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- Issue #8: The GOAT JOAT
Issue #8: The GOAT JOAT
The Unstoppable Value Creating Machine
Hey there, entrepreneurial adventurers and side hustle enthusiasts!
Welcome to Issue #8 of My New Meta.
We've heard through the grapevine (aka your wonderfully honest feedback) that our weekly knowledge drops might be running a bit long. Think "Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition" when you were expecting more of a "TikTok" length experience.
So here's the quest before us: Should we split this newsletter into two separate power-ups?
Should we spilt the newsletter into two: Main edition on friday (The Deep Dive and Links) and Mini edition on Tuesday (Smaller Dive) |
Hit reply with your vote (A or B or I guess C 😔)! Your input helps shape this newsletter's evolution, and unlike my attempts at cooking, we actually want your opinion on this one.
Now, onto this week's side-hustling shenanigans...
Here is what we will hit on today:
🤩 Gary Vee and The Entrepreneurial Force.
📷 Greg is desperate for those sweet, sweet engagement metrics.
🏆 Welcome to the golden age of digital entrepreneurship.
🏃Side Hustle Week #2: Finding Your People.
First time reading? Sign up here.
THE DEEP DIVE
Created in Midjourney with text from the article below
The GOAT JOAT: Why Some People Can't Help But Create
(And Why That's Not Always a Good Thing)
🤦♂️ Preamble: I Caught Myself Being "Corporate Greg"
Picture this: There I was, scrolling through LinkedIn (my daily dose of humble brags and "I'm blessed to announce" posts), when I spotted Gary Vee asking about hiring specialists versus generalists.
My fingers started typing before my brain could intervene, and out came this perfectly polished, consulting-speak response:
cccccrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrip…[Record scratch]
Wait... what was that? Who even wrote that? It sounded like I'd swallowed a management consulting handbook and was regurgitating it through a LinkedIn filter.
👻 Corporate Greg had momentarily possessed me, desperate for those sweet, sweet engagement metrics.
More important than the ghost of corporate Greg: as I re-read my own words, something hit me harder than my usual Red Bull crash at 3 PM: I was describing myself. I AM that JOAT who gets phased out!
☕️ So grab your coffee (or something stronger) because this week's deep dive is a tale of self-discovery, irony, and why sometimes being a jack-of-all-trades means mastering the art of getting in your own way.
The Force Is With You
I was thirty-two when I first realized I had a problem. Standing in the executive bathroom of a large corporate homebuilding company in Toronto, staring at my reflection while straightening my company-issued tie, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was... off.
It wasn't the tie – though heaven knows those corporate-branded monstrosities were an assault on good taste. No, it was something deeper. A restless energy that made my fingers twitch during budget meetings, that had me redesigning entire business processes on cocktail napkins at company functions. Like Luke Skywalker staring at those two suns on Tatooine, I knew I was meant for something more than moisture farming... er, I mean corporate meetings.
➡️ Here's the thing about The Force – it ebbs and flows with life's seasons. When I was twelve, it was a raging torrent, driving me to set up a comic book trading business and Commodore 64 computer coding service; let's face it, who else was going to hire a kid whose only skills were playing video games and quoting Star Wars? The Force was strong then, unencumbered by trivial things like mortgages or family responsibilities.
But life has a way of tempering even the strongest entrepreneurial spirits. When you've got little ones at home who expect dinner every night (so demanding!) and a mortgage that doesn't accept "but I'm working on my startup!" as payment, you learn to channel that energy differently.
☯️ For twenty years, I found myself in the role of an intrapreneur – one of those unsung heroes who build empires inside other people's castles. The yin and yang of my existence balanced precariously: enough stability to keep my family secure, enough creativity to keep my soul from withering.
"You're doing it again," my boss said during one particularly mundane quarterly Development Day project review. I had just spent fifteen minutes explaining how we could revolutionize our entire reporting structure using AI and blockchain. In 2015.
That's when it hit me: I was infected with what I now call "The Force" – an irrepressible drive to create, improve, and build, even when nobody asked for it. Especially when nobody asked for it.
Design by Greg Mills in Claude
They say, Jack of all trades, master of none, but they forget the rest of the phrase: "...but oftentimes better than master of one." I was the GOAT JOAT – Greatest Of All Time, Jack Of All Trades – sweeping floors one minute, then buying up all the land in Calgary, then pitching to investors in Vancouver while the paint on my current Airdrie project was still drying.
The Force made me an excellent intrapreneur, building new divisions and scaling teams within the safe confines of corporate Canada. Until it didn't. Like a toddler with a sugar rush, I bounced from project to project, department to department, leaving a wake of disrupted processes and anxiety-ridden middle managers in my path.
🤴"We're promoting you to President," they said, thinking they were rewarding me. But putting a JOAT in charge of the boring day-to-day 9 to 5 is like asking a tornado to organize your garage. Sure, something will happen, but it probably won't be what you expected.
Me? I'm like a hustling shark - I need to keep moving or I die. Always hustling the next deal, creating the next sale, absorbing new knowledge, and turning wild ideas into reality. That's not just what I do - it's who I am.
The moral? The entrepreneurial force isn't good or bad – it's just energy seeking an outlet. Some of us are meant to colour inside the lines, some are meant to draw new ones, and some of us can't help but grab the whole box of crayons and create an entirely new colouring book.
The key is understanding which one you are, finding the right playground for your particular brand of chaos, and, most importantly, recognizing when it's time to let The Force flow freely or when to channel it into safer harbours.
As Master Yoda might say, "An entrepreneur's path, clear it is not. Trust in the Force, you must."
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CURATE & COMMENT
My Favourite Finds
🥰 Influencer Of The Week
Welcome to the golden age of digital entrepreneurship, where your laptop can literally out-earn your day job. The internet will pay you more than your 9 to 5 job. This gave me some inspiration and it will be our Deep Dive next week.
we're living in the startup golden age, and most are sleeping through it
a reel could beat a superbowl ad, a replit prompt could build prototype, a tweet could land 1000 customers etc etc
most startups dont even need to raise vc anymore
my friend, these are the good old days
— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg)
12:29 AM • Oct 3, 2024
💌 Newsletter Of The Week
Join 200K+ readers of The Saturday Solopreneur for tips, strategies, and resources to launch, grow, and monetize your internet site hustle. I recently studied his LinkedIn course, which was very well done. Get it here.
🧑💻 Websites and Apps
Just for fun: Did you know that the most popular birthday is September 26th? Check out “How Popular Is Your Birthday” here. Turns out I’m a bit of a unique flower, ranked 350/366.
🎥 Podcast Of The Week
This one touched home as I wrote the first article today…no corporate speak; use your authentic voice!
🛠️ Tools
Think ChatGPT is the only AI game in town? Meet Claude.ai, your new secret weapon for everything from research to writing to problem-solving. My friend's mind was recently absolutely blown when she tried it – it turns out watching someone discover Claude is like seeing someone taste chocolate for the first time! What sets it apart? The magic starts with project folders that keep your conversations organized and accessible, making it perfect for juggling multiple side hustles or business ideas.
SMALLER DIVE
Created in Midjourney with text from the article below
Side Hustles School: You don't need 12 hours a week, startup costs, and an MBA to start one.
You need an audience, a product/service to launch and basic marketing.
In this weekly series, we will go from Chucky being a ”side hustle curious” to monetizing his overly specific niche.
Refer to Issue #7: RIP My New Meta for Week 1 of Chucky’s side hustle journey.
Week 2: Finding Your People
SCENE: A week after Chucky's exciting niche discovery. Greg is sipping his morning coffee, reviewing his Beehiiv analytics when a familiar notification pops up. Chucky appears on screen, his background now featuring a modest but growing collection of vintage bowling balls.
Greg: Chuck! Looking like a proper bowling ball baron already! How's the niche life treating you?
Chucky: (excitedly) Greg, you won't believe what I discovered! There's an entire underground community of antique 5-pin bowling enthusiasts! I've found three Facebook groups, two subreddits, and a Discord server. But... I'm kind of stuck. How do I know if these communities are actually worth pursuing?
Design by Greg Mills in Claude
Greg: Think of this as your community validation roadmap. For the next two weeks, you're going to be like a bowling ball anthropologist.
Chucky: (adjusting imaginary safari hat) A what now?
Greg: (chuckling) You're going to study these communities before you try to sell to them. Start with these two phases:
Phase 1 - The Silent Observer:
Watch how often people post and engage
Notice who the trusted voices are
See if people are actually buying and selling
Phase 2 - The Friendly Neighbor:
Share your genuine interest in collecting
Ask questions about rare finds
Offer helpful preservation tips
Chucky: (looking concerned) So I shouldn't mention my business plans yet?
Greg: Exactly! Right now, you're gathering intel. Look for these good signs:
People asking where to find specific items
Collectors showing off their finds
Discussions about value and rarity
Members helping each other with purchases
Chucky: (thoughtfully polishing a bowling ball) And then what?
Greg: Then we move to the next step - but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Your homework is to start observing these communities and keep a "Community Insights Journal." Think you can handle that?
Chucky: (saluting with a bowling ball) You got it, Greg! I'll be the stealthiest bowling ball observer there ever was!
Stay tuned, folks! Next week, we'll check in on Chucky's community research and explore the next steps in validating a niche market. Will our bowling enthusiast strike gold with his vintage venture? Keep rolling with us to find out!
If this newsletter sparked even a tiny entrepreneurial flame in your soul, share it with a friend! And if it made you question my sanity, share it with your most conventional coworker - they probably need it most. 😉
THAT’S A WRAP
That's all for this week, fellow adventurers! Whether you're adding some side hustle spice to your corporate life, innovating from within your company's walls, taking those first scary steps into entrepreneurship, or already crushing it with your business ventures - you're exactly where you need to be.
Keep learning, keep growing, and remember: sometimes the most valuable upgrades to your personal operating system come from those "what was I thinking?" moments.
Until next week, stay curious and keep levelling up!
Greg "Still Installing Updates" Mills
Let me know how we did this week:
Note: Some of the links in the newsletter are affiliate links. I believe in transparency and honesty, so if you want to know more, visit Full Partner Disclosure for details.
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