Putting the Learning to Work!
Ok, so I want to have a real talk with you all
I spend so much of my time reading books, watching youtube tutorials, listening to podcasts. There’s this burning desire inside of me to always know as much as I can about all the awesome things the world has to offer. There is SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY!!!
And then I realized…it happened…I’ve become stuck in….
PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS
If you haven’t read it already, check out The Physics of Psychology: Knowledge is (NOT) Power. This was one of my earlier posts on this site. It covers the idea that learning & knowledge is not truly power, but it’s POTENTIAL power.
Over the past few days it had a word vomit on Twitter talking about how scatter brained I am right now. Essentially I talk about all these things and taking action, but I was lacking my own thoughts on what to go do!
(Don’t ask my why my tweets show up weird. I’m still figuring this shit out…)
I know I’m good at solving problems
— AJ Zampella (@DJAJZampella) February 24, 2023
Now I need to find a better way to turn this in to a side hustle 😩
I think I just need focus…
Anyone else super scatter brained? I have many ideas, but trouble bringing it all together
— AJ Zampella (@DJAJZampella) February 24, 2023
What tips do you all have for focusing your efforts?
Here’s my thought process on how I worked through this & what I’m going to go do!
Imposter Syndrome
This is a big one for me.
When I started this blog, I really just wanted an outlet to share what I’m learning in hopes that it could help some others along the way. I love sharing what I learn, but sometimes I feel like I come across to “guru-y”. Honestly, this is the last thing I want for this blog.
2 things really have helped me here recently:
Russel Brunson’s “Expert Secrets” (currently reading at the time of writing this)
Currently, I’m reading Brunson’s “Expert Secrets” & he talks about becoming an expert doesn’t have to be any more than being able to teach the you from 2 weeks ago. What would he or she benefit from knowing?
In his book, Brunson tell the story about Frank Abagnale. Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Catch Me If You Can” is based on Frank’s true life story.
One career he faked was that of a sociology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah. He was able to do this by simply staying 1 chapter ahead of what he taught his students.
Where to Start?
Cool, so if I’m teaching myself something I wish I knew 2 weeks ago? What would that be?
Again, burning desire to know A LOT. I needed to narrow my list down.
So I started by thinking about the Pillars of Success in my “What is Success?” post.
Money & Finance
Business & Careers
Health & Wellness
Relationships
Self Development
Recreation (added since original post)
Service (added since original post)
To me, this part was easy. It needed to be a business to help with our money & finance. We don’t have any crazy bills to pay or financial issues, BUT I realize that if I want to have more time for the other items, I need to have the money to buy back some of that freedom & flexibility.
This seemed to be a good choice for another reason as well. As much as I enjoy sharing what I learn, I really wanted to start putting it to the test and share more experiences than educaiton.
If you ever talk to me in person, this is a HUGE sticking point for me.
Experiences over Education
So let’s not just talk about it, let’s be about it
Abundance of Choice
Great, so starting a business. That narrows it down a lot right?
WRONG
I like to believe that i have an abundance mentality. The world is only limited by your own mind and what you believe to be possible.
I can’t say I personally have gone off and conquered much. However, I have a crazy work ethic & I know if I really put my mind to something I can go and do it. (this website is still going strong!)
Knowing that there is so much opportunity, where do I go start?
I needed to start limiting my choices. Here is are the basics:
Something I could work on my own time
Low-ish cost of entry
Maybe some basic skills required (willing to learn)
Able to separate time from money (this is what “passive” really means btw)
Business that I could really enjoy & be excited to talk about
You may notice, this sounds very much like MJ Demarco’s “CENTS framework” from his book “The Millionare Fastlane”. Which, by the way is still The Best Book I’ve Ever Read About Making Money.
So what journey am I starting?! Drum Roll please!
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Starting an Etsy Shop!
Some of you are probably thinking “Oh Great” Another one.
Yep. Another one.
And I know I should probably go and follow the format to copy other designs, optimize for SEO, and all that. BUT that would break my rule number 5.
So, how did I get here?
I made notes of all the things I’m doing, all the things I love, and all the things I like to buy. Made mental index cards and weaved a web of business all together. Some people might think it’s a bit crazy, but it made sense.
What is the product line? Let me explain some of the things I love. Things I should probably talk more about on here
Halloween
Caffeine
Shirts
Fun fact, I used to go out of my way to buy very unique graphic T-Shirts. Even got to the point where I created my own hashtag #ShirtsAJWears to track all the fresh shirts I was buying and wearing to my gigs.
Add that to my love for caffeine (coffee) and Halloween (spooky things like skeletons and what not) I created a brand around this.
I present to you:
Our Tagline is:
Grim & Grind: Love Death & Coffee
Short term, primarily T-Shirts, Hoodies, and Coffee Mugs (obviously) all featuring unique grim creations with fun caffeine focused slogans.
Actually sharing this first on here and will plan to share more once I get a few more designs up on the page.
I’m pretty excited about this because, if nothing else, I’m going to buy all my products. haha
Not a good business plan? sure, but it at least means I enjoy what I’m doing enough to want to promote it
Why am I telling you all this?
3 main reasons:
Putting my learning to work
Want to share this experience & teach 2 week ago me (and you)
Shamless self promotion :-)
Check us out! I have a ton of design ideas I’m working. just trying to get through the process & understand how to set this crap up:
Excited to share not only some of my loves & creative side, but also the journey as I learn how the fuck to sell things.
Yikes
Wish me luck!
Until Next Time!
A.J. Zampella