11 February 2024 | 4 min
I always fancied writing online. Back in university, when I studied finance and got my CFA, I wanted to start a personal finance blog. I spent a few months perfecting my content strategy, roadmap, and peer analysis. I did most of it on the way to and back from work/uni. Just thinking, not writing anything down.
Since then, 10 years passed and as you can figure, I've never even written one article until a few months ago. I was overthinking and afraid to do something not the 100% perfect way. How hilarious.
Today, I wish I had just started. I often think about it and what I would tell my 24-year-old self. It comes down to these 6 lessons over and over again:
Throughout school years, we get hammered with one belief: You need to learn and practice a lot before you can do something. This belief held me back for so long. Stuck in a vicious circle of books and courses, consuming a lot but producing nothing. The day you're fully prepared never comes. There's no end to learning.
So stop trying to perfect something before you've even started. Don't compare yourself with people in the game for a few years. Just stop thinking about it and do it. Once you get the ball rolling, everything gets better.
So if you only take away one thing from this email, publish something online next week.
Once you've done step 1, keep it going. Social media is packed with systems, blueprints and cheat sheets that promise quick success. In reality, there's only one principle you need to follow. It's the universal law of act -> measure-> iterate.
Start with publishing 1 article a week. Make this your system. Super easy. From there, you can iterate. Want to grow faster? Make it two articles per week. Research how to write attention-grabbing headlines and make it a step in your process to draft headlines accordingly.
This way, you gradually build out your system week after week and only add things that improve the overall outcome. Step by step. There's no way to build a complex system that fits your needs in advance. You're missing the feedback. So start as basic as possible.
I somehow always thought I'd have more time in the future. How naive and daydreaming I was. Now that I have a family with kids running around and managing a demanding 9-5, I sometimes wish for nothing more than a completely free weekend to work on my side projects.
To get this right: I LOVE my family weekends. It's more of a melancholic thought of how much time I had on my hands during college (when I was convinced I had no time at all!)
Building towards your dream life on top of a job and family doesn't feel like "the right time". But in the last 15 years, I have never woken up thinking, "Today is the right time." I believe "the right time" can only be identified in hindsight. Hence, make it your right time now. I'm sure your 10-years-in-the-future self will agree.
When stuck in overthinking, I sometimes take on a third-person view. How does a family member, friend, or colleague see me and my actions?
Leverage this outside view to get a brutally honest self-assessment. If they don't know about your side project endeavors, you're probably thinking too much and acting too little.
You'll quickly give up if money is your only motivation. You want intrinsic motivationā€”a higher purpose than adding numbers to your bank account. On average, it's way easier to earn a decent living in a traditional 9-5 than online. You only see the right-tail outliers, but the medium online income for a creator is barely enough to keep you alive.
I don't want to say you can't make it, but do yourself a favor and don't rank money as the top motivator to build online.
Building on top of the other 5 points, prepare for the long term. Pace yourself. Too many people try it out for a few weeks, don't see results, start struggling, and quit. "Not for me". Only to come back next year.
Don't be that person. Even if you only publish 1 thing per month. Doing it for 10 years will attract you to a larger fan base than any engagement-farming and short-term focused "blueprint creator."
As part of my own journey, I invested a few weeks in building my personal blog using NextJS as a framework. I think it's a great option if you're interested in coding and building web applications anyway.
I'll publish a step-by-step guide on "How to build your personal blog" over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for the series if you're considering it.
Last week, I also shared the 10 reasons why I think building a blog this way is better than using any of the website builders out there, AI or not.
This is it for today. Thanks for reading!
Speaking of the family weekends, I'll now head outside and take my family to the local carnival parade. Yay!