourself about how much income you actually need and how long your savings will last you. You might be able to cut more than you think you can.

I hope you found these tips useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Niklas talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.We aren’t all the same so you can’t steal someone else’s document and expect to solve all your problems. You’ll have unique steps and you can choose to find this exciting or intimidating. (Hint: choose exciting).

Yet you can find inspiration from what other people do. Their steps might not work for you but they might trigger related ideas that change your life. Don’t be afraid to tweak things to suit you or to adapt your own ideas if they no longer work for you.

We are constantly changing and what motivates me today is unrecognizable from who I was five years ago. Give yourself that compassion.

With those caveats, here are some of the things Sean has on his troubleshooting document.

Read random facts articles

Look at cool and clever adverts

Listen to podcasts

Going for a walk

Of his list, only the fourth step is something I use myself. As I now have my own podcast, listening to other podcasts is less enjoyable because I tend to overanalyze!

One thing he didn’t mention but works for me is laying down and staring at the ceiling. I find literally changing my perspective can shake my brain around and sometimes new ideas breakthrough.

Another way I regain motivation is by talking to someone else about whatever it is I’m working on. I tell them where I’m stuck and they might gift me an epiphany moment that puts me back at full speed.

Much of this is based on the idea of the focused brain and diffused brain popularised by Dr. Barbara Oakley. We can be in a rut because we spend too much time in the focused brain which tires us out. The troubleshooting document gives us different ways to go into diffused mode and trigger our creativity.

I hope you found this simple technique useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Sean talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.

https://youtu.be/Mrvh-3qbjgI

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The post How To Troubleshoot Your Mood To Help You Find Balance first appeared on Amardeep.

$100,000 in Prizes Means One Story Could Change An Entrepreneur’s Life

Amardeep — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 08:00:47 +0000

Join Medium’s writing challenge today

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

At Entrepreneur’s Handbook, we believe writing can be the gateway to success for budding startup founders. A writing skill can help you reach millions of people, including potential investors and customers.

It was through the written word that our founder got on the radar of Hopin and helped it become the fastest-growing European startup ever.

Medium has launched a new writing competition that gives you even more reason to start typing. There are four prompts with a prize of $10k each and a grand overall prize of $50,000. The judges include Natalie Portman!

$50,000 is the kind of money that could bootstrap your startup to the next level. The prestige of winning with such esteemed judges would do your brand a world of good.

The four prompts are below. We’d love to see your work in these areas with an entrepreneurial twist:

Reentry —Quitting your job. (tag: mwcreentry)
Death — A company going under. (tag: mwcdeath)
Work — Starting or joining a business. (tag: mwcwork)
Space — Company culture or what it’s like to work at your company. (tag: mwcspace)

The full details are in the post below including all the terms and conditions. Here’s a hint: the work tag has been used the least times so far so that’s the one you have the best chance of winning!

Remember to tag your story with the relevant tag above.

Best wishes.

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How a $2 Billion Company Without an HR Department Is Thriving

Amardeep — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 08:00:07 +0000

Is Octopus Energy’s model the future?

Created by the author — original image public domain

1600 employees.

$3bn annual revenue.

No HR department.

It seems impossible and you’d think every day would be on the brink of disaster. Yet it’s working for Octopus Energy.

It’s all because the founder Greg Jackson takes an unconventional approach to company building. He’s a serial entrepreneur who preferred to learn the HR and IT functions than to create dedicated departments.

In a small company, this isn’t uncommon yet it’s unheard of for something of Octopus Energy’s size. It doesn’t appear to have disrupted their growth as their valuation soared from zero to a $2bn valuation in just 6 years.

You might be expecting to search online and a flood of negative employee reviews but the opposite is true. Somehow Octopus has maintained a 4.6 rating out of 5 on Glassdoor with a good sample size of 175 reviews.

How are they thriving without an HR department?

Treat people like adults instead of babies

When I applied for graduate roles, there was a funny dance I had to do in interviews for large companies. They all said they wanted someone who could take on responsibility and I’d try to prove this through examples.

The interviewer and I both knew in reality I would be expected to shut up and do as I was told for at least the first few years.

It’s part of the reason why I started my career at a boutique consultancy instead. I felt bad for my peers who believed the dream they were sold by job adverts. In many cases, you’re nothing more than a cog in a machine.

Greg wants to follow through on the promises made in the recruitment process. He wants to hire the best people and not put them in constraints or tie them up in bureaucracy. He doesn’t believe in “infantilizing” his employees.

The lack of strict company-wide guidelines means if someone wants more responsibility and promotion then they are welcome to try. They aren’t held back by arbitrary rules. Managers and their charges are expected to be reasonable with each other rather than rely on an employee handbook.

Swimming lessons

Greg is clear he doesn’t just throw managers in at the deep end and see if they sink. He gives them support and training so they are prepared for potential problems. Yet he doesn’t want to micromanage them:

“But we don’t tell them how to manage their team, they do it in ways which suit them and their team. There’s no fear of hierarchy, so managers’ managers have good visibility. This is essentially what we are replicating. We are creating micro-businesses across the company, just on a much larger scale.” — Greg Jackson

This structure empowers managers to be like entrepreneurs. Their passions can shine through rather than ticking boxes. This mindset is strengthened by permanent staff owning 5% of the business. The aim is to create a sense of everyone being in it together.

The pandemic tested this model and employees were encouraged to give suggestions of how to make sure people were supported. It led to Octopus creating a “listening ear program” where a trained psychotherapist teaches others how to support their peers with mental health issues. This is a voluntary program but means everyone always has someone to turn to.

Heads out of the sand

This might sound deluded still. It’s another story of a CEO who has no idea his employees are unhappy.

This would be unfair as Greg considers the people at his company so important that it should be him as CEO who takes the ultimate decisions rather than passing it off to an HR department.

Octopus Energy has an employee app where employees are asked questions about their satisfaction and can raise concerns. Greg says every Monday, the leadership team analyzes all this data as well as a breakdown of which divisions have people leaving.

This data dump means the early signs of discontent can be spotted and the root causes dealt with. While managers are empowered and adapt if their team is unhappy.

The lack of an HR department means the recruitment process takes longer but managers know their future employees much better.

“We hire people who care!” — Greg Jackson

Their performance speaks for itself

Greg’s logic is the fewer departments, the more streamlined the company and the faster it can grow.

In 2021, Octopus Energy has been racking up awards:

#23 on fastest-growing companies in Europe by Financial Times
The first energy provider to be recommended by Which? for four years in a row
12th on UK Customer Service Index — the only energy company in the Top 50!

Octopus Energy is also one of the few providers to have 100% renewable energy.

Happy employees. Fast-growing. Great service. And environmentally friendly!

It sounds like a dream for a responsible entrepreneur and it will be interesting to see if they can keep up this momentum. The company is still young and when it’s growing at this pace, there is a lot of challenges in the future. Greg’s interview with the BBC put a target on his back with many HR leaders unhappy.

The big caveat

The problem of having no HR department is you are dependent on a good-hearted CEO. If you have a problem with the boss, you’re screwed.

The startup world is littered with scandals from CEOs who crossed boundaries. THINX CEO, Miki Agrawal is alleged to have inappropriately touched her staff and taken calls whilst on the toilet. Travis Kalanick was forced to step down as Uber CEO after several serious allegations .

The paradox is the leaders who think they don’t need an HR department are the ones who need it the most. A well-run HR department can form a powerful counterbalance to a larger-than-life CEO.

Greg admits this himself.

He is a people person so the system works for Octopus and from employee reviews, the feeling seems to be returned. He had two decades of experience working in multiple companies before creating this successful structure.

He recommends founders do what suits their strengths. If they aren’t someone who wants to spend significant portions of their time looking after their people, then they should give the responsibility to someone else.

What Octopus Energy has done is prove an alternate model is possible and with the right CEO can lead to success.

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10 Actionable Tips To Help You Make Better Content Today

Amardeep — Tue, 25 May 2021 15:55:57 +0000

Simple ideas that can make a difference

Created by the author — original image from pexels

I started creating content in January 2020 and 15 months later, I quit my job after accumulating millions of views. It’s been an exciting and sometimes terrifying journey and I’ve learned many things along the way.

But that’s enough about me for now.

Let’s focus on you. Here are 10 tips you can start using today.

#1 Find a voice checker

Almost everything possible online has already been done. The main way we can stand out is through our personality but it’s harder than it sounds.

People were too kind when they complimented me on my writer’s voice when I started. I gained loyal fans but I had no idea what I was doing.

My little sister is the secret sauce as she reads everything I write before I publish. She knows me better than any of my readers and has no problem with calling me out if I sound fake or it seems like I’m trying to be someone else. This means my writing actually sounds like me.

Find someone to do this for you and you’ll gain followers who resonate with who you are. It must be someone who knows you from before you created content. Someone who knows you not your persona.

Message your chosen person today.

#2 Stop finding causation in randomness

When most people tell me about how they have taken a data-driven approach to their content, I smile and nod at their sample size of 5. I paid far more attention when

Tim Denning

with a sample size of thousands of articles talked about his findings on a call.

Most people don’t have a large enough data set to make meaningful conclusions.

There are a million and one factors why one piece of content did well and another didn’t. On one day, it was cold and rainy so people spent more time online. On another day, the latest Brigerton series was released and everyone was binge-watching.

You have to go with your gut in most cases about what is higher quality. Stop obsessing over tiny swings in data and put your energy into being creative instead.

I check my stats once a month. Pick how often you will check yours today and stick to it.

#3 Talk to non-creators

I see other people post on Instagram how their real friends don’t support them as much as their online friends.

I’m sorry but I don’t expect any of my friends to read my content because I don’t visit my doctor friends and clap after they treat each patient.

Most of your audience won’t be in the same world of work as you. It’s critically important to get out of this bubble and connect with others in completely different fields. Don’t lose sight of the rest of the world.

I went out for dinner with some friends at the weekend and we talked about my writing for maybe 10 minutes. The rest of the time we were laughing and joking about I can’t even remember what. I need this to keep me fresh and stop me from creating unrelatable content that no one wants to read.

Reach out to a friend today and try to not talk about your side hustle or work at all. There’s way more to life.

#4 Generate if-then plans

My mind loves being creative but it’s less keen on actually doing the work.

I have way too many ideas and it pulls me all over the place. It’s exhausting and stops me from getting things done. I’ll spend hours investigating some new thing I could potentially do then never actually do it.

The way I manage this is through if-then plans. I ban myself from chasing a shiny object until I’ve met some other criteria.

For example, I’d love to start a podcast one day but I certainly don’t have the time. If I can consistently write 3–4 articles per week then I’ll start a podcast. Until then I don’t spend time worrying about it.

This helps you build quality in one area first before moving on.

Get a piece of paper and write down some of your if-then plans today. Make sure you stick to them!

#5 Create a blacklist

Going one step further, create a list of what you’ll never do. As soon as you join any online community you’ll be flooded with things you could do even though realistically you know you never will.

Expel these distractions from your brain by writing them down on your blacklist. Maybe you never want to create content about money or sexual relationships or maybe you want to avoid creating TikTok or Instagram reels.

Whatever it is just write them down today and feel lighter afterward. The internal strain of being in forty-seven places at once isn’t worth it.

#6 Consume what you don’t like

There’s a tendency for people to pick a few others who they like and follow them religiously. It’s a great way to learn by dissecting what works for them.

The path less traveled is also studying those with who you disagree. The ones where you’re wondering how anyone wants to follow them. Just because you don’t like them, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn valuable lessons.

This helps to teach you about the wider audience beyond your bubble. It challenges your beliefs of what works and makes you more resilient in the long run.

You’ve probably already got someone in your mind who is where you want to be but you don’t like their content. Check them out today.

#7 Bring your external skills

I believe it took me 28 years to become an overnight success as a writer.

All the skills I gained at work and the life experiences I went through formed who I am and the way I connect with people.

I find it strange when people start a new venture online and act as if they’ve never done anything else before. Don’t try to grow as one of many on a production line, you’ll get lost in the crowd.

Instead, try to work out how what you’ve done before can help you in what you’re doing now. It’s likely your competition can’t do something else as well as you can so why wouldn’t you use your advantage?

Take a piece of paper today and draw a line down the middle. On the left, write down a skill and on the right write down how this could help you create great content.

#8 Have a different colored brain buddy

My friend

Nabil Alouani

has an odd way of looking at the world but it’s rubbing off on me.

He often talks about the colors of the brain using Herrmann profiles:

Blue = analytical
Yellow = intuitive
Green = organized
Red = emotional

The easiest way to work out which one you are is to ask your friends because we always self-identify as what we’d like to be rather than what we are.

Now find someone at a similar stage of their journey who you respect and has a different colored brain. They will give you insights you wouldn’t see yourself and add an extra dimension to your end product!

Send the message to your new buddy today.

#9 Do a complete re-do

Whatever your field, if you’ve been doing it for a while, you should be improving all the time. Going back to your earlier content should make you cringe.

Many podcasters sound wooden in their first few podcasts.
Many YouTubers look like they used a potato to record their first few videos.
Many writers have terrible flow in their first few stories.

This is ok and it is normal. Rather than avoiding your old work, you can use it as an exercise to flex your creativity muscles and see how far you’ve come.

Pick something you’ve made and makes you embarrassed and remake the entire thing.

Comparing what you’ve done between versions increases your awareness of the techniques you’ve subconsciously learned so you can apply them more mindfully in the future.

You can do this today.

#10 Have a ‘Why I do this’ list

Some of you are here purely for the money and I’m not going to judge you. As long as you understand your fans aren’t following you to get you rich but for what you offer them.

Proving this value can be difficult and take a long time. If you’re in it only for the money, you’ll find it even more stressful. I know as I quit my job, I feel so much pressure for each story I write to do well. It’s a horrible feeling and blocks my creative process.

So write down a list of the other things that motivate you. For me, it’s the fun of working out how to craft messages, the friends I’ve made in the online world, and the amazement that I can reach people with my words and find value in it.

These things keep me going on a tough day and pushing through. I would have given up a long time ago if not for them. I don’t want you to give up if you love what you’re doing. Just remind yourself that you do.

Get your pen and notepad out and write down what your reasons are today. Stick them up somewhere you can see.

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The post 10 Actionable Tips To Help You Make Better Content Today first appeared on Amardeep.

How I Learned To Stop Hating the Sound of My Own Voice

Amardeep — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 15:58:20 +0000

Why recordings of your voice sound so different, and what you can do if you cringe when you hear yourself

Image credit: golfcphoto

The sound of my own voice has been a source of insecurity for my whole adult life. Then one day, I decided to do something about it.

I am a native English speaker despite the assumptions some readers may make from my name. I was born and raised in England, but not in one of the areas where people speak how you see on any exaggerated Netflix series.

My high school’s student population was 90% ethnic minority and a melting pot of different language influences. Slang and intentional distortions of speech were the norms. There definitely wasn’t any bowing or curtsying going on in our school corridors. We used words like:

“bare,” “nang,” “choong,” “kotch,” and “blad”
“jam,” “bare,” “switch,” and “safe” (had different meanings)
“dis” for “this” and “dat” for “that”

I’ve completely wiped all evidence from my Facebook history, but if you’re interested, you can find the meanings in the Urban Dictionary. My knowledge of East London vernacular is completely out of date with what people use today because that’s the nature of the beast.

I spoke this way because it’s how a kid adapts to fit in with everyone around them. The last thing you want to do is stand out. It was fine as long as everyone spoke this way because we all understood each other.

That all changed when I went to university. My rather lazy way of speaking made me incomprehensible to other more refined students. No one was ever rude to me but a thick accent plus a tendency to talk fast meant I often saw blank faces looking back at me.

I adapted, graduated, and I’ve worked as a professional for seven years where I’m regularly talking to clients. I have no problem talking without worrying about whether I can be understood. It’s been rare for me to hear any criticism, and I hope you are in the same position.

Yet whenever I had to listen to my own voice back then, I felt ashamed and couldn’t bear the sound of it. My hyper-awareness of my self-perceived weakness made me want to slam my hands over my ears.

Over the last year, I’ve appeared in many online interviews but never watched more than a minute because I couldn’t take it. As my presence has grown, I realized I needed to confront my fear sooner or later. It’s probably not the smartest idea to have recordings of me talking for the world to see and I don’t even know if I’ve said anything stupid to be edited out!

Lots of people want to improve their public speaking or come across more assertively, but it’s impossible if you can’t even listen to yourself speak. In the past month, I’ve listened to myself for over 100 hours and gained immeasurable confidence.

I feel the difference in my own psyche by shedding the burden of shame, and I want to guide you through how I did it.

Step 1: What Is Wrong With My Voice

Like me, you probably have no problem with hearing your voice as it comes out of your mouth because it’s your baseline. It’s only when listening back to a recording that you sound like a Disney cartoon.

To kick off my mission, I first needed to understand why there was this discrepancy. Part of me worried that I was delusional or something was wrong with my hearing. Does my brain normally trick me into thinking I have a deep and manly voice? Maybe it was a coping mechanism my mind created for my own sanity? With these questions in mind, I decided that it’s better to follow the science rather than guess.

It turns out there are multiple effects at play.

Vibrations travel through your skull

This BBC video permanently changed the way I think about my voice and it’s fascinating to learn the way the body works.

From BBC Earth Lab: Why does your voice sound different on a recording?

The good news is — we aren’t imagining our voices are deeper when we talk; our ears are working correctly. What happens is we hear ourselves in two ways: one regularly through the air and the other where vibrations from the voice box travel through the bones in the face and hit the eardrum. When sound travels in the second way, it spreads out and this lowers the tone!

The bad news for me was the way I hear myself on a recording is the way the rest of the world hears me! So only I hear the voice I think I sound like — and everyone else hears the version I can’t stand. This was a disappointing revelation, but it’s a truth I needed to accept.

Our brain rejects us

The difference in tone doesn’t explain everything though. So what if my actual pitch is higher than what I normally hear? Surely it shouldn’t be such a big deal that I can’t stand listening to myself for more than a minute.

Here is where psychology comes into play. Let’s run through the five senses and their relationship with our sense of self:

Sight — We only see ourselves in the mirror or in photos.
Smell — We’re generally pretty immune to our own scent.
Taste —Not applicable. I don’t lick myself regularly. No judgment if you do.
Feel — We’d realize the absence of our body reacting to our own touch, but it’s more functional.
Hearing — We hear our own voices whenever we speak throughout the day.

Our voice forms a significant part of our identity because it’s the only thing we experience at the same time as the others around us. When our voices sound different on a recording, it makes us feel vulnerable. We question who we are and our own perceptions.

Our brain doesn’t like this idea that the information it’s been receiving isn’t reflective of reality. This explains why bilingual people find it harder to listen to their voice in their mother tongue.

We naturally judge others based on their speech and the cues it gives us. When we analyze ourselves, we realize we might assess someone else as lesser if they had our voice. This triggers a cycle of putting ourselves down and the accompanying shame.

Cheap equipment doesn’t help

There is some silver lining to believe the gulf between my live voice and the recorded version isn’t as great as I think it is.

Most of the audio I’ve heard of myself was recorded through my laptop’s in-built microphone. It didn’t take much research to realize this was awful quality. The poor quality distorted my voice to some extent.

You might have noticed during the pandemic that some of your colleagues sounded a bit different from what you’re used to. It could well be the same effect where it’s simply a hardware problem. For me, this was a relief and made me feel better about myself instantly.

The circle of control

The three effects mentioned so far are all beyond our control. Yet we don’t get away with not having to work on the character of our performances. Some of the disdain will come from factors within our control, such as how fast we speak or whether we vary our cadence.

There’s no escaping this, unfortunately, but once we’ve accounted for the other issues, it becomes much easier to listen to yourself and identify the specific issues you have. This is a big step in fixing the problems for good.

Step 2: Rationalize

Now the first step was great for my understanding — but part of it was me delaying actually listening back to myself again and attempting to overcome the mental roadblock.

I used a simple trick to help summon the courage. I thought about how many conversations I’ve had in the last year. Some with family, some with friends or colleagues, and some with complete strangers.

They all understood me. I never had an instance where I ordered fish and chips and had a pizza delivered. Yes, my discussions with strangers have been pretty limited in the pandemic.

But I took this a step further. The voice I hate to hear is the same one I had when I met most of my friends and acquaintances. My voice wasn’t a problem for any of them, and it can’t be so unbearable if they are still around.

Whilst it’s not the way I would like to portray myself, it is the voice all the people who love me associate with me. My public voice has done quite a lot for me, so it feels unreasonable to pour so much disdain on it when I should be grateful instead.

Step 3: Use the Two Folders Cheat

I now needed to get used to hearing how my voice sounded to others — despite every fiber of my body wanting to press stop as soon as I started listening to a recording. So I did what we all do: I procrastinated and tried to find a shortcut.

In this procrastination, I stumbled upon a hack from vocal coach Chris Beatty. You can block the sound coming through your bones if you use two empty folders (or magazines) and place them vertically in front of your ears. I felt like a fool — but I tried it, and it works.

I could now get real-time feedback of how I sounded, and I could keep some control because I could close my mouth whenever I wanted. This felt much less intimidating than playing a recording of the unchangeable past. Think of it like using a helium balloon, even though your voice is distorted, it’s fun because you’re making the decisions.

I read some of my articles out loud and messed around with changing my voice and using different accents. I don’t recommend doing this in public if you don’t want people moving two meters away from you — even after social distancing ends.

Every day, I committed to reading one article out loud until the novelty wore off, and my voice no longer shocked me. This took less time than I expected, and after a week I could move onto step 4.

Step 4: Invest in a Microphone

Now I can’t do all my interviews with two folders held next to my head for obvious reasons, so I needed to move on to recording and playing myself back.

The first thing I wanted to do is ensure I was playing on the right field. There was no point in forcing myself to get accustomed to a recording version of my voice that didn’t reflect reality at all.

If you look online, you’ll see podcasters regularly recommending the same microphones with eye-watering prices. We don’t want to create a podcast with 10 million monthly downloads, we just want a more accurate reflection of our own voice.

I went for the Tonor TC-777, but the Blue Snowball is also a good choice for those like me on a budget. There are many better mics out there if you’re willing to spend the money but these two do the job we need them for.

When my microphone arrived, it made me feel more professional just by the nature of having a fancy-looking piece of kit. I wasn’t ready to record myself reciting War and Peace yet so waited for an organic call and tested it out. Unfortunately, the person on the other side wasn’t blown away by the change in my voice in the first few seconds.

Yet over the next couple of weeks, I received a couple of comments that my voice sounded much clearer than usual. A small win, but I was happy to take it. It seemed like I’d made some progress without having to do anything difficult yet!

Step 5: Start Small

Some of my interviews have been well over an hour-long, but I knew I definitely didn’t want to start at this length.

Taking the principle of kaizen and tiny improvements, I chose to record for a minute at a time. I wanted this to be something I could make a natural part of my day, so I chose to read out my to-do list at night for the following day. It was doubly useful as a reminder to myself of what I needed to do.

For me, this became painless within a few days, so I upgraded to reading my own articles again. These would generally take around 10–15 minutes to read out loud — though I’d often spot typos! This was a big escalation in pain, so I dialed back down to five minutes at a time.

After doing this for a while, I’d conquered the issues of being unaccustomed to my voice and the higher pitch. I recorded a long conversation between myself and a friend, and I managed to listen to the entire thing! A big milestone for me.

Step 6: Identify Exactly What You Want To Change

I’d done enough now to analyze without being deafened by self-loathing. I wasn’t in the clear but could focus on what was in my control to change. Whenever I felt uncomfortable listening, I tried to pinpoint exactly what made me feel this way.

Here was what I found, and you may find similar faults:

Saying “yeah,” “like,” “umm,” “erm”
Speaking too fast
Changing volume
Mispronouncing certain sounds
Lack of enthusiasm

I didn’t try to go from disinterested university professor — to Obama overnight. I ranked each of the faults in the order I thought it would be easiest to fix. Now, when I did my daily practice, I thought only about addressing one thing at a time.

I still have parts I don’t like but I’ve gained the self-confidence to believe I can keep working my way through my list. If I focussed on the biggest problem first, I would have been disheartened and given up!

Step 7: Experiment

Step six can go on forever, but it’s important to rotate between it and experimentation. This is meant to be enjoyable!

I listen to podcasts all the time and decided to try to mimic my favorite hosts. I was playing a character rather than being myself, and this distanced my mind from being too critical. I’m unlikely to ever sound like Guy Raz or Rangan Chatterjee — but it’s fun to try!

Depending on the situation, I don’t need to sound like me on every interview or recording, and I can test out different personas. Now that we can listen to ourselves, we’ve opened up a whole new world for us to explore. Many people love trying out new styles to change their appearance, why shouldn’t we enjoy doing the same for how people hear us?

If this guy — with a bastardized hybrid accent from a mix of different influences — can grow to enjoy listening to his own voice, then so can you. I know the hardest bit is starting, which is why there are so many preliminary steps to give you those little wins.

Everyone tells you to love your body, but it’s time you loved your voice too.

Driven But Always Stressed Out? Download Your FREE Anti-Burnout Toolkit Now.

The post How I Learned To Stop Hating the Sound of My Own Voice first appeared on Amardeep.

A Statistical Breakdown of $4,345 in 6 Months on Medium

Amardeep — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 12:33:27 +0000

Tackling myths with data

A photo of the author, created by the author

With only 5.7% of writers earning over $100 in June, I can comfortably say I’m in the top 1% of writers. This doesn’t make me extraordinary, I’m nowhere close to the people earning $30k per month yet I am a realistic story for people to follow.

I’m going to walk you through all of my money based statistics so you have a benchmark to compare to. I don’t have a long history of blogging nor do I write about anything related to my day job, so I was a blank slate. If I can do it, you can too.

I’m a sucker for statistics and tend to overanalyze to find trends that aren’t there. There are many misconceptions about Medium and I hope my numbers and charts can clear some of them up.

Individual Stories

Created by author

I went viral very early. There was one story before the $2,400 one but I deleted it, so it’s outside this analysis. Yet the overwhelming majority of my stories have earned under $25 with only four others above $100. One story has earned over half my income and three stories combined make up over 75%. I thought one viral article would give me a license to print money and I was wrong.

What you can see here is the more stories I wrote, my average earnings per story kept going down. This idea of needing to publish a huge amount of stories may get more absolute money but most stories will be duds. This is true even for the best writers on Medium. Unless your name is Nick Wignall of course.

If you’re going to write on Medium, be prepared for a lot of failures and keep getting back up. You must learn from each article to break out of the rut and know your limits. Some writers have written hundreds of articles before making any real money and I’d have given up long before.

P.S. In a crazy turn of events I have had two more articles breach $1000 in July so I’m no longer a one-hit wonder!

Monthly Income

Taken/created by the author

My monthly income has been eerily consistent through coincidence. Four months were around $500 and two were just over $1000. What I want to show here is Medium earnings are not always upward trending. After doubling my money in February, I was convinced I would be in the $5k per month club by the end of my six months. You may notice a pattern as I was wrong again.

As you’ll see later the composition of my earnings changed a lot over the period. There are wild swings in income so please don’t have one $1k month and quit your day job. There will never be a case of writing ten articles a month and earn the same amount each month.

This is true even for the people at the top of the pile, they only earn what they do by creating more viral articles. When luck doesn’t go their way, their income can halve easily.

When Stories Earn Money

Created by author

The great thing about evergreen content is readers can find its way after it was published. Here you see my stories written in January earned the bulk of my income until April. Only in January and April did stories written that month make the largest part of my income.

Cut out the belief stories have to go big straight away to make money. I’ve learned Medium works in mysterious ways and you can suddenly get a boost from a story months after it was published. If I were to quit Medium today, I might have a random $1,000 appear in my Stripe because an old article going viral. The more good content you have, the greater the chances one will pick up. Be patient and play the long game.

Curation

Created by the author

I think this graph depicts my Medium journey well. I started on a high with a curation then had a streak of six articles without being curated. This is when I was getting agitated as a lot of new writers do. But then I recovered and now my curation rate sits pretty above 70% including two ineligible articles about Medium.

My famine of curation forced my writing to improve. If you’re a new writer and can’t get curated, have a long hard look at your writing before jumping on social media to complain. Up your game as this has a large effect on a story’s success.

Created by author

As we can see here, curated articles average far more than the uncurated ones: $130.70 vs $21.16. Even excluding the viral article, curated articles average over $50. The distribution gives you a chance to reach a much wider paying audience within Medium which makes the difference. Uncurated articles can go viral off-platform and bring you external views but these aren’t as valuable. I have an article with 8k external views and it brought it only $20.

Primary Curation Tag

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Curation matters but does the tag itself matter? My sample size isn’t huge for each topic here but my biggest hits have both been curated in Lifestyle. My single articles with Philosophy and Education tags have also done well and writing maintains a decent average. Most other topics haven’t even beaten zero tags.

It makes sense for some topics to have larger audiences than others on Medium but this is difficult to work out with any confidence. One of the money articles has since crossed $1,000 and would move it’s average up to second comfortably.

I would suggest writing about what you are passionate about rather than trying to game the system. Each topic could have a hit and you’ll likely find the more lucrative topics are also the most competitive. If you would have never written about Lifestyle until you saw this post then your writing will reflect this.

Curation Number of Tags

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When I started on social media groups, I saw people boasting about the number of curation tags their articles received. I did the same myself but it’s only vanity. I’ve got a story with 12 curation tags and it didn’t even make $5.

From the chart, it looks like two is the magic number but be cautious. My two biggest hits have two tags but I have several others with this number that didn’t do so well. You can’t read anything into how many tags except there isn’t a direct relationship where more tags equal more money.

The number of tags is completely out of your control. Any tags are better than not being curated. If I repeat this in the future, I expect all of the curated articles I’ve written to continue to bring in small amounts of income whereas the uncurated ones stagnate.

Publications

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The next debate is the effect of publications. From these charts, we can see I average the highest with The Ascent, Mind Cafe, and Better Marketing. Don’t be too quick to conclude getting into these publications will make you rich overnight.

The $2,400 article was originally self-published then housed in a small publication before moving to The Ascent. This is where it made most of its money demonstrating the power of curation. Yes, publications open your article up to more readers but many stories in these big publications fail too. We can see my stories in The Startup barely moved.

I see the true power of publications in the identification of quality. The people who run publications know their stuff. If you write a story that passes their standards, the story is likely to do well anyway. Some editors will tweak your headline or make small changes they believe will help your story. Feel free to question them but trust their knowledge too. (Full disclosure: I’m a Co-editor of Entrepreneur’s Handbook).

Article Length

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Finally, let’s look at how a story’s length affects its income. There’s no big secret here and you can see at no length have I had more than one hit story. The two biggest stories are seven and eight minutes long but none of the other stories of this length crossed $50.

My only two stories longer than ten minutes have both done well but they were both about Medium with deep analysis. The read time on both was under three minutes so the extra depth of the articles didn’t make a big difference to the earnings. I’ve had longer average read times on five-minute articles.

I now aim to err on being too short in my articles rather than being too long. Over six months on Medium, I’ve become accustomed to seeing a long article and scanning through it in less than a minute. If you write a story that is long make sure it justifies the reader’s time.

What You Should Take With You

I hope by seeing data laid out like this you can see the uselessness of trying to analyze every little trend. Most of the takeaways are about reducing your expectations except for curation. Curation matters.

Expect most stories to fail. Most stories won’t make the big bucks so lower your expectations.
Stay humble if you do well. You can have a big month and find it hard to replicate again.
Be patient after publishing. Stories can earn most of their money way after they were published.
Write quality in Medium’s style. Curation is the only factor which seems to strongly affect income, I would make this my priority as a new writer.
Don’t hunt for more tags. Curation matters but no evidence more tags mean more income.
Submit to publications. But the quality of your story and curation matters more.
Don’t obsess over length. No length guarantees a hit.

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The post A Statistical Breakdown of $4,345 in 6 Months on Medium first appeared on Amardeep.