Career Independence comes from being very good at a valuable skill
Blog and book recommendation
Fun News: Lenny Rachitsky (author of Lenny’s Newsletter - highly recommended) shared that my guest post, The Magic Loop: A framework for rapid career growth, is the 6th most popular post of all time.
Also, Lenny just announced a limited-edition Lenny’s Newsletter Book available for pre-order. Lenny includes his most beloved pieces such as finding PMF, building product sense, finding your first customers, and my Magic Loop. Only 5,000 copies will be printed and all profits go to charity (helping underprivileged groups build skills that allow them to get into tech).
We live in a world where if you are the best at something, even something very unusual, others will pay you to do it.
Artists make all kinds of arts and crafts on Etsy. Gamers make a living on Twitch and YouTube. Consultants of all kinds work for themselves.
How do you do this?
Read Kevin Kelly's article, 1000 True Fans, to understand that it does not take a mass audience to make a good enough living to become independent.
But what should you do?
Enter The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
This book is so good that when I first learned of it from my co-author and operating partner, Jason Yoong, I listened to it straight through twice.
Ravikant makes many good points, but among them is: “No one will ever be better at being you than you.”
What he means is that rather than trying to be great at something that is not your gift and does not interest you, instead work on what DOES interest you, because this "work" will be joy and play for you.
If you are doing something you love, you can do it 12 hours a day without wearing down. As an example, many times I write posts at 9PM on a Saturday night. And then you see it on Sunday morning via a scheduled post. But when I stand at my keyboard and type I don't feel like I'm working (and on Sundays, I will usually be out hiking, hence the scheduling tool).
When you do something you love, you will put in more effort for far longer than others, which will reinforce your expertise, making you one of the best at whatever you do.
It becomes a flywheel.
So from Kevin Kelly, we see that you do not need an enormous group of customers to make a very good living.
And from Naval Ravikant, we see how you can be the very best at something you also love.
Put the two together and you have your recipe for freedom, doing something you love as your job, but not a job that wears you down.
Of course, it is possible to do better than what Kevin Kelly outlines (e.g. 1000 people, each giving you a modest $100 a year, giving you a $100,000 income). You can add people, create more than $100 in value, or both. For example, my coaching business is a few dozen customers, each of whom pays several thousand dollars for a series of sessions. The end result is fewer people at a higher value.
I invite others who have built their own businesses to share how they did it — either the skills you honed to get customers, the economics of your customer base, or both. You can keep the exact numbers private if you wish, as I did, just share enough to help others to freedom.
Reader follow-up question.
Q1: How do you think about turning something you enjoy into a chore, rather than the other way around? I’ve heard this critique from a few people. I personally enjoy my job and have hobbies I enjoy that don’t cross the for-profit boundary. But for those who are new to the concept, how do you keep fun, fun?
It is a danger.
I read a story of a woman who loved to bake, opened a bakery, and came to hate baking.
I think honestly it is how much you "must" do the thing. That is, if you must do your thing 60 hours a week to scrape by you might hate it. If you can do it 30 hours a week and can afford to turn down irritating customers or off-mission projects, I think it is less of a risk.
Audience Insights
Additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience:
There is a reason the term “Riches in Niches” is popular. The range of what is valuable is usually broader than we suspect (e.g. people watching strangers play a video game).
Three readers shared what they are building:
Reader 1: I combined software engineering skills and psychology with a small portion of operational risk skills to solve operational problems. 1-2 clients for a maximum of 6 months (no more than 8 hours a day) is enough to meet all the needs of my family. I want to reduce it to 3 months.
Reader 2: I've always enjoyed mentoring throughout my tech career. It's something I did "for fun." When I left Amazon, I kept doing it on the side because I enjoyed it. It helped me make extra income and stay engaged in the tech world. Fast forward two years and I'm about to launch my coaching business. I realized that my experience in tech and my passion for helping others create a perfect recipe for being a career coach.
Reader 3: I built my coaching business with the premise of addressing the problems I faced as a new Manager.
Share this article with someone who will benefit.
Actionable steps to build a powerful network
Your personal network is one of your most powerful tools.
I created Leadership Networking to teach you how to build a bigger, stronger network easily and naturally, without reaching out to strangers.
Watch the below course introduction video to see what you get.
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Level Up is a newsletter from retired Amazon Vice President Ethan Evans that breaks down how he succeeded and how you can get to the next level.
This is gold @ethan. Thanks for writing this one.