Launching "Find the Others," Nina Simon, Book Facilitator Gig | #209
January 7th, 2023: Hellllo friends. and greetings from sunny and hot Austin!
2023 is here and I’m still writing. This is issue #209 and I don’t expect to stop anytime soon. So let’s buckle up and dive head-first into 2023.
Over the next week, I’m going to be shipping a bunch of posts. I’m aiming to write every day, Monday until Friday. This is part of my attempt to slowly steer the ship back toward the thing I enjoy most: writing. I think I got a bit lost in the matrix on Twitter this past year (which I don’t regret) and I’m looking forward to going a bit deeper this year.
“Write, most days” is what got me here and I think it will get me there.
I’ll be sharing my annual reflection, some deep dives on my financials over the past year, a book sales update (I’m close to a huge milestone), and some other stuff I’ve meant to share for a while. I’ll also be outlining a bolder writing agenda for some longer posts I want to commit to.
2022 was a blast. It was a year I felt like I got to make a living “being Paul” in the deepest sense. I had fun, learned to DJ, made friends, hosted events, did work I liked, found an amazing community in Austin, spent time with family over the summer and Christmas, and got to spend almost every day of the year on my own terms. And on top of that, I found out I’m going to be a father.
It’s also the first year I made real money from my writing and podcast. From 2017 to the end of 2021, I made about $14k total from my “Boundless” umbrella of stuff while it was taking up 75% of my time, energy, and attention. In 2022 I’ll probably make $55-60k from the book, podcast, and this newsletter which I’m still sort of processing. Wow. It’s amazing to be able to earn money from things I’d still do for free. But even more exciting is that financial success gives me the opportunity to lean more into creative experiments and do things to support others that seemed impossible a couple of years ago.
So for 2023 expect big things in this newsletter, more amazing guests on my podcast, and…
…after many requests, I’m launching a community on top of this newsletter called Find The Others. I’ve had far too many people ask me to do this and after sitting with the idea for the last few weeks I couldn’t find a lot of reasons not to do it.
Announcing Find The Others
One of the biggest reasons I’m launching this is that people keep asking for it. I’ve had many people say that they want to meet others who have read my book and are thinking about similar questions. Through this newsletter and my book, I’ve been able to meet people and stumble into opportunities that have changed my life. I want to help others do that too.
I also sense that the things I write about are not going away. The pandemic planted a seed of possibility in many people and only now are we starting to see plans and actions take shape The next decade will likely make the “Great Resignation” look pretty tame.
I don’t know if I can build my work solely around the podcast and writing about work but it seems worth seeing if I can orient that way a bit more. In 2022 I also had my best year ever with StrategyU and I’ll definitely continue to run it but I feel a lot of tension when I do that work. But more on how I’m thinking about that next week.
Coming alive over getting ahead. That’s a principle I’ve trusted and the whole point of this path is to find work worth doing and to have the right to keep doing it.
Here’s the initial offer
At a high level, I hope this can be a place where people can connect with other generous and curious people on similar paths to share ideas, and support each other in dating to create, share, and follow unconventional paths.
At a simpler level, it will include
You’ll get access to a circle community which I’ll officially launch on January 16th. If you join via circle you should have limited access until then.
There will be a live kick-off call on January 16th at 5 pm EST
Access to the community will likely be gated in “cohorts” that will be onboarded in monthly or semi-monthly groups (will need to figure out the right cadence
Access to subscriber status in substack & ability to post topics in the substack chat
Access to Reinvent & My Strategic Freelancing Course: I’ve had these pretty dope courses for a while but haven’t had the energy to sell and market them. This feels like a better way for people to access them. I will have to figure out how to migrate those from Podia and will figure out how to give people access too.
I will be taking paternity leave from the end of February (or when our daughter arrives) to the beginning of April. My intention is to find some volunteers or paid supporters to help out. I decided to launch despite this because I think it’s important to set an example of creators taking breaks. I may pop in here and there but I’m not promising anything.
Two Goals: Find The Others & Ship Creations
I will orient everything around helping people “find the others” and taking bold action on creative projects. I will likely do a number of experiments and if you’d like to help facilitate some of these I will gladly give you access and work with you.
Here are some initial ideas:
Writing Co-Working: Co-working sessions where we write together (let me know if you want to host)
Monthly “Find The Others” Structured Connection Sessions: Facilitated live events where you can meet others on similar journeys
Live Curiosity Conversations: This is a working idea I am remixing from Jay Clouse’s “hot seat” idea. Essentially people will apply to have a live convo with me (open to guests & recorded) in which we workshop all your pathy questions.
Action Challenges: Short-term challenges from 1-week to 1-month to ship longform posts, podcasts, and any other things you want to create
This Is A Minimum One-Year Experiment
I will commit to running this until next January. By then I should have plenty of information about what to do next.
Please join if you believe in this and want to be part of helping to make it successful.
Here is what will happen:
Existing Patreon Supporters & Substack Supporters >2 years: Instant lifetime access and I’m shutting down your payments. Most of you were early in supporting me and I appreciate it and I want to pay you back for that support.
Note: I will cut off payments automatically for these two groups unless you email me and tell me otherwise. Alternatively, you are welcome to pay the $350 lifetime in addition
Existing Substack Subscribers: I’ll be grandfathering you in to access to the community (optional to join, of course) at your existing subscription price. You do not have to do anything right now.
Existing Course Customers: You’ll get access to the courses once I migrate them to Podia - I’ll likely leave them on Podia until my plan ends.
Become a Substack Subscriber: Join at $20 / month, $225 / year, or a lifetime access fee of $375 (I’ll change your status to comp’d if you choose this)
Alternatively, if you want to avoid substack, you can subscribe directly on Circle (and I’ll update your status on Substack)
Note: The community doesn’t officially launch until the 16th. I’m at an intro to newborns class today so can answer questions via email tomorrow :-)
I’m Going To Be Shipping on Substack All Week
Here’s the plan: I’m taking tomorrow off and then going to post every day next week. Here’s the tentative outline:
Monday: Going to post my annual reflection
Tuesday (Subscribers): I will share my financials including sharing how I more than doubled my income in 2022 and break down all the fun details. I will release these to the public but if you want to access them right away, subscribe.
Wednesday: Going to do a review of some of my favorite reads from the year
Thursday: Some of my favorite essays, articles, podcasts, and up-and-coming creators
Friday: I will celebrate one year of my book launch with some reflections and sharing of all the details and earnings
Saturday: Not sure!
#2 Nina Simon Is Awesome
My conversation this week was with Nina Simon. We had a wide-ranging conversation about many things including:
Quitting her “dream job at NASA
Taking turns with her husband with work goals and designing their life around one income
How her blog about museums led to her becoming a CEO
How she decided to live off the grid in California with her family
Reinventing herself over and over again
Here’s what Nina said:
Check out her episode and let me know what you think!
#3 Want To Facilitate A Book Club?
My friend Will Bachman is looking for someone to facilitate a book club for his community of independent consultants, Umbrex. Cool gig, check it out:
👉 Here is the job posting
Thanks For Reading!
I am focused on building a life around exploring ideas, connecting and helping people, and writing. If you’d like to support my journey, the best ways are to:
Buy or listen to my book, The Pathless Path
I’m looking for sponsors for 2023 for this newsletter or podcast. Please reach out or book a package here directly.
Subscribe to my podcast and leave a review
Support as a subscriber and get access to all my courses and community.
In addition, I recommend all of the following services (affiliate links): Riverside.fm for HD podcasting, Transistor for podcast hosting, Podia or Teachable for courses, Skystra for WordPress Hosting, and Circle for running a community
A reminder: I don’t check unsubscribe alerts and never look at my subscriber list. So if you feel like unsubscribing, you can do so below.
Thanks Paul. Looking forward to your posts this week. I find peoples growth journeys really interesting. Have a great week!
Congratulations Paul on the news that you are expecting! As a girl dad, hearing that news is both exciting and maybe a little terrifying? 😉