#49 - Should You Start a New Venture?
What I’m Watching
My favourite time to catch up on podcasts and videos I’ve saved is when I’m doing some journaling or practising handwriting. This week I’ve been brushing up on my own handwriting in preparation and research for a Skillshare class I’m working on, by watching Write Cursive with Schin. There are some very talented people out there and great tips.
Resource of the week
I’ve always had a fascination with old books. Continuing on the handwriting theme, here’s a link to the entire high res scan of The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets and Engrossing. It’s a 1924 book (first published in 1895!) with sample Calligraphy and handwriting styles, lessons, tips, and history. Even if you have a passing interest in handwriting, it’s cool to look at some of the sublimely beautiful letterforms of the past.
Quote
‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal’.
T. S. Eliot
Thoughts
I get asked quite often why I spend so much time doing what I do on social media, making videos, free classes etc. When it comes to things like what ventures to take on I have a decision making process. It needs to fulfil the following:
- Something I enjoy doing
- Something that brings value to other people
- Scalability
- Brings opportunities
For me starting a TikTok account, and documenting my property journey and learnings in the financial world is something that resonated with me. It doesn’t feel that long ago when I started out starred-eyed in this minefield. A major gauge I use when making content to this day is what I would’ve liked to watch when I started out.
Of course, that’s all well and good, but if I’m doing something I find fun but doesn’t help anyone there’s no real potential to scale. What I don’t think about is how much money something can make me. I’m not saying the potential to grow a business and monetising is something I don’t care about, I absolutely do, which is evident from the fact that my entire channel is basically about money. It’s more the fact that I believe the rewards are far larger if you are willing to put in the work and defer gratification later down the road.
I do believe the potential to scale, to monetise, to build a long-term sustainable business out of something, is broadly related to how much value it brings to other people. Once you have a value proposition and awareness or a following, everything else should almost come as a by-product. You can’t put a number on things like trust or goodwill or opportunities but I believe they are more valuable in the long run.
So it’s mainly for these reasons I’m working on my handwriting Skillshare class. It’s great because it’s something I am really passionate about. A big plus is has forced me to go back to basics to improve my craft, stuff I thought I knew and wouldn’t have bothered to review but actually discovered I was doing wrong or there were better ways. One of the best ways to learn and get better at something is to teach it. So if there’s a topic you love and want to get better at I’d highly recommend starting a blog, or making videos or a class about it. Better yet sign up for a public speaking class. You’d probably be surprised at how many people find it interesting.
Stay up to date I’ll be sharing snippets as I continue to prep for the class!
Hans